Abstract:
An article, particularly of furniture, such as a chair, at least a portion of which is shaped and decorated whereby to simulate an equivalent article having a fabric article such as a shirt arranged over it. The simulation may be achieved by the shape of the portion and/or the texture of its surface and/or surface decoration. A lower part of the chair back is formed as a suspended flap to provide flexible support of the lumbar region of a person sitting on the chair.

Description:
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/216,296, filed Dec. 18, 1998, now abandoned. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally, but not exclusively, to an article of furniture. 
     In a stadium, where large numbers of identical items of furniture such as chairs, are provided, it is usual for there to be made with a tipping seat to enable spectators to walk along the rows to reach a particular numbered seat. 
     Sporting events, such as baseball or football involving two teams often have areas of the stadium set aside for the supporters of one or other of the teams. Until now the seating for spectators supporting one team has been indistinguishable from that for spectators supporting the other team and no distinction can be made between them. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an article, particularly an article of furniture, at least a portion of which is shaped and decorated whereby to provide a simulation of an article having a fabric article arranged over it. The simulation may, for example, be achieved by the shape of the said portion and/or the texture of its surface and/or its surface decoration. The fabric article to be simulated may be, but not necessarily, of textile or other relatively thin, supple material usable for garments and furnishing purposes. 
     The article may be part of an item of furniture or may be a complete item of furniture over which it is customary to place a fabric article; examples include a towel rail, a coat stand, a table top or a chair back, which might be covered with a cloth. The fabric article simulated may thus be a generally flat article which may look as if it is hanging in folds on its support, or a three-dimensional garment which holds its own shape or conforms to the shape of the body or object over which it is placed. An article made in accordance with the invention may thus comprise, for example, a chair back having a dependant flap or flaps simulating a shirt hanging over it; such an article may conveniently be moulded integrally from plastics material, the clothing-simulating portion having a textured surface simulating a woven fabric and/or bearing a design such as those used on garments such as shirts or t-shirts. 
     The dependent flap or flaps simulating a shirt also has the property of offering a large flexible area in the region of the lower back to provide additional lumbar support which, because it is only supported at an upper edge, provides a high degree of comfort for the user. 
     In a preferred embodiment of the invention the article comprises a chair back adapted to simulate an equivalent back over which a garment has been hung. The chair back preferably comprises or includes a panel of plastics material or other suitable material, such as wood, plywood or sheet metal, which can be cut, shaped or moulded to the required form and/or on which an image of the fabric article can be formed or applied. Whatever the material used, the front face of the chair back against which the sitter rests in preferably flat or smoothly curved, that is, having the normal shaping for chair back so as not to have any protuberances which might cause discomfort to the user. Any fabric simulation on the front face of the chair back is thus preferably in the form of a generally two-dimensional representation of the three-dimensional garment being simulated in a “trompe l&#39;oeil” fashion. The rear face of the chair back may, on the other hand, be formed or provided with a two- or three-dimensional representation of the article, the back panel optionally being extended beyond the normal extent of backrests to provide for any extension of the garment being simulated beyond the backrest. 
     Features and characteristics of the invention will become more clearly apparent from a consideration of the detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings and provided without limitation to the invention defined in the appended claim. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a chair with a simulated shirt on the back according to the invention; and 
     FIG. 2 is a front view of the chair back shown in FIG.  1 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to FIG. 1, a collapsible, tubular-frame chair generally indicated  10  is shown in its position of use. The chair  10  includes a front or main U-shape frame generally indicated  11 , comprising two limbs  12  joined at their lower ends by a rectilinear bight portion  13  which rests on the ground. Each limb  12  comprises a lower portion  14   a  and an upper portion  14   b . The two limbs  12  are further joined by an interconnecting strut  15 . 
     The chair  10  further includes a rear or secondary U-shape frame generally indicated  17 , comprising two limbs  18  joined at their lower ends by a rectilinear bight portion  19  which rests on the ground. The rear U-shape frame  17  is pivotally connected to the front U-shape frame  11  by pivot pins  20 . 
     The chair  10  further includes a rectangular seat frame  16  which is pivotally connected to the rear U-shape frame  17  near to the upper ends of the limbs  18  by pivot pins  21 , and rests on, and is in part supported by, the interconnecting strut  15 . 
     The pivot pins  20  and  21  hold the frames  11 ,  16 ,  17  together so as to be erectable from a collapsed position (not shown), in which the frames lie alongside each other, to an erected condition as shown in FIG.  1 . 
     The rectangular seat frame  16  supports a panel  22  constituting the seat of the chair  10 , which may be a sheet of plastics or metal or other suitable material. 
     The upper portions  14   b  of the limbs  12  of the front U-shape frame  11  support a backrest panel generally indicated  23 , which may be a laminar element of plastics or metal or other suitable material. 
     The backrest panel  23  is releasably connected to the upper portions  14   b  of the limbs  12  of the front U-shape frame  11  by sockets  24  in the lateral edges thereof (see FIG.  2 ), so as to be easily removable for substitution by other such backrest panels, as will be described below with reference to FIG.  2 . 
     The outline shape of the backrest panel  23  includes a downwardly projecting that portion  35  defined by a lower edge  34  and two arcuate lower side edges  36 ,  37 . This flap portion is generally capable of flexing to provide a comfortable support for the lower lumbar region of a user. 
     The backrest  23  is printed with an image representing a shirt and its overall outline shape is such as to lend itself to a simulation of a shirt. The line defining the top of the upper edge of the backrest  23  has a projecting portion  25  protruding from the central region, and as will be explained in more detail below, is printed in such a way as to contribute to a simulation of a collar. This simulation comprises a combination of the shape of the projection  25  and an image of a collar represented by three generally trapezoidal areas  26   a ,  26   b , and  26   c , which in the monochromatic representation illustrated in the drawings appended hereto are bounded by outlines  27 . 
     In embodiments of the invention printed in colour these areas  26   a ,  26   b  and  26   c  may be printed in a different colour from that of the remaining area of the backrest  23 . The three generally trapezoidal areas  26   a ,  26   b  and  26   c  surround and define a generally triangular area  28  which represents and simulates the inside face of the back of the shirt represented by the image printed on the front of the backrest  23 . For this purpose the generally triangular area  28  may be printed with a paler shade of the same or similar colour to the remaining area of the backrest  23 . The generally trapezoidal area  26   c  which occupies the majority of the area of the projection  25  may likewise be printed with a paler shade of the same or a similar colour to the other two generally trapezoidal areas  26   a  and  26   b  which represent the reverse of the shirt collar, and may, for example, be printed with a contrasting colour from that of the main body of the backrest  23  which represents the main body of the shirt. Some or all of the backrest may have a surface texture representing woven fabric. 
     The backrest  23  is further shaped as described above by a tapering of its width towards the bottom of the panel to provide a flap  35  which represents the lower body of a shirt. This printed with areas  29  extending from the upper corners downwardly and inwardly towards the bottom  34  of the backrest  23 , to represent sleeves of the shirt. In this embodiment the central portion of the backrest  23  also carries lettering and a logo for identification and/or advertising purposes. 
     The lower edge  34  of the backrest  23  can be positioned such as to engage against the rear edge of the seat panel  22  to assist in holding the chair in its erected condition as shown in FIG.  1 . This, however, is not an essential requirement and the lower edge  34  may in other embodiments be spaced from the seat  22  when the chair is in the erected condition in order to give even greater flexibility and lumbar support. 
     The back face (not shown) of the backrest  23  may be plain or may carry an image of the back of the shirt or, indeed, the same image as the front or an image of a different article. The images may be printed, as indicated above, or formed in other ways, such as within the weave of a textile which is then attached such as by gluing to the face of the backrest  23 . On its back face (not shown) the backrest  23  may have a three-dimensional applied or integrally moulded image. Additionally fabric may depend from the backrest  23  beneath the level of the seat panel  22  of the chair  10  to simulate a longer garment draped over the backrest  23 . 
     As shown in FIG. 1 the seat  22  may itself be provided with a complementary simulation representing, in this example, a pair of shorts, by printing areas such as  31  and  32  with a different colour from the rest of the seat  22 . Similarly other patterns or advertising material may be printed on the main central region  33  of the seat panel  22 . 
     In order to improve the simulation and enhance the “trompe l&#39;oeil” effect, certain areas of the seat back panel  27  and/or the seat  22  itself may be formed in low relief to stand out from the general plane defined by the rest of the panel. This may apply to the collar region  26   a ,  26   b  or the placket regions  26   c ,  26   d  and/or the regions  29  which represent the sleeves. These regions may also be formed with a different surface texture from the rest of the panel to enhance the simulation effect.