The present invention relates to articles of furniture such as sofas and chairs which are convertible into beds.

Furniture of the type referred to generally comprise a frame having an upholstered section together with cushions which can be arranged in front of and behind the seating section when the furniture is extended, said cushions forming the reclining surface. Commonly, the furniture frame is adapted to enclose a space in which bed clothes may be stored.

Furniture of this kind is described in, for example WO 87/01019 and this furniture has proved its worth many times over in practice. In this furniture of the prior art, the rear upholstery support is a swivel-mounted panel onto which a cushion is placed when the furniture is in the reclining position. This cushion lies on the upholstery of the seating section when the furniture is in the seating position.

One disadvantage of the prior-art furniture is that the height of the reclining surface is lower than that of the seating surface, due to the fact that a cushion lies on the

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upholstery of the seating section when in the seating position. In addition, this cushion must be placed and replaced each time the furniture is converted so that a relatively high number of manual operations is required for each conversion.

The object of the present invention is to seek to overcome the above disadvantages.

According to the present invention, there is provided an article of furniture convertible between a seat and a bed, comprising a pair of side elements and a rear element interconnecting the two side elements, three co-operating furniture forming sections which form either a bed or a seat, the first furniture forming .section operable as a first end section, for the bed or as a backrest for the seat, the second furniture forming section operable as a middle section for the bed or as a seating section for the seat and the third furniture forming section operable as a second end section for the bed, the second furniture forming section being slidably extendible along the side elements, the first and second furniture forming sections being connected by a double pivot arrangement, characterised in that the third furniture forming section

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is located between the side elements for pivotal and sliding or rolling movement relative thereto so as to be movable from a first position in which it is stored behind the backrest when the furniture is in the seating position to a second position where it forms the second end section of the bed, whereby the seat is converted into a bed by extending the second furniture forming section on the side elements, pivoting the first furniture forming section about is double pivot points to bring it out of position as the backrest and into position as an end section of the bed and pivoting and sliding or rolling the third furniture forming section out of its stored position into the position in which it forms the second end section of the bed.

Advantageously, the third furniture forming section is provided with one or more arms, the or each arm being secured at one end thereof to said section, the opposite end of the or each arm being provided with a roller which moves in a slot provided in a side element, whereby the third furniture forming section is movable between its first and its second position by movement of the roller in the slot and pivoting of the arm about the axis of the roller.

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Preferably, each slot slopes downwardly towards the rear element, to assist the movement of the third furniture forming section from its first into its second position.

Alternatively, the third furniture forming section is provided with one or more arms, the or each arm being secured at one end thereof to said section, the opposite end of the or each arm having a ground engageable wheel and being adapted to roll forwardly or backwardly and pivot about the axis of the wheel to retain the third furniture forming section in its first and second positions respectively.

Advantageously, the double pivot arrangement comprises a pair of lateral arms, one end of each arm being pivotally connected to the first furniture forming section and the other end of each arm being pivotally connected to the second furniture forming section.

Preferably, anti-tilting means are provided for preventing the second furniture forming section from tilting when it is extended from the side elements.

Advantageously, the anti-tilting means comprises a pair of lateral guideways provided on the second furniture forming

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section which move over a pair of rollers provided on the front of the side elements.

Preferably, the third furniture forming section is connected to the rear element by tension means which acts to bias the third furniture forming section between its first and second positions, whereby on initiating movement of the section from its storage position, the section is biased towards its usable position and on initiating movement of the section from its usable position, it is biased toward its storage position.

Conveniently, the tension means comprises elastic material.

Preferably, the first, second and third furniture forming sections are provided with upholstery.

In an article of furniture according to the present invention, the rear panel adjacent to the back board of the furniture frame is guided by lateral arms to slide on and pivot about its rollers which lie in slots in the furniture frame, thereby moving between the reclining position and an essentially vertical position with the upholstery facing the back board of the furniture frame. By a different arrangement of the slots for the lateral arms and/or the

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lateral arms themselves, this rear panel can be brought into any desired position when in the reclining position, i.e. it can lie horizontally, or also in a slightly inclined position. Since, when the furniture is in the seating position, there is no additional cushion lying on the seating section and the seating section is brought essentially horizontally out of the furniture frame, the reclining height is also the same as the seating height.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the seating section supported at one of its ends on the floor is guided at its other end by means of rollers or slides on both side panels of the furniture frame. This renders it possible to give the seating section its optimum inclination when the furniture is in the seating position, and, on the other hand, to produce an entirely level reclining surface when in the reclining position. Owing to the fact that, through appropriate shaping of the guideways, the end of the seating section facing the back panel of the furniture is not lowered until just before reaching the seating position, the bedclothes space can be more efficiently utilised because the seating section is not slid closely over the bedclothes, but is lowered onto them.

Any tilting of the seating section in the course of its

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movement is reliably avoided in that the seating section is equipped on both sides with guideways which interact with rollers or sliders arranged on the side panels of the furniture frame. The seating section is thus guided at four points and any possibility of tilting is virtually excluded.

An article of seating furniture according to the invention which is particularly useful is one in which the front panel of the reclining surface is swivel-mounted on the seating section by means of lateral arms as described in WO 87/01019 and forms a backrest located in front of the vertically positioned rear panel when the furniture is in the seating position.

The invention will now be described more particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show, by way of example only, embodiments of articles of furniture according to the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an article of furniture in the seating position;

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Figure 2 is a side elevation of an article of furniture in the reclining position; and

Figure 3 is a partial plan view of the article of Figure 2.

Referring to the drawings, an article of furniture according to the invention comprises a furniture frame with two side panels 1 and a back board 2. The top edges of side panels 1 are designed as guideways 3 for rollers 4, which are located at one end of a seating section 6 provided with upholstery 5. The seating section 6 has support legs 8 at its end opposite from the rollers 4. The legs 8 are provided with rollers 7. An upholstered panel or cushion 10 is carried swivel-mounted by means of lateral arms 9 on the seating section, as described in WO 87/01019. This cushion 10 is provided with legs 11 and serves as a backrest when the furniture is in the seating position (fig. 1) and as the lower cushion of the reclining surface when the furniture is in the reclining position (figs. 2 and 3) .

The underside of the seating section 6 has secured to it at each side a guideway 12 which lies on a roller 13 secured adjacent to the front end of the side panels 1. The seating section 6 is thus carried at four points in the

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furniture frame while being moved out and in, namely in two positions by rollers 4 and in two positions by rollers 13. Tilting is therefore virtually excluded.

Slots 14 are arranged in the side panels 1 of the furniture frame and serve as guideways for rollers 15, which are located at the ends of arms 16. The other end of the arms 16 are secured to an upholstered panel or cushion 17.

When converting the furniture from the seating position as shown in fig. 1 into the reclining position as shown in figs. 2 and 3, the seating section 6 is first pulled out forwards with the cushion 10 resting on same, after which the cushion 10 is supported by means of legs 11 on the floor, having been swung horizontally by its arms 9. The cushion 17 then swings into its horizontal position by means of one easy manual operation, during which the cushion 17 slides in the slot 14 and pivots about the rollers 15.

Positioning of the cushion 17 is assisted by the provision of a rubber webbing 18, attached at one of its ends to the cushion 17 and at its other end to the back board 2 in such a way that the webbing is stretched when the furniture is in the seating position. As the cushion 17 begins to swing

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down, the webbing contracts, thus facilitating the downward motion of the cushion 17, by having the effect of pulling the rollers 15 along the slots 14. As the cushion 17 drops, the tension in the webbing 18 decreases until the webbing becomes slack. As the cushion 17 continues to drop under its own weight to its horizontal position, the webbing 18 becomes stretched once more. This has the effect of helping to retain the cushion in the horizontal position for reclining.

The furniture is converted back to the seating position in reverse order, in which case the cushion 17 can very easily be returned to its vertical position, again assisted by the webbing 18.

Numerous modifications can be made within the scope of the invention. For example, the slots 14 may be arranged so that they slope downwardly in the direction of the backrest. In such an arrangement, the webbing may be dispensed with as the movement of the cushion 17 into its reclining position will be assisted by the cushion 17 continuing to fall under its own weight as the rollers 15 run down the slots (in the direction shown by the arrow in Figure 1) once such movement is initiated by the user.

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As has already been explained in brief, the slots 14 can be designed in such way that the cushion 17 assumes a slightly inclined position when in the seating position. It is not essential for the guideways 3 to be modelled at the top edge of the side panels 1 , as these side panels could also be brought further up and the guideways could be provided on their inner sides. Alternatively, the guideways 3 and the rollers 4 could be replaced instead with means such as dowel pins 131 on which the seating section 6 may rest.

In an alternative embodiment of an article of furniture according to the invention, the slots 14 are dispensed with and replaced by elongating the arms 16 (shown as 116 in Figures 1 and 2) so that they terminate with castors 119 which rest on the ground. In this embodiment, the extra stability afforded the furniture by the elongated arms 116 may obviate the necessity for the back board 2. However, the back board 2 may be retained as it acts as a headboard when the furniture is in the reclining position.

The movement of the cushion 17 to and from its horizontal position may be assisted by any biasing means, for example a spring.

Where additional storage space for bedding is desired, the

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cushion 17 may be partially truncated as shown by the dotted line in Figure 1.

In yet another embodiment of an article of furniture according to the invention, a webbing 20 may be provided attached both to the seating section 6 and the top of the cushion 17, the webbing being slack when the furniture is in the seating position. In this embodiment, when the seating section 6 is pulled forward firmly, the webbing 20 becomes taut causing the cushion 17 to tip over past its pivot point and then fall under its own weight into its reclining position. On the other hand, if the seating section 6 is pulled forward gently, the cushion 17 will start to tilt over at an angle of 30°-40°, but will not yet fall, allowing access to bedclothes stored within the frame 1.

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