Patent Publication Number: US-4837869-A

Title: Chair for use in swimming pools

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The field of the invention is recreational equipment and the invention relates more particularly to recreational equipment for use in swimming pools, spas or other aquatic bodies. 
     The typical swimming pool chair is a floating chair and one such chair is shown in U. S. Pat. No. 3,117,327. While such chairs have found widespread use, some people find them uncomfortable because of their bobbing movement particularly when other people are using the pool. Furthermore, they tend to float in a random manner, and for someone wishing to improve their suntan, it is advantageous to have a chair which may be held in a desired orientation. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a chair for use in swimming pools, which chair does not float but instead is supported by the structure of the swimming pool. 
     The present invention is for a chair supported on the coping and side of a swimming pool, spa or other aquatic body. The chair and pool combination includes pool coping means at the side of a swimming pool, said pool coping means having a pool edge above a generally vertical pool side and said swimming pool includes pool sides and a water line below the pool coping means. A pool chair includes a generally horizontal seat and a generally vertical back affixed to the seat. The generally vertical back has two sides and has a bar affixed to the generally vertical back, which bar is supported by the coping. The coping-supported bar is positioned atop the pool coping means and extends away form the vertical back of the pool chair. The pool chair has pool side contact means located below the water line of the pool and affixed to the pool chair contacting the side of the swimming pool to hold the seat of the pool chair away from the side of the pool. In a preferred embodiment, the side contact means is an extension of the side bars of the seat and the generally vertical back is slidingly attached to these side bars. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the pool chair of the present invention supported by the coping and side of a swimming pool. 
     FIG. 2 is a front view of the chair of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 3 is a side view of the pool chair and pool side of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 4 is a side view of an alternate embodiment of the pool chair and pool side of FIG. 1. 
     FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the pool chair of FIG. 1 supported by a pool coping and pool side. 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a prior art floating pool chair. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMETNS 
     The pool chair of the present invention is shown in perspective view in FIG. 1 and indicated generally by reference character 10. Pool chair 10 has a generally vertical back 11 and a generally horizontal seat 12. The vertical back has two sides 13 and 14, and a top 15. The seat 12 has two sides 16 and 17, a front bar 18 and a back bar 19. Pool side contact means are provided by a pair of bars 20 and 21 which are attached at their outer end by a cross member 22. Bars 20 and 21 and cross member 22 contact the side 23 of the swimming pool 24. Swimming pool 24 has a number of coping tiles 25 which provide the coping of the pool As shown in FIG. 3, the coping tiles have a surface 26 which slopes away from the pool edge of the coping 27. The pool edge of the coping 27 is located above the water line 28 at the side 23 of the pool. Chair 10 is given vertical support by a pair of coping supported bars 29 and 30 which are attached at their outer ends by a cross member 31. Generally vertical back has webbing 32 and generally horizontal seat has webbing 33. 
     An adjustable version of the pool chair 10 is shown in FIG. 4. The vertical side members 13 and 14 of back 11 are slideably attached to sides 16 and 17 of seat 12. This is accomplished by the use of tee 9 which is attached to side 13 and is slidable along side 16. Preferably, a set screw, not shown, is used to hold tee 9 in a desired location. The point of attachment of tee 9 determines the tilt of the seat and back. Also, the sides of pools are not always vertical and this adjustment of tee 9 can compensate for different pool side slopes. 
     Preferably, the sides 13 and 14, top 15, back bar 19, sides 16 and 17 and front bar 18 are all fabricated from a polymer such as poly vinyl chloride. Similarly, the bars 20, 21 and cross member 22 and bars 29, 30 and cross member 31 are also fabricated from a polymer such as poly vinyl chloride which, preferably should be white so that it does not tend to mark the side of the pool which is normally white plaster. 
     As can be seen best in FIG. 3, the pool chair is supported in a manner so that the seat 12 is below the water line 28 so that the user thereof is comfortably seated partially below water and partially above water. The chair 10 can be placed at any position around the pool so that the sunlight is directed in most advantageous direction. A headrest 134 is placed along top 15. Because the user is largely under water when using the pool chair of the present invention the materials of constriction of chair 10 need not be exceptionally strong. For instance, schedule 40, 1/2 inch diameter pvc pipe; is sufficiently strong. 
     Arm rests 8 are shown on the chair 10 of FIG. 4 for added comfort. These are attached to sides 13 and 14 by tees 5 which are also preferably adjustable as by a set screw to permit the arms to be placed at a comfortable position by the user. Sponge tubing 7 is affixed over the arm rest and a length of sponge tubing 6 is placed over front bar 18 of the chair of FIG. 4. 
     An alternate design of the pool chair of the present invention is shown in FIG. 5 where two side members 35 and 36 are curved to form two points of contact 37 and 38 with the side 23 of pool 24. Similarly, the sides are curved and have two generally horizontal bars 39 and 39&#39; which contact the surface 26 of coping 25. The chair is indicated generally by reference character 40 and has a back 41, a seat 42, a pair of arms 43 and 44 held to sides 35 and 36 at one end and two vertical bars 45 and 46 at the other end. Cross members 47, 48 and 49 hold the frame together and webbing 50 covers the seat 42 and webbing 51 covers the back 41. 
     A prior art floating chair is shown in FIG. 6 and has a generally U-shaped float 52 which holds a chair 53. Chair 53 has a seat 54 and a back 55. As stated above, chair 53 floats in a random manner on the pool surface and tends to bob, which problems are solved by the chair of the present invention. 
     While the chair of the present invention has been shown as having polymeric tubing for a frame, other materials could, of course, be used. For instance, aluminum tubing could be used as a frame. Alternatively, vacuum formed, high impact polyethylene could be molded into a desired shape which would eliminate the frame and webbing and the coping supported bar could be affixed to the back of the chair and the pool side contact means connected either to the back at its base or to the seat portion. The important features are the existence of a generally horizontal coping supported bar together with a pool side contact bar and preferably a pair of pool side contact bars to provide additional support. Although the pool chair 10 shown in the drawings is shown as a single chair, the chair could be made wider to accommodate two or three persons. While the terms &#34;generally horizontal&#34; and &#34;generally vertical&#34; have been used, these terms of course, are intended to include the tilted version shown in the drawings. 
     The present embodiments of this invention are thus to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive; the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.