US20020171269A1

US20020171269A1 - Folding structure for chairs

Info

Publication number: US20020171269A1
Application number: US09/860,539
Authority: US
Inventors: Lausan Liu
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-05-21
Filing date: 2001-05-21
Publication date: 2002-11-21

Abstract

A folding structure for chairs includes a front foot support, a rear foot support, a seat frame, an armrest, and a back frame pivotally engaged with the seat frame and being extensible and foldable against each other. The front foot support has a top end pivotally engaged with the armrest at an inner side of a middle section thereof. The top end has an outer side pivotally engaged through the same axis with the rear foot support. The front foot support has a middle section pivotally engaged with a middle section of the seat frame. The rear foot support has a middle section pivotally engaged with the back frame through a pivot fastener. The armrest has a rear end pivotally engaged with the back frame. Thus the front foot support may be moved toward the rear foot support and folded in a juxtaposed manner to contact the bottom side of the armrest, and the back frame and seat frame may be folded and stacked for the chair to form a minimum thickness to facilitate carrying and storing, and also to save storage space .

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a folding structure for chairs, and more particularly a folding structure that is capable of folding a chair to a minimum thickness.

2. Description of the Prior Art

People's life styles have changed greatly in the modern society. In general, people care more about the leisure and recreational activities nowadays. It can be reflected from the growing popularity of recreational vehicles in recent years. As a result, leisure and recreational products have high demands. A lot of efforts have been devoted to improve these products or to resolve the shortcomings for meeting the market demands. As there are a wide variety of goods, there are always rooms for improvement. For instance, the commonly used leisure chairs still have problems regard the carrying and storing. In order to provide folding capability, the folding chairs usually have more complicated structures and larger sizes. They generally are quite bulky when folded. To carry the folding chairs in the recreational vehicles for outdoors use could be troublesome and not convenient. Hence it could easily cool off consumers' buying motive and cause negative impact on the sales of the chairs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to resolve the foregoing disadvantages by providing an improved folding leisure chair that is capable of folding to a small size.

Another object of the present invention is to make the leisure chair foldable to a small size to facilitate carrying and storing.

The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention; [0008]
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side view of the present invention; [0009]
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side view of the present invention, during folding; [0010]
FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the present invention, after folded; and [0011]
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary rear view of the present invention, after folded;[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the leisure chair according to the present invention consists of at least a [0013] pad 1, a front foot support 2, a rear foot support 3, a seat frame 4, a back frame 5, and an armrest 6. The seat frame 4 and back frame 5 are pivotally engaged at the rear ends thereof to form an extensible and foldable structure. The front foot support 2 has a top end 21 pivotally engaged with the armrest 6 at an inner side of the middle section thereof. The outer side of the top end 21 further pivotally engages through the same axis with the rear foot support 3.
The [0014] front foot support 2 further pivotally engages with the seat frame 4 at the middle sections thereof. The rear foot support 3 also has a middle section pivotally engaged with the back frame 5 through a pivot fastener 31. The armrest 6 has a rear end pivotally engages with the back frame 5.
The [0015] pad 1 is mounted on the seat frame 4 and back frame 5 for seating people.
Referring to FIGS. 3, 4 and [0016] 5, when to fold the chair, move the seat frame 4 toward the back frame 5, because of parallel linkage movement principle and the function of the pivot fastener 31, the front foot support 2 and rear foot support 3 will be moved closely toward each other until folded and juxtaposed side by side to contact the bottom side 61 of the armrest 6. The combined folding sideward thickness of the front foot support 2 and rear foot support 3 is substantially same as the armrest 6.
Furthermore, the [0017] back frame 5 and seat frame 4 are also being folded and held within an area bordered by the front foot support 2. The combined thickness of the back frame 5 and seat frame 4 is equal to combined thickness of the overlapped thickness of the front foot support 2 and rear foot support 3 and the folded armrest 6. Thereby the folded thickness of the leisure chair may be effectively reduced to a minimal level to facilitate carrying and storing, and save the storage space.
While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been set forth for purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of this invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. [0018]

Claims

I claim:

1. A folding structure for a chair, comprising:

a front foot support, a rear foot support, a seat frame, an armrest, and a back frame pivotally engaged with the seat frame and being extensible and foldable against each other;

wherein the front foot support has a top end pivotally engaged with the armrest at an inner side of a middle section thereof, the top end having an outer side pivotally engaged through the same axis with the rear foot support, the front foot support having a middle section pivotally engaged with a middle section of the seat frame, the rear foot support having a middle section pivotally engaged with the back frame through a pivot fastener, the armrest having a rear end pivotally engaged with the back frame, thereby the front foot support being foldable toward the rear foot support in a juxtaposed manner to contact the bottom side of the armrest, and the back frame and the seat frame being foldable and stacked for the chair to have a small thickness and space.