Chair
First Claim
1. In an office-type chair having a base, a cantilevered pedestal assembly projecting upwardly from substantially the center of said base, and a seat-back arrangement connected to an upper end of said pedestal assembly, said seat-back arrangement including a generally horizontally enlarged seat assembly and a back assembly projecting upwardly from and adjacent rear edge of said seat assembly, said seat-back arrangement including a rear tilt control mechanism for permitting the back assembly to be vertically tilted rearwardly relative to the seat assembly about a generally horizontally extending pivot axis which projects transversely relative to the seat assembly, said tilt control mechanism including a control housing associated with the seat assembly and an upright which is disposed at least partially within the back assembly and is interconnected to the control housing by a pivot shaft assembly which defines said horizontal pivot axis, and a biasing means associated with the tilt control mechanism to normally urge the upright forwardly toward a normal upright position, comprising the improvement wherein:
- said upright including a pair of sidewardly spaced and generally vertical first side walls which are respectively positioned adjacent a pair of sidewardly spaced and generally vertical second side walls provided on said control housing, said first and second side walls respectively having aligned first and second openings therethrough which are substantially coaxially aligned with said pivot axis;
said pivot shaft assembly including a one-piece elongate support shaft positioned so as to extend between and through the aligned first and second openings provided in said pairs of first and second side walls, said support shaft having a longitudinal axis which defines said pivot axis;
said pivot shaft assembly also including a pair of bearing sleeves exteriorly surrounding and mounted on said support shaft adjacent opposite ends thereof, said bearing sleeves being axially and nonrotatably secured to but removably mounted on the support shaft;
each said bearing sleeve including a first generally annular part which is nonrotatably supportingly engaged within one of said first openings and a second annular part which is rotatably supported within the respectively adjacent second opening, said first and second annular parts being axially and fixedly joined as an integral part of said bearing sleeve and having a bore projecting coaxially therethrough in which an end portion of said support shaft is supportingly engaged.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An office-type chair which provides for synchronous differential tilting of the seat and back assemblies, with the seat assembly being constructed such that the front lip thereof does not significantly lift upon rearward tilting. The chair incorporates a tilt control mechanism formed by a control body which secures to the upper end of the chair pedestal and an upright which pivotally connects to the control body about an axis disposed forwardly of the pedestal. A pivot assembly connects the upright and control body together.
4 Citations
20 Claims
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1. In an office-type chair having a base, a cantilevered pedestal assembly projecting upwardly from substantially the center of said base, and a seat-back arrangement connected to an upper end of said pedestal assembly, said seat-back arrangement including a generally horizontally enlarged seat assembly and a back assembly projecting upwardly from and adjacent rear edge of said seat assembly, said seat-back arrangement including a rear tilt control mechanism for permitting the back assembly to be vertically tilted rearwardly relative to the seat assembly about a generally horizontally extending pivot axis which projects transversely relative to the seat assembly, said tilt control mechanism including a control housing associated with the seat assembly and an upright which is disposed at least partially within the back assembly and is interconnected to the control housing by a pivot shaft assembly which defines said horizontal pivot axis, and a biasing means associated with the tilt control mechanism to normally urge the upright forwardly toward a normal upright position, comprising the improvement wherein:
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said upright including a pair of sidewardly spaced and generally vertical first side walls which are respectively positioned adjacent a pair of sidewardly spaced and generally vertical second side walls provided on said control housing, said first and second side walls respectively having aligned first and second openings therethrough which are substantially coaxially aligned with said pivot axis;
said pivot shaft assembly including a one-piece elongate support shaft positioned so as to extend between and through the aligned first and second openings provided in said pairs of first and second side walls, said support shaft having a longitudinal axis which defines said pivot axis;
said pivot shaft assembly also including a pair of bearing sleeves exteriorly surrounding and mounted on said support shaft adjacent opposite ends thereof, said bearing sleeves being axially and nonrotatably secured to but removably mounted on the support shaft;
each said bearing sleeve including a first generally annular part which is nonrotatably supportingly engaged within one of said first openings and a second annular part which is rotatably supported within the respectively adjacent second opening, said first and second annular parts being axially and fixedly joined as an integral part of said bearing sleeve and having a bore projecting coaxially therethrough in which an end portion of said support shaft is supportingly engaged. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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- 6. In an office-type chair having a base, a pedestal assembly projecting upwardly from said base, and a seat-back arrangement connected to an upper end of said pedestal assembly, said seat-back arrangement including a generally horizontally enlarged seat assembly and a back assembly projecting upwardly from and adjacent a rear edge of said seat assembly, said seat assembly including a control housing therein which is fixed to an upper end of the pedestal, said seat-back arrangement also including a rear tilt control mechanism for permitting at least the back assembly to be vertically tilted rearwardly away from a normal upright position into a rearwardly tilted position, the tilt control mechanism including an upright member which is at least partially positioned within said back assembly and is generally vertically pivotal or tiltable relative to said control housing, said seat-back arrangement also including an inner shell connected to said upright and said control housing for supporting seat and back cushions, said shell being a semi-rigid but resiliently flexible sheet having a generally L-shaped elevational configuration which defines seat and back shell parts which respectively overlie the control housing and upright and which are integrally joined together by an arcuate shell part, comprising the improvement wherein said shell is connected to both said upright and said control housing solely by cooperating parts formed integrally with the shell, the control housing and the upright so as to fixedly connect the shell at least adjacent upper and front ends thereof to the respective upright and control housing, the connection of said shell to said control housing and upright being free of separate or independent fasteners.
- 11. In an office-type chair having a base, a cantilevered pedestal assembly projecting upwardly from the base, and a seat-back arrangement connected to an upper end of said pedestal assembly, said seat-back arrangement including a generally horizontally enlarged seat assembly and a back assembly projecting upwardly from and adjacent a rear edge of said seat assembly, said seat assembly including therein a pair of housing parts which are rigidly joined together and positioned closely adjacent opposite side edges of the seat assembly, and a pair of exterior chair arms positioned adjacent opposite sides of the seat assembly and fixedly connected to the seat-back arrangement, each chair arm having an armrest portion disposed in upwardly spaced relationship from one side edge of the seat assembly and a support arm portion which projects downwardly from the armrest portion and at its lower end terminates in a mounting portion which attaches to the seat assembly adjacent one side thereof, the improvement comprising a fastener-free locking arrangement cooperating between said mounting portion and the respectively adjacent housing part for fixedly securing the mounting portion to the respective housing part, said locking arrangement including first and second lock parts which are fixedly associated with the respective mounting portion and housing part, said first and second lock parts being fixedly engageable due to relative rotative moment between said mounting portion and said housing part.
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15. In an office-type chair having a base, a pedestal assembly projecting upwardly from said base, and a seat-back arrangement connected to an upper end of said pedestal assembly, said seat-back arrangement including a generally horizontally enlarged seat assembly and a back assembly projecting upwardly from and adjacent a rear edge of said seat assembly, said seat assembly including a control housing therein which is generally stationarily and fixedly positioned relative to at least a front portion of the seat assembly, and a tilt mechanism associated with the seat-back arrangement for permitting at least the back assembly to be vertically tilted rearwardly away from a normal upright position into a rearwardly tilted position, said tilt mechanism including an upright member which is at least partially positioned within said back assembly and is vertically pivotal or tiltable relative to the control housing, and a manually-actuatable lock mechanism cooperating between the upright and the control housing to selectively lock the back assembly in at least said upright position, the improvement comprising:
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said lock mechanism including a lock plate pivotally mounted on said upright for movement between locking and unlocked positions, said lock plate being positioned adjacent said control housing for cooperating therewith when the lock plate is in said locking position;
first cooperating locking parts formed on said lock plate and said control housing and being engaged when the lock plate is in the locking position and the upright is in said normal upright position for preventing rearward tilting of the upright;
second cooperating locking parts formed on the lock plate and the control housing and being engaged when the lock plate is in the locking position and the upright is in a predetermined tilted position to prevent tilting movement of the upright away from the predetermined tilted position; and
a manually engageable and movable actuator rod movably supported adjacent and engaged with said lock plate for controlling movement thereof between said locking and unlocking positions. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. In an office-type chair having a base, a cantilevered pedestal protecting upwardly from substantially a center of said base, and a seat-back arrangement connected to an upper end of said pedestal, said seat back arrangement including a generally horizontally enlarged seat assembly and a back assembly projecting upwardly from and adjacent a rear edge of said seat assembly, said seat assembly including a control housing therein which is fixed to an upper end of the pedestal, said pedestal including a height-adjustable pneumatic cylinder unit which has a lower end thereof connected to said base and an upper end thereof connected to said control housing for permitting selected variation in the height of the seat assembly, said cylinder unit having a movable valve actuator projecting from an upper end thereof, and a manually-operable activating mechanism mounted on said seat assembly and cooperating with the valve actuator to permit selected actuation thereof when height adjustment is desired, comprising the improvement wherein:
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said activating mechanism includes an elongate actuator rod which has one end thereof disposed exteriorly of the seat assembly and provided with a gripping knob thereon, said actuator rod having an inner rod part which is positioned interiorly of the seat assembly and which is positioned closely adjacent and projects transversely relative to the valve actuator and its direction of movement; and
a one-piece resilient actuator member including a first part supportingly engaged on said interior rod part, a second part engaged with said valve actuator, and a third part engaged with said control housing, said third part comprising a resilient spring part which reacts between the housing and the interior rod part to normally maintain the interior rod part in a released position wherein the valve actuator is not activated. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification