US3102756A - Multi-purpose furniture - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 3, 1963 e. STRASSER MULTI-PU'RPOSE FURNITURE Filed June 6. 1960 FIG 7 Inventor G. Straaaer United States Patent Office 3 ,102,756 Patented Sept. 3, 1963 3,102,756 MULTI-PURPOSE FURNITURE Georg Strasser, 37 Christian Buchergasse, Vienna XXI, Austria Filed June 6, 1960, Ser. No. 33,977 Claims priority, application Austria June 9, 1959 1 Claim. (Cl. 297313) The invention relates to a seat furniture and a sofa bed, respectively, having a part for sitting or lying, which can be adjusted from a low position into an approximately horizontal high position and a back rest which may be angularly adjusted. The seat or lying part extend-s backwards in a sloping direction in the low position.

The known construction of this kind has the drawback that either the seat and the back rest form a compact unit or they are hingedly connected with one another, so that an adjustment of the seat surface causes certain adjustment of the back rest, and neither in the low or high seat position, respectively, nor in the position of a normal chair, can an individual adjustment to the seat habits of the user be attained.

According to the invention these drawbacks are avoided. This is attained in that the seat or lying part is, at the front side, pivotally connected to the frame of the furniture preferably by means of two one-armed angle levers hingedly positioned at both sides, so that [this part can be turned from the low position upwards and backwards. The low position is secured by fitting one lever part of the angle lever to the seat or lying part. The high position is secured by fitting the other lever part to an abutment, if desired, in combination with supporting the seat or lying part on bearings of the back side.

According to a further embodiment of the invention the seat or lying part is somewhat prolongated backwards and can be displaced in the same extent of this prolongation forwards, preferably under friction. In this manner an accommodation for lying is obtained having a desired level and a sufficient breadth.

The adjusting means according to the invention are simple and reliable in operation. They can be arranged invisibly in the furniture so that it is not distinguished as a multiple-purpose furniture unit.

In the drawing an embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of such a seat furniture,

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-section according to FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 shows on a larger scale a modified slotted bracket displacing device for the embodiment with a seat or lying part elongated backwards. It is self-evident that the seat furniture as illustrated can be used as a seat bank or a sofa bed if the breadth is enlarged accordingly.

FIG. 4 illustrates the slotted bracket of FIG. 3 mounted in operative position on the seat of a chair.

The seat or lying part 1 is connected at its front lower side with the connecting rod '40 of two one-armed angle levers 4 hingedly positioned by means of lashings 5. This construction allows turning of the part 1 from the illustrated low position (full lines) upwards and backwards in the indicated high position 1a (dashed lines), whereas at the same time the seat depth is reduced. The fixation of part 1 against forces acting from above (forces caused by sitting or lying on said part) occurs in the low position by fitting the lever part 4a to the lower surface of part 1 and by supporting part 1 on bearings 8. The lever parts 4a and 4b of the angle lever '4 form an angle, the angle of inclination of the seat or lying part being greater than 90 in the low position.

For adjusting into the high position 1a the seat or lying part is lifted and simultaneously turned about the centers of rotation 5 and 6 to such an extent that part 1 comes to rest on the supporting means 8a. The fixation in the high position 1a is secured because of the fact that the lever part 4b is limited in its turning action (downwardly) by a stop element 7, the lever part 4a taking a position which is more or less inclined backwards. This position is attained by a corresponding position of height of the stop element 7 relatively to the center of rotation 6 and/ or by the deflection of the angle lever 4.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, in order to obtain in the high position 1a the seat or lying part 1b is somewhat elongated backwards and this additional length is displaceable forwardly, preferably under friction.

In this case for turning into the high position 1a the seat or part 1b is at first slid or drawn forwards in the low position. For this purpose, according to a further feature of the invention, the lashings 5 are constructed as bows enabling a sliding movement of the connecting rod 4c (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 4). After drawing forwards it is also necessary to lift the elongated rear end of the seat 1b over and onto the supporting means 8a and the operation of high turning follows as above described.

In the high position 1a the furniture can then be used as a sofa bed or, after pushing back of the part lb again, as a sitting accommodation.

The back rest 2 is angularly adjustable, preferably under friction, independently of the seat or lying part so that the back rest can also be adjusted to any seat habit.

What I claim is:

An adjustable chair comprising a plurality of spaced upright legs connected together by a horizontal frame to provide a support, an upright back member fixed to the rear edge of said horizontal frame and projecting upward and rearwardly, a horizontal seat member overlying said horizontal frame, said seat member having its forward and rearward ends lying along a longitudinal path, a pair of slotted brackets mounted to said forward end of said seat, an elongated rod mounted beneath and to the forward portion of said horizontal seat member by being retained within said slotted brackets, said seat and brackets being slidable forwardly and rearwardly relative to said rod within the confines of said brackets, said elongated rod extending laterally of the seat and mounted thereto for axial rotation relative to the seat member, a pair of L-shaped rod portions disposed on laterally opposing sides of said seat member, each of said L-shaped rod portions having both legs of the L-shape lying along said longitudinal path generally parallel to the sides of said seat member, stop means mounted to the forward end portion of said horizontal frame, said L-shaped rod portions each having one of their legs shorter than the other with the remote ends of their shorter legs pivotally connected to the horizontal frame, each of said L-shaped rod portions having their other leg fixed at its remote end to said lateral rod portion, said shorter legs being adapted to pivot against said stop means to limit the movement of said L-shaped portions, said seat member having its rearward end free of said horizontal frame and upright back memher, said back member having a horizontal bar spaced above said horizontal frame, said seat member being adapted to be pivotally raised and lowered relative to the horizontal frame at its forward end by rotation of said L-shaped rod portions by pivoting said L-shaped portions about their pivotal mounting, said shorter legs being adapted to abut said stop means to limit said upward movement of said forward end of the seat member, said rearward end of said seat member being adapted to rest upon said horizontal bar when said forward end of said seat is raised, thereby providing a lower and upper seat position for said seat with said lower seat position being 3 1 in spaced generally parallel relation to said upper seat 1,789,821 Leffingwell 11111.20, 1931 position. 1,888,471 Robbins Nov. 22, 1932 1,907,177 Caldemeyer May 2, 1933 References Cited in the file of this patent i fz 5 ar 1n e UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,771,124 Borsani Nov. 20, 1956 374,175 Davis Dec. 6, 1887 1,178,214 Clark Apr. 4, 1916 FOREIGITI PATENTS 1,227,229 Abramson May 22, 1917 221,391 Great Britaln Sept. 11, 1924 1,258,640 Abrams-on Mar. 12, 1918 10 84, 17 Denmark Aug. 19, 1957

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