DE29909342U1 - Adjustable pad support - Google Patents

Description

Adjustable cushion support device

The invention relates to a device for cushion support, in particular for backrests on car seats, office chairs and armchairs, in particular in the lumbar region, according to claim 1.

Furniture with upholstery usually has a frame to give the furniture its shape, as well as elements to support the upholstery. In the case of beds, this is done by the bed frame, whereby the so-called slatted frame made of adjacent wooden leaf springs forms the base of the upholstered mattress in order to give the bed a pleasant hardness and to support the mattress accordingly. In order to give the bed a desired shape, for example to raise the headboard, corresponding frame elements are known, which as a whole are in relation to the rest of the bed.

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Patent Attorneys ■ European Patent Attorneys · Authorized Representatives before the European Patent Office
Authorised representatives at the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market

Lawyer: admitted to the Hamburg courts

Deutsche Bank AG Hamburg, No. 05 28497 (bank code 200 700 00) · Postbank Hamburg, No. 28 42 206 (bank code 200 100 20)
Dresdner Bank AG Hamburg, No. 933 60 35 (bank code 200 800 00)

against the bed frame. A targeted change in the contours or the hardness of individual areas of this type of upholstery is not possible using known means.

There is a particular need for the lumbar area to be able to be adjusted as precisely as possible in terms of its hardness and contour on backrests, for example on car seats, office chairs and armchairs, in order to effectively support the anatomically correct curvature of the spine, even when sitting for long periods. The position, e.g. the height, of the adjustable area of the backrest should also be adjustable, so that, for example, for a taller person, whose lumbar area is a little higher up on the backrest, the contour or hardness can be adjusted there, while for a shorter person, an adjustable area further down can be selected.

The invention is based on the object of creating a device for upholstery support, which is adjustable in its contour, position and/or hardness, particularly in the case of backrests on car seats, office chairs or armchairs, in particular in the lumbar region.

This object is achieved by a device for cushion support with the features formulated in claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are specified in the subclaims.

The device for upholstery support according to the invention can be used for any type of furniture in which the hardness and contour of the upholstery should be adjustable. The position of the adjustable upholstery area can also be variable. The device is particularly suitable for backrests on car seats, office chairs and armchairs, in order to adjust the lumbar area accordingly.

The device has a number of elongated bending spring elements, at least one longitudinal beam which, transverse to the spring elements, holds the elongated spring elements essentially parallel next to one another, as well as an adjustment device on the longitudinal beam with which the longitudinal beam in the area of the holder of at least one spring element can be deformed in the direction which runs perpendicular to the longitudinal beam and to the elongated spring elements. The adjustment device can itself be adjustable along the longitudinal beam so that the adjustment can be adjusted using the adjustment device at different positions on the longitudinal beam. The elongated spring elements held next to one another by the longitudinal beam form a cushion support surface, the contour and position of which can be specifically changed where the adjustment device moves the at least one spring element - by deforming the longitudinal beam in the area of the spring element - out of the starting position in the cushion support surface. Because the cushion surface itself has a certain inherent tension, the described adjustment causes a pre-tensioning of the adjusted

-A-

spring element against the cushion surface, so that the contour and position of the cushion surface or its hardness is changed.

The device as a whole is preferably mirror-symmetrical with two longitudinal supports spaced apart from one another, each with an associated adjustment device, with the elongated spring elements running essentially perpendicular to the plane of symmetry, the elongated spring elements forming the cushion support surface at least between the longitudinal supports. The spring elements are preferably leaf springs made of wood, spring sheet or plastic, and the longitudinal supports are preferably made of plastic, for example injection-molded, with the holders for the spring elements being integrally formed or the leaf springs being directly molded around. In the case of leaf springs made of plastic, these can also be molded as one part with the longitudinal supports made of plastic.

The adjustment device preferably has an adjusting element which can be tensioned against the longitudinal beam in order to adjust the corresponding elongated spring element, which is preferably itself pre-tensioned - for example by being elastically deformable - so that the longitudinal beam generates a restoring force to the starting position when deformed. The adjusting element is preferably hinged to a frame of the device in the form of a lever, with one end of the lever being tensioned against the back of the longitudinal beam - i.e. the side which is opposite the cushion surface. In order to actuate the lever-like adjusting element, different

-5- ly
Mechanisms possible: the lever-like actuating element can form a toggle lever arrangement with a second lever or can be actuated by a movable wedge or a movable link - and this in turn preferably by a spindle or a cable pull. Other mechanisms, for example a telescopic actuating device, are also conceivable according to the invention. A possible toggle lever arrangement and an alternative telescopic actuating device are explained in the drawing description.

If the device has two longitudinal beams and is preferably mirror-symmetrical, the two adjustment devices of the longitudinal beams can be actuated by a common adjustment mechanism, for example a common spindle or a common cable pull. The drawing description also provides an example of this.

The device preferably has a longitudinal adjustment device that is assigned to the adjustment device. The adjustment device can be moved along the longitudinal support by means of the longitudinal adjustment device, so that the longitudinal support can be deformed by the adjustment device in the area of different elongated spring elements. This ensures that the area in which the contour, hardness and/or position of the cushion surface can be adjusted can be selected by adjusting the position of the adjustment device using the longitudinal adjustment device.

The longitudinal adjustment device is preferably guided linearly - for example by known linear guides - and can be displaced, for example, by a spindle or a cable pull. In an embodiment with two or more longitudinal beams, the longitudinal adjustment devices on each longitudinal beam can be guided linearly together by a common linear guide and can be displaced by a common actuating unit, for example a common spindle or a common cable pull.

With the help of the telescopic adjustment drive, any element that supports a cushion can be adjusted. Such an element can be located in the seat or the backrest of a seat. A continuous elongated element that is flat can be used, or several elements that are ball-shaped can be connected to one another via an elongated spring element, with a telescopic adjustment device acting on the ends of the flat element or the series of individual elements. The telescopic adjustment device can have a worm wheel section on the outer sleeve that meshes with a worm that is driven by a shaft of a rotary drive, for example an electric motor. Even with two telescopic adjustment drives, only a single rotary drive is preferably used, which is connected to the adjustment devices via a corresponding gear connection, for example a suitable gear and/or a flexible shaft or a toothed belt. The arrangement of support or spring element, adjustment device and rotary drive

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can be provided on a common frame which is adjustable by means of a linear adjustment drive, preferably in the longitudinal direction of the seat or in the vertical direction of the backrest of a seat.

If two telescopic adjustment devices are provided, an alternating operation can also be provided in such a way that one half of the seat is raised or lowered alternately with the other half. Such a function is also referred to as an active seat. An active seat is known in principle.

The invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a spatial view of an adjustable device according to the invention for cushion support with a knee lever device as an adjusting device.

Fig. 2 shows a spatial view of a telescopic adjusting device of an alternative embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 3 shows a spatial view of the telescopic adjusting device according to Fig. 3 in the extended state.

-8-Fig.
4 shows in perspective a further embodiment according to the invention.

Fig. 5 shows the embodiment according to Fig. 4 in another perspective view.

Fig. 6 shows a third embodiment according to the invention in perspective view.

Fig. 7 shows another perspective view of the embodiment of Fig. 6.

In Fig. 1, a device 2 for cushion support has a number of elongated flexural spring elements 4 in the form of round rods made of spring steel, which are held parallel next to one another by two longitudinal beams 6. The two longitudinal beams 6 are spaced apart from one another parallel to one another, so that the spring elements 4 form a cushion support surface for a cushion (not shown) between the longitudinal beams 6. The longitudinal beams 6 are bands made of flexible plastic, on which holders 8 for the spring elements 4 are integrally formed on the top. The flexible plastic bands are pre-tensioned in their longitudinal direction by suitable devices, which are not shown in the drawing. The bands are only shown in the section which lies above the adjustment devices, and this is described below.

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Each longitudinal beam 6 has a lever-like adjusting element in the form of a leaf spring 12 which is hinged to a frame 14 of the device below the cushion support surface. The device 2 is overall mirror-symmetrical - with the mirror plane running perpendicular to the spring elements 4 - which is why only one - the left - adjusting device is described below.

The leaf spring adjusting element 12 can be tensioned against the underside of the longitudinal beam 6 by means of a second lever 16. This causes the longitudinal beam 6 to be curved out of its initial position - in a direction perpendicular to the spring elements 4 and the longitudinal beam 6 - so that the spring elements in this area of the cushion support surface are moved out of their initial position and the shape of the cushion support surface changes accordingly. Because the adjusting element 12 is designed as a leaf spring, the arrangement springs in when there is counter pressure, for example from a person putting pressure on the cushion. The position and hardness of this springing and thus the cushion support are set depending on how strongly the adjusting element 12 is pre-tensioned against the longitudinal beam 6.

The preload of the adjusting element 12 against the underside of the longitudinal beam 6 works as follows: the second lever 16 is articulated at one end in the middle of the adjusting element 12, i.e. at a distance from both ends and forming a toggle lever arrangement with it, while its second end is guided linearly in the frame 14 and can be moved by a spindle 18. The spindle 18 is also

-10-is
mounted in the frame 14 and runs in the arrangement described so far parallel to the spring elements 4 up to the right-hand adjusting device which is mirror-imaged opposite, so that both adjusting devices can be actuated simultaneously by the spindle 18, which for this purpose has a left-hand thread in the area of the left-hand device and a right-hand thread in the area of the right-hand device.

The frame 14, together with the toggle lever arrangement 12, 16 and the spindle gear 18, is guided linearly on a frame 20 in the longitudinal direction of the longitudinal beams 6 by linear guides 22. The linear guides in the form of slide rails are driven by a common cable pull mechanism or spindle drive (not shown). This ensures that the area in which the hardness and contour of the cushion support surface can be adjusted by pre-tensioning the adjusting elements 12 against the back of the longitudinal beams 8 can be adjusted along the length of the longitudinal beams 6.

As an alternative to the toggle lever arrangement of the adjustment mechanism, other adjustment mechanisms are conceivable according to the invention. The telescopic adjustment mechanism shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 can replace the left and right toggle lever arrangements in Fig. 1 and cause the leaf spring adjusting element 12 to be tensioned against the underside of the respective longitudinal member 6:

• *

• 4 ·»·

• 4 ·

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A threaded bolt 24 is screwed into an internal thread of a circular cylindrical pipe section 26, the outer surface 28 of which is provided with an external thread (not shown). This in turn is screwed into an internal thread of a second pipe section 30. The threads mentioned are coaxial and have the same pitch and pitch direction. The upper end 32 of the threaded bolt can press against the leaf spring actuating element 12 on the underside by being hinged there in a rotationally secure manner, while the second pipe section 30 has a suitable drive mechanism on the underside (not shown) - for example a worm gear - which drives the second pipe section 30 about the common thread rotation axis 34. The second pipe section 30 is mounted on the linear guide 22 in such a way that, apart from the driven rotation direction mentioned, all other degrees of freedom are mounted immobile.

The rotation of the second pipe section 30 causes the first pipe section 26 and the threaded bolt 24 to screw upwards out of the second pipe section 30, whereby it is irrelevant which of the two threads is actuated first because of the same thread pitch. Both threads have an end stop (not shown), so that when one of the two threads is fully extended, only the other continues to be actuated until it too reaches its end stop. The device is then fully extended, which is shown in Fig. 3.

To increase the stroke of such a telescopic adjustment device, more than two pipe sections 26, 30 can be arranged telescopically around the threaded bolt 24. An adjustment device with only one pipe section 26 with only a small stroke but extremely small overall size is also conceivable according to the invention.

In the embodiment according to Figures 4 and 5, sliding guides 42, 44 are mounted on a plate 40, which can be installed in the seat section or the backrest of a seat, for example for an automobile, for a frame 46, which can thus be displaced in the direction of the guides 42, 44 on the plate 40. The frame 46 has sections 48 and 50 which are generally U-shaped in cross section at the ends, which are connected to one another via a series of spaced longitudinal struts 52. In each of the sections 48, 50, a pot-shaped telescopic adjustment device 52 and 54 is arranged, of the type described with reference to Figures 2 and 3. Only the telescopic adjustment device 54 is described in detail below. The device 52 is constructed accordingly. The adjustment device 54 has an outer sleeve 56 which has a worm gear section 58 at the lower end. The outer sleeve 56 is held axially in the section 50 by hook-like sections 60 and 62, respectively, but can rotate about the longitudinal axis of the device 54. Rotation is caused by a worm gear 64 being set in rotation in a manner that will be discussed further below. A middle sleeve 66 acts via threaded sections with an internal thread of the outer sleeve

54 and an inner sleeve 68 interacts via threaded sections with threaded sections of the middle sleeve 66. The middle sleeve is rotatable and axially movable and the inner sleeve is rotationally fixed but axially movable. When the outer sleeve 54 rotates, the inner sleeve 68 is therefore moved in the axial direction, i.e. raised or lowered.

An elongated spring element 70 made of spring steel is connected at the ends to the inner sleeve 68 of the adjustment devices 52, 54. The type of connection is not described in detail. The spring element 70 is wrapped around cushion-like or ball-like elements 72, 74, 78, which are arranged at a distance from one another and approximately in one plane. The elements 72 to 78 serve to support a cushion (not shown) of a seat or backrest. During the described adjustment movement of the adjustment devices 52, 54, a cushion section is therefore moved out of or into the seat surface or backrest surface. The relative position of the elements 72 to 78 is specified by the position of the frame 48.

An electric motor 80 is attached to section 48 of frame 46, which drives two worms, namely a worm 64 which engages with the worm wheel section 58 and a worm 84 which engages with the worm wheel section of the adjustment device 52. A flexible shaft 86 is connected to the worm 84.

-14- coupled,
which is driven by the motor 80. The shaft 86 is held in a suitable manner on the frame 46, which will not be discussed further.

Therefore, when the motor 80 is rotated, the outer sleeves 56 of the adjustment devices 52, 54 are rotated, whereby the inner sleeve is moved axially. The threads of the mutually engaging sleeves 56, 66, 68 have the same pitch. This would also apply if more than one middle sleeve were provided. It then does not matter which of the sleeves is rotated first and reaches its rotation stop.

A further electric motor 88 is arranged on the plate 40 and is coupled to the frame 46 via a threaded spindle drive 90. A rotation of the spindle drive 90 therefore leads to a linear adjustment of the frame 46. A Bowden cable 92 has a cable 94 which is connected to the frame 46 at both ends. This ensures that the frame 46 is moved uniformly along the guides 42, 44 and therefore tilting does not occur, even though the force is not applied centrally via the spindle drive 90.

In the embodiment according to Figures 6 and 7, a thin, elongated plate 100 made of flexible or spring material, serving as a cushion support, e.g. for a seat, is connected at the ends on the underside to the inner sleeve 102, 104 of telescopic adjustment devices 106, 108. The adjustment devices 106, 108

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are similar to those according to the embodiment of Figures 4 and 5. Therefore, the structure will not be discussed in detail. An electric motor 110 is coupled via a gear 112 to two shafts 114, 116, each of which is connected to a worm 116a, 118. The worms 116a, 118 drive the outer sleeve of the adjustment drives 106, 108, as already described in connection with Figures 4 and 5. The plate 100 is raised or lowered accordingly. The plate 100 supports a cushion section of a seat or a backrest of a seat, comparable to the elements 72 to 78 of the embodiment according to Figures 4 and 5.

The embodiment according to Figures 6 and 7 is preferably installed in a seat if it is to function as a so-called active seat. For this purpose, the shafts 114, 116 are driven in opposite directions, so that when the motor 110 rotates in one direction, one side of the surface 110 is raised and the other is lowered, and vice versa. The direction of rotation of the motor 110 is reversed at a predetermined rate. In this way, the seat surface of the person sitting on the seat is alternately raised on one side and lowered on the other side. This creates a rocking pelvic movement, which counteracts fatigue and excessive strain on the spine.

Claims (34)

-16-Claims 1. Device for cushion support, in particular for backrests on car seats, office chairs and armchairs, in particular in the lumbar region, with a number of elongated bending spring elements (4), at least one longitudinal support (6) which, transversely to the spring elements (4), holds the elongated spring elements (4) essentially parallel next to one another, so that the elongated spring elements (4) form a cushion support surface, the longitudinal support (6) being deformable in a direction which is perpendicular to the longitudinal support (6) and to the elongated spring elements (4) in the region of the longitudinal support (6), and an adjusting device (12, 16, 18) on the longitudinal support (6), whereby the longitudinal support (6) in the region of the holder (8) of at least one spring element (4) can be deformed in the said direction and at least one spring element in the region of the longitudinal support (6) can be moved in the said direction, so that the shape of the cushion support surface changes. 2. Device for cushion support according to claim 1, with two longitudinal supports (6) which, spaced apart from one another, hold the elongated spring elements (4) in such a way that they form a cushion support surface at least between the longitudinal supports (6). -17- 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the longitudinal support (6) is prestressed so that the longitudinal support (6) generates a restoring force to the starting position when deformed. 4. Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the longitudinal support (6) is elastically deformable, so that the longitudinal support (6) generates a restoring force to the starting position when deformed. 5. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the adjusting device (12, 16, 18) has an adjusting element (12) which can be tensioned against the longitudinal member (6) for deforming the longitudinal member (6). 6. Device according to claim 5, wherein the actuating element is a spring element (12). 7. Device according to claim 6, wherein the adjusting spring element is a leaf spring (12). 8. Device according to one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the adjusting element (12) is lever-like, wherein a first end of the lever-like adjusting element (12) can be tensioned against the rear side of the longitudinal support (6) opposite the cushion surface. 9. Device according to one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the adjusting device comprises a telescopic adjusting device (23) with
a threaded bolt (24) and at least one circular cylindrical pipe section (26, 30) with internal thread,
wherein the internal thread of the at least one pipe section (26) cooperates with the bolt thread and causes a telescopic adjusting movement between the threaded bolt (24) and the pipe section (26). 10. Device according to claim 9, wherein the internal threads of the further pipe sections (30) interact with an external thread on the outer surface (28) of one of the pipe sections (26) and cause a telescopic adjustment movement between the pipe sections (26, 30) interacting in this way, where the threads are coaxial and have the same pitch and pitch direction. 11. Device according to claim 8, wherein the lever-like actuating element (12) forms a toggle lever arrangement with a second lever (16). 12. Device according to claim 11, wherein the second end of the lever-like adjusting element (12) is hinged to a frame -19- the first end of the second lever (16) is hinged to the lever-like actuating element (12), spaced from its two ends, and the second end of the second lever (16) is linearly guided and displaceable with respect to the frame (14). 13. Device according to claim 8, wherein the lever-like adjusting element can be tensioned against the rear side of the longitudinal member by a displaceable wedge or a displaceable link, which cooperates with the lever-like adjusting element. 14. Device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the second end of the second lever (16) or the wedge or the link is displaceable by a spindle (18) or a cable pull. 15. Device according to one of claims 2 to 14, wherein the two adjusting devices (12, 16, 18) can be actuated by a common adjusting mechanism (18). 16. Device according to claim 14 and 15, wherein the second ends of both second levers (16) or both wedges or both guides can be actuated by a common spindle (18) or a common cable pull. 17. Device according to one of claims 2 to 16, wherein the device (12, 16, 18) is overall mirror-symmetrical, wherein the elongated spring elements (4) run essentially perpendicular to the plane of symmetry. 18. Device according to one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the adjusting device (12, 16, 18) is displaceable along the longitudinal beam (6) by a longitudinal adjusting device (22), so that the longitudinal beam (6) can be deformed by the adjusting device (12, 16, 18) in the region of adjustable, different elongated spring elements (4). 19. Device according to claim 18, wherein the longitudinal adjustment device (22) is linearly guided. 20. Device according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the longitudinal adjustment device (22) is displaceable by a spindle or a cable pull. 21. Device according to one of claims 2 to 20, wherein the two longitudinal adjustment devices (22) are jointly linearly guided. 22. Device according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the longitudinal adjustment device (22) can be displaced by a common spindle or a common cable pull. 23. Device according to one of claims 1 to 22, wherein the elongated spring elements (4) are leaf springs made of wood, plastic and/or spring sheet, round rods or spring steel. 24. Device according to one of claims 1 to 23, wherein the longitudinal supports (6) are formed from plastic with integrally formed holders (8) for the elongate spring elements. 25. Device according to one of claims 1 to 24, wherein the longitudinal supports (6) are molded from plastic with integrally molded leaf springs made of plastic. 26. Device for cushion support in the seat and/or backrest area of an upholstered seat, in particular for automobiles, with - at least one resilient and/or resiliently supported element (72 to 78, 100) which is mounted so as to be movable towards or away from the seat and/or backrest surface - a telescopically constructed adjusting device (52, 54, 106, 108) which has at least two nested cylinder sleeves which interact via threaded sections in such a way that when the outer sleeve is rotated the inner sleeve is adjusted in the direction of the common axis, the outer -22-sleeve
rotatable but axially secured and the inner sleeve axially movable, but is rotationally fixed and
- a rotary drive (80, 110) for the outer sleeve. 27. Device according to claim 26, characterized in that an elongated element (100) or a plurality of elements (72 to 78) arranged in a row at a distance from one another and connected to one another is provided and at the ends of the elongated element (100) or at the ends of the row of elements (72 to 78) an adjusting device (52, 54, 106, 108) is arranged, which can be driven by a common rotary drive (80, 110). 28. Device according to claim 27, characterized in that individual ball-like elements (72 to 78) are connected to one another via an elongated spring element (70) and the spring element (70) is connected at the ends to the inner sleeve of the adjusting devices (52, 54). 29. Device according to one of claims 26 to 28, characterized in that the resilient element (70), adjusting device (52, 54) and rotary drive (80) are arranged on a frame (46) which is linearly adjustable in the longitudinal direction of the seat or in the direction of the vertical extension of the backrest and a further adjusting drive (88) is provided for the frame (46). 30. Device according to claim 29, characterized in that the adjustment drive (88) is an electric motor which is coupled to the frame (46) via a threaded spindle drive (90). 31. Device according to one of claims 27 to 30, characterized in that the adjusting devices (108, 106) are operated alternately in a predetermined cycle such that only one inner sleeve is ever moved in the direction of the seat surface or away from it. 32. Device according to claim 31, characterized in that an elongated flat intrinsically resilient element (100) is provided. 33. Device according to one of claims 27 and 31 or 32, characterized in that the common rotary drive (110) is coupled to the adjusting device (106, 108) via a respective threaded spindle drive, the spindle drives each having opposing threads. 34. Device according to one of claims 26 to 33, characterized in that the outer sleeve (56) of the adjusting device (52) has a worm wheel section (58) which cooperates with a worm (64) which is driven in rotation by a shaft connected to the rotary drive (80).