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Chair for extended seating periods

Chair for extended seating periods description/claims

The present application is a continuation application of application Ser. No. 11/689,861 filed Mar. 22, 2007, which claims the priorities of U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/786,049, filed Mar. 27, 2006, and U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/872,591, filed Dec. 4, 2006, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the configuration of a chair, occasionally referred to as an ALCAT chair in the following description, that facilitates good, relaxed posture and, at the same time, provides adequate total back support when a user is properly seated, as well as certain methods of using such a chair to provide greater comfort during prolonged sitting sessions. The invention is ideal for musicians or other individuals who find it necessary or desirable to remain seated for extended time periods.

2. Description of Related Art

Chairs in common use today have a number of basic problems. Typically such a chair includes a solid, full back rest defining, together with a seat surface, a minimal opening at the base of the back rest. Various attempts have been made to improve chair comfort, such as the provision of ergonomic curves providing lumbar and overall back support and curved or scooped out seat surfaces. The user of a chair having such features, however, still typically must exert significant physical effort to sit with good, relaxed, comfortable posture, which is essential if that user is to remain seated for an extended time period. A conventional chair construction tends to force a user to sit on gluteal muscles, impose a backward curve to the spine, and produce a caved-in chest, affecting heart and lung efficiency. Shoulder tension may also affect the arms and hands of a user while seated on a conventionally configured chair, and a rounded lumbar and/or sacral area tends to produces muscle stress and potentially creates possible danger to vertebrae due to possible herniation or exacerbation of other existing conditions.

A conventional chair construction is shown in FIG. 16. When viewed laterally, with “good” sitting posture, a plumb line P perpendicular to the floor F should be aligned with the user's ear, shoulder, hip joint, and ischium, and a line L parallel to the floor at the level of the user's hip joint is preferably slightly higher than the user's knee joint. The user of a conventional chair construction such as that shown in FIG. 16 could have significant difficulty is achieving or maintaining this “good” sitting posture, i.e. a posture considered to provide the most relaxed sitting position, in which the pull of gravity on the user's body and associated stresses produced due to misalignment are minimized. As it is difficult for the user to keep his or her torso in an essentially upright or perpendicular position relative to the seat surface, a relatively large body area is subjected to the force of gravity. If a chair such as that shown in FIG. 16 has a scooped or rounded seat surface and a minimally open space between the backrest and the seat surface, such problems could be amplified.

It is one object of the invention to provide a chair configuration that both facilitates good, relaxed posture and provides adequate total back support when a user is properly seated.

Another object of the invention is to use such a chair configuration to produce greater comfort during prolonged sitting sessions, thus rendering it ideal for musicians or other individuals who find it necessary or desirable to remain seated for extended time periods

These objects, as well as other objects and various features and advantages that will become apparent, are achieved by way of a chair according to the invention that is particularly adapted to provide comfort during prolonged seating periods and to facilitate proper sitting posture. Such a chair, according to the invention, includes a central chair portion defining a pair of seat back mounting sections, a pair of front leg mounting sections, a pair of rear leg mounting sections, and a seat surface. A seat back including a pair of seat back extensions is provided, with each of the seat back extensions mountable on one of the seat back mounting sections. A pair of front leg extensions are mountable on the front leg mounting sections of the central chair portion, while a pair of rear leg extensions are mountable on the rear leg mounting sections of the central chair portion. The seat back, the front leg extensions, and the rear leg extensions are all adjustable relative to the seat surface and lockable in any of a plurality of discrete positions with respect to the seat surface to produce the improved comfort during prolonged sitting sessions as noted above.

The central chair portion may be either collapsible or substantially rigid and non-collapsible. Manually releasable latches, biased into locking engagement, may be disposed on the central chair portion to releasably secure the seat back, the front leg extensions, and the rear leg extensions in position relative to the seat surface. The front leg extensions, the rear leg extensions, or both the front leg extensions and the rear leg extensions can be substantially rigidly connected to each other by a support strut, if desired. It is also possible to include an arm rest assembly having an arm rest surface that is also lockable in a plurality of discreet positions relative to the seat surface. Rollers or casters could be disposed at ends of the front and rear leg extensions.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view from above of a first ALCAT chair embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an exploded posterior view showing a first support frame, an adjustable seat back, and adjustable leg extensions of the chair shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, part sectional view of a locking device formed by a manually releasable latch.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the elements illustrated in FIG. 2 in an assembled condition.

FIG. 5 is a top view of the seat or seat surface of the chair as well as of the supporting frame for the seat.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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