US2845993A - Chair - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 5, 1958 H. o. EADS EIAL CHAIR 4 Sheets-Sheet I 1 Filed April 11, 1957 HaHoZd 0.Eads,

1958 H. o. EADS ET AL 2,845,993

CHAIR 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 11, 1957 I wezzfoas Hafloid 0. Fads, floiaibuB.ExZi82e, by 5M M I 1953 H. o. EADs ETAL 2,845,993

CHAIR Filed April 11, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 12219422243212.- Hafloid 0.52102, dawn B. Emiieae United States Patent" CHAIR Ha l'0lti ';Q,. Earls, Vienna, W. Va., and Ashton B .1Exline,

Belpre, Ohio, assignors to McDonough C0., doing business under the name and style 0. Ames Co., Parker'sburg, W. Va., a corporation of Delaware- Application April 11, 1957, Serial No..652,212

8 Claims. (Cl. 155-148) This invention relates to chairs and the object is to provide a chair having relatively'movable parts with suitable locking means the release of which permits the structure to be compressed into a smaller volume for thekpurpose of. storage. The construction embodying the invention is; simple and strong and readily manipulated both .to collapse the chair and to bring it again to the erected position.

Many folding chairs are known which may be folded into a relatively fiat package. However, they are somewhat inconvenient to position for unfolding again, and the manipulations required are not always easy. Moreoyer, in the household the only convenient way to put the folded chair to one side is to lean it against a wall, and at. unexpect ed; times it usually slides down and falls org ,thefloor with a. crash. Thepreferred embodiment of the; invention as herein disclosed, on the contrary, while compressed fqre-and-aft to a relatively small dim ensiongremains self-supporting and stable. It can be pus .d.. 19 g. e. floor ut. f h y, iaw to Fig. 4 is a perspective view of thechairin. its col ap ed rm;

Fig,- 5 is.-a.section .in a vertical fore-and-aft vplane through, the -seat;

Fig.6,is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5 andllafflyzbrokenaway, showing the bottom .ofthe. seat;

Fig. 7 is.- a fragmentary section on the line 7-7 of: Fig. 5; and

Fig.= 8 is a diagram.

Referring now to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the chair there-shown comprises a seat 10 having a pair of front legs 12 and apair of rear legs 121-, preferably widely fiaring, as shown. In the case of a high chair the front legs may support a foot rest 14. The chair. has a back 16 and arms 18 extending from the, back in planes lateral tothe. sideedgesof the seat, which arms may removably support a tray .20. The supporting means for thefoot' rest. and the tray are not illustrated in detail as they may be-v-of known constructionand constitute no part attire-present invention. Arm supports 22 extend between the forward ends; of the arms, and. the sides ofthe seat and are herein pivoted at centers 24 and-26. (see Fig;v ,6). respectively.

As perhaps-.best-seen in Fig. 5; the. seat is in the nature Qfgandnvertedtopen box having, a top wall and-depending marginals'flanges 28.-and:-the upper ends of-the legs:

wallor into acorner, and simply drawn out again and.

2,845,993 Patented Aug, 5, 1958 ice enter the space between these flanges and engage the lower surface of the .top wall to support the seat.

The front legs 12 are stationary and rigid with the seat. It is convenientand desirable to form them as a single unitary structure and,'as seen in Fig. 6, they may be bent from a suitable length of tubing to. form a yoke having a central crossbar 30 and sides 32 coplanar therewith, which underride thebottom, and the end portion of the tubing then bent angularly to that plane to form the flaring legs proper. 12 The crossbar 30 and.v the proximal portions 32 of the sides engage the top wall of the seat throughout a large area and provide a firm support for the legs. They may be secured by mechanical fasteners 34 as seen in Figs. 5 and 6.

The rear legs, may be formed of tubingbent to a form identical with that, of the front legs and symmetrically disposed with relation thereto adjacent to the bottom of the seat. They are not however fixed in POSie tion and the crossbar 30r of the rear legs is journalled in clips 36 which may be secured bycertain of the fasten: ers 34 forming the front legs as seen in Figs. 5 and 6. When the chair is standingin the erected position. the crossbar and the proximal coplanar portions 321 of the rear legs underride the. top of the seat and support. the same in the same manner as thecorresponding members of the front legs. Means. are provided for locking them in position, as will be described.

It is convenient to note at this point however thatif the rear legs turn in their journal bearing, since the distance between the crossbar .30r and the ends, of the legs (corresponding substantially to the hypotenuse of a triangle) is greater than the distance from'the bend where the proximal portions 30r merge into ,thelegs, proper to the ends of the legs, the. effect will be-either. to push downwardly the ends of the legs or, ifthey are, resting on the floor, to raise the pivotalpoint of they crossbar 30r. The significance of this, will later appear.;

To permit relative folding andunfoldingm'ovement between the seat 10, back 16, arms;.18 (with tray 20). and the arm supports 22, they are relatedin the. mannerof a four-bar linkage which is locked against distortionin the erected position of the chair, butcapable .of alime ited range of movement when released. The pivotal, mounting of supports 22 on the arms, (at,24) and on the. sides of the seat (at 26, see Fig. 6) have already been. described.

The arms 18 preferably constitute the sides of ayoke of tubing having a crossbar 38 extending across the rearof the back and journalled in a strap 40 secured thereto. The back is provided with a stem-likeextension 42,. the lower end of which extendsinwardly and acrossthe rear vertical wall 28 of theseat and is provided with. knuckles 44 which cooperate with knuckles 46 on a leaf 48 secured to the inner surface of that wall and a pintle 50 passes through the knuckles to form a hinge.

The parts are thus connected by a linkage the operation of which will perhaps be clearer from the simplified diagram (Fig. 8) wherein the numerals havethe addedletter a! to indicate that they diagram corresponding parts of the other figures, butydo not pictorially rep-- resent them or their exact relationship. Itwill be seen that there is a four-bar linkage with a fixed bar represented by the seat 10d, two levers 22d and 16d swing-' ing on centers 26d and 50d respectively, anda connect?) ing rod 18d between the centers 24d and 40d. The pro-;

with, oscillation. of

Herein the arm supports 22 are also the sides of a yoke which, below the pivots or trunnions 26, are bent rearwardly and joined by a crossbar 52 extending transversely beneath the seat. In the erected position of the parts the crossbar bears against the rear legs 1211 and enters the downwardly opening throats of hooks 54, projecting from the forwardly facing sides of the rear legs.

To look the parts in the erected position this crossbar 52 ofthe arm support yoke is locked to the back 16. Herein (see Fig. 7) the knuckles 44 and 46 provide a space between them and on the pintle 50 in this space is swung a two-armed latch 56 (Figs. 6 and 7) one arm of which has a nose portion 58 adapted to enter a slot 60 in the wall of the crossbar 52 which provides a keeper. The latch is pressed toward engaging position by a spring 62 between the other arm 64 and the opposed portion of the stem 42, the spring being mounted on a rivet or like headed rod 66 extending loosely through these parts. This arm 64 of the latch 56 also provides a finger piece which, when pressed upwardly, releases the nose 58 from the'slot. After a slight downward movement of the crossbar the latch will not reengage on release of the finger piece. However, in erecting the parts, when the crossbar moves up from below the rounded surface of the tube acts as a cam surface to press back the latch which snaps into the slot to assume the position shown shown in Fig. 5.

When the chair is in the unfolded or set up position of Fig. 1 it may be collapsed to the more compact arrangement of the parts shown in Fig. 4 in the following manner. The nose 58 of latch 56 is released from slot 60 of the crossbar 52 of the arm supporting yoke and the rear legs arelifted from the floor, conveniently by pressing downwardly and outwardly on the forward edge of the seat to tilt the rear edge upwardly. The slight movement of the rear legs under gravity is suflicient to move slot 60 away from the position of opposition to the nose 58 of the latch. The back 16 is grasped by the other hand in opposition to that which is holding the front edge of the seat and swung downwardly to the position as seen in Fig. 2. This will draw rearwardly the arms 18 and rock the arm supports 22 on their pivots 26 so that the crossbar 52 connecting these supports moves away from the bottom of the seat and from the rear legs, permitting the latter to swing by gravity downward and forward to the position of Fig. 3. As the downward pivoting movement of the back is continued the crossbar 38 connecting the arms across the rear of the back engages the rear legs 12r and pushes them into a position crisscross to the front legs 12 as seen in Fig. 4. The chair will then stand by itself with the four ends of the legs supporting the parts in stable position, but. on a relatively restricted base and with the seat tipped up into a relatively restricted fore-and-aft dimension, the back 16 hanging down below the seat 18 behind the rear legs, and the tray 20 also disposed behind the rear side of the seat in a more or less upstanding position. The over-all depth of the chair is much reduced as compared with the set up position but nevertheless the chair will stand by itself against the wall or in an out-of-the-way corner without danger of falling down.

To move the parts from the folded position of Fig. 4 to the original set up position of Fig. 1 the front edge of the seat and the lower edge viewing Fig. 4 of the back 16, are grasped and in a single motion the back is drawn back into the upright position. In the course of this movement the crossbar S2 of the arm supports engages therear legs 12 pushes them to the rear, and moves upwardly along them until it enters the downwardly opening throats of the hooks 54. This movement stops when the legs have been forced into their normal unfolded position and yoke sides 32r engage the seat bottom. At the end of this motion the crossbar 52 has engaged the nose 58 of the latch which snaps into the keeper slot 60 in the former, thus locking the chair in the unfolded position.

The hooks 54 on the rear legs prevent accidental unfolding. These prevent the arm supports 22 from pivoting about pivots 26 while the rear legs are on the floor in the normal erected position. Even if the latch 56 is released the folding action cannot commence. It is necessary for the folding action both to release the latch 56 and to lift the rear legs from the floor. There is no: possibility of the chair folding with the baby in it if the latch is accidentally operated.

When the chair is in the unfolded position and the latch engaged the chair can be moved or lifted with no possibility of folding action.

Since the yoke forming the front legs has been described as identical with the yoke forming the rear legs and since the right-hand legs are in a single plane and the left-hand legs in another, it might be thought that in folding the legs would interfere and not pass one another as described. However as center 30 moves up the flared portion forming the rear legs proper is lowered relative to the flared portion forming the front legs proper and a narrower span between the former is presented to a relatively wider span of the latter and therefore the rear legs can pass between the front legs to the position shown in Fig. 4.

The arms 18 and arm supports 22 are organized laterally outward of the areas of seat 10 and back 16 so that there is no obstruction to the desired movements of the arts. P It will be noted that except for the pressing back of the latch in the collapsing movement, the hands grasp only the smooth surfaces of the top of the back 16 and the forward portion of seat 10. There are no folding struts which must be moved over dead center to release them and pushed back beyond dead center when the parts are erected, with a fair possibility of pinching the fingers. The chair does not have to be picked up and positioned bodily for either opening or collapsing. It may be simply shoved along the floor to an out-of-the-way position and pulled out again for erection.

As will be apparent from Fig. 4, the mechanical arrangement of parts herein described may be contoured to a pleasing design characterized particularly by the sturdy looking bow which provides the arms and the arm supports gracefully swept backwardly and rounded ofi at a little below the seat. This esthetic effect is attained consistently with the provision for folding which has been described and is herein claimed.

I am aware that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, as is in fact clear in several matters from the description itself. Reference is to be had to the appended claims to indicate those principles of the invention exemplified by the particular embodiment described and which I desire to secure by Letters Patent.

1. A folding chair comprising a normally horizontal seat, a pair of front legs secured adjacent the forward edge thereof in fixed angular relation thereto, a pair of rear legs having inturned arms underriding the seat and pivoted thereto adjacent their extremities along a transverse axis remote from the back edge of the seat, releasable means for latching the seat and rear legs together, the rear legs on release being movable into crossing relation to the front legs to provide a stable support of relatively restricted fore-and-aft dimension with said axis elevated to dispose the seat tilted up within a relativ ly restricted fore-and-aft dimension.

2. A folding chair comprising a normally horizontal seat, a pair of front legs secured adjacent the forward edge thereof in fixed angular relation thereto, a pair of rear legs having inturned arms underriding the seat andpivoted thereto adjacent their extremities alongatransverse axis remote from the back edge of the seat, a back pivotally mounted at the rear edge of the seat for downward folding movemenc, and releasable means as sociated with the back for latching the seat and rear legs together, the rear legs on release being movable into crossing relation to the front legs to provide a stable support of relatively restricted fore-and-aft dimension.

3. A folding chair comprising a normally horizontal seat, a pair of front legs fixedly secured adjacent the forward edge thereof, a pair of rear legs having inturned arms underriding the seat and pivoted thereto adjacent their extremities along a transverse axis remote from the back edge of the seat, a back pivoted at the rear edge of the seat for downward folding movement and releasable means associated with the back for latching the seat and rear legs together, said back being of such dimension that when folded down after release it will engage the rear legs at points remote from their axis to swing them about such axis into crossing relation to the front legs to provide a stable support of relatively restricted fore-and-aft dimension with said axis elevated to dispose the seat tilted up within a relatively restricted fore-and-aft dimension.

4. A folding chair comprising a normally horizontal seat, a pair of front legs fixedly secured adjacent the forward edge thereof, a pair of rear legs having inturned arms underriding the seat and pivoted thereto adjacent their extremities along a transverse axis remote from the back edge of the seat, a back pivoted at the rear edge of the seat for rearward and downward folding movement, arms pivoted to the back, arm supports pivoted to the ends of the arms and at the sides of the seat and extended rearwardly from the latter and there connected by a crossbar, an abutment on the rear legs with which the crossbar engages in the erected position of the chair and releasable means for latching together said crossbar and the back at the rear side of the seat to lock the rear legs against movement about their axis and to lock the arms and arm supports against movement about the pivots on the ends of the arms.

5. A chair comprising a seat and a ground-engaging support therefor, a back pivoted at the rear edge of the same for backward and downward swinging movement, arms pivoted to the back and disposed in planes lateral to the seat, arm supports pivoted to the ends of the arms and the sides of the seat, said supports having rearward extension below the level of the seat, abutments beneath the seat to be engaged by the extensions and to support the arms and releasable means associated with the back to retain them against the abutments to lock the arms and supports against movement about their pivot connections.

6. A chair as set forth in claim 5 wherein the extensions are joined by a crossbar beneath the seat and the abutments are provided by hooks with downwardly presented throats in which the crossbar is received.

7. A chair as set forth in claim 5 wherein the arms are the sides of a yoke having a crossbar extending behind the back and journalled to provide for the pivoting of d the arms.

8. A chair comprising a seat and a ground-engaging support therefor, a back having knuckles at its lower portion, cooperating knuckles adjacent the rear edge, a pintle through the knuckles providing for pivotal movement of the back, there. being a space between the knuckles, a latch for holding the parts against pivoting, said latch being journalled on the pintle between the knuckles having a locking nose and a finger-engaging portion providing for manually manipulating the latch, the chair structure including a keeper portion with which the nose engages when the back is in erect position and a spring acting on the latch for holding the nose in such engagement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Images