| USD102099S | ||||
| US4648653A | 1987-03-10 | |||
| US4522444A | 1985-06-11 | |||
| FR60468M | ||||
| US2952300A | 1960-09-13 |
| 1. | A high density stacking flexible arm chair, comprising: a. a seat adapted to engage a user's seat; b. a back generally perpendicular to said seat and adapted to engage a user's back and having upper and lower regions; and c. a flexible frame for holding and supporting said seat and back, characterized by said frame comprising: i. a pair of support legs one at each side of the seat with each support leg having, (1) a back leg portion pivotally connected to the upper region of said back, (2) a bottom leg portion for extending along a floor surface, and (3) a front leg portion extending upwardly to the front of said seat to support said seat, wherein the bottom leg portions are generally outside of the seat and the front leg portions in order to facilitate stacking, and ii. pivotal connecting means extending between the rear of the seat and lower region of said back at a location below the attachment of the legs to the upper region of said back, wherein the flexibility of the frame permits the back to tilt toward a reclining position while the user's weight is suspended from the pivotal connecting means,characterized in that: d. said back leg portion extends forwardly from said upper region of said back above the seat and outside the bottom leg portion for a sufficient distance to form an arm rest and then downwardly and rearwardly to said bottom leg portion. |
| 2. | A high density stacking flexible arm chair as in claim 1 characterized further by the inclusion of stop means for stabilizing the chair in a stack comprising a pair of tabs on the front leg portions for engaging the bottom leg portions of an upper chair in a stack and a strut extending between the rear leg portions below the seat for engaging the seat of a lower chair in a stack. AMENDED CLAIMS [received by the International Bureau on. |
| 3. | April 1992 (03.04.92); original claim 1 amended; remaining claims unchanged (2 pages)] 1 A high density stacking flexible arm chair, comprising: a. a seat adapted to engage a user's seat; b. a back generally perpendicular to said seat and adapted to engage a user's back and having upper and lower regions; and c. a flexible frame for holding and supporting said seat and back, characterized by said frame comprising: i. a pair of support legs one at each side of the seat with each support leg having, (1) a back leg portion pivotally connected to the upper region of said back, (2) a bottom leg portion for extending along a floor surface, and (3) a front leg portion extending upwardly to the front of said seat to support said seat, wherein the bottom leg portions are generally outside of the seat and the front leg portions in order to facilitate stacking, and ii. pivotal connecting means extending between the rear of the seat and lower region of said back at a location below the attachment of the legs to the upper region of said back, wherein the flexibility of the frame and the pivotal connection permit the back to tilt toward a reclining position while limiting the tilting in both directions with the user's weight suspended from the pivotal connecting means, characterized in that: d. said back leg portion extends forwardly from said upper region of said back above the seat for a sufficient distance to form an arm rest SUBSTITUTESHEET and then downwardly and rearwardly to said bottom leg portion. 2. A high density stacking flexible arm chair as in claim 1 characterized further by the inclusion of stop means for stabilizing the chair in a stack comprising a pair of tabs on the front leg portions for engaging the bottom leg portions of an upper chair in a stack and a strut extending between the rear leg portions below the seat for engaging the seat of a lower chair in the stack. SUBSTITUTE SHEET. |
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
This Invention relates to high density stacking chairs of the type used by hotels for meeting room chairs. Typically, a dolly is provided which holds a stack of chairs which are stacked as densely as possible.
I have disclosed in prior applications a new design for high density stacking chairs which provides exceptional comfort with exceptional stacking density by using a flexible frame which flexes to permit partial reclining of the chair back. At the same time, the partial reclining of the chair back applies pressure to the user's low back. This high density stacking flex-chair is available on the market as the Perry Chair manufactured by the Krueger International Company of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior application Serial No. 757,734 filed September 11, 1991 which was in turn a continuation-in-part of Serial No. 506,716 filed April 10, 1990 which was in turn a continuation-in-part of Serial No. 381,151 filed May 2, 1989, now U.S. Patent 5,009,466 dated April 23, 1991 which was in turn a continuation in part application Serial No. 185,707 filed April 25, 1988, now abandoned.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
In accordance with this invention, I have provided a new high density flex chair which has the basic advantages of my earlier high density stacking chair with the additional advantage that the chair of this invention is an armchair. I have accomplished
this result simply by changing the shape of the rear legs so that the chair not only has the advantage of being an armchair but also has the advantage that it can be manufactured to some extent with tooling common to the manufacturing tooling of the armless chair.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In the attached drawing. Fig. 1 is a prospective view of the preferred embodiment of the chair of this invention illustrating in fantom a second chair stacked on top of the first chair;
Fig. 2 is a prospective view similar to Fig. 1 showing the manner in which the chair reclines;
Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the chair and phantom chair of Fig. 1;
Figs. 4 and 5 are top and front elevational views of the chair of Fig. 1;
Fig 6 is an exploded view of the frame of the chair of Fig 1, and Fig 7 is a detailed view of a part of Fig 6.
Referring now in detail to the drawing, the chair illustrated therein comprises a seat 10 and a back 12 which has an upper region 14 and a lower region 16. The chair has a metal frame which is preferably made of 7/16 inch 1008 steel rod and 5/8 inch steel tube with a 3/32 inch wall thickness. The rod portion of the frame is generally the same as the frame of the armless chair with the back and bottom leg portions replaced by the tube. The frame is pivotally connected to the upper region of the back at 18 with a pivotal connection 20 between the seat 10 and the lower region 16 of the back 12.
The frame has a pair of legs each having a back leg portion 22, a bottom leg portion 24 and a front leg portion 26 which are labeled with the letters - ■ R"
and "L" for the right and left legs with the top of the front legs 26 supporting the seat 10. The pivotal connections 18 and 20 between the frame and the back 12 are preferably provided by the pivot limiting structure of the commercial armless chair which is generally shown in Figs. 3-5 of my co- pending application, and the connection between the frame and the seat 10 is preferably provided in the same manner as the connections in the commercial armless chair so that the two chairs can be made with similar manufacturing tooling.
The chair of this invention differs from the chair shown in Fig. 7 of my co-pending application in that the back leg portions 22 extend from the pivot connection 18 forwardly generally outside the bottom leg portion 24 for a sufficient distance to form an arm rest 28 and then downwardly and rearwardly to the bottom leg portion 24, and the back leg portions, arms and bottom leg portions are made of tubing which slips over the rod portion of the frame and is welded to the rod at welds 21 and 25. Note that there is a slight horizontal bend in the arm 28, best seen in Figs 4 and 6 which position the forward part of the arm outside the bottom leg portions. Stops are provided on the chair frame for stabilizing the chair in a stack. These stops comprise a pair of tabs 30 on the front legs 26 which support the bottom leg portions of an upper chair in the stack and a cross strut 32 (see particularly Fig. 3) which engages the top of the seat of a lower chair in the stack. Preferably the frame also has a metal tab 34 on each chair arm to which a padded armrest may be attached. As illustrated in Fig 7, a slot 36 is provided in the tube to permit the tube to drain where the frame may be plated after welding
While one particular form of the chair of this invention has been described in the drawings it will be apparent that certain modifications may be made thereof within the spirit of the following claims.