Title:

Chair structure

United States Patent Application 20020171268

Kind Code:

A1

Abstract:

An improved chair structure for a folding chair includes a front foot support, a rear foot support, a seat frame, a back frame and an armrest. The front foot support has a top end pivotally engaged with the armrest at an inner side of a front section thereof, and pivotally engages with a front section of the seat frame between an upper and middle section thereof. The rear foot support has a top end pivotally engaged with the armrest at the outer side between a middle and rear section thereof, and pivotally engages with a pivot lever between an upper and middle section thereof. The pivot lever has one end pivotally engaged with one lateral side of the back frame at the bottom end thereof. Another side of the bottom end of the back frame is pivotally engaged with a rear section of the seat frame. The rear end of the armrest further pivotally engages with the back frame between a middle and lower section thereof. When the chair is folded, the front foot support and rear foot support may be folded in a juxtaposed manner to contact the bottom side of the armrest, and the back frame and seat frame may be folded and held in an area bordered by the front foot support. The combined folded thickness of the back frame and seat frame is substantially equal the combined folded thickness of the front foot support and rear foot support nesting under the bottom side of the armrest thereby to enable the chair to form a minimum thickness to facilitate storing and save storage space .

Inventors:

Liu, Lausan (Hsin Tien City, TW)

Application Number:

09/860540

Publication Date:

11/21/2002

Filing Date:

05/21/2001

Export Citation:

Click for automatic bibliography generation

Assignee:

LIU LAUSAN

Primary Class:

297/16.1

International Classes:

A47C4/20; (IPC1-7): A47D1/02

View Patent Images:

Download PDF 20020171268

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Primary Examiner:

VU, STEPHEN A

Attorney, Agent or Firm:

ROSENBERG, KLEIN & LEE (ELLICOTT CITY, MD, US)

Claims:

I claim:

1. An improved chair structure for a folding chair, comprising: a front foot support, a rear foot support, a seat frame, a back frame and an armrest; wherein the front foot support and the rear foot support have respectively a top end pivotally engaged with the armrest at an inner side of a front section and at an outer side between a middle and a rear section thereof, the seat frame and the back frame being pivotally engaged with each other, the seat frame having a front section pivotally engaged with the front foot support, the back frame being pivotally engaged with the rear foot support through a pivot lever, and the back frame being pivotally engaged with a rear end of the armrest between a middle and lower section thereof; thereby when the chair is folded, the front foot support and the rear foot support are foldable in a juxtaposed manner to contact the bottom side of the armrest, and the back frame and the seat frame being stacked and held in an area bordered by the front foot support, the back frame and the seat frame having a combined folded thickness equal to the combined thickness of the folded front foot support and the rear foot support nesting under the bottom side of the armrest for the chair to attain a small thickness to facilitate storing and save space thereof.

Description:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] (1) Field of the Invention

[0002] The invention relates to an improved chair structure, and more particularly a leisure chair that is capable of folding to a minimum size.

[0003] (2) Description of the Prior Art

[0004] People's life styles have changed greatly in the modern society. In general, people care more about the leisure and recreational activities nowadays. It can be reflected from the growing popularity of recreational vehicles in recent years. As a result, leisure and recreational products have high demands. A lot of efforts have been devoted to improve these products or to resolve the shortcomings for meeting the market demands. As there are a wide variety of goods, there are always rooms for improvement. For instance, the commonly used leisure chairs still have problems regard the carrying and storing. In order to provide folding capability, the folding chairs usually have more complicated structures and larger sizes. They generally are quite bulky when folded. To carry the folding chairs in the recreational vehicles for outdoors use could be troublesome and not convenient. Hence it could easily cool off consumers' buying motive and cause negative impact on the sales of the chairs.

SUMMARY OF THE MENTION

[0005] It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to resolve the foregoing disadvantages by providing an improved leisure chair that is capable of folding to a small size.

[0006] Another object of the present invention is to make the leisure chair foldable to a small size to facilitate carrying and storing.

[0007] The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention;

[0009] FIG. 2 is a side view of the present invention, during folding;

[0010] FIG. 3A is a side elevation view of the present invention, after folded;

[0011] FIG. 3B is a fragmentary rear view of the present invention, after folded; and

[0012] FIG. 3C is a fragmentary front view of the present invention, after folded.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0013] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention is adapted for a folding chair, and a leisure chair with a pad is being disclosed herein as an embodiment. The leisure chair according to the present invention consists of at least a front foot support 1, a rear foot support 2, a seat frame 3, a back frame 4, and an armrest 5. The front foot support 1 has a top end pivotally engaged with the armrest 5 at an inner side of the front section thereof (also shown in FIG. 3B). The middle section of the front foot support 1 is pivotally engaged with a front section of the seat frame 3.

[0014] The rear foot support 2 has a top end pivotally engaged with the armrest 5 at an outer side between the middle and rear section thereof, and is pivotally engaged with a pivot lever 21 between the upper and middle section thereof. The pivot lever 21 has one end pivotally engaged with the back frame 4 at a lateral side of the bottom end thereof.

[0015] The bottom end of the back frame 4 has another lateral side pivotally engaged with a rear section of the seat frame 3 through a pivot fastener 41. The back frame 4 also pivotally engages with the rear end of the armrest 5 between the middle and bottom section thereof.

[0016] Referring to FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C, because of parallel linkage movement principle of the mutually and pivotally engaged components set forth above, when the seat frame 3 is moved and folded toward the back frame 4, under the parallel linkage movement of the pivot lever 21 and pivot fastener 41, the front foot support 1 and rear foot support 2 will be moved closely toward each other until folded and juxtaposed side by side to contact the bottom side 51 of the armrest 5. The width of the armrest 5 can substantially cover the combined folding sideward thickness of the front foot support 1 and rear foot support 2. Furthermore, the back frame 4 and seat frame 3 are also being folded and held within an area bordered by the front foot support 1. The combined thickness of the back frame 4 and seat frame 3 is equal to the combined thickness of the overlapped thickness of the front foot support 1 and rear foot support 2 and the folded armrest 5. Thereby the folded thickness of the chair may be effectively reduced to a minimal level to facilitate carrying and storing, and save the storage space.

[0017] While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been set forth for purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of this invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

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