Portable Chair A Folding Camp Chair That Telescopes and Locks Into Place

This patent describes a lightweight folding chair whose legs telescope out and lock rigid for use, then collapse down for carrying. It comes from YETI Coolers, LLC, the American outdoor brand best known for its coolers and drinkware.

The Problem

A good portable folding chair has to solve two opposing demands at once. When you sit in it, it must feel solid and hold your weight without wobbling or slowly sinking. When you pack it away, it must fold down small and light enough to sling over a shoulder or drop into a bag. Many camp chairs compromise on one side or the other: they are either rigid but bulky, or compact but flimsy, with legs that flex and joints that creep. Designing a chair that is genuinely stiff in use yet folds to a small bundle, and that a person can set up and lock without fuss, remains a real engineering challenge.

What This Invention Does

The patent sets out a folding chair built around a fabric seat that is held in tension by a frame of bars. A pair of seat bars and a pair of backrest bars are joined by the fabric to form the seat pan and backrest, while front and rear cross bars form the base. The key idea is in the vertical legs: each leg has an inner section that telescopes out of an outer section, so the chair can extend to full height and then collapse. One leg carries a leg locking system, a latch that drops into aligned openings on both the inner and outer leg so they cannot slide once the chair is unfolded. With the latch engaged, the leg is locked at full extension and the fabric seat is pulled taut by the legs, giving the chair its rigidity. Releasing the latch lets the legs telescope back in so the whole chair folds down for transport.

Key Features

• Fabric-tensioned seat. The seat pan and backrest are formed by bars connected with fabric that is tensioned by the legs.
• Telescoping legs. Each vertical leg has an inner leg that slides out of an outer leg to extend or collapse the chair.
• Leg locking system. A latch enters aligned openings on the inner and outer leg to lock them together when the chair is unfolded.
• Rigid when open. With the legs locked at full extension, the tensioned fabric gives the chair a stable, solid feel.
• Compact when closed. Releasing the latch lets the legs retract so the chair folds to a small, carryable bundle.

Who Is Behind It

The applicant is YETI Coolers, LLC, an Austin-based outdoor products company that has expanded from hard coolers into bags, drinkware, and outdoor furniture. The named inventors are Andrew J. Winterhalter, Michael Cieszko, Evan Goldberg, Derek G. Sullivan, and Donald Edward Desroches. This filing is a divisional application from an earlier related Australian application.

Why It Matters

Camp and event furniture is a crowded market, and small mechanical details are what separate a chair people trust from one they return. A locking telescoping leg that makes a chair both rigid in use and compact to carry is exactly the kind of detail a brand builds a product line around. Protecting the design in Australia supports the company’s growing outdoor furniture range in a country with a large camping and outdoor culture.

Related Concepts

• Folding chair – the product category this invention belongs to.
• Telescoping (mechanics) – the sliding inner and outer sections that let the legs extend.
• Latch – the locking element that fixes the legs at full height.
• Tension (physics) – the force in the fabric that gives the open chair its rigidity.
• Camping – the outdoor activity this portable furniture is designed for.

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AU 2026201976 was published in the Australian Official Journal of Patents on 2 April 2026 and is open for public inspection. Patent applications represent inventions that are sought to be protected and do not necessarily reflect commercially available products.