Reclining chair

Abstract

A reclining chair adapted to be positioned in close adjacency to a room wall when in the upright sitting position and yet so structured as to allow ready assumption of any of a variety of reclined positions of occupancy without physical contact of any element thereof with the same room wall, the chair concept envisioning a fixed platform, a chassis slideable rectilinearly relative to the platform, and a body-supporting unit movable between the sitting and reclining positions relative to the chassis with a concomitant movement of a leg supporting unit between the retracted and extended positions respectively, a propeller link or other means connecting between the body-supporting unit and platform for propelling the body-supporting unit relative to the platform, with the chassis moving forwardly and progressively away from the wall as transition is made from upright sitting position to progressive positions of reclination, wherefore the body supporting unit is concomitantly moved forwardly away from the room wall, and with the chassis moving rearwardly and progressively toward the wall as transition is made from positions of reclination to upright sitting position, wherefore the body-supporting unit is concomitantly moved rearwardly and toward the room wall.

Description

ridesL L' may be of the one-part type or of the two-part type, as shown herein. The two-part type is constituted by a large foot stool 446 and a small foot stool 448 pivotally interconnected. The leg supporting unit, whichever its type, is mounted, by means of said linkage mechanisms, relative to the forward area of seat 430, for constrained movements between a fully retracted position, as viewed in FIG. 14 and a fully extended position, as viewed in FIGS. 15 and 16.

A rise bar 460 pivoted at 462 to base plate 434 serves as the primary means of interconnection between the leg-supporting unit, body-supporting unit and chassis.

A back-link 464 is fixed at one end as by screws 466 to back 432 and is pivoted at its opposite end at 468 to seat 430, to interconnect the seat and back.

A pivot link 470 pivoted at one end at 472 to link 464 is pivoted at its lower end at 474 to base plate 434 to further interconnect the body-supporting unit and chassis.

A first vertically oriented slotted plate 420 is fixed to each side rail 414, extends upwardly therefrom, and is provided with a pair of spaced, generally horizontally extending aligned front and rear slots 422 and 424 respectively.

A second vertically oriented slotted plate 480 is disposed inwardly of and in spaced parallelism to first slotted plate 420 and is provided with a pair of spaced, generally horizontally extending, aligned front and rear slots 482 and 484 respectively, which slots are disposed above the plane of slots 422 and 424 of first plate 420.

A first set of front and rear rollers 425 and 427 respectively is provided, with front roller 425 being rideable in front slot 422, and with rear roller 427 being rideable in rear slot 424.

The front rollers 425 at each side of the chair are interconnected by a cross rod 425' and the rear rollers 427 are interconnected by a cross rod 427', the cross rods extending through the adjacent second slotted plates 480.

A second set of front and rear rollers 486 and 488 respectively extends outwardly from plate 442 with front roller 486 being rideable in front slot 482, and with rear roller 488 being rideable in rear slot 484.

As the body-supporting unit is reclined, the chassis slides relative to the base in two stages: to the position shown in FIG. 15, wherein the second set of rollers 486 and 488 slides to the forward ends of slots 482 and 484 of second plate 480; and to the position shown in FIG. 16, wherein the first set of rollers 425 and 427 slides to the forward ends of slots 422 and 424 of first plate 420.

In the first stage of movement, from upright to intermediate position the chassis and both plates 420 and 480 remain stationary, with plate 442 moving to carry the body-supporting unit forwardly as the rollers 486 and 488 ride in their respective slots 482 and 484.

In the second stage of movement from intermediate to fully reclined position, the chassis and plate 480 are moved forward relative to the stationary plate 420, with the rollers 425 and 427 riding in their respective slots 422 and 424.

Of course, these operations are reversed when the body-supporting unit is returned from fully-reclined position to upright position.

A propeller link 490, pivoted at its upper end at 492 to link 464 and at its lower end at one of the cross bars 416 to the platform propels and controls the range of movement of the body-supporting unit relative to the platform.

The propeller link 490 propels the body-supporting unit and chassis forwardly as reclination occurs, as well as rearwardly on assuming the upright position, with the two sets of rollers riding in the two sets of slots.

Of course, the modified propeller means of FIGS. 8-- 13 could be employed in lieu of the single propeller link 490.

Plate 442 480 is unconstrained. Thus, it is possible that the chassis could move relative to slots 422 and 424 before plate 442 moves relative to slots 482 and 484.

However, this contingency can be avoided by the simple expedients of extending a spring, not shown, between plates 420 and 480, or by placing, a slight groove or depression, also not shown, at the rear extremity of groove slot 424, whereby a slight restraint is placed on roller 427.

While rollers rideable in slots have been described and shown, it will be understood that any appropriate slide means may interconnect the several chair components.

Claims

1. A reclining chair adapted to be positioned in close adjacency to and forwardly of a room wall when in the upright sitting position and yet so structured as to allow ready assumption of a reclined position without physical contact with the same room wall, the reclining chair comprising:

a base, a chassis supported relative to the base,

a body-supporting unit including a seat and a back having a pivotal relationship as to each other,

a leg-supporting unit, mounting means for mounting the body-supporting unit relative to the chassis in movements between upright and reclining positions,

means for mounting the chassis relative to the base in linear movements relative to the base as the body-supporting unit is concomitantly moved,

means for mounting the leg-supporting unit relative to the body-supporting unit in movements between retracted and extended positions as the body-supporting unit is concomitantly moved,

control means for controlling the pivotal motion of the back relative to the seat as the body-supporting unit is concomitantly moved,

and means operatively connecting the body-supporting unit and base for moving the chassis forwardly and progressively away from the wall and the body-supporting unit relative to the wall as transition is made from upright sitting position toward a position of reclination and for moving the chassis rearwardly and progressively toward the wall and the body-supporting unit relative to the wall as transition is made from a position of reclination toward upright sitting position.

2. An occupant-operated living room type reclining chair positionable anywhere on a floor of a room free of attachment to the floor and in close adjacency to and forwardly of an object when in upright sitting position and yet so constructed as to allow ready assumption of any reclined position free of physical contact with the same object and comprising:

a base resting on the floor, free of permanent attachment to the floor, a chassis supported relative to the base,

a body-supporting subassembly including a seat and back having a pivotal relationship as to each other,

a leg-supporting subassembly,

control means for controlling the pivotal movements of the back relative to the seat, and

linkage mechanism operatively interconnecting the body-supporting subassembly and leg-supporting subassembly and chassis and base for, first, concurrently moving:

a. the body-supporting subassembly rearwardly relative to the chassis,

b. the leg-supporting subassembly between retracted and extended positions, and

c. the chassis relative to the base and progressively forwardly away from the object,

a transition is made from upright sitting position to a position of reclination by the occupant leaning backwardly against the back and the exerting of a forwardly pushing force against the chassis, and for, second, concurrently moving:

a. the body-supporting subassemby forwardly relative to the chassis,

b. the leg-supporting subassembly between extended and retracted positions, and

c. the chassis relative to the base and progressively rearwardly toward the object,

as transition is made from a position of reclination to upright sitting position by the occupant leaning forwardly away from the back and the exerting of a downwardly pushing force against the leg-support, with any linear movement of the body-supporting subassembly relative to the base being in substantially inverse ratio to any linear movement of the chassis relative to the base.

3. A reclining chair movable by the occupant between upright sitting and intermediate-television and fully reclined positions and positionable anywhere on a floor of a room and free of attachment to the floor and in close adjacency to a wall when in upright sitting position and yet so structured as to allow ready assumption of intermediate-television and fully reclined positions free of contact with the wall comprising: a base, a chassis a body-supporting subassembly including a seat and back having a pivotal relationship as to each other, a leg-supporting subassembly, control means for controlling the pivotal movements of the seat relative to the back of the body-supporting subassembly, linkage mechanism for effecting movement of the body-supporting subassembly between upright and intermediate and reclined positions concomitant with movement of the leg-supporting subassembly between retracted and extended positions respectively and for effecting movement of both the chassis and body-supporting subassembly relative to the base in one direction responsively to and simultaneously with movement of the body-supporting subassembly relative to the chassis in counter direction.

4. A reclining chair adapted to be movable on a floor of a room and into close adjacency to and forwardly of an object when in upright sitting position and yet so structured as to allow ready assumption of a reclining position free of physical contact with the same object, the reclining chair comprising: a base, a chassis supported relative to the base, a body-supporting unit including a seat and back and leg-support having pivotal relationships as to each other, control means for controlling the pivotal movements of the seat relative to the back of the body-supporting unit, and linkage mechanism operatively interconnecting the body-supporting unit and chassis and base and leg-support for concurrently moving the chassis relative to the base and forwardly and progressively away from the object and the body-supporting unit rearwardly relative to the chassis and the leg-support of the body-supporting unit from retracted to an extended position as transition is made from upright sitting to reclination positions and for concurrently moving the chassis relative to the base rearwardly and progressively toward the object and the body-supporting unit forwardly relative to the chassis and the leg-support of the body-supporting unit from an extended to retracted position as transition is made from reclination to upright sitting positions.

5. A reclining chair adapted to be positioned on a floor more particularly in close adjacency to and forwardly of an object when in upright sitting position and yet so structured as to allow ready assumption of a reclining position without physical contact with the same object, the reclining chair comprising:

a base, a chassis supported relative to the base,

a seat and a back having a pivotal relationship as to each other, a leg-supporting unit, roller means disposed between and fixed to one of the chassis and base,

control means for controlling the pivotal movements of the seat relative to the back, and linkage mechanism operatively interconnecting the seat and back and leg-supporting unit and chassis and base for concurrently propelling the chassis relative to the base and forwardly and progressively away from the object and the seat rearwardly relative to the chassis and the leg-supporting unit from retracted to an extended position as transition is made from upright sitting position to a position of reclination responsively to an impelling force generated by the occupant upon the chassis in one direction with a resultant reaction of the seat relative to the chassis in a counter direction.