I saw that Furniture Today reported the passing of Walter Clark Rogers. All that was mentioned is that he was an engineer and inventor. Clark (the name he used) invented the linkage wallsaver mechanism in the mid 1970s, and that mechanism is the foundation from where the reclining and motion upholstery industry has progressed to this day.
Clark partnered with Action Industries, a small recliner manufacturer that had been bought by the Lane Co. Action set up a manufacturing facility to make the mechanism and started selling their recliners with that mechanism in 1976, if I am not mistaken. The success was very quick, and in about a 4-year period they went from about $6 million in sales to $33 million in sales.
Linkage mechanisms are in just about all reclining products today, the only exception of note is La-Z-Boy’s reclining chair mechanism.
Clark’s mechanism was a quantum leap forward for the reclining chair industry and led to the development of motion upholstery mechanisms with the linkage design.
Gary Silverman