Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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HIGH CHAIR WITH FOLDING LEGS
Field of Invention
The invention relates to a high chair according to the preamble of claim 1.
Background
A high chair should be relatively high in order to allow the child to sit at a
level slightly
underneath the level of a dining table/kitchen table and should also have a
high security,
among other things against tipping over. Therefore the legs are preferably
directed to be
supported on the floor at widely distanced points, which means that the high
chair requires a
comparatively large space. Therefore, it is desirable to arrange one pair of
the legs of the high
chair pivotal between a first retracted storage position, in vicinity of the
position for the other
pair of legs, and a second, extended user position. It is of course desirable
to be able to
guarantee an effective locking of the folding legs in the extended position,
which locking can
be disengaged. Further it is desirable to be able to sell and distribute the
high chair in the form
of a minimized package comprising partly unassembled legs, partly a chair unit
to which the
legs can be attached. The legs of the chair are mounted by rigidly attaching
their ends to a
respective socket on the chair unit.
The Invention
One object of the invention is to provide a locking mechanism for the high
chair, which in
addition to a secure locking of the pair of legs in extended position, allows
the pair of legs,
when extending them from a retracted position, with high security to take in
the completely
extended and locked position.
A further object is to provide a locking mechanism which is easy to disengage
in order to
allow the pair of legs to be swung back into a storage position.
One or several of these objects are achieved fully or partly with the
invention.
The invention is defined in the appended independent claim.
Embodiments of the invention are defined in the appended dependent claims.
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The invention accordingly provides a high chair with a folding pair of legs
and with a locking
mechanism which affords automatic locking of the pair of legs when it moves to
the extended
end position, wherein the locking mechanism has a control means which allows
disengagement of the pair of legs for moving them back to a storage position.
Further is provided a blocking device, which is arranged to keep the folding
pair of legs in
retracted position up to a certain limit for a torque applied on the pair of
legs around its pivot
bearing. When a user applies a torque onto the pair of legs above this limit,
the blocking
means is arranged to abruptly let go of the pair of legs so that this (and the
user's arm) is
given a momentum which exists up to the locked end position of the pair of
legs caused by the
locking mechanism.
The high chair may comprise a rigid chair unit, which comprises a seat, a back
rest rigidly
attached to the seat and a foot rest rigidly attached to the seat, the foot
rest being located at a
distance underneath the level of the seat, whereby the chair unit is carried
by a front and a rear
pair of legs, said pairs of legs being mutually foldable between a support
position, in which
the pairs of legs are extended from each other, and a storage position, in
which the pairs of
legs are retracted towards each other. The front pair of legs can be
permanently attached to the
chair unit in the area of the foot rest. The rear pair of legs can be mounted
in the lower part of
a link, which with an upper part is pivotally swivelled in the chair unit in a
transition area
between the seat and the back rest, for pivotal movement around a horizontal
axis. The length
of the link is suitably adapted to make possible the use of mutually alike and
equally long legs
for the high chair. Hereby the length of the legs is minimized, which in
practical embodiments
may imply that the length of the legs substantially corresponds to the largest
dimension of the
chair unit so that the length of a package, e.g. in the symmetry plane of the
chair unit,
substantially determines the length of the package and so that the chair unit
finds room within
the size of a carton, e.g. with a form of a parallelepiped, adapted to the
chair unit.
Short Description of the Drawings
The high chair according to the invention as well as embodiments thereof, will
be described
with reference to embodiments of the invention illustrated on the accompanying
drawings, on
which:
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Fig. 1 shows a side view of the high chair according to the invention;
Fig. 2 shows a view from behind of the high chair according to the invention;
Fig. 3 shows a front view of the high chair according to the invention;
Fig. 4 shows, in enlarged scale, a view, partially as a cross section, of a
locking mechanism
for the rear pair of legs of the high chair in extended position; and
Fig. 5 shows a view corresponding to the view in Fig. 4 with the rear pair of
legs in retracted
position.
Detailed Description of Embodiments of the Invention
The Figs. 1 to 3 show a chair unit 1, which comprises a chair unit 2 made from
injection-
moulded plastic, which comprises a back rest 3, a seat 4, and a foot rest 5,
which is integrally
attached to the front edge area of the seat 4 through a substantially vertical
attachment wall 6.
A safety device 10 comprises a central post 11, which is pivotal in a vertical
symmetry plane
of the high chair and is at a lower end journalled 12 at the transition area
between the seat 4
and the wall 6. At the upper end part of the post 11 is arranged a table 13
with a concave side
facing the back rest 3.
A blocking means not shown in the drawing makes possible the arrest of the
post 11 in
erected position.
Further is shown that the chair unit 1 comprises a link 15, the upper part of
which is
journalled at 16 around a horizontal axis, which is situated in the vicinity
of the transition area
between the back rest 3 and the seat 4. The lower end of the link 15 is shown
in an extended
end position at about the same level as the foot rest 5. The lower side edges
of the chair unit
diverge from each other in a direction downwards. The link 15 has side edges
which also
diverge in a direction downwards. The lower side edges of the chair unit in
the area of the foot
rest 5 as well as the side edges of the link 15 at the lower end of the link
15 have the form of
receiving sleeves or sockets, which receive separate chair legs 20, which are
shown to have
rounde3d feet 21, which limits the risk for the legs 20 to hook onto any
object on the ground
surface/floor, with the risk that the high chair thereby tips over.
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The legs 20 can have a blocking spring, which engages in a corresponding
recess in the
respective socket 17 in order to guarantee a correct orientation of the feet
21. The legs 20 with
feet 21 are preferably mutually alike and equally long. The four legs 20 on
the high chair
converge upwards towards a point above the seat 4.
From Fig. 1 it can be concluded that a cover 30 is mounted on the underside of
the chair unit
in the area of the wall 6 and the foot rest 5 for screening off of a space 31
there between. A
disengageable locking device 7 is shown attached between the lover end part of
the link 15
and to the cover 30 attached to the chair unit 2, as is shown more in detail
in Fig. 4 and 5.
Accordingly it can be seen that the cover 30 has a generally vertical wall 32
with an opening
33 for a guide rail 40, which is journalled in the lower end part of the link
15 through a
bearing 41 with a substantially horizontal axis. A locking element 44 is
journalled in the
lower part of the link 15 through a bearing 41 with a substantially horizontal
axis. A locking
element 44 is journalled on the guide rail 40, e.g. journalled around the axis
of the bearing 41.
The free end 47 of the locking element extends through the opening 33 of the
wall 32 when
the rear pair of legs is extended. A spring 46 is shown to be placed between
the guide rail 40
and the locking element 44. Alternatively, the locking element per se may be
resiliently
flexible around the shown support 43 on the guide rail 40, whereby the
function of the shown
spring 46 is achieved. The locking element is further shown to have an
abutment surface 45 in
the form of a step, which in the extended position of the locking element,
when the rear pair
of legs is extended, prevents, through the cooperation with the upper edge
part of the opening
33, a retraction or folding-in of the rear pair of legs. By swivelling the
locking element 44
towards the guide rail 40 the abutment surface 45 can be passed through the
opening 33.
The locking element has a tip 49, which engages behind the wall 32 in the area
under the
opening 33. The cover has a generally horizontal bottom unit 37 with a guide
cam 38 for the
lower end of the tip 49.
By manual application of a pressure in a direction downwards against the
locking element 44
the locking element 44 will approach the guide rail 40 so that the abutment
surface 45 of the
locking element together with the guide rail 40 can be displaced through the
opening 33,
whereupon the lower edge of the guide rail 40 and the upper side of the
locking element 44
can slide against the opening 33 underneath the respective upper edge during
pushing into the
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space 31. In the vicinity of the retracted position for the link 15 the tip 49
will slide up onto
the guide cam 38 and then snap down into a recess 51, as is shown in Fig. 5.
It is clear that the
ramp has a steep end surface 39, which is turned towards the side 54 of the
tip facing there
against. These surfaces are inclined in relation to the longitudinal direction
of the guide rail
5 and further the guide rail 40 is arranged resiliently flexible. When a user
wishes to fold out the
rear link 15 together with the rear legs 20 towards the extended end position
shown in Fig. 1,
the user has to apply a relatively high force in the longitudinal direction of
the guide rail 40 in
order to make the tip 49 leave the recess 51, which then will occur abruptly.
The user can of
course not stop the applied force, but will accelerate the link 15 together
with the legs 20 and
the guide rail 40 so that the momentum becomes sufficient to surely overcome
the friction
between the locking element 44 and the guide rail 40, against the upper and
lower edge of the
opening 33, respectively, and so that the abutment surface 45 of the locking
element surely
passes out through the opening 33 and is biased up to blocking position under
the influence of
the spring 46.
The spring biased locking element 44 offers of course also a childproof lock
that prevents
inadvertent folding-in of the link 15 with the rear pair of legs 20 towards
the retracted
position.
