Molded chair with integrated support and method of making same
AssigneeHNI Technologies Inc.
InventorsDavid Mehaffey, Jeremy Rolfs
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A molded chair assembly includes a molded chair shell and a plurality of legs coupled to the molded chair shell. The molded chair shell further includes a plurality of individual and separate integrated hollow support members extending along the molded chair shell and providing the same with increased durability and stability, while maintaining flexibility. The integrated hollow support members may be formed in a gas assist injection molding process conducted in association with an injection molding process to form the molded chair shell.
Claims18
A chair comprising:
- a seat portion configured to accommodate a seated user;
- a back portion configured to support a back of the seated user;
- and
- a transition portion located between the seat portion and the back portion, the seat portion, the back portion, and the transition portion being integrally formed, the transition portion including a first support member located at a first side of the transition portion and a second support member located at a second side of the transition portion opposite the first side, the first support member forming a first hollow enclosure and the second support member forming a second hollow enclosure.
A chair comprising:
- a seat portion having an inner facing surface and an outer facing surface;
- a back portion having an inner facing surface and an outer facing surface and including a first side portion, a second side portion, and a middle portion separating the first side portion from the second side portion;
- a first support member integrated with the outer facing surface of the back portion and extending along the first side portion of the back portion, the first support member including two structural support sections that form a first hollow enclosure with the outer facing surface of the back portion;
- and
- a second support member integrated with the outer facing surface of the back portion and extending along the second side portion of the back portion, the second support member including two structural support sections that form a second hollow enclosure with the outer facing surface of the back portion.
A method of manufacturing a chair, comprising:
- forming a chair back and a chair seat through a gas assist injection molding process, wherein forming the chair back and the chair seat includes forming two independent hollow structural support members integrally with the chair back;
- and
- coupling legs to the chair seat.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.