Lin, Mei Chuen (9F, No. 275-1, Yuan-Hua Road, Chung-Li City, Taoyuan Hsien, TW)
Wang, Tzu Mei (9F, No. 275-1, Yuan-Hua Road, Chung-Li City, Taoyuan Hsien, TW)

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11/672136

08/12/2008

02/07/2007

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16/31R

297/56, 16/35R, 297/16.1, 297/55, 297/23, 16/43, 16/31A

A47C4/00; B60B33/00; B60B33/02

297/57, 297/59, 16/31R, 297/56, 16/35R, 297/55, 297/23, 16/43, 16/31A

1600248	Folding chair	September, 1926	Rosenthal et al.	297/56
2548098	Folding chair kneeler attachment	April, 1951	Clarin	297/30
2675062	Chair and tablet arm assembly	April, 1954	Clarin	297/41
2982339	Folding chair	May, 1961	Clarin	297/56
3001816	Folding chair	September, 1961	Clarin	297/56
3640568	FOLDABLE CHAIR SET	February, 1972	Suzuki et al.	297/239X
3704025	FOLDING CART	November, 1972	Cerveny et al.	297/DIG.4X
3889963	Chair provided with wheels	June, 1975	Brattgard	297/DIG.4X
4025088	Folding wheelchair	May, 1977	Rothschild	297/DIG.4X
4118065	Folding patio chair	October, 1978	Watkins	297/DIG.4X
4229039	Insert travel chair and method of transporting the handicapped	October, 1980	Day	297/DIG.4X
4266305	Wheelchair for transportation vehicles	May, 1981	Kavaloski et al.	297/DIG.4X
4369987	Folding wheeled chair/luggage carrier	January, 1983	Witherell	280/644
4415177	Folding wheelchair	November, 1983	Hale et al.	297/DIG.4X
4449732	Reversible foldable push-chair for children	May, 1984	Surot	280/644
4640525	Folding wheelchair	February, 1987	Jensen et al.	280/642
4678202	Folding wheelchair	July, 1987	Jensen et al.	297/59X
4695072	Athlete carrier	September, 1987	Brooks	280/650
4824167	Combination chair and luggage carrier	April, 1989	King	297/16.1
4892327	Foldable frames for children's pushchairs	January, 1990	Cabagnero	297/56X
4907794	Foldable rolling walker	March, 1990	Rose	280/43.24X
4934719	Wheeled attachment to lawn chair	June, 1990	duPont	280/47.131
5020560	Walker having wheels and brakes	June, 1991	Turbeville	280/282X
5050862	Foldable child's walker	September, 1991	Saghafi	280/87.051X
5104180	Folding and lock mechanism for baby chair	April, 1992	Takahashi et al.	297/16.1
5110183	Customized home chair and method of manufacture	May, 1992	Jeanes, III	297/343
5263728	Low profile wheelchair	November, 1993	Patel et al.	280/42X
5584529	Folding chair	December, 1996	Cheng	297/59X
5603517	Walkers	February, 1997	Lorman	280/641
5716063	Walking aid	February, 1998	Doyle et al.	280/87.05
6183002	Lightweight motorized wheelchair	February, 2001	Choi et al.	280/647
6311708	Foldable walker	November, 2001	Howle	280/641X
6736450	Collapsible chair	May, 2004	Miyagi	297/59X
6742839	Stackable chair	June, 2004	Piretti	297/55X
6752414	Collapsible wheelchair	June, 2004	Waldron et al.	297/16.2X
6755468	Folding chair	June, 2004	Pan	297/239X
7147286	Versatile chair	December, 2006	Cesaroni et al.	297/239X
7162772	Bracket for temporarily attaching wheels and/or casters to objects at a variety of angles	January, 2007	Asher	16/31.RX
7226123	Structure for a seat supporting frame of a chair	June, 2007	Lin et al.	297/56
7296853	Nestable chair	November, 2007	Piretti	297/239
20050110308	Folding push chair	May, 2005	Church et al.	297/16.1

White, Rodney B.

Rabin & Berdo, P.C.

What is claimed is:

1. A folding chair with wheels, comprising: a backrest; a seat; a front leg frame and a rear leg frame pivotally connected to both sides of the seat, each of the front leg frame and the rear leg frame having a groove at a side surface thereof; a plurality of connection blocks, each connection block having a ridge complementary in shape to the grooves in the leg frames, the ridge of each connection block fitting within and being connected to a respective groove; and a plurality of wheel assemblies, each having a respective connection block mounted thereon, so that each end of the front leg frame and the fear leg frame is provided with a respective wheel assembly.

2. The folding chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein each wheel assembly comprises a threaded stem, a wheel fork, a bearing connected with the threaded stem and disposed within the wheel fork, and a wheel pivotally connected within the wheel fork, the threaded stem being screwed into a bottom of the respective connection block.

3. The folding chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein each ends of the grooves comprises a plurality of through holes, each of the connection blocks comprises a plurality of connection screw holes corresponding to the through holes; further comprising bolts that pass through the connection screw holes and the through holes, thereby connecting the connection blocks to the grooves.

4. The folding chair as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wheel assemblies mounted on the front leg frame are at a side away from the seat, and the wheel assemblies mounted on the rear leg frame are at a side toward the seat.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a folding chair, and in particular to a folding chair provided with wheels that is easy to move.

2. The Prior Arts

Referring to FIG. 7, a conventional folding chair used in an office or a conference room is made of metal, and comprises a front leg frame, a rear leg frame, and a seat pivotally connected between the front leg frame and the rear leg frame. The folding chair does not take much room when it is folded. However, because the metal folding chair is heavy, it is exhausting to move them in quantity. Furthermore, because the folding chair is not equipped with wheels, a user can not sit in the folding chair and glide the chair to grab something close by. If the user sitting in the folding chair wants to move the chair by a short distance, he or she needs to stand up to move the chair. Therefore, there is a need to provide the folding chair with wheels.

Referring to FIG. 6, an office chair sold in the market includes a seat A, a backrest B, a base D, an adjustable post C mounted between the base D and the seat A, and a plurality of wheels E equally disposed beneath the base D. The office chair overcomes the disadvantage of chairs without wheels, but it is unfoldable. Thus, the office chair takes up a lot of room to store or move when it is not in use. Furthermore, the wheels E are screwed into the base D. Bolts and screw holes are worn out after long time use, and thus the wheels E are then loosened or even fail to function. The base D and the wheels E will need to be replaced after the bolts and the screw holes are worn out.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A folding chair with wheels is still not available in the market. Thus, a primary objective of the present invention is to provide a folding chair with wheels at the legs of the chair. Not only are the wheels for easy mobility, but also the wheels do not interfere with each other when the chair is folded. The folding chair takes up less room to store and move than the conventional chairs. The folding chair with wheels is improvements over the conventional chair.

The folding chair with wheels according to the present invention comprises a backrest, a seat and a front leg frame, a rear leg frame pivotally mounted to the both sides of the seat. Each of the front leg frame and the rear leg frame includes a groove on a side surface thereof.

The chair further comprises a plurality of wheel assemblies and connection blocks having a plurality of through screw holes. The wheel assembly comprises a threaded stem screwed into the bottom of the connection block, and a bearing mounted on the threaded stem.

The connection blocks are screwed on the bottom surface of the grooves of the front leg frame and the rear leg frame, thereby connecting the wheel assemblies to the outside of the front leg frame and inside of the rear leg frame. The bearing allows the threaded stem and wheel to rotate. Therefore, the user can sit in and glide the folding chair.

The difference between the folding chair according to the present invention and the conventional folding chair is that the folding chair according to the present invention is provided with the wheels at the ends of the front leg frame and the rear leg frame. If the user wants to move the chair to another location, the wheels make dragging the chair easier. When the user sitting in the chair wants to slightly move the chair or grab something close by, the user can keep sitting in the chair and glide around. Therefore, it saves time.

Furthermore, the wheels are mounted on the front leg frame and the rear leg frame by connection blocks. The structure of the connection block is simple. Thus, the connection blocks do not take up much space, and the chair is not heavy. Besides, the front wheels and the rear wheels are mounted on the outside of the front leg frame and the inside of the rear leg frame, respectively. The front and rear wheels do not interfere with each other, when the chair is folded. Moreover, when the threaded stems and screw holes are worn out, it only needs to replace wheel assemblies and the connection blocks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an assembled view showing a folding chair with wheels according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial exploded view showing the folding chair with wheels according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an assembled view showing a folding chair with wheels according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a partial detailed view showing the folding chair with wheels according to the first embodiment of the present invention in use;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing folding and unfolding of the folding chair with wheels according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional office chair; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional folding chair.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a folding chair with wheels according to the present invention comprises a backrest 1 , a seat 2 , a front leg frame 3 as well as a rear leg frame 4 pivotally connected to both sides of the seat 2 , and a plurality of wheel assemblies 5 mounted at the ends of the front leg frame 3 and the rear leg frame 4 .

A curved ridge is disposed at each edge of the front leg frame 3 at an external side, and a curved ridge is disposed at each edge of the rear leg frame 4 at an internal side. A groove 31 and a groove 41 are formed between the two curved ridges of the front leg frame 3 and rear leg frame 4 , respectively. Each ends of the grooves 31 and 41 comprises a plurality of through holes 32 .

The folding chair further comprises a plurality of connection blocks 6 connecting the wheel assemblies 5 to the front leg frame 3 , and the rear leg frame 4 . The connection block 6 comprises a ridge 61 , whose width is slightly narrower than that of the grooves 31 , 41 , and a plurality of connection screw holes 62 corresponding to the leg through holes 32 . The connection screw holes 62 pass through the ridge 61 of the connection block 6 . The connection block 6 further comprises a stem screw hole at the bottom thereof.

The wheel assembly 5 includes a threaded stem 51 corresponding to the stem screw hole, a wheel fork 52 , a bearing 53 connected with the threaded stem 51 and disposed inside the wheel fork 52 , and a wheel 54 pivotally connected within the wheel fork 52 .

When assembling the folding chair with wheels, first of all, the threaded stem 51 is screwed into the stem screw hole of the connection block 6 . The wheel 54 can rotate 360° because of the bearing 53 . Secondly, the ridges 61 of the connection blocks 6 are fitted into the grooves 31 and 41 of the front leg frame 3 and the rear leg frame 4 ; the connection screw holes 62 of the connection block 6 are aligned with the through holes 32 of the front leg frame 3 and the rear leg frame 4 . Thirdly, bolts 7 pass through the connection screw holes 62 and the through holes 32 in turn, and are held in place by nuts 71 on the other side. Therefore, the connection blocks 6 connect the wheel assemblies 5 to the front leg frame 3 and the rear leg frame 4 .

FIG. 3 illustrates another embodiment of the folding chair with wheels according to the present invention. The wheel assembly 5 further comprises a foot brake 55 to lock the wheel 5 . Moreover, a backrest 8 and a seat 9 maybe padded.

FIG. 4 is a partial detailed view showing the folding chair with wheels according to the first embodiment in use, and FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing folding and unfolding of the folding chair with wheels according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The groove 31 is disposed at the external side of the front leg frame 3 (an external side of the folding chair), and the groove 41 is disposed at the internal side of the rear leg frame 4 (an internal side of the folding chair). The connection blocks 6 are fitted into the grooves 31 and 41 . Thus, the wheel assemblies 5 mounted on the front leg frame 3 are located at the external side of the folding chair, and the wheel assemblies 5 mounted on the rear leg frame 4 are located at the internal side of the folding chair. Therefore, when the folding chair according to the present invention is folded, the wheel assemblies 5 mounted at the front leg frame 3 and the rear leg frame 4 do not interfere with each other.

The user can sit in the folding chair with wheels according to the present invention, and glide to any place close by without standing up. Because the folding chair is equipped with the wheels, it is easier to drag the folded chair to any place. At the same time, the folding chair according to the present invention uses the connection blocks 6 to connect the wheel assemblies 5 with the front leg frames 3 and rear leg frame 4 . It is different from the conventional office chair that the wheel assemblies are screwed into the base directly. When the screws and screw holes are wom out, the folding chair with wheels according to the present invention only needs to replace the wheel assemblies 5 and the connection blocks 6 , but the conventional office chair needs to replace the wheel assemblies E and the base D. Replacing the connection blocks 6 is cheaper than replacing the base D.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.