Height adjustable battery operated chair

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electrically operable height adjustable chair comprising a base, a seat, a lifting mechanism, a battery, and a controller to actuate the lifting mechanism. The seat is arranged above the base via the lifting mechanism, the controller is a user operated foot pedal in Bluetooth® communication with the lifting mechanism actuator, and the lifting mechanism is a telescopic lifting column.

Description

HEIGHT ADJUSTABLE BATTERY OPERATED CHAIRTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of mechanical engineering, and specifically relates to an electrically operated height adjustable chair lift designed for use with a salon or barber chair, and in particular to a battery operated chair lift.BACKGROUND

[0002] A salon or barber chair allows for customers to sit in a barber shop, a hair salon and the like when receiving haircut or hairstyle. These chairs are preferably height adjustable because the customers are of varying heights, and so the hairdresser or barber will need to adjust the height of the chair to suit the particular height of each customer to ensure a correct position for cutting or styling the customer’s hair. Also, during the hair cutting or hair styling process, it may be necessary to make further adjustments or refinements to the height of the chair in order to perform particular treatments or procedures.

[0003] To date, most height adjustable systems for salon or barber chairs have included a hydraulic gas lifts, which can often have quality issues leading to common causes of hydraulic cylinder failure including seal failure, mount connection failure, side loading (especially where moderate side loading can result in uneven wear). There has also been a general desire to have electrically adjustable salon chairs in which the height of the chair can be adjusted by way of a simple press of a button in order to activate the height adjustment mechanism of the chair. One drawback with many prior art electrically operated height adjustable salon chairs is that they need to be plugged into an electricity outlet to be powered, which is not always easily achievable because of the configuration of the salon space. Further, when the cord of a prior art electrically operated salon chair is plugged into an electrical outlet, it can present a trip hazard, or just otherwise potentially get in the way of the usual hustle and bustle of a busy hairdressing operation in the salon.

[0004] Therefore, it is desirable to have an electrically operated salon chair, but which can be battery powered so as to not require a fixed electrical connection withan electrical outlet whilst in use via an electrical cord / cable. One such prior art solution is a motorized base adapted for use in a salon or barber chair, which is available on the websiteThe products available on this website include electrically-powered bases for barber's and salon chairs, some of which include a battery. The electrically-powered bases for barber's and salon chairs available at the Power Jack Motion website comprise inner / outer column assembly with a simple liner actuator inside. An electric linear actuator is a device that converts the rotational motion of an AC or DC motor into linear motion. An electric linear actuator consists of a DC or AC motor, a series of gears and a lead screw with driving nut that pushes the main rod shaft in and out. It can provide both push and pull movements. This movement makes it possible to lift, drop, slide, adjust, tilt, push or pull objects with the simple push of a button.

[0005] The construction of a traditional linear actuator requires a defined amount of length to accommodate the motor & gear box assembly which restricts the minimum retraction and thus low height possible relative to the amount of extension (height adjustment) required. Also with a linear actuator, there is a requirement for a separate outer construction to be developed to house and secure the actuator. Linear actuators also have a right-angled motor and gear box construction which makes mounting of the actuator inside a profile very difficult and typically results in an aesthetically unpleasing lifting mechanism. The present invention uses a telescopic column rather than a linear actuator, which addresses these issues.

[0006] The battery powered electrically-operated salon chair of the present invention utilises a telescopic system known as a lifting column for the height adjustment mechanism. Lifting columns are another form of linear actuator. Typically, they provide a longer stroke because they have multiple stages. This allows them to expand and contract in a longer length than when they are fully closed. Another way to put it is that a column lift is an actuator within an actuator.

[0007] Another advantage of a column lift is that the linear guiding is built into the structure of the actuator and does not need adding externally. Linear actuators usually do not cope well with side loading, and column lifts have their guiding system built in. Lifting columns, like the other electric linear actuators, convert electricalenergy into linear motion and, like rod-style actuators, provide telescopic linear motion. They also consist of a motor, gearbox, and lead screw. However, instead of extending a rod, the lead screw moves out a column. Lifting columns usually have multiple stages that are used to split the extension length in half and allow the column to collapse into an even smaller profile. Lifting columns are designed to be used in a vertical upright orientation. While this is a bit of a limitation, it allows them to be designed sturdier than other types of electric linear actuators and to be installed without additional mounting brackets.

[0008] The use of telescopic system known as a lifting column for the height adjustment mechanism in the salon chair of the present invention is advantageous because a lifting column allows for a much lower retracted height, but with a longer extension height. This is desirable for a height adjustable chair, where the extended range of vertical movement allows for the height of the chair to be adjusted to suit a wide range of clients / customers and operators (such as hairdressers and barbers) who may have a wide range of heights. The particular design of the combined column construction for the seat mounting of the present invention is particularly desirable, as it provides an aesthetically pleasing chair design, which is important for use in high-end installations such as salons, barbers and beauty treatment facilities.

[0009] Electrically operated height adjustable chairs are commonly used in industries where an operator adjusting the height of the chair may only have partial access or no access at all to using their hands to adjust the height of the chair because they are engaged in a procedure in which tools or instruments are in their hands. For example, a medical practitioner may be conducting a medical procedure on a patient using medical instruments, whereby their hands are full. A hairdresser or barber may be cutting or styling a client’s hair and have their hands full of brushes, combs, hair dryers, hair clippers and the like, and so would find it difficult to use their hands to adjust the height of the chair. One known solution is for the height adjustable chair to utilise a foot actuated chair lift mechanism. Whilst these are known in many variants, the present invention provides a novel combination of a Bluetooth® foot control, with battery powered electric column lift chair.

[0010] Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a battery powered electrically operated height adjustable chair lift that would overcome at least some of the disadvantages of previously known approaches in this field, or would provide a useful alternative.DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0011] In a first aspect, the present invention relates to an electrically operable height adjustable chair comprising a base, a seat, a lifting mechanism, a battery, and a controller to actuate the lifting mechanism; wherein the seat is arranged above the base via the lifting mechanism, the controller is a user operated foot pedal in Bluetooth® communication with the lifting mechanism actuator, and the lifting mechanism is a telescopic lifting column.

[0012] Preferably, the lifting column has and in-line motor and gearbox and includes a worm drive spindle within a spindle actuator. Most preferably, the in-line motor, gearbox and battery are enclosed within a housing positioned at one end of the lifting mechanism proximally located to the seat. The housing preferably includes a seat engagement means, thereby allowing the underside of the seat to be mounted to the top surface of the housing sitting atop the lifting mechanism.

[0013] Preferably, the seat engagement means consists of a pair of interfacing discs connected via a central spindle and adapted to axially rotate thereabout and with respect to each other, wherein one of said discs is adapted to connect with the underside of the seat and the other of said discs is adapted to connect with the top surface of the housing.

[0014] The two discs are preferably manufactured from a non-stick material, and most preferably the two discs are manufactured from silicon.

[0015] Preferably, the seat is adapted to swivel about the vertical axis of the lifting mechanism. Most preferably, the swivel motion of the chair is arrested at one or more predetermined stop positions about its axis of rotation.

[0016] In a preferred embodiment the stop positions are magnetic catches in which proximately positioned oppositely polarised magnets result in the arrested swivel motion of the seat about the vertical axis of the lifting mechanism.

[0017] Preferably, in one embodiment, the housing further includes a storage compartment. Most preferably, the storage compartment is accessed by way of a drawer. The front panel of the drawer includes a removable fascia panel that can be preferably swapped.DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

[0018] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in relation to figures, wherein:-Figure 1A & 1 B depict a front and rear perspective view of the height adjustable battery operated electric chair in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention;Figure 2 depicts the internal structures of the housing of an embodiment of the present invention;Figure 3 is a rendered image showing a detailed perspective view of the housing containing the storage compartment;Figure 4 is a rendered image and a photograph showing a detailed perspective view of the decorative cover plates adapted to be engaged with the front fascia panel of the storage compartment and battery housing;Figures 5A & 5B depict a rear underside perspective view of the seat; andFigures 6A & 6B depict an embodiment of the interfacing structures of the present invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] With reference to Figs. 1A & 1 B as well as Fig. 2, the present invention relates to a battery-powered, electrically operated height adjustable chair 10. As is best shown in FIGS 1 to 3, the electrically operable height adjustable chair 10 comprises a base 12, a seat 14, a lifting mechanism 16, a battery 18, and a controller 20 to actuate the lifting mechanism 16. The seat 14 is arranged above the base 12 via the lifting mechanism 16. The controller 20 is a user operated foot pedal 22, which is in Bluetooth® communication with the lifting mechanism actuator 24. Theuser will operate the foot pedal 22 to raise and lower the height of the chair seat 14. Importantly, the lifting mechanism 16 is a telescopic lifting column.

[0020] As is shown in these drawings, the base 12 is substantially free of any cumbersome components that may get in the way of the customer sitting in the chair 10 - especially when the chair 10 is rotated or swivelled around its central axis, which is common when a customer is sitting in the chair 10 and receiving a haircut, hair style or the like. To facilitate the height control of the chair 10, a user operated foot pedal 22 in Bluetooth® communication with the lifting mechanism actuator 24 is provided, which is positioned on the base 12. The foot pedal 22 is positioned to the rear facing direction of the seat 14, so that it is behind the feet of the customer when sitting in the chair 10, and is more readily accessible by the hairstylist or other professional. This arrangement of the foot pedal 22 keeps it out of the way of the customer when sitting in the seat 14, and creates an ergonomic advantage whereby the customer’s ‘feet area’ is clear of parts.

[0021] The user operated foot pedal 22 is a foot switch control that was originally designed for medical equipment and healthcare applications but is similarly suitable for use with a height adjustable chair 10 that is primarily designed for use in a hairdressing salon or barber environment. The foot pedal 22 allows staff / practitioners to have both hands free when attending to the patient or client. It is a highly ergonomic control and is specifically designed to improve and ease the control of various treatment chairs, including salon chairs. The foot pedal 22 has both the standard ‘up and down’ control (i.e. it will adjust the height of the chair 10 to make it taller when the user depresses the height increase button (up), and to make the height of the chair 10 shorter when the user depresses the height decrease button (down)). In addition, the controller 20 may also have several ‘pre-set’ height options.

[0022] The lifting mechanism actuator 24 comprises an in-line motor and gearbox and includes a worm drive spindle within a spindle actuator. The advantage of this arrangement is that it provides stability to the actuator, and to the overall height adjustable chair 10 under a sideways load. Importantly, the lifting column is telescopic rather than simply being a standard linear extension. This helps create a lower minimum height and a higher maximum height, which usefully extends theminimum and maximum extension range of the height adjustable chair 10. The worm drive spindle technology that is utilised in the lifting column of the present invention is significantly different to a linear actuator. A worm gear is a gear consisting of a shaft with a spiral thread that engages with and drives a toothed wheel. An electric motor or engine applies rotational power to the worm. The worm rotates against the wheel, and the screw face pushes on the teeth of the wheel. The wheel is pushed against the load, which in this case is the seat 14 of the height adjustable chair 10.

[0023] The worm drive spindle that is utilised in the lifting column of the present invention is a ‘spindle within a spindle’ design. This ‘spindle within a spindle’ design allows for a low minimum height and longer extension of the lifting mechanism 16 whereby the threaded spindle that extends the top profile movement runs inside of the lower extension spindle which is hollow and has threads both on the inside for the top profile spindle and on the outside which extends the middle section of the column profiles. The column has an inline motor and gearbox construction which removes the need for a right-angle motor and gear box profile as seen with the traditional linear actuator and provides a streamlined construction and clean presentation.

[0024] The telescopic lifting column incorporates an in-line motor and gearbox, which minimises the overall size and construction of the column. This provides an aesthetic benefit to the chair 10 of the present invention, particularly when compared to other height adjustable chairs of the prior art, which can often include unsightly lifting mechanisms. Further, the telescopic lifting mechanism 16 of the present invention is a self-contained column support, whereas a linear actuator would require a standalone column construction. Again, this provides an aesthetic benefit to the height adjustable chair 10 of the present invention.

[0025] The three-part construction of the telescopic lifting column of the present invention ensures a short installation dimension combined with a long stroke length. The middle profile of the telescopic lifting column moves synchronously so the profiles are always in the same height, which optimises the stability of the lifting column and the overall design of the height adjustable chair 10. The lifting mechanism actuator 24 and battery 18 are within a compact motor housing 26,which is not particularly noticeable when the seat 14 is installed thereon in the construction of the height adjustable chair 10 of the present invention.

[0026] As is best shown in Fig. 2, the components of the lifting mechanism 16, i.e. being a lifting mechanism actuator 24 comprising an in-line motor and gearbox, along with the battery 18, are enclosed within a housing 26 positioned at one end of the lifting mechanism 16, which is proximally located underneath the seat 14. As detailed above, this arrangement means that the housing 26 is quite discrete, and is not particularly visible under the seat 14 as installed thereon. With reference to Fig. 3, the housing 26 both contains the inner ‘workings’ of the electric lifting mechanism 16, and in one embodiment may also further include a storage compartment 28. In this embodiment, this storage compartment 28 is a handy place for the storage of the removable power cord that is used to recharge the battery 18, as well as also other ‘odds and sods’ that the hair stylist might want to access during a haircut (or any other professional may want access to during a procedure).

[0027] With reference to Fig 4, the front panel of the housing 26 may include a removable fascia panel 30 that can be swapped out for any number of different fascia panels. This means that a particular fascia panel 30 can be selected to best suit the aesthetic / design of the salon space (or other such environment) in which the height adjustable chair 10 of the present invention will be installed. In other words, the fascia panel 30 can be swapped to best match the decor of the salon space (or other such environment) but should the aesthetic / design of the salon space change, then the fascia panel 30 of the drawer can also be changed to suit.

[0028] With reference to Figs. 5A, 5B, 6A & 6B and with return reference to Fig. 4, the housing 26 includes a seat engagement means 32, thereby allowing the seat 14 to be mounted to the housing 26 sitting atop the lifting mechanism 16. The seat 14 can be separate to the base 12 and lifting mechanism 16, whereby the base 12 and the lifting mechanism 16 can be used to retrofit existing chair seats.

[0029] To allow for the seat 14 to rotate about the vertical axis 0 of the lifting mechanism 16, the seat engagement means 32 includes a pair of interfacing structures 32A, 32B. First interfacing structure 32A sits against the housing 26, whilesecond interfacing structure 32B sits against the underside of the seat 14. Second interfacing structure 32B has an opening 34 that receives vertical spindle 36 which is aligned with the vertical axis 9 therewithin, and is adapted to axially rotate thereabout. One of said interfacing structures 32B is adapted to be retained within a plate member that in turn is affixed to the underside of the seat 14, and the other of said interfacing structures 32A is adapted to be positioned within a recess located on the top surface of the housing 26, with the first and second interfacing structures 32A, 32B not being fixed to one another, such that the second interfacing structure 32B can rotate (along with the seat 14) relative to the first interfacing structure 32A. The two interfacing structures 32A, 32B are manufactured from a non-stick material, preferably from silicon to allow for this rotational movement of the seat 14 about the vertical axis Q of the lifting mechanism 16.

[0030] In an embodiment, the seat 14 is adapted to swivel about the vertical axis 9 of the lifting mechanism 16, whereby the seat 14 swivels on and about the housing 26 of the lifting column. The swivel motion of the seat 14 is arrested at one or more predetermined positions about this axis of rotation (being the vertical axis 9) by stops 38. In an embodiment, the stops 38 are preferably magnetic catches in which proximately positioned oppositely polarised magnets 38A, 38B result in the arrested swivel motion of the seat 14 about the vertical axis 9 of the lifting mechanism 16. In other words, the swivel action uses magnetic resistance to create a number of ‘hold points’, which are useful so that a customer in the chair 10 seat 14 can be stopped from spinning around at certain points during the rotation. This makes it easier for the hairstylist to carry out their job and get on with what they are doing.

[0031] In a further embodiment, first interfacing structure 32A may not be fixed to the housing 26. Instead, first interfacing structure 32A may comprise housing interfaces 40 which cooperate with complementary housing interfaces 42 that form part of the housing 26 and / or the spindle 36.

[0032] While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments above, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that it is not limited to those embodiments, but may be embodied in many other forms, variations and modifications other than those specifically described. The invention includes allsuch variation and modifications. The invention also includes all of the steps, features, components and / or devices referred to or indicated in the specification, individually or collectively and any and all combinations or any two or more of the steps or features.

[0033] In this specification, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the word “comprising” is not intended to have the exclusive meaning of the word such as “consisting only of”, but rather has the non-exclusive meaning, in the sense of “including at least”. The same applies, with corresponding grammatical changes, to other forms of the word such as “comprise”, etc.

[0034] Other definitions for selected terms used herein may be found within the detailed description of the invention and apply throughout. Unless otherwise defined, all other scientific and technical terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs.

[0035] Any promises made in the present document should be understood to relate to some embodiments of the invention, and are not intended to be promises made about the invention in all embodiments. Where there are promises that are deemed to apply to all embodiments of the invention, the applicant / patentee reserves the right to later delete them from the description and they do not rely on these promises for the acceptance or subsequent grant of a patent in any country.

Claims

CLAIMS1 . An electrically operable height adjustable chair comprising: a base, a seat, a lifting mechanism, a battery, and a controller to actuate the lifting mechanism; wherein the seat is arranged above the base via the lifting mechanism, the controller is a user operated foot pedal in Bluetooth® communication with the lifting mechanism actuator, and the lifting mechanism is a telescopic lifting column.

2. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 1 , wherein the lifting column has an in-line motor and gearbox and includes a worm drive spindle within a spindle actuator.

3. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 2, wherein the in-line motor, gearbox and battery are enclosed within a housing positioned at one end of the lifting mechanism proximally located to the seat.

4. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 3, wherein the housing includes a seat engagement means, thereby allowing the underside of the seat to be mounted to the top surface of the housing sitting atop the lifting mechanism.

5. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 4, wherein the seat engagement means consists of a pair of interfacing structures adapted to axially rotate with respect to each other, wherein one of said interfacing structures is adapted to connect with the underside of the seat and the other of said interfacing structures is adapted to connect with the top surface of the housing.

6. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 5, wherein the two interfacing structures are manufactured from a non-stick material.

7. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 6, wherein the two interfacing structures are manufactured from silicon.

8. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 5, wherein the seat is adapted to swivel about the vertical axis of the lifting mechanism.

9. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 8, wherein the swivel motion of the chair is arrested at one or more predetermined stop positions about its axis of rotation.

10. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 9, wherein the stop positions are magnetic catches in which proximately positioned oppositely polarised magnets result in the arrested swivel motion of the seat about the vertical axis of the lifting mechanism.11 . The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 3, wherein the housing further includes a storage compartment.

12. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 11 , wherein the storage compartment is accessed by way of a drawer.

13. The electrically operable height adjustable chair of claim 12, wherein the front panel of the drawer includes a removable fascia panel that can be swapped.

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