Device for fixing the back of a chair or the like to the supporting structure

{
  "publication_number": "US5520441A",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "A",
  "title": "Device for fixing the back of a chair or the like to the supporting structure",
  "abstract": "A device for fixing the back of a chair or the like to a supporting structure. The device comprises, at the end of a vertical portion of the support of the back, two oppositely arranged elastically retractable pins which are suitable to fit in corresponding seats of shoulders which extend from the internal structure of the back and between which the end is suitable to be inserted and guided.",
  "claims": [
    "1. In combination a back for a chair and a fixing device for fixing the back of the chair to a supporting structure, the back having a supporting plate, and a covering shell fixed to said supporting plate, said shell being provided with an opening, said device comprising: a support element for supporting the back of the chair, said support element having a vertical end portion, said end portion comprising slotted holes; two oppositely arranged elastically retractable pins, said pins protruding through said slotted holes of said end portion; a base fixed to said supporting plate of the back, said base having two substantially parallel guiding shoulders, said shoulders comprising two mutually facing guiding channel paths, said channel paths diverging from first upper ends thereof to second lower ends thereof, and two mutually facing seats, said seats being located at said first upper ends of said channel paths, said end portion being guidingly insertable through said opening of said shell with said pins being guided in said channel paths for gradually retracting between said second lower ends and said first upper ends of said channel paths for eventually being accommodated and locked in said seats.",
    "2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said retractable pins protrude from a transverse through hole of an element which is fixed to said end portion, said pins having corresponding wider ends that are slideable in a wider median region of said hole, a spring being arranged between said wider ends.",
    "3. The combination according to claim 2, wherein said end portion has a U-shaped cross section with mutually facing wings, said slotted holes being arranged at said wings, and said element being fixed between said wings so that said pins protrude through said slotted holes.",
    "4. The combination according to claim 2, further comprising a stop element, said stop element having an inclined portion on which said element with said through hole abuts.",
    "5. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said base is made of plastics and is removably fixed to the supporting plate of said back.",
    "6. The combination according to claim 1, wherein an elastic wing rises from said base in a region where said end portion of said support element rests, said wing constituting a springing element for said back.",
    "7. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said end portion of the support element for supporting the back is made of metal.",
    "8. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said base is concealed by said covering shell and can be accessed, for insertion of said end portion of the support element, through said opening of said shell, said opening being provided in a downward region of said covering shell.",
    "9. In combination a back for a chair and a fixing device for fixing the back of the chair to a supporting structure, the back having a supporting plate, and a covering shell fixed to said supporting plate, said shell being provided with an opening, said device comprising: a support element for supporting the back of the chair, said support element having a vertical end portion; two oppositely arranged elastically retractable pins, said pins protruding laterally from said end portion; a base fixed to said supporting plate of the back in a position being accessible through said opening of said covering shell, said base having two substantially parallel guiding shoulders, said shoulders comprising two mutually facing guiding channel paths, said paths diverging from first upper ends thereof to second lower ends thereof, and two mutually facing seats, said seats being located at said first upper ends of said channel paths, said end portion being guidingly insertable through said opening of said shell with said pins being guided along said channel paths for gradually retracting between said second lower ends and said first upper ends of said channel paths for eventually being accommodated and locked in said seats.",
    "10. The combination according to claim 9, wherein said retractable pins protrude from a transverse through hole of an element which is fixed to said end portion, said pins having corresponding wider ends that are slideable in a wider median region of said hole, a spring being arranged between said wider ends.",
    "11. The combination according to claim 10, wherein said end portion has a U-shaped cross section with mutually facing wings, slotted holes being arranged at said wings, and said element being fixed between said wings so that said pins protrude through said slotted holes.",
    "12. The combination according to claim 10, wherein said pins are rounded at further ends thereof which are opposite to said wider ends, said rounded ends protruding through slotted holes and being guidingly slideable in said channel paths.",
    "13. The combination according to claim 10, further comprising a stop element, said stop element having an inclined portion on which said element with said through hole abuts.",
    "14. The combination according to claim 9, wherein said base is made of plastics and is removably fixed to the supporting plate of said back.",
    "15. The combination according to claim 9, wherein an elastic wing rises from said base in a region where said end portion of said support element rests, said wing constituting a springing element for said back.",
    "16. The combination according to claim 9, wherein said end portion of the support element for supporting the back is made of metal.",
    "17. The combination according to claim 9, wherein said opening is provided in a downward region of said covering shell."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates to a device for fixing the back of a chair or the like to the supporting structure.\n\nIn some types of currently commercially available office chairs, the seat and the back are mounted on the ends of an L-shaped support.\n\nThe back is substantially composed of an internal supporting structure which is provided, in an upward region, with a padding and a covering and is closed, in a downward region, by a covering shell which is made of plastics and has, at the rear, an opening for the passage of the corresponding end of the L-shaped support.\n\nThis technical configuration entails that the various parts that compose the back are assembled during the final assembly of the chair, since it is impossible to work inside the back to fix the support.\n\nThe manufacturers of the various components of the chairs must therefore supply loose parts or in any case parts that are only partially assembled, and this is a hardly negligible drawback in the field.\n\nTherefore, an aim of the present invention is to provide a fixing device that allows the manufacture of backs that are already assembled and are ready to easily and quickly compose chairs or the like in the combinations desired by the dealer.\n\nA consequent primary object is to provide a device that allows sturdy and reliable fixing.\n\nAnother important object is to provide a fixing device which is simple to manufacture and has a low cost.",
  "cpc": [
    "A47C 7/44",
    "A47C 7/42"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "A47C 7/42",
    "A47C 7/44"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "N Citton and C SAS"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Napoleone Citton"
  ],
  "filing_date": "1994-12-02",
  "publication_date": "1996-05-28",
  "grant_date": "1996-05-28",
  "priority_date": "1993-12-07",
  "application_number": "US-35273794-A",
  "family_id": "11390397",
  "cited_by_count": 28,
  "citations": [
    "GB589731A",
    "GB972460A",
    "US3377966A",
    "US3596861A",
    "US4221430A",
    "US4451084A",
    "US4616877A",
    "US4844541A",
    "US5007678A"
  ]
}