U.S. patent application number 11/709505 was filed with the patent office on 2008-08-28 for collapsible chair.
Invention is credited to Manfred Hemetsberger.
Application Number | 20080203774 11/709505 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42634825 |
Filed Date | 2008-08-28 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080203774 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hemetsberger; Manfred |
August 28, 2008 |
Collapsible chair
Abstract
A collapsible chair is described, comprising a carrying frame
which receives a covering (4) for a hood-like windshield and is
made of support frames (1) mutually swivelable between a storage
position and a sitting position and forming a foot part (1). In
order to provide advantageous constructional conditions it is
proposed that the frame structure comprises at least four support
frames (1) whose frame planes extending transversally to the base
intersect each other in the region of a central axis (5), that the
support frames (1) form a tensioning bracket (3, 3a) for the
covering (4) starting from the outside of the foot part (2), which
bracket acts upon two directly adjacent tensioning brackets (3a)
releasing an access opening (10) between themselves, and that the
foot parts (2) and tensioning brackets (3, 3a) are linked to each
other in the region of the central axis (5).
Inventors: |
Hemetsberger; Manfred;
(Nussdorf am Attersee, AT) |
Correspondence
Address: |
COLLARD & ROE, P.C.
1077 NORTHERN BOULEVARD
ROSLYN
NY
11576
US
|
Family ID: |
42634825 |
Appl. No.: |
11/709505 |
Filed: |
February 22, 2007 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
297/16.2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47C 4/286 20130101;
A47C 7/66 20130101; A47C 5/10 20130101; A47C 1/14 20130101; A47C
4/42 20130101; A47C 7/666 20180801 |
Class at
Publication: |
297/16.2 |
International
Class: |
A47C 4/00 20060101
A47C004/00 |
Claims
1-6. (canceled)
7. A collapsible chair comprising a carrying frame comprising at
least four support members pivotal between a storage position and a
sitting position, and a covering forming a hood-shaped windshield
in the sitting position, each one of the support members comprised
of a foot part and a support part for the covering extending from
an outside of the foot part towards a central axis, the foot parts
and support parts of the support members having intersecting ends
in the central axis, the foot parts and the support parts,
respectively, being linked to each other in the central axis and
being pivotal about the central axis, and two adjacent ones of the
support parts defining an access opening therebetweer in the
sitting position.
8. The collapsible chair of claim 7, wherein the intersecting ends
of the support parts of the support members overlap each other,
further comprising a common pivot axle joining the overlapping
ends.
9. The collapsible chair of claim 7, wherein the foot parts of the
support members have lower and upper legs having ends overlapping
each other, further comprising common pivot axles joining the
overlapping ends of the legs.
10. The collapsible chair of claim 7, wherein the foot parts of the
support members have inside legs extending parallel to the central
axis, further comprising bearing bodies extending in the central
axis and pivotally holding the inside legs.
11. The collapsible chair of claim 10, wherein the bearing bodies
have bearing eyes offset in a direction of the support frames,
which extend parallel to each other in the storage position, and
transversely thereto.
12. The collapsible chair of claim 10, wherein the bearing bodies
are comprised of brackets forming the bearing eyes and being
pivotal against each other.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The invention relates to a collapsible chair, comprising a
carrying frame which receives a covering for a hood-like windshield
and is made of support frames mutually swivelable from a storage
position to a sitting position and forming a foot part.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
[0002] In order to provide a collapsible chair with a hood-like
windshield, it is known (DE 100 03 663 C2) to provide a support
frame which is substantially composed of two framed structures
which are connected with each other in a scissor-like manner by a
pivoting axle parallel to the base and carry a length of fabric
forming a seat and a backrest between themselves. Telescopically
extensible supports are linked to the side legs of the support
frame carrying the backrest of the length of fabric, which supports
carry swivelable props for opening up a hood-like windshield which
is pulled over the holder formed by the supports and the linked
props and is pulled down against the foot part of the support
frame. The disadvantageous aspect in this known chair configuration
is however that the support frame needs to be provided with a
comparatively heavy configuration in order to carry off the
superimposed load. Furthermore, the opening of the hood-like
windshield requires considerable handling efforts even when the
windshield remains on the supporting frame because the holder for
the windshield needs to be opened and latched separately from the
chair.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] The invention is thus based on the object of providing a
collapsible chair of the kind mentioned above in such a way that a
light frame construction can be enabled without impairing the
stability of the chair. Moreover, the windshield is to be opened
together with setting up the frame.
[0004] This object is achieved by the invention in such a way that
the frame structure comprises at least four support frames whose
frame planes extending transversally to the base intersect each
other in the region of a central axis, that the support frames form
a tensioning bracket for the covering starting from the outside of
the foot part, which bracket acts upon two directly adjacent
tensioning brackets releasing an access opening between themselves,
and that the foot parts and tensioning brackets are linked to each
other in the region of the central axis.
[0005] As a result of this measure, the support frames which extend
substantially perpendicular to the base of the chair can be
swiveled outwardly in a fan-like manner from the collapsed storage
position to a sitting position, so that the individual support
frames which protrude radially in a star-like manner from the
central axis extend in a plane substantially perpendicular to the
base, which creating advantageous loading conditions as a
precondition that the individual support frames can be produced in
a comparatively light manner from wire for example without
endangering the stability of the chair since the load of the chair
can be distributed among at least four support frames. At least
four support frames are necessary for opening up the hood-like
windshield whose covering acts upon the support frames, which
occurs by tensioning brackets starting from the outside of the foot
part and being linked in an articulated manner at their upper ends
in the region of the middle axis and therefore open up the covering
in the circumferential direction during the erection of the
collapsible chair. For this purpose, the covering is fastened to
two directly adjacent tensioning brackets which open up an access
opening between themselves and which are swiveled outwardly about
the central axis during the erection of the collapsible chair until
the covering is tensioned about the interposed tensioning brackets
which are entrained by the covering during the outward swiveling of
the tensioning brackets which are at the end side with respect to
the covering. In the sitting position which is swiveled outwardly
in a fan-like manner, the tensioning brackets which open up an
access opening between themselves and are fixed at the end side
with respect to the covering are fixed in their mutual pivoting
position, which can occur in different ways. Especially simple
constructional conditions are obtained when an elastic ribbon is
used which connects the support frames of the tensioning brackets
at the end side and which acts in the region of the foot parts on
the support frames with the tensioning brackets at the end side and
keeps the covering of the windshield tensioned under pretensioning
in the circumferential direction. The seat which is made of a
fabric for example can also be fastened with a fabric to the
support frame in combination with a backrest and armrests in order
to be brought to the sitting position together with the frame. It
is also possible to provide a separate seat and backrest which is
inserted into the opened frame. For the purpose of linked
connection of the ends of the tensioning brackets averted from the
foot part, said ends of the tensioning brackets can overlap each
other and be joined with each other through a common swivel axis.
Similarly, the foot parts of the support frame can comprise upper
and lower radial legs which overlap each other and comprise a
common swivel axis, so that a common swivel axis is obtained which
corresponds to the middle axis of the chair. This means however
that the support frames cannot lie flat on each other in the
storage position, thus impairing the storage position of the
collapsible chair. In order to remedy this, the frame-like foot
parts can be held in a swivelable manner in bearing bodies with
inside legs parallel to the central axis, so that with respect to
the storage position the support frame can maintain a storage
distance corresponding to the thickness of the frame legs
transversally to the frame plane of the support frames resting on
each other as a precondition for the support frames resting flat on
each other when swiveled into the storage position.
[0006] Since the storage position of the individual support frames
in the storage bodies generally require a larger storage distance
from each other than the thickness of the frame legs, this means
that the storage eyes of the storage bodies receiving the inside
legs of the foot parts of the support frames need to be mutually
offset not only transversally to the frame plane of the support
frames resting in a flat manner on each other, but also in the
direction of the support frames against each other, thus in
practice producing a substantially V-shaped arrangement of the
storage eyes.
[0007] Another possibility to ensure the support frames from
resting on each other in a flat way in the swiveled-in storage
position of the frame is obtained when the storage body are
composed of mutually swivelable links which form the storage eyes
for the inside legs and are swivelable against each other, so that
said links are also swiveled along during the swiveling of the
support frames against each other into the storage position and
thus result in the mutual storage distance transversally to the
frame plane of the support frames swiveled against each other.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0008] The subject matter of the invention is shown in the drawing
by way of example, wherein:
[0009] FIG. 1 shows a chair in accordance with the invention in a
schematic front view;
[0010] FIG. 2 shows said chair in a sectional view along line II-II
of FIG. 1;
[0011] FIG. 3 shows a support frame of the frame structure in a
side view;
[0012] FIG. 4 shows a sectional view along line IV-IV of FIG. 1,
but in the folded storage position of the frame structure on an
enlarged scale;
[0013] FIG. 5 shows a constructional variant of a chair in
accordance with the invention in a longitudinal sectional view
along line V-V of FIG. 6;
[0014] FIG. 6 shows a sectional view along line VI-VI of FIG.
5;
[0015] FIG. 7 shows a top view of the chair according to FIG.
5;
[0016] FIG. 8 shows a sectional view according to FIG. 4 through
the folded frame of the chair according to FIG. 5
[0017] FIG. 9 shows a view according to FIG. 1 of a further
embodiment of a chair in accordance with the invention;
[0018] FIG. 10 shows a sectional view along line X-X of FIG. 9;
[0019] FIG. 11 shows a sectional view along line XI-XI of FIG.
10;
[0020] FIG. 12 shows a sectional view along line XII-XII of FIG. 11
on an enlarged scale in the sitting position of the frame, and
[0021] FIG. 13 shows view according to FIG. 12, but in the storage
position.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0022] The chair according to the embodiment according to FIGS. 1
to 5 comprises a carrying frame structure which is composed of
individual support frames 1. Said support frames form in accordance
with FIG. 3 a foot part 2 and a tensioning bracket 3 protruding
upwardly from the foot part 2 for a covering 4 which forms a
hood-like windshield 4. The individual support frames 1 are joined
to each other in an articulated manner in the region of a common
central axis 5 extending transversally to the base. For this
purpose, the upper ends of the tensioning brackets 3 overlap each
other, so that they can be joined in an articulated manner by a
common pivot axle 6. Similarly, the upper and bottom radial legs 7,
8 of the foot parts 2 are linked to each other via a common pivot
axle 9 which extends coaxially to the pivot axle 6. The support
frames 1 can be swiveled outwardly about the central axis 5 from a
swiveled-in storage position in which the support frames 1 are
swiveled to a stop against each other according to FIG. 4 to a
sitting position in which the support frames 1 project from the
central axis 5 in a star-like manner, as shown in FIG. 2. Since the
covering 4 acts upon two directly adjacent tensioning brackets 3a
which open up an access opening 10 between themselves and encloses
the other tensioning brackets 3 on the outside, the covering 4
connected with the tensioning brackets 3, 3a is opened up during
the fan-like outward swiveling of the support frames 1 in order to
obtain a windshield enclosing the sitting area in a hood-like
manner. The seat is formed by a seat rest 11 resting on the upper
radial legs 8 of the foot parts 2, which seat rest needs to be
removed for folding the chair. A backrest 12 which is fastened with
the tensioning brackets 3 on the side of the chair opposite of the
access opening 10 does not have to be removed as long as said
backrest 12 can be folded inwardly along a film hinge 13. The
mutual support of the support frames 1 in the circumferential
direction occurs by means of the covering 4. The tensioning of the
covering 4 and thus the sitting position can be secured
sufficiently by an elastic tensioning means 14. For additional
support of the tensioning brackets 3 which receive the backrest 12
in particular it is possible to provide a reinforcement, e.g. in
the form of a length of fabric 15 which joins the tensioning
brackets 3, 3a with each other.
[0023] The embodiment of a chair according to FIGS. 5 to 8 differs
from the one according to FIGS. 1 to 4 especially by the
configuration of the foot parts 2 of the support frames 1. Said
foot parts 2 form stiffened, closed frames with inside legs 16
which are parallel to the central axis 5 and which are joined to
each other in an articulated manner via the storage body 17 in the
region of the central axis 5. Said storage bodies 17 form in
accordance with FIG. 8 storage eyes 18 for the inside legs 16 of
the support frames 1 which in the illustrated storage position of
the support frame 1 are offset in the direction towards a central
plane 19 and transversally thereto, against which the support
frames 1 are swiveled inwardly in the storage position. By
offsetting the storage eyes 18 transversally to the central plane
19, it is ensured that the support frames 1 lie flat against each
other parallel to the central plane 19, whereas the offset of the
storage eyes in the direction of the central plane 19 enables the
unhindered star-like fanning of the support frames 1 for the
sitting position. In contrast to this, the inward swiveling of the
support frames 1 against the central axis 19 is only possible up to
an angular distance in the case of a linkage of the support frames
1 about a common pivot axle 9 according to FIG. 4. Instead of the
storage eyes 18 it is also possible that the storage body 17 also
comprises an oblong-shaped storage recess which jointly receives
the inside legs 11 of the support frame 1. In this case too, a flat
placement of the supporting frames 1 on each other parallel to the
central plane 19 is ensured in the case of a substantially V-shaped
progress of the storage recess of the storage body.
[0024] The embodiment according to FIGS. 5 to 9 also shows a
cushion 11 which is connected with a backrest 12 and which is
placed on the upper legs 8 of the foot parts 2 in the sitting
position of the frame and rests with the backrest 12 in the region
of the rear tensioning brackets 3. The loads of the backrest 12 are
partly carried off via the cushion 11 through lateral brackets 20.
Armrests can also be arranged on the lateral brackets 20. In order
to cover the access opening 10 in the upper region in addition, the
pivot axle 6 can additionally be provided with an umbrella part 22
which bridges the upper part of the access opening 10 and is
adjacent to the covering 4, as is shown in FIGS. 5 and 7. Said
umbrella 23 can also comprise swivelable tensioning brackets 23 in
order to ensure collapsibility.
[0025] A further embodiment of a chair in accordance with the
invention is shown in FIGS. 9 to 13. Although the foot parts 2 of
the support frames 1 are also held with inside legs 16 in storage
bodies 17, the storage bodies 17 are subdivided according to FIGS.
12 and 13 into mutually swivelable brackets 24 which allow a
star-like opening of the support frames 1 in the sitting position
of the carrying frame as shown in FIG. 12. In the storage position
according to FIG. 13, however, they ensure that the support frames
1 rest flatly against each other parallel to the central plane
19.
[0026] The seat of the chair in the embodiment according to FIGS. 9
to 13 is formed by a sitting canvas 25 which is attached to the
support frame 1 and which does not have to be removed during the
folding of the carrying frame. The backrest 12 can also be formed
by a length of fabric which is fastened to the tensioning brackets
opposite the access opening 10 and acts via the lateral parts 26 on
the front tensioning brackets 3a in order to obtain a reinforcement
of the covering 4 in the region of the backrest 12. Securing the
sitting position can also be ensured, like in the other
embodiments, by an elastic tensioning means between the support
frames 1 which delimit the access opening 10, as is shown in the
embodiments according to FIGS. 1 to 4.
* * * * *