Arm assembly for a chair

A chair including a telescoping position adjustment mechanism comprising:

• a support post and a support column slidable into a hollow interior of said support post wherein one of said post and said column is supported on said chair and the other of said post and said column telescopingly extends therefrom, said support post including a liner unit disposed within said hollow interior thereof which lines an inside surface of a post wall to define a reduced friction surface for facilitating sliding movement of said support column, said liner including guide projections which align with and slidably fit into one or more guide grooves which extend longitudinally along said support column and open outwardly toward said liner, each said guide groove including one or more limit stops that are adapted to abut against said guide projection corresponding thereto, each said guide projection being resiliently deflectable from an initial projecting position pressed into said guide groove and an outwardly deflected position, and each said limit stop defining a longitudinally facing abutment surface within said guide groove which is adapted to abut against a side edge of said respective guide projection on the liner unit, said guide projections on said liner unit being resiliently deflectable to said deflected position so as to permit passage of one of said limit stops on said post unit in an insertion direction as said column is inserted in said post, and returning to said initial projecting position to limit travel as said stop element moves up to and abuts against said guide projection.

A chair comprising a telescoping position adjustment assembly which includes a body supporting surface thereon, said position adjustment assembly comprising:

• a hollow support post having a post wall with a plurality of longitudinally spaced locking recesses;
• a support column which is slidably insertable within said hollow interior of said support post, said support column comprising a column body having an exterior surface which is disposed closely adjacent to an interior surface of said post wall,
• said column body including a chamber extending therethrough which includes an installation window on one side thereof and a latch window on another side thereof wherein said latch window is disposed closely adjacent to and moves over said latch recesses defined in said post wall;
• and
• a locking mechanism carried by said column body and releasably engagable with said latch recesses to releasably fix the position of said column body relative to said post wall and define the position of said body supporting surface, said locking mechanism comprising a cassette assembly which snap fits within said chamber through said installation window, said cassette assembly including a cassette housing with snap locking connector parts which snap-fittingly engage said column body to fix said cassette housing within said chamber, said cassette housing including a resiliently-biased slidable latch which is movable sidewardly within said housing and projectable out of said latch window for releasable engagement with a respective one of said latch recesses, said locking mechanism further including a manual actuator which is engagable with said slidable latch to effect releasing of said latch from said latch recesses.

An adjustable support mechanism having a movable body supporting surface comprising:

• a fixed support body and a movable support body movably interconnected with said fixed body wherein said body support surface is defined on said movable support body and the position thereof is defined by the relative position of said movable support body, said fixed and movable support bodies including a detent arrangement disposed therebetween to maintain said movable support body in one of a plurality of adjusted positions, said detent arrangement comprising a resiliently deflectable detent ring having a deflectable side wall with an open space disposed adjacent thereto to permit inward deflection of said side wall, said detent arrangement comprising a plurality of first connector parts which are one of a recessed seat or a projection which fits into said seat, and a second connector part which is the other of said seat and said projection, said deflectable side wall including either said first or said second connector parts formed therein with the other of said first and second connector parts being disposed fixedly adjacent thereto wherein the cooperation of said first and second connector parts maintains said movable body in one of said adjustment positions and displacement of said movable body effects deflection of said detent side wall to permit displacement of said movable body to another of said adjustment positions.

An armrest assembly comprising:

• a support post having a hub thereon;
• a pivot plate which is pivotally connected to said hub so as to pivot about a substantially vertical pivot axis;
• an intermediate slide plate slidably connected to said pivot plate so as to move along a first longitudinal path;
• a second slide plate slidably fixed to said first slide plate so as to be slidable along a longitudinal path oriented transverse to said first longitudinal path;
• and
• an armrest mounted to said second slide plate for supporting an arm of a user.