Ganging And Stacking Chair

Abstract

The invention is a ganging and stacking chair featuring new and improved ganging fixtures. The chairs stack vertically legs-upon-legs, with the ganging device aiding in maintaining the vertical orientation of the stack. The ganging fixtures extend across and extend beyond the side legs of the chair, to engage in front and in back of the side legs. The male section of the ganger is a rectangular wire loop, the outer ends of which extend, respectively, in front of and in back of the chair legs forming ears which are engaged by the female section. The female section is a trapezoidal wire loop with sides which slant in toward the top, and end portions which wrap over and laterally around the ears of the male sections.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention is in the furniture field relating to ganging and stacking chairs, and is particularly directed to a new and improved structure which enhances the ganging and stacking characteristics of such chairs.

Ganging and stacking chairs as such are generally known to the art, and ganging devices have been described in prior patents, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,956,618 to C. Eames et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,159,425 to C. J. Engstrom, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,977 to H. D. Chapman. Each of these patents teaches a different structure for ganging based upon different engaging concepts, reflecting a continuing need to improve the effectiveness of such devices. The Eames device is confined between the legs of the chair resulting in high twisting movements upon the ganger when coupled chairs are moved. Also, both the male and female sections of the ganger extend out from the side of the chair where they present an obstacle to passing traffic. These same shortcomings also appear in the Engstrom and Chapman devices.

It is an objective of this invention to overcome the aforementioned objections and shortcomings of prior ganging devices so as to improve upon the ganging and stacking characteristics of such chairs.

It is another objective of this invention to improve the stability of a group of ganged chairs, particularly with respect to linear alignment thereof.

It is a further objective of this invention to minimize the lateral protrusion of the ganger from the side of the chair.

It is still a further objective of this invention to provide a ganger which is more easily engaged and disengaged.

SUMMARY

Basically the invention comprises a chair having a rigid bucket type seat and supporting legs therefore. The leg structure of the chair projects laterally beyond the sides of the seat, and the legs angle to the front and rear of the seat, so that when like chairs of the invention are stacked, the legs of each chair in the stack ride respectively upon the legs of the chair below. The ganger of the invention is attached to the outside of the legs of the chair and includes a male and female section attached on opposite sides. Each of the ganger sections basically comprises a wire loop oriented substantially vertically, and each has end portions which extend, respectively, in front of and in back of their supporting legs. The end portions of the female section are bent outwardly, away from the side of the chair, to a position in which they extend over and laterally around the end portions of a mating male ganger section placed immediately adjacent thereto to bind the sections together.

Principal among the many advantages of the invention is the stability of a gang of its chairs. This is due primarily to the nature of the ganger which provides two distinct widely spaced apart areas of engagement, one in front of and one in back of the legs. Furthermore, each of these areas has two points of engagement, which points are vertically and horizontally offset from each other so as to produce force couples which resist twisting of the gang principally in the horizontal plane.

Further advantages of the ganger sections of the invention are that they are substantially flat against the side legs of the chair and so do not protrude nearly as far to the side as prior art gangers, and they are more easily engaged than prior art gangers as will be perceived from the following description.

Other objectives, advantages, and various further features of novelty and invention will be pointed out or will occur to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following specification in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a rear view of a gang of two chairs of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ganger of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the ganger of the invention taken along line III--III of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the ganger of the invention taken along line IV--IV of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an expanded top view of one end of the ganger of the invention taken along line V--V of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is an end view of one end of the ganger of the invention taken along line VI--VI of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a side elevation of a female section of the ganger of the invention taken along line VII--VII of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a rear view of two chairs, 1 and 1A, of the invention in the ganged position. A female section 2 of the ganger is attached to the left legs 3 and 3A of chair 1, and a male section 4 of the invention is attached to the right legs 5 and 5A of chair 1A. The ganger is engaged by lowering female section 2 over the male section 4. The nature of this engagement will be more clearly understood from a reading of the following text.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ganger of the invention showing a female section 2 attached to the legs 3 and 3A of a chair to the right, and a male ganger section 4 attached to the legs 5 and 5A of a chair to the left. The male ganger section 4 is a rectangular wire loop, here depicted in -4 gauge wire. The length of section 4 exceeds the spread of legs 3 and 3A, and overlaps the same so that the ends thereof form ears 7 and 8 in front of and in back of legs 3A and 3, respectively.

In order to facilitate stacking of the chairs and engagement of the ganger, the upper and lower parallel sides 9 and 10 of section 4 are bossed at their points of attachment to legs 5 and 5A. Referring to FIG. 3, these bosses, 11, 12, 13 and 14, respectively, move ears 7 and 8 approximately one-fourth inch away from the legs of the chair, making it easier to slide the legs and feet of another chair down over the legs of the chair below during the stacking maneuver. Aside from these bosses, section 4 lies substantially within a vertical plane parallel to the plane of legs 5 and 5A. Ears 7 and 8 are somewhat triangular in shape, which results from the face that the legs of the chair attach close to the extremities of bottom side 10 of section 4, at bosses 13 and 14, and angle upwardly and inwardly to bosses 11 and 12 on the upper side 9 of section 4.

As seen in FIG. 7, female section 2 of the ganger is formed from a trapezoidal wire loop having upper and lower parallel sides 20 and 21, which, like sides 9 and 10 of section 4, are also bossed at their points of contact, 24, 25, 26 and 27, with legs 3 and 3A. These bosses function identically with the aforementioned bosses on section 4 to hold section 2 slightly out from the side of the chair to facilitate stacking.

FIGS. 2, 5 and 7 best illustrate the shape of female element 2 and its engagement of male element 4. The various bends in element 2 will be described, together with the manner in which they contribute to its engagement of male section 4. As the engaging ends 22 and 23 of female section 2 are symetric, a description of end 22 will suffice.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 5, end 22 includes a horizontal arm 30 extending outwardly of boss 24 and bent away from leg 3A at an acute angle. Arm 30 extends outwardly a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the wire stock used to construct male section 4. At the outward extremity arm 30 bends down and proceeds in a vertical plane parallel to leg 5A forming an outer engaging arm 31. At point 32, arm 31 first bends fowardly and then inwardly and proceeds inwardly forming a lower horizontal arm 33 which joins lower parallel element 21 outwardly of leg 3A.

The net effect of the above structure of end 22 is to create a wire retaining loop which extends across the top bar 9 of a male section 4 in close proximity thereto, thence forward and down across the inside of ear 7, thence forward and around in front of vertical element 15 of ear 7, bending essentially through 180.degree. in the process, and retaining ear 7 from top, front and sides.

The ganger of the invention is engaged by sliding section 2 vertically down over section 4. (See FIG. 2.) As this is done, the ears 7 and 8 of section 4 slide easily between the slanted vertical arms 31 and 31A of section 2 and their associated chair legs 5A and 5. In this position with the ganged chairs at rest on a relatively level floor, section 4 is securely engaged at its opposite ends by female section 2. This engagement is unique in that each ear 7 and 8 is engaged at two points: upper point "A" where slanted arm 31 first crosses horizontal element 9 of ear 7 and point "B" where arm 31 crosses vertical element 15 of ear 7. Points "A" and "B" lie in the same vertical plane, and are separated both horizontally and vertically. This vertical separation stabilizes the gang by negating any tendency of a chair to rotate about its longitudinal axis when the gang is subjected to twisting forces in the horizontal plane.

A more important feature of the ganger of the invention lies in the fact that the forward and rearward areas of engagement of sections 2 and 4 are widely separated. The front area of engagement includes contact points A and B, and the rear contact area includes contact points A' and B', all of which points are respectively in front of or in back of the legs of the chairs. This spread of the areas of engagement of the ganger makes it more sensitive to forces tending to rotate the chair about its vertical axis, without making the chairs more difficult to assemble, thus tightening the gang and giving it a more orderly appearance.

Section 4 is mounted approximately three-eighths of an inch lower on the side of the chair than section 2, so that section 2 does not rest vertically upon section 4, but in close proximity thereto.

FIG. 6 is an end view of a ganger of the invention in the engaged position. The vertical orientation of arms 31 and 15 and their contact points A and B is defined. As previously described, element 30 of section 2 extends out and over horizontal element 9 of section 4, so that the engaging element 31 of section 2 falls behind vertical arm 15 of section 4 affecting the engagement.

The ganger is easily engaged by merely lifting the side of the chair with a female ganger section 2 only a few inches off the floor, positioning section 2 generally over a mating section 4, and dropping the chair to the floor. As the chair descends, section 2 of the ganger will engage section 4 as above described.

The ganger of the invention serves no vertical support function in the stacking of the chairs, but functions as a spreader to strengthen the legs and hold them in place under the pressure of stacking, and to prevent sideward movement between stacked chairs.

While the principles of the invention have been described in connection with the above specific apparatus it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation to the scope of the invention.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a chair having a seat, a first pair of legs extending downwardly from one side of the seat, a second pair of legs extending downwardly from the other side of the seat, and ganger means for detachably ganging one of said chairs to another, said ganger means comprising:

a male ganging member attached to and extending between the front and rear legs of said first pair;

a female ganging member attached to and extending between the front and rear legs of said second pair;

said male and female ganging members each comprising a substantially vertically oriented closed wire loop;

said male ganging member having front and rear end portions respectively extending a substantial distance in front of and to the rear of the respective front and rear legs of said first pair;

said female ganging member having front and rear end portions respectively extending a substantial distance in front of and to the rear of the respective front and rear legs of the second pair; and

the front and rear end portions of said male and female ganging members having means defining a configuration enabling the end portions of adjacent chairs to mate for retaining said adjacent chairs in a ganged position.

2. A chair according to claim 1, wherein the front and rear end portions of the male ganging member respectively engage the front and rear end portions of the female ganging member of an adjacent chair at a first area located forwardly of the front legs and at a second area located rearwardly of the rear legs, the portions of the male and female ganging members extending between the front and rear legs being totally free of engagement with one another.

3. A chair according to claim 2, wherein said first area includes two points of engagement which are located forwardly of said front legs and are horizontally and vertically spaced from one another, and wherein said second area includes two points of engagement which are located rearwardly of said rear legs and are also vertically and horizontally spaced from one another.

4. A chair according to claim 1, wherein the male ganging member comprises a substantially rectangular loop disposed substantially within a first vertical plane; and

said female ganging member comprising a substantially trapezoidal loop having substantially parallel upper and lower horizontal members disposed substantially within a second vertical plane, said trapezoidal loop also including a pair of inclined intermediate members extending between and fixedly connected to the adjacent ends of said horizontally extending members, said intermediate members converging relative to one another and being disposed substantially within a third vertical plane which is laterally offset from said second vertical plane.

5. A chair according to claim 4, wherein the female ganging member includes short leg portions extending horizontally between and connected to the ends of the upper horizontal member and the upper ends of the inclined intermediate members, said short leg portions being positioned over the upper horizontally extending member of the male ganging member when a pair of adjacent chairs are ganged together.

6. A chair according to claim 5, wherein the upper and lower horizontally extending members of both the male and female ganging members include means to slightly offset said male and female ganging members from the pair of legs to which they are respectively attached to thus facilitate stacking of chairs.

7. A chair according to claim 4, wherein each said inclined intermediate portion of said female ganging member is substantially parallel to and spaced outwardly from the adjacent chair leg to which the female ganging member is attached, the inclined intermediate portion of the female ganging member crossing the vertically extending portion of a male ganging member intermediate the upper and lower extremities thereof when mated therewith.

8. In a chair having a seat, a first pair of legs extending downwardly from one side thereof, a second pair of legs extending downwardly from the other side thereof, the front and rear legs of each pair diverging downwardly, and ganging means for detachably ganging one said chairs to an adjacent chair, said ganging means comprising:

a male ganging section attached to the first pair of legs, the male ganging section having front and rear portions respectively extending a substantial distance in front of and to the rear of the front and rear legs of said first pair;

said front end portion having a substantially inverted L-shaped configuration and including a vertically extending rodlike portion fixedly interconnected adjacent its lower end to the front leg of said first pair at a first point thereon, said front end portion also including a substantially horizontally extending rodlike portion extending forwardly of said front leg and being fixedly connected between said front leg and the upper end of said vertically extending portion, said horizontal rodlike portion being connected to said front leg at a second point spaced upwardly from said first point;

said rear end portion of said male ganging section being substantially identical to the front end portion thereof and being fixedly secured to the rear leg of said first pair in a manner substantially identical to the connection of the front end portion to the front leg of said first pair;

a female ganging section attached to the legs of said second pair, said female ganging section having front and rear end parts respectively extending a substantial distance in front of and to the rear of the respective front and rear legs of said second pair;

said front end part having a substantially U-shaped configuration and including an intermediate inclined portion spaced a substantial distance forwardly of and outwardly of the front leg of said second pair, said intermediate inclined portion extending in a direction substantially parallel to said front leg, said front end part further including upper and lower horizontal portions projecting forwardly of the front leg of said second pair, the forward ends of said upper and lower horizontal portions being fixedly connected to the upper and lower ends of said intermediate inclined portion, respectively, and the rearward ends of said upper and lower horizontal portions being fixedly connected to said front leg at third and fourth points with said third point being disposed above said fourth point;

the rear end part of said female ganging member being substantially identical to said front end part and projecting rearwardly of the rear leg of said second pair and being fixedly connected to said rear leg in a manner substantially identical to the connection of said front end part to said front leg;

the front and rear end portions of the male ganging portion on one chair being adapted to be received in and mate with the respective front and rear end parts of a female ganging portion on an adjacent chair for retaining said chairs in a ganged position, the front end portion of the male ganging element engaging the front end part of the female ganging portion at two spaced points located forwardly of the front legs, and the rear end portion of the male ganging element engaging the rear end part of the female ganging element at two spaced points which are located rearwardly of the rear legs.

9. A chair according to claim 8, wherein the male ganging portion includes an elongated member extending horizontally between said first pair of legs, said elongated member having the opposite ends thereof fixedly connected to the upper ends of said front and rear end portions of said male ganging section; and

said female ganging section including an elongated member extending horizontally between the front and rear legs of said second pair, said elongated member having the opposite ends thereof fixedly connected to the front and rear end parts of said female ganging section.

10. A chair according to claim 8, wherein said third point is disposed at an elevation above said first point whereby the upper horizontal portions of the front and rear end parts of said female ganging portion overlie the horizontal portions of the front and rear end portions of the male ganging portion when the male and female ganging portions of adjacent chairs are mated.