US20120032491A1

US20120032491A1 - High chair with folding legs

Info

Publication number: US20120032491A1
Application number: US13/262,403
Authority: US
Inventors: Hakan Bergkvist
Original assignee: Babybjorn AB
Current assignee: Babybjorn AB
Priority date: 2009-03-30
Filing date: 2010-01-22
Publication date: 2012-02-09
Also published as: WO2010114457A1; EP2413748B1; EP2413748A4; AU2010231940A1; SE0900413A1; JP2012521847A; EP2413748A1; TW201034603A; KR20110132578A; SE533615C2; AR075693A1; CA2755428A1; CN102361577A

Abstract

A high chair (1) comprising a chair unit (2), which comprises a seat (4) and a back rest (3) attached to the seat, wherein the chair unit (2) is supported by a front pair of legs (20) and a rear pair of legs (20), wherein the rear pair of legs is arranged to be foldable between a support position, in which the pairs of legs are extended from each other, and a storage position, in which the pairs of legs are retracted towards each other. The legs of the rear pair of legs are carried by a link (15), which is journalled in the in the chair unit (2) with an upper part for pivotal movement around a horizontal axis. A locking device (7) is provided in order to allow locking of the link (15) and thereby of the rear pair of legs in the extended end position of the link (15).

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

The invention relates to a high chair according to the preamble of claim 1.

BACKGROUND

A high chair should be relatively high in order to allow the child to sit at a level slightly underneath the level of a dining table/kitchen table and should also have a high security, among other things against tipping over. Therefore the legs are preferably directed to be supported on the floor at widely distanced points, which means that the high chair requires a comparatively large space. Therefore, it is desirable to arrange one pair of the legs of the high chair pivotal between a first retracted storage position, in vicinity of the position for the other pair of legs, and a second, extended user position. It is of course desirable to be able to guarantee an effective locking of the folding legs in the extended position, which locking can be disengaged. Further it is desirable to be able to sell and distribute the high chair in the form of a minimized package comprising partly unassembled legs, partly a chair unit to which the legs can be attached. The legs of the chair are mounted by rigidly attaching their ends to a respective socket on the chair unit.

THE INVENTION

One object of the invention is to provide a locking mechanism for the high chair, which in addition to a secure locking of the pair of legs in extended position, allows the pair of legs, when extending them from a retracted position, with high security to take in the completely extended and locked position.
A further object is to provide a locking mechanism which is easy to disengage in order to allow the pair of legs to be swung back into a storage position.
One or several of these objects are achieved fully or partly with the invention.
The invention is defined in the appended independent claim.
Embodiments of the invention are defined in the appended dependent claims.
The invention accordingly provides a high chair with a folding pair of legs and with a locking mechanism which affords automatic locking of the pair of legs when it moves to the extended end position, wherein the locking mechanism has a control means which allows disengagement of the pair of legs for moving them back to a storage position.
Further is provided a blocking device, which is arranged to keep the folding pair of legs in retracted position up to a certain limit for a torque applied on the pair of legs around its pivot bearing. When a user applies a torque onto the pair of legs above this limit, the blocking means is arranged to abruptly let go of the pair of legs so that this (and the user's arm) is given a momentum which exists up to the locked end position of the pair of legs caused by the locking mechanism.
The high chair may comprise a rigid chair unit, which comprises a seat, a back rest rigidly attached to the seat and a foot rest rigidly attached to the seat, the foot rest being located at a distance underneath the level of the seat, whereby the chair unit is carried by a front and a rear pair of legs, said pairs of legs being mutually foldable between a support position, in which the pairs of legs are extended from each other, and a storage position, in which the pairs of legs are retracted towards each other. The front pair of legs can be permanently attached to the chair unit in the area of the foot rest. The rear pair of legs can be mounted in the lower part of a link, which with an upper part is pivotally swivelled in the chair unit in a transition area between the seat and the back rest, for pivotal movement around a horizontal axis. The length of the link is suitably adapted to make possible the use of mutually alike and equally long legs for the high chair. Hereby the length of the legs is minimized, which in practical embodiments may imply that the length of the legs substantially corresponds to the largest dimension of the chair unit so that the length of a package, e.g. in the symmetry plane of the chair unit, substantially determines the length of the package and so that the chair unit finds room within the size of a carton, e.g. with a form of a parallelepiped, adapted to the chair unit.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The high chair according to the invention as well as embodiments thereof, will be described with reference to embodiments of the invention illustrated on the accompanying drawings, on which:

FIG. 1 shows a side view of the high chair according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a view from behind of the high chair according to the invention;

FIG. 3 shows a front view of the high chair according to the invention;

FIG. 4 shows, in enlarged scale, a view, partially as a cross section, of a locking mechanism for the rear pair of legs of the high chair in extended position; and

FIG. 5 shows a view corresponding to the view in FIG. 4 with the rear pair of legs in retracted position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The FIGS. 1 to 3 show a chair unit 1, which comprises a chair unit 2 made from injection-moulded plastic, which comprises a back rest 3, a seat 4, and a foot rest 5, which is integrally attached to the front edge area of the seat 4 through a substantially vertical attachment wall 6. A safety device 10 comprises a central post 11, which is pivotal in a vertical symmetry plane of the high chair and is at a lower end journalled 12 at the transition area between the seat 4 and the wall 6. At the upper end part of the post 11 is arranged a table 13 with a concave side facing the back rest 3.
A blocking means not shown in the drawing makes possible the arrest of the post 11 in erected position.
Further is shown that the chair unit 1 comprises a link 15, the upper part of which is journalled at 16 around a horizontal axis, which is situated in the vicinity of the transition area between the back rest 3 and the seat 4. The lower end of the link 15 is shown in an extended end position at about the same level as the foot rest 5. The lower side edges of the chair unit diverge from each other in a direction downwards. The link 15 has side edges which also diverge in a direction downwards. The lower side edges of the chair unit in the area of the foot rest 5 as well as the side edges of the link 15 at the lower end of the link 15 have the form of receiving sleeves or sockets, which receive separate chair legs 20, which are shown to have rounded feet 21, which limits the risk for the legs 20 to hook onto any object on the ground surface/floor, with the risk that the high chair thereby tips over.
The legs 20 can have a blocking spring, which engages in a corresponding recess in the respective socket 17 in order to guarantee a correct orientation of the feet 21. The legs 20 with feet 21 are preferably mutually alike and equally long. The four legs 20 on the high chair converge upwards towards a point above the seat 4.
From FIG. 1 it can be concluded that a cover 30 is mounted on the underside of the chair unit in the area of the wall 6 and the foot rest 5 for screening off of a space 31 there between. A disengageable locking device 7 is shown attached between the lover end part of the link 15 and to the cover 30 attached to the chair unit 2, as is shown more in detail in FIGS. 4 and 5. Accordingly it can be seen that the cover 30 has a generally vertical wall 32 with an opening 33 for a guide rail 40, which is journalled in the lower end part of the link 15 through a bearing 41 with a substantially horizontal axis. A locking element 44 is journalled in the lower part of the link 15 through a bearing 41 with a substantially horizontal axis. A locking element 44 is journalled on the guide rail 40, e.g. journalled around the axis of the bearing 41. The free end 47 of the locking element extends through the opening 33 of the wall 32 when the rear pair of legs is extended. A spring 46 is shown to be placed between the guide rail 40 and the locking element 44. Alternatively, the locking element per se may be resiliently flexible around the shown support 43 on the guide rail 40, whereby the function of the shown spring 46 is achieved. The locking element is further shown to have an abutment surface 45 in the form of a step, which in the extended position of the locking element, when the rear pair of legs is extended, prevents, through the cooperation with the upper edge part of the opening 33, a retraction or folding-in of the rear pair of legs. By swivelling the locking element 44 towards the guide rail 40 the abutment surface 45 can be passed through the opening 33.
The locking element has a tip 49, which engages behind the wall 32 in the area under the opening 33. The cover has a generally horizontal bottom unit 37 with a guide cam 38 for the lower end of the tip 49.
By manual application of a pressure in a direction downwards against the locking element 44 the locking element 44 will approach the guide rail 40 so that the abutment surface 45 of the locking element together with the guide rail 40 can be displaced through the opening 33, whereupon the lower edge of the guide rail 40 and the upper side of the locking element 44 can slide against the opening 33 underneath the respective upper edge during pushing into the space 31. In the vicinity of the retracted position for the link 15 the tip 49 will slide up onto the guide cam 38 and then snap down into a recess 51, as is shown in FIG. 5. It is clear that the ramp has a steep end surface 39, which is turned towards the side 54 of the tip facing there against. These surfaces are inclined in relation to the longitudinal direction of the guide rail and further the guide rail 40 is arranged resiliently flexible. When a user wishes to fold out the rear link 15 together with the rear legs 20 towards the extended end position shown in FIG. 1, the user has to apply a relatively high force in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 40 in order to make the tip 49 leave the recess 51, which then will occur abruptly. The user can of course not stop the applied force, but will accelerate the link 15 together with the legs 20 and the guide rail 40 so that the momentum becomes sufficient to surely overcome the friction between the locking element 44 and the guide rail 40, against the upper and lower edge of the opening 33, respectively, and so that the abutment surface 45 of the locking element surely passes out through the opening 33 and is biased up to blocking position under the influence of the spring 46.
The spring biased locking element 44 offers of course also a childproof lock that prevents inadvertent folding-in of the link 15 with the rear pair of legs 20 towards the retracted position.

Claims

1. A high chair comprising a chair unit, which comprises a seat and a back rest attached to the seat, wherein the chair unit is supported by a front pair of legs and a rear pair of legs, wherein the rear pair of legs is arranged to be foldable between a support position, in which the pairs of legs are extended from each other, and a folding position, in which the pairs of legs are retracted towards each other, in that the legs of the rear pair of legs are carried by a link, which is journalled in the chair unit with an upper part for pivotal movement around a horizontal axis, and in that a locking device is provided in order to allow locking of the link and thereby of the rear pair of legs in the extended end position of the link.

2. The high chair according to claim 1, wherein the locking device comprises a guide rail pivotally attached to the link, which guide rail extends through an opening in a wall attached to the chair unit, in that the guide rail carries a locking element that is movable in relation to the guide rail, in that a biasing spring is provided for biasing the locking element to an end position in a direction away from the guide rail, and in that the locking element has an abutment surface facing the wall, which is located adjacent to the wall and outside the edge of the opening, when the link and thereby the rear legs are in the extended end position, and in that the wall opening is arranged to allow the locking element to pass through the opening together with the guide rail when the locking element against the action of the biasing spring is displaced towards the guide rail.

3. The high chair according to claim 2, wherein the locking element comprises a rod arranged to extend along the guide rail which, at its end facing the link, is journalled in relation to the guide rail, so that the free end of the rod forms said abutment surface.

4. The high chair according to claim 2, wherein the guide rail and the end facing away from the link has a tip, which is directed across the longitudinal direction of the guide rail and which, in relation to the link, is situated beyond the wall, in order to prevent retraction of the guide rail through the wall opening, and in that the high chair is provided with a manoeuvring cam for the tip of the guide rail, in that the manoeuvring cam is provided with a recess for the tip of the guide rail in a retracted position for the link and in that the surface of the tip facing the link and the surface of the recess cooperating with the tip surface are shaped to provide a wedge action, which at the application of a predetermined pulling force on the guide rail allows the tip to abruptly leave the recess, so that the resulting momentum becomes substantially higher than the forces acting against the swinging motion of the pair of legs towards the extended end position.

5. The high chair according to claim 4, wherein the tip is spring biased and movable in a direction for engagement in and leaving the recess, respectively, wherein said direction extends substantially across the longitudinal direction of the guide rail.

6. The high chair according to claim 5, wherein the guide rail is resiliently flexible in order to offer the spring biased mobility for the tip of the guide rail.

7. The high chair according to claim 1, wherein the chair unit is rigid and further comprises a foot rest which, in relation to the seat, is rigidly attached to the chair, in that the rear pair of legs is mounted in a lower part of the link, in that the upper part of the link is journalled in a transition area between the seat and the back rest and in that all legs of the chair are mutually equally long.

8. The high chair according to claim 7, wherein the length of the legs substantially corresponds to the largest dimension of the chair unit.