Seating unit with variable back stop and seat bias

A chair comprising:

• a base assembly including a control housing;
• an energy source located within the control housing;
• a seat operably supported on the base assembly for generally horizontal movement between forward and rearward positions, with the seat operably interconnected to said energy source;
• a back and a back frame wherein the back frame is pivotally coupled to the base assembly for movement of the back support between upright and reclined positions, and wherein the back frame is pivotally coupled to the seat;
• wherein the energy source biases the back support into an upright position by urging the seat to move horizontally, said horizontal movement of the seat inducing the back support to rotate to a generally upright position;
• and
• a variable back stop mechanism supported on the base assembly and operably engaging the seat, the variable back stop mechanism being configured to concurrently stop the seat and stop recline of the back support at a plurality of selectable positions between the upright and reclined position.

A chair comprising:

• a base assembly;
• a back frame pivoted to the base assembly for movement between a plurality of positions including upright and reclined positions;
• a seat pivoted to the back frame, the seat being slidably supported at a front portion of the base assembly for generally horizontal movement, the back and the seat being interconnected and arranged to move the seat generally forwardly and also move a rear portion of the seat downwardly with a synchronous pivoting motion as the back frame is reclined;
• the base assembly including a control housing with an energy mechanism positioned therein that operably engages one of the back frame and the seat for biasing the back frame to the upright position;
• and
• a back stop mechanism attached to the control housing and configured to selectively engage the seat to limit forward movement of the seat and accordingly selectively limit recline of the back frame.

A seating unit comprising:

• a base;
• a seat and a back operably pivoted to the base for simultaneous movement upon recline of the back;
• an adjustable variable back stop supported on the base and adjustably engaging the seat for adjustably limiting a rearward tilt of the back;
• a handle supported on the base for adjusting the back stop and including a flattened surface, the handle and the back stop being separately supported;
• and
• a connecting device having one end operably connected to the handle and another end connected to the back stop so that the back stop is adjusted upon movement of the handle;
• the handle being rotatable with one end of the rotation representing an upright position of the back and another end of the rotation representing a fully reclined position of the back, and intermediate positions of the rotation representing partial recline positions of the back;
• and
• a detent to hold the back stop in a selected one of the positions.

A variable back stop apparatus for a seating unit having a base, a seat, and a back, the seat and back being operably pivoted to the base for simultaneous movement including recline of the back, comprising:

• an adjustable variable back stop adapted to adjustably engage the seat for adjustably limiting a rearward tilt of the back;
• a handle adapted to be supported on one of the base and the seat for adjusting the back stop, the handle and the back stop being supported for independent movement;
• and
• a connecting mechanism operably interconnecting the handle and the back stop so that the back stop is adjusted upon movement of the handle.