Reclining chair

• US 4,877,291 A
• Filed: 11/01/1988
• Issued: 10/31/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: William P. Taylor
• Original Assignee: William P. Taylor
• Inventors: Taylor, William P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zugel, Francis K.
• Application Number:
  US07/265,695
• Time in Patent Office: 364 Days
• Field of Search: 297/300, 297/342, 297/321, 297/320, 297/322
• US Class Current: 297/300.3
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 1/03216 by fluid means
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 1/03255 with a central column, e.g. rocking office chairs
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 1/03283 with fluid springs

Abstract

An improved reclining chair including a base frame having spaced arm rests, a back frame pivotally mounted on the arm rest, a seat frame hingedly connected to the back frame at a point below the pivot connection of the back frame to the arm rest and having its front connected by an elongated linkage to the arm rest, the arm rest, elongated link, seat frame and back frame acting as a substantially parallelogram support linkage for the seat, and an elongated fluid spring cylinder having one end pivotally connected to a rigid frame member extending beneath the seat and its other end pivotally connected to the back frame at a point below the hinged seat and back connection and a manually actuated control for locking the spring cylinder at any desired position of the chair between a fully upright and a fully reclined position.

Claims

1. In a reclining chair including a base frame having spaced arm rest members disposed one at each side of the chair and at least one laterally extending cross frame member rigidly connecting said arm rest members, a generally U-shaped seat frame having a front and opposed side members, a generally rectangular back frame having a top, a bottom, and opposed side members, pivot means mounting said back frame side members one on each of said arm rest members, hinge means pivotally connecting said seat side members to said back side members at points spaced below said pivot means and above said back frame bottom member, a pair of elongated link members having one end pivotally connected one to each of said arm rest members above said seat frame and the other end connected one to each of said seat frame side members, the improvement comprising

elongated fluid spring cylinder means having a first pin means pivotally connecting one end of said fluid spring cylinder means to a cross frame member beneath said seat frame at a position substantially equally spaced between said arm rest members,

second pin means pivotally connecting the other end of said fluid spring cylinder to said back frame bottom member at a point substantially equally spaced between said back frame side members, said fluid spring cylinder normally urging said back frame to a full upright position and being compressible upon application of force to the chair back frame to move the chair back frame to a fully reclined position, the fluid spring cylinder having a predetermined fixed stroke which prevents pivotal movement of the seat back frame beyond the fully upright and fully reclined positions,

the ratio of the distance of said hinge means below said pivot means to the distance of said second pin means below said pivot means is within the range of about 0.5 to about 0.6, and

control means supported on one of said arm rest members and connected to said fluid spring cylinder, said control means being manually operable to selectively lock said air spring cylinder in any position of adjustment of the seat back frame between the fully upright and fully reclined position.

2. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein the ratio of the stroke of the fluid spring cylinder to the distance between said pivot means and said second pin means is at least about 1 to 2.5.

3. The invention defined in claim 2 wherein the attitude of said seat frame relative to the horizontal is substantially the same throughout movement from the fully reclined position to the full upright position.

4. The invention defined in claim 1 wherein the longitudinal axis of said elongated fluid spring cylinder is disposed at an obtuse angle relative to a line extending between said pivot means and said second pin means when said back frame is in the full upright position.

5. The invention defined in claim 4 wherein the location of said first and said second pin means relative to said pivot means results in said obtuse angle being increased continuously during movement of said back frame from the full upright position t the fully reclined position to thereby progressively reduce the distance between said pivot means and the longitudinal axis of said fluid spring cylinder.

6. The invention defined in claim 5 wherein the ratio of the stroke of the fluid spring cylinder to the distance between said pivot means and said second pin means is at least about 1 to 2.5.

7. The invention defined in claim 6 wherein the location of said first and said second pin means relative to said pivot means results in said obtuse angle being increased continuously during movement of said back frame from the full upright position to the fully reclined position to thereby progressively reduce the distance between said pivot means and the longitudinal axis of said fluid spring cylinder.

8. The invention defined in claim 7 wherein the attitude of said seat frame relative to the horizontal is substantially the same in the fully reclined and the full upright position.