Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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sackground of the Invention
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~ rhis inven-ti0n re1a~es to improved sQatiny structures of
a type having ~ortions which are shiftable in certain respects
~in correspondence with the movements Qf a user's body, -to en-
hance the user's comfort.
~ ost conventional types of seat backs with which we are
familiar have a tendency to beco~e very uncomfortable after a
user has been in the seat for any substantial period of time.
This is true even in the case of upholstered type seats, which
I!though cushioned for the purpose of providing a soft and yield-
ing support to the user's back, are not capable of giving as ef-
fective support as would be desired when the user shifts his
body slightly to different positions over a period of time. Fur-
ther, many of these prior seats are, in any body position, very
uncomfortable to the spine, by reason of their construction in a
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1 manner causing exertion of a substantial portion of the back sup-
2 porting force directly against the bones of the spine, or by rea-
3 son of their construction in such a non-supporti~e manner as to
4 allow the spine to overly relax in a curved condition and rapidly
develop fatique.
Summary of the Invention
7 The present inyention yrovides a unique seat back arrange-
8 ment which includes two back elements positioned to support the
9 back of the user along opposite sides of his spine, with these
elements being carried by a common mounting structure connected
11 to lower portions of the two elements and yieldingly mounting
12 them for resiliently resisted rearward deflection relative to
13 the mounting structure and relative to one another in correspon~
14 dence with shifting movements of different portions of a user's
body. These two elements are free of attachment to one another
~6 at their upper ends, and along inner edge portions of the two
17 elements as those portions extend downwardly along the spine.
18 These inner edge portions of the two elements are so shaped as
19 to leave the user's spine itself essentially unsupported, so that
the spine may project rearwardly slightly beyond adjacent por-
21 tions of the user's back, and thereby avoid exertion of the above
23 discussed unwanted forces directly ayainst the spine. This re-
sult is preferably achieved by providing the seat back structure
~4 with a slit extending downwardly between the two back supporting
elements, and dimensioned to receive the spine therebetween.
6 The seating device of the invention may be a portable
unit which is positionable on an upholstered seat or chair, such
28 as for example an automobile seat, in which event the mentioned
29 mounting structure for the two elements may include an anchoring
projection adapted to extend into a space betweén two cushions
31 of the upholstered seat and retain the portable structure in
32 a desired position relative theret`o. Also, in certain instances
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1 the two back sup~orting elements or portions of the device may
2 have cushioning sleeves receive~ thereabout for further improv-
3 ing the comfort of the back support.
4 The lower portion of the back structure may be connected
to a seat proper, which projects forwardly and is desirable bifur-
6 cated to form two forwardly projecting halves which are relative-
7 ly vertically deflectable to accomodate upward and downward move-
8 ments of opposite sides of the-user's body.
Brief Des~ tio~ of the Dra~
~1 The above and other features and objects of the invention
12 will be better understood from the following detailed descrip-
13 tion of the typical embodiments illustrated in the accompany-
14 ing drawings, ln which:
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a seat device embody-
~6 ing the invention, shown positioned on an automobile seat;
17 Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 of
18 Fig. l;
19 Fig. 3 is a front elevational view taken on line 3-3
of Fig. 2;
21 Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken on line 4~4 of Fig. 3;
22 Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on line 5-5 of
23 Fig. 3;
24 Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view taken on line 6-6
of Fig. 2;
26 Fig. i is a view similar to ~ig. 2, but showing a
27 variational form of the lnvention;
28 Fig. 7a is a _ront elevational view of the Fig. 7 device;
29 Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a further varia-
tional arrangement; and
31 Fig. 9 shows the Fig. 8 device as it is being folded
32 to a more portable condition~
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1 Description of the Preferred Embodiments
2 Referring first to Fig. 1, we have illustrated at 10 in
3 those figures a portable seating unit-which is illustrated as
4 applied to an upholstered seat 11. This seat 11 may ty.pically
be an automobile seat, having a generally horizontal seat cush-
6 ion 12 and an upwardly projecting back cushion 13.
7 The unit 10 includes a preferably one piece body 14,
which may be molded integrally-from an appropriate resinous plas~
9 tic material, and carry two cushion sleeves 15. The material
of body 14 is essentially stiff to afford substantial support to
11 the different portions of the user's body, but has some resilient
12 deformability as will be brought out as the description progresses.
13 ~his body forms an upwardly projecting back structure 16, a
14 generally horizontal forwardly projecting seat structure 17, and
15 a rearwardly extending anchoring projection 18 merging essentially
~6 with the juncture of the back 16 and seat 17. As seen best in
17 Fig. 2, this anchoring projection initially extends downwardly at
18 19, and then curves rearwardly and ultimately upwardly to a locatio
19 20, to have an essentially hook-shaped vertical cross sectional
configuration defining an upwardly facing or upwardly concave re-
21 cess 21 within which the lower edge portion of upholstered seat
23 cushion 13 is received to effectively retain unit 10 in the Fiys.
1 and 2 position relative to the upholstered seat. The projection
24 18 desirably has the cross section o~ Fig. 2 entirely across
26 the width of that projection, transversely of the seat.
27 The seat back portion 16 of body 1~ may be inclined slight-
ly rearwardly as it extends upwardly along the front of the in-
28 clined forward surface 122 of the upholstered cushion 13. In ex-
2g tending upwardly, the seat back portion 16 has a first relatively
30 narrow supporting post portion 22 which is symmetical with re-
spect to a central vertical front to rear plane 23 of the seat-
33 ing device 10. At the upper end of post 22, the seat back por-
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tion 16 of body 14 carries a portion 2~ of a considerably in-
2 creased width _,desirably at least several times the width 1
3 of post 22, with this upper wide portion of the bady 14 con-
4 taining a slit 25 extending downwardly from the top of body 14
5 to a location 26. Slit 25 is centered with respect to the pre-
6 viously mentioned vertical central front to rear plane 23, and
is of a width t just great enough to easily accomodate the
8 spine of a user in a relation avoiding direct exertion of sup-
. porting force against the spine. More particularly, the width
t may be between about 1 and 2 inches. ,
11 The slit 25 thus diuides the upper portion of the seat
12 back structure into two halves 28 and 29, each of which is the
13 mirror image of the other, and which are defi.ned by lower gen-
14 erally horizontal edges 30, outer essentially vertical edges
31, upper essentially horizontal edges 32, and spaced parallel
~6 essentially ~ertical inner edges 27 of the two halves defining
17 slit 25. Since the user's spine is intended to be located at
18 essentially the vertical central plane 23, the two halves 28
19 and 29 of the upper pDrtion of the back structure function essen-
~0 tially as two laterally spaced elements for engaging the user's
21 back at opposite sides of the spine respectively, to support
22 the back at those two locations somewhat independently and in a
23 relation enabling accomodation of the back structure to changes
24 in position of the user's body. The resinous plastic or other
material from which the body 14 of the device is formed has
26 sufficient resilient deformability to enable both of the seat
27 back halves 28 and 29 to be bent rearwardly through a substan-
28 tial distance by the user's body, either together as to the
29 broken line positions represented at 28' and 29' in Fig. 5
(when the same force is exerted against both of the elements
28 and 29), or se~arately and relative to one anotner as repre-
32 sented by the position 128 of element 28 .in Fiy. 5 (greater
33 force exerted against one of the elements 28 or 29 than the
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1 other~. These different types of movernent of ~he two halves
2 28 and 29 are rendered possible primarily by bending and/or
3 twisting of -the material of the seat back at its narrow mount-
4 ing post portion 22 and/or at its narrow neck portions (di-
mension x in Fig. 3) which connect elements 28 and 29 to post
6 22 and to one another. At the same time, the stiffness of
7 these portions of the back structure is su~ficient to yield-
8 ingly resist deflection of each-of the elements 28 and 29 with
9 a substantial force giving a very effective resilient support
10 to each side of the user's back. Preferably, the two halves
11 or elements 28 an~ 29 have their lower edges 30 positioned at
12 or just slightly above the level of a plane 33 ~Fig. 3) which
13 is at the user's waistline.
14 The two cushion sleeves 15 may be formed essentially
15 as inverted sacks, which can be removably slipped downwardly about
6 the two halves 28 and 29 from a position such as that illustrated
17 at 15' in Fig. 3. More particularly, each of these sleeves may
18 be formed from two front and rear pieces of fabric stitched to-
19 gether along their upper edges 34, outer edges 35, and inner
20 edges 36 down to a location 37, with the inner edges being open
21 at 38 beneath the location 37, and with the bottom edges 39 also
22 being open. Each cushion 15 may thus be slipped downwardly to
23 a location at which the point 37 is j~ust above the lower extrem
24 ity 26 of slit 25. A layer of padding 39 is provided within
25 each of the cushion sleeves, and is appropriately secured thereto,
26 to be received at the front side of a corresponding one of the
27 back supporting nalues 28 or 29 to cushion the support afforded
28 thereby. Alternatively, cushionin~ pads can of aourse be se-
29 cured directly to the front of halves 28 and 29, as by means of
30 velcro fasteners or the like.
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32
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1 As seen in Figs~ 4 and 5, the two back supporting halves
2 or elements 28 and 29 may be contoured to effec~ively support the
3 back of a user, preferably by curviny the opposite side edge por-
tions 41 slightly forwardly as seen in Fig. 5, and by curving the
elements slightly rearwardly as they advance upwardly, as seen,
6 in Fig. 4.
The seat portion 17 of the device 10 is connected in-te-
8 grally at its back edge to the upstanding post portion 22 of the
9 back structure, and projects forwardly along the top of seat
10 cushion 12. Seat portion 17 is contoured to comfortably support
11 a userls body, as by curving the rear edge of this seat portion
12 upwardly at 43, and similarly curving the opposite side edges
13 u~wardly at 44. A slit 45 tFig. 6), which is symmetrical with
14 respect to the central vertical plane 23, divides the forward
15 portion of the seat structure into two halves 46 and 47,which
~6 are mirror images of one another, and which support the two
17 halves respectively of the user's body. These halves 46 and 47
18 are deflectable downwardly relative to one another, ayainst the
19 resilience of the material forming the seat.
When the seat device 10 is in use, whenever the user
21 tends to become fatiyued in one body position he unconsciously
22 shifts his weight very slightly wi-th respect to the seat device
23 10 to a more comfortable position, and in doing so may bend one
24 o~ the seat back halves or elements 28 or 29 sliyhtly rearwardly
25 relative to the other element and relative to post 22 and seat
26 17, and may similarly deflect one of the halves 46 or 47 of the
27 bifurcated seat 17 slightly downwardly relative to the other half,
28 but with these movements beiny yieldingly resisted by the in-
29 herent resilience of the material of which body 14 is formed.
30 Frequent relatively minute ~hanges in position of this type
keep the user comfortable over very long periods of time. Fur-
32 ther, the support afforded to the back by elements 28 and 29 and
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1 their cushion sleeves 15 is at optimum support locations, just
2 above the waistline and at opposite sides of the spine. The
3 spine itself, ~ust above the waistline location, is free to pro-
4 ~ect slightly rearwardly into slit 25 between elements 28 and 29,
5 that is, the spine may project rearwardly slightly beyond the
6 laterally adjacent portions of the user's back which are sup-
ported by elements 28 and 29 along opposite sides of slit 25.
8 In this way, the discomfort which results when the spine itself
is directly supported against rearward movement is avoided.
Figs. 7 and 7a are views similar to Figs. 2 and 3 respec-
11 tively, but showing a variational unit lOa which is identical -to
~2 that of Figs. 1 to 6 except that the seat portion 17 of the de-
13 vice has been omitted. This leaves only a back structure 16a
14 corresponding to that illustrated at 16 in the first form of the
invention, integrally carrying at its lower end an anchoring por-
16 tion 18a at its lower end which may be wider than supporting post
17 22a as shown. Back structure 16a may or may not have two cush-
18 ions 15a corresponding to those illustrated at 15 in Fig. 1. The
19 device of Figs. 7 and 7a may thus be applied to an automobile seat
20 or other upholstered seat and be utilized for more efEectively
supporting the back of a user, and allowing frequent slight shift-
23 ing movements of the back while at all times maintaining effec-
2~ tive support thereof, with the device being held in place by the
i anchoring portion 18a positioned as illustrated in Fig. 2.
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Figs 8 and 9 show another arrangement in which a back stru~ ._
26 ture 16b identical with that described at 16 in Figs. 1 to 6, and
27 preferably carrying cushioning sleeves 15b on its two upper halves
8 28b and 29b, is connected at the lower end of its mounting post
29 portion 22b (corresponding to portion 22 of Figs. 1 to 6) to the
30 rear edge of a seat assembly 48. This seat assembly 48 may be si-
31 milar to the arrangement illustrated in U.S. Patent l~umber
32 3,749,442, and more particu1arly may include a rigid hori-
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1 zontal base plate ~9 which rests on a support:in~ upholstered
2 cushion or other support, and which movably carries two gener-
3 ally horizontal seat sections 50 and 51 fox engaging and support-
ing opposite sides of a user's body. These two sections 50 and
5 51 may be appropriately cushioned, and are connected at their
6 undersides to base 49 by universal connections 52 which allow
r each of the sections 50 and 51 to have independent slight
8 universal pivotal movement relative -to ~ase ~9 for supporting
the user's body in different positions. At its rear edge,
10 base 49 of the seat assembly is connected to the lower portion
11 of back structure 16b by a horizontal transverse hinge 53,
12 which mounts the back for swinging movement forwardly from the
13 position of Fig. 8 through the position of Fig. 9 to a posi-
1~ tion essentially overlying and parallel to seat assembly 4~,
15 in which folded condition the entire assembly is very easlly
6 portable. In its upstanding active position, tne seat back
17 16b may be supported against further rearward swinging move
18 ment by engagement of post 22b with an upwardly extending rear
19 flange portion 53 of base 49, which flange portion may contain
20 a hand hole aperture 54 providing a handle by which the assem-
21 bly in folded condition may be carried.
23 When this arrangement of Figs. 8 and 9 is in use, the
seat structure provides optimum vertical support to the user's
2~ body, with freedom for shifting movement to different positions,
25 while the back structure 16b provides support to the user's
26 back, again with freedom for shifting movement as discussed
28 in connection with the first form of the present invention.
While certain specific embodiments of the present inven-
29 tion have been disclosed as typical, the invention is of course
30 not limited to these particular forms, but rather is applicable
31 broadly to all such variations as fall within the sco~e of the
32 appended claims.
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