HK1055226B - A chair - Google Patents

Description

Chair (Ref. TM. chair)

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a chair, and more particularly to a chair used in a conference, a meeting, a performance, and the like.

Background

A characteristic of chairs designed for this purpose is that their structure must be strong and comfortable. One feature of chairs designed for use in various applications, such as conferences, shows, etc., is that a plurality of chairs can be stacked or overlapped when not in use, thereby reducing the space occupied. Another particularly important feature is the possibility of mass production of chairs by simple and easy automatic operation, without affecting the aesthetic appearance and comfort of the chair for the user.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to meet the above need, it is an object of the present invention to provide a chair comprising a support structure having a pair of front legs and a pair of rear legs, said support structure supporting a seat and a backrest, characterized in that the support structure comprises a cross member, a pair of first bars fixed to the ends of the cross member and forming a pair of front legs, a pair of second bars fixed to the ends of the cross member and forming a pair of rear legs; characterised in that the support structure comprises a first fixing element between each end of the cross member and each bar forming a pair of front legs, a second fixing element between each bar forming a rear leg and the corresponding bar forming a front leg.

Drawings

The invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings, which are given by way of non-limiting example only, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a chair of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the chair of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the chair of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating the seat of the chair of the present invention in an elevated position;

fig. 5 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of a portion indicated by an arrow V in fig. 1;

fig. 6 is a perspective view of the portion indicated by arrow VI in fig. 5;

FIG. 7 shows two chairs of the present invention stacked in a longitudinal direction;

FIG. 8 shows two chairs of the present invention stacked one on top of the other;

FIG. 9 is a cross-section taken along line IX-DX of FIG. 4;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary perspective view taken in the direction of arrow X in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XI-XI in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG. 11 in a second operative position;

fig. 13 is an exploded perspective view taken along a portion indicated by an arrow XII in fig. 10;

FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view of the device shown by arrow XIV in FIG. 13;

fig. 15 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XV-XV in fig. 11.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1 to 3, reference numeral 10 denotes a chair according to the present invention. The chair 10 includes a support structure 12, a seat 14 and a backrest 16. The support structure 12 comprises a cross member 18 to which are secured at each end a first pair of rods 20 and a second pair of rods 22, preferably made of a metallic material, such as an aluminum alloy or the like. The rods 22 constitute a pair of rear legs of the chair 10, the upper ends of which terminate at the cross member 18. The rod 20 has a lower end portion 20a that forms the front leg of the chair 10 and an upper end portion 20b that forms part of the support structure for the backrest 16.

With reference to fig. 5 and 6, the manner in which the rods 20 and 22 are secured to the cross member 18 will now be described. On each end face 24 of the cross member 18 a first fixing element 26 is applied, which has an abutment 28 on its opposite side facing the cross member 18. The seat 28 is designed to receive a portion of one of the rods 20. A first screw 30 is inserted through a hole 32 in the rod 20, through a hole 34 in the first fixing element 26, and into engagement with a threaded hole 36 in the cross member 18. The shape of the seat 28 is designed so that each rod 20 has a predetermined inclination with respect to the cross member 18. A second fixing element 38 is then applied to the outer surface of the rod 20. The second fixing element 38 has a first abutment complementary in shape to the abutment 28 on the first fixing element 26 on the facing rod 20. The second fixing element 38 has a second seat 40 designed to receive the second rod 22 and shaped to maintain the second rod 22 at a predetermined inclination with respect to the first rod 20 and to the cross-member 18. The second rod 22 is secured to the cross member 18 by a pair of screws 42, the pair of screws 42 passing through holes 44 of the second rod 22, through holes 46 of the second fixation member 38, through holes 48 of the first fixation member 26, and into engagement with threaded holes 50 in the cross member 18. The assembly is completed by securing a side cover or cap 51 to the outside of the rod 22. A closure member 52 is preferably applied to the top of the rod 22.

With reference to fig. 6 and 9, the first fixing element 26 has an attachment 54 in which there is a cylindrical seat 56, inside which there is inserted a pin 58 carried by the seat 14 and which can rotate inside the seat 56. Thus, the seat 14 is attached to the base structure 12, wherein the seat 14 pivots about a transverse axis parallel to the cross member 18 and is movable toward the rear of the chair relative to the cross member 18. The seat 14 is thus movable between a non-operative raised position, as shown in fig. 4, and an operative lowered position, as shown in fig. 2. It is important to note that in the lowered position shown in figure 2, the seat 14 rests against the top surface of the cross member 18. The cross member 18, in addition to serving as a structural element to maintain the chair side-to-side engagement, also constitutes a support and stop or braking element for the seat 14.

The aforementioned fixing system allows the rod 22 forming the rear leg to be moved transversely with respect to the rod 20 forming the front leg. The distance between each rod 22 and the corresponding rod 20 is determined by the thickness of the second fixing element 38. The transverse distance between the rods 20, 22 is equal to or greater than the thickness of each outer rod 22. Thus, two chairs of the same type may be assembled with one chair next to and longitudinally slid into the other chair when the respective seats 14 are raised to the inoperative position, as shown in FIG. 7. Preferably, the legs 20, 22 are provided with feet 60, the feet 60 having guiding surfaces, so as to allow easy manoeuvring of the chairs sliding into each other, and in particular to allow easy insertion of the front leg 20a of the rear chair between the rear legs 22 of the chairs located in front thereof. Preferably, each foot 60 carries a respective caster 62.

The chairs of the present invention may also be stacked upon one another as shown in figure 8 with the seat 14 in the lowered position.

Thus, the chairs of the invention can be stacked together in the most convenient way when not in use, for example, depending on the arrangement, one chair can be slid longitudinally into another chair, or the chairs can be stacked vertically onto other chairs of the same type. The structure of the chair of the invention is suitable for mass production by means of a very rapid and simple to implement automated process, the most important reason being that no welding is required between the parts of the chair.

Referring to figures 10 to 15, the backrest 16 of the chair of the invention is preferably made in two parts which oscillate independently of each other along respective transverse axes. Specifically, the backrest 16 includes a bottom portion 64 and a top portion 66. The two portions 64 and 66 of the backrest each have a pair of tubular portions 68, 70 which are aligned with the portion 20b of the bar 20 when placed. Referring to fig. 13, each tubular portion 68 of the backrest bottom 64 is connected to the corresponding rod 20b by a first elastic return means 72. Similarly, each tubular portion 70 of the backrest top portion 66 is connected to the tubular portion 68 of the base frame portion 64 by a second resilient return means 74.

Referring to fig. 14, each elastic return means 72, 74 comprises a top tubular element 76, a connecting rod 78, a bottom tubular element 80, a sliding element 82 and an elastic element 84. The connecting rod 78 is pivotally connected at its top end to the top tubular member 76 and at its lower end to the slide member 82. The resilient member 84 comprises a coil spring compressed between the slide member 82 and the inner bottom wall of the bottom tubular member 80. The thrust of the spring 84 keeps the two tubular elements 76, 80 in contact and in a position of mutual alignment. At the surfaces 86, 88 where the two tubular elements 76, 80 are in contact with each other, a pin 90 is provided to act as an axis of relative movement between the two tubular elements 76, 80. Mutual movement between the tubular elements 76, 80 about the pin 90 causes the spring 84 to be compressed. The maximum relative inclination between the tubular members 76, 80 is determined by the maximum amount of movement of the slide member 82 relative to the base tubular member 80. The slide member 82 has a shoulder 92 designed to abut an edge 94 of the bottom tubular member 80 when the relative inclination between the tubular members 76 and 80 is at its maximum. Each elastic return means 72, 74 further comprises a protective ring made of deformable material 96 surrounding the two shoulders 98, 100 of the tubular elements 76, 80. Referring to fig. 11 and 13, the tubular element 80 of the elastic return means 72 is inserted and fixed to the upper end of the rod 20b, while the tubular element 76 of the same elastic return means is inserted and fixed into the tubular portion 68 of the bottom backrest element 64. Likewise, the bottom tubular member 80 of the elastic return means 74 is secured in the tubular portion 68 of the bottom backrest member 64, while the top tubular member 76 of the elastic return means 74 is secured in the tubular portion 70 of the top backrest member 66.

Fig. 12 illustrates the position of the resilient return means 72 and 74 in a situation of maximum recline of the backrest 16. The maximum inclination a of the elastic return means 72 is greater than the maximum inclination β of the top elastic return means 74. Preferably, the maximum inclination α is about twice the maximum inclination β. For example, the inclination β is about 6 ° when the inclination α is about 12 °. This condition provides maximum comfort to the user, in that the portions of the back rests 64 and 66 are in a condition of maximum recline, thereby forming a curve similar to the natural curve of the user's back.

It is to be understood that the details of the construction and the embodiments of the invention may be varied widely from those described and illustrated herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (10)

1. A chair comprising a support structure (12) having a pair of front legs (20a) and a pair of rear legs (22), said support structure (12) supporting a seat (14) and a backrest (16), wherein said support structure (12) comprises a cross member (18), a pair of first bars (20) secured to ends of the cross member (18) and forming a pair of front legs, a pair of second bars (22) secured to ends of the cross member (18) and forming a pair of rear legs; characterised in that said support structure (12) comprises a first fixing element (26) between each end of the cross member (18) and each rod (20) forming a pair of front legs, a second fixing element (38) between each rod (22) forming a rear leg and the corresponding rod (20) forming a front leg.

2. A chair as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the rods (22) forming the rear legs are arranged offset in the transverse direction with respect to the corresponding rods (20) forming the front legs, so that two or more chairs of the same type can be crossed each other in the longitudinal direction or can be stacked together in the vertical direction.

3. A chair as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the fixation between said bar (20, 22), said first fixing element (26), said second fixing element (38) and said cross member (18) is obtained by means of screws (30, 42).

4. A chair as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the first fixing element (26) and the second fixing element (38) have respective seats (28, 40) for maintaining the respective rods (20, 22) at a predetermined inclination with respect to the cross member (18).

5. A chair as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the seat (14) is mounted so as to rotate about a transverse axis parallel to said cross member (18), the axis of rotation of the seat (14) being defined by a pair of mounting pins (58) which are rotatable inside respective seats (56).

6. A chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein the backrest (16) comprises a top portion (66) of the backrest and a bottom portion (64) of the backrest which are independently pivotable about respective transverse axes.

7. Chair as in claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a first pair of elastic return means (72) between the top (20b) of the first pair of bars (20) and the bottom (64) of the backrest and a second pair of elastic return means (74) between the bottom (64) of the backrest and the top (66) of the backrest.

8. A chair as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that said first pair of elastic return means (72) has a maximum inclination (α) greater than the maximum inclination (β) of said second pair of elastic return means (74).

9. Chair as in claim 8, characterized in that the maximum inclination (α) of the first pair of elastic return means (72) is substantially twice the maximum inclination (β) of the second pair of elastic return means (74).

10. A chair as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that each of said elastic return means (72) comprises a pair of top tubular elements (76, 80) which are cooperatively connected together by a connecting rod (78) and an elastic element (84), the elastic element (84) maintaining said tubular elements (76, 80) in a mutually aligned position.