Recliner Chairs (872)

A recliner is an armchair that reclines when the occupant lowers the chair's back and raises its front. It has a backrest that can be tilted back, causing a footrest to extend from the front. It provides the occupant more comfort than most of the conventional chairs and is thus popular all the world over in Western-style luxury accommodations.

Historical Information

Cousins Edward Knabusch and Edwin Shoemaker started the "Floral City Furniture Company" in 1927 to peddle novelty furniture in Detroit. They created the first recliner in Monroe, Michigan in 1928 when they modified a wooden porch chair so that the seat moved forward as the back reclined. Later they made a padded model.

By 1931 Knabusch and Shoemaker received a patent for the first automatic recliner. The Floral City Furniture Company was renamed as the now famous "La-Z-Boy".

The "La-Z-Boy" name came about as the result of an employee contest designed to pick a new name for the company.

In 1947 the Barcalounger company added the built-in footrest which La-z-boy only added four years later.