US2869617A

US2869617A - Reclining chairs

Info

Publication number: US2869617A
Application number: US666309A
Authority: US
Inventors: Fridtjof F Schliephacke
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1957-06-18
Filing date: 1957-06-18
Publication date: 1959-01-20
Anticipated expiration: 1976-01-20

Description

Jan. 20; 1959 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE 2,869,617

- RECLINING CHAIRS Filed June 18, 195'? 5 Sheets-Sheet l O 2 E s ymmm 1959 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE 2,

I RECLINING CHAIRS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 18, 1957 INVENTOR. FRI DTJOF F SCHLIEPHACKE.

ATTORNEY.

Jall- 1959 F. F. SCHLIEPHACKE 2,869,617

RECLINING CHAIRS Filed June 18, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. FRIDTJOF E SCH LIEPHACKE ATTOH'NEX United States Patent RECLINING CHAIRS Fridtjof F. Schliephacke, Berlin-Schmargendorf, Germany, assignor to Anton Lorenz, Boynton Beach, Fla.

Application June 18, 1957-, Serial No. 666,309

3 Claims. (Cl. 155-106) This invention relates to chairs and pertains particularly to reclining chairs having a backrest, a seat, and a leg rest, all supported on a base frame and movable with respect to said base frame and with respect to each other to assume a reclining position.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a reclining chair in which the backrest, seat and leg rest, when moved to reclining position, support the body of the occupant in a relaxed, comfortable position.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a construction in which the operative connections between the parts of the chair are such as to permit a compact arrangement of parts adapted to conform to modern styling having a light, graceful appearance.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a construction in which, in the upright position of the chair, the leg rest is located beneath the seat and is substantially concealed from view, and in which, in the reclining position of the chair, the leg rest is swung downwardly, forwardly and upwardly to a position in advance of the seat.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

A preferred embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the chair.

Figure 2 is a side elevation, one side frame of the chair being broken away, the chair being shown in upright position.

Figure 3 is a similar view showing the chair in reclining position.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 44 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view, one side frame being broken away, the chair being shown in upright position.

Referring to the drawings, the base frame comprises pairs of legs 1, 2 tied together transversely by cross bars 3, 4 to form a supporting cradle for the side frames 5, 6 which are rigidly secured thereto. The side frames may be rigidly connected by a cross frame 7. The legs 1, 2 and cross bars 3, 4 may conveniently be made of suitable structural metal shapes such as rods or tubing, and the side frames 5, 6 and cross frame 7 may conveniently be made of wood or metal, upholstered or not, as desired. The cradle and side frames together form a base frame unit supporting the movable parts of the chair as hereinafter described.

The movable parts of the chair include a backrest 8, a seat 9, and a leg rest 10. Each of these movable parts may be of any desired type of standard construction, upbolstered, or not, as desired. As shown, each of these movable parts is an upholstered type, in which the upholstery is mounted on a suitable supporting frame. In the following description, the operative connections between the movable parts will be described with respect to only one side of the chair, it being understood that said parts are duplicated on the other side of the chair.

The backrest 8 is pivotally mounted on the side frames 5, 6 by means of a pivot pin 11 mounted in the back rest side frame 12 and extending into socket 13 in the side frame. Also rigidly mounted on the backrest 12 is a bar 14 which extends downwardly from pin 11 for pivotal connection to the free end of bar 15 by means of pivot pin 16. Bar 15 is rigidly mounted on seat frame 17.

The seat 9 is pivotally connected to a lever 18 by means of pivot pin 19 extending through the depending end 20 of bar 15. One end of the lever 18 is pivotally mounted on the side frame 5 by means of pivot pin 21, so that, as the chair is moved to reclining position, the rearward swinging motion of the backrest, acting through the bars 14 and 15, acting as levers, moves the seat forwardly, swinging the lever 18 forwardly to the position shown in Fig. 3. In doing so the lever 18 guides and supports the seat, the action being such as to raise the level of the seat slightly, while at the same time increasing its angle of slope toward the rear.

The leg rest 10 is mounted to swing on the front end of the seat 9 as hereinafter described, and means are provided, operated by the lever 18 during: its forward swinging movement for actuating the leg rest to cause it to swing downwardly, forwardly and upwardly to leg supporting position in advance of the seat. Thus, the pivot pin 19 is located between the ends of lever 18 and the other end of the lever 18 is pivotally connected by pivot pin 22 to a link 23, which, in turn, ispivotally connected by pivot pin 24 to lever 25. One end of the latter is pivotally connected to the seat frame by pivot pin 26, and the other end is pivotally connected by pivot pin 27 to one end of lever 28.

Lever 28, which may be referred to as the leg rest actuating lever, is pivotally connected at its other end to leg rest side frame 29 by pivot pin 30, so that as the lever 28 is moved forwardly by swinging motion of lever 25, the leg rest 10 is also moved forwardly. At the same time, the leg rest is swung through an angle of about from its position beneath the seat on leg rest supporting lever 31. One end of lever 31 is pivotally connected to seat frame 17 by pivot pin 33, and the other end of said lever is connected to one end of link 32 by pivot pin 34. The other end of link 32 is pivotally connected to the leg rest by pivot pin 35 extending through flange 36 of cross frame 37.

Levers

28 and 31 are pivotally connected at points intermediate their ends by pivot pin 38.

In the upright position of the chair, as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, the backrest is tilted slightly backward- 1y from a vertical position, and the seat slopes slightly downwardly from front to back in order to provide a comfortable seated posture for the occupant. In this position, the leg rest is located beneath the seat, and is almost entirely concealed from view. In the reclining position of the chair, as illustrated in Fig. 2, the backrest is tilted backwardly, as shown, and the seat is moved forwardly and upwardly while the angle of slope is increased slightly. At the same time, the leg rest has been swung downwardly, forwardly and upwardly to a position to support the legs of the occupant.

The shift from upright to reclining position may be brought about whenever one sitting in the chair in its upright position exerts backward pressure against the backrest by shifting the weight of the body or by'pressing forwardly against the side frames of the base unit,

or both. As the backrest swings backwardly on the fixed pivot 11, levers 14 and 15 move the seat forwardly, causing the lever 18 to swing on fixed pivot 21, which, in turn, raises the level of the seat somewhat. At the same time, the motion of lever 18, transmitted through link 23 to lever 25 causes the latter to swing forwardly on pivot 26 to move the leg rest actuating lever 28 forwardly. This aaeasir motion, in turn, being transmitted through lever 31 and link 32 causes the leg rest to swing on pivot 30 to the position illustrated in Fig. 3. If, now, it is desired to resume upright position, it is only necessary to exert slight downward pressure on the leg rest, accompanied, if desired,'by pressing backwardly against the side frames to relieve the backward pressure of the body against the backrest. As the upright position is resumed, the rearward motion of the seat and the lever 18, acting through the link 23 and levers 25 and 28, restores the leg rest to its original position beneath the seat. In the upright position, moreover, the weight of the occupant tends to hold the leg rest in fully retracted position.

It will be understood that the invention may be variously modified and embodied within the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A reclining chair comprising a base unit having opposed, spaced side frames, a backrest located between said side frames and pivotally mounted on said side frames, a seat located between said side frames and pivotally connected to said backrest at a point below the point where said backrest is mounted on said side frames, whereby said seat is moved forwardly when said backrest is tilted backwardly on said side frames, a lever pivotally connected to said seat and to an opposed side frame, the pivotal connection of said lever to said seat being at an intermediate point of said lever, said lever swinging forwardly and supporting and guiding said seat as it moves forwardly, a leg rest mounted to swing on the forward end of said seat, said leg rest being normally located beneath said seat between said side frames, and means operated by said lever during the forward swinging movement thereof to swing said leg rest downwardly, forwardly and upwardly to a position in advance of said seat, said means including a second lever pivotally connected to said seat, and a link connecting said first lever to said second lever, one end of said link being connected to an arm of said first lever extending oppositely from the pivotal connection of said lever to said side frame, and the other end of said link being connected to an intermediate point on said second lever.

2. A reclining chair as claimed in claim 1 in which said lever operated means includes a leg rest actuating lever operatively connected to said second lever and pivotally connected to said leg rest, a leg rest supporting lever pivotally connected at one end to said seat, a link pivotally connecting the other end of said leg rest supporting lever to said leg rest, said leg rest actuating lever being pivotally connected intermediate its ends to said leg rest supporting lever intermediate its ends.

3., A reclining chair as claimed in claim 1 in which said lever operated means includes a leg rest actuating lever operatively connected to said second lever an pivotally connectedto said leg rest.

ReferencesCited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STAT ES PATENTS Great Britain Oct. 12, 1955