The present invention refers to a motored armchair .

Common wheel-type chairs or wheelchairs are known in the art and are generally used, to allow movements for people with motion difficulties in lower limbs, namely disabled, ill, elderly or handicapped people.

It is also known that such known chairs or wheelchairs, above all if motored, are particularly big and encumbrant, this making uncomfortable to use them in restricted environments or in places that are densely populated by other people, such as for example the case of exhibition rooms or museums. Consequently, known chairs or wheelchairs are scarcely adequate for certain applications, such as, for example, the above-described ones, that should allow a user to be normally seated for resting, like on a common chair or armchair, though allowing him, f he so wishes, to continue his visit on board of such chair or armchair. Therefore, object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems by providing a comfortable motored armchair with reduced sizes, to allow practically and easily using it also in restricted environments, such as particular domestic and/or populated environments, like exhibition or museum rooms, consequently going on resting .

Moreover, an object of the present invention is providing a motored armchair equipped with at least one retractable feet-resting footboard to make it easy for a user to seat over it and get up from it.

Another object of the present invention is providing a motored armchair equipped with overturning-preventing side stabilisers.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will appear from the following description,' are obtained with a motored armchair as described in claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

It is intended that the claims are an integral part of the pres¾nt ^" specTfTeation .

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can me made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the enclosed claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 shows a top perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the motored armchair according to the present invention;

Figure 2 shows a side view of a component of the motored armchair according to the present invention in Figure 1; and

Figure 3 shows a top perspective view of the component of the motored armchair according to the present invention in Figure 2.

With reference to the Figures, it is possible to note that the motored armchair 1 according to the present invention is composed of at least one sitting body 3 and of at least one mechanised module 5 to which such body 3 is overlapped.

Advantageously, the mechanised module 5 comprises at least two driving wheels 7 and at least one steerable wheel 9, such driving wheels 7 being obviously actuated by at least one propulsion motor 11, preferably with electric supply, by interposing suitable motion-transmitting systems 13 substantially known in the art. Obviously, the armchair 1 according to the present invention can further comprise suitable control means 21 adapted to allow a mechanical uncoupling between the motor 11 and the driving wheels 7, making thereby such wheels idle, to allow manually pushing the armchair 1; the same control means 21 are obviously adapted to again allow the mechanical connection between motor 11 and driving wheels 7.

Preferably, the steerable wheel 9 is one and only one: in particular, the possible presence of a single steerable wheel 9 allows the armchair 1 according to the present invention not only to be moved in any direction, but also to rotate onto itself along a vertical rotation axis passing inside the armchair 1 itself.

. Preferably, the driving wheels 7 are arranged below the mechanised module 5 in a front position with respect to the forward running direction of the armchair 1, while the steerable wheel 9 is arranged below the mechanised module 5 in a rear and central position with respect to the same forward running direction. It must be noted how, in order to increase the compactness of the motored armchair 1 according to the present invention, both the driving wheels 7 and the steerable wheel 9 are vertically included within the overall sizes of the mechanised module 5.

Moreover, in order to make the use of the mechanical armchair 1 according to the present invention still more stable, above all during its movements, the mechanised module 5 can comprise, on each one of its side flanks, at least one overturning-preventing stabiliser 15, each one of such stabilisers 15 being preferably composed of at least one supporting bracket 15a and at least one abutment block or damper 15b, for example made of a plastic or rubbery material, oriented towards the ground 17 and arranged, in its operating position, at a short- distance or possibly almost on the ground 17.

Moreover, in order to make it easier for a user to seat onto and get up from the armchair ^' 1 according to the present invention, and at the eame

-time—m-a-ke—thre armchair 1 more comfortable during a seating, the .mechanised module 5 can comprise at least one retractable feet-resting footboard 19. Preferably, the feet-resting footboard 19 is retractable inside and below the mechanised module 5 itself. Obviously, the actuation and handling of the feet-resting footboard 19 can be both manual and motored through a suitable actuator motor (not shown) .

Therefore, when a user must seat onto or get up from the armchair 1 according to the present invention, it is possible to take care of retracting the footboard 19 in such a way as not to provide any encumbrance for the user's feet (as shown, for example, in Figure 1) . Once the user is seated, it is possible to take care of extracting the footboard 19 in order to allow resting his feet and making his seating more comfortable (as shown, for example, in Figures 2 and 3) .

Obviously, the armchair 1 according to the present invention can further comprise at least one control consolle 23 that includes all means adapted to manage the operation of the armchair 1 itself, and in particular preferably comprises at least one joystick 23a, cooperating with the motor 11 by interposing suitable mechanical and/or electronic managing means, to -allow a user to manage speed, direction and movement sense of the motored armchair 1 according to the present invention.

In particular, the sitting body 3 is composed of at least one seating plane 3a to support the pelvis and at least the femoral part of the lower limbs of a user in a seating position on such body 3, and at least one vertical supporting ^' structure 3b to support at least the back of such user. Advantageously, the vertical supporting structure 3b can be composed of at least one upper molding 4a supported by a plurality of risers 4b. Advantageously, such upper molding 4a can be suitably shaped and/or curved and/or slanted to operate both as a back support and as an armrest.

Obviously, the sitting body 3 can be made of any suitable material, such as for example iron, wood, a thermoformed plastic material or resin, possibly with a cloth finishing, also slightly padded at -least on the seating plane 3a, and possibly also along the vertical supporting structure 3b.

Advantageously, the motored armchair 1 according to the present invention, due in particular to the compactness of the sitting body 3 and the mechanised module 5, has particularly reduced sizes, this making it easier to use the armchair in restricted and/or populated environments: in particular, a practical embodiment of such motored armchair 1, like the one shown in the Figures has, for example, sizes of 65 cm x 65 cm x 75 cm h .