Patent ID: 7419215

Claim:
A chair comprising: a base having a support post; a seat supported on said support post of said base which said seat defines a support surface for supporting the seat and thighs of an occupant, said seat comprising a rear seat section supported on said base and a flexible front seat section which extends forwardly from said rear seat section, said front seat section being resiliently flexible in a vertical direction so as to generate a resilient restoring force which resists deflection of said front seat section away from an initial position while permitting downward deflection of said front seat section away from said initial position to a user response position, said support surface having a contour defined by said front and rear seat sections which varies by the deflection of said front seat section relative to said rear seat section between said initial position and said user response position; said seat comprising a seat shell and a thin, flexible cover member connected about its periphery to said seat shell to define an upward facing seat surface for supporting the chair occupant, said seat shell including a bottom section connected to said support post and a support rim which fixedly supports said periphery of said cover member and is spaced above said bottom section to define an open area below said cover member to accommodate downward flexing thereof under load, said seat shell including a front panel disposed below said cover member and projecting forwardly in a forward direction and upwardly to define a front rim section of said support rim, said front panel being formed as one piece of a shell material and having flex facilitating formations defined in said shell material which facilitate downward flexing of said front panel under load wherein said front panel and a front portion of said cover member defines said front seat section that is deflectable downwardly between said initial position and said user response position, said flex facilitating formations comprising a pattern of slots formed in said shell material of said front panel which said slots are sidewardly elongate and forwardly spaced one from another in said forward direction to facilitate downward flexing of said front panel over a forwardly extending extent thereof, said shell material, when flexed, serving to resiliently restore said front panel from said user response position to said initial position.