Stackable armchair

A stacking armchair having two symmetrical front frame members, each having a bottom rail portion, a front leg portions, and a seat side rail portion, a rear connecting member connecting together the rear ends of the side frame portion, a front brace across the front leg portions. All these are made from thin rod stock. The rear of each bottom rail portion has a turned-up generally vertical terminal portion, and the rear connecting member extends out beyond the seat side rail portions. Two rear leg members are made of rod stock greater in thickness, strength, and stiffness than the rod stock from which the front frame members are made. The rear leg members are butt-welded at their lower ends to the tops of the terminal portions and are also welded to the ends of the rear connecting member. A seat is secured to the side rail portions and to the rear connecting member, and a back is secured to upper portions of the rear leg members. At its upper end each rear leg member is bent to provide a short, straight, outwardly extending horizontal portion and then bent again to provide an arm-support portion parallel to the side rail portion but outboard from it. A flat arm-support plate is secured to this arm-support portion, and an armrest is secured to the arm-support plate.

This invention relates to a stackable armchair. 
It is an improvement over the nested armchair shown in my earlier patent 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,530, issued May 27, 1969. It also is related to the 
three armless stackable chairs shown in my earlier U.S. Pat. Nos. 
3,080,194, issued Mar. 5, 1963; 3,275,371, issued Sept. 27, 1966; and 
3,404,916, issued Oct. 8, 1968. 
This invention was disclosed in Disclosure Document No. 143139 dated Oct. 
23, 1985. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The nested armchair of U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,530 was found to be too costly 
and to lack client acceptance. These drawbacks were due to the need for 
the two rods which were connected to the two bottom rails in order to 
support the front end of each arm. There remained a need for a suitably 
stackable armchair which has an appearance and function more closely 
related to my patents named above to the armless chairs. 
Some other chairs cantilevered the arms forward from the rear leg, but this 
resulted in an unsatisfactory soft feeling, a feeling that the arms could 
not be relied on for support but would give way. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The stacking armchair of this invention has two symmetrical front frame 
members, each providing a bottom rail, a front leg portion, and a 
seat-supporting side rail portion. A rear connecting member is welded to 
the rear ends of the two side rail portions to connect them together and 
extends slightly past them, and a front brace bridges between the front 
leg portions and is welded to them. All these front frame members are made 
from thin steel rod. 
The frame is completed by two rear leg and arm-support members made from 
steel rod that is thicker and stronger and stiffer than the rod from which 
the front frame members are made. The rear leg members are each butt 
welded (or gas welded, brazed, or connected with drive pins) at their 
lower ends to an upwardly projecting terminal portion of the bottom rail 
portions of the side frame members. They are also welded to the projecting 
ends of the rear connecting member, which is at the level of the 
seat-supporting side rails. At its upper end, each rear leg rod is bent 
out around an angle to provide a short, straight horizontal portion. Then 
this rod is bent again to extend forward, parallel to the seat-supporting 
rail below it, but lies outside it. This arm-supporting portion extends 
forward about half of the side extent of the chair. 
The side rails and rear connecting member support a shaped seat, and the 
legs support a chair back. 
An arm-support bracket is secured to the arm-support portion of the rear 
frame, and an arm is secured to the arm-support bracket. 
The present invention places strong reliance on the use of two different 
rod materials in the main frame of the chair--the thinner rod for the 
front frame member, and the thicker, stronger rod for the rear legs and 
arm support. Since the identical rod is used for both supporting the arm 
and as the rear leg, this structure enables the arms to be supported 
adequately while still not needing any supporting rod to go from the 
forward parts of the arms down to the bottom rails, as in my earlier U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,446,530. Instead the arm has a practically invisible support 
from the rear leg portion of the frame. 
By doing without the post supports of U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,530, the cost can 
be substantially reduced while simultaneously improving the visual 
appearance of the chair. By using the larger and stiffer rods for the rear 
legs and arm supports of this invention, the unsatisfactory soft feeling 
that one has tended to get from cantilevered arms on an armchair is 
avoided. Both visual and structural simplicity are maintained while 
getting the desired results.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A chair 10 of this invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, includes a frame 
11, a seat 12, a back support 13, and two arms 14 and 15. In many ways the 
chair 10 is like that of my previous patents, but there are important 
differences, which will be pointed out. 
The exploded view, FIG. 3, shows that the frame 11 is made in several 
pieces. Thus, there are two side frame members 16 and 17, symmetrical to 
each other, each of which includes a bottom rail 20 or 21, a front leg 
portion 22 or 23, and a seat supporting rail 24 or 25, all made by forming 
the same rod. To brace the front legs 22 and 23 a straight brace member 26 
is welded to each of them and extends across them. The rear ends 27 and 28 
of the side rails 24 and 25 are welded to a rear connecting member 30, 
which has portions 31 that extend beyond the side rails 24 and 25 to 
outboard ends 32 (see FIG. 6). The member 30 is preferably shaped to 
conform to the rear edge of the seat 12, which it helps to support, along 
with the side rails 24 and 25. 
At the rear end of each bottom rail 20 and 21, a short terminal portion 33, 
34 is turned upwardly, generally perpendicular to the respective bottom 
rail and has an upper end 35, 36. Also, it may be noted that the bottom 
rail 20 and 21 are connected to their respective front legs 22 and 23 by a 
short inturned portion 37, 38. 
A front frame assembly comprises the two side frame members 16 and 17, the 
front brace 26, and the rear connecting member 30, welded together, and 
all of these members are made from the same size of thin strong steel rod, 
preferably 7/16 inch or 11 mm in diameter. 
Thicker, stronger rods, preferably 1/2" or 13 mm in diameter, are used to 
make two rear legs 40 and 41. The bottom end 42, 43 of each rear leg 40, 
41 butts up against and is butt-welded to the end 35, 36 of the short 
terminal portions 33, 34 to the rear of the bottom rails. The rear legs 40 
and 41 are also welded to the outboard ends 32 of the rear connecting 
member 30, best shown in FIG. 7, and this provides additional stability. 
Finally the rear legs 40, 41 support the chair back 13, which bridges 
between them and also imparts rigidity and firmness. 
At their upper ends the rods forming the rear legs 40 and 41 are bent to 
provide short outwardly-extending horizontal portions 44 and 45 that 
extend somewhat forwardly, at an angle. The rod is then bent forwardly to 
provide arm-support portions 46 and 47. This use of a separate, thicker 
stronger rod for the separate rear leg 40, 41 the doubling use of the same 
rod as support members 46, 47 for the chair arm is a very important 
feature of this invention. 
The arm-supporting portions 46 and 47 extend forwardly parallel to the side 
rails 24 and 25 but outward or outboard from them. A pair of steel armpad 
plates 50 and 51 are secured to the arm-support frame portions 46 and 47 
respectively. Each plate 50, 51 is fitted around its arm-support portion 
46, 47, having a slot 52, 53 where it is welded to the portions 46, 47 at 
the same level, so that the whole assembly is quite thin, both for 
appearance and for compact stackability. Screw-receiving openings 54, 
preferably three each, are provided and secrews 55 extend from the bottom 
of the plates 50, 51 through these openings 54 and into blind openings 
(not shown) on the bottom side of each arm rest 56, 57, thereby completing 
the arms 14 and 15. 
The armrests 56 and 57 may be made from the same material as the seat 12 
and back 13, or from different material if desired. Molded veneer, sheet 
metal, dipped in elastomeric coating, and injection molded plastic, for 
example, may be used. Preferably, their front ends 58 and 59 curve 
downwardly. 
Glides 60, preferably are provided at or near both the front and the rear 
ends of each bottom rail portion 20, 21, and the chair 10 rests on these 
glides 60 rather than on the legs themselves. 
Short bar members or pins 61 are provided atop each rail 20, 21 just 
opposite the front portion of each glide 60. When a chair 10 is stacked on 
top of the pins 61, the pins 61 engage the central portion of the glide 60 
on the chair 10 thereabove and serve as spacer members. This prevents 
scratching and similar damage to the chair frames. Stacking would be a 
little more compact without them, but stacking remains sufficiently 
compact with them, and the appearance of the chairs is better preserved. 
Four plates 70, 71, 72, and 73 are provided to hold the seat 12 to the side 
rails 24 and 25 by welding. These employ screws 74 for attachment to under 
side of the seat 12. The back 13 is attached by four or six drive pins 75 
which are pressed into drilled holes in the rear leg posts 40 and 41, not 
completely penetrating. In assembly the pins 75 in the frame are pressed 
into corresponding drilled holes in side edges of the back 13, and screws 
76 and 77 are also driven through holes 78 and 79 in each rear leg 40, 41 
and into the bottom holes in the edge of the back 13. 
The stacking is done, as shown in FIG. 4, by lifting one chair 10 over a 
lower chair 10 and then nesting it downwards. When several chairs 10 are 
in place, the appearance of the stack is like that shown in FIG. 5. If 
desired, the stacking could be done on a dolly at an inclination, as has 
been done in some of my previous patents. The glides 60 and pins 61 
separate the chair 10 slightly from each other vertically, so that the 
arms 14, 16 do not rest on the arms 14, 15 of the lower chair 10, and the 
arm-support members 46, 47 and the support plates 50, 51 do not engage the 
armrest 56, 57 below them. The chairs 10 gradually shift forward as they 
are stacked, and that is the reason for stacking them on an incline, if 
many are to be stacked. 
The chairs 10 of this invention can be stacked interchangeably in or on 
stacks including the armless chairs of my earlier invention as in U.S. 
Pat. Nos. 3,080,194 and 3,275,371. 
To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes 
in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the 
invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and 
scope of the invention. The disclosures and the descriptions herein are 
purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.