Patent Publication Number: US-2012032491-A1

Title: High chair with folding legs

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION  
     The invention relates to a high chair according to the preamble of claim  1 . 
     BACKGROUND  
     A high chair should be relatively high in order to allow the child to sit at a level slightly underneath the level of a dining table/kitchen table and should also have a high security, among other things against tipping over. Therefore the legs are preferably directed to be supported on the floor at widely distanced points, which means that the high chair requires a comparatively large space. Therefore, it is desirable to arrange one pair of the legs of the high chair pivotal between a first retracted storage position, in vicinity of the position for the other pair of legs, and a second, extended user position. It is of course desirable to be able to guarantee an effective locking of the folding legs in the extended position, which locking can be disengaged. Further it is desirable to be able to sell and distribute the high chair in the form of a minimized package comprising partly unassembled legs, partly a chair unit to which the legs can be attached. The legs of the chair are mounted by rigidly attaching their ends to a respective socket on the chair unit. 
     THE INVENTION  
     One object of the invention is to provide a locking mechanism for the high chair, which in addition to a secure locking of the pair of legs in extended position, allows the pair of legs, when extending them from a retracted position, with high security to take in the completely extended and locked position. 
     A further object is to provide a locking mechanism which is easy to disengage in order to allow the pair of legs to be swung back into a storage position. 
     One or several of these objects are achieved fully or partly with the invention. 
     The invention is defined in the appended independent claim. 
     Embodiments of the invention are defined in the appended dependent claims. 
     The invention accordingly provides a high chair with a folding pair of legs and with a locking mechanism which affords automatic locking of the pair of legs when it moves to the extended end position, wherein the locking mechanism has a control means which allows disengagement of the pair of legs for moving them back to a storage position. 
     Further is provided a blocking device, which is arranged to keep the folding pair of legs in retracted position up to a certain limit for a torque applied on the pair of legs around its pivot bearing. When a user applies a torque onto the pair of legs above this limit, the blocking means is arranged to abruptly let go of the pair of legs so that this (and the user&#39;s arm) is given a momentum which exists up to the locked end position of the pair of legs caused by the locking mechanism. 
     The high chair may comprise a rigid chair unit, which comprises a seat, a back rest rigidly attached to the seat and a foot rest rigidly attached to the seat, the foot rest being located at a distance underneath the level of the seat, whereby the chair unit is carried by a front and a rear pair of legs, said pairs of legs being mutually foldable between a support position, in which the pairs of legs are extended from each other, and a storage position, in which the pairs of legs are retracted towards each other. The front pair of legs can be permanently attached to the chair unit in the area of the foot rest. The rear pair of legs can be mounted in the lower part of a link, which with an upper part is pivotally swivelled in the chair unit in a transition area between the seat and the back rest, for pivotal movement around a horizontal axis. The length of the link is suitably adapted to make possible the use of mutually alike and equally long legs for the high chair. Hereby the length of the legs is minimized, which in practical embodiments may imply that the length of the legs substantially corresponds to the largest dimension of the chair unit so that the length of a package, e.g. in the symmetry plane of the chair unit, substantially determines the length of the package and so that the chair unit finds room within the size of a carton, e.g. with a form of a parallelepiped, adapted to the chair unit. 
    
    
     
       SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       The high chair according to the invention as well as embodiments thereof, will be described with reference to embodiments of the invention illustrated on the accompanying drawings, on which: 
         FIG. 1  shows a side view of the high chair according to the invention; 
         FIG. 2  shows a view from behind of the high chair according to the invention; 
         FIG. 3  shows a front view of the high chair according to the invention; 
         FIG. 4  shows, in enlarged scale, a view, partially as a cross section, of a locking mechanism for the rear pair of legs of the high chair in extended position; and 
         FIG. 5  shows a view corresponding to the view in  FIG. 4  with the rear pair of legs in retracted position. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
     The  FIGS. 1 to 3  show a chair unit  1 , which comprises a chair unit  2  made from injection-moulded plastic, which comprises a back rest  3 , a seat  4 , and a foot rest  5 , which is integrally attached to the front edge area of the seat  4  through a substantially vertical attachment wall  6 . A safety device  10  comprises a central post  11 , which is pivotal in a vertical symmetry plane of the high chair and is at a lower end journalled  12  at the transition area between the seat  4  and the wall  6 . At the upper end part of the post  11  is arranged a table  13  with a concave side facing the back rest  3 . 
     A blocking means not shown in the drawing makes possible the arrest of the post  11  in erected position. 
     Further is shown that the chair unit  1  comprises a link  15 , the upper part of which is journalled at  16  around a horizontal axis, which is situated in the vicinity of the transition area between the back rest  3  and the seat  4 . The lower end of the link  15  is shown in an extended end position at about the same level as the foot rest  5 . The lower side edges of the chair unit diverge from each other in a direction downwards. The link  15  has side edges which also diverge in a direction downwards. The lower side edges of the chair unit in the area of the foot rest  5  as well as the side edges of the link  15  at the lower end of the link  15  have the form of receiving sleeves or sockets, which receive separate chair legs  20 , which are shown to have rounded feet  21 , which limits the risk for the legs  20  to hook onto any object on the ground surface/floor, with the risk that the high chair thereby tips over. 
     The legs  20  can have a blocking spring, which engages in a corresponding recess in the respective socket  17  in order to guarantee a correct orientation of the feet  21 . The legs  20  with feet  21  are preferably mutually alike and equally long. The four legs  20  on the high chair converge upwards towards a point above the seat  4 . 
     From  FIG. 1  it can be concluded that a cover  30  is mounted on the underside of the chair unit in the area of the wall  6  and the foot rest  5  for screening off of a space  31  there between. A disengageable locking device  7  is shown attached between the lover end part of the link  15  and to the cover  30  attached to the chair unit  2 , as is shown more in detail in  FIGS. 4 and 5 . Accordingly it can be seen that the cover  30  has a generally vertical wall  32  with an opening  33  for a guide rail  40 , which is journalled in the lower end part of the link  15  through a bearing  41  with a substantially horizontal axis. A locking element  44  is journalled in the lower part of the link  15  through a bearing  41  with a substantially horizontal axis. A locking element  44  is journalled on the guide rail  40 , e.g. journalled around the axis of the bearing  41 . The free end  47  of the locking element extends through the opening  33  of the wall  32  when the rear pair of legs is extended. A spring  46  is shown to be placed between the guide rail  40  and the locking element  44 . Alternatively, the locking element per se may be resiliently flexible around the shown support  43  on the guide rail  40 , whereby the function of the shown spring  46  is achieved. The locking element is further shown to have an abutment surface  45  in the form of a step, which in the extended position of the locking element, when the rear pair of legs is extended, prevents, through the cooperation with the upper edge part of the opening  33 , a retraction or folding-in of the rear pair of legs. By swivelling the locking element  44  towards the guide rail  40  the abutment surface  45  can be passed through the opening  33 . 
     The locking element has a tip  49 , which engages behind the wall  32  in the area under the opening  33 . The cover has a generally horizontal bottom unit  37  with a guide cam  38  for the lower end of the tip  49 . 
     By manual application of a pressure in a direction downwards against the locking element  44  the locking element  44  will approach the guide rail  40  so that the abutment surface  45  of the locking element together with the guide rail  40  can be displaced through the opening  33 , whereupon the lower edge of the guide rail  40  and the upper side of the locking element  44  can slide against the opening  33  underneath the respective upper edge during pushing into the space  31 . In the vicinity of the retracted position for the link  15  the tip  49  will slide up onto the guide cam  38  and then snap down into a recess  51 , as is shown in  FIG. 5 . It is clear that the ramp has a steep end surface  39 , which is turned towards the side  54  of the tip facing there against. These surfaces are inclined in relation to the longitudinal direction of the guide rail and further the guide rail  40  is arranged resiliently flexible. When a user wishes to fold out the rear link  15  together with the rear legs  20  towards the extended end position shown in  FIG. 1 , the user has to apply a relatively high force in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail  40  in order to make the tip  49  leave the recess  51 , which then will occur abruptly. The user can of course not stop the applied force, but will accelerate the link  15  together with the legs  20  and the guide rail  40  so that the momentum becomes sufficient to surely overcome the friction between the locking element  44  and the guide rail  40 , against the upper and lower edge of the opening  33 , respectively, and so that the abutment surface  45  of the locking element surely passes out through the opening  33  and is biased up to blocking position under the influence of the spring  46 . 
     The spring biased locking element  44  offers of course also a childproof lock that prevents inadvertent folding-in of the link  15  with the rear pair of legs  20  towards the retracted position.