Support mechanism for rocker-recliner chair

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to support mechanisms for rocker-recliner chairs, and in particular to such support mechanisms which include rear blocking means for preventing rocking when shifted out of a retracted state and into an intermediate or fully extended state.

[0003] 2. The Prior Art

[0004] Support mechanisms for rocker-recliner chairs are well known and generally include a base which is positionable on a flooring surface, left and right rocker cams positioned on the base, and a support assembly mounted on the rocker cams, the support assembly supporting the sides, backrest, seat and legrest of a chair and being shiftable between a retracted state, a partially extended state and a fully extended state to thereby enable the chair to convert between an upright condition, a partially reclined condition and a fully reclined condition. The support mechanism includes means to prevent rocking of its support assembly relative to the base when the support assembly is shifted out of its retracted state.

[0005] A support mechanism used in many rocker-recliner chairs currently available in the marketplace is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,754. This mechanism includes a rocker assembly mounted on rocker cams that are rockable on the rails of a base, the rocker assembly including recliner mechanisms at each side mounted on respective rocker cams, each recliner mechanism including a rocker blocker assembly that includes a link pivotally attached to the base and a landing roller which, when the associated rocker blocker assembly is articulated with the shifting of the rocker assembly out of a retracted state, will be lowered into contact with an associated rail of the base. The rollers, together with the associated link pivotally attached to the base, prevents rocking of the rocker assembly relative to the base.

[0006] However, if the rocker blocker assembly is constructed too tightly, such that its links cannot pivot freely relative to one another, the rocking of the rocker mechanism when in a retracted state will be inhibited. On the other hand, if the rocker blocker assembly is too loosely constructed, the rear portion of each recliner mechanism can laterally “wander,” and if the wandering becomes too pronounced, the roller can fail to contact the intended landing area on the associated base rail. If the rollers should descend so as to miss the rail entirely, the support assembly will become racked and possible failure of the entire support mechanism is likely. In addition, the backrest mounting brackets of the rocker mechanisms are not directly supported by the rollers and thus are only supported by the seat mounting brackets, whose rear end portions must be constructed to be wide and thick to withstand the stresses placed thereon by the sometimes forceful rearward pivoting of the backrest mounting brackets when an occupant of the chair applies strong backward force on the backrest to force the chair into its fully reclined condition.

[0007] The object of the present invention is to provide a support mechanism for a rocker recliner chair which will avoid the drawbacks noted above, including the wandering of the rear ends of the linkage subassemblies at each side of the support assembly and which will provide firm support for its backrest mounting bracket when the support assembly is in a partially or fully extended state while eliminating the need for an enlarged construction of the seat mounting brackets.

[0008] The inventive support mechanism includes a base assembly that includes a floor-contacting portion and left and right cam members that are rockable on the floor-engaging portion, and a support assembly mounted on the base assembly, the support assembly including left and right linkage subassemblies which each includes a rocker mounting link having front and rear ends, a backrest mounting bracket for supporting a backrest of a chair, a main carrier link pivotally connected to a front portion of the backrest mounting bracket, a back push link pivotally connected to a rear portion of the backrest mounting bracket, a roller lock tube mounting link pivotally connected at a first end to the rear end of the rocker mounting link, and a roller lock tube push link pivotally connected between the roller tube mounting link and the back push link. A roller lock tube is connected between second ends of the roller lock tube mounting links of the left and right linkage subassemblies and is rotated downwardly onto the base assembly beneath the backrest mounting bracket to provide support to the backrest mounting bracket and prevent rocking of the support assembly when the support assembly is shifted out of it retracted state. The roller lock tube prevents lateral wandering of rear ends of the linkage subassemblies and provides reliable contact with the base assembly.

[0009] The invention will be better understood by reference to the attached drawings, taken in conjunction with the following discussion.

[0022] A preferred embodiment of a support mechanism for a rocker-recliner chair according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1–11, with a rocker-recliner chair which incorporates such a support mechanism being shown in FIGS. 12–14.

[0023] The support mechanism includes a base assembly 10 and a support assembly 30 which is mounted on the base assembly.

[0024] The base assembly 10 includes left and right floor-contacting foot rails 11, 12 which are rigidly interconnected by front and rear cross rails 13, 14 (see FIG. 10). Left and right counter balancing spring assemblies 15, 16 are mounted between the cross rails 13, 14 and mount cross bars 17, 18 thereabove which extend in parallel with the cross rails 13, 14. The ends of the cross bars 17, 18 are connected to left and right cam flanges 19, 20 which have L-shaped cross sections and are respectively connected to the tops of left and right rocker cams 21, 22. The rocker cams are in rocking contact with the upper surfaces of the respective left and right foot rails 11, 12. The foot rails include respective landing pads 11a, 12a on their upper surfaces rearwardly of the cross bars for a purpose that will be referred to below.

[0025] The support assembly 30 includes left and right linkage subassemblies which are mirror images of one another and which are connected by a front stabilizer bar 110 and a round rocker (roller lock) tube 100. A handle tube 91 extends therebetween and rotation thereof by manual operation of a handle 97 causes the linkage subassemblies to operate and shift between retracted and intermediate-extended states.

[0026] Although FIGS. 1, 2 and 7 show the right linkage subassembly and FIGS. 4 and 10 show the left linkage subassembly, since the two linkage subassemblies are mirror images of one another, in the following discussion the elements of the linkage subassemblies will be described using a single numbering system.

[0027] Each linkage subassembly includes a rocker mounting link 40 which is attached to an adjacent cam flange of the base assembly 10 by front and rear bolts 41, 42 (see FIG. 4). The rocker mounting link mounts front and rear pivot pins 43, 44. One end of a rear drop link 45 is attached to the rear pivot pin 44, while its other end is attached to the rear end of ottoman pull ink 47 by pivot pin 46. A pivot pin 48 that extends through the rear drop link midway between pivot pins 44 and 46 connects to recline bellcrank 49, which in turn is pivotally connected to a generally V-shaped main carrier link 50 by pivot pin 51 (see FIG. 1). The main carrier link 50 includes a rear leg 50a and a front leg 50b. The rear leg 50a of the main carrier link 50 is attached to the front extension of backrest mounting bracket 53 at pivot pin 52. A seat mounting angle 54 is attached to and between legs 50a and 50b of the main carrier link 50 by rivets 55 and 56.

[0028] The downwardly-extending rear leg 49a of recline bellcrank 49 is connected to the lower end of back push link 58 by pivot pin 57. The upper end of the back push link 58 is pivotally attached to a rear extension of backrest mounting bracket 53 by pivot pin 59.

[0029] A roller tube mounting link 60 is pivotally attached at one end to the pivot pin 44 and its opposite end is connected to an end of roller lock tube 100. A lock tube push link 61 is pivotally connected to the rear drop link by pivot pin 62 and to the back push link 58 by pivot pin 63.

[0030] The front end of recline bellcrank 49 is attached to the lower end of recline connector link 65 by pivot pin 64. The upper end of the recline connector link 65 is pivotally attached to the rear end of front recline link 67 by pivot pin 66. The front end of front recline link 67 is pivotally attached to the upper end of recline idler link 69 by pivot pin 68. The front recline link 67 is pivotally attached to the front leg 50b of main carrier link 5Q by pivot pin 70. The lower end of the recline idler link 69 is pivotally attached to the pivot pin 43. The stabilizer bar 110 is connected to the front recline link 67 by bolts 71 (see FIGS. 4 and 8).

[0031] The front end of ottoman pull link 47 is pivotally connected to an end of first ottoman link 81 of an ottoman subassembly 80 by pivot pin 72. The first ottoman link 81 is pivotally connected to the front leg 50b of the main carrier link 50 at pivot pin 74. A sequencer link 75 having a slot 76 therein extends downwardly from the pivot pin 72. A sequencing pin 77 in the front recline link 67 extends within the slot 76. A second ottoman link 82 of the ottoman subassembly 80 is pivotally attached to a pivot pin 78 at the front end of leg 50b of the main carrier link 50.

[0032] The handle tube 91 extends through an opening 50′ in the front leg 50b of the main carrier link. A handle tube link 92 is attached to the handle tube 91 to rotate therewith. An ottoman spring link 93 is pivotally connected to the handle tube link 92 at pivot pin 94 and it is connected to the first ottoman link 81 at pivot pin 95. A spring 96 extends between the ottoman spring link 93 and the front end of the seat mounting angle 54. A handle 97 is mountable on one end of the handle tube 91 to rotate it and thereby cause handle tube link 92 to rotate. The elements 91–97 are part of a handle tube linkage 90 for operating the support mechanism.

[0033] Manual rotation of the handle 97 when the support mechanism is in its retracted state (FIG. 1) will cause the ottoman spring link to rotate first ottoman link 81 upwardly about pivot pin 74, which will cause the rear end of the first ottoman link at pivot pin 72 to rotate downwardly, which in turn will cause ottoman pull link 47 to be moved downwardly and rearwardly. Due to the connection of the ottoman pull link 47 with the rear drop link 45 and is interconnection with all the other elements of the subassemblies, the support assembly will be shifted out of its fully retracted state (see FIG. 2) and lowered as it shifts into its intermediate extended state (see FIG. 4). During this lowering the roller lock tube 100 will be rotationally lowered onto the landing pads 11a and 12a of the base assembly 10. This will prevent rearward rocking of the support assembly relative to the base assembly. The location of the roller lock tube on the landing pads 11a and 12a will be directly beneath the backrest mounting bracket, and due to the lock tube push link 61, the backrest mounting bracket will be strongly supported above the base assembly 10 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 10.

[0034] Upon a rearward rotation of the back mounting link 53 (this will occur with an occupant of a chair in which the support mechanism is installed leaning strongly backwardly against an upper portion of the chair backrest), the back mounting bracket 53 of each linkage subassembly will rotate about the pivot pin 59 and, due to the interconnection of the other elements of the linkage subassemblies, shift the support assembly into it fully extended state (FIG. 10). The roller lock tube 100 will remain positioned directly beneath the back mounting bracket on the landing pads 11a and 12a and prevent rearward rocking.

[0035] The support assembly can be shifted back into it fully retracted state by an occupant leaning forwardly in the chair in which the support mechanism is installed and pressing downwardly on the ottoman subassembly 80 to shift it into it intermediate-extended state, and then rotating the handle 97 forwardly to shift the support assembly into its retracted state.

[0036] The interconnection of the roller lock tube 100 between the tube mounting links 60 of the left and right subassemblies prevents any possible lateral wandering of the rear ends of the left and right subassemblies and guarantees landing contact on the landing pads 11a, 12a of the base assembly 10. The positioning of the roller lock tube on the landing pads 11a, 12a beneath the backrest mounting brackets 53 of the two subassemblies and its direct support thereof provides stability to the support mechanism and eliminates the need for enlarged rear legs 50b of the main carrier links 50.

[0037] Although a preferred embodiment of this invention has been shown and described in detail, modifications therein can be made and still fall within the scope of the appended claims.