WO2007076870A1

WO2007076870A1 - Chair with display cavity

Info

Publication number: WO2007076870A1
Application number: PCT/DK2006/050087
Authority: WO
Inventors: Per Ivar Ledang
Original assignee: Calligaris S.P.A.
Priority date: 2006-01-02
Filing date: 2006-12-29
Publication date: 2007-07-12
Also published as: EP1977410A1

Abstract

A chair (1) with a back rest (2) comprising two sheets (2a, 2b) positioned face-to-face and at least one of said sheets having at least one 5 first area of a transparent material, which sheets form a cavity (10) between them with an opening for insertion of a display sheet (9) to be displayed through said first transparent area where said opening is at least partly covered by a sleeve (6) positioned on said back rest (2) and which is provided with at least one second area of a transparent material 10 corresponding to said first area of the back rest (2) and said sleeve (6) is fixed to the chair (1) by means of fastening means (12) having a locked and an unlocked position.

Description

Chair with display cavity

The present invention relates to a chair with a back rest comprising two sheets positioned face-to-face and at least one of said sheets having at least one first area of a transparent material, which sheets form a cavity between them with an opening for insertion of a display sheet to be displayed through said first transparent area.

Chairs with prints or embossing on the back rest for advertising are known but these are inflexible since the expression or message of these chairs cannot easily be replaced or brushed up. Changing a print or embossing requires considerable resources since the chair is either discarded or repainted which in all cases is an expensive, tedious and time consuming process. Hence it requires a lot of work to change the expression or a message on such chairs. This is problematic since chairs can be used for advertising or similar purposes that makes the user aware of a product or a company name, or provides the user with useful information such as seat numbers or name reservations. In order to use a chair for such purposes it should be easy and inexpensive to change the expression or message of a chair. Chairs of the above-mentioned type are well known in the prior art, but they have some considerable drawbacks that will be described in the following.

US patent 4,889,383 discloses a folding chair construction comprising a plurality of substantially U-shaped portions providing back and seat portions and front and rear legs which are hingedly connected for providing a movement between a folded and an erected position. A flexible fabric support portion is permanently secured to the back and seat portions. This provides a lightweight, foldable and easily transportable chair, but a back rest portion that is difficult and expensive to replace. DE 296 15 604 discloses a seat arrangement, in particular a seat arrangement for kids to be mounted on a shopping trolley, comprising a seat portion and a back rest. The back rest is a U-shaped transparent advertisement carrier mounted to a side wall of the shopping trolley. This arrangement makes it possible to replace a sheet-shaped adver- tisement placed inside the advertisement carrier, but the chair cannot be used as a normal chair.

An advertising chair is known from DE 299 11 317, which discloses a chair with transparent seat and back rest members. The mem- bers comprise two sandwiched transparent plates between which interchangeable advertisement sheets are placed. The transparent seat and back rest members are provided with advertisements of a foil type sheet, which easily can be removed or replaced by the users of the chair. During use of the chair the displayed materials will be exposed to dirt and moisture from the surroundings.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a chair of the above-mentioned type for displaying materials, in which the displayed sheets can be easily replaced but are also better protected.

To meet this object a chair according to the invention is charac- terized in that said opening is at least partly covered by a sleeve positioned on said back rest and which is provided with at least one second area of a transparent material corresponding to said first area of the back rest.

This makes it possible to remove or replace the display sheet of the chair and the displayed sheet is still protected during use of the chair. Depending on the use of the chair it can be used for displaying many different types of sheets like pieces of paper with black and white prints on or a professional advertisement in colors. A further advantage hereof is that the sleeve protects the sheets displayed in the cavity of the back rest against dust and moisture in the surroundings and thereby extends the lifetime of such displayed sheets, while it is still not too difficult to replace the display sheets. Another advantage is that the back rest can be made of a softer and more flexible material, since the sleeve encloses and protects the back rest. In a preferred embodiment of the invention said sleeve is fixed to the chair by means of fastening means having a locked and an unlocked position.

This ensures that the displayed sheets are better protected from being removed or replaced by unauthorized persons having access to the chair, since said fastening means should require a tool or a special technique to release the sleeve from the back rest which makes it possible to replace or remove the displayed sheets when necessary.

The invention will be described in detail in the following by means of examples of embodiments with reference to the schematic drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a chair according to an embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a back rest of a chair according to the invention,

Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective of a back rest according to the invention,

Fig. 4 shows the cross section IV-IV of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 shows the cross section V-V of Fig. 3, Fig. 6a is a perspective view of a back rest under insertion of a display material,

Fig. 6b is a perspective view of a detail on figure 6a,

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a back rest being enclosed by a sleeve, Fig. 8a is a cross sectional view of a chair in a preferred embodiment with fastening means in a locked position for fastening the sleeve to the chair.

Fig. 8b is a cross sectional view of a chair in accordance with the embodiment in Fig. 8a where the fastening means is in an unlocked po- sition.

Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of a chair 1 with a transparent back rest 2 with a cavity for displaying sheets. The chair 1 is comprised of a seat 3, legs 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, a back rest 2 with a cavity for displaying sheets such as one or more sheets of paper, and back rest support members 5a and 5b. The back rest 2 is fixed to the two back rest support members 5a and 5b and enclosed by a protective sleeve 6. The back rest support members 5a and 5b are typically extensions of the legs 4a and 4b. In the embodiment shown the back rest 2 is a transparent hollow middle piece comprising two sheets positioned face-to-face and forming a cavity which is positioned between said back rest support members 5a and 5b in which a sheet is displayed.

Fig. 2 shows a back rest 2 with a protecting sleeve 6 enclosing a sheet of paper 7 in the cavity of the back rest 2. There is a recess 8 in the top of the back rest 2 to ease the removal of a displayed sheet. The back rest 2 is enclosed by a sleeve 6, which protects the displayed sheet from the surrounding environment and from being touched or removed by unauthorized persons having access to the chair.

Fig. 3 is an exploded view of a back rest 2 showing how sheets of paper 7 are inserted in the opening in the top of the back rest and enclosed by a sleeve 6 that fits on to the back rest 2 and thereby protects the displayed sheet.

Fig. 4 shows the cross section IV-IV of Fig. 2 and illustrates an embodiment of the invention where the back rest 2 is a casting of a transparent material mounted on the back rest support member 5b. The two sheets 2a and 2b are positioned face-to-face and forms the cavity 10. A sheet of paper 9 or a similar material to be displayed is positioned in the cavity 10 of the back rest 2. Means are provided for preventing that the sheet of paper 9 falls out of the bottom. Such means are known per se and may for instance comprise a portion integral with one or both of the sheets 2a, 2b, or rivets or similar means extending between the two sheets, providing support for the sheet of paper. Alternatively, the means may be provided at the top of the cavity 10, the sheet or sheets of paper being inserted through the bottom. The back rest 2 is embraced by a sleeve 6 which also is a casting of a transparent material. Fig. 5 shows the same arrangement as Fig. 4 but without the enclosing the sleeve 6. The back rest 2 could also be made two parallel transparent plates faced towards each other and fixed to the back rest support members 5a and 5b and thereby forming said back rest 2 and a cavity 10 for displaying materials like sheets of paper or other materials with a similar shape, which back rest is at least partly enclosed by a sleeve 6.

Fig. 6b shows a detail of Fig. 6a where the sleeve 6 is removed to place two materials 7a and 7b in the cavity 10 of the back rest 2.

Fig. 7 illustrates how the sleeve 6 is in the process of being mounted on the back rest 2 after a display sheet 7 has been placed in the cavity 10 of the back rest 2.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the back rest support members 5a and 5b are pipe-shaped and provided with a through- going bore with a screw thread and a screw 12 as illustrated in Fig. 8a and Fig. 8b, which respectively correspond to the cross sectional views of Fig. 4 and Fig. 5. The back rest 2 and the sleeve 6 have corresponding through-going bores 11 (cf. Fig. 7) concentric with the bore of the back rest support members 5a and 5b. A screw 12 mounted in the screw thread of the back rest support members 5a and 5b can be moved from a locked position as shown in Fig. 8a where the sleeve 6 is fastened to the chair and an unlocked position where the sleeve 6 can be removed from or mounted on the back rest 2 as illustrated in Fig. 8b, where the sleeve 6 already has been removed. Other types of fastening means can fulfil the same task.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the back rest 2 is arranged to contain a sheet of paper 7 or another suitable material carrying a message to be displayed. The cavity 10 of the back rest 2 can take many forms in order to fit different types and sizes of display mate- rials. The sleeve 6 can have many different shapes that only partly cover or encloses the back rest 2.

The back rest 2 and the sleeve 6 can be made of many different types of materials by use of different production methods. The design of the back rest 2 and the corresponding sleeve 6 can take many forms and still fall within the scope of the claims.

Claims

P A T E N T C L A I M S

1. A chair with a back rest comprising two sheets positioned face-to-face and at least one of said sheets having at least one first area of a transparent material, which sheets form a cavity between them with an opening for insertion of a display sheet to be displayed through said first transparent area, characterized in that said opening is at least partly covered by a sleeve positioned on said back rest and which is provided with at least one second area of a transparent material corresponding to said first area of the back rest.

2. A chair according to claim 1, characterized in that said sleeve is fixed to the chair by means of fastening means having a locked and an unlocked position.