JPH09285499A - Chair with elevating and lowering function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To completely prevent legs from being dragged under a sitting part, to lower a sitting surface near an installation surface, to simplify a driving means, to reduce weight and to lower a cost. SOLUTION: When a sitting part 20 freely elevatably and lowerably attached to a main body frame 10 is elevated by a driving motor 17, a leg supporting part 30 is pulled backwards by a connection link body 50 connected between the main body frame 10 and the leg supporting part 30 and an almost vertical posture is attained. On the other hand, when the sitting part 20 is lowered, the leg supporting part 30 is pushed forwards by the connection link body 50 and lower legs are prevented from being dragged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a chair with a lifting function,
That is, the present invention relates to a chair having a function of raising and lowering a seating surface, and more particularly, to a structure of a chair with a raising and lowering function suitable as a stand-up assisting device for an elderly person who has weakened legs and / or a disabled person with lower limbs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In Japan, Japan is about to enter an aging society at a speed that is unprecedented in the world. By 2020, the population of the elderly aged 75 and over will exceed 15 million, and the bedridden elderly and the lower body will be inadequate. The number of persons with disabilities is also expected to exceed one million. Under such circumstances, in order to reduce the burden on the caregiver, various chairs such as a wheelchair with an elevating function for elevating the seating surface and chairs have been developed in order to reduce the burden on the caregiver in recent years. There is.

Among the chairs with the lifting function as described above,
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-47620,
The seating part (pallet) is configured to be movable up and down with respect to the main body, and is configured to guide the main body so that it can move back and forth on the support table. When the seating part rises, the main body retracts and when the seating part descends. There is a chair (sitting chair) configured so that the main body moves forward.

On the other hand, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-22526, the rear of the seat (seat plate) is configured to be movable up and down, and a footrest can be retracted near the front end of the seat. There is a swivel chair attached to.

[0005]

Among the conventional chairs with a lifting function, in the chair described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-47620, when the seat is lowered, the legs are placed below the seat. There is a risk of being involved, and there is a problem in that the safety cannot be said to be sufficient especially for the elderly who have decreased attention and those who have disabilities in the lower limbs.

On the other hand, in the universal chair of Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 5-22526, since the footrest is located below the front end of the seating surface and the push rest can be extended forward, the legs are located below the seating portion. Although there is no danger of getting caught in it, it is impossible to lower the seating surface close to the installation surface (floor surface) due to the existence of the footrest itself and its drive mechanism, and it is not used in Japan, which has many Japanese-style rooms. There is a problem that it is difficult.

Further, in the above-mentioned universal chair, since driving means are required for driving the seating surface, changing the inclination angle of the backrest, and retracting the footrest, the lower limit of the height of the seating surface is inevitable. As the cost increases, the weight increases and the manufacturing cost increases.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to completely prevent the legs from being caught under the seat and to lower the seat to the vicinity of the installation surface. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a chair with a lifting function, which has a simple driving means and can be reduced in weight and cost.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems The means taken by the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems are a seating portion that is mounted so as to be able to move up and down with respect to a main body frame, and is tiltably mounted near the front end of the seating portion. A leg support part, an elevating means for elevating and lowering the seating part, and an interlocking device for interlocking the tilting motion of the leg supporting part with the elevating motion of the seating part. Of the leg support portion to increase the inclination angle of the leg support portion to operate the leg support portion in a direction to retract the leg support portion below the seat portion, and lower the seat portion to decrease the inclination angle of the leg support portion to decrease the leg support portion. A chair with an elevating function, characterized in that the support portion is configured to be operated in a direction of being extended forward of the seating portion.

According to this means, when the seating portion rises, the inclination angle of the leg support portion increases and is retracted, and when the seating portion descends, the inclination angle of the leg support portion decreases and the leg support portion is extended. When the seating portion is high, it does not become an obstacle when sitting down, and even when the seating portion becomes low, the lower limbs are pushed forward by the leg support portion, so that it is possible to prevent an accident that is caught under the seating portion. Therefore, it is possible to realize a chair with a lifting function that can be safely used by elderly people and disabled people.

Further, since the interlocking means for tilting the leg supporting portion in accordance with the ascending / descending movement of the seating portion is provided, it is not necessary to provide a plurality of drive systems, so that the weight and cost can be reduced.

Here, it is preferable that the interlocking means is a connection link connected between a lower portion of the main body frame and a back surface portion of the leg support portion.

According to this means, the linking means is constituted by the connection link connected between the lower portion of the main body frame and the back surface of the leg supporting portion, so that when the seating portion rises, the leg supporting portion is connected by the connecting link. The back surface side of is pulled into the lower rear part, and when the seating portion is lowered, the back surface side of the leg support portion is pushed forward, so that the seating portion and the leg support portion can be easily interlocked. Since this connection link can be compactly accommodated below the seating portion, the seating portion can be lowered to a lower position, and the weight and cost can be further reduced.

The chair with a lifting function according to the present invention,
One of the features is that the seating part can be lowered to a low position, and the seating part can be used as an article in a category generally called a chair. Therefore, especially in Japanese houses with many Japanese-style rooms, elderly people and people with disabilities can sit in the same way as other people, and can easily lift from a sitting state to a state equivalent to a normal chair. Therefore, it has an extremely remarkable effect that it is possible to easily stand up.

In this case, the connection link may be composed of a first link member connected to the main body frame and a second link member connected to the first link member and the leg support portion. desirable. According to this means, the first
By configuring the link member and the second link member, the connecting link operates by appropriately bending in accordance with the distance between the lower portion of the main body frame and the back surface of the leg supporting portion, so that the leg supporting portion is moved as the seating portion moves up and down. Can be tilted smoothly,
In addition, since the range of the connection distance between the main body frame and the leg support portion is widened depending on the bent state and the extended state of the connection link, it is possible to operate the leg support portion over a wide range of the lifting / lowering operation of the seating portion. Become.

Further, it is preferable that the connecting link is configured to be expandable and contractible, and elastic means for urging the connecting link to be in a contracted state is provided. According to this means, the connecting link is configured to be expandable and contractable by the elastic means, and thus the range of the connecting distance between the main body frame and the leg supporting portion is changed depending on the contracting state and the extending state of the connecting link. Since the width is widened, it is possible to operate the leg support portion over a wide range of the lifting / lowering operation of the seating portion.

Further, it is desirable to provide a connection link adjusting means which is constructed so that the substantial length of the connection link can be changed. Here, as a method of changing the substantial length of the connection link, in addition to the method of changing the length of the connection link,
There is also a method of changing the attachment position of the connection link with respect to the body frame or the leg support. According to this means, it is possible to change the tilting motion of the leg support part with respect to the lifting motion of the seat part by changing the length of the connection link.

In this case, by appropriately setting the length of the connecting link, the lower part of the front end of the leg support portion comes into contact with the installation surface while the seating portion is descending, and the front end of the leg support portion with respect to the seating portion. It can be in a state where it has only an amount of rise less than the amount of lowering of the seat (or a state in which it does not move up and down with respect to the seat because there is no change in posture). As a result of the lower part of the front end of the part pressing the installation surface from above, the front part of the main body frame rises and the main body frame and the seating part can be tilted rearward. Therefore, the reclining operation can be generated by lowering the seating portion, and the height of the seating portion where the reclining operation starts and the degree of reclining can be appropriately adjusted by changing the length of the connection link.

Further, while the seating portion is being lowered, the leg support portion is brought into contact with the installation surface while being supported below the seating portion by the connecting link, and the seating portion is further lowered to bring the leg supporting portion into contact with the installation surface. It is preferable that a front portion of the main body frame rises due to a reaction of the leg support portion pressing the installation surface, and the main body frame and the seating portion are inclined rearward. According to this means, since the front part of the main body frame is raised by the leg support part when the seat part is lowered, the seat part can be tilted rearward. A reclining function can be provided without setting any new structure or driving means simply by setting the structure.

On the other hand, it is preferable to provide a sliding means on the lower portion of the front end of the leg support portion so that the lower portion of the front end is slidable with respect to the installation surface. In this case, even if the lower part of the front end of the leg support portion comes into contact with the installation surface, the sliding means is provided so as to be slidable with respect to the installation surface. It can be carried out. The sliding means may be composed of wheels such as casters and rollers, or a convex curved surface portion having a smooth surface with low sliding resistance.

It is desirable to provide wheels on the front and rear of the main body frame so that the wheel can be used as a wheelchair, and since the wheels are on the rear side, the reclining operation can be performed smoothly. Particularly, by providing the rear wheel with a braking means, it is possible to prevent the wheel from moving carelessly during reclining.

[0022]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, an embodiment of a chair with a lifting function according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, a pair of lift guides 11 extending upward in a state of being inclined slightly rearward and a bottom frame part 1 connected to the lower ends of the lift guides 11 are provided.
2 includes a main body frame 10 including a main body frame 10, a seating portion 20 that is guided by an elevating guide portion 11 of the main body frame 10 and is mounted to be movable up and down, and a leg support portion 30 hinged to a front end of the seating portion 20. Composed.

A pair of lifting guide portions 1 of the main body frame 10.
A guide groove 11a is provided inside 1 as shown in FIG. 8, and a guide roller 22 attached to a connecting portion 21 provided behind the seating portion 20 is fitted into the guide groove 11a from the inside. The seating portion 20 is held in the posture shown in the drawing and is configured to be movable up and down. A connecting member 13 is connected to the lower end portion of the elevating guide portion 11, and the connecting member 13
The bottom frame portion 12 is connected to the lower end of the. A rear wheel 14 is attached to the back surface of the connecting member 13. A known brake plate 14 is attached to the axle of the rear wheel 14.
a is attached to the rear wheel 14 so that the rear wheel 14 cannot rotate by depressing the brake plate 14a to one side.

The bottom frame 12 is composed of a frame frame having a planar U-shape that opens to the front side, and front wheels 15 are attached to the front end of the bottom frame 12 as shown in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 8, a support plate 16 is attached to the rear portion of the bottom frame 12, and a drive motor 17 is attached and fixed onto the support plate 16. Drive motor 17
Is transmitted to a pulley 19 rotatably supported by the support plate 16 via a transmission belt 18, and the pulley 19
The feed screw 41 connected to is rotated.

The upper end of the feed screw 41 is rotatably supported by a shaft supporting portion 42, and the shaft supporting portion 42 is attached to the upper ends of the elevating guide portions 11 and 11 substantially horizontally and horizontally.
It is attached and fixed to 4. The grip 45 is used when the present embodiment is used as a wheelchair. The feed screw 41 is screwed to a nut member 45 fixed to a mounting plate 43 mounted on the lateral support member 23 passed between the left and right connecting portions 21 of the seating portion 20. As a result, when the feed screw 41 is rotated via the transmission belt 18 and the pulley 19 by the operation of the drive motor 17, the seat portion having the nut member 45 moves up and down.

In the seating portion 20, as shown in FIG. 1, a seating sheet 25 having a cushioning property is mounted on the bottom support member 24 connected to the connecting portion 21, and is connected to the connecting portion 21 in the vertical direction. A back support sheet 27 having a cushioning property is attached to the support member 26 in a state of being slightly inclined rearward. A pair of left and right armrests 28 are fixed to the bottom support 24 and the vertical support 26. A pillow portion 29 is provided on the upper end of the back support sheet 27.

A leg support 30 is rotatably attached to the lower portion of the front end of the bottom support 24 that supports the seat 25 by means of hinge joints. This leg support portion 30 is a support member 3
1, a leg support sheet 32 having a cushioning property is attached on top of 1. A front end wheel 33 is attached to a lower portion of the front end of the support member 31, and a link connecting portion 34 is provided slightly behind the front end wheel 33.
Is installed. The link connecting portion 34 is a metal fitting having a U-shaped cross section as shown in FIG.
Three sets of connection holes 34a, 34b, and 34c are formed at three sets of positions corresponding to each of the two protruding portions.

At a position adjacent to the front of the link connecting portion 34 of the supporting member 31, a cushioning roller 35 having a cushioning property such as rubber and rotatably supported is attached.
The buffer roller 35 prevents the first link member and the second link member of the connection link body, which will be described later, from refracting in the opposite manner to the case shown and causing a malfunction. Further, it also has a function of preventing the support member 31 of the leg support portion 30 from colliding with the second link member 55 described later when the seating portion 20 described later is in the raised position.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a connecting link body 50 is connected to the central portion of the bottom frame portion 12 of the main body frame 10 and the link connecting portion 34. The connection link body 50 includes a mounting bracket 51 fixed to the bottom frame portion 12 and a connecting shaft 52 connected to the mounting bracket 51.
A first link member 53 rotatably connected via
A second link member 55 rotatably connected to the first link member 53 via a connecting shaft 54 and rotatably connected to the link connecting portion 34 via a connecting shaft 56. Composed of.

The first link member 53 includes a first link piece 53A connected to the bottom frame 12 and a second link member 55.
The second link piece 53B connected to is inserted into and removed from each other, and as a result, the second link piece 53B is configured to be linearly expandable and contractible. A shaft member 57 is fitted in the second link piece 53B, and the shaft member 57 is inserted through a pair of long holes 53a, 53a formed at both ends of the first link piece 53A. One end of a coil spring 58 is attached to the shaft member 57, and the other end of the coil spring 58 is attached to the connecting shaft 52. The contracting force of the coil spring 58 draws the first link piece 53A and the second link piece 53B from each other, so that the first link member 53 is always urged to contract.

The second link piece 53B of the first link member 53
A support wheel 59 is attached to the bottom surface portion of the portion near the connection point with the second link member 55. When the connection link body 50 is bent downward at the connection point between the first link member 53 and the second link member 55, the support wheel 59 abuts the installation surface and damages the installation surface or the connection point. Is to prevent the smooth operation of the connecting link body from being abutted against the installation surface.

The second link member 55 includes the link connecting portion 34.
On the other hand, among the three sets of connecting holes 34a, 34b, 34c, the central connecting hole 34b is used for connection, but as will be described later, the second link member 55 is removed from the connecting hole 34b and other connecting holes are formed. It is also possible to easily connect using 34a and 34c.

Next, referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, the functions, operations, and usages of this embodiment will be described. In the present embodiment, the drive motor 17 is configured to be rotatable in the forward and reverse directions, and the drive motor 17 is rotated in a desired direction by an operation button (not shown) so that the seating portion 20 can be raised and lowered.

First, with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG.
The operation for raising the will be described. In the state of FIG. 1, the seating portion 20 is located at a slightly lower position and is connected to the front end of the bottom support member 24 of the seating portion 20, and
The leg support portion 30 connected to the main body frame 10 by the connection link body 50 is held in a slightly inclined state, and the front end wheel 33 of the leg support portion 30 is in contact with the installation surface P.

The drive motor 17 is operated from this state,
When the seating portion 20 is raised, as shown in FIG. 2, the leg supporting portion 30 as well as the seating portion 20 also rises away from the installation surface P,
The connection link body 50 increases the inclination angle of the leg support portion 30. When the seating portion 20 further rises, as shown in FIG. 3, the connecting link body 50, which has been bent until then, extends linearly, and the leg support portion 30 assumes a substantially vertical posture.

When the seating portion 20 is further raised from the state of FIG. 3, the first link member 53 causes the coil spring 5 shown in FIG.
Since it extends against the elastic force of 8, the connection link body 50 further rises while remaining straight, and the leg support portion 30 passes the vertical state and is inclined slightly inward. Then, the seating portion 20 is configured to reach the upper limit before the connecting link body 50 is fully extended.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1, 4 and 5, the operation when the seat 20 is lowered will be described. When the seating portion 20 is lowered from the state of FIG. 1, the bending of the connecting link body 50 becomes loose as shown in FIG. 4, and the inclination angle of the leg support portion 30 gradually decreases. This tendency continues within a range in which the connecting link body 50 becomes linear and the first link member 53 can extend against the coil spring 58.

When the seating portion 20 is further lowered after the connecting link body 50 is completely extended, as shown in FIG.
The inclination angle of the leg support 30 does not change, so that the front wheel 33 of the leg support 30 pushes the installation surface P, the front end of the bottom frame portion 12 rises, and the front wheel 15 moves away from the installation surface P. The body frame 10 starts to tilt backward. At this time, the entire chair is the front wheel 33 of the leg support 30.
Then, it is in a state of being supported by the rear wheel 14.

As described above, in this embodiment, the seating portion 20 can be lifted from a position close to the installation surface P and can be used as a seat chair or a normal chair. At the same time, it can be used as a standing up assisting device for standing up from a sitting state in a Japanese-style room. This is possible because there is no large drive mechanism below the seat 20.

Further, the leg support portion 30 connected to the front end of the seating portion 20 operates so that its inclination angle increases when the seating portion 20 rises, and decreases when the seating portion 20 descends. Even if the seat 20 is lowered to a lower position, the lower limbs are not likely to be caught under the seat 20, so that the elderly can be safely used even by an elderly person who has decreased attention and a disabled person with a lower limb.

Since the operation of the leg support section 30 is performed in conjunction with the lifting operation of the seat section 20 by the connecting link body 50, no separate drive source is required and a control device for interlocking is also unnecessary. Therefore, the manufacturing cost can be reduced and the weight can be reduced. Further, the interlocking mechanism is also compact, and a large lifting stroke of the seating portion 20 and a low lower limit position can be secured.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the seating portion 20 can be automatically tilted rearward by lowering the seating portion 20, so that a separate drive source or control device can be provided. There is an advantage that a reclining function can be provided without the need.

This reclining function is determined by the positional relationship between the connecting link body 50 and the leg supporting portion 30, and the height of the seating portion 20 at the start of reclining and the back support seat 2 obtained by this reclining function.
The inclination angle of 7 can be changed depending on which of the connecting holes 34a, 34b, 34c of the link connecting portion 34 is used to connect the second link member 55.

The operation in the illustrated case where the second link member 55 is connected using the connecting hole 34b is as described above, but when the second link member 55 is connected using the connecting hole 34a, the connecting link is formed. Since the length of the body 50 becomes substantially long, reclining does not occur even if the seating portion 20 is lowered to the lowermost portion.

On the other hand, the second link member 55 is connected to the connecting hole 34c.
When the connection is made by using, the position of the seating portion 20 where reclining is started becomes high because the length of the connecting link body 50 is substantially shortened, and when the seating portion 20 is lowered to the lowermost part, The reclining angle can be made larger than in the case of FIG.

In the above embodiment, the mode of the interlocking motion and the reclining motion is changed by changing the substantial length of the connecting link body 50 which enables the interlocking motion and the reclining motion of the seat 20 and the leg support 30. can do. Leg support 30 provided for this change
The link connecting portion 34 may be provided on the bottom frame portion 12 of the main body frame 10. Further, as a result, it suffices to change the substantial length of the link, so that the same effect can be obtained by changing the connection point between the first link member 53 and the second link member 55, for example.

In the above embodiment, the seating surface (seat seat) of the seating portion has a structure close to that of a seat chair that reaches near the installation surface (floor surface), but it is not always necessary to make it usable as a seat chair. Instead, the lifting range of the seating portion can be set appropriately.
Also, the front and rear wheels are configured so that they can be used as a wheelchair, and the rear wheels make it possible to smoothly change the posture when reclining, but it is not necessary to make them usable as a wheelchair, for example, fixed to the installation surface. It may be configured to be used.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the seating portion rises, the inclination angle of the leg supporting portion increases and is retracted, and when the seating portion descends, the inclination angle of the leg supporting portion decreases and the leg supporting portion extends. As the seat is high, it does not interfere with sitting down, and even if the seat is low, the legs are pushed forward by the leg support, preventing accidents getting caught under the seat. can do. Therefore, it is possible to realize a chair with a lifting function that can be safely used by elderly people and disabled people.

Further, since the interlocking means for tilting the leg supporting portion in accordance with the raising and lowering movement of the seating portion is provided, it is not necessary to separately provide a drive system, so that the weight and cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a structure of an embodiment of a chair with a lifting function according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a state in which the seating portion of the same embodiment is raised more than in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which the seating portion of the same embodiment is further raised as compared with FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state in which the seating portion of the same embodiment is lowered as compared with FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state in which the seating portion of the same embodiment is further lowered as compared with FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a configuration of a connection link body of the same embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a configuration of a connection link body of the same embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a rear view of the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 main body frame 11 lifting guide part 12 bottom frame part 20 seating part 30 leg support part 34 link connecting parts 34a, 34b, 34c connecting hole 50 connecting link body 53 first link member 53A first link piece 53B second link piece 55th 2 Link member 58 Coil spring

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Miyajima 1226-4 Tokuma, Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture (72) Inventor Tatsuo Koitabashi 1448-76, Kawanakajima-cho, Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A seating portion which is attached to a main body frame so as to be able to move up and down, a leg support portion which is attached to be tiltable near a front end of the seating portion, an elevating means for raising and lowering the seating portion, and Interlocking means for interlocking the tilting movement of the leg support portion with the lifting operation of the seating portion, the interlocking means increasing the inclination angle of the leg support portion by raising the seating portion to move the leg support portion. It is configured such that it is operated in a direction to pull it down below the seating portion, and the inclination angle of the leg support portion is reduced by lowering the seating portion so that the leg support portion is moved in a direction to be extended forward of the seating portion. A chair with a characteristic lifting function. 2. The chair with an elevating function according to claim 1, wherein the interlocking means is a connection link connected between a lower portion of the main body frame and a back surface of the leg support portion. 3. The connection link according to claim 2,
A chair with a lifting function, comprising a first link member connected to the main body frame and a second link member connected to the first link member and the leg support portion. 4. The chair with an elevating function according to claim 2, wherein the connecting link is configured to be expandable and contractible, and elastic means for urging the connecting link to be in a contracted state is provided. 5. The chair with an elevating function according to claim 2, further comprising a connection link adjusting means configured to change a substantial length of the connection link. 6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the interlocking means abuts the installation surface while the leg support portion is supported below the seating portion while the seating portion is being lowered. By lowering the seat portion, the front portion of the main body frame is raised by the reaction of the leg support portion pressing the installation surface, and the main body frame and the seat portion are inclined rearward. A chair with a characteristic lifting function.