US 5,072,988 AGranted

Wall proximity chair

AssigneeSuper Sagless Corporation

InventorJeffrey L. Plunk

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Abstract

A three-position reclining chair having a seat and backrest that move relative to one another. The seat and backrest are supported by a mechanism having a seat mounting link carried by swing links suspended from a support link in turn carried by pivot links mounted on a roller link. The roller link moves fore and aft on fixed tracks mounted on the base. A drive link is connected to one of the pivot links and to a bell crank mounted on the roller link. The bell crank is also attached at one end to the base. A handle actuating assembly is also connected to one of pivot links. Actuation of the handle drives the roller link forward on the base and simultaneously moves the pivot links over center so that the occupant's weight moves the seat to the intermediate reclining position. To move to the fully reclined position the occupant pushes against the arms of the chair which moves the swing links and seat mounting link further forward and tilts the backrest rearwardly.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A three-way reclining chair having upright, TV and fully reclined positions including a stationary base;

a seat and arm panels constituting a seat assembly fixed to one another and movable with respect to the base;
a backrest movable with respect to the seat;
and a linkage mechanism enabling the seat assembly and backrest to move as a unit from an upright position to a TV position and for the seat assembly and backrest to move relative to one another from the TV position to a fully reclined position;
said linkage mechanism comprising
a base plate on the stationary base and front and rear tracks extending fore and aft mounted on the base plate,
a roller link carrying rollers mounted on the tracks so that the roller link may move fore and aft on the base plate between forwardmost and rearwardmost positions,
front and rear pivot links extending upwardly from and pivotally connected to the roller link for pivotal motion thereon,
a support link pivotally connected to the front and rear pivot links above the roller link and beneath the seat,
a seat support link and a seat drive link pivotally connected to the support link and carrying a seat mounting link, said seat mounting link being fixed to the seat assembly beneath the seat,
a footrest and lazy tong linkage carrying the footrest, said lazy tong linkage being connected to the seat mounting link for moving the footrest with respect to the seat between a first position wherein the footrest is retracted and a second position wherein the footrest is extended,
a drive link connected at one end to the rear pivot link and at its other end to a bell crank pivoted intermediate its ends on the roller link,
a connecting link pivotally connected at spaced points to the bell crank and to the base plate.
and a handle assembly mounted on the seat mounting link and connected to the lazy tong linkage and the front pivot link,
said handle assembly when actuated extending the footrest and moving the front and rear pivot links and the support link in a forwardly direction on the roller link whereby the occupant's weight causes the front and rear pivot links and the support link to move further in a forwardly direction on the roller link and the drive link to turn the bell crank and the connecting link to push against the base plate so that the roller link moves to the forwardmost position on the base plate at the same time as the support link moves forwardly with respect to the roller link, and thereby causing the seat assembly and backrest to move from the upright position to a TV position.

11 more elements

A three-way reclining chair having a stationary base;

a seat and panels constituting a seat assembly fixed to one another and movable with respect to the base;
and a linkage mechanism enabling the seat assembly to move from an upright position to a TV position and from the TV position to a fully reclined position;
said linkage mechanism comprising
a base plate on the base and front and rear tracks extending fore and aft mounted on the base plate,
a roller link carrying rollers mounted on the tracks so that the roller link may move fore and aft on the base plate between forwardmost and rearwardmost positions,
front and rear pivot links extending upwardly from and pivotally connected to the roller link for pivotal motion thereon,
a support link pivotally connected to the front and rear pivot links above the roller link and below the seat,
a seat support link and a seat drive link pivotally connected to the support link and carrying a seat mounting link, said seat mounting link being disposed beneath the seat and fixed to and carrying the seat assembly,
a footrest and lazy tong linkage carrying the footrest, said lazy tong linkage being connected to the seat mounting link for moving the footrest with respect to the seat between a first position wherein the footrest is retracted when the seat assembly is in the upright position and a second position wherein the footrest is extended when the seat assembly is in the TV and fully reclined positions,
a drive link connected at one end to the rear pivot link and at its other end to a bell crank pivoted intermediate its ends on the roller link,
a connecting link pivotally connected at spaced points to the bell crank and to the base plate,
and a handle assembly mounted on the seat mounting link and connected to the lazy tong linkage and the front pivot link,
said handle assembly when actuated simultaneously extending the footrest and moving the front and rear pivot links in a forwardly direction with respect to the roller link whereby the occupant's weight causes the front and rear pivot links to move further in a forwardly direction with respect to the roller link and the drive link simultaneously to turn the bell crank and the connecting link to push against the base plate so that the roller link moves from the rearwardmost to the forwardmost position on the tracks as the support link moves forwardly with respect to the roller link, and the seat assembly moves from the upright position to a TV position.

10 more elements

A three-way reclining chair having a stationary base;

a seat and arm panels constituting a seat assembly fixed to one another and movable with respect to the base;
a backrest movable with respect to the seat;
and a linkage mechanism enabling the seat assembly and backrest to move as a unit from an upright position to a TV position and for the seat assembly and backrest to move relative to one another from the TV position to a fully reclined position;
said linkage mechanism comprising
a base plate on the base and front and rear track means extending fore and aft mounted on the base plate,
a base link mounted on the track means for fore and aft movement on the base plate between rearwardmost and forwardmost positions,
front and rear pivot links extending upwardly from and pivotally connected to the base link for pivotal motion thereon,
a support link below the seat and pivotally connected to the front and rear pivot links above the base link,
a seat support link and a seat drive link pivotally connected to the support link and carrying a seat mounting link, said seat mounting link being fixed to and carrying the seat assembly,
a footrest and lazy tong linkage carrying the footrest, said lazy tong linkage being connected to the seat mounting link for moving the footrest with respect to the seat between a first position wherein the footrest is retracted and a second position wherein the footrest is extended,
a drive link connected at one end to the rear pivot link and at its other end to a bell crank pivoted intermediate its ends on the base link,
a connecting link pivotally connected at spaced points to the bell crank and to the base plate,
and a handle assembly mounted on the seat mounting link and connected to the lazy tong linkage and the front pivot link,
said handle assembly when actuated extending the footrest and moving the front and rear pivot links in a forwardly direction with respect to the base link whereby the occupant's weight causes the front and rear pivot links to move further in a forwardly direction with respect to the base link, said movement of the pivot links in a forwardly direction simultaneously causing the drive link to turn the bell crank and the connecting link to push against the base plate so that the base link moves forwardly with respect to the base plate to the forwardmost position on the tracks as the support link moves forwardly with respect to the base link, and the seat assembly and backrest move from the upright position to a TV position.

11 more elements

A three-way reclining chair having a stationary base;

a seat and arm panels constituting a seat assembly fixed to one another and movable with respect to the base;
and a linkage mechanism enabling the seat assembly to move from an upright position to a TV position and from the TV position to a fully reclined position;
said linkage mechanism comprising
a base plate and front and rear tracks means extending fore and aft mounted on the base plate;
a base link mounted on the track means for fore and aft movement on the base plate between forwardmost and rearwardmost positions,
front and rear pivot links extending upwardly from and pivotally connected to the base link for pivotal motion thereon,
a support link disposed below the seat and pivotally connected to the front and rear pivot links above the base link,
a seat support link and a seat drive link pivotally connected to the support link and carrying a seat mounting link, said seat mounting link being fixed to and carrying the seat assembly,
a footrest and lazy tong linkage carrying the footrest, said lazy tong linkage being connected to the seat mounting link for moving the footrest with respect to the seat between a first position wherein the footrest is retracted and a second position wherein the footrest is extended,
a drive link connected at one end to the rear pivot link and at its other end to a bell crank pivoted intermediate its ends on the base link,
a connecting link pivotally connected at spaced points to the bell crank and to the base plate,
and a handle assembly mounted on the seat mounting link and connected to the lazy tong linkage and the front pivot link,
said handle assembly when actuated extending the footrest and moving the front and rear pivot links in a forwardly direction whereby the occupant's weight causes the front and rear pivot links to move further in a forwardly direction to move the seat assembly forwardly and to tilt rearwardly to the TV position, and simultaneously causing the drive link to turn the bell crank and the connecting link to push against the base plate so that the base link moves forwardly from the rearwardmost to the forwardmost positions on the tracks as the support link moves forwardly with respect to the base link so as to provide room for the seat assembly to move from the upright position to a TV position, said front and rear pivot links, connecting link, bell crank, drive link and base link remaining fixed as the seat assembly moves from the TV to the fully reclined position.

10 more elements

A three-way reclining chair having a stationary base;

a seat assembly movable with respect to the base;
a backrest movable with respect to the seat;
and a linkage mechanism enabling the seat assembly and backrest to move as a unit forwardly with respect to the base from an upright to a TV position, and for the seat assembly and backrest to move relative to one another as the seat assembly moves further forward with respect to the base to a fully reclined position, said mechanism comprising
a base link movable translationally fore and aft on the base between forwardmost and rearwardmost positions,
a support link movable fore and aft on and with respect the base link,
a seat mounting link movable fore and aft on and with respect to the support link and carrying the seat assembly,
an actuating assembly including a handle operatively connected to the support link for moving the support link forwardly with respect to the base link causing the seat assembly and backrest to move as a unit to the TV position,
linkage means including a drive link connected to the base and base link for moving the base link forwardly on the base from its rearwardmost to the forwardmost positions in response to movement of the support link forwardly on the base link simultaneously with the movement of the support link with respect to the base link,
and means including a back support link carrying the backrest and operatively connected to the seat mounting link enabling the chain occupant to push back against the backrest causing it to tilt rearwardly with respect to the seat assembly and also while the base link and support link remain stationary causing the seat mounting link to move forwardly with respect to the support link when the chain moves from the TV to the fully reclined position.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.