Patent ID: 7313836

Claim:
A reclining free-standing bed lounge, that is portable and adjustable by a seated user to a desired inclination, and that requires no external support structure other than a flat horizontal basic support surface, comprising: a generally rigid three dimensional seat assembly having, a flat rear panel with a predetermined width dimension flanked by and contiguous with a pair of flat side panels extending substantially perpendicularly therefrom by a side dimension smaller than the rear panel width dimension, and a bottom panel disposed substantially perpendicular to the rear panel and the side panels, extending forward from a bottom edge of the rear panel by less than half of the predetermined side dimension; the side panels being generally vertical and the bottom panel being made to remain generally horizontal as supported from the basic support surface; a tailpiece having at least a substantially horizontal bottom portion with a front edge attached hingedly to a lower edge region of the rear panel extending rearwardly to a rear edge; an elongate rear support beam assembly having at least a prop portion thereof, made variable in length, extending between a lower end thereof, fixedly attached to a rear location of said tailpiece, and an upper end of the prop portion, hingedly attached to an upper location of the rear panel, forming, along with the rear panel and said tailpiece bottom portion, a triangle having a substantially horizontal base side of fixed length formed by the bottom portion of said tailpiece, subtending a second side of fixed length formed by the rear panel, and a third side of variable length formed by the prop portion of said rear support beam assembly, the three sides of the triangle thus formed being dimensioned such that at a predetermined maximum length of the prop portion, the rear panel is made to be substantially vertical, perpendicular to the basic support surface, constituting an upright chair-shaped orientation of said seat assembly, whereas with the prop portion shortened to a predetermined minimum length, the rear panel becomes maximally reclined through rotation of said seat assembly about an axis of rotation along the bottom edge of the rear panel, constituting a maximally reclined orientation of said seat assembly; prop-length-fixing means incorporated in said rear support beam assembly made and arranged to effectively fix the prop portion at a user-selected length in a range bounded by the predetermined maximum and minimum lengths and to continue holding the user-selected length as a default condition in the absence of user intervention for purposes of release and adjustment; and user release control means made and arranged to enable the user, from a seated position in said bed lounge, to temporarily over-ride and release said prop-length-fixing means so as to allow the user to readjust said seat assembly to a desired inclination by varying the effective length of the prop portion.