US2779393A - Reclining chair - Google Patents

Description

29, 1957 E. M. KNABUSCH EI'AL 2,779,393

RECLINING CHAIR 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 1, 1955 2L 4 354a val/Y: 7t 1 INVE TORS A974 \s'c Zia/1' J Jan. 2.9, 1957 E. M. KNABUSCH ETAL 2,779,393

RECLINING CHAIR Filed March 1, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 arm/1.0g

1957 E. M. KNABUSCH EIAL 2,779,393

RECLINING CHAIR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filrd March 1, 1955 United States Patent RECLINING CHAIR Edward M. Knabusch and Edwin J. Shoemaker, Monroe, Mich, assignors to La-Z-Boy Chair Company, Monroe, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application March 1, E55, Serial No. 491,408 6 Claims. (Cl. 155-106) This invention relates generally to chairs, and more particularly to reclining chairs, and constitutes an improvement on applicants copending application, Serial No. 391,182, filed November 10, 1953.

The chair of this invention is of the type in which the chair seat and back are pivotally supported on a base and counterbalanced so that by leaning back in the chair a user may move the chair back downwardly and forwardly and the chair seat forwardly and upwardly, simultaneously, into a reclining position. Similarly, the chair may be returned to its upright sitting position by the user sitting up in the chair. A leg or foot rest is pivotally supported adjacent the front edge of the chair, and in its inoperative position is disposed in a vertical position directly below the front of the chair seat, appearing as the lower front portion of the chair. The leg rest is actuatable with the chair seat and back so that as the chair is moved from its sitting to its reclining position the foot rest is raised from its vertical to a generally horizontal position in front of the chair seat. When the chair is returned to its upright sitting position the leg rest may remain in its raised horizontal position. Thus a user may selectively raise the foot rest any amount he desires by leaning back in the chair and keeping the foot rest in a raised position while sitting up in the chair. This affords a user the added convenience of being able to keep his legs and feet in an elevated position Without reclining the upper part of his body.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a reclining chair of the above described type in which the leg rest may be maintained in a fully or partially raised position irrespective of the position of the chair seat and back members.

it is a further object of this invention to provide a chair of the aforementioned type in which the user may selectively raise and lower the leg rest by movement of the chair seat and back members, or in which the user may raise the leg rest to a desired position and thereafter return the chair seat and back members to their upright position without affecting the position of the leg rest.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a chair of the aforementioned type in which the leg rest may be released by the user for movement with the chair seat and back.

it is a still further object of this invention to provide a novel, automatic leg rest actuating, supporting, and release mechanism interconnected with the chair seat and back supporting mechanism so as to be automatically actuatable in accordance with the manner in which the user positions the chair seat and back members.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a chair of the aforementioned type which is properly balanced so that the chair seat, back and leg members can be easily actuated in accordance with the manner in which the user distributes his weight thereon.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a novel, convenient leg rest release mechanism whereby 2,779,393 Patented Jan. 29, 1%57 ICC a user may return the leg rest to its inoperative position when he wishes to lower his feet to the floor.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an improved, automatic leg rest actuating and supporting mechanism which is positive and efficient in operation and relatively inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a reclining chair of the aforementioned type which is attractive in appearance, quiet in operation, and durable in use.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side view of the chair of this invention, partly in section and partly in elevation, with the seat and back cushions and upholstering removed for purposes of clarity and illustrating the chair in its upright or sitting position.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional side view of the chair illustrated in Fig. 1, more fully illustrating the seat and back supporting mechanism, the chair being disposed in its upright position.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but with the chair in its reclined position.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view taken along the lines 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side view, partially in section and partially in elevation, of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1, illustrating the leg rest in its raised or generally horizontal position;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the structure illustrated in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 6, taken along the line 77 thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that the chair includes a stationary wooden base or body structure 13 having front vertical leg portions 17, rear vertical leg members 19 ahorizontallty extending frame member 21 interconnecting the back members 19 and side board or frame members 23 extending between the front and back vertical members 17 and 19. Suitable braces and corner members are provided for interconnecting the aforementioned frame members rigidly to provide a strong frame chair structure. A channel shaped metal bar 25 extends horizontally between the side members 23 and is rigidly connected therewith.

A generally rectangular chair seat frame 2'7 is movably supported on the chair body 13, as is a chair back frame 29 and leg rest frame 31. Each of these frames carries a cushion and the entire chair is upholstered. How ever, the upholstering and cushioning have been omitted in the drawings in order to more clearly disclose the frames and their supporting mechanisms. The several frames are supported on the chair body 13 by means of a fixture 39 on each side of the chair, while a leg rest supporting mechanism 40, interconnecting the leg rest frame 31 and the seat frame, is provided for maintaining the leg rest in a raised position, as will be hereinafter described.

Each fixture 3% includes a parallelogram linkage structure for supporting the chair seat frame 27 on the chair body 13. This structure includes a pair of parallel, generally vertically extending links 41 and 43, which are pivotally connected at their upper ends at 45 and 47 respectively to a horizontally ext-ending bar 49, which is rigidly connected with the chair body side frame member 23. The lower ends of links 41 and 43 are pivotally connected at 5'1 and 53 to a generally vertical leg of a lower rigid bar 55, which is of an inverted L-shape in cross section. The generally horizontal leg of bar 55 abuts and is connected to the underside of a wooden bar 57 rigidly connected with the sides of the chair seat rasse frame 27. The links 41' and 43, in conjunction with the upper and lower bars 19 and 55, therefore define a parallelogram type linkage for supporting the chair seat frame on the chair body. It should be noted that when the chair is in the upright position, as shown in Fig. 2, the links 41 and 43 extend downwardly and somewhat forwardly from their pivots 4'5 and 47, for a reason which will hereinafter appear.

The chair backframe 29 is pivotally supported on the parallelogram seat linkage through a plurality of links and pivotal connections. A rigid straplike bar 59 is rigidly connected with a vertical side frame portion of the back frame, adjacent the lower end thereof, and is provided intermediate the ends thereof with a laterally projecting pin 61. A second straplike bar 63 has its upper end slotted or recessed at 65 to receive the pin 61, while the lower end of the 'bar 59 is connected to the bar 63 by a cap screw 67 so that the bars 59 and 63 function as a single bar but are separable to permit the chair back to be disassembled from the chair seat when the chair is shipped. An elongated arm 71 has its rear end pivotally connected to bar 63 at 75, just above the bottom of the back frame 29; The forward end of link 71' at 45 to the rigid bar'49; A short link 79 is connected with the pivots 76 and 5.1 to operatively connect the arm 71 with the parallelogram linkage. The arm 77 is pro-- vided with a projection or lanced stop 81, which is adapted to abut the upper edge of the arm 71 when the chair is in its fully reclined position, to limit the amount of reclining movement of the chair. A similar stop 83 is provided on the bar 49 for engaging parallelogram link 43 to limit the reclining movement of the chair.

A link 87 has its lower end pivotally connected to the back end of the rigid bar 49 below the chair back, and it upper end pivotally connected at 75 with the bar 63, so as to connect the chair back frame 29 with the chair base or body frame 13. A link 89 operatively connects the bar '63 with the parallelogram seat linkage and is therefore pivotally connected at its lower end to pivot 53 and at its upper end is pivotally connected at 91 to bar 63. The aforesaid fixture structure on each side of the chair seat frame 27 permits the seat frame and the back frame to be moved between an upright or sitting position and a reclining position.- As the chair seat frame 27 moves forwardly, it likewise moves upwardly, due to the parallelogram linkage support, and the back frame 29 fulcrums about the movable pivots 7'5 and 91, the

latter of which moves forwardly and upwardly and the former of which move forwardly and downwardly.

Thus, the chair back frame does not pivot about fixed points, but pivots about the forwardly moving pivots 75 and 91 so that the lower end of the chair back frame moves forwardly and downwardly as the chair seat frame moves forwardly and upwardly. Therefore, the bottom edge of the chair back frame 29 moves towardthe back edge of the chair seat frame 27, thereby maintaining a proper relationship at all time between the chair back and seat to properly support the user in all chair positions, without causing the users back to slide relative to the chair back, which would be undesirable and would cause bundling of the user clothing, as well as other uncomfortable effects.

The lower end of the bar 63 is curved or bent downwardly and rearwardly so that, when the chair is in its forwardly and upwardly therefrom laterally outwardly of the chair seat frame 27. The forward end of the arm 97 is bent so as to provide an arm portion 101 (see Figs. 1 and 5), extending angularly upwardly from the remainder of the arm and the extreme forward end thereof is pivotally connected at 103 to the back or upper end of a link 105. The opposite end of link 105 is pivotally connected at 197 to a short link 169, which extends adjacent one side of the foot or leg rest and at substantially right angles thereto, and has its upper or forward end pivotally connected at 111 to an L-shaped bracket 113 which is rigidly connected with the foot rest frame 31 by any suitable means. A link 115 has one end thereof pivotally connected at 117 to the bracket 113 and the opposite end thereof pivotally connected to the lower or forward end of a link 119 at 120. The upper or 'back end of link 119 is pivotally connected to a bracket 121, which is rigidly connected to a wooden member of the chair seat frame" adjacent the front thereof. Link 119 is pivotally connected intermediate the ends thereof, at 123 to the front arm 97 of the arm means 95. Link 115 is pivotally connected at 125 intermediate its ends, to link 1415 so that the outer portion of link 1135, link 199, bracket 113, and the outer end of link 1115 constitute a parallelogram linkage in conjunction with a second substantially parallelogram linkage provided by the innerend of link 1115, the back or lower end of link 115, the forward end of arm 97 and the lower or forward end of link119. Thus, when link means is moved forwardly, due to the chair seat and back members being reclined, as will be hereinafter described in detail, the parallelogram linkage adjacent the foot rest frame will swing the leg rest frame outwardly and forwardly relative to the chair seat, to properly accommodate the legs of the user. The front and rear arm members 97 and 99 of arm means 95" are held in their overlapping, slidable relationship by means of bands or straplike members 129, and the front arm 97 has a lanced abutment or stop 131 thereon, against which the front end of the 'back arm 99 i adapted to abut so that forward movement of the back arm 99 will cause a similar movement of the front arm 97 when the back arm is in engagement with the abutment 131, but a lost motion connection is provided between the chair and seat back supporting linkage and the leg rest frame through the telescopic or sliding relationship of arms 97 and 99, as will be brought out more fully hereinafter.

When. the chair is in the upright position illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, and moves toward its reclined position, the leg rest moves upwardly and forwardly at an accelerated rate, due to the fact that the pivot between the rear end of link 63 and the rear end of the back arm 99 moves through an arc about pivot 91 and is disposed forwardly of pivot 91 when the chair is fully reclined. This movement causes the leg rest to move forwardly at a faster rate than the chair seat and at the same time, due to the pivotal linkage connection between the leg rest frame, the seat frame 27, and the fixture 39, the leg rest is carried forwardly relative to the chair seat frame. Thus, the leg rest not only is quickly raised when the chair is reclined, but it moves forwardly to properly clear the upholstered base and provide a rest for supporting theusers feet and legs in a comfortable manner. When the seat is fully reclined, the leg rest is disposed above the chair seat frame and above or in substantial alignment with the back or top of the chair back, so as to provide a contoured chair which will properly support the users body.

Although in a reclining chair of this type it is desirable that the user be able to easily control the chair position, while sitting in the chair, the chair also should be usable as an ordinary sitting chair and should not, therefore, recline except when desired. When the chair is in its upright position, the parallelogram fixturelinks 41 and 43 extendangularly downwardly so-that the weight amazes of the user thereon. tends to rotate the lower ends of the links rearwardly and retain the chair in its upright position. Furthermore, in view of the fact that the chair back operating linkage is connected with the chair back frame 29, adjacent to but somewhat above the bottom thereof, pressure applied by the lower portion of the users back, against the lower portion of the chair back, as is normal when a person is sitting in a chair, will not tend to pivot the chair back toward its reclining position. However, if the upper portion of the users back is pressed against the upper portion of the chair back, a substantial leverage action is obtained, and when the weight is so applied to the chair back, the user's weight on the chair seat and the parallelogram links 4-1 and 13 is reduced so that the chair will easily move to its reclining position or any position between its upright fully reclined position. Thus, the fixtures on each side of the chair are comprised of a plurality of links which are pivotally interconnected in the manner illustrated, to properly balance the chair and permit its cornfortable use in any position. Furthermore, due to the position and arrangement of the links and pivots, as brought out, the position of the chair may be easily varied, even though the users legs and feet are supported on the leg rest.

As has been previously pointed out, one of the features of this chair is that the leg rest may be raised to a desired position and may thereafter remain in the raised position even though the chair is returned to an upright position, if the user so desires. in order to support the leg rest in this manner, a leg rest supporting mechanism is provided and is best illustrated in Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 6. As can be clearly seen therein, an elongated rod 135' extends fore and aft of the chair body 13 within the chair frame 27. The rear end of the rod 135 is anchored to a bracket 137, which in turn is fixedly connected to the back of the chair seat frame 27 by any suitable means. The front end of the rod 135 is connected to the front cross member of the chair seat frame by any suitable means. It will be noted that the rear portion of the rod 135 is reduced in diameter at 139, for a reason which will hereinafter appear. A cylinder or slide 141 is slidably supported on the rod 135. The cylinder 141 is formed from a section of sheet metal which is bent to a generally cylindrical shape and has closely spaced apart opposed edges 143 having integral upstanding lugs 145 thereon which are apertured to receive a pivot 147. The peripheral wall of the cylinder 141 is provided with a slot 1 -19, intermediate the ends thereof, which is wider at the bottom, remote from the lugs 1 15, than at the top. The slot 14-9 extends around the cylinder wall, so as to separate the cylinder into two portions which are interconnected only by the lugs 145, which maintain said portions in a fixed relationship. Apertured end caps 151 and 152 are frictionally fitted over the forward and rear ends of the cylinder 141 to provide a rigid structure. The apertures in caps 1.51 and 152 are larger than the rod 135 so as not to interfere with sliding motion of the cylinder on the rod. A. washer-shaped wedge or lock member 153 is disposed in the slot 1-19 and the member 153 is provided with an aperture 154 slightly larger than the greater diameter of the rod 135 and is normally urged against the front face 156 of the slot 149 (disposed at an angle nonperpendicular to the rod 135) by a washerlike spring 155 disposed between the men,- ber 153 and the rear wall of the slot 1 5-9. The diameter of the member 153 is greater than the diameter of the cylinder 141 and is therefore engageable by the walls of the slot 149. Depending from the member 153 is an integral tab 159 which projects downwardly below the cylinder 141. Slidably disposed on, and frictionally engaging the cylinder 141 is a sleeve 161 which extends partially around the cylinder 14-1, but has its adjacent edges spaced from each other a sufiicient distance to permit the sleeve to slide fore-and aft of the cylinder without interference from the lugs 145. The under side of the sleeve 161 is provided with a slot 163, extending forwardly from the back end thereof, through which the tab 159 extends.

When the chair is in its upright position, such as illustrated at Fig. 1, the back end of the cylinder 141 and the back of the sleeve 161 will be in engagement with I the bracket 137, which acts as an abutment and positions --will be disposed in an angular or cocked relation relative to the rod and in engagement with the angular forward wall 156 of the slot 149. A link 167 is pivotally supported at its rear end on the pivot 147, between the lugs 145, and the front end of the link 167 is pivotally connected at 168 to a bracket 169 connected to the under or back side of the leg rest frame 31, intermediate the side edges thereof. When the chair seat and back frames are moved to their reclining position, the link means will move forwardly because of the engagement of the rear link or arm 99 with the lanced abutment 131 on the front link or arm 97, so as to swing the leg rest upwardly. The upward movement of the leg rest will cause the cylinder 141 to slide forwardly along the rod and as soon as the wedge member 153 is moved forwardly of the reduced rod portion 139, the leg rest will be held against downward movement even if the seat and back are moved to their upright position. This results from the fact that the diameter of the aperture of the wedge member 153 is just slightly larger than the diameter of the enlarged portion of the rod 135. Therefore, when the washer is angularly disposed it will grip the rod and prevent relative movement between the rod and the cylinder. However, as the washer aperture is considerably larger than the diameter of the reduced rod portion 139, the washer will not grip this portion of the rod even if it is angularly disposed or cocked. Thus, when the washer is in its angularly disposed or cocked position it will not be free to slide rearwardly relative to the large rod portion and will therefore lock the cylinder against rearward movement on the rod. However, a slight reclining of the chair by the user will not cause the leg rest to be retained in a slightly raised position, because of the reduced rod portion. However, when the chair is sufficiently reclined to move the wedge member 153 onto the larger portion of the rod 135, the above described locking action will result, thereby retaining the leg rest in any desired elevated position, even though the chair seat and back are returned to their upright position. The telescopic or sliding relationship between the arms 99 and 97 of the link means 95 will permit the chair seat and back to move to their upright position without affecting the position of the leg rest.

Slidably disposed on the rod 135 in front of the sleeve 161 is a slide member 171 and an abutment plate 173, which is disposed between members 161 and 171. Depending from the slide 171, and integrally formed therewith, are spaced lugs 175 carrying a pivot 177 therebetween. The rear end of a link 179 is pivotally mounted on the pivot 177 and extends forwardly and upwardly therefrom and has its front end pivotally connected to a shorter link 1181, which is, in turn, pivotally secured to bracket 169 at 168. Slidably mounted on the leg rest frame 31, directly above the link 181, is a stud member 183 carrying a flat plate 185 at the top thereof and an integral washer 187 at the bottom thereof on the under side of the leg rest frame. The stud 183 is normally held in the raised position illustrated in Fig. 5 by means of a coil spring 189 mounted on the stud 183 between the leg rest frame 31 and the plate 185. The entire assembly is covered by the upholstering of the chair; however, the plate 185 may be depressed through the upholstering by the leg or hand of the chair user, in order to lower the leg rest. When the plate 185 is depressed, the washer 187, carried on. the other end of greases the stud 1S3, engages and depresses the link 181, which, in turn, causes the link 179 and slide 171 to moverearwardly. The rearward movement of the slide lll'il effects the engagement of the abutment plate 173 with the forward end of the sleeve Mil, moving the sleeve loll rearwardly on the cylinder Ml. As the sleeve 161 moves rearwardly, the forward edge 191i of slot 163 engages the tab 15?, moving the wedge member 353 to an upright position out of gripping engagement with the rod 1&5. The sleeve 163 frictionally engages the cylinder 1 41 with sufficient force to remain in a rearwr d position on the cylinder lid-ll in opposition to the force of the spring 155.

After the wedge member 153 has been uncocked or moved to an upright position and the entire cylinder M1 and sleeve 1 .63 assembly moved rearwardly along the rod 14-33, as the leg rest returns to its normal vertical position, the rear end of sleeve loll will strike the abutment plate 137 moving the sleeve to its forward position illustrated in Fig. 6. By this means, the wedge member 153 is returned to its cooked or locking position in order to perform its leg rest retaining function when the chair is once again reclined.

Thus the chair user can, by applying pressure with either his hand or foot against the stud 133, easily release the leg rest so that it may assume its inoperative position when the chair is in its upright position. There fore, the chair of this invention is more versatile, cornfortable, and easily operable than any heretofore known.

When the leg rest is in a substantially raised position and the supporting cylinder released, it will move by the force of gravity downwardly toward its vertical, inoperative position, as the chair seat and back are moved to their upright position. However, in order to insure that the leg rest will move to a fully vertical and inoperative position between the front legs of the chair, so as to appear as an integral part of the chair and as the front wall thereof, a latch ll l has been formed on the back of. the front arm or link 97 of each fixture 39. The latch 192i is in the form of an upwardly curved or bent portion on the end of the arm, which provides a shoulder 1%, which is adapted to be engaged by a pin 395 projecting from and carried by the lower curved end or" the link 63. it will be noted that as the chair is reclined the pin 1%" moves upwardly out of the path of the latch 119i and the latter moves forwardly of the pin and underneath the same. However, when the seat and back are moved toward their upright position, the shoulder 1% of the latch moves downwardly and behind the pin 195 and as the pin moves downwardly and rearwardly it engages the shoulder 1W3 which, being a part of the front link or arm 97, pulls the leg rest to its fully vertical and inoperative position as the chair seat and back are moved to their fully upright position The reduced diameter portion 13% of the rod 135 extends forwardly from the back end thereof far enough such that the washer E53 cannot bind or lock on the rod until the shoulder 1% of the latch 191 has passed beneath and beyond the pin 195. That is, the cylinder slide ldl must be free to move rearwardly of the rod 135 until the pin 195 and latch I191 are free for movement relative to each other, otherwise the entire chair action would bind, but once the cylinder lock and washer member have moved forwardly beyond the reduced red portion, the pin and latch arrangement is inoperative and the leg rest can be held in its raised position even when the chair seat and back are moved back to an upright position. Thus the pin and latch arrangement previously discussed insures the proper positioning of the leg rest when it is desired to have the same in its inoperative position when lowered simultaneously with the movement of the back rest and seat to upright position, but does not interfere with retention of the leg rest in a substantially raised position, when desired.

What is claimed is:

1. In a chair construction, a body, a seat member, a back member, a leg rest member, mechanism between said body and each side of said membersfor supporting the same on said body and permitting said members to move between a sitting and a reclining position, said mechanism including means for moving said leg rest member between a generally inoperative vertical sitting position and a raised generally horizontal reclining position when said back and seat members are moved between a sitting position and a reclined position, said means including a lost motion connection permitting said seat and back members to move from a reclining to a sitting position without affecting a raised position of said leg rest member, means connected with said leg rest member and with said seat member for supporting said leg rest member in a raised position after said seat and back members have been returned to a sitting position, said means including a release mechanism having an element supported on said leg rest member and actuatable by a user of the chair construction to permit said leg rest member to return to its generally inoperative position upon movement of said seat and back members to a sitting position.

2. In a chair construction, a body, a seat member, a back member, a leg rest member, mechanism between said body and each side of said members for supporting the same on said body and permitting said members to move between a sitting and a reclining position, said mechanism including means for moving said leg rest member between a generally inoperative vertical sitting position and a raised generally horizontal reclining position when said back and seat members are moved between a sitting position and a reclined position, said means including a lost motion connection permitting said seat and back members to move from a reclining to a sitting position without aiiecting a raised position of said leg rest member, a rod member extending fore and aft of and connected with said seat member, a link member pivotally connected adjacent one end thereof with said leg rest member, a member slidable on said rod, said link member being pivotally connected adjacent its opposite end to said slide member, means carried by said slide member for locking the same on said rod in a predetermined position against rearward movement, and means for releasing said lock means including a plungerlike member carried by said leg rest member and adapted to be depressed by a user of the seat and means actu atable by said plungerlike member upon the depression thereof and engageable with said lock means so as to release said lock means when said plunger is depressed.

3. in a chair construction, a body, a seat member, a back member, a leg rest member, mechanism between said body and each side of said members for supporting the same on said body and permitting said members to move between a sitting and a reclining position, said mechanism including means for moving said leg rest member between a generally inoperative vertical sitting position and a raised generally horizontal reclining position when said back and seat members are moved between a sitting position and a reclining position, said means including a lost motion connection permitting said seat and back members to move from a reclining to a sitting position without affecting a raised position of said leg rest member, a rod member extending fore and aft of and connected with said seat member, slide means slidably'supportecl on said rod member and having a transversely extending opening intermediate the ends thereof, one face of which is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said rod member and the opposing face of which is angularly disposed relative to said one face and to said rod member axis, a washerlike member sleeved on said rod member and disposed in said slide means opening and having a projection extending beyond the confines of said slide means, resilient means engaging said washerlike member and urging thesameagainst said angular face so as to cause binding of said washer member on said rod member and thus releasably lock said slide means on said rod member against rearward movement, a tubular member sleeved on said slide means and adapted to move fore and aft relative thereto, said sleeve member having an aperture therein through which the projection of said washer member extends, a link pivotally connected adjacent one end thereof with said leg rest member and adjacent the other end thereof with said slide means, abutment means disposed adjacent the rear end of said rod member for engaging said sleeve member and moving the same forwardly on said slide means so as to permit said resilient means to move said washerlike member to its lock position when said leg rest moves to its substantially vertical inoperative position, plunger means carried by said leg rest member and depressible by the user of the chair structure, and link means engageable with said tubular sleeve member and actuatable upon depression of said plunger means to move said tubular sleeve member rearwardly on said slide means so as to engage said washerlike member and move the same to its perpendicular position relative to said rod member, whereby to permit said leg rest member to move to its generally vertical inoperative position when said seat and back members move to their sitting position.

4. The structure as claimed in claim 3, wherein said link means includes a link member pivotally connected with means engageable with said tubular sleeve member and with one end of a second link member, the opposite end of the latter of which is pivotally connected with the leg rest member and disposed below said plunger means and actuatable upon depression of said plunger to move said tubular member rearwardly on said slide means to move said washer to said perpendicular position.

5. In a chair construction, a body, a seat member, a back member, a leg rest member, mechanism between said body and each side of said members, including elongated link means comprising a front link member .and a rear link member, said front link member being pivotally connected with said leg rest and extending toward the rear of the seat, a bar rigidly connected to said seat back member so as to extend downwardly therefrom, a link element, a pivot securing said link element and said bar together, said bar extending below said pivot and rearwardly thereof, a second pivot connecting said rearwardly extending end of said bar to the rear of said rear link member, means pivotally connecting said back member with said body andwith said seat member, whereby the rearward tilting movement of said seat back member and said bar causes said first pivot to move forwardly and said second pivot to move forwardly therewith, as well as rotation of the rearwardly extending portion of said bar about said first pivot, parallelogram linkage supporting said seat on said body and connected with said link element so that rearward tilting movement of said seat back causes forward and upward movement of said seat member, said front and rear link members being disposed in an overlapping sliding relationship relative to each other, means for retaining said link members in said relationship, complemental abutment means on said link members for causing said members to move together in a forward direction so that rotation of the rearwardly extending portion of said bar will impart forward movement to said link members and cause substantial and rapid movement of the leg rest and so that after said leg rest has been raised, return movement of said seat and back members will not impart a similar movement to said leg rest and will permit said leg rest to remain in a raised position, and means connected with said leg rest member and said seat member for releasably supporting said leg rest member in a raised position after said seat and back members have moved to an upright position, said last means including a member carried by said leg rest member and actuatable by the application of pressure by a portion of the chair users body for releasing said means to permit the leg rest member to move with the seat and back members to its inoperative sitting position.

6. In a chair construction, a body, a seat member, a back member, a leg rest member, mechanism between said body and each side of said members, including elongated link means comprising a front link member and a rear link member, said front link member being pivotally connected with said leg rest and extending toward the rear of the seat, a bar rigidly connected to said seat back member so as to extend downwardly therefrom, a link element, a pivot securing said link element and said bar together, said bar extending below said pivot and rearwardly thereof, a second pivot connecting said rearwardly extending end of said bar to the rear of said rear link member, means pivotally connecting said back member with said body and with said seat member, whereby the rearward tilting movement of said seat back member and said bar causes said first pivot to move forwardly and said second pivot to move forwardly therewith, as well as rotation of the rearwardly extending portion of said arm about said first pivot, parallelogram linkage supporting said seat on said body and connected with said link element so that rearward tilting movement of said seat back causes forward and upward movement of said seat member, said front and rear link members being disposed in an overlapping sliding relationship relative to, each other, means for retaining said link members in said relationship, complement-a1 abutment means on said link members for causing said members: to move together in a forward direction so that rotation of the rearwardly extending portion of said bar will impart forward movement to said link members and cause substantial and rapid movement of the leg rest and so that after said leg rest has been raised, return movement of said seat and back members will not impart a similar movement to said leg rest and will permit said leg rest to remain in a raised position, a rodlike member extending fore and aft of and connected with said seat member, the rear portion of said rod being of a smaller diameter than the forward portion thereof, a slide member disposed on said rod member, actuatable lock means carried by said slide member and normally engaging said rodlike member to prevent rearward movement of said slide member on said rodlike member after said lock means is disposed forwardly of said rod reduced portion, a link member connected with said slide member and with said leg rest, a latch means on therear portion of said front link member, a pin carried by said bar and engageable with said latch means when said seat back member is adjacent its upright position to return said leg rest to its fully inoperative position, andmeans for actuating said actuatable lock means carried by said slide member including a member supported on said leg rest member and adapted to be actuated by a portion of a chair users body to actuate said lock means and release the same to permit the leg rest member to move to its generally inoperative position when said seat and back members are in their inoperative position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 975,374 Shalansky Nov. 8, 1910 2,578,311 Lorenz Dec. 11, 1951 2,615,497 Luckhardt Oct. 28, 1952

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