US3005660A

US3005660A - Reclining chairs

Info

Publication number: US3005660A
Application number: US598327A
Authority: US
Inventors: Winick Jack Isaac
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1955-07-25
Filing date: 1956-07-17
Publication date: 1961-10-24
Anticipated expiration: 1978-10-24
Also published as: GB788410A

Abstract

788,410. Reclining chairs. RESEARCH INTERESTS. Ltd. July 10, 1956 [July 25, 1955], No. 21494/55. Class 52(2) A reclining chair with tilting back and seat operating as described in Specification 788,096, has a headrest pivoted to the back by a plate 13 and a pivot pin 11 and connected by a linkage consisting of members 14, 16, 18 to link 9 of the seat and back operating mechanism so that as the chair is tilted rearwardly into the reclined position the headrest is moved forwardly to support the users head in a raised position. In a modification (Fig. 3) the headrest is connected to link 9 by a single link and in a further modification the lower end of the link is connected to the seat frame. Specification 788,095 also is referred to in the Provisional Specification.

Description

Oct. 24, 1961 J. I. WlNlCK 3,005,660

RECLINING CHAIRS Filed July 17, 1956 s Sheets-Sheet 1 A ttorney;

Oct. 24, 1961 J. l. WlNlCK 3,005,660

RECLINING CHAIRS Filed July 17, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 In enlor W Lam WW1.

By L

Attorney;

Oct. 24, 1961 Filed July 17, 1956 J. l. WlNlCK RECLINING CHAIRS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. 4cz [5,440 Mv/ce 3,005,660 RECLINHQG CHAIRS Jack Isaac Winick, London, England, assignor, by mcsne assignments, to Anton Lorenz, Boynton Beach, Fla. Filed July 17, 1956, Ser. No. 598,327 Claims priority, application Great Britain July 25, 1955 2 Claims. (Cl. 29761) This invention relates to reclining chairs, i.e. chairs of the kind having a tilting back and a tilting seat which are interconnected for co-related movement.

The object of the invention is to render a chair of this kind more comfortable by providing it with a headrest which is automatically adjusted to support the users head in a raised position when the chair is set to a reclined position.

According to the invention in a reclining chair of the above kind, the back of the chair is pivoted at its lower end for angular movement about an axis extending transversely of the chair, and is provided with a headrest which is supported on said chair back for pivotal movement about an axis extending transversely thereof, said headrest being connected at a point spaced radially from its pivotal axis to one end of a linkage whose other end is connected to a point of attachment located adjacent the bottom of the chair back and spaced radially from the pivotal axis thereof such that as the chair back is tilted rearwardly into a reclined position the linkage automatically adjusts the headrest about its pivotal axis to support the users head in a raised position.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a reclining chair embodying the improved headrest and with the chair back in the erect position,

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a reclining chair similar to FIG. 1 but shovwng the chair in the fully reclined position,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of a reclining chair similar to FIG. 1 but showing an alternative form of linkage, and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view showing an alternative location for the point of attachment of the lower end of the linkage.

The invention is shown applied to a form of reclining chair in which the chair back and the chair seat are independently mounted for tilting movement within the chair frame, said seat and back being interconnected for co-related movement by means including a lever mechanism which forms a support for the seat and has a sliding connection therewith, the point of application of said seat supporting means being displaced as the lever mechanism rocks to vary the angle of the seat.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2, the chair shown comprises a side frame structure 1 embodying a fixed side rail 2 upon which is pivotally mounted at 25 adjacent its rear end the side rail 3 of the movable seat structure, the side rail 4 of the movable back structure being pivotally supported at its lower end on a pin 5 carried by a plate 6 fixed to the chair frame 1. The socket engaging the pin 5 is formed in a plate 7 secured to the outer face of the back frame member 4 and, at a point 8 below and rearward of the pin 5, a seat actuating link 9 is pivotally connected to said plate, the link being connected by pivot 27 to the lever mechanism 26 by which the forward end of the seat is raised upon rearward tilting of the chair back.

The lever 26 is pivoted intermediate its ends at 28 to the fixed side rail 2, and carries at its free end a roller 29. The roller 29 engages the lower surface of the seat side States Pa 0 rail 3, being guided for rolling movement therealong by a guide bracket 30.

. Referring now to the features of the present invention, there is provided on the chair back a separate headrest comprising two end pieces or frame members, one of which is indicated at 10, said end pieces being rigidly interconnected, for example, by a cross bar 10a, and the headrest. being upholstered independently of the chair back proper. The end piece 10 is pivotally mounted at its lower end and adjacent its forward edge to the upper end of the back frame member 4, the arrangement shown consisting of a pivot pin 11 carried by a plate 12 secured to the member 4 and engaged by a socket in a plate 13 secured to the end piece 10. The linkage for adjusting the headrest comprises a first link 14 connected at its upper end to a plate 31 on the end piece 10 at a point 15 spaced rearwardly from the pivot 11, and a second link 16 connected at its lower end to the seat actuating link 9 at a point 17 below the pivot 5. At their other ends, the

links

14, 16 are connected one to each end of a short cross lever 18 pivoted intermediate its ends on a plate 19 secured on the inner face of the back frame member 4.

It will be seen that with the arrangement described, rearward tilting of the chair back into a reclined position produces a forward and downward movement of the seat actuating link 9 which thereby exerts a downward pull on the link 16 and, through the cross lever 18, pushesthe link 14 upwardly. This pivots the headrest upwardly and forwardly so that it projects at an angle from the back of the chair to support the head of the person seated therein in a raised position. When the chair back is moved forward again the links are moved in the reverse directions and the headrest is thereby restored to its original position.

The degree of movement imparted to the headrest is dependent upon the spacing of the

pivots

11, 15 and the relative lengths of the two arms of the cross lever 18 and by appropriate choice of these factors it is possible to secure any desired degree of movement of the headrest for a given displacement of the chair back.

The back frame member 4 may terminate immediately above the

pivots

11, 15 as indicated at 20, or it may be extended as indicated at 21 in chain lines and shaped to conform to the curvature of the headrest. The back is upholstered, the extensions 21 where provided being covered individually, and thus the headrest actuating linkage is totally enclosed and in no way detracts from the appearance of the chair.

It will be understood that the link-age for producing movement of the seat constitutes a constrained four-bar linkage in which the three movable links are the portion of the back frame member 4 between the

pivots

5 and 8, the lever '26, and the seat actuating link 9. The fixed link of the four-bar linkage constitutes the pivotal mount 5 of the back frame member 4 and the pivotal mount 28 of the lever 26. The aforementioned four-bar linkage is actuated upon rearward tilting movement of the back frame member 4 to move the seat actuating link 9 forwardly and thus raise the forward portion of the seat side rail 3 through the lever 26. The headrest adjusting linkage is also operatively connected to the four-bar linkage for actuation thereby through the pivotal connection 17 of link 16 to seat actuating link 9.

In an alternative construction shown in FIG. 3, the

links

14, 16 and cross lever 18 are substituted by a single link 22, the headrest pivot 11a in this instance being placed nearer to the rear edge of the frame members and the connection 15a on the upper end of the link being spaced forwardly of said pivot. Furthermore, in either of the alternative constructions above described, the lower end of the linkage need not necessarily be attached to a movable member. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, said linkage may have a fixed point of attachment on a pin 23 mounted on a plate 24 fixed to the chair frame, said pin being spaced forward of, or forward and downward of, the back ,pivot 5 so that on rearward tilting of the back the

link

16 or 22 is displaced downward relative to the chair back.

I claim: V e

1. A reclining chair comprising a frame structure, a chair back pivotally mounted at its lower end on said frame structure, a seat pivotally mounted at its rear end on said frame structure at a point spaced from the pivotal mount of the chair back thereon, a four-bar actuating linkage for tilting the seat in response to pivoting movement of the chair back, said actuating linkageincluding as movable links an extension of the chair back depending below the pivotal mount thereof, a seat control lever pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on the frame structure forwardly of the chair back, the upper portion of the seat control lever being operatively coupled to the seat, and a seat actuating link mounted at one end on said chair back extension and at the other end on the lower portion of said seat control lever, the portion of the frame structure between the pivotal mounts of the chair back and seat control lever constituting the fixed link of the four-bar linkage, the seat actuating link being disconnected from the frame structure and translating forwardly in response to rearward tilting movement of the chair back, a headrest hingedly mounted on the upper end of the chair back for pivotal movement relative to the plane of said chair back, a head-rest actuating on said frame structure at a point spaced from the pivotal mount of the chair back thereon, a four-bar actuating linkage for tilting the seat in response to pivoting movement of the chair back, said actuating linkage including as movable links an extension of the chair back depending below the pivotal mount thereof, a seat control lever pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on the frame structure forwardly of the chair back, the upper portion of said seat control lever being operatively coupled to the seat, and a seat actuating link mounted at one end on said chair back extension and at the other end on the lower portion of said seat control lever, the portion of the frame structure between the pivotal mounts of the chair back and seat control lever constituting the fixed link of the four-bar linkage, the seat actuating link being disconnected from the frame structure and translating forwardly in response to rearward tilting movement of the chair back, a head-rest hingedly mounted on the upper end of the chair back for pivotal movement relative to the plane of said chair back, a head-rest actuating link extending along the chair back and pivotally connected at its upper end to the head-rest, the lower end of said head-rest actuating link being pivotally mounted on said seat actuating link for forward and downward movement by actuation of the four-bar linkage, whereby to tilt the head-rest forwardly when the chair back is tilted rearwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 242,733 Yengling June 7, 1881 305,845 Poolman Sept. 30, 1884 426,948 McGrew Apr. 29, 1890 469,357 Meigs Feb. 23, 1892 711,412 Archambeault Oct. 14, 1902 2,660,225 Luckhardt Nov. 24, 1953 2,843,184 Lorenz July 15,1958 2,870,822 Luckhardt Ian. 27, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 10,205 Germany July 2, 1880