Patent ID: 7806479

Claim:
An ergonomic seat comprising: a seat pan for receiving and supporting a seated user; a base sitting against the floor and providing an elevated mounting point wherein the base includes a telescopic column having an upper portion and lower portion controllably extending with respect to each other along an axis to provide an adjustable height of the seat pan and rotating with respect to each other about the axis; an elastomeric joint connecting the elevated mounting point to the seat pan allowing a flexing of a plane of the seat pan from a neutral position substantially parallel to a floor to a flex angle where the seat pan is tipped from the neutral position, whereby the elastomeric joint provides increasing resistance to increased flex angle as the flex angle increases by at least partial compression of an elastomeric element wherein a direction of the flex angle extends over a 360° range around a normal to the plane of the seat pan in a neutral position and the relationship of resistance to flex angle is substantially uniform over the range; and an adjustment mechanism for controlling a functional relationship between flex angle and resistance to increased flex angle the adjustment mechanism further including: a clamp mechanism adjustably applying a preloading to the elastomeric element, the clamp mechanism providing a coupling having one portion attached to rotate with the seat pan and a second portion attached to rotate with the upper portion of the telescopic column; the two portions threadably engaged; a control lever having a proximal end communicating with the clamp mechanism and a distal end graspable by a user seated on the seat pan, movement of the control lever rotating the upper portion of the telescopic column to adjust the preloading of the elastomeric element and communicating with the telescopic column to control extension of the column.