U.S. patent number 3,746,391 [Application Number 05/240,508] was granted by the patent office on 1973-07-17 for hassock.
Invention is credited to Warren D. Novak.
United States Patent |
3,746,391 |
Novak |
July 17, 1973 |
HASSOCK
Abstract
A shoe storage hassock having a lid in the top through which
shoes may be inserted into and removed from a rotatable drum
contained within the interior of the hassock. The hassock is so
sized that a person may sit on the top while simultaneously gaining
access to the storage drum through the lid in the top.
Inventors: |
Novak; Warren D. (Chappaqua,
NY) |
Family
ID: |
22906811 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/240,508 |
Filed: |
April 3, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
297/188.1;
297/462; 312/305; D6/349 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47C
3/16 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47C
3/16 (20060101); A47C 3/00 (20060101); A47c
009/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;297/462,193,192
;108/139 ;312/11,125,197,59,97.1,305 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
Popular Mechanics; May 1938; pp. 771, 772, 773..
|
Primary Examiner: McCall; James T.
Claims
Having described my invention, I claim:
1. A storage hassock comprising
a generally circular base support plate,
a generally circular top plate having a fixed section and a movable
section,
means supporting said fixed section of said top plate in
horizontally spaced relation to said bottom plate,
said movable top section of said top plate being hingedly connected
along a generally radially extending hinge line to said fixed
section of said top plate,
an open top drum located between said plates, and
means rotatably supporting said drum between said plates such that
said movable section of said top plate may be opened by a person
seated on said fixed section of top plate and said drum rotated by
said person so as to sequentially locate radial sections of said
drum beneath said opening.
2. The hassock of claim 1 in which said drum is compartmented by
radial spacers contained within said drum.
3. The storage hassock of claim 2 in which each of said drum
compartments is smaller in horizontal cross sectional area than
said movable section of said top plate.
4. The storage hassock of claim 1 which further includes padding
and upholstery over the top plate of said hassock.
5. A shoe storage hassock for storing a plurality of pairs of shoes
beneath a seating surface, said hassock comprising
a generally circular base support plate,
a generally circular top plate having a fixed section and a movable
pie segment shaped section,
means supporting said fixed section of said top plate in
horizontally spaced relation to said bottom plate,
said movable top section of said top plate being hingedly connected
along a generally radially extending hinge line to said fixed
section of said top plate,
an open top drum located between said plates, and
means rotatably supporting said drum between said plates such that
said movable section of said top plate may be opened by a person
seated on said fixed section of top plate and said drum rotated by
said person so as to sequentially locate radial sections of said
drum beneath said opening.
6. The hassock of claim 1 in which said drum is compartmented by
radial spacers contained within said drum.
7. The storage hassock of claim 2 in which each of said drum
compartments is smaller in horizontal cross sectional area than
said movable section of said top plate.
8. The storage hassock of claim 1 which further includes padding
and upholstery over the top plate of said hassock.
9. A shoe storage hassock for storing a plurality of pairs of shoes
beneath a seating surface, said hassock comprising
a generally circular base support plate,
a generally circular top plate having a fixed section and a movable
pie segment shaped section, both of said sections having padding
and upholstery over the top surface,
means including a plurality of vertical spindles located around the
periphery of said plates for supporting said top plate in
horizontally spaced relation to said bottom plate,
said movable top section of said top plate being hingedly connected
along a generally radially extending hinge line to said fixed
section of said top plate,
an open top drum located between said plates, radial spacers
contained within said drum for dividing said drum into radial
compartments, and
means including a center post extending between said plates and
rotatably supporting said drum such that said movable section of
said top plate may be opened by a person seated on said fixed
section of top plate and said drum rotated by said person so as to
sequentially locate radial compartments of said drum beneath said
opening.
10. The shoe hassock of claim 9 in which said drum support means
includes a plurality of rollers mounted for rotation in said base
plate and engaging the bottom surface of said drum adjacent the
periphery thereof.
Description
This invention relates to a hassock which has a hollow interior for
the storage of articles and particularly to a shoe storage hassock
having compartments for the storage of pairs of shoes within the
interior of the hassock.
Currently, the trend in housing is to live in less spacious
quarters, as in smaller houses, smaller apartments, and in small
second or vacation homes. At the same time there is a trend toward
personal affluence and the collection of personal possessions or
effects. Among the personal effects which are being collected in
increasing quantities are articles of personal clothing.
As individuals collect more articles of clothing and store them in
less space than has traditionally been the custom, one of the
results is that clothes closets have become increasingly cluttered
and the bottom of the closets have increasingly become collection
centers for a jumbled disarray of shoes.
Numerous attempts have been made to alleviate the shoe storage
problem, as for example, by locating shoe sacks or shoe racks in
closets; but for the most part these attempts have not been widely
accepted because they, too, require closet space which is already
at a premium or because they are just too inconvenient to use.
There have also been attempts to combine shoe storage racks with
items of furniture but those, too, have met with little success,
generally because they required excessive modification of a major
item of furniture and/or because they are to inconvenient to use
regularly. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,269,878 discloses a shoe
storage rack in combination with a chair; but the use of the rack
requires an individual to either get down on his knees to insert
and remove shoes, or to bend over while seated to a greater extent
than is generally possible or at least comfortable for most people.
U. S. Pat. No. 2,082,088 discloses a shoe storage rack in
combination with a bed but this rack requires extensive revision
and reconstruction of an existing bed to house the rack and is
generally to inconvenient for widespread use.
It has therefore been an objective of this invention to provide a
combination shoe storage rack and item of furniture which is
convenient to use and is also an attractive and relatively
inexpensive item of furniture.
Still another objective of this invention has been to provide an
item of furniture which may be used as a seating surface and as a
convenient shoe storage rack.
Still another objective of this invention has been to provide a
combination seating device and storage device which enables shoes
to be stored and removed from storage by a person seated on the
device without the exercise of gymnastic contortions and/or without
having to get up from the seating surface to insert and remove
shoes from the device.
These objectives are accomplished by a combination seating device
and shoe storage rack in the form of an oversize hassock which has
a lid in the top through which shoes may be inserted and removed
from a rotatable storage drum contained in the interior of the
hassock. The top surface of the hassock is circular and has a pie
segment shaped door or lid in the top through which shoes may be
inserted into and removed from the storage drum located beneath the
seating surface by a person seated upon the top of the hassock. To
gain access to any compartment within the drum, a user of this
combination shoe storage and seating device need only rotate the
compartemented drum through the door opening until a selected pair
of shoes is located beneath the opening or until an open
compartment is located beneath the opening.
This combination shoe storage and seating device has the advantage
of being usable by a seated person without his having to get up
from the surface upon which he is seated and without his having to
go through a series of gymnastic contortions to gain access to the
storage area. It also has the advantage of being housed in a
relatively inexpensive item of furniture which occupies a minimum
of space and is useful in a bedroom as a foot stool or as a
chair.
This shoe storage hassock also has the advantage of lending itself
to innumerable decorative arrangements. The hassock has an
upholstered padded top and an upholstered padded pie segment shaped
lid in the top. When closed, the lid forms a continuation of the
upholstered top surface of the hassock. There are spindles located
around the periphery of the hassock which function to support the
top upon a base while still permitting rotation of a drum located
interiorly of the spindles. By changing the contours of the
spindles, as for example, from chrome plated cylindrical spindles
to fluted and contoured wooden or plastic spindles and by changing
the decor on the padded top of the hassock as well as the
decorative upholstery around the periphery of the drum, the
decorative effect of the hassock may be materially altered without
in any way affecting the functional utility of the unit.
These and other objects and advantages of this invention will be
more readily apparent from the drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the shoe storage hassock of this
invention in use and with the lid open;
FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the hassock;
FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line 3--3 of FIG. 2;
and
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view through the hassock taken on line
4--4 of FIG. 3.
Referring first to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the "hassock" of
this invention is there illustrated as a chair or seating device
10. While the term "hassock" is generally defined as a foot stool,
all foot stools are useful as chairs and are commonly used as such.
The combination storage and seating device of this invention has
the appearance of a hassock or foot stool and is sueful in the same
manner and therefore it will be referred to throughout this
application as a hassock or a "shoe storage hassock." It should be
appreciated, though, that while the "hassock" of this invention is
primarily intended for use in the storage of shoes, it has
application for storing other household or clothing articles, as
for example, stockings and shoe polish kits, or even children's
toys if the hassock is employed in a child's room or playroom. For
purposes of this description, though, its utility will be explained
in relation to its primary intended application, as a combination
shoe storage and seating device.
Referring now to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the hassock 10 of
this invention comprises a base plate 11 from which a top plate 12
is supported by a plurality of spindles 13. A rotatable storage
drum 14 is contained interiorly of the spindles 13 and is supported
by the two plates 11, 12. Between the tops of the spindles 13 and
the bottom surface of top plate 12, there is a crescent shaped
metal plate 15 which supports the door or lid 16.
The base plate 11 is circular and has 12 equidistantly spaced
spindle receiving recesses 18 in its top surface adjacent the
periphery of the plate. It also has six equidistantly spaced roller
bearing receiving recesses 19 spaced slightly radially inwardly
from alternate ones of the spindle receiving recesses 18. Each of
the recesses 19 is intersected by a shallow axle receiving recess
20 which supports an axle 21 of a roller 22 located in each of the
recesses 19. In the preferred embodiment, these rollers are made
from nylon with steel ball bearing hubs. They support the bottom 23
of the drum 14 adjacent its periphery and enable it to be easily
rotated with light finger pressure, even when fully loaded.
The drum 14 may either rotate relative to a fixed axle or, as in
the illustrated embodiment, it may rotate with a rotatable axle 27.
If the axle is to rotate, the base plate 11 of the hassock 10 has a
central recess 25 within which there is mounted a bushing 26. This
bushing rotatably supports the axle 27. To hold the bottom of the
drum spaced from the top surface of the base plate 11, there is a
bearing block or spacer 28 located between the top of the base
plate and the bottom 23 of the drum. The top 34 of the axle is
rotatably supported within a bushing 33 located in a bore 32 in the
center of the top plate 12.
The top plate 12 rests upon and is supported atop the spindles 13
to which it is secured by steel threaded inserts 38 embedded in the
top plate 12 and threaded studs 39 embedded in and extending
upwardly from the top of the spindles into the inserts 38. Of
course, any kind of conventional adhesive or connector could be
used in lieu of these inserts 38 and studs 39.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, padding 35 in the
form of a foam rubber cushion is located over the top surface of
the plate 12 including the lid portion 16 and both the plate and
padding 35 are encased in decorative upholstering 36.
The lid 16 comprises a pie segment shaped section of the top plate
12. This segment is completely disconnected from the remainder of
the top except for a hinge connection along one radial edge 37 of
the lid. In the preferred embodiment this hinge is a so-called
piano hinge 40. When the lid 16 is closed, it is supported upon the
top of the crescent shaped metal plate 15 which is in turn fixedly
secured between the tops of the spindles and the bottom of the top
plate 12.
To facilitate opening of the lid by insertion of a person's finger
beneath the lower edge of the free or swinging side of the lid,
there is a recess or cut out 43 in the outer periphery of the
crescent shaped plate 15.
When the lid is open, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the interior of the
open top drum 14 is exposed through the top opening 44 provided by
the open lid. As may be seen most clearly in FIGS. 3 and 4, the
interior of the drum is divided into a series of pie segment shaped
compartments 48 by a series of radial spacers 45 located interiorly
of the drum. These spacers 45 are mounted in radial grooves 41 of
the base plate and in aligned radial grooves 42 of an upper
supporting disc 47. The disc has a central aperture through which
the axle 27 extends. There is an annular spacer 47A located between
the top of the disc 47 and the bottom of the top plate 12 so as to
keep the slotted disc 47 from riding up during rotation of the drum
46. When someone sits on the top 36, their weight is borne by the
spindles 13 and the shoulder 27A on center shaft 27, and
consequently the annular spacer 47A must be sufficiently thin so as
not to provide an interference fit with the under surface of the
top plate 12 and the slotted disc 47.
The spacers 45 extend between and may be secured to the side wall
46 of the drum and the axle 27. In the preferred embodiment there
are 10 spacers, each of which is of approximately the same height
as the side wall of the drum. Each compartment 48 is intended to
house or store one pair of shoes.
In order to gain access to all compartments through the top opening
44, the drum may be rotated by a person inserting his hand through
the opening 44 and turning the top of one of the exposed spacers
45. This results in the drum 14 rotating and serially locating the
compartments beneath the opening 44 so as to expose the contents of
the compartments 48 to view through the opening 44. After having
stored a pair of shoes in the hassock or removed a desired pair of
shoes from the hassock, the lid may be closed and the hassock then
has the appearance of any conventional foot stool or oversize
ottoman. It is then useful as either a foot stool or chair until
such time as someone desires to insert or remove a pair of
shoes.
It has been found that a 26-inch diameter drum accommodates 10
pairs of men's shoes or high top boots. Of course, a greater number
of ladies' or children's shoes may be accommodated in the same
space so that a greater number of compartments could be inserted in
the same drum if it were intended for that limited use. It has also
been found that a hassock 10 of about 171/2 inches over-all height
forms a comfortable seating surface and at the same time
accommodates a drum which has an inside vertical dimension of about
133/8 inches. This vertical dimension is approximately the same as
that of a size 12 man's shoe. Consequently, shoes up to this size
may be stored in the compartments of this size hassock.
The primary advantage of this shoe storage hassock over other
hollow storage hassocks which have preceded it is that it may be
used in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1 by a person while seated
on the hassock without the person having to go through a series of
gymnastic contortions to reach the storage area. Heretofore,
storage hassocks have required a seated person to get up from the
seating surface, remove the top, bend over and insert the shoes or
articles to be stored in the hassock, and then replace the top.
Another advantage of this hassock is the ease with which it lends
itself to numerous different decorative decors. By changing the
appearance of the upholstering 36 on the top of the unit and by
varying the appearance of the spindles, as for example, from
straight cylindrical chrome plated bars 13 to fluted decorative
spindles, and by varying the decorative covering on the exterior
surface of the side wall 46 of the drum, the complete ornamental
effect of the hassock may be varied.
While I have described only a single preferred embodiment of my
invention, persons skilled in the art to which it pertains will
readily appreciate numerous changes and modifications which may be
made without departing from the spirit of my invention. Therefore,
I do not intend to be limited except by the scope of the following
appended claims.
* * * * *