US 6,394,546 · Granted 2002-05-28
The Clever Wedge That Lets Your Office Chair Learn Your Back
Imagine a wedge-shaped device that slides up and down behind your lower back while you're sitting. It's held in place by tension in the fabric, and as you move and twist, it flexes and molds to support whatever position your spine needs—without you having to constantly adjust it.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a lumbar support device designed to fit between a chair's flexible back and its fabric cover. What's protected here is the specific way the device stays in place through friction created by the fabric's tension, and how it's stiff enough to keep its shape and reposition the lumbar curve, yet flexible enough to conform to the chair's shape as a seated person moves and twists.
Why it matters
Lower back pain costs offices millions in lost productivity and worker compensation claims. This patent captures an elegant solution: a support that adapts to individual anatomy and movement without requiring manual adjustment every time someone shifts position. By filing in 2000, Steelcase locked down a method that became a standard feature in ergonomic seating, giving them intellectual property protection in a competitive furniture market.
Real-world use
Every time you sit in a modern office chair with adjustable lumbar support, you're likely using technology descended from this design—that subtle bump in the backrest that follows your spine as you lean forward and back.
Original USPTO abstract
A seating unit includes a flexible back including a concavely-shaped lumbar region, and a tensioned cover stretched over the concavely-shaped lumbar region. A lumbar device is fit between the front surface and the covering, with a tension of the covering biasing the lumbar device against the lumbar region and resulting in a frictional force retaining the lumbar device in a selected vertical position. In one form, the lumbar device is sufficiently stiff to maintain its vertical cross sectional shape and to change a shape of the lumbar region as the lumbar device is adjusted vertically, but is sufficiently flexible to conform to a horizontal shape of the lumbar region as a seated user moves and twists while seated in the seating unit.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 6,394,546
- Filing date
- 2000-11-03
- Grant date
- 2002-05-28
- Assignee
- Steelcase Development Corporation
- Inventor(s)
- KNOBLOCK GLENN A., DAMMERMANN ARNOLD B., DEKRAKER LARRY, EKDAHL KEVIN A., HEIDMANN KURT R., KLAASEN, II GARDNER J., PERKINS JAMES A., PETERSON GORDON J., PUNCHES EDWARD H., ROOSSIEN CHARLES P., TEPPO DAVID S., YANCHARAS MICHAEL J.
- CPC class
- A47C1/023
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