Haworth, Inc.

Fred C Liebertz

Walter C Mrotz, Iii

Donald L Cool

The seat and pedestal of a chair are joined by a knee-tilt mechanism which includes a first support fixed to the underside of the seat adjacent the front edge thereof, and a second support fixed to the pedestal and having a sidewardly extending support tube arrangement. The first support has bearing hubs rotatably engaged with the support tube to define a horizontal tilt axis. A restoring mechanism is disposed within the second support for exerting a restoring torque about the tilt axis for urging the seat toward its horizontal position. The restoring mechanism, in the preferred embodiment, employs a sleevelike spring member of an elastomeric material disposed on the tilt axis for developing a restoring torque which generally linearly increases as the seat tilts away from the horizontal position. A second spring coacts between the supports for generating a second restoring torque which is additive with the first torque to effectively cause a torque dwell to facilitate tilting beyond an intermediate position.

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Twin Lake, MI, United States of America

Fred C Liebertz