Patent ID: 7293839

Claim:
A footrest apparatus comprising: a pair of left and right supporting members frontwardly projecting from a front portion of a chair; a footrest supported between the supporting members so as to be rotatable about a lateral axis and provided with a lower limb massaging portion on one surface thereof and a lower limb resting surface on the other surface thereof on which lower limbs can be rested; and a position switching mechanism provided between one of the supporting members and the footrest for changing the position of the footrest between a massaging position in which the lower limb massaging portion is oriented frontward, and a resting position in which the lower limb resting surface is oriented frontward wherein the position switching mechanism comprises a disk-shaped rotary engagement member having an engagement portion for positionally fixing the footrest in the massaging position and an engagement portion for positionally fixing the same in the resting position on a peripheral edge thereof, the disk-shaped rotary engagement member being provided coaxially with the lateral axis, an engaging member moving toward and apart from the rotary engagement member in a radial direction thereof and detachably engaging the respective engagement portions selectively by moving toward the same for restraining rotation of the rotary engagement member, a releasing device for moving the engaging member in the direction apart from the rotary engagement member for releasing the engagement, a released-state retaining device for retaining the released state by the releasing device, and an engagement restoring device for engaging the engaging member with the rotary engagement member by bringing the released-state retaining device into non-retaining state.