Chair

• US 6,913,316 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2001
• Issued: 07/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kokuyo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Kokuyo Company Limited
• Inventors: Ueda, Nobuyuki, Kinoshita, Yojiro
• Primary Examiner(s): WHITE, RODNEY BARNETT
• Application Number:
  US10/130,746
• Publication Number:
  US 20030137173A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• Field of Search: 297/300.3, 297/300.1, 297/300.2, 297/300.4, 297/301.1, 297/301.2, 297/320
• US Class Current: 297/300.3
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 1/03216 by fluid means
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 1/03283 with fluid springs
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 7/405 with double backrests
• CPC Class Codes: A47C 7/46 with special, e.g. adjustable , lumbar region support profile; "Ackerblom" profile chairs

Abstract

In order to provide a chair that can support near a pelvis or a lumbar portion of a person who sits on the chair irrespective of a body proportion the person or a way to sit, a boundary portion K between a back and a seat is arranged to be transformable or movable and the boundary portion K can be fixed at a position where the boundary K pushes against near the pelvis of the person with an operation from outside

Claims

1. A chair comprising:

a seat face having a front portion and a rear portion;

a seat frame supporting the front portion of the seat face;

a back support having an upper portion and a lower portion;

an upper frame supporting the upper portion of the back support, the upper frame being rotatably supported by a supporting member;

an inclining body supporting the rear portion of the seat face, wherein the inclining body is supported by the supporting member so as to be rotatable independently of the seat frame and the upper frame, the inclining body having a lumbar support portion that supports the lower portion of the back support;

wherein an upward movement of the rear portion of the seat face to the front portion of the seat face, caused by inclining the inclining body without moving the seat frame and the upper frame, occurs with a forward projection of the lower portion of the back support to transform the back support.

2. The chair described in claim 1, wherein a rear end of the inclining body makes an up and down movement by a rotation of the inclining body with a front end thereof as a rotational axis, wherein an angle of inclination of the rear portion of the seat face to the front portion of the seat face is variable and changes, with or without interval positions, by inclining the inclining body.

3. The chair described in claim 2, wherein each rotational axis of the lumbar support portion and the inclining body is arranged below the seat face.

4. The chair described in claim 1, wherein the lumbar support portion is provided at the rear end portion of the inclining body and transforms to support the lower portion of the back support, wherein the lumbar support portion projects forward in accordance with a forward inclination of the inclining body to cause the lower portion of the back support to project forward.

5. The chair described in claim 4, wherein each rotational axis of the lumbar support portion and the inclining body is arranged below the seat face.

6. The chair described in claim 1, wherein the lower portion of the back support comprises a covering member supported at right and left thereof by the lumbar support portion and tension of the covering member increases in accordance with forward projection of the lumbar support portion.

7. The chair described in claim 6, wherein each rotational axis of the lumbar support portion and the inclining body is arranged below the seat face.

8. A chair according to claim 6, wherein the lumbar support portion comprises a pair of support frames, the covering member is supported at right and left side edges by the pair of support frames respectively, and tension of the covering member increases in accordance with a forward movement of the pair of support frames.

9. The chair described in claim 8, wherein each rotational axis of the lumbar support portion and the inclining body is arranged below the seat face.

10. The chair described in claim 1, wherein one end of a stretching member whose length changes freely is rotatably connected with the supporting member and the other end of the stretching member is rotatably connected with a position which is displaced from a rotational axis of the inclining body and the stretching member is switchable with an operation of an operating portion from a free condition in which the stretching member is stretched or contracted freely to a locked condition in which a length of the stretching member is fixed.

11. The chair described in claim 10, wherein each rotational axis of the lumbar support portion and the inclining body is arranged below the seat face.

12. The chair described in claim 1, wherein each rotational axis of the lumbar support portion and the inclining body is arranged below the seat face.