Furniture Unit

Abstract

Furniture units having readily detachable but permanent appearing covers incorporate a single principal cover element which is tautened in two mutually orthogonal directions by means including interior elastic webbing members disposed along planes transverse to the length of the furniture unit. The elastic members are in turn concealed by arm members which may comprise a combination of padding, retention means and cover.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Removable upholstery cover for furniture is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,188,137 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,311,418, both of which were patented by the present applicant. The constructions shown and described therein provide advantageous arrangements for constructing furniture units in which the coverings, typically fabric but alternatively of other materials, have the appearance and wearing qualities of regular upholstered fabric, but are constructed such that the cover may be readily detached for replacement or cleaning. In the constructions shown in these patents, unitary but separate covers are employed for the seat and back portions, and the side margins are thereafter concealed by different types of arm arrangements. It may be desired for a number of different types of constructions, however, to have a single cover for the principal body of the furniture unit, including both the seat and back and the visible side portions. Such a single cover offers certain advantages over individual back and seat covers. For example, where the back and seat are manufactured in a unitized construction, it is desirable to use a single cover. In addition, such a cover can have some significant cost advantages for particular furniture styles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is intended to obviate the problems associated with furniture units as previously described. Furniture units in accordance with the invention utilize a single principal cover for the seat and back portions, as well as the side surfaces. At a number of points on the underside of the seat portion, the margin of the cover is secured to the underside of the frame by sufficient elastic means to provide tightening in one direction. Additionally, elastic means bridge the central portion of the cover to each of the side parts which cover the sides of both seat and back portions of the unit. The bridging elastic means may comprise webs lying parallel to the sides of the unit, and extending along the front, seat and both sides of the back, so as to maintain tension in a direction orthogonal to the front to back tension. At each end of the unit, means are provided for covering the elastic means, such as side arm assemblies incorporating a fabric strip and giving the appearance of a fixed structure having unitized construction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the invention may be had by reference to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partially exploded, of a furniture unit in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the underside of the arrangement of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the arrangement of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the arrangement of FIG. 1, showing the manner of coupling of the arms thereto.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In a typical furniture unit in accordance with the invention, referring now to FIGS. 1-4, a sofa 10 includes a conventional frame and padding construction. Although a wide variety of frame constructions may be utilized, in the unit shown a wood frame 12 incorporates a substantially rectangular base frame 14 into which legs 15 are mounted. A flat plywood or other composition sheet 17 on the base frame 14 supports a foam or other pad 19 which is encompassed by a muslin cover 20 fixed to the sheet 17. The muslin cover 20 is only for purposes of retention and sealing and therefore need not be regularly upholstered. The frame for the back includes a pair of riser members 23 including a sheet 24 on which the back pad 26 is supported, being retained within a muslin or other fabric cover 28. A wide variety of other frame constructions and paddings may be employed.

A principal cover 30 fits over this assembly, and is shown in FIGS. 1-3. The margin 33 of cover 30 is coupled to the frame 12 along the underside periphery of the sofa 10 along both the front and back frame members, respectively. The margin 33 may be attached to the frame 12 in a number of ways but elastic means are provided along at least one of the margins, front or back. In the present example, as shown, the front and back of the cover 30 are provided with elastic bands or loops 34 coupled to hooks 36 attached to the underside of the frame 12 at a plurality of points. The bands 34 provide tensioning of the cover 30 from front to back. However, alternatively, one of the margins, front or back, may be attached to the frame by use of a Velcro tape, one part of which is seamed to the frame and one part to the adjacent margin. The elastic bands 34 may be sewn to the cover margins or may extend through eyelets provided along the margins (not shown). Fixed snaps may be used along one margin, but in either event elastic tensioning of the principal cover from front to back is provided by the elastic bands at the opposite margin.

Two side covers 38, 39 are joined to the principal cover 30 by elastic webs 41 only one of which is visible in FIG. 1. In the present example, the elastic webs 41 comprise a plurality of short elastic strips sewn at opposite ends to the side cover 38 and the principal cover 30, respectively. The webs 41 transfer tension between the principal cover 30 and both the side covers 38, 39 along the length of the sofa 10. The side cover margins are also coupled to hooks 36 attached at a plurality of points along the underside of the frame 12 by elastic bands 34. In this manner the principal cover 30 is maintained in tension in two mutually orthogonal directions. Alternatively, as in the case of one of the principal cover margins, the side cover margins may be attached to the frame by fixed snaps, Velcro tape or other equivalent means. Each of the side covers 38, 39 includes holes 43, 44 in alignment with channel members 48 (best seen in FIG. 4) mounted vertically in the frame 12 adjacent the sides. The channel members are shown as brackets attached to the seat frame and provide channels for frictionally engaging side arm assembly posts 52, 53. However, other alternative channel members may be used.

The webs 41 are covered by sidearm assemblies 50, one of which is used at each end of the sofa 10. Each sidearm assembly 50 comprises an interior frame segment (not shown in detail) from which depends a pair of posts 52, 53 which register within the channels 48 in the sofa 10. The sidearm assemblies 50 further comprise padding and an exterior cover 56 having an angle configuration corresponding on one side to the configuration of the seat and back portions of the sofa 10. The sidearm assembly 50 therefore, when the posts 52, 53 are received within the channel members 48, fits directly over the web portion 41, and extending flap members 58, 59 at the front and rear portions cover the remaining portions of the web. The flap members in the present instance include snaps 62 at their free ends which connect with receiving buttons 64 on the sofa 10, but elastic connectors, zippers, fasteners and a wide variety of other detachable connecting means may be employed as desired.

As shown in FIG. 3, along the joinder line between the back and the seat, tension on the back and seat portions of the principal cover 30 is maintained by an interior elastic coupling 60 which is detachably coupled to an interior portion of the frame 12. Preferably, a marginal fabric strip 63 extends from and along the joinder line. For example, the fabric strip may be sewn along the joinder line or seam, which strip is provided with elastic means for detachable coupling with hooks 65 attached along the frame member 68.

In the furniture unit thus constructed, the cover may be removed by detaching the flaps 58, 59 of the sidearm assembly 50 and raising the sidearm assembly 50 to remove the posts 52, 53 from the channel members 48 in the frame 12 in which they are seated. The covers 56 on the sidearm assemblies 50 may be removed, typically being sewn in the configuration of the sidearm assemblies 50, with a zipper fastener 54 along one side. The elastic bands 34 on the principal cover 30 and the fixed snaps 62 on the side covers may then be detached from under the periphery of the sofa 10 and from over the sides, and the single-piece cover taken off the sofa for cleaning or replacement. The elastic webs 41 permit easier removal of the entire cover, although zippers or Velcro strips along the corner margins of the cover may be used for facilitating removal to a further extent, if desired.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art that a wide variety of frame constructions, furniture constructions and materials may be employed in accordance with the invention. The sidearm assemblies 50 can also be varied to a substantial extent, inasmuch as they may be made in separate pieces, with combinations of different materials and fastenings. Although fabric is contemplated for the material for these in most instances, leathers and synthetic leathers may also be utilized.

Claims

I claim:

1. A furniture unit comprising:

a unitary seat and back portion and a pair of sidearm portions;

a single-detachable cover means for the seat and back portion comprising a principal cover and a pair of side covers, each side cover being directly connected to an end of said principal cover by elastic web means having opposed extremities attached to said principal cover and said side covers; and

detachable sidearm covers including means for covering the elastic web means.

2. The unit of claim 1 which includes elastic means concealably disposed for detachably securing the covers to the associated seat, back and sidewarm portions.

3. The unit of claim 1 wherein the sidearm portions are removably attached to the seat and back portions.

4. A furniture unit comprising:

a frame;

cushioning material supported by the frame and forming a seat and a back;

a single-upholstery cover comprising (a) a principal cover extending over the seat and back, and (b) a pair of side covers for covering the ends of the seat and back, the principal cover and side covers having margins disposed along the underside of the frame;

first and second elastic web means having opposed extremities attached to said principal cover and said side covers for directly coupling the ends of said principal cover and the side covers adjacent the sides of the furniture unit;

means including a plurality of elastic means, disposed along the underside of the furniture unit for securing the single cover to the underside of the furniture unit; and

means coupled to the furniture unit for detachably covering the elastic web portions of the single cover, including a pair of sidearm assemblies each including a frame and removable sidearm cover means.

5. The unit of claim 4 wherein the frame includes sidearm-mounting means attached thereto for receiving the sidearm assemblies.

6. The unit of claim 5 wherein the sidearm mounting means comprises brackets attached to the frame and forming channels.

7. The unit of claim 5 wherein the sidearm assembly frames include means for registering the sidearm mounting means.

8. The unit of claim 7 wherein the registering means comprises downwardly extending posts for frictionally engaging the sidearm mounting means.

9. The unit of claim 4 wherein the sidearm cover means include front and rear elongated cover strips, which strips extend from the sidearm assembly whereby the strips are disposed over and cover a portion of the elastic web means.

10. The unit of claim 7 wherein ends of the front and rear cover strips are detachably connected to the front and rear underside of the furniture unit respectively.