Patent ID: 6572185
Filing Date: 2003-06-03
Classification: A47C

Abstract:
A chair comprising:a seat base; a seat mounted on said seat base and extending in a longitudinal direction, and having left and right sides, front and rear ends, and a bottom; a backrest disposed rearwardly of and connected to said seat; a footrest disposed frontwardly of said seat; a linkage mounting unit including left and right brackets fixed to said bottom of said seat and extending in said longitudinal direction, each of said brackets having opposite front and rear ends; a shaft mounted rotatably on said rear ends of said brackets and extending in a transverse direction relative to said longitudinal direction; an operating lever secured to said shaft for turning said shaft; a linkage unit interconnecting said seat and said footrest, and including a pair of crank mechanisms disposed at said left and right sides of said seat, respectively, each of said crank mechanisms 23 including a first crank arm having a rear end pivoted to said front end of a respective one of said brackets and a front end opposite to said rear end thereof, a second crank arm having a front end pivoted to said footrest and a rear end pivoted to said front end of said first crank arm, a third crank arm fixed to and extending transversely from said shaft and having a pivot end distal from said shaft, and a fourth crank arm having opposite front and rear ends respectively pivoted to said footrest and said pivot end of said third crank arm such that rotation of said shaft via actuation of said operating lever results in turning of said third crank arm via said shaft, thereby permitting extension and retraction of said linkage unit relative to said seat between folding and extended positions, said first and second crank arms being spaced apart from and being generally parallel to said third and fourth crank arms; and an arm spacer having a fixed end fixed to one of said first and fourth crank arms, and a pivot end extending from said fixed end and pivoted to the other one of said first and fourth crank arms such that said first crank arm and said second crank arm cooperatively define a first gap in said longitudinal direction therebetween, and that said third crank arm and said fourth crank arm cooperatively define a second gap in said longitudinal direction therebetween when said linkage unit is positioned at said folding position thereby preventing clamping of a user's finger when said linkage unit is moved from the extended position to the folding position.