A convertible chair installation for or in vehicles

Abstract: In the so-called 'ski-coaches' special chairs are used, the back rests (4) of which can be swung up to form an upper row of bed elements, while the seat portions (2) are completed with filling-in-elements so as to form a lower row of bed elements. Mostly, particularly the back rests are of such a special design that in fact the chairs are unusable as normal coach chairs during the entire period outside the ski-ing season, and it is customary, therefore, to change out the entire seat installation before and after this season. According to the invention the chairs are adapted such that they will be universally usable, i.e. by way of a conventional front side profilation and by an upper carrier element (12) mounted inside the back rest, whereby the rear side of the back rest will exhibit no visual sleeping fitting. The carrier element (12) is located spaced underneath the top end of the back rest, whereby the sides of the uppermost portion of the back rest may be designed in an attractive, upwardly converging manner.

Description: The present invention relates to a seat installation in or for transportation means and of the type, in which a row of seats in a combined sitting and laying waggon can be converted into a row of bed elements in two levels, viz. by swinging up the back rests of the chairs for forming bed elements in an upper level and mounting fill-out elements between the chair seats for forming a row of beds in the lower level. It is possible hereby to convert each set of two chairs into an upper and a lower bed, such that it is possible to provide just as many bed units as there are chairs. Installations of this type are known particularly from such busses, called 'ski-busses', which are long-distance busses, for the operation of which it is decisive that they can drive both day and night and that the travellers can spend the night reasonably comfortably for effective sleep, that is on real, horizontal bed units. These chairs should be correspondingly particularly designed, partly with strong, upright supports for carrying the upper bed row and partly with extra cushion elements for filling out the spaces between between the seats in the lower bed row. The chairs are mounted in pairs, side by side, and the upstanding supports may thus be constituted by a single carrier for each pair of chairs. The carrier member should project so far upwardly that an upper, horizontal part thereof can carry the associated, swung-up back rests, and typically this height will be underneath the top edge of the back rest of an ordinary train or bus chair. For this reason it is natural that the upper carrier member be used not only as a carrier member, but also as a shaft for the swinging up of the back rest, the upper, horizontal carrier portion hereby being connected with the rear side of the back rest in a manner such that the back rest is fixed to and supported by the upper carrier portion in both the sitting and the lying position. It will facilitate the conversion of the chair that the back rest can thus simply be swung about the fixed carrier portion for effecting the conversion, and it is an accepted associated drawback that each pair of chairs, when seen from behind, appears with a heavily dimensioned cross rod across an upper part of the back rest, this being unusual for ordinary chairs. Given that the back rests should play a very important roll as bed elements it has been customary to design the back rests almost primarily as bed elements, i.e. with flat front sides that will form flat couches in the swung-up position. Hereby, of course, the back rests will be perfect as bed elements, but in return they are rather unsuitable as back rests in chairs, inasfar as in this area it is normal to aim at a special ergonomical design of the back rest and moreover to design the back rest with a look more elegant than only an upstanding, rectangular plate block that is functionally well suited to form part of an upper, continuous row of beds. For example, EP-A-0 161 157 discloses a chair of this type, with flat back rests raisable by pivoting about their top edges. To the paying customers all this will be acceptable in situations in which it is of main importance that the transportation can take place as a long tour e.g. to and from a skiing site, but just this typical example will show that the relevant activities may well be largely season conditioned, while outside these relative short periods, concerning the application of the means of transportation, it will be unrealistic to offer to the passengers a correspondingly low seating comfort and an associated clumsy look of the back rests. This is a reality to the degree that it is a quite common practice that the waggon owners every year, at the beginning and the end of the skiing season, carry out a total change of the entire chair installation of the vehicle, such that outside the particular season it is possible to drive with more usual, nice-looking and more user friendly chairs for servicing non-bed-nighting passengers. These changings, however, are rather costly. It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a chair installation, which is universally applicable for - briefly spoken - both summer and winter operation, such that the said costly shiftings of the chairs can be entirely avoided, and such that even by the special winter operation it is possible to maintain a nice-looking and user friendly design of the back rests in addition to these being perfectly usable as lying coach elements for sleeping purposes. The invention is based on the consideration that an ergonomically correct profilation of a back resting element will not at all be subjected to the same forces as will occur when the same element is loaded by a lying person, when assuming a swung-up, horizontal position. In other words, a back rest for a sitting person may well, in the height direction thereof, present bulgings and depressions, which will provide a perfect support for the back of the sitting person, while the same bulgings, when based on the use of a suitably resilient material, will be without any substantial significance with respect to discomfort, when the person is lying on the same element. Already at this basis it is practically possible to design the convertible chairs with back rests that will be generally acceptable for all-year operation, primarily with only sitting passengers. It is not to be asserted that the lying comfort on the correctly designed back rests is better than on the discussed flat elements, but under the circumstances the lying comfort is not subject to the highest expectations anyway, and the said advantage with respect to the universal applicability of the installation will be much more valuable in practice. Another important circumstance is that the said carrier portion, which, by the way, may be separated at the middle thereof for enabling an individual inclination adjustment of the two neighboring back rests, is known to appear as a heavily dimensioned cross element at the upper end of the rear side of the back rest, which, together with the associated pivotal mounting of the back rest, is highly contributing to a marked inelegant look of the chair. This design is logically enough, since of course it is desirable to hold the thickness of the flat 'coach back rest' as small as possible, i.e. with the use of a carrying rear plate having on its front side a coach element of just the required minimum thickness; when the carrier member is then mounted at the rear side of the plate a safe carrying without any narrowing of the effective coach thickness will then be achieved. In connection with the invention, however, it is recognized that it is very well possible to place the carrier member at the front side of the said carrier plate, that is within the effective thickness area of the coach, without this having to cause disadvantageous consequences for the lying comfort. This is possible particularly when use is made of the said profilation of the front side of the back rest, as it is hereby essential that a slim look of the back rest is achievable when only a single transverse area appears as being thin, typically the area adjacent the neck of the sitting person, while from this area there may occur thickenings both upwardly, e.g. in the form of backhead supports, and downwardly, in the form of a loin support, which may even at the sides be extra thickened for forming side supporting portions, without the back rest thereby generally appearing visually thick, contrary to a corresponding, thick plate-like element. In spite of the thin look of the back rest there will thus nevertheless appear thickenings, behind which it will be possible, without any inconvenience, to provide a carrier rod, e.g. in the back head thickening, but preferably the invention provides for a quite opposite approach, viz. that the carrier rod may well be placed adjacent a coach area having reduced thickness, such as in the said back head depression, when thickenings are present at both sides thereof, i.e. both above and below thereof, because the resting pressure against the depression will then be noticeably reduced because of the neighboring outbulgings, i.e the carrier rod will not be perceived in any negative manner despite its being placed near the outer side of the coach. As a result of all this the back rest can be designed with a completely smooth rear side, because the carrier rod can be mounted projecting inwardly from the outer edge of the back rest, and hereby the back rest may appear as an almost conventionally designed bus chair, only having at its visible side edge an upstanding post for the carrier rod, which, at an upper area, disappears into the side face of the back rest. The said post, however, is justified by the chair being designed with adjustable back rest inclination, such that this facility makes the post visually acceptable also for an 'all season chair'. In previously known designs the said carrier rod has been located adjacent the top edge of the back rest, and it has been possible to swing up the back rest into a horizontal position, in which the swung up lower edge of the back will just reach the carrier rod of the preceding chair, whereby it has been natural that the said lower edge is brought into a locking engagement with the respective preceding carrier rod by actuation of suitable locking means between these parts. The invention, in a decisive manner, breaks with this concept in that the carrier post does not extend all the way up to the top edge of the back, but e.g. only up to the said neck area, whereby a swinging up of the back will be connected with a rearward downswinging of the back portion which projects further up from the transverse carrier rod. Consequently the adjacent swung-up back cannot be supported by being coupled to the respective carrier rod, because its lower, swung-up end should be supported in a position, in which this end is located next to the swung-down upper end of the back of the preceding chair, i.e. spaced from the carrier rod. A coupling together at this place could be established, but it is realized that it will be simpler to entirely avoid such a coupling, this being achievable by each chair being provided with means for supporting both the front and the rear portion of the swug-up back in a manner such that the backs of the single chairs, when swung up, will automatically and in a self carrying manner be flush with the swung up backs of the preceding and the following chairs, whereby a real coupling between these elements will be fully superfluous. This implies not only that a conventional, separate coupling operation can be avoided, but also that the transverse carrier rod can be located in a level beneath the top edge of the back, whereby the carrier post shall not extend to the very top of the back, this again conditioning a weakened visual dominance of the carrier post. Moreover, it is made possible that the part of the back which, in the sitting position thereof, projects upwardly past the transverse carrier rod may be designed in a upwardly converging manner, which will contribute to a desired 'light' look of the chair, without this having any significant importance for the lying comfort on the swung-up backs. For the all season applicability of the chairs it is highly important that these upper back portions can be terminated in an elegantly converging manner, and in connection this will be possible without any associated noticeable drawbacks. In the following the invention is described in more detail with reference to the drawing, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of neighboring bus chairs according to the invention, Fig. 2 is a side view thereof, Fig. 3 is a corresponding side view of a row of chairs shown in a converted condition, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a pair of chairs according to the invention, seen from behind, and Figs. 5 and 6 are side views of a frame of the back rest. A chair as shown in Fig. 1 consists of a seat element 2 and a back 4, the seat being supported on a frame carried by side pieces 6 that are floor supported by means of legs 8. The back 4 is supported rearwardly by means of a rear post 10 upstanding from the the rear edge of the frame 6 and having at its upper end a transverse carrier rod 12, which projects horizontally inwardly through an upper area of the back in a depressed portion thereof between a relatively wide, lower loin support 14 and an upper, forwardly thickened back head rest portion 16. The upright side post 10 may be adjusted to different rearward inclinations about a lower pivot point 18 by means of a rod connection 20, Figs. 1 and 2. This rod connects a pivot 22 on the post 10, located relatively close to the pivot 18, with a front end portion 24 of a horizontally disposed gas spring 26, which has a rearwardly projecting piston rod 28 secured to a fixed rear wall 30 of an outer cover housing 32 for the spring cylinder 26. In the top side of the housing 32 is provided a slot 34, through which an upstanding actuation lever 36 projects, this lever at its lower end being connected with a pivot 38 in rigid association with the cylinder 26, while at its upper end it has a handle 40. When the handle 40 is pressed rearwardly the lever 36 is forced against a valve actuator 42 on the cylinder 26 in a manner such that the entire cylinder 26 will be displaced rearwardly, that is bringing along the handle 40, and the associated rearward tilting of the back frame 10 may be stopped by releasing the handle 40 or by the frame 10 or the cylinder 26 meeting a suitable stop. The back has a frame 66, see also Figs. 5 and 6, at the lower sides of which there are provided projecting abutments 19. Just behind these there is located a free end portion 21 of an arm 23 rigidly upstanding from the lower chassis, whereby the lowered end of the back cannot be displaced rearwardly. This means that when the back is tilted rearwardly there will be no unpleasant mutual displacement between the seat 2 and the lower edge area of the back. This design, according to which the handle 40 follows the horizontal movement of the cylinder 26, is noticeably simpler than the conventional design, where the handle 40 is pivoted in a stationary manner, and additionally the actuation operation will be more suitable in view of the fact that the user's arm and hand as used for the actuation will also be rearwardly displaced. In a low level on the lower chassis 6,8 there is mounted a rearmost, transverse rod 43 centrally with or in front of the pivots 18, and a foremost transverse rod 44, which rods 43,44 carry a fixed couch part 46, above which the seat element 2 is located. This element 2 has a lower carrier frame 48, which at its rear end is pivotally connected with a set of pivot arms 50 extending forwardly and downwardly to a pivot point 52 on the chassis portion 6. At its front end the frame 48 has a pair of depending support legs 54, which do not react the floor, designated 56, and besides, this frame is supported against fixed supports 58 of the sub chassis adjacent its foremost side portions; the illustrated support 58 cooperates with a non-illustrated, rearwardly projecting protrusion on the support leg 54. Thus, the seat element 2 will be forwardly displaceable by the arms 50 pivoting about the lower pivots 52, into an advanced and lowered position as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, in which the legs 54 are supported against the floor 56, while the rear end of the seat element is supported by the arms 50 abutting the transverse rod 44, all in a manner such that the top side of the advanced seat element 2 will be horizontally flush with the top side of the fixed, low couch 46 in a position immediately in front thereof. The chairs are mounted with such a mutual spacing that the advanced seat element 2 will extend forwardly just to the rear end of the fixed couch member 46 of the preceding chair, such that as shown in Fig. 3 there will be provided a coherent row of seat members 2 and 46 usable as sleeping couches. The backs 4 may be swung up about the transverse rods 12 into upper bed positions as shown in Fig. 3 and indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1. It is hereby presupposed that the back frames 10,12 have been raised to a standard position with a uniform height location of the pivot points 22. For additional support of the backs in their swung-up positions there is at each chair provided a telescopic system 62,64, Fig. 3, which at its upper end is connected with a pivot 60 at the side of the back frame, while at its lower end it is pivotally connected with the sub chassis 6, in the pivots 18 or separate pivots close thereto. Each of these telescopic systems have individual means for being temporarily locked such that each system can be fixed in just that position in which the back rest element 4 will be supported in a lying position flush with the other back elements, as shown in Fig. 3, such that also these elements will form a longitudinal, coherent lying surface. The required locking may be effected in a simple manner by the use of a laterally spring biased ball on the telescopic rod 64 which is brought into engagement with a hole in the surrounding telescopic tube 62 in such a manner that it is reasonably easy, but not unintentionally, to release the holding engagement by pressing in the ball to ensure that thereafter the back can be swung down into its normal position. The overall design is such that the swung-up backs 4 will reach together while also the seat portions 2 and 46 will reach together. There is no need for a direct coupling together or locking of the swung-up backs, because they will be safely supported anyway. The swung-up backs may be stabilized otherwise than with the use of rod elements 62, 64, e.g. by means of a ceiling mounted suspension system or a rigid fastening to the posts 10. The rod elements 62, 64 could be secured, at their lower end, to fixed portions other than the same chair chassis to which the associated back belongs. It should be noted that the bulgings 16 of the swung-up backs will not in practice be as large as shown in Fig. 3, because what is really bulging out is the side areas of the backs, i.e. the lying surface at the middle area is more flat when seen in the longitudinal direction of the bed row. On the other hand, the back head rests 16 are clearly bulging up, but as mentioned without in any way making the sleeping surfaces unacceptable. The fact that the swung-up backs will be self carried by each single chair and thus will require no coupling to the carrier system 10,12 of an adjacent chair implies that the backs 4 can be swung about an axis 12, which in the seating position will be located spaced beneath the upper end of the back, i.e. the back may have a desirable large height without the side posts 10 projecting correspondingly high. This will contribute to the chair as a whole being designable with an acceptable look. It is a further effect that the couch height above the floor 56 will be relatively low, this being advantageous in any vehicle. This circumstance could give rise to problems with respect to the free height between the lower and the upper couch system, if the lower system was located in the level of the seat elements 2, but it will be appreciated that this level has been lowered in the sleeping positions of these elements, where the level is given by the top of the fixed couches 46, such that the seat level is not hindering for the swung-up backs to be located in the desired low level. It will be seen from Fig. 4 that the rear sides of the backs can appear as fully smooth faces with a quite ordinary look, without this being disturbed by the relatively heavy carrier rods 12 as stretching along the rear side thereof and inside the back. The upholstering of the back should not will not need to be particularly thickened for the internal mounting of the carrier rod 12 to be acceptable. As indicated in Fig. 5 it is a possibility that the back is designed with an outer rear tube frame 66, to the rear side of which there is secured by spot welding a rear metal plate 68 that forms a basis for the frontlying upholstering, while the carrier rod 12 or rather a receiving tube 70 therefor is projecting inwardly in plane with the frame 66 and is secured by welding to this frame and to the rear plate 68. Just when the back appears with outbulgings that will ensure a good sitting comfort the minimum thickness of the front side upholstering will be relatively small, and hereby the total back thickness may be kept so small that the chair as a whole may appear with a look that is almost quite normal for ordinary bus chairs. In Fig. 6 is shown a preferred design of the back frame. There is still used a pipe frame 66, but the rear plate 68 is a plywood plate which is secured to ears 72 welded to the frame tube. The plate 68 is also by riveting secured to a pair of transverse fish plates 72, which, in addition to having a supporting effect, can also be used as a mounting base for desired parts on the rear side of the back, e.g. an upper handle and optionally lower table plate mountings.

Claims: A convertible seat installation in or for means of transport, such as coaches, and of the type where a row of chairs (2,4) in a combined sitting and sleeping car can be converted to a row of beds in two levels, viz. by upward pivoting of the back rest (4) of the chairs to form bed elements in an upper row and by arranging for filling-in-elements between the chair seats (2) to form a lower bed row, said back rests (4) being hinged to an upper, transverse carrier rod (12) projecting from the upper end of a carrier post (10) located at a side of the chair, said post (10) preferably also being angularly adjustable for enabling the back rest (4) to assume different inclinations, the back rests (4) in their swung-up positions on said carrier rods (12) being arranged to be stabilized in their lying positions, characterized in that the back rests (4) have front sides, which, as known from non-convertible chairs, are profiled with bulging out headrest (16) and loin support portions (14), and that the transverse carrier rod (12) is provided in a level spaced underneath the top end of the back rest, such that the headrest portion (16) is above said level. An installation according to claim 1, in which the transverse carrier rod (12) is mounted inside the back rest (4), in front of the rear covering thereof, this covering preferably extending smoothly across the mounting place of the carrier rod (12). An installation or a chair according to claim 1, in which the transverse carrier rod (12) is arranged behind a depressed front side area of the back rest at the lower end of the headrest portion (16). An installation or a chair according to claim 1, in which the lateral surfaces of the back rests (4) extend upwardly converging above the transverse carrier rod (12). An installation according to claim 1, and further comprising means (62,64) for supporting the swung-up back rests (4) at an area closer to their swung-up lower edges. An installation according to claim 5, in which the further supporting means comprise separate stow-away rod connection means (62,64) between the chair chassis (6) and the swung-up lower part of the back rest (4). An installation according to claim 6, in which the separate rod connection is an arrestable telescopic rod system (62,64), which is permanently mounted between a chair chassis (6) and the relevant lower portion of the back rest (4). An installation according to claim 7, in which the telescopic rod (62,64) system is mounted between the lower portion of the back rest (4) and the chair chassis (6) belonging to the same chair as that back rest (4). An installation according to claim 1, and comprising a side handle (36,40) for actuation of an inclination mechanism (20,26,28) of the back rest (4), characterized in that the handle (36,40) is arranged in such a slidable manner that it is displaced, as a whole, forwardly and rearwardly, respectively, in response to the back rest (4) being tilted for wardly or rearwardly. An installation according to claim 1, in which the inclination adjustable back rest (4), in the chair position thereof, is freely tiltably connected with said carrier post (10), while adjacent its lower end it is horizontally supported by abutting stationary abutment means (2,21) both in front of and behind the said lower end thereof. An installation according to claim 1, in which the chair seat (2) is forwardly displaceable into a fill-out position in a lowered level flush with a stationary couch element (46) mounted underneath the chair seat (2).

Inventors: CHRISTENSEN OLE VAGN, CHRISTENSEN, OLE VAGN
Applicants: BROENDUM V AS, V. BROENDUM A/S
Application year: 1992
Main classification: A47C17
IPC codes: A47C17, B60N2