Abstract:
A folded easychair can be both inclined, or folded flat so that it is easy to be carrier or put away by means of jointed movement of its essential three component parts, a back of chair, a pair of armrests, and a footrest. The easychair can be securely and easily handled without the fear of trapping the user&#39;s finger when folding or developing it, even the easychair is handy and safe for children to handle. Besides, it can be securely latched at inclined position so as to prevent unexpected sudden collapse.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to foldable easychair, in particularly, a foldable easychair comprising a back of the chair, a pair of armrests, and a footrest, and by means of jointed movement of above three component parts of the easychair, the easychair can be both inclined or folded flat so that it is easy to be carried or put away.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    Usually, an inclinable easychair is composed of three component parts, a back of the chair, a pair of armrests, and footrest, then with a piece of fabric stretched over these component parts, and these three parts are mounted on a supporting pedestal. When the chair is inclined in a position for the user to lie down, the user&#39;s legs can be comfortably lifted up along with the footrest. But it is regretful that the armrests remain stationary as being fixed firmly to the pedestal. As a result, the armrests, are unable to follow the movement of the user&#39;s arms to a faborable position whereat the user feels easy. Besides, structural articulations used by a conventional easychair are so clumsy that the operation of folding and developing an easychair is somewhat tricky and uneasy. In the worst case, the user&#39;s fingers will probably be trapped if perfect case is neglected, especially dangerous for children to handle it.  
           [0005]    In view of the foregoing situation, the inventor of the present invention herein conducted intensive research based on many years of experience gained through professional engagement in the manufacturing of related products with continuous experimentation and improvement culminating in the development of improved foldable easychair of the present invention.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a foldable easychair comprising a back, a pair of armrests, and a footrest, by means of jointed movement of above three component parts of the easychair, the chair can be both inclined or folded flat so that it is easy to be carried or put away.  
           [0007]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a foldable easychair to be set up for use or folded for storing, even can be securely handled by children without the fear of trapping their fingers. Besides, the easychair being set up in a inclined position can be latched firmly thereat without any possibility of sudden collapse.  
           [0008]    For achieving these and other objects of the present invention, the foldable easychair according to the present invention is offered two noteworthy features, one of which is the structure feature that the back of the chair is formed of a framework, while a seat of the chair formed of side members is vertically pivoted to both bottom ends of the back so as to form articulation thereof. Above two side members there are two supporting rods pivoted to the back each with an articulation. The opposite end of each supporting rod is conjoined to a footrest formed of a U shape frame with a pivoted and a branch yoke. There is a slidable fitting sleeve on each supporting rod and the armrest is mounted on the supporting frame, furthermore, a pair of Λ shaped feet are provided beneath the seat to sustain the whole chair.  
           [0009]    The operation feature of the present invention is that the easychair is foldable flatly or relevantly developed for the user to lie down by articulatory motion of the articulations between the back and the supporting rods; the pivots between the supporting rods and the other articulations between the seat and the back.  
           [0010]    For fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the easychair of the present invention in set up state.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a side view of the easychair of the present invention in set up state.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a partial three dimensional exploded view of the branched guide yoke of the present invention.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a side perspective view of the easychair of the present invention in developed state for the user to lie down.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the easychair of the present invention in folded state.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6A is a three dimensional perspective view of the latch used in the present invention.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6B is a front view of the stem used in the present invention.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 7A is an illustrative cross sectional view of the latch used in the present invention.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 7B is a front view of the rotating sleeve used in the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0020]    With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the foldable easychair of the present invention  10  is composed of a back  1  of the chair, a seat  2 , a pair of supporting rods  3 , a footrest  4 , two slidable fittings  5 , a pair of armrests  6  a pedestal  7 , a piece of fabric  8 , and a latch  9 .  
         [0021]    The back  1  is formed of a rectangular, slightly crooked framework so as to fit for the curvature of human back bone. The seat  2  constructed of side members of metallic tubes is pivoted vertically to both sides of the bottom portion of the back  1  so as to form articulations  21  thereof. The seat  2  is slightly inclined backwards. The two supporting rods are pivoted to the back  1  at positions above two side members thus forming second articulations  22 .  
         [0022]    The opposite end of each articulation  22  jointing the supporting rod  3  and seat  2  is conjoined to the footrest  4  formed of a U shaped frame with a pivot  23  and a branch yoke  24  such that the footrest  4  is turnable up and down about the pivot  23 . An arcuate rod  41  is fixed to the footrest  4  so as to reinforce the two sides of the U shaped frame of the footrest  4  not to flex inwards. The slidable fittings  5  are hinged on the middle portion of both supporting rods  3  and the pair of armrests  6  are settled thereover.  
         [0023]    The -pedestal  7  formed of Λ shaped front and rear U legs  71 , 72  is conjoined each other by branch yokes  73  at both sides, and top ends of the rear leg  72  are jointed to the slidable fittings  5  at both sides, and further the front leg  71  is conjoined to the seat  2  with branched guide yokes  74  at both sides. A connecting rod  75  with one end pivoted to the branched guide yoke  74  is pinned on each sub leg of the front leg  71  at its approximately middle position thereof. By so the entire chair  1 o is sustained by the pedestal  7 .  
         [0024]    Referring to FIG. 3, a partial three dimensional exploded view of the branched guide yoke  74 , the branched guide yoke  74  has a straight supporting plate  741  whose one end is bent to form a U shaped fixing base  742  for fastening the seat  2  which is made of metallic tubes, while the other end of the supporting plate  741  is bent to form a ∩ (inverse U) shaped fixing base  743  for fixing to a hinge block  744  whose one side is attached to a C shaped fixing base  745  for conjoined with the rear leg  72 . Besides, the lower portion of the supporting plate  741  is fastened to the connecting rod  75 .  
         [0025]    Referring back to FIG. 1, the fabric  8  is stretched over the back  1 , the seat  2 , and the footrest  4  and fastened thereto with a plurality of resilient threads. In the present invention, the easychair  10  is foldable flatly or relevantly developed for the user to lie down by articulatory motion of the articulations  22  between the back  1  and the supporting rods; the pivots  23  between the supporting rods  3  and the footrest  4 ; the branch yokes  24  between the footrest  4  and the seat  2 ; and the articulations  21  between the back  1  and the seat  2 . Hence, as shown in FIG. 4, as the back  1  is tilted backward, the seat  2  is forced to displace forward by the motion of the articulations  21 , and the footrest  4  is tilted upward nearly horizontally such that the easychair  10  is relevantly developed for lying down.  
         [0026]    In other words, the pedestal  7  is kept stationary notwithstanding the easychair  10  is titled forward or backward which causes the seat  2  also to remain stationary. On the other hand, the back  1  and the footrest  4  follow the back and forth movement of the armrest  6  with respect to the articulations  22  and the branch yokes as center of axes.  
         [0027]    As shown in FIG. 5, the easychair  10  is folded by means of articulations  21  and  22  such that the back  1  is folded forward, the footrest  4  and the front and rear legs  71 ,  72  are folded inward to rest at their respective positions thereby making the easychair  10  folded in a flat shape easy for carrying or putting away.  
         [0028]    Referring to FIGS. 6A and 6B, wherein latches  9  are provided for the easychair  10 . The latch  9  is installed adjacent to the slidable fitting  5  on the supporting rod  3 . A stem  91  at the front end of the latch  9  is inserted into the slidable fitting  5 . A transverse slit  911  is formed at the middle portion of the stem  91  such that the stem  91  is split into an upper and a lower resilent semi-circular sections  912  and  913  whose outer diameters are gradually tapered to one side. In the present embodiment, the upper one  912  is tapered to the right, while the lower one  913  is tapered to the left. Moreover, a trap hole  92  is formed at the rear end of the stem  91 , and a spiral slot  914  is formed on the outer surface of the stem  91 .  
         [0029]    As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, a hollow rotating sleeve  93  is provided for the latch  9 . In corresponding to the upper and lower semi-circular sections  912 ,  913  of the stem  91 , two packing portions  932 ,  933  tapered to one side are provided in the rotating sleeve  93 , and a stopper  931  is provided at the position facing to the transverse slit  911 . Further to this, a sliding post  934  is formed at a relevant position on the inner surface of the rotating sleeve  93 . With this structure, when the rotating sleeve  93  is fitted over the stem  91 , the stopper  931  is directed into the transverse slit  911  until it reaches the trap hole  92  and is blocked therein so as to fix the rotating sleeve  93  on the stem  91 . At this moment the slide post  934  in the rotating sleeve  93  is just located at the front end of the spiral slot  914 , the supporting rod  3  which is inserted into the slidable fitting  5  and the stem  91  can be movable back and forth owing to the fact that rotating sleeve  93  and the stem  91  still remain in a relation of loose coupling before the rotating sleeve  93  rotates to one side so that the supporting rod  3  is free from the blocking force of the packing portions  932 ,  933  of the rotating sleeve  93 .  
         [0030]    For prohibiting the supporting rod  3  to move back and forth, by rotating the rotating sleeve  93  to one side so as to direct the sliding post  934  to advance along the spiral slot  914  thereby causing the rotating sleeve  93  to approach the tapered portion of the stem  91 . At this moment both semi-circular sections  912 ,  913  are oppressed by the packing portions  932 , 933  such that the two semi-circular portions  912 ,  913  are squeezed inward to block the supporting rod  3  and halt it standing still thereat, thereby achieving the aim of protecting the easychair from unexpected sudden collapsing successfully by means of function of the latch  9 .  
         [0031]    From the above description, it is well understood that the dexterously designed foldable easychair of the present invention is able to be both inclined or folded flat and latched at a relevant position without the fear of trapping the fingers even can be securely handled by children.