Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ARTICI,ES OF F RNITURE
This lnvention relates to articles of furniture of an
adjustable kind, such as chairs, as well as stools and similar
furniture. Said furniture comprises a suppor-t component
provided with a pair of backward inclining elongate tubular
members for supporting a seat in adjus-table positions thereat.
At the rear portion of the seat said tubular members are
passing through a pair of support sleeves and a pair of slotted
openings diverging downwards from said support sleeves. Said
slotted openings are allowing the seat to be tilted about a
horizontal axis at the rear side portion of the seat by
llfting the front side portion thereof.
~ Norwegian Patent Specification No. 135jl~18 discloses
adjustable chairs in which a seat can be secured at adjustable
levels above the ground at obliquely upwards~and~backwards
extending tubular support members by means of support sleeves
located at the~rear side portion o~ the seat.;Said support
member is provided with a series of holes at the upper side
portion thereof whereas the support sleeve is provided with a
peg extending downwards from the upper inner side poxtion of
the sleeve and into one of said holes. When lifting the front
portion of the seat,the sea-t is -til-table in said support sleeve
about a hori~ontal axis at the rear side portion of the seat to
such an extent that said peg may be lif-ted out of engagemen-t
with said hole in its associated support member in order to
allow the seat to bé shif-ted to another level by repositioning
the peg in another hole of said series of holes. The peg is
then secured in its associated hole by means of the weight of
the seat and will be additionally secured in place by the
weight loading exerted on the seat during use.
Such an arrangement involves several disadvantages.
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Firstly, it is difficult to position the series of holes
formed in the support members sufficiently tightly together
to enable a fine setting of the chair seat relative to the
support members. This is ~o-th a functional and economic problem.
In addition, the peg has a -tendency -to scratch up the chromium
plate, varnish or other coating on the support members during
readjustment of the chair seat on the latter. There is also a
problem of metallic noise which occurs readily be-tween the
pegs and support members during readjustmen-t of the chair seat
as well as during use of the chair.
Thus, there is a need for a simpler constructional
solution where the afore-mentioned problems are avoided. The
aim is a solution where the readjustment of the chair seat can
be effected in, as it were,a step-free manner without me-tallic
noise but, nevertheless, in a way which is gentle with respect
to the chromium coating, varnish coating or similar coating of
the support members and with the possibility for precise adjust-
ment in a convenient manner. A further objective is the
avoidance of metallic noise during use of the chair.
In c~hairs, such as a chair to be used more or less;conti-
nuausl~ for a long period of time, there is a need for a
resilient connection between the chair seat and its support
c;omponent to avoid unconvenient local pressure from the chair
seat against the thigh portions of the user of the chair. It
is a further aim of the present invention to provide such
resilience between the chair seat and its support members by
incorporating such resilience in a block of an elastically
yielding, friction promotiny material.
According ~o the present invention an ar-ticle of furnl-
ture is characterized in
that the support sleeves are made of a slide promoting
material, such as plastic material, for allowing the seat to
be slided freely along said tubular members with a minimum of
friction, in an upwardly tilted position of the seat~and
~ that the upper side portion of said slotted openings
spaced from said support sleeves is provided with a block o~
elastically ylelding, ~riction promoting material, such as
rubber, and said block is providing a main support surface
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between said seat and its associated tubular support
member and of sufficient thickness to provide a spring
effect between said seat and its associated tubular mem~
ber, in a normal downwardly tilted position of the seat.
The solution of the present invention opens up for a
simple support member construction without arresting means
provided thereon and also for a rather simple chair seat
construction. The only arresting means and spring means
provided in the chair seat are the rubber blocks located
in the slotted openings in the chair seat. These simple
constructions further open up for a smooth readjustment
of the seat at its support members in a step-free manner
without metallic noise as well as they open up for better
sitting comfort during use of the chair seat.
In order that the invention can be more cleàrly
understood, a convenient embodiment thereof will now
be described, by way of example, with reference to the
accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. l is a perspective view, as seen partl~ from
below, of a chair of the present invention.
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Figs. 2 to 4 are vertical sections showing details of
the support of the chair seat at an associated support
member in three different positions, i.e. in a normal
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unloaded chair seat position, in a loaded chair seat
position and in an upwardly tilted adjustment position.
Fig. 5 is a sectional view along the line 5-5 in
Fig. 2.
; The chair illustrated in Fig. l is a chair of readily
dismountable type. The chair is provided with a support
component, made up of two U-shaped tubular members lO, ll,
and a back 12 and a seat 13. Said back and seat are made
of plastic material, each cast in one piece.
A web portion lOa and lla, respectively, of each of
said U-shaped tubular members 10, ll~extends horizontally
for supporting the chair against the floor or similar
ground surface. A first U-shaped member lO, which is
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forming the back member of the chair, is provided with
two L-shaped leg portions lOb, lOc and lOd, lOe, i.e.
two vertically parallel leg portions lOb and lOd and two
obliquely upwardly and forwardly extending, parallel leg
portions lOc and lOe. At the outer, upper end of each
leg portion lOc and lOe said back 12 is fastened in a
permanent grip thereon. In the transition areas, i.e.
in the bends between the leg portions lOb and lOc and
~ between the leg portions lOd and lOe, said U-shaped
`~ 10 members 10 and 11 are connected in an easily dismountable
manner by means of screw bolts 14 and 15 passing through
bores extending transversally of said transition areas and
into internal threads of a nut forming fastening means
(not shown) secured internally of the outer, upper end of
the leg portions llb, llc and lld, lle of the U-shaped
member 11. Said U-shaped member 11 is provided with first
leg portions llb and lld extending obliquely upwards at
an angle with the horizontal plane ~f about 60 and with
second leg portions llc and lle extending ~rom said first
leg portions obliquely upwards at an angle with t:he hori-
zontal plane of about 30. ~ ~
Said second leg portions llc and lle are forming
support and sliding portions for supporting the chair seat
` 13. Prior to the mounting together of the two U-shaped
~; 25 members 10 and 11 said leg portions llc and lle are pushed
through support sleeves 16 and 17 a~ the rear side portion
of the seat 13 and through slotted openings 18 (Figs. 2
to 5) having opposite side portions 18a and 18b diverging
downwards from an associated sleeve 16 (17). The lower
side portion 18a has a semicylindrical inner surface in
alignment with a central bore 16a of the support sleeve
whereas the upper side portion 18b is provided with a
slotted cavity 19 wherein a rubber block 20 is located.
- Said block 20 is at its inner end provided with a tongue
shaped extension 21 which is engaged in a corresponding
cavity 22 near the support sleeve 16. At the opposite
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end, said block 20 is being secured in its desired
position by a clamping plate 23 secured by screws 24.
The rubber block 20 has a main extension longitud-
inally of the supporting leg portions llc (lle), i.e. an
s extension of from two to three times the diameter of the
supporting leg portion llc. The thickness of said block
is also of main importance and should be from say 1/4 to
1/2 of the diameter of said leg portion lld in order to
-` provide necessary resilience and a desired spring effect
10 when loaded. A rubber quality of from 50 to 80 shore
would be satisfactory whereas a rubber quality of 70 shore
would be preferred. The support surface 20a of the rubber
block, i.e. the surface 20a is arranged to rest against
the leg portion llc (lle) in unloaded position (Fig. 2)
15 and in loaded position (Fig. 3), and is in the illustrated
embodiment provided with rounded cavity corresponding to
the outer surface of the supporting leg portion llc. This
~` cavity is more or less :n alignment with the upper half
of the bore of the sleeve 16. However~ a spacing 25 is
20 provided between said support surface 20a of the rubber
block 20 and the inner portion of the sleeve 160 This
spacing 25 easily enables the support surface 20a of the
rubber block 20 to be tilted completeIy out of engagement
with the leg portion llc when tilting the chair seat into
25 the position illustrated in Fig. 4, and the seat is free
to be readjusted to different positions along the support-
ing leg portion llc (lle). However, as soon as the chair
seat is released from the position illustrated in Fig. 4,
it drops into the position illustrated in Fig. 2 and
30 instantaneously provides a frictional grip between the
surface 20a and the abutting leg portion surface. When
additional load is exerted on the chair seat during use
thereof, an additional frictional grip will be exerted
between the two surfaces, and simultaneously the rubber
35 block will be compressed gradually according to the load
exerted on the chair seat. If the user exerts additional
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load at the outer front end of the chair seat, this will
again compress the rubber block additionally, and the user
~ may obtain a certain adjustment o the tilting degree of
:~ the chair seat in relation to the chair support compo-
nent. This tilting adjustment is based on a spring effect
incorporated in the rubber block.
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