U.S. patent number 3,638,997 [Application Number 05/016,486] was granted by the patent office on 1972-02-01 for temporary seat supported by spaced-apart chairs.
This patent grant is currently assigned to SAID Shapiro, by said Wilkin. Invention is credited to Scott N. Shapiro, William G. Wilkin.
United States Patent |
3,638,997 |
Shapiro , et al. |
February 1, 1972 |
TEMPORARY SEAT SUPPORTED BY SPACED-APART CHAIRS
Abstract
A temporary, portable seat constructed to be readily supported
at end portions thereof by spaced-apart chairs and readily removed
from the chairs. The combination of spaced-apart chairs supporting
such a temporary seat.
Inventors: |
Shapiro; Scott N. (Chicago,
IL), Wilkin; William G. (Oak Park, IL) |
Assignee: |
SAID Shapiro, by said Wilkin
(N/A)
|
Family
ID: |
21777374 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/016,486 |
Filed: |
March 4, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
297/232; 108/92;
297/248; D6/336; 297/239 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47C
1/124 (20130101); A47C 7/16 (20130101); A47C
15/00 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47C
1/00 (20060101); A47C 7/02 (20060101); A47C
7/16 (20060101); A47C 1/124 (20060101); A47C
15/00 (20060101); A47c 015/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;297/118,135,232,233,230,239,248,458 ;108/59,64,92 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Mitchell; James C.
Claims
We claim:
1. An integral, temporary, portable, legless seat of relatively
thin plastic material constructed to be (a) readily supported at
end portions thereof by and on seat portions of selected,
spaced-apart, substantially aligned armless chairs without
requiring fastening means and (b) readily removed and stacked in
substantially nesting relationship with another temporary seat of
substantially the same construction, which temporary, legless seat
comprises a substantially planar and substantially horizontal seat
portion which has restricted yieldability under load, is longer
than it is wide, has a length sufficient for seating at least one
person while substantially planar and substantially horizontal end
portions of said seat portion are supported by and on said seat
portions of selected, spaced-apart, substantially aligned armless
chairs, and has a width substantially conforming to the width of
said seat portions of said supporting chairs, the front of said
substantially planar and substantially horizontal seat portion
having a downturned depending lip portion which extends along its
length and is shaped at its opposed end portions for being
positioned approximately contiguous to front portions of seat
portions of said supporting chairs, the back of said substantially
planar and substantially horizontal seat portion having an
upstanding lip portion which extends along its length and is shaped
to restrict the movement backward of a person sitting on said
temporary seat, said lip portions enhancing the supporting strength
of said temporary seat under load.
2. The temporary seat of claim 1 wherein said temporary seat is
made of fiber-reinforced plastic material.
3. The temporary seat of claim 1 wherein said temporary seat has
openings therein.
4. The temporary seat of claim 1 wherein said downturned lip
portion and upstanding lip portion each communicate with said
substantially planar seat portion by means of a curved section, and
the arc of curvation of each curved section is different.
5. The combination of a temporary, portable seat constructed of
relatively thin material which is supported at opposed end portions
thereof by and between seat portions of spaced-apart, substantially
aligned chairs, said temporary seat being constructed to be (a)
readily supported at end portions thereof by and on seat portions
of said spaced-apart chairs without requiring fastening means and
(b) readily removed from said supporting chairs and stacked in
substantially nesting relationship with another temporary seat of
substantially the same construction, said temporary seat having a
substantially planar and substantially horizontal seat portion
which has restricted yieldability under load, is longer than it is
wide, has a length sufficient for seating at least one person while
said substantially planar and substantially horizontal end portions
of said seat portion are supported by and on said seat portions of
said spaced-apart chairs, and has a width substantially conforming
to the width of said seat portions of said supporting chairs the
front of said seat portion of said temporary seat having a
downturned depending lip portion constructed for being positioned
approximately contiguous to front portions of seat portions of said
supporting chairs, the back of said seat portion of said temporary
seat having an upstanding lip portion which is shaped to restrict
the movement backward of a person sitting on said temporary
seat.
6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said temporary seat is made
of relatively thin plastic material.
7. The combination of claim 5 wherein said temporary seat is of
fiber-reinforced plastic material.
8. The combination of claim 5 wherein said temporary seat has
openings therein.
9. The combination of claim 5 wherein said downturned lip portion
and upstanding lip portion each communicate with said seat portion
of the temporary seat by means of a curved section, and the arc of
curvature of each curved section is different.
10. The combination of an integral, temporary, portable, legless
seat supported at opposed end portions thereof by and between seat
portions of spaced-apart, substantially aligned, armless chairs,
said temporary seat being of relatively thin plastic material
constructed to be (a) readily supported at end portions thereof by
seat portions of said spaced-apart chairs and (b) readily removed
from said supporting chairs and stacked in substantially nesting
relationship with another temporary seat of substantially the same
construction, said temporary seat having a substantially planar
seat portion which has restricted yieldability under load, is
longer than it is wide, has a length sufficient for seating at
least one person while said end portions of said seat portion are
supported by said spaced-apart chairs, and has a width
substantially conforming to the width of said seat portions of said
supporting chairs, the front of said substantially planar seat
portion having a downturned depending lip portion which extends
along its length and is constructed for being positioned
approximately contiguous to front portions of said supporting
chairs, the back of said substantially planar seat portion having
an upstanding lip portion which extends along its length and is
shaped to restrict the movement backward of a person sitting on
said temporary seat, said lip portions enhancing the supporting
strength of said temporary seat under load.
11. The combination of claim 10 wherein said temporary seat is made
of fiber-reinforced plastic material.
12. The combination of claim 10 wherein said temporary seat has
openings therein.
13. The combination of claim 6 wherein said downturned lip portion
and upstanding lip portion each communicate with said substantially
planar seat portion by means of a curved section, and the arc of
curvation of each curved section is different
14. The combination of claim 5 wherein said lip portions of said
temporary seat enhance the supporting strength of said temporary
seat under load.
Description
This invention relates to a temporary, portable seat and the
combination of said temporary seat supported by and between
spaced-apart chairs.
The purpose of this invention is to provide a temporary, portable
seat which is comfortable, attractive, economical, readily stored
when not in use, and readily supported, without fastening means, by
conventional armless chairs so as to furnish an additional, sturdy
seat or chair for home or institutional use.
In the accompanying diagrammatic drawings:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing three spaced-apart,
substantially aligned armless chairs (a fragmentary view is shown
of one of the chairs) with two different exemplary embodiments of
our temporary seat supported by two of the chairs;
FIG. 2 is a top plan view showing one of the temporary seats shown
in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a side or end elevational view showing the temporary seat
shown in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the temporary seat shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3; and,
FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary side or end elevational view,
similar to FIG. 3, showing a plurality of temporary seats, such as
shown in FIGS. 2-4, in juxtaposed, nesting relationship for
storage.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown therein three spaced-apart,
substantially aligned, conventional, armless chairs 11, 12, and 13,
with chairs 11 and 12 supporting a preferred embodiment 20 of our
temporary seat and chairs 12 and 13 supporting another embodiment
30 of our temporary seat. The temporary seats 20 and 30 are
legless, portable, integral or unitary structures which do not need
to be connected to the supporting spaced-apart chairs by any
special or cumbersome fastening means. Each seat is capable of
supporting one person, although, if desired, they can be
constructed to permit support of more than one person.
The particular temporary seats 20 and 30 shown in FIG. 1 are
constructed of relatively thin, clear plastic material, such as
"Plexiglas" plastic (methyl methacrylate resin), and differ from
each other in shape and construction only in that the temporary
seat 30 has spaced openings 31 therein which allow for circulation
of air through the openings to a person sitting on that seat.
Once a person is seated on the temporary seat, movement of the
supporting, spaced-apart chairs is restricted.
As shown in FIG. 1, the temporary seats 20 and 30 are readily
supported at their respective end portions by or on the adjoining
end portions of the seats of the spaced-apart chairs.
FIGS. 1-3 show that the temporary seat 20 has a substantially
planar seat portion 21 (FIGS. 2 and 3) which is longer than it is
wide (FIGS. 1 and 2), has a length sufficient for seating at least
one person when supported by the spaced-apart supporting chairs 11
and 12 (FIG. 1), and has a width substantially conforming to the
width of the seat portions of the supporting chairs (FIG. 1).
The seat portion 21 of the temporary seat 20 has a downturned
depending lip portion 22 which extends along its length (FIGS. 3
and 4) and, as shown in FIG. 1, is adapted to be positioned
approximately contiguous to or in substantially abutting
relationship to the front of the seat portions of the spaced-apart,
supporting chairs.
The seat portion 20 has an upstanding lip portion 24 which extends
along its length (FIGS. 2-4) and is shaped to restrict the movement
backward of a person sitting on the temporary seat. The upstanding
lip portion 24 shown in FIG. 1 is adapted to be positioned
approximately contiguous to or in substantially abutting
relationship to part of the backrest of the spaced-apart,
supporting chairs. The upstanding lip portion 24 may have a height
which is sufficient to support at least the base of the spinal
column of one sitting on the temporary seat.
Although the temporary seat 20 is made of plastic material which is
relatively rigid, it has restricted yieldability under load which
affords sufficient, but limited, flexing when one sits on it. This
limited yieldability adds to the comfort of one sitting on the
temporary seat. The lip portions 22 and 24 cooperate with the seat
portion 21 to provide what can be referred to as an "S" or "Z"
construction wherein the lip portions enhance the supporting
strength of the temporary seat under intended load.
If desired, the construction or shape of the temporary seat 20
shown in FIG. 3 may be altered so that the substantially planar
seat portion 21 has a slight downward slope in a rearward direction
extending between the downturned and upstanding lip portions,
respectively. The free longitudinally extending outer or free edges
of the lip portions 22 and 24 may be rounded and one or both lip
portions may slope slightly inwardly or outwardly, depending on
one's particular needs.
The downturned lip portion 22 and upstanding lip portion 24 shown
in FIG. 3 communicate or connect with the seat portion 21 by means
of longitudinally extending curved portions 23 and 25,
respectively. The arc of curvature of each of these curved sections
23 and 25 may be the same or different (e.g., about 1 to 3 inch
radius or radii).
By using a different arc of curvature for each curved portion of
the same temporary seat (e.g., about 1 to 2 inches for one arc of
curvature and about 11/2to 3 inches for the other arc of
curvature), as shown in FIG. 3, one can select which of the lip
portions should be used as the upstanding and downturned lip
portions, depending on the construction of the seat portions of the
spaced-apart chairs (e.g., padded or cushioned seat portion or
substantially rigid seat or hard seat portion). When the curved
sections have a different arc of curvature, the individual
temporary seats may have or bear commonly positioned indicia, such
as a dot formed in the plastic material, which facilitates stacking
the seats in nesting relationship with the indicia and all of the
downturned and upstanding lip portions of each seat in superimposed
relationship.
Regardless of the arc of curvature(s) used, the temporary seat is
"reversible" in the sense that the top and bottom may be reversed
by turning the temporary seat over and/or the upstanding and
downturned lip portions can be reversed so that they become the
downturned and upstanding lip portions, respectively.
As indicated in FIG. 5, a plurality of the temporary seats 20 may
be conveniently stacked for storage in juxtaposed, nesting
relationship.
Although the particular temporary seats 20 and 30 shown in the
drawing may be made of clear "Plexiglas" plastic (methyl
methacrylate resin), other suitable resinous, transparent,
translucent or pigmented materials can be used such as other
acrylate or polyacrylate plastics (thermoplastic resins),
polystyrene plastics (thermoplastic), and ethylenically unsaturated
polyester plastics (thermosetting). Furthermore, the temporary seat
can be constructed of laminated plastic material or fiber glass
("Fiberglas" material)-reinforced or textile-fiber-reinforced
plastic.
If one chooses to use fibers (e.g., textile fibers) to reinforce
the plastic material, one may wet textile fibers with a
polymerizable olefinically unsaturated liquid capable of being
solidified to the rigid state by polymerization, which fibers
normally have hydroxyl groups on their surface but are modified by
having bonded to the surface thereof a vinyl siloxane coupling
compound having a carbon of an olefinic group thereof attached
directly to a silicon atom (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,742,378).
The plastic material may be molded in place to the desired shape or
construction. Alternatively, sheets of thermoplastic plastic such
as "Plexiglas" plastic of about 1/8-inch thickness may be used and
the lips may be formed by heating and bending the sheet in a
bending jig under controlled temperature-time conditions or cycles
which do not allow the shape of the bent lip portions to return
toward the flat, planar shape of the original plastic sheet due to
plastic "memory" (e.g., a heating cycle of about 200.degree. to
400.degree. F. for about 10 to 25 seconds may be used for
"Plexiglas" plastic). Furthermore, if desired, an air-drying or
air-curing catalyzed plastic system may be used.
Although the particular dimensions of our portable seat can be
varied within certain limits, particularly satisfactory results are
obtained when the overall length is about 22 to 25 inches, the
overall width is about 161/4 to 163/4 inches, the overall height of
the downturned and upstanding lip portions, as measured to the top
and bottom of the seat portion, respectively, is about 21/4 to 41/2
inches, and the thickness of the plastic material is about
one-twelfth to three-sixteenth inch.
The temporary seats 20 and 30 shown in the drawings may be
modified, if desired, by extending the length of the temporary seat
so that it extends entirely across the seat portions of the
supporting chairs, and by providing a downturned lip portion or
flange at each of the ends of the temporary seat which is adapted
to abut the outermost side edges of those chairs and restrict
movement of those chairs away from the temporary seat.
Furthermore, if desired, a seat cushion may be secured to the seat
portion 21 of the temporary seat 20 by permanent (e.g., adhesive or
secured in place rivets and grommets) or temporary (e.g., snaps)
means, and such seats may be stacked in substantially nesting
relationship either with the cushions in place or after removal of
the cushions.
The temporary seats 20 and 30 shown in the drawings may be
modified, if desired, by extending the length of the temporary seat
so that it extends entirely across the seat portions of the
supporting chairs, and by providing a downturned lip portion or
flange at each of the ends of the temporary seat which is adapted
to abut the outermost side edges of those chairs and restrict
movement of those chairs away from the temporary seat.
Furthermore, if desired, a seat cushion may be secured to the seat
portion 21 of the temporary seat 20 by permanent (e.g., adhesive or
secured in place rivets and grommets) or temporary (e.g., snaps)
means, and such seats may be stacked in substantially nesting
relationship either with the cushions in place or after removal of
the cushions.
The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of
understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be
understood therefrom, as modifications will be obvious to those
skilled in the art.
* * * * *