Patent Publication Number: US-7722114-B2

Title: Zero gravity wall hugger recliner

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     Field of Invention 
     This invention relates to reclining furniture and more particularly to zero gravity recliners. In accordance with this invention, the recliner includes one or more improvements directed to different features of the recliner. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the recliner is motor drive. In accordance with other aspects of the invention, the recliner is a wall-hugger allowing it to be placed close to the wall when in the upright position and without moving it away from the wall when reclined, has a zero gravity configuration when reclined supporting the legs of the occupant above the heart, and when the recliner is upright the leg rest retracts under the plan of the seat. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing. In the drawings: 
         FIG. 1  is a vertical cross-sectional view of a zero gravity reclining chair in the reclined position, embodying the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view similar to  FIG. 1  but showing the chair in the upright or sitting position; 
         FIG. 3  is a rear elevation view of the chair in the upright position; and 
         FIG. 4  is a fragmentary view of a portion of the reclining mechanism and particularly showing the mechanism for raising and lowering the leg rest. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     This invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and variations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. 
     The Zero Gravity Recliner of the present invention in the embodiment illustrated includes in its general organization a base  10  that carries the chair assembly  12  having a seat  14 , backrest  16  and leg rest  18 , the frame of the seat and backrest are identified as  14   a  and  16   a . The chair assembly  12  is supported on the base by a motion assembly  20  that enables the chair assembly to move between zero gravity reclined and upright positions shown respectively in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The motion assembly is driven by a motor  22  having a screw-type drive shaft  24  connected between the fixed base  10  and the motion assembly  20 . 
     The base  10  in the embodiment illustrated includes a pair of side support panels  30 , one on each side of the chair that extend fore and aft inside the frame sides  32  that define the chair arm rests  34 . The side panels  32  are connected together by front and rear spreaders  36  and  36   a  to form a rigid frame, and each of the panels  30  mounted on the side walls  32  carries an essentially horizontal track  40  that extends front-to-back over a substantial portion of the length of the supports. While the tracks  40  shown are horizontal, in other embodiments they may be inclined and/or non-linear in shape. 
     The chair assembly  12  is supported on the base  10  by a roller trolley  46  that may be generally U-shaped having a bottom plate  48  and side plates  50  (see  FIG. 3 ). The bottom plate  48  and the side plates  50  may be a unitary structure either of one piece or of several pieces separately fabricated and secured together. Typically, the trolley  46  is made of metal but other materials may be used. Rollers  52  are mounted on the trolley side plates  50  so as to support the trolley for back-and-forth motion along the path defined by the tracks  40 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the motor  22  is carried on a motor mount  53  attached to the front spreader  36 , and its shaft  24  is attached to a bracket  56  connected to the bottom wall  48  of trolley  46 . Because the bracket  56  is fixed to the trolley and the motor is fixed with respect to the base, rotation of the screw shaft  24  will move the trolley  46  back and forth on the tracks  40  determined by the rotational direction of the motor. While in the preferred embodiment illustrated, the motor  22  is mounted in a fixed location, for example, to the front spreader  36  of the frame and the free end of the screw shaft  24  is connected to the movable trolley  46 , the assembly may be reversed so that the motor is attached to the rear spreader  36   a  or some other fixed location and the end of the screw shaft is attached to the trolley, in the direction opposite that shown. Alternatively, the motor  22  may be attached to the trolley  46  and the screw may be coupled to either of the spreaders or at another fixed location. 
     Each of the side plates  50  of the roller trolley  46  carries a motion bracket  64 . The motion brackets  64  are pivotally connected to the side members  50  by pivot pins  66 . The motion brackets  64  carry the seat frame  14   a  and backrest frame  16   a  on the bracket flanges  68  and  70  respectively, that are rigidly connected to the seat and backrest frames. In that fashion the frames of the seat and backrest are in a fixed angular relationship to one another that does not change when the two pivot as a rigid assembly with the motion brackets  46 . By virtue of the attachment of the motion brackets to the roller trolley  46 , the chair assembly  12  moves to and fro on the stationary base frame  10  (compare  FIGS. 1 and 2 ). 
     The leg rest  18  as part of the chair assembly moves with the seat  14  and backrest  16 , but its angular position is not fixed with respect to those chair parts. Rather, the leg rest  18  is pivotally mounted at the front end of the seat, and as explained in detail below, it pivots with respect to the seat by the action imparted to it by the leg rest control bars  80 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the front end  82   a  of each side of the seat frame  14  carries a bracket  86  that is pivotally connected to a pivot arm  88  fixed to the end  89  of the leg rest frame  18   a . The two brackets are connected by pivot pin  90  to the pivot arms  88 . This assembly is duplicated on each side of the leg rest. The leg rest control bars  80  on each side of the assembly are pivotally connected to the ends of the leg rest by pivots  110 . The pivot  90  may be bolts, rivets or other well-known fastener.  FIG. 4  shows a skeletal representation of the seat frame  14   a , leg rest frame  18   a  and push bar  80  assembly along with brackets  86 , pivot bars  88  and pivots  90 . The leg rest frame  18   a  pivots on the seat by virtue of the connections of the brackets  86  and pivot arms  88  on each side of the assembly (compare  FIGS. 1 and 2 ). 
     Pivotal motion of the unitized seat  14  and backrest  16  on the motion bracket  64  is imparted by actuating levers  92  pivotally mounted on each side of the seat at their lower ends  94  to fixed side supports  30  and at their upper ends  96  to the sides of the seat frame  14   a . The connections of the ends  94  and  96  of the actuating levers  92  are provided by pivots  98  and  100 . The side supports  30  establish fixed pivots  98  at the lower ends of actuating levers  92 , and the upper pivots  100  move as the seat  14  moves with the trolley  46  and motion bracket  64 . When the trolley moves in a forward direction on the tracks  40  (to the left as viewed in  FIG. 2 ), the actuating levers  92  pivot upwardly to a more vertical position (compare  FIGS. 1 and 2 ) about pivots  98  and elevate the seat  14  and tilt the backrest rearwardly to a reclined position. 
     Footrest control bars  80  that control the motion of the footrest with respect to the seat, are connected at one end  104  to the actuating levers  92  at pivot  106 , and the other ends  108  of the control bars  80  are connected at pivot  110  to the end  112  of the footrest  18 . When the actuating levers  92  move toward the vertical position as the trolley  46  moves forward on the tracks  40 , the control bars  80  pivot the leg rest  18  about its pivots  90  on the brackets  86  causing the footrest to rise from the down or retracted position under the front edge of the seat  14  (see  FIG. 2 ) to a horizontal position wherein the leg rest extends in a forward direction from the front edge of the seat to create a zero gravity support for the legs of the occupant of the chair above his/her heart (see  FIG. 1 ). 
     From the foregoing description it will be appreciated that the combination of the moving trolley  46 , actuating levers  92  and control bars  80  direct the recliner to its upright and reclined positions and simultaneously the leg rest to its retracted ( FIG. 2 ) and zero gravity positions ( FIG. 1 ) in response to operation of the motor. The motion of the trolley  46  moving the seat and backrest in a forward direction enable the recliner to be positioned very close to a wall behind the backrest so as to minimize the space required for the recliner in its upright position. The location of the recliner in proximity to a wall is in part determined by the height of the backrest and the thickness of its cushions, but spacing of the backrest just a few inches from a wall is sufficient to achieve the wall hugging effect. The mechanism enables the recliner to occupy a relatively small floor space as the leg rest is fully retracted when the recliner is upright, unlike most zero gravity furniture. It will also be appreciated that the motor powered mechanism may be used in other recliners that do not include retractable leg rests. 
     Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of this invention, it is to be appreciated various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings are by way of example only.