WO2011011815A1

WO2011011815A1 - A chair

Info

Publication number: WO2011011815A1
Application number: PCT/AU2010/000943
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gregory Brent Welsh
Original assignee: Sebel Furniture Ltd
Priority date: 2009-07-31
Filing date: 2010-07-27
Publication date: 2011-02-03

Abstract

A one piece integrally moulded plastic chair (1) is disclosed having a seat (2) and a backrest (3). A book support (8) extends rearwardly and downwardly from the top of the backrest 3. The book support preferably has an upstanding lip (12) at its lower edge. When such chairs are arranged in rows the book supports of the chairs of one row can be used by persons sitting on chairs in the rearwardly adjacent row. The book support (8) is non-rigid and yields to a downwardly directed force thereby preventing at least partially incapacitated persons from pushing downwardly on the book support in the manner of a crutch and thereby tipping over an empty, and unlinked, chair.

Description

A CHAIR

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to injection moulded plastics chairs.

Background Art

Injection moulded plastics chairs are relatively inexpensive to manufacture and have become the de-facto standard chair when large numbers of chairs are required by organisations such as schools, universities, and the like. This is particularly so in view of their light weight (typically 4 - 5kg or even less where legs are either hollow or have a rib-like structure).

In many venues such as school classrooms, desks as well as chairs are provided for the pupils and thus there is no requirement for the chair to have any additional functionality other than to provide a seat for the students. However, in other venues such as lecture halls, desks are generally not required but there is, however, a requirement for the audience to take written notes. Under these circumstances it is desirable to provide the seats of the lecture hall with writing tablets. Such writing tablets can be swung into an operative position in which the person sitting in the chair can take notes, and into an inoperative position in which no note taking is possible but easy access and egress to the chair is available. The writing tablets are rigid and should be strong enough to withstand the forces of skylarking students standing on the writing tablets. An intermediate situation sometimes arises where it is desirable to have an audience, class, or like gathering of seated persons be able to read from a book and thus follow what is going on at the venue. An example of such a venue is a school assembly room, where English literature students, for example, can simultaneously watch a play and read the script of the play from a book in which the script is printed.

In addition, health and occupational safety standards are steadily rising in most jurisdictions and thus there is a present, or foreseeable, requirement for such chairs to be extremely safe lest the owner of the school or other establishment be sued for providing seating for their pupils or members of the public which seating is unsafe.

Genesis of the Invention

The genesis of the present invention is a desire to provide a chair which enables a book rest to be safely provided but which does not involve the expense of providing either desks or writing tablets. Summary of the Invention

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is disclosed an injection moulded plastics chair having a seat and a backrest wherein a book support integrally formed with said chair projects rearwardly and downwardly from said backrest and wherein said book support is non-rigid being yieldable to downwardly directed forces applied by at least partially incapacitated persons.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a book support comprising a downwardly and rearwardly projecting non-rigid and yielding surface, connected adjacent its upper edge to the rear of the backrest of a chair having a seat and a backrest, and integrally formed with said chair.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Two embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of the chair of the preferred embodiment,

Fig. 2 is a rear perspective view of the chair of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a left side view of the chair of Figs. 1 and 2,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the chair of Figs. 1 -3,

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the chair of Figs. 1 -4,

Fig. 6 is a rear elevation of the chair of Figs. 1 -5,

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of two of the chairs of Figs. 1-6 stacked one above the other, Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but illustrating a book resting on the book support, and

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 but is of a chair of a second embodiment.

Detailed Description

As seen in Figs. 1-8 of the drawings, the chair 1 of the preferred embodiment has a seat 2 and a backrest 3. Extending downwardly from the seat 2 are four legs 4 which are arranged so as to enable two of the chairs 1 to be stacked one above the other (as illustrated in Fig. 7).

The backrest 3 includes an aperture 7 and a book support 8 which projects rearwardly and downwardly from the top 9 of the backrest. The book support 8 is preferably provided with an upstanding Hp 12 at its lower edge. The side edges 18 of the book support 8 are curved downwardly so as to meld with the side edges 13 of the backrest 3.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the furniture arts from Fig 7 that the chairs 1 can be stacked in intermingled fashion with the same chairs but not having a book support 8 (that is those substantially as disclosed in US Patent No 5,860,697 the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein for all purposes). This is a particular advantage for a school, for example, which already has a large stock of the same chairs but without any book support 8.

As seen in Fig. 8, a book 20 is able to be rested on the book support 8 in either an open fashion, as illustrated or, of course, in a closed fashion. The book support 8 although substantially planar, is preferably made slightly convex so as to assist in maintaining the book 20 open at the page desired by the reader. In particular, in this way the spine of the book 20 is slightly higher than the front edges of the front of the book and the back of the book. The weight of a book is typically less than 1 - 2kg and the book support 8 is easily able to support this weight without significant deformation. As also seen in Fig. 8, the chair 1 is preferably provided with a linking mechanism 21 which enables like chairs 1 to be linked side by side in a row. As a consequence, rows of chairs can be provided as are required in auditoria, school assembly halls, and the like.

It will be apparent that when rows of chairs are provided, with the exception of persons sitting in the front row, all other persons sitting in the second and subsequent rows are able to utilize the book support 8 of the chair immediately in front of the chair in which they are sitting. That is to say, the book support 8 is able to be used not by the person sitting on the chair providing the book support, but by the person sitting on the chair immediately behind the chair providing the book support.

In this way, for almost all chairs provided in an auditorium or school assembly hall, a book support is provided for the persons sitting in the chairs, other than those persons sitting in the front row.

An important occupational health and safety requirement is that when such chairs are arranged in rows, the individual chairs are not able to be tipped over, thereby blocking an aisle between such rows in the event of fire, for example. This is one reason why the linking mechanism 21 is provided. However, such mechanisms, even if provided, are not always used by the personnel setting up an auditorium for a function.

The book support 8 provides an optically tempting support for persons such as elderly grandparents or injured sports players who are partially or temporarily incapacitated in some way. Such persons are tempted to use the support 8 to assist them to rise from a seated position as if the book support 8 was a crutch or walking stick handle.

In the event that such a grandparent or sports player were to exert a relatively large downwardly directed force onto the upper surface of the book support 8, if the book support 8 were rigid, then this would result in an unlinked empty chair 1 being tipped over. To prevent this possibility arising, the chair 1 is injection moulded using polypropylene and the vertical thickness of the book support 8 is selected to be strong enough to support a book 20, but to have sufficient yield, or give, so that the book support 8 deflects markedly if an incapacitated person attempts to stand up whilst seated in the row behind and push downwardly on the upper surface of the book support 8 in an attempt to stand. Such an attempt to stand will typically result in a downwardly directed force in excess of 50kg weight (i.e. 500 Newtons

approximately) being applied to the book support 8. The yielding nature of the book support 8 provides an instinctive, and early, warning to the incapacitated person that what is being attempted will not be possible. As a consequence, the incapacitated person naturally desists and a chair in front is not tipped over by the incapacitated person sitting in the chair behind attempting to use the chair in front as a sort of crutch.

A still further consideration is that in order to be fabricated in a single piece by injection moulding, it is necessary for the two parts of the mould to be moved relative to each other. Generally, in practice, one mould part is stationary and only the other parts moves. Therefore for the chair of Figs. 1-8, it is desirable that the downwardly inclined angle of the rear legs be approximately equal to the downwardly inclined angle of the book support 8. This also assists in enabling a small vertical distance to be achieved between adjacent stacked chairs as illustrated in Fig. 7. Turning now to Fig. 9, a second embodiment of the present invention is illustrated with the stackable armchair of US Patent No. 4,341,419 (the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein for all purposes) modified to include the book support 8 of Figs. 1-7. The modified armchair as illustrated in Fig. 9 is able to be stacked with like armchairs and is also able to be stacked with modified and unmodified armchairs intermingled.

Prior art novelty searches conducted after the conception of the present invention have disclosed several prior art specifications. US Patent No. 5,474,356 (Johnson) discloses a book reading chair which does not have a backrest and has a support for the reader's arms and elbows centrally located at the front of the chair. Extending from the arm support upwardly and away from the sitter is a rigid book support. Thus for this chair, the front support is straddled by the legs of the person sitting on the chair and the arms of the sitter are able to be rested on the arm support immediately adjacent of the book support. Consequently, for this chair, the rigid book support provided is provided for the use of the person sitting in the chair, and not for the use of the person sitting behind the chair, as is the case with the abόvedescribed embodiment.

US Patent No. 6,604,786 (Benden et al) discloses a rigid deck 60 which is intended to support a keyboard or laptop computer. The deck 60 is able to be mounted in a number of positions including in a releasably detachable manner to the upper edge of the backrest of a chair. The intention of this arrangement is to reduce the likelihood of repetitive strain injury by providing many and varied positions in which the keyboard can be used. The deck 60 must be sufficiently rigid to support a keyboard in use.

US Patent No. 633,399 (Street et al of 1899) discloses a foldable timber desk 15 which is a rigid box like structure. The desk 15 is pivoted to one of two back posts which are bolted to the floor by means of foot pieces on the legs 4. The seat 10 and backrest 5 are also independently pivoted to facilitate sweeping of the floor between the legs. The desk 15 must be sufficiently stable and rigid to permit a person in the row behind to write on the desk surface using the inkwell 28 provided. The legs 4 being bolted to the floor are crucial in this connection.

British Patent No. 1,278,727 disclosed a chair fabricated either from several pieces of bent multiple layer plywood or from two moulded plastics portions which are bolted together. The backrest 6 has at its lower edge an upturned U-shaped channel portion 8 which functions as a book rest or book tidy (for books not in use). The backrest 6 has at its upper edge a downwardly sloping support portion 9. The support portion 9 is rigid and provides a rest for the arms and head of a person praying in the row behind. Alternatively, as shown by broken lines in Fig. 1, the support 9 can be extended to form a rigid support for writing.

The foregoing describes only two embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the furniture arts, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, the seat 2 and/or the backrest 3 maybe upholstered with a pad of cushioning material covered with a textile fabric as is well known in the furniture trade.

The term "comprising" (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of "including" or "having" and not in the exclusive sense of "consisting only of.

Claims

1. An injection moulded plastics chair having a seat and a backrest wherein a book support integrally formed with said chair projects rearwardly and downwardly from said backrest and wherein said book support is non-rigid being yieldable to downwardly directed forces applied by at least partially incapacitated persons.

2. The chair as claimed in claim 1 and stackable with a like chair.

3. The chair as claimed in claim 2 and having rear legs which are downwardly inclined at an angle which is approximately equal to the angle at which said book support is downwardly inclined.

4. The chair as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said book support includes a rearwardly projecting lip adjacent its lower edge.

5. The chair as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein said book support is substantially planar.

6. The chair as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein said book support is slightly convex wherein an open book lying on the book support has it spine located above the opposite edges of the book front and back.

7. The chair as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 and having linking means at each side of said chair, whereby a plurality of like chairs can be linked together to form a plurality of rows, the book supports of the chairs of each forward row providing supports for the books of persons sitting in the adjacent rearward row.

8. A book support comprising a downwardly and rearwardly projecting non-rigid and yielding surface, connected adjacent its upper edge to the rear of the backrest of a chair having a seat and a backrest and integrally formed with said chair.

δ

9. The book support as claimed in claim 8 and having a rearwardly projecting lip adjacent its lower edge.

10. The book support as claimed in claim 8 or 9 and being substantially planar

11. The book support as claimed in claim 10 and being slightly convex wherein an open book lying on the book support has its spine located above the opposite edges of the book front and back.