Adjustable contour chair

Feb. 23, 1971 _u blodee 3,565,482

ADJUSTABLE CONTOUR CHAIR Filed June 24, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1

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Feb. 23, 1971

Filed June 24. 1968

L. BLODEE

ADJUSTABLE CONTOUR CHAIR

3,565,482

Sheets-Sheet 2

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United States Patent Office

3,565,482

Patented Feb. 23, 1971

3,565,482 ADJUSTABLE CONTOUR CHAIR Leif Blodee, 205 Indian Trail, Poland, Ohio 44514 Filed June 24,1968, Ser. No. 739,451 Int. CI. A47c 1/031

U.S. Cl. 297—284 5 Claims

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A contour chair with a frame including a central guideway member disposed in a vertical plane, and also having a plurality of seat-back elements supported by links extending to members adjustably positioned along said guideway member, whereby variation in the attitude of the links with, respect to the guideway results in altering the relative position of the seat-back elements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The so-called “contour chair” generates a rather high degree of comfort as a result of the alignment of the body-supporting surfaces along a path which permits the body of the occupant to assume natural positions free of muscle tension. It is obvious that no two people are exactly alike, and contour chairs have usually attempted to represent average configurations which will correspond more or less approximately to each of the random assortment of people that may occupy a particular piece of furniture. Any design determined by average body measurements necessarily results in missing the necessary configurations for any particular occupant. This situation can be accepted where the chair is to be used in public areas, where no particular individual is likely to use the chair continually. When the chair is used in the home or office, however, it becomes very desirable to accommodate the chair to the peculiarities of body structure of the person that will be using it most of the time. Custom-made chairs are available, but the cost of these is usually prohibitive. The present invention provides a contour chair with body-supporting units that can be adjusted with respect to their relative positions, which permits the chair to be manufactured according to normal production techniques while preserving all of the advantages of custom-made furniture.

In the preferred form of the invention, the frame, of the chair includes a central beam provided with guideways, and the seat-back elements are mounted upon links extending from these elements to terminal members adjustable along the guideways. This arrangement permits the attitude of the links to be varied with respect to the guideway, which brings the associated point of the seatback member toward or away from the guideway. The maximum distance of the seat-back member from the guideway will, of course, be determined by a positioning of the link perpendicular to the guideway. The progressively increased slant will result in bringing the associated point of connection of the seat-back member nearer to the guideway. The seat-back elements are preferably hingedly inter-connected, with the supporting links being pivoted coaxially with these points of hinge connection. In the most satisfactory arrangement, each point of hings connection between the seat-back elements is provided with a pair of links, which can be spread or brought to approaching parallelism to vary the distance of the hinge axis from the guideway beam. These terminal members, or “shoes,” which support the links are lockable in a selected position on the guideway, and the chair can thus be progressively adjusted from one end to the other to accommodate a particular person. As his body configuration changes with age or weight variations, the chair can be continually re-adjusted to produce the maximum degree of comfort.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The several features of the invention will be analyzed in detail through a discussion of the particular embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation showing the preferred form of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the chair shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on the plane 3—3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a section on the plane 4—4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a section on the plane 5—5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a section on the plane 6—6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the central guideway beam on the frame, the links, and the supporting plate for the seat-back elements.

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing a variation of the relative position of the seat-back elements obtainable with the adjustment of the structure.

The frame generally indicated at 10 includes front legs 11, the rear legs 12, and the central guideway beam 13. The guideway beam 13 is disposed in a generally vertical plane, and is bent to a configuration (in side elevation) intended as an approximate shape for the average user of the chair, assuming that the body-supporting surfaces of the seat-back elements 14 would be arranged on a path generally parallel to the configuration of the beam 13. The front and rear legs 11 and 12 are preferably U-shaped in configuration, and the resulting frame produces a very attractive design. This frame is normally made of metal, with the guideway member 13 being preferably of some extrudable material such as aluminum. The head-supporting unit 15 is supported in the same way as the seat-back members 14, and differs from them only in the provision of the side “wings” 15α and 15b. The seat member 16 may be provided with arm rests 17 and 18 supported on vertical extensions as shown at 19 in FIG. 1.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, each of the seat-back members (including the seat 16 and the head rest 15) are pivotally interconnected, as shown in FIGS. 3, 6, and 7. A supporting plate 20 is provided for each of these seat-back elements, and the upholstery 21 and cover 22 are conveniently secured in the usual manner to a base panel 23, which will usually be of plywood. This base can be attached to the plate 20 by screws, bolts, or adhesive material.

. The plates 20 have enlargements at each end to provide for the hinge elements, and these enlargements are drilled out to receive the hinge bolts 24. These can either be in the shape of a conventional hinge pin or may be bolts with recessed heads so that they can be threaded into one of the hinge elements to maintain the axial position of the bolt. This configuration of the plates 20 is obtainable through extruding this member in a direction perpendicular to FIG. 3. The separate interengaged hinge elements can then be machined away in any desired pattern so that hinge elements (as indicated at 25 and 26 m FIG. 7) will be associated with each of the plates 20 at each hinge.

Each of the hinge assemblies is supported by a pair of links as shown at 27 and 28. The hinge elements 29 may be associated with the link 28, and the hinge element 30 with the link 27. The opposite end of the link 27 is pivotally interconnected with the terminal shoes 31 and 32 by the bolt 33. The portion 34 of the link 27 has been machined at its ends to provide cut-outs for receiving the shoes 31 and 32, and the length of the portion 34 has been selected to permit the bolt 33 to draw the shoes 31 and 32 toward each other, as a result of the threaded engage

3,565,482 ment of the bolt 33 with the shoe 31. The bolt 33 is freely rotatable with respect to the shoe 32. This action binds the shoes 31 and 32 against the adjacent walls of the guideway grooves 35 and 36, and thus locks the position of the shoes along the guideway. The securing of the bolts 33 in this manner will therefore lock the adjusted positions of the links with respect to the guideway beam 31, and thus will establish the adjusted relative positions of the seat-back elements. The link 28, and the remainder of the links of the entire assembly, are supported and constructed in the same fashion as the link 27.

While the chair will normally be manufactured in a configuration in which the seat-back elements are relatively disposed with the supporting surfaces approximately parallel to the back 13, a readjustment of the relative position of the links will produce the variation in the alignment of the supporting surfaces shown in FIG. 8. The links themselves can be extruded in the same manner as described above in connection with the plates 20. If desired, links of various lengths can be used at different positions along the beam 13, as experience suggests more or less freedom of adjustment.

The particular embodiments of the present invention which have been illustrated and discussed herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not to be considered as a limitation upon the scope of the appended claims. In these claims, it is my intent to claim the entire invention disclosed herein, except as I am limited by the prior art.