USER-ASSISTING SEAT

Abstract: A seat designed to give assistance to the user in rising from a seated position is hinged to the seat frame at or adjacent to one edge of the seat and is urged to lift pivotally about the hinge by at least one coil spring, adjustment means being provided to vary the tension in the spring by tightening or slackening the coil. In a preferred form, two such coil springs together carry a roller at one of their ends, which roller is disposed to bear upon the underside of the seat, and together carry a rod or bar at their other ends, which rod or bar may be moved to vary the tension in the coils.

Description: USER-ASSISTING SEAT The present invention is a seat having the facility of assisting the user to rise when he wishes to leave it. It is a recurring problem for persons of limited agility that they have difficulty raisins themselves from a comfortable sitting position when wishing to leave the seat. The problems aggravated when the seat is a relatively low one. It is undesirable and restriction for a user to have to seek assistance in rising from a seat and therefore it has previously been suested that a seat may incorporate some mechanical means of such assistance. However no wholly satisfactory seat of this type is available. One disadvantage of previously available such seats is that they do not adequately cater for a ranee of users of different weights and physical strengths. Another is that some such prior seats are not able to withstand the repeated wear entailed in regular daily use. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a seat which adapts to give adequate assistance in rising to a wide range of different users and which may be made in a simple but robust construction which can survive regular repeated use. According to the present invention, a seat to give assistance in risin;7 to the user is hinged to the supportin±; frame at or adjacent to one edge of the seat and is urged by at least one coil sprint to lift relative to the frame by pivottin about the hin-e,adJustmentmeans bein provided to vary the tension in the sprint by tihtenin or slackenin the coil. Apart from the assisted-rising feature, the seat may in all other respects resemble a conventimal chair. If desired, the feature may be incorporated in a settee, with one or more of the seats thereof being modified according to the invention, such seat or seats being individually adjustable as described. At least one coil spring is provided to ure the seat to lift about the hinge. In a preferred form of the present invention, two such springs are provided. The sprint, or sprints may be mounted upon the seat itself but is/are preferably carried b the supportin frame. Unless the spring is incorporated in the hinge itself (and for ease of maintenance it is preferred that the spring or springs be separate from the hinge), the point of action of the sprint upon the seat will vary as the seat rises. For this reason, the end of the spring which abuts the seat preferably carries a roller. To allow the seat to adapt to the differing needs of different users, means are provided to vary the tension in the sprint by tidhteninG- or slackening the coil. Thus a threaded mechanism may be provided to enable continuous varying of the position of the end of the coil remote from the seat itself. A preferred form of the present invention comprises a seat hined at or adjacent to one edge thereof, two coil sprints together carrying a roller at one of their ends, the roller being disposed to bear upon the underside of the seat to ure it to pivot upwards about the hinge, a rod or bar carried to--ether by the sprints at their other ends, and adjustment means to move the rod or bar to increase or reduce the tension in the coil springs, In a particularly preferred form of the invention, a locking means is provided to retain the seat in its down position. The locking means preferably is designed to ends e automatically when the seat approaches that position. The locking means may be remotely operated so that it can be released manually from a point which is accessible to the user when seated. Conveniently a manual release control may be provided for the user, linked to the locking means by a flexible link such as a Bowden cable. Other features of the present invention, and possible variations thereof, will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fi, 1 is a perspective view from the rear of the operatinr: mechanism of one form of seat according to the present invention; Fig 2 is a plan view of the seat of Fig. 1 with the seat portion itself removed; and Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view from the side of the seat illustrated in Figs. I and 2. Referring to the drawings, the seat consists essentially of a box frame composed of sides 4 and 5, back 6 and front 7, together with a seat portion 8, which forms a "lids to the box frame. The seat portion 8 is hinged to the frame front 7 by means of hinges 9. Extending between the sides 4 and 5, close to the front 7 of the frame is a cross-bar 10, about which a pair of coil springs 11 and 12 are mounted. At their upper ends, the coil spring's 11 and 12 carry a nylon roller 13, which bears upon a riOid plate 14, for example of "Formica" (Registered Trade Mark), secured to the underside of the seat portion 8. Thus normal pressure of the sprins urges the seat portion to pivot upward and forwards on the hinges 9. When the user of the seat wishes to rise from his sitting position, his lifting action is assisted by the upward pressure of the seat portion under the influence of the sprints 11 and 12. It will be understood that different users of the seat will differ in weight and also in the degree of assistance required. Adjustment of the seat to accommodate these different needs is afforded as follows. The lower ends of the sprins 11 and 12 carry between them a tension bar 15, to which they are secured. Extending between the rear frame member 6 and the bar 15 is a tensionadjusting rod 16, which is threadedly en,a-ed at one end with the bar 15 and carries a knurled knob 17 at its other end. Thus, when the knob 17 is turned in a clockwise direction, the threaded rod 16 is screwed further into the bar 15 and pulls it towards the rear frame member 6, thereby increasing the tension in the coil spins 11 and 12 and enhancing the upward pressure on the seat portion 8. In this way, the person rising from the seat is riven increased assistance. An optional, but highly advantageous, further feature of the illustrated form of the invention is a locking means which operates to retain the seat closed. The locking means takes the form of a sprun latch 18 (Fig. 3) mounted on a cross-member 19 of the seat frame and arranged to engage a socket 20 on the underside of the seat portion 8. The seat would normally be held down by the weight of the user upon it but, in order to permit settle, of the springs 11, 12 to afford strong assistance to the user in rising, while at the same time leaving him comfortable when seated, the locking means retains the seat securely closed until the assistance in risin is reouired. Sprit operation of the latch 18 ensures that the seat locks automatically when it is lowered, as b-7 the user sittin upon it. The latch 18 may be withdrawn from en-azement with the socket 20 by means of a Bowden cable 21, operated by a release lever 22 mounted on the underside of the arm (not shown) of the seat, in a position readily accessible to the seated user. Thus when the user wishes to rise, he merely operates the release lever 22 and thereby disengages the latch 19 to ain the help in rising afforded by the sprints 11 and 12. As will be seen, the seat according to the present invention may be made in a simple but robust form and is adapted to adjust to the needs of different users. In laboratory tests, we have found that a seat in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings vave adeauate assistance to users weihin-, from 7 stone to 15 stone and that the seat mechanism survived 100,000 cycles of liftin and lowerin without failure.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A user-assistin--- seat comprising a supportin frame, a seat hinged to said frame at or adjacent to one ede of said seat, at least one coil sprin disposed to operate between said frame and said seat so as to ure said seat to lift relative to said frame by pivottin about the hinge, and adjustment means to vary the tension in said spring by tightening or slackenin the coil. 2. A user-assisting seat as claimed in claim 1, comprisin, two said coil sprints, 3. A user-assisting seat as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said at least one coil spring is carried by the supporting frame and carries a roller at the end of said spring which abuts said seat. 4. A user-assistin- seat as claimed in any of the precedin claims, wherein said adjustm-ent means is a threaded mechanism to enable continuous varyin; of the position of that end of the coil which is remote from the seat itself. 5. A user-assistin" seat as claimed in any of the preceding claims, having two said coil sprinr;s which together carry a roller at one end thereof, the roller being disposed to bear upon the underside of said seat, a rod cr bar carried together by said sprints at their other ends, and adjustment means to move the rod or bar to increase the tenon in said coil springs . 6. A user-assisting seat as claimed in claim 5, wherein said adjustment means is manually operable. 7. A user-assisting seat as claimed in any of the preceding claims, havin lockin means to retain the seat in its down position, said locking means being designed to engage automatically when the seat approaches said down position and being manually releasable from a point accessible to the user when seated. 8. A user-assistinx seat as claimed in claim 7, wherein said locking means is linked to a manual release control by a Bowden cable.

Inventors: SMITH, THORNTON WEAR
Applicants: NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT COUNCIL WORKSHOPS FOR THE ADULT BLIND
Application year: 1985
Main classification: A61G5
IPC codes: A61G5