Adaptor for converting conventional office chair into a multifunctional office/fitness chair

The invention is directed to an adaptor for converting a conventional office chair into a multifunctional office/fitness chair. The adaptor comprises a seat connector, a pair of rowing shafts, a seat post holder, and a foldable footrest. By adjusting the angle of the backrest up to 120°, a user can use the converted chair either as a conventional office chair, or as a fitness chair capable of assisting the user to do sit-up exercises in a rowing motion which focuses the exercise forces on the abdominal muscles, burns abdomen fat pad, and therefore effectively reduces waist line. Further, because the rowing motion is assisted by the backrest and armrest, the risk to injure the neck or back is eliminated.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a multifunctional adaptor for converting a conventional chair into a multifunctional office/fitness chair.

2. Description of the Related Art

A national-wide survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that the number of overweight individuals increases linearly during the past 20-years. Currently, 56% of the US population has overweight problems, 1 in 5 is obese, and 7.3% has overweight related diabetes. Since the anterior abdomen is not covered by bone or cartilage, it has the greatest tendency and capacity for fat accumulation and expansion. All or nearly all the fat accumulation starts at, and over 90% of the excessive fat are stored in, the abdomen region. Overly accumulated fat directly compresses the liver, diaphragm, and gastrointestinal tract; disturbs blood circulation; increases heart and lung workload; and has been implicated as the primary cause for heart, lung, kidney diseases, and related death. A follow-up study (1997-2006) of over 100,000 American men and women by the American Cancer Society showed that individuals with an increased waist line have a two-fold increase in the mortality rate over individuals with a normal waist line.

More and more studies have shown that physical exercise is one of the most effective ways to improve general health. In particular, sit-up has been found to be the most effective exercise for reducing fat in anterior abdomen. Unfortunately, with the protruded fat pad, it is difficult for overweight individuals to do sit-up exercise. Also, it is not easy for elders to do sit-up exercise due to weakened muscles. In addition, doing sit-up without the appropriate protection may cause back and neck injuries.

In a previous invention, U.S. Pat. No. 7,549,705, we have developed a specialized multifunctional office/fitness chair for assisting abdominal muscle exercise. The chair has a pivot capable of rotating chair backrest up to about 90 degrees away from the seat surface, and allowing a user to adjust the backrest to various angles. Depending on the angles, the chair can be used as a regular chair, or a recliner, which is capable of assisting a user to do sit-up and other exercises, and effectively reduces the anterior abdomen fat. Scientific study has shown that 3-5 minute exercise with the multifunctional chair could burn an equivalent amount of calories that would have required 10-15 minute moderate speed running on a tread mill Noticeable waist line reductions are observed within two weeks on test volunteers using the multifunctional chair 5-7 minutes per day. However, as the multifunctional chair requires a special design with a unique structural configuration, the choices available to the users in chair comfort and preference are limited.

To improve the chair design and offer more functions, the present invention provides an adaptor which can be used to convert a conventional office chair into a multifunctional office/fitness chair. The converted multifunctional chair not only retains all the exercising functions of the previous multifunctional chair, but also allows the user to select and gain additional preferred chair design features, such as the choice of the construction materials, adjustable chair heights, 360 degree swivel around a chair seat post, and rollers for easy relocation, etc.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is directed to an adaptor for converting a conventional office chair into a multifunctional office/fitness chair. The adaptor comprises a seat connector, a rotatable pivoting component, a reclining angle setting component, a pair of rowing shafts, a seat post holder, and a foldable footrest. By adjusting the angle of the backrest, a user can use the converted chair either as a conventional office chair, or as a fitness chair capable of assisting the user, including an overweight person, to do sit-up exercises in a rowing motion which focuses the exercise forces on the abdominal muscles, burns abdomen fat pad, and therefore effectively reduces the waist line. Further, because the rowing motion is assisted by the backrest and armrest, the risk to injure the neck or back is eliminated. Another embodiment of the innovation is a chair comprising said adaptor.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Turning to the drawings,FIG. 1(1/3) shows a side view of the seat connector, which comprises a seat connecting plate1, a rotatable pivoting component2, a reclining angle setting component (see6,7,8, and9inFIG. 2below), a centered round metal bar3, a pair of supporting rods4, and a balancing leg5. The seat connecting plate1has a front end1aadapted for attaching the entire seat connector1to the bottom side of the seat, such as by inserting into a space between the connector plate on top of the post and the bottom surface of the seat, then tightly mounting the inserted front end1ato the seat bottom side with metal screws. The pivoting component2is positioned at the joint between the backrest and seat (see2and3inFIG. 2below), and is adapted to be able to rotate the backrest up to 120° away from the chair seat surface, such as by configuring a rotatable bracket (H-shaped)2aover a cylindrical surface area of a base2b. The center of the back side of the pivoting component2is connected to the reclining angle setting component (see6,7,8, and9inFIG. 2below). The rotatable bracket2aand the base2bof the pivoting component2is joined to the upper surface of the rear end1bof the seat connecting plate1using a centered round metal bar with metal screws3on the surface of both sides. The upper sections4aof a pair of supporting rods4are adapted to be mounted on the back side of the backrest by screws (see1ainFIG. 2below). The middle sections4bof a pair of supporting rods4are mounted vertically to the same back side of the pivoting component2, which is connected to the reclining angle setting component (see1b,6,7,8, and9inFIG. 2below). The lower ends4cof a pair of supporting rods4are adapted to be connected to the rear ends of a pair of rowing shafts4d. The upper end5aof the balancing leg5is attached to the lower face of the seat connecting plate1at the rear end which joins to the pivoting component2. The lower end5bof the balancing leg5extends towards floor, and is terminated with a floor contacting component, such as a horizontal rod or pad. The balancing leg5prevents accidental falling back of the backrest, and provides additional balancing support to the chair during exercise. The balancing leg5has a width which is substantially narrower than the width of the pivoting component2, and is positioned in the middle between a pair of the backrest supporting rods4.

FIG. 2(2/3) shows the back view of an adaptor which has been assembled to a conventional office chair. The upper sections1aof a pair of supporting rods1are mounted to the back side of the backrest2. The middle sections1bof a pair of supporting rods are mounted to the back side of a rotatable pivoting component3. The lower ends1cof a pair of supporting rods are coupled with the rear ends of a pair of rowing shafts4with rotatable joints, which are laid on a holding structure (see3inFIG. 3below) rested on legs5of the chair. A foldable reclining angle setting component6is mounted to the rotatable pivoting component3. The inner face of the angle setting component has four half moon-like depressions7. The backrest of the chair can be adjusted to four different angles by lifting the angle setting component6with the handle8and placing each of the four depressions7against a breaker9mounted on the surface of the supporting leg10.

FIG. 3(3/3) shows the side view of an adaptor which has been assembled to a conventional office chair. A foldable footrest1is securely connected with the front ends2aof a pair of longitudinal rowing shafts2. The footrest1has a flexible joint1ain the middle portion for stowing a pair of shoe-like foot holding structures away by folding the footrest1under the seat. The middle sections2bof the shafts2are placed in a pair of tracks3aof a seat post holder3, which is structured to surround the central seat post4of a conventional swivel office chair. The rear ends2cof the shafts2have matching coupling structures for connecting to the coupling structures5aof supporting rods5, which are mounted to a rotatable pivoting component6and the backrest7. The holder3is configured to securely fix the pair of tracks3afor the longitudinal rowing shafts2on the opposite sides to the central seat post of the chair. The longitudinal shafts2are tubes which can be rowed back and forth by the user while the backrest7cooperatively rotates about the pivoting component6within an angle set by the reclining angle setting component (see6,7,8, and9inFIG. 2above). During exercise, the user sits on the seat8, places feet in the shoe-like structure1, and places forearms onto the armrests9. By applying cooperative counter forces to the armrests9and the footrests1, the shafts2are moved back and forth in the holder tracks3ain a rowing motion mimicking the site-up movement. While the muscles of the entire body are exercised, the movements of abdominal muscles are the focal point, and the abdominal fat is burned away effectively. With the assistance provided by the backrest9and armrests7, even an overweight person or elder can do the sit-up exercise safely without difficulty, and the risk to get back or neck injury is eliminated or significantly reduced.

Various materials, such as metal, reinforced plastics, and high strength composite materials, and the like, can be suitably selected to form the various components of the adaptor.