BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates broadly to motion upholstery furniture designed to support a user's body in an essentially seated disposition. Motion upholstery furniture includes recliners, incliners, sofas, love seats, sectionals, theater seating, traditional chairs, and chairs with a moveable seat portion, such furniture pieces being referred to herein generally as “seating units.” More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved reclining mechanism developed to accommodate a wide variety of styling for a seating unit which is otherwise limited by the configurations of recliner mechanisms in the field.

Reclining seating units exist that allow a user to forwardly extend a footrest and to recline the chair back relative to the seat. These existing seating units typically provide three basic positions: a normal non-reclined sitting position with the seat generally horizontal and the back substantially upright; a partially reclined position often referred to as a “TV” position wherein the seat and back are disposed in a slightly reclined position but with the back still sufficiently upright to permit comfortable television viewing from the seating unit; and a fully reclined position wherein the back is pivoted toward horizontal into an obtuse relationship with the seat for lounging or sleeping. Most reclining seating units include a footrest coordinated with the mechanical arrangement to be extended forwardly of the seat in the TV and fully reclined positions.

There are a number of reclining mechanisms in the industry that include the reclining capability and offer certain design capabilities to the furniture manufacturer. However, these reclining mechanisms are relatively complex and to some extent impose constraints on a furniture designer's concurrent use of multiple styling features into a reclining seating unit. One specific feature is a space saving utility that cures a disadvantage of many traditional seating units, wherein the back in the fully reclined position will contact an adjacent wall unless the base is moved outwardly away from the wall. However, present seating units that incorporate the space saving utility have reclining mechanisms using linkages that reach from the arms to a base on the floor to accomplish this feature. As such, these existing seating units having the space saving utility have recliner mechanisms that are precluded from providing both a pivot-over-the-arm feature (which, for example, may allow and furniture designer to design the seating unit to have a winged back or “T” back) and arms that rest either directly on the floor or that are supported by high legs (e.g., the arms or high legs would drag along the floor as the recliner mechanism moves, and in some cases even interfere with such movement). Other existing seating units provide a combination of winged back seats that pivot-over-the arm or high legs but their linkage structure precludes providing a T-cushion seat design. In these seating units the seat and/or the structure supporting the seat move rearward relative to the arm or high legs as the seating unit moves between the closed, TV, and fully reclined positions. Thus, the arms and/or high legs of these seating units would interfere with the movement of the T-cushion seat. Still other existing seating unit configurations allow both a T-cushion seat and winged backs that pivot-over-the-arm. However, these seating units require bulky complex reclining mechanisms that restrict the incorporation of a high leg feature that requires a compact mechanism residing between the leg tops and the seat. As such, furniture designers are forced to choose between styling options. Moreover, designers or manufacturers are forced to purchase and stock many different recliner mechanisms if each option is to be produced within the seating unit line.

A prior attempt to address this problem utilized a compact, manual reclining mechanism. That reclining mechanism allowed a seating unit to include a T-cushion seat, a winged back that pivots-over-the-arm, a space-saving utility, and an arm to floor feature or high leg configuration. That reclining mechanism allowed the seating unit to have a T-cushion by keeping the seat in a same position longitudinally (i.e., in a front-to-back direction of the seating unit) when the seating unit moved from the closed position to the TV position and by moving the seat forwardly in the front-to-back direction when the seating unit moved from the TV position to the fully reclined position. The forward movement in the front-to-back direction when the seating unit moved from the TV position to the fully reclined position provided the space-saving utility. That reclining mechanism pivoted-over-the-arm, and thus allowed the seating unit to have a winged back, by pivotally coupling a back support link (to which the winged back attached) to an arm bracket mounted on an arm of the seating unit, so the pivot point about which the back rotated was fixed relative to the arm. Because the reclining mechanism moved relative to the arm, generally, the seating unit was able to include an arm that extended to the floor or a high leg (these configurations are known in the furniture manufacturing industry as “wood-to-floor” or “arm-to-floor” and are used interchangeably). Because this reclining mechanism was manually operated, however, it required a number of additional links. For example, an over-center linkage was included to lock the footrest in the closed position so that it would not partially open due to slack in the reclining mechanism. As another example, a seat-drop linkage was also included to permit the seat to drop when the seating unit moved from the closed position to the TV position to help extend the footrest. It would be advantageous to provide a reclining mechanism that did not require either of these linkages. Further, some occupants find the seat-drop movement uncomfortable. It would be advantageous to provide a reclining mechanism that permitted each of the styling options discussed above but without the need for the seat-drop movement.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention seeks to provide a simplified, compact, recliner mechanism which can be adapted to essentially any type of seating unit. At a high level, the seat-drop and the over-center linkages, as well as the seat-drop movement, may be rendered unnecessary and therefore eliminated by utilizing a linear actuator (e.g., an electrically-driven extension rod) to control the position of the recliner mechanism and thus the seating unit. Use of the linear actuator to control movement of the recliner mechanism rather than a manually-operated control lever provides many advantages, such as, for example, enhanced comfort for a seating unit occupant, reduced material and labor costs, and more precise control of the seating unit between the closed, TV, and fully reclined positions.

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

