Method For A Reduced Size Packing Of Armchairs, Divans And The Like

Abstract

A method of packaging irregular size articles by compressing the same between impervious sheets, joining the edges, evacuating the air and sealing the sheets.

Description

The present invention relates to the manufacture of upholstered furniture, and a method of reduced size packaging of the same.

In particular, the present invention concerns articles of furniture made in whole or in part from expanded cellular foamed materials.

It will be appreciated that, because of the nature of the expanded foam materials, articles made therefrom could be advantageously reduced in size and packaged, thus materially reducing the costs involved in their transportation and storage. Similarly, articles in which supporting reinforcements are used in conjunction with foamed portions may have their supports foldable and likewise reduced in size.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an article of furniture which is readily reducible in size, for packaging and which may be easily reconstituted into its original size.

It is another object of this invention to provide a novel construction for expanded foam articles of furniture which retain their shape and which maintain their other desirable characteristics even after reduction in size.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel method for packaging resilient articles of furniture by reducing cellular foam articles of furniture to the smallest size possible.

It is still another object of the present invention to package articles of furniture in secure, air impervious containers.

According to the present invention, an article of furniture, such as a chair or divan, is made of expanded foam material having a contoured shape. It is covered with a sheathing of suitable upholstery material which is stretched to the form of the article and is provided with means for retaining the shape and stretch of the sheath.

Further according to the invention, a method is provided whereby the article of furniture is placed between two air impervious sheets, compressed to expel the air therefrom, and the sheets joined into a wrapper. The wrapper is then fully evacuated of all air, and sealed.

Full details of the present invention and of the objects and advantages derived therefrom will be obvious from the following description wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is vertical section along line 1--1 of FIG. 2, showing an armchair made in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of arm chair;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the arm chair;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are sequential views illustrating the steps in the method of packaging the arm chair; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a completely packaged chair.

Referring now to FIG. 1, the present invention is embodied in an arm chair or divan comprising a body of expanded foamed, open-cellular or porous plastic material, such as polyurethane and the like. The body is of any desired shape conforming to designs in vogue, having a three dimensional contour providing a seat 2 on a base 3.

The body may be made by any one of the well-known processes, as for example in a single mold, carved from a large block of expanded plastic, or assembled from one or more pieces of plastic. In general, it is preferred that the chair be circular or spherical in overall shape, since greater stability is obtained and that shape is easier to handle. The chair shown in the drawing is, in fact, derived from a sphere sectioned by the base 3 and by an inclined upper plane 4 which forms the proper contour, together with the seat portion 2, for the body, shoulders and arms of the user.

The body 1 is covered by a sheath 5 of suitable upholstery material. The cover sheath 5 is generally tubular in form and has its lower end gathered by a circular slip cord 6 tightly about the edges of the base 3. The upper end of the sheath tube is cut and sewn together with a pair of angular seams 7 and a transverse or cross seam 8 to conform the sheath to the contour of the seat 2.

To maintain the sheath 5 properly stretched over the body 1, a drawing cord 9 is tied to the seams 7 and passes through to the cross seam 8. The drawing cord 9 extends through the center of the body and has its end tied to a plate 10 situated exteriorly of the base 3. The plate 10 maintains the cord 9 properly secured or knotted and prevents the cord from cutting the plastic material when the chairs is flexed during use.

The chair may be made in many shapes and sizes. It may also be furnished if desired or required for heavy duty use, with internal supporting structures of flexible or foldable material, such as plastic bars or tubular stock or metal folding arms. Preferably, the supporting structures are located and made so that they fold in the direction of the major dimension of the chair so as to be parallel to the plane of the base 3 or perpendicular to the compression described later. Chairs made according to the preceding disclosure are, with or without reinforcing supports, easily collapsible and simply adapted for reduced size packaging.

Further in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method for collapsing and simultaneously packaging such articles as the aforementioned chair. This method is described with reference to FIGS. 4-6 which schematically show suitable apparatus for performing the required operational steps. The drawing omits structural details which are conventional and well-known to those skilled in this art.

Turning to FIG. 4, the fully assembled articles such as the aforedescribed chair, is placed between the fixed platen 11 and the movable platen 14 of a suitable low pressure vacuum press. Sheets 12 and 13 of suitably air impervious thermoplastic packaging material, such as polyvinyl chloride film, are placed between the article and each of the platens 11 and 14, respectively. The lower sheet 12 is provided with a nozzlelike nipple 15 which extends out of a suitable aperture in the platen 11 and is connected by a conduit 16 to a source of vacuum, such as a pump.

Circular electric resistance elements 17 and 18 are respectively associated with each of the platens 11 and 14 and are connected to a source of electric current. Suitable controls are provided to maintain the element 17 and 18 at optimum temperature to effect the formation of a seal between the sheets 12 and 13. The heating elements 17 and 18 are of equal radius, coaxially aligned and movably mounted so as to be selectively brought into contact with each other to effect the continuous joining of the sheets 12 and 13 about the article. Gluing may be substituted for the heat joining, or other bonding methods may be used. After locating the article in the press, as seen in FIG. 4, the upper platen 14 is lowered and the article squeezed to the resistance limit allowed by the inherent structure of the material of the body and of the sheath. All the air that can be driven out of the cells of the body material, without rupture of the cell walls or bursting of the material, is expelled from within the foamed material. The degree of pressure exerted on the body will of course, vary--dependent upon the material of the body and its resistance limit. Should internal reinforcing supports be used, they are first folded perpendicularly to the direction of compression, the degree of which is also controlled to prevent damage to the support.

As seen in FIG. 5, after the air is expelled from the assembled chair, the heating elements 17 and 18 are moved into contact with each other and the chair is sealed between the joined sheets 12 and 13. At this point, the vacuum is applied and any residual free air trapped in the article and in the cells thereof in evacuated through the conduit 16 until substantially all the air has been removed and the article reduced to the smallest size consonant with its cellular and structural form. The steps of compressing, joining and evacuating may be accomplished simultaneously or in sequence.

The final stage is shown in FIG. 6. After the maximum possible vacuum has been produced, the nipple 15 is removed from the conduit and sealed. The heating elements 17 and 18 and the platens 11 and 14 are moved apart, and the article is removed from the press. Since the article is now substantially smaller than it was originally, it can be more economically stored and transported. The package so made is readily flexible and foldable so that a number of them may be crowded into the small space of a car trunk.

To prevent damage to the article when the package is opened, pull tab means 19, such as a wire, cord or plastic strip, is located within the package and has one end 20 secured to one of the sheets 12 or 13, while the other end 21 extends outward of the package so that it can be manually grasped. Preferably, the tab is located so that, when pulled, a wide-mouth opening is instantly provided to avoid the expansion of the article before the package is opened.

It will be appreciated that the open cellular structure of the body plastic material, and the inherent resiliency of a foamed body enables the article to expand rapidly once the package is opened. Thus, a virtually instantaneous reconstitution of the articles may be effected.

Articles have been constructed having an overall spherical dimension of 104 cm., a maximum height of 75 cm. and a sheathed weight of 15 kg. Such articles were reduced by the present method, and sealed between PVC sheets in a package having a diameter of 100 cm. and a height of 6 cm. The article was fully reconstituted in size and physical characteristics within 24 hours after the package was opened.

In addition to the use of structural reinforcement, differing materials and varying shapes, numerous other modifications and changes will present themselves to those skilled in this art. For example the article may be made in sections from separate cubic components each packaged in reduced size, but boxed together for shipment. At reconstitution, the separate components may be joined together by the user.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of packaging an expanded foam article of furniture having cross-sectional areas of irregular shape in parallel vertical planes, comprising the steps of

1. placing the article of furniture between two air impervious sheets extending in parallel planes transverse to the vertical planes,

2. pressing the two sheets together in the direction of the vertical planes until the article therebetween has been compressed to the resistance limit of the expanded foam, while the sheets remain in parallel planes,

3. permitting air to escape from the article during compression thereof through a vent in one of the sheets,

4. joining the outer edges of the sheets to form a sealed wrapping about the article,

5. evacuating residual free air from the compressed article by applying a vacuum to the vent without further compression, and

6. sealing the vent to produce a wrapped article of reduced size with the two wrapping sheets remaining substantially parallel in the absence of pressure thereon.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of compression of the article, joining of the sheet edges and evacuation of the air are effected substantially simultaneously.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the expanded foam article of furniture is sheathed before it is placed between the wrapping sheets.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of inserting foldable reinforcing means within the article of furniture, and locating the reinforcing means to extend in a direction substantially parallel to the pressing direction to be folded into planes perpendicular to said direction.