CN108013633B

CN108013633B - Variable height backrest/headrest for upholstered elements of furniture with electromechanical lifting mechanism

Info

Publication number: CN108013633B
Application number: CN201611272758.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: S·博纳维塔; Q·斯卡切拉
Original assignee: Eco Italy SpA
Current assignee: Eco Italy SpA
Priority date: 2016-10-28
Filing date: 2016-10-28
Publication date: 2022-10-18
Anticipated expiration: 2036-10-28
Also published as: CN108013633A

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of electromechanical devices, in particular to the field of electromechanical systems designed to allow vertical movement of the backrest (also used as headrest) of an upholstered element of a piece of furniture, such as a sofa or armchair, also comprising a seat base, a reclining lumbar support and an extensible footrest; more particularly, the present invention relates to a mechanism adapted to be mounted in upholstered furniture and designed to allow longitudinal movement of a backrest/headrest, wherein the backrest/headrest is not anchored or mechanically connected to the seat or the lumbar support and wherein the backrest/headrest is movable by the mechanism independently of movement of the seat base or the lumbar support. In another independent aspect, the invention relates to an upholstered element for furniture comprising a back/head rest, a seat base, a reclining lumbar support and an extendable footrest, and further comprising an electro-mechanical lifting mechanism for vertically moving the back/head rest independently of the movement of the seat base or the lumbar support.

Description

Variable height backrest/headrest for upholstered elements of furniture with electromechanical lifting mechanism

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of upholstered furniture, in particular to the field of electromechanical systems designed to allow the vertical movement of the backrest of an upholstered element of furniture, such as a sofa or armchair, which upholstered element of furniture further comprises a seat base, a reclining lumbar support (loin rest) and an extendable footrest, and which backrest also serves as a headrest.

One object of the present invention is a mechanical device suitable to be mounted in an upholstered element of a furniture and designed to allow a longitudinal movement of a backrest/headrest with respect to a base supporting the upholstered element of the furniture, which backrest/headrest is not anchored or mechanically connected to the seat or to the lumbar support and which backrest/headrest can be moved by means of said mechanism independently of the movement of the seat base or of the lumbar support.

The present invention is also directed to an upholstered element of a furniture comprising a back/headrest, a seat base, a reclining lumbar support and an extendable footrest, and further comprising an electromechanical lifting mechanism for vertically moving the back/headrest independently of the movement of the seat base or the lumbar support.

Background

In the current prior art, there have been mechanisms designed for moving the back and head rest of upholstered furniture, such as sofas or armchairs, but they all suffer from some problems.

The main problem with existing mechanisms is that they require the design of upholstered furniture with a specific shape, they are particularly bulky and require a considerable amount of material to implement; these aspects will continue to be made clearer in the present description.

First, and with reference to fig. 1, it should be noted that, generally, for aesthetic and ergonomic reasons, high quality upholstered furniture 1 constructively presents a backrest 10 and a headrest 11 (each distinct from the other), but joined together to form a single body.

These types of head restraints 11 produce a semi-circular movement as shown in fig. 1A to change from a "closed" position, horizontal, parallel to the seat 13, to an "open" position, substantially vertical, perpendicular (or nearly vertical) to the seat 13, with all intermediate positions therebetween.

Referring again to fig. 1, a high quality upholstered furniture 1 comprises-in addition to said reclining back rest 10, said movable head rest 11 and said seat 13-extendable footrests 12, wherein said head rest 11 and said footrests 12 are in a "closed" position and the back rest 10 is in an upright position with respect to the seat 13, i.e. in a sitting position.

Referring to fig. 2, the same upholstered furniture 1 is shown in an extended or relaxed position with the headrest 11 raised, the backrest 10 reclined, and the footrests 12 extended, lengthened.

In the upholstered furniture 1 the movements of the three above mentioned components, the backrest 10, the headrest 11 and the footrests 12, are interconnected so that the movement of one component follows the movement of the other component to ensure maximum comfort and a sitting position of the user U which is most ergonomic.

In light of the foregoing, when the user U decides to extend the footrests 12 from the "closed" position (as shown in fig. 1) to the extended position (as shown in fig. 2), the backrest 10 also tilts and consequently moves the seat 13 forward: as mentioned above, this occurs in order to ensure maximum comfort for the user U; it is worth noting that, in theory, it is conceivable to allow the lengthening of the footrests 12 without tilting the backrest 10, and therefore without the need for the seat 13 to move forward, but the user U will be in an unnatural and uncomfortable position that will not last for a long time.

Ergonomic laws require that the extension of a user's legs be accompanied by a downward relaxation of the user's back; furthermore, in order to make the user U more comfortable, when the pedals 12 are extended and the backrest 10 is inclined, the upholstered elements of the furniture already on the market usually have the possibility of "raising" the headrest 11 (as shown in figure 2) to provide support for the user's head in the case where the user U wants to keep his or her head upright from a semi-supine position, in order to carry out activities such as reading books or watching television, or simply to prevent head sagging.

For the sake of clarity, all that has been said above is for a better understanding of the invention, which will be described in detail below and is limited to upholstered furniture with extendable footrests, reclining backrests and adjustable headrests.

The following describes the modes of operation of the upholstered element of a furniture 1 existing and known in the prior art, which furniture 1 is equipped with an extendable footrest 12, a tilting backrest 10 and an adjustable headrest 11 cooperating with each other, as already shown in fig. 1 and 2. In the upholstered element of the furniture 1, the mechanism controlling the movement of the footrests 12 must be coupled with the mechanism adjusting the movement of the backrest 10, so that for ergonomic reasons the activation of the footrests 12 requires a forward movement of the seat 13 and therefore of the backrest 10 and the headrest 11.

The above-described conventional systems have some disadvantageous key aspects: from a structural point of view, a separation between the lower portion 14 of the upholstered element of the furniture 1 and the rear portion 15 of the backrest 10 is necessary, thus enabling the latter to move forward when the footrest 12 is extended; this entails that the upholstered element of the furniture 1 implementing such a mechanism must always have, at its rear, a slit, a gap 16 (visible in fig. 1 and 2), which inevitably relates to its appearance and which prescribes the construction method associated with it.

When it is desired to also include an extensible footrest 12 in the upholstered element of the furniture 1, the mechanism responsible for its movement must be coupled with the mechanism regulating the movement of the backrest 10 and the headrest 11, since, as previously mentioned, simply extending the footrest 12, with the backrest 10 and the headrest 11 in their original positions, will produce an ergonomically unfavourable sitting/relaxing position, which will be quite uncomfortable and not sustainable over time; according to ergonomic laws, the extension of the user's legs must in fact be accompanied by a reclining of the user's back and the user's head and, therefore, by a tilting of the backrest 10 and a raising of the headrest 11 in coordinated movements supporting the anatomy, as shown in fig. 2.

To avoid the formation of the gap 16, one may consider-only those mechanisms known in the art are available-either to make the movement of the footrest 12 independent of the movement of the backrest 10 or to couple the seat 13 to the backrest 10.

However, these solutions are not reasonably achievable, since the upholstery elements of the furniture produced therefrom do not only do not meet ergonomic requirements but also have an unpleasant appearance, and are also technically difficult and expensive to implement.

Indeed, if it is desired to realize an upholstered element of furniture in which the extension of the footrest 12 and the forward movement of the seat 13 do not cause a forward movement of the rear portion 15 of the backrest 10, so as to avoid the creation of a rear gap 16 as shown in fig. 2, this would cause a movement between the backrest 10 and the headrest 11 which, as already explained, would make the sitting/relaxing position uncomfortable and aesthetically unacceptable (for the sake of clarity only, as shown in fig. 3).

Another negative feature of the above-described conventional system is that the existing mechanisms are consistently large in size, as shown in fig. 4.

The closest prior art to the present invention is represented by the following patent documents: U.S. patent application No. US 2012/112519 A1, published on day 10 of 2012, U.S. patent application No. US 2013/062914 A1, published on day 14 of 2013 and month 14, european patent application No. EP 0 056 070 A1, published on day 21 of 1982 and month 7, uk patent application No. GB 2 417 895A, published on day 15 of 2006 and month 4 of 2012, and U.S. patent 8146190B1, granted on day 3 of 2012.

All of the above prior art documents disclose (mutatis mutandis) devices adapted for moving the backrest of upholstered furniture and comprise an upper frame and a base frame assembled by a clamp having an actuator ensuring the movement of the backrest.

None of the above prior art documents discloses or suggests that the movement of the backrest is independent of the lumbar support or seat base included in the furniture element, and this is therefore a hitherto unmet need.

Furthermore, none of the above prior art documents discloses or suggests an upholstered element of a furniture comprising a backrest/headrest, a seat base, an inclined lumbar support and an extendable footrest, and which upholstered element of the furniture further comprises means for vertically moving the backrest/headrest independently of the movement of the seat base or the lumbar support, which is therefore a further and autonomous need which has not been met so far.

The present invention is therefore directed in this context to overcoming all the problems of the prior art by providing a technical and inventive solution to the problems of the prior art.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art.

In particular, the invention is designed to allow the backrest of the upholstered element of the furniture to slide longitudinally or lengthwise along an axis perpendicular to the seat axis without requiring the seat and the footrest or the mechanism for moving them to be associated or connected in any way (physically or functionally) to the backrest or the mechanism designed for moving the backrest, thus making it unnecessary to provide slits in the back of the upholstered element of the furniture.

Attractive line and shape appearance, seat comfort and ergonomics are ensured by introducing a lower back-rest which is kept stationary and moves forward with the seat and reclines.

The advantages of the device according to the invention are: which is consistently smaller than those of the prior art, which can save over 10cm of depth, as shown in fig. 4 and 4A comparing the known system with the system of the present invention; the device according to the invention thus allows, thanks to its particular structural and assembly characteristics, to realize a padding element for furniture having a depth of about 10cm less than that of conventional products.

Thus, the smaller size means that the realization of the cushioning element of the furniture embodying the invention is achieved with a reduced use of raw materials (such as frames, cushions and covers); said savings increase with the size of the upholstered element of the furniture, which, as is known, can reach considerable dimensions, for example in the case of a large sofa with multiple seats.

It is to be understood that all of the appended claims are an integral part of this specification and that each feature claimed in a claim may be used independently and independently of the other aspects of the invention.

It is immediately clear that many variations may be made to what is described (for example as to the shape, dimensions, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) without departing from the scope of protection of the invention as claimed in the appended claims.

Other advantageous features will become more apparent from the following description of preferred but not exclusive embodiments, which are provided by way of example only and not as limitations.

Drawings

All the characteristics of the invention will become clear from the following description of a preferred embodiment, given by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a side view of a cushioning element of a piece of furniture with a known conventional mechanism designed to move the backrest/headrest and the footrest (in closed position);

FIG. 1A illustrates by dashed lines the semi-circular movement that can be performed by a known conventional headrest (also referred to as a "ratcheting" headrest);

FIG. 2 shows a side view of a cushioning element of a piece of furniture with a known conventional mechanism designed to move a backrest and pedals, wherein the backrest is reclined and the pedals are extended;

figure 3 shows a known constructive assumption in which the extension of the footrests is not followed by the reclining of the backrest, to avoid gaps at the rear;

FIG. 4 illustrates a known conventional so-called "ratchet" headrest system, and illustrates by means of dotted lines the semi-circular movement it can make;

fig. 4A shows a system according to the invention and, by means of dotted lines, the longitudinal movement that can be performed by the backrest according to the invention;

fig. 5 shows a side view of an upholstery element of a piece of furniture in which the device according to the invention is implemented in a backrest, the upholstery element of the piece of furniture also having a lumbar support and a seat with a footrest;

fig. 5A shows a side view of a cushion element of a piece of furniture implementing a device according to the invention, with the backrest moving upwards, the pedals extending, the seat moving forwards and the lumbar squab reclining;

fig. 6 shows an exploded perspective view of a device according to the invention, comprising an upper frame, a rail system comprising guide rails and a sliding body, a lower frame serving as a base and comprising two clamps to be fixed on the guide rails of the rail system;

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a device according to the present invention forming a single frame assembled with electrical linear actuator pistons fixed to an upper frame and a lower frame; and

fig. 8 shows a perspective view of a device according to the invention, in which the electric linear actuator piston is elongated, having driven the upper frame along a rail system.

Detailed Description

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, certain disclosed embodiments are shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific embodiments disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternatives, and equivalents falling within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

The use of "e.g.," such as, "etc," "or" indicates a non-limiting, non-exclusive substitution unless otherwise defined. The use of "including" means "including but not limited to" unless otherwise defined.

According to a first aspect of the invention, which can be used independently and autonomously with respect to the other aspects of the invention, a device is disclosed which is adapted to be mounted on an upholstered element of a piece of furniture having a base, a seat with footrests, a backrest which also serves as a headrest, and a lumbar support.

The inventive principle of the invention is that the device is designed to move the backrest/headrest longitudinally or lengthwise relative to the bottom of the upholstered element of the furniture and completely independently of the seat and the lumbar support.

Specifically, disclosed herein are: a device 101 designed to move longitudinally with respect to a base of an upholstered element of a furniture 100, which device 101 is mounted on said base, a backrest 51 of the upholstered element of the furniture 100, which upholstered element of the furniture 100 further comprises a lumbar support 50 and a seat 52 with footrests 53, which backrest 51 also serves as a headrest, is completely independent of the seat 52 and lumbar support 50 and is designed to move vertically, and which device 101 comprises: an upper frame 60, two rail systems, a frame serving as a base 64, to which the upper frame is joined by means of a pair of rail systems, to which the rails 61, 61a of the rail systems are joined, and sliding bodies 62, 62a of the rail systems are joined to clamps 63, 63a of the frame serving as a base, the upper frame being designed to be moved longitudinally along the axis of the rail systems by means of the electric linear actuator piston 70, which is joined to the upper frame and to the frame serving as a base by means of two apertured brackets 65 and 66, said frames 60, 64 constituting a single frame 80, wherein the actuator is mounted with the single frame 80 thereon is designed to be inserted into the backrest of the upholstered element of the furniture, the device 101 being designed to produce a vertical movement of the backrest of the upholstered element of the furniture which is completely independent of the movements of the seat 52 and the lumbar support 50, both the seat 52 and the lumbar support 50 being separated from the backrest, and the mechanism designed to move the lumbar supports 50 and 52 being separated from the frame 80.

Furthermore, the device 101 is characterized in that the single assembled frame 80 is designed to be inserted in a backrest 51 of an upholstered element of a piece of furniture, said backrest 51 not being coupled to the lumbar support 50 and not to the seat 52, the lumbar support 50 resting only against said backrest 51.

Furthermore, the device 101 is characterized in that a single assembled frame 80 is designed to be inserted in the backrest 51 of the upholstered element of the furniture, said single frame not being coupled to the mechanism designed to move the lumbar support 50 and not to the mechanism designed to move the seat 52.

According to another aspect of the invention, which can be used independently and autonomously with respect to the other aspects of the invention, an upholstered element for furniture is disclosed, comprising a base, a seat with footrests, a backrest also serving as headrest and lumbar support, and further comprising means capable of moving the backrest/headrest longitudinally or lengthwise with respect to the base on which the upholstered element of the furniture is mounted, and completely independently of the seat and lumbar support.

In particular, disclosed herein is an upholstered element of a piece of furniture 100 comprising a backrest 51, a lumbar support 50 and a seat 52 with footrests 53, said backrest also serving as a headrest, characterized in that it further comprises means designed to longitudinally move the backrest of the upholstered element of said piece of furniture with respect to the base of the upholstered element of the piece of furniture completely independently of the seat and the lumbar support, which means are mounted on the base of the upholstered element of the piece of furniture and are designed to move vertically, and which means comprise: an upper frame 60, two rail systems 61, 61a, a frame acting as a base 64, an electric linear actuator piston 70, wherein the upper frame is joined to the frame acting as a base by means of a pair of rail systems, to which rails 61, 61a of the rail systems are joined, and to the slides 62, 62a of the rail systems are joined to clamps 63, 63a of the frame acting as a base, the upper frame being designed to be moved longitudinally along the axis of the rail systems driven by the electric linear actuator piston 70, which electric actuator is joined to the upper frame and to the frame acting as a base by means of two apertured brackets 65 and 66, said frames 60, 64 constituting a single frame 80, which actuator is mounted with the single frame 80 thereon being designed to be inserted into the backrest of the upholstered element of the piece of furniture, the device 101 being designed to produce a vertical movement of the backrest of the upholstered element of the piece of furniture, completely independently of the seat 52 and of the moving support 50 of the lumbar, both the seat 52 and the lumbar support 50 being separated from the frame 80.

Furthermore, the upholstered element of the present furniture 100 is characterized in that the single frame 80 is designed to be inserted in a backrest 51 of the upholstered element of the furniture, said backrest 51 not being joined to the lumbar support 50 and not to the seat 52, the lumbar support 50 resting only on said backrest (51).

Furthermore, the upholstery element of the present furniture 100 is characterized in that a single frame 80 is designed to be inserted into the backrest 51 of the upholstery element of the furniture, said single frame not being coupled to the mechanism designed for moving the lumbar support 50 and not being coupled to the mechanism designed for moving the seat 52.

Referring to fig. 4A, there is shown an upholstered element of a furniture 100 comprising a device of the invention; in particular, it can be seen that, due to the particular construction and assembly characteristics of the device, the cushioning element of the furniture 100 occupies a significantly smaller space than the conventional furniture shown in fig. 4, i.e. the cushioning element of the furniture 100 of the invention has a depth of about 10cm less than the conventional product.

Referring to fig. 5, the upholstered element of the furniture 100 comprises a support base 54, a seat 52 with footrests 53, a backrest 51 (also serving as a headrest) and a lumbar support 50, all in a "closed" or sitting position; figure 5A shows an attractive line and shape appearance, the comfort and ergonomics of the seat being ensured by the introduction of a lower lumbar support 50, which lumbar support 50 moves forward and reclines with the seat 52 while the backrest 51 remains stationary.

In particular, the upholstered element of the furniture 100 comprises a backrest 51 serving as headrest, a lumbar support 50 and a seat 52 with pedals 53, characterized in that the upholstered element of the furniture 100 further comprises means 101 designed to move vertically and to move said backrest 51 longitudinally or lengthwise with respect to the supporting base 54 of the upholstered element of the furniture 100 on which the backrest 51 is mounted and completely independently of the seat 52 and the lumbar support 50.

The above-described movement is made possible by the device 101 of the invention, which device 101, once inserted in the upholstered element of the furniture 100, is able to move longitudinally the backrest (i.e. lengthwise, in such a way that the backrest also acts as a headrest) and completely independently with respect to the seat 52, thus eliminating the need to provide a slit in the back of the upholstered element of the furniture 100 and thus improving the appearance of the upholstered element of the furniture 100, reducing the overall dimensions of the upholstered element of the furniture, thus allowing a more efficient use of construction materials.

Referring to fig. 6, there is shown an apparatus 101 of the present invention.

Said device 101 comprises an upper first frame 60 comprising two first sides 60a,60b of the upper first frame 60; at least one pair of rail systems, each rail system including a guide rail 61, 61a and a sliding body 62, 62a; the lower second frame 64 comprises two clamps 63, 63a already provided with the lower second frame 64.

The guide rails 61, 61a of the rail system are joined to the upper frame 60, and the sliders 62, 62a are joined to the jigs 63, 63a of the second frame serving as the base 64.

The upper frame 60 is designed to move longitudinally or lengthwise along the axis of the rail system driven by an electrical linear actuator piston 70 (visible in fig. 7 and 8); the electro-linear actuator piston 70 is connected to the upper frame 60 and the lower frame 64, respectively, by a system of two

apertured brackets

65 and 66.

As can be seen in fig. 7 and 8; the upper frame 60 and the lower frame 64 form a single assembled frame 80, the frame 80 being insertable into the backrest 51 of the upholstered element of the furniture 100, and once inserted, the longitudinal or lengthwise movement of the backrest 51 of the upholstered element of the furniture 100 is substantially independent of the movement of the seat 52 and the lumbar support 50.

It should be noted that the lumbar support 50 is included in the padded element of the furniture 100 to ensure comfort and ergonomics in the sitting/relaxing position.

The features of the mechanism described above allow the implementation of an upholstered furniture 100 as shown in figures 5 and 5A, which upholstered furniture 100 is equipped with extendable footrests 53, a reclining lumbar support 50 and a backrest 51 that can be raised and lowered and also serves as a headrest.

When the footrests 53 are extended, the seat 52 moves forward (as in the conventional system), which is characterized in that said seat 52 is not coupled to the backrest 51, but is coupled to the lumbar support 50 (physically and mechanically separated from the backrest/headrest 51), the lumbar support 50 being designed to recline by following the movement of the seat 52 and the extension of the footrests 53, leaving the backrest 51 upright, the height of the backrest 51 being adjustable (as shown in fig. 4A) for comfortably supporting the head of the user.

As can be seen from a comparison of fig. 5 and 5A on the one hand and fig. 1 and 2 on the other hand, the present invention allows to achieve a completely superior aesthetic form, avoids the formation of the gaps 16 of the prior art, reduces the overall dimensions of the known headrest (so-called "ratchet" headrests) and allows to achieve this using less material than is required to achieve the mechanisms known in the art.

The following describes presently preferred embodiments for practicing and implementing the present invention; the preferred embodiment is described in detail for exemplary purposes only, as the invention may be implemented in any size or in different proportions than those listed, and with different materials and construction techniques.

In a preferred embodiment, the present invention includes an electrical linear actuator piston 70; a first upper frame 60 having a width of 730mm, the first upper frame 60 having two first sides 60a,60b each having a length of 390 mm; a second lower frame 64 having a width of 730mm, the second lower frame 64 having two clamps 63, 63a each having a length of 160 mm; two rails 61, 61a, each rail being 360mm in length.

The two guide rails 61, 61a are firmly joined to the upper frame 60 by welding.

The sliders 62, 62a are connected to the lower frame 64 by four pins each having a diameter of 6 mm.

The electro-linear actuator piston 70 is coupled to the two

frames

60, 64 by a system of two holed

brackets

65, 66; the perforated brackets 65 of the upper frame 60 are parallel to each other, and each of the perforated brackets 65 has a length of 30mm and is spaced apart from each other by 30mm.

Finally, the electromechanical device 101, in particular the electro-linear actuator piston 70, is adapted to be connected-and during operation thereof-to a switch (not shown in the figures) powered by a cable connected to a mains electrical power supply, or by a lithium battery or by a different known power supply, which allows the operation of said device 101.

As shown in fig. 8, activation of the electric linear actuator piston 70 will slide the upper frame 60 upwardly by vertically moving the backrest/headrest 51 of the cushion element of the furniture 100.

It is therefore clear from the above description how the device of the invention and the associated upholstered element of a piece of furniture comprising said device allow the above mentioned objects to be achieved.

It will also be clear to a person skilled in the art that changes and further modifications may be made to the solution described without departing from the teachings of the invention and without departing from the scope of protection defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A device (101) adapted to be mounted on an upholstered element of a piece of furniture (100), the upholstered element of the piece of furniture (100) comprising a lumbar support (50), a backrest (51) also serving as a headrest, a seat (52), footrests (53) and a support base (54), wherein the device (101) comprises: an upper first frame (60), two rail systems comprising two guide rails (61, 61 a) and two corresponding sliding bodies (62, 62 a), a lower second frame (64) serving as a base and comprising two clamps (63, 63 a), and an electric linear actuator piston (70),

and wherein the upper first frame (60) is joined to the lower second frame (64) by means of the two rail systems, the rails (61, 61 a) of the rail systems are joined to the upper first frame (60) and the sliding bodies (62, 62 a) of the rail systems are joined to the clamps (63, 63 a) of the lower second frame (64), the upper first frame (60) being designed to be driven by the electric linear actuator piston (70) for longitudinal movement along the axis of the rail systems, wherein the electric linear actuator piston (70) is joined to the upper first frame (60) and the lower second frame (64) by means of a perforated bracket (65, 66),

and wherein the upper first frame (60) and the lower second frame (64) form a single assembly frame (80), the electric linear actuator piston (70) being mounted on the single assembly frame (80), characterized in that the device (101) is adapted to be inserted into the backrest (51)/headrest of an upholstered element of the furniture (100) and, when inserted into the backrest (51)/headrest, the device (101) is capable of generating a vertical movement of the backrest (51)/headrest of the upholstered element of the furniture (100) which is completely independent of the movement of the lumbar support (50) and of the seat (52),

and in that the backrest (51)/headrest, when operated by the device (101), moves vertically, longitudinally with respect to the supporting base (54) of the upholstered element of the furniture (100) and is completely independent of the lumbar support (50) and of the seat (52),

and in that the lumbar support (50) and the seat (52) are both separate from the backrest (51)/headrest and the mechanism designed to move the lumbar support (50) and the seat (52) is separate from the single assembly frame (80) of the device (101).

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that said backrest (51) is not coupled to said lumbar support (50) nor to said seat (52), the lumbar support (50) resting only on said backrest (51).

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the single assembled frame (80) is not coupled to a mechanism designed to move the lumbar support (50) nor to a mechanism designed to move the seat (52).

4. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said upper first frame (60) has a width of 730mm and the two first sides (60 a,60 b) each have a length of 390 mm; the lower second frame (64) has a width of 730mm and the two clamps (63, 63 a) each have a length of 160 mm; the two guide rails (61, 61 a) are each 360mm long.

5. Upholstered element of a piece of furniture (100) comprising a lumbar support (50), a backrest (51) also serving as a headrest, a seat (52), a footrest (53) and a support base (54), characterized in that the upholstered element of the piece of furniture (100) further comprises means (101) inserted in the backrest (51)/headrest,

wherein the device (101) comprises an upper first frame (60), two rail systems comprising two guide rails (61, 61 a) and two corresponding sliding bodies (62, 62 a), a lower second frame (64) serving as a base and comprising two clamps (63, 63 a), and an electric linear actuator piston (70),

and wherein the upper first frame (60) is joined to the lower second frame (64) by means of the two rail systems, the rails (61, 61 a) of the rail systems being joined to the upper first frame (60) and the sliding bodies (62, 62 a) of the rail systems being joined to the clamps (63, 63 a) of the lower second frame (64), the upper first frame (60) being designed to be driven by the electrical linear actuator piston (70) for longitudinal movement along the axis of the rail systems, wherein the electrical linear actuator piston (70) is joined to the upper first frame (60) and to the lower second frame (64) by means of a perforated bracket (65, 66),

and wherein the upper first frame (60) and the lower second frame (64) form a single assembly frame (80), the electro-linear actuator piston (70) being mounted on the single assembly frame (80),

and in that the device (101) inserted into the backrest (51)/headrest of an upholstered element of the piece of furniture (100) is capable of generating a vertical movement of the backrest (51)/headrest of an upholstered element of the piece of furniture (100) which is completely independent of the movement of the lumbar support (50) and of the seat (52),

and in that the backrest (51)/headrest, when operated by the device (101), moves vertically, longitudinally with respect to the supporting base (54) of the upholstered element of the furniture (100), and is completely independent of the lumbar support (50) and of the seat (52),

6. The upholstered element of a furniture (100) according to claim 5, characterized in that said single assembly frame (80) is inserted in a backrest (51) of the upholstered element of the furniture, said backrest (51) not being joined to said lumbar support (50) nor to said seat (52), the lumbar support (50) resting only on said backrest (51).

7. The upholstered element of a furniture (100) according to claim 5, characterized in that said single assembled frame (80) is not coupled to a mechanism designed to move the lumbar support (50) nor to a mechanism designed to move the seat (52).

8. An upholstered element of a furniture (100) according to any of the claims 5 to 7, characterized in that said device (101) is uniformly small, said device (101) being able to save a depth of more than 10 cm.