US2749970A - Reclining chair - Google Patents

Description

June 12, 1956 H. M. QUAKENBUSH 2,749,970

RECLINING CHAIR Filed June 17, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l x z 27 2/ flaw/9K0 f7. Quake/mum, Z V

IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent RECLININ'G CHAIR Howard M. Quakenbush, Evansville, Ind., assignor to National Furniture Manufacturing Company, Inc, Evansville, Ind., a corporation Application June 17, 1953, Serial No. 362,268

9 Claims. (Cl. 155--106) This invention relates to an article of furniture of reclining character.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide an article of furniture such as a chair or lounge which is readily adjustable to any selected lounging or sitting position where it will automatically be retained by the weight or" the user alone, without resort to latching mechanisms of any character or description.

The primary feature of the present invention is the construction and arrangement of the mechanism Which controls the movement of the moving parts of the article, such by way of example as the seat, and the foot and back rests of a chair or lounge.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an article of furniture which embodies the features of simplicity of operation and of construction. As a result there is a substantial reduction of labor and costs in connection with its fabrication and assembly.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a chair which serves as a posture chair and which is designed in accordance with good medical practice and fully relaxes the body in all positions, it being unnecessary for the user to operate any latching mechanisms or to retain his body in any certain position in order to achieve and maintain a state of balance.

It is a still further object of the present invention to include a foot rest which is so constructed and arranged that as it moves in timed relation with the seat of the unit the distance between it and the seat is lengthened, thereby affording a posture chair or lounge that is relatively elongated when at the limit of its reclining position. Thus taller than average people can easily be accommodated comfortably by the invention.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of the invention in upright position with parts broken away.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation view 'of the invention in partially reclined position with parts thereof broken away.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation view of the invention shown in its Fig. 1 upright position with the foot rest and the leg of the "foot rest control cam removed for purposes of better illustrating the remainder of the invention.

In the drawings the back rest of the article of furniture is shown at 10, it comprising a substantially rectangular frame formed of the side rails 11 and the top and bottom rails 12. The arms of the chair are shown at 13 while the arm and seat frame assembly is shown generally at 14, 15, 16 and 17. The seat cushion 18 is supported by the seat frame comprising the side rails 19 and the end rails 29.

The back rest, the seat and the foot rest 20a are operably associated by an assembly which includes the back hanger strap 21, the combined cam and track member 22, the foot rest hanger guide 23, the cam 24, the caster and the seat hanger strap 32. The strap 21 is suitably secured by carriage bolts or other suitable media 26 to 2,749,970 Patentedv June 12, 1956 ice the back rest side rails 11. To the lower extremity of this strap is pivotally connected at 27 the combined cam and track member 22 which is preferably but not necessarily an inverted U-shaped channel iron which provides a track for the caster 25 fixed to the seat frame member 17.

The forward end of each track member is in the form of a yoke and is pivotally connected at 28 to the hanger guide 23. The guide is in the form of a slide and has a groove or slot 29 through which one end of the cam 24 is freely slidable. It will be observed that the free end of the cam has stop means 30 formed thereon to limit its sliding movement.

In order to permit the back rest to be swung from upright to any selected reclining position, it is pivotally secured by the bolts 31 or any other suitable media to the arm and seat frame assembly, and more particularly to rails 15 thereof. The seat frame is secured to the seat hanger straps 32 adjacent the rear thereof. These straps are affixed at one end by the bolts 33 or other suitable media to the side rails 19 of the seat frame, and at the other end are pivotally secured by the shoulder rivets or the like 34 to the back hanger straps 21. The pivot 34 is adjacent, and substantially in the same vertical plane with pivot 31. The other and forward end of the seat frame pivotally mounts at 35 one end of the angled cam 24 which rides upon the upper surface of the combined cam and track member 22.

From the foregoing it will be noted that the parts of the chair operating mechanism are so constructed and arranged that there is one particular pivot point in the back of the frame, namely 31, and one particular glide locating point in the front of the frame, namely the caster 25. The movements of the seat, the foot rest and the back rest are around or over these two points. The location of these points is such that the pivot point 31 is above the caster glide point, namely 25. With this arrangement, clockwise and counterclockwise torques are made possible around the pivot point 31 so that a state of balance is obtained by reason of the relative positions and designs of the cams that ride together above the caster.

In operation, when a person desires to move the chair from an upright to a lounging position or move the chair from any one position to a second selected position it is only necessary that he apply force to upset the balanced condition of the chair mechanism. This is done by the person. placing his arms on the chair and pushing against the upper part of the back rest with his back. This causes the back rest to exert a clockwise torque about the. pivot 31 which overcomes the counterclockwise torque at 27 and causes the seat frame and the member 22 to move forwardly. By reason of the described arrangement and construction of the parts, the movement of the member 22 is appreciably faster than that of the seat. This. is because the pivot 27 is appreciably farther removed from pivot 31 than is pivot 34. A rotating action is thereby set up on the foot rest control member 24.

The rotating action of the back rest causes the. seat to rise upwardly (see Fig. 2). This occurs for the reason that member 22 is gradually moved forwardly and raised over the caster, thereby rotating cam 24 which bears on its upper surface. The cam is pivotally connected to the seat frame and consequently elevates it.

At the same time the foregoing described action occurs, the foot rest is moved outwardly and upwardly, the leg end of cam 24 freely sliding through the groove in the foot rest hanger 23. The stop 30 limits this sliding action and in fact the movement of the entire mechanism. When the stop 30 is thus engaged, the chair is at its most reclined position, i. e. full travel in the backward position has been reached.

At the point of contact of the cam 24 and the member 22 there is a slight sliding and camming action in addition to the heretofore described rolling action of the member 22 on caster 25. This is because there is a slight differential movement between said parts which stems from the fact that the radii of those parts is not the same. This differential movement sets up a frictional force which is overcome by the operator and which is an additional force that is available for rigidity when the operator removes his pushing force from the back.

The foregoing action serves as an automatically energized brake which assists in holding the chair in position when slight unbalancing forces occur due to the operator moving his arms, as in reading, gesturing and the like. Thus the braking force permits freedom of relaxation without upsetting the state of balance.

Furthermore, the braking action is directly proportional in force to the weight of the occupant of the chair. That is to say, that a person weighing ninety (90) pounds will not require as much braking action to have liberty of small movement without upsetting the balance as will a person who has a weight of, say, two-hundred and fifty (250) pounds. The braking action is automatically proportioned in such a way that regardless of the weight of the occupant, the braking action will compensate for his slight movements and balance will be maintained.

In addition to the above described braking action, the cam 24 causes the seat to elevate to a greater degree than would be caused by the action of the track member alone. This additional relative displacement provides for clearance of the foot rest and the front of the cushion. It also brings the final height of these respective members to a more pleasing posture state.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description, the same is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, it being understood that only the preferred embodiment has been shown and described and that all changes and modifications that come within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims are also desired to be protected.

The invention claimed is:

1. An article of reclining furniture comprising a rigid frame, a back rest pivotally connected to said frame and having depending elements, a seat frame including upstanding members pivotally connected to said elements, casters carried by said rigid frame adjacent the front end thereof, a foot rest including guide means, angular cams pivotally connected at one end to said seat frame and having their other ends slidably mounted in said guide means, and combined cam and track members pivotally connected at one end to said depending elements and at their other ends to said guide means, said last mentioned members bearing upon said casters and having their upper surfaces in engagement with said angular cams, whereby upon the back rest being moved rearwardly said seat frame and foot rest are moved forwardly and upwardly.

2. An article of reclining furniture as described in claim 1 wherein said upstanding members are pivotally connected to said elements adjacent the upper ends of said members and wherein said combined cam and track members are pivotally connected adjacent the lower ends of said depending elements.

3. An article of reclining furniture as described in claim 1 wherein said upstanding members are pivotally connected to said depending elements at a point below and in substantially the same vertical plane as the pivotal connection of said elements to said rigid frame when said article of furniture is in its non-use upright position.

4. An article of reclining furniture as described in claim 1 wherein said points of pivotal connection between said depending elements and said rigid frame are above the bearing points of said cam and track members upon said casters.

5. An article of reclining furniture comprising a rigid frame, a back rest pivotally connected to said frame and including depending hanger straps, a seat frame including upstanding hanger straps pivotally connected to said first straps, casters carried by said rigid frame adjacent the front end thereof, a foot rest including hanger guides, angular cams pivotally connected to said seat frame adjacent its front end and slidable within said guides, and combined cam and track members pivotally connected at one end to said first straps and at their other ends to said guides, said members bearing upon said casters and having their upper surfaces in engagement with said angular cams respectively, whereby upon the back rest being moved rcarwardly said seat frame and foot rest are moved forwardly and upwardly.

6. An article of reclining furniture as described in claim 5 wherein the distance separating the pivotal connection of said cam and track members to said first straps from the pivotal connection of said first straps to said rigid frame is appreciably greater than the distance separating the pivotal connection of said second straps to said first straps from the pivotal connection of said first straps to said rigid frame.

7. An article of reclining furniture as described in claim 5 wherein the pivotal connections of said first straps to said rigid frame are above the bearing points of said cam and track members upon said casters.

8. An article of reclining furniture as described in claim 5 wherein the pivotal connections of said cam and track members to said hanger guides are within the radius of that portion of said angular cams that bears upon said casters when said article of furniture is in normal nonuse position, whereby a combined rolling and sliding action characterizes the relative movement of said angular cams and said track members.

9. An article of reclining furniture as described in claim 5 wherein the radii of said cam and track members and said angular cams are different, whereby the velocity of angular movement of said angular cams is greater than that of said track members upon said back rest being moved rearwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 118,719 Heath Sept. 5, 1871 1,117,979 Cromer Nov. 24, 1914 2,604,141 Maurer July 22, 1952 2,615,497 Luckhardt Oct. 28, 1952 2,658,561 Caloemeyer et a1. Nov. 10, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 479,408 Canada Dec. 18, 1951

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