U.S. patent number 3,822,079 [Application Number 05/276,202] was granted by the patent office on 1974-07-02 for furniture having components which can be assembled in different ways.
Invention is credited to Harvey Probber.
United States Patent |
3,822,079 |
Probber |
July 2, 1974 |
FURNITURE HAVING COMPONENTS WHICH CAN BE ASSEMBLED IN DIFFERENT
WAYS
Abstract
An article of furniture having a seat portion and, if desired,
an upper portion forming an arm or back. The seat portion has a
lower frame and legs some of which are short and extend only
downwardly from the lower frame and some of which are long and
extend not only downwardly from but also upwardly from the lower
frame. If an upper portion is joined to the seat the upper portion
has a frame joined to the longer legs. The legs and frames are
embedded in blocks of foam plastic with the legs extending
downwardly beyond the lower block of a seat to the floor. The upper
frames of the upper portions can be fixed to the longer legs. In
this way it is possible to assemble components to provide articles
of furniture of different desired configurations.
Inventors: |
Probber; Harvey (Rye, NY) |
Family
ID: |
23055622 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/276,202 |
Filed: |
July 28, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
297/446.1;
D6/334; 297/440.21; 297/440.1; 297/440.24 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47C
5/04 (20130101); A47C 4/028 (20130101); A47C
4/02 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47C
4/02 (20060101); A47C 5/00 (20060101); A47C
5/04 (20060101); A47C 4/00 (20060101); A47c
004/02 (); A47c 007/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;297/440,445 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Gilliam; Paul R.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Blum Moscovitz Friedman &
Kaplan
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An article of furniture comprising a lower seat portion
including an endless lower seat frame, a plurality of separate
elongated legs adapted to be fixed to said seat frame and to
project downwardly therefrom, at least two seat frame post members
mounted on said seat frame and extending upwardly therefrom and a
block of resilient foam plastic completely surrounding said seat
frame and at least a portion of each of said legs and seat frame
post members adjacent said seat frame; and an upper seat portion
defining at least one of an arm or back of said article of
furniture, said upper seat portion including an upper portion
frame, at least two upper portion post members mounted on said
upper portion frame positioned for registration with said seat
frame post members, and an upper block of resilient foam plastic
completely surrounding said upper portion frame and at least a
portion of said upper portion post members adjacent to said upper
portion frame; and means permitting the releasable coupling of said
upper portion post members and said seat frame post members, said
releasable coupling means including a socket formed in one of each
of said seat frame post members and said upper portion post members
for receiving the other of the corresponding seat frame post member
and said upper portion post member.
2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein at least some of said
legs and frames include sections which are inclined relative to a
vertical axis through a horizontal plane which includes the lower
seat portion.
3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said lower frame is of a
geometric shape.
4. An article of furniture as recited in claim 1, wherein at least
a portion of said seat frame post members are formed integral with
and as extensions of a corresponding portion of said legs.
5. The combination of claim 1 including a relatively flat rigid
wall forming a table arm, said wall being fixed to at least two
table arm post members which extend downwardly from said wall, said
lower seat member including further post members mounted on said
seat frame for registration with said table arm post members, said
table arm and further post members including said releasable
coupling means.
6. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a sheet material covers
all of said blocks and is formed with openings surrounding said
extensions and said long legs, said sheet material having grommets
at said openings.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to articles of furniture.
In particular, the present invention relates to articles of
furniture such as upholstered chairs having seats as well as, if
desired, arms and backs.
At the present time articles of furniture of this type are designed
so that a specific construction of an upholstered chair, for
example, is provided, and in order to save costs one specific
design of an upholstered chair, for example, is repeatedly
manufactured over and over. The drawback of this type of article of
furniture resides in the fact that it does not lend itself to
economical manufacture of different designs of the article of
furniture. For example it may be highly desirable to be able to
manufacture economically upholstered chairs of the like with
different arrangements of arms and backs or even without arms and
backs depending upon where the articles of furniture are to be used
and the size of the space which is to be occupied by the articles
of furniture. For example if the article of furniture is to be
placed in a corner of a room, or next to a wall of the room, one
type of design may be highly desirable, whereas if the article of
furniture is to be placed in an open space distant from a wall of a
room an entirely different type of design will be desired.
Furthermore, depending upon the space which is available it may be
highly desirable to place several articles of furniture one next to
the other according to a predetermined pattern so as to form a
sectional article of furniture which occupies a relatively large
space with the different sections situated in such a way as to
provide an attractive appearance while at the same time being
convenient to use and providing a high degree of comfort. Thus
where an article of furniture is to be accommodated in a relatively
large space such as the lobby of a hotel or theater, there will be
one set of requirements whereas where the article of furniture is
to be located in a relatively small space such as a room in a house
or in an office, then other requirements must be met.
In view of the above factors it is exceedingly difficult at the
present time to manufacture economically articles of furniture
which will be adapted for the various conditions referred to
above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to
provide articles of furniture which can be economically
manufactured to meet all of the varying requirements encountered in
practice, such as those referred to above.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide
furniture components of different shapes and sizes which can
readily be combined in an economical manner to provide an article
of furniture of a preselected configuration.
It is especially an object of the present invention to provide an
article of furniture of the above type where selected components
can be assembled together quickly and economically to provide a
relatively inexpensive and at the same time comfortable and
attractive article of furniture.
It is especially an object of the present invention to provide
articles of furniture of the above type which are capable of
withstanding a relatively large amount of wear and which at the
same time are easy to maintain.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide articles
of furniture of the above type which are free of any pockets or the
like in which dust can accumulate undesirably.
Also, it is an object of the present invention to provide articles
of furniture of the above type which can readily and conveniently
be provided in an inexpensive manner with any desired covering
fabric, for example, so that not only is the initial manufacture of
the article of furniture relatively inexpensive but in addition it
is possible to replace a covering whenever required without
involving large costs.
It is furthermore an object of the present invention to provide
articles of furniture of the above general type which lends
themselves to being placed one next to the other to form in this
way a sectional article of furniture having individual articles
placed one next to the other to provide a total attractive
appearance with the final total article of furniture being both
comfortable and capable of withstanding hard use.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a
relatively small number of components which can selectively be
assembled in a number of different ways which give an almost
limitless possibility for achieving furniture configurations of
different shapes and sizes.
In accordance with the invention the article of furniture has a
lower seat portion, and if desired, at least one upper portion
forming an arm or back. An endless lower seat frame has a plurality
of corners, and a plurality of elongated legs of different lengths
are adapted to be fixed to the lower frame at the corners thereof.
These legs include low, relatively short legs to be fixed to and
extend only downwardly from any corner of the lower frame which
does not support an upper portion of the article of furniture.
However, the legs also include high, relatively long legs to be
fixed to any corners of the frame which are to support an upper
portion of the article of furniture. These long legs extend
downwardly from the frame to the same extent as the short legs and
also extend upwardly from the frame for a given distance. A
plurality of upper portions of the article of furniture
respectively have upper frames which are adapted to be fixed to and
extend upwardly from the long legs, if any, which are fixed to the
corners of the lower frame, these frames of the upper portions
having lower extensions to be fixed to at least some of the longer
legs. A lower block of resilient foam plastic in which the lower
seat frame is located also encloses the legs which extend
downwardly beyond the block into engagement with the floor. This
block of plastic extends upwardly from the lower frame and encloses
those portions of the long legs which extend upwardly beyond the
lower frame. Additional upper blocks of resilient foam plastic are
provided with the upper frames embedded therein, and these upper
frames have lower extensions which are fixed to the long legs, so
that in this way a preselected combination of frames and legs can
be assembled and embedded in the blocks to provide articles of
furniture of different configurations.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying
drawings which form part of this application and in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded illustration of one possible
combination of components of the invention capable of being
combined together to form part of an article of furniture of the
invention;
FIG. 1A is a plan view of a lower frame of a different
configuration from that shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration of an upper frame which may be
used as part of a relatively low wide arm;
FIG. 3 is a perspective illustration of an upper frame adapted to
form part of an arm or back of the article of furniture;
FIG. 4 is a perspective illustration of a table arm capable of
being combined with other components to form an article of
furniture according to the invention;
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective illustration of part of the
lower frame of FIG. 1 showing different types of components
assembled therewith;
FIG. 6 is a perspective illustration of another type of upper frame
adapted to be used in a relatively thin upper arm;
FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the structure of FIG. 1 shown without
the spring of FIG. 1 and showing in phantom dot-dash lines the
final outline of the completed article of furniture;
FIG. 8 is a transverse section of the frame of FIG. 7 taken along
line 8--8 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows and showing also
in phantom dot-dash lines the outline of the final article;
FIG. 9 is a fragmentary transverse sectional elevation taken along
line 9--9 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows and showing
details of the construction;
FIG. 10 is a perspective illustration of one possible article of
furniture according to the invention;
FIGS. 10a and 10b are respectively a perspective illustration of
the frame of FIG. 10 and a top plan view of the article of FIG. 10
showing the interior frame in a phantom dot-dash line
representation;
FIG. 11 is a perspective illustration of another possible
configuration of an article of furniture according to the
invention;
FIGS. 11a and 11b are respectively a perspective illustration of
the frame structure of FIG. 11 and a top plan view of the article
of FIG. 11 showing the frame in phantom lines;
FIG. 12 is a perspective illustration of a further possible article
of furniture according to the invention, this article of FIG. 12
corresponding to that shown in FIGS. 7-9;
FIGS. 12a and 12b are respectively a perspective illustration of
the frame structure of FIG. 12 and a top plan view of the article
of FIG. 12 showing the frame structure in phantom lines;
FIG. 13 is a perspective illustration of a further possible article
of furniture which may be manufactured from the components of the
invention;
FIGS. 13a and 13b are respectively a perspective illustration of
the frame structure of FIG. 13 and a top plan view of the article
of furniture of FIG. 13 showing the frame in phantom lines;
FIG. 14 is a perspective illustration of yet another possible
article of furniture according to the invention;
FIG. 14a and 14b are respectively a perspective illustration of the
frame structure of FIG. 14 and a top plan view of the article of
furniture of FIG. 14 showing the frame in phantom lines;
FIG. 15 is a perspective illustration of a still further possible
article which may be constructed according to the invention;
FIGS. 15a and 15b are respectively a perspective illustration of
the frame structure of FIG. 15 and a top plan view of the article
of furniture of FIG. 15 showing the frame outline in phantom
lines;
FIG. 16 is a side elevation of a frame structure of another
embodiment of an article of furniture according to the invention,
the outline of the completed article of furniture being shown in
phantom lines in FIG. 16; and
FIG. 16a is a perspective illustration of the frame structure of
FIG. 16.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring first to FIG. 1, there is illustrated therein the inner
frame structure of one possible article of furniture which may be
constructed according to the invention. This inner frame structure
includes a lower endless frame 20 which may be made, for example,
of any suitable tubular metal and which in the illustrated example
has a rectangular or square configuration so that it has four
corners. However, it is to be understood that in accordance with
the invention the lower frame of the article of furniture may have
different configurations. Thus there is shown in FIG. 1A a lower
frame 22 which is also endless and made of a tubular metal, for
example, but which has the configuration of a quadrant of a circle.
Thus it is possible in accordance with the invention to have lower
frames either of the configuration of the frame 20 or the
configuration of the frame 22, depending upon the final desired
article of furniture, and of course further configurations of
endless lower frames are also possible.
The manufacturer of the furniture will have on hand a supply of
frames such as the frames 20 and 22. In addition, the manufacturer
will have on hand a supply of different types of tubular leg
components. Thus, there is shown in FIG. 1, at the corner 24 of the
frame 20 a relatively low or short leg component 26 which is
selected from a supply of these components and which is fastened to
the corner 24 in any suitable way as by being bolted or welded
thereto. The remaining corners of the endless frame 20 have fixed
thereto relatively long legs 28 which may be constructed of the
same tubular stock as the legs 26 but which have a longer length,
as is apparent from FIG. 1. In accordance with the invention the
relatively short or low legs 20 are fixed to any corner of the
frame 20 (or 22) which is not to support an upper portion of the
article of furniture, such an upper portion forming an arm or back,
as will be apparent from the description which follows. The long
legs 28 are fixed to corners of the frame 20 in the same way as the
leg 26 and extend downwardly from the frame 20 to the same extent
as the leg 26. However it will be noted that these legs 28 extend
upwardly from the frame 20 through a given distance for a purpose
referred to below.
FIG. 1 further illustrates a spring supporting assembly 30 which
may be hooked on to the frame 20 in the manner illustrated in FIG.
1.
The short legs 26 and the long legs 28 are used only at the corners
of the frame 20 (or 22). Where an upper portion of the article,
forming an arm or back thereof, is to be supported between the
corners of the lower frame 20, the manufacturer selects from
different support stubs such as the support stub 32 shown in FIG.
1. Thus, this support stub 32 is fixed at its lower end, as by
welding or bolts or the like, to the frame 20 extending upwardly
therefrom in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1 for the purpose of
supporting an upper portion of the article of furniture at a
location between the corners where the legs 26 or 28 are
located.
FIG. 1 further illustrates an upper frame 34 which may be made of
tubular metallic stock of a diameter slightly smaller than that of
the stock from which the legs 26 and 28 are formed, so that the
lower extensions 36 of the upper frame 34 may be telescopically
received in the upper ends of a pair of legs 28, as is apparent
from FIG. 1. The upper frame 34 is reinforced by an elongated rod
38 of relatively small diameter which is fixed at its opposed ends
in any suitable way to the pair of side arms of the upper frame 34
so as to reinforce the latter. It will be noted that while the
upper frame 34 extends in a generally upright direction upwardly
from the legs 28 it is at the same time inclined so as to extend
outwardly beyond the outer frame 20, for a purpose referred to
below.
The frame 34 is but one example of a plurality of different frames
of different configurations and sizes which are kept on hand by the
manufacturer so that by a selection from among the different frames
it is possible to manufacture articles of furniture of different
configurations as will be apparent from the description which
follows.
Thus, FIG. 2 shows an upper frame 40 which is of a horizontal
rectangular configuration and which has fixed thereto lower
extensions 42 adapted to be fixed in any suitable way to longer
legs 28 or intermediate support stubs 32 in the manner described in
greater detail below, the frame 40 forming part of an arm of the
article of furniture which is of a relatively wide low
configuration.
FIG. 3 is a perspective illustration of an upper frame 44 which is
identical with the frame 34 except that it is shorter. Thus the
left lower extension 46 of the frame 44 may be joined to the left
leg 28 of FIG. 1 while the right lower extension 46 may be joined
to the support stub 32. In this case also the tubular stock which
forms the frame 44 may be telescopically received in the upper open
ends of the left leg 28 and support stub 32 of FIG. 1, and it will
be noted that frame 44 is also reinforced by an elongated rod
48.
FIG. 4 illustrates a table arm 50 according to the invention. This
table arm includes a relatively rigid wall 52 made of wood, metal,
plastic, or the like, and having a suitably finished upper surface
54. At its lower surface the plate 52 is fixed in any suitable way
as by glue, screws, or the like, to a pair of smaller square plates
56 which in turn are fixed with lower extensions 58 made of the
same tubular stock as the tubular stock used for any of the upper
frames referred to above so that these lower extensions 58 may be
received, for example, in the left leg 28 and the support stub 32
of FIG. 1.
Finally, FIG. 6 illustrates a further embodiment of an upper frame
60 according to the invention. This upper frame 60 is made of the
same tubular stock as any of the upper frames referred to above,
but in this case the upper frame 60 is not inclined as is the case
with the frames 34 and 44. Instead the entire frame is located in a
single vertical plane, although its opposed side arms are inclined
inwardly toward each other. These arms terminate in the lower
extensions 62 which are adapted to be telescopically received in
supports such as the left leg 28 of FIG. 1 and the support stub 32.
It will be noted that in this case also the upper frame 60 is
reinforced by an elongated rod 64.
In addition to the components described above, the present
invention comtemplates the use of legs and support stubs which are
offset outwardly beyond the lower frame for a purpose referred to
below. Thus, FIG. 5 fragmentarily illustrates part of the frame 20
of FIG. 1 which in the case of FIG. 5 forms an article of furniture
which may be identical with that of FIG. 1 except that the left leg
28 of FIG. 1 is replaced by a leg 66 and the support stub 32 of
FIG. 1 is replaced by a support stub 68. The relatively long leg 66
of FIG. 5 has upwardly beyond the frame 20 an outwardly inclined
portion 70 which terminates in an upper end 72 adapted to receive
the left lower extension 62 of the frame 60 of FIG. 6. The support
stub 68 has an outwardly inclined portion 74 fixed to and extending
upwardly and outwardly from the frame 20 and terminating in a
vertical portion which is adapted to telescopically receive the
right lower extension 62 of the frame 60 of FIG. 6. Thus, in this
case, as will be apparent from the description below, these
outwardly offset legs and support stubs are adapted to be used with
a vertical frame of the type shown in FIG. 6 which is to form part
of a relatively thin arm of the article of furniture.
It is possible by combining the component described above and shown
in FIGS. 1-6 in different ways to achieve an almost limitless
varieth in the configurations of the articles of furniture. For
this purpose a lower frame such as the frame 20 of FIG. 1 with
preselected legs and support stubs fixed thereto is embedded in a
block of resilient foam plastic. Although many different plastics
are available for this purpose, it is preferred to use a urethane
foam which is wrapped in a relatively puffy coat of Dacron. The
urethane foam is reinforced by the frame and leg structure as well
as the spring assembly 30, and preferably the urethane foam is
self-skinned. In other words the cells may be closed at the outer
surface of the block of urethane foam. The surrounding coat of
Dacron lends an additional softness to the structure.
Thus, referring to FIG. 8, there is shown therein the lower frame
and leg assembly of FIG. 1 in a side elevation with the resilient
plastic block in which the components are embedded being
illustrated in a dot-dash line illustration. Thus, FIG. 8 shows in
phantom lines a lower block 76 in which the lower frame 20 and the
legs and support stub fixed thereto are embedded. For this purpose
the lower frame 20 and the legs and support stub fixed thereto are
placed in a mold in which the foam plastic is molded. It will be
noted that the legs extend downwardly beyond the block 76 into
engagement with the floor 78, and the bottoms of the legs may be
closed with any suitable closure elements 80 which engage the floor
78 in a predetermined manner. The block of foam plastic surrounded
with Dacron extends all the way up to the stops of the legs 28 and
the support stub 32 in the illustrated example. In the illustrated
example the upper frame 34 as well as the upper frame 44 are also
embedded in a block of resilient foam plastic which is surrounded
with Dacron in the manner described above. Thus, FIG. 8 shows at
the right the frame 34 embedded in a block 82 and at the left the
frame 44 embedded in a block 84. These blocks 82 and 84 are also
shown in phantom lines and are composed of the urethane foam
surrounded by the Dacron. It will be noted that in the case of the
upper frames 34 and 44, the lower extensions thereof extend
downwardly beyond the upper blocks 82 and 84 to be received
telescopically in the top ends of the legs and support stub, in the
manner shown most clearly in FIG. 8. Thus, with this particular
combination it is possible to provide as shown in FIG. 7 an
elongated back 82 supported by the frame 34 and an elongated arm 84
supported by the frame 44. The rest of the block 76 is not used to
support any back or arm, and it will be noted that the one corner
of the frame 20 which does not support an arm or back utilizes only
the relatively short leg 26.
FIG. 9 shows the components of the block 84, namely the urethane
foam plastic 84a encased at its top and sides within Dacron 84b. In
the same way the block 76 is made up of the urethane foam block 76a
encased within Dacron 76b which is at the top and sides of the
block 76a. Moreover, FIG. 9 shows in detail how the upper portion
of the leg 28, which is illustrated at the left in FIG. 8,
telescopically receives the lower left extension 46 of the frame
44. Thus, because these extensions, such as the extensions 46
extend downwardly beyond the block 84, they are free to be placed
within the upper portions of the legs 28 or the supporting stub 32,
and a suitable screw 86 is provided to extend through aligned
openings of the telescoped tubular portions for holding them
together in the desired relationship, as illustrated in FIG. 9. The
dacron layer 76b is physically compressed to permit insertion of
screw 86.
Moreover, the block 84, the block 82, and the block 76 may be
covered with any suitable fabric such as the fabric 88 shown
covering the block 84 in FIG. 9 and the fabric 90 shown covering
the block 76 in FIG. 9. At the places where the extensions, such as
the extensions 46, extend beyond the block 84 or the block 82, the
fabric is provided with an opening reinforced by a suitable grommet
such as the grommet 92 shown in FIG. 9, and in a similar manner in
alignment with the leg 28 and supporting stubs such as the stub 32
the fabric 90 is provided with suitable openings reinforced by a
grommet 94. When the extensions are telescopically received in the
top ends of the legs 28 or supporting stubs the upper portions of
the article of furniture are pressed against the lower portions so
that a construction as shown in FIG. 9 is provided. It will be
noted that with this construction there are no pockets in which
dust can accumulate.
It will be noted with the article of furniture as shown in FIGS.
7-9 the upper back 82 and arm 84 include the upper frames 34 and 44
which are inclined outwardly beyond the lower frame 20. As a result
of this feature when the occupant of the article of furniture leans
back, the frame 34 will provide a relatively large volume of foam
to support the occupant, and in the same way should the occupant
lean to the side against the arm 84, the outwardly inclined frame
44 will act in the same way.
Of course in the case of the arm 84 the shorter frame 44 coacts
with the stub 32 in the same way that it coacts with the leg 28. In
the case of the back 82 the longer frame 34 coacts with the pair of
rear legs 28 in the same way as described above in connection with
the front end of the frame 44 and as shown in detail in FIG. 9.
FIG. 10 shows an exceedingly simple form of an article of furniture
according to the invention. This article is composed, as shown in
FIG. 10a, only of the frame 20 and four of the short legs 26. This
frame of FIG. 10a is embedded in the foam plastic block 76 in the
manner described above, and in turn this block may be covered with
a suitable fabric so as to provide in this way thearticle of
furniture shown in FIG. 10. The manner in which the frame is
enclosed within the block 76 is illustrated in FIG. 10b. Of course,
in the case of a quadrant frame 22 as shown in FIG. 1A, the article
of furniture of FIG. 10 would have the configuration of a quadrant
of a circle.
FIG. 11 shows an article of furniture which corresponds to that of
FIGS. 7-9 without the arm 84 and the frame 44 therein. Thus, in the
case of the article of furniture shown in FIG. 11, the frame 20 has
fixed to its front corners a pair of the legs 26 and to its rear
corners a pair of the legs 28 which are joined with the longer
frame 34 in the manner described above and shown in FIG. 11a. Thus,
this article of furniture which is shown in FIG. 11 has, as shown
in FIG. 11b, the frame 20 and the front legs 26 and the rear legs
28 with the single block 82 extending across the back of the
article of furniture.
FIGS. 12, as well as 12a and 12b illustrate the article of
furniture which was described in detail in connection with FIGS.
7-9.
Thus, it will be noted that the embodiment of FIG. 11 differs from
that of FIG. 10 by adding to the latter the back 82 while the
embodiment of FIG. 12 differs from that of FIG. 11 by adding to the
embodiment of FIG. 11 the arm 84.
The embodiment of FIG. 13 adds to that of FIG. 11 a pair of
relatively thin arms 96. In this case, since all of the corners of
the lower frame support an arm or a back, the legs 28 are used for
the rear corners. However, the legs 66 are used for the front
corners because in this case the front legs are inclined above the
frame 20 outwardly beyond the latter, as shown in FIG. 13a. Also,
instead of the straight support stub 32, the opposed sides of the
frame 20 have fixed thereto the support stubs 68 shown in FIG. 5.
Because of the fact that the side arms 96 of this embodiment are
relatively thin, the outwardly offset legs and support stubs are
used in the case. Thus, the frame 60 shown in FIG. 6 is embedded in
a suitable block of plastic such as a urethane foam surrounded by
Dacron, and this combination is situated within a suitable fabric
covering precisely as described above. The lower extensions 62 are
then telescopically received in the top ends of the legs 66 and
stubs 68 and fastened thereto in a manner described above in
connection with FIG. 9. In this way it is possible by using the
frames 60 of FIG. 6 and the outwardly inclined legs 66 and support
stubs 68 to achieve an article of furniture having the
configuration shown in FIG. 13 and illustrated in further detail in
the top plan view of FIG. 13b.
Instead of adding to the structure which is shown in FIG. 10 a
relatively long back 82, it is possible to add a relatively short
back to achieve the construction shown in FIG. 14. Thus, as may be
seen from FIG. 14, the block 76 is supported on the same frame 20
which in this case is connected only with short legs 26. This
latter construction is apparent from FIG. 14a. Thus, in this case
none of the corners of the frame 20 support an upper portion of the
article of furniture so that only the short legs 26 are required.
However, in order to support the relatively short back 84, since
this back is identical with the block 84 of FIG. 12, the rear
portion of the frame 20 has fixed thereto a pair of support stubs
32 which are spaced inwardly from the rear corners of the frame 20
so as to be situated from each other midway between these rear
corners by a distance equal to the distance between the pair of
lower extensions 46 of the frame 44. Thus simply by providing the
pair of stubs 32 in the manner shown in FIG. 14a it is possible to
achieve with the block 84 supported by the frame 44 in the manner
described above an article of furniture as shown in FIG. 14. FIG.
14b shows in plan view how the components are arranged.
FIG. 15 shows an article of furniture of the invention which is
identical with that of FIG. 11 except that a relatively low wide
arm 98 has been added. This arm is made by incorporating the frame
40 of FIG. 2 in a block of suitable plastic such as the urethane
foam encased within the Dacron in the manner described above, and
in this case the extensions 42 are received in a front leg 28 and a
support stub 32. These details of the frame structure are
illustrated in FIG. 15a. FIG. 15b shows in plan view how the
components are arranged. It will be noted that in this case it is
the front left corner which does not support any upper portion of
the article of furniture and which therefore has the short leg 26
fixed thereto, while the remaining corners of the frame 20 have the
longer legs 28 fixed thereto with the rear legs supporting the
frame 34 while the remaining front leg 28 and the support stub 32
support the frame 40. In this case the frame 32 is of course
located at the right side of the article of funiture.
It is to be noted that instead of a low relatively wide arm 98
shown in FIG. 15, it is possible to replace this component with the
table arm 50 of FIG. 4, and of course it is possible to locate the
relatively wide arm 98 or the table arm 50 at the side of the
article of furniture opposite from that illustrated in FIG. 15 for
the arm 98.
It is to be noted that the above specific examples are only a small
number of the possible various configurations of articles of
furniture which may be made in accordance with the invention in
accordance with selecting different combinations of the components
of FIGS. 1-6 to be joined together in any of the ways described
above. Moreover, because of the simple structure of the invention,
apparent from FIGS. 10-15, it is possible to place several of the
articles of furniture according to the invention which may have
different configurations one next to the other to form a sectional
article of furniture. When utilizing square or rectangular articles
of furniture with quadrant-shaped articles utilizing the frame 22
of FIG. 1A, it is possible for the sectional article of furniture
to have a wavy S-shaped configuration of any desired attractive
appearance simply by combining together articles of furniture of
predetermined configurations.
Although in the above described examples the article of furniture
is made by preselected combinations of the components shown in
FIGS. 1-6 and described above, it is possible also to practice the
invention by utilizing an arrangement as shown in FIGS. 16 and 16a.
The particular article of furniture illustrated in FIGS. 16 and 16a
corresponds to that shown in FIG. 11. Thus, the frame 20 has the
short legs 26 fixed to its front corners. However, in this case
instead of long rear legs and a frame 34, the rear frame structure
100 is formed on a single elongated tube reinforced only by the rod
102 and having in one piece the configuration resulting from the
combination of a pair of legs 28 and the frame 34 as described
above in connection with FIG. 11a. This frame structure which is
shown in FIG. 16a, and of course including a spring assembly 30 as
described above in connection with FIG. 1, is then placed in a
suitable mold so that a single body of plastic is molded directly
onto the frame forming a one-piece molded plastic body 104 shown in
phantom lines in FIG. 16. In this case also the block 104 may be
composed of an inner urethane foam plastic covered by Dacron, and
then the entire assembly may be covered with a suitable fabric.
Thus, while the embodiment of FIGS. 16 and 16a corresponds to that
of FIG. 11, it has, for the added costs required by the unitary
frame and block structure, a still more rugged construction than
that shown in FIG. 11. Thus if the added costs required by the
manufacture of a more unitary article as shown in FIGS. 16 and 16a
is justified, it is still possible to practice the invention with
an arrangement as illustrated in FIGS. 16 and 16a, so that only a
one-piece foam plastic structure and a unitary frame structure is
utilized. This same principle may be applied to any of the
embodiments of the invention described above.
Also, the basic components of this invention readily lend
themselves to the utilization with other components of a decorative
nature. For example, the embodiments disclosed hereinabove have
simple tubular legs. However, these legs may be used to form a
framework for bases of other designs. A decorative sleeve or a
sleeve having a larger outside diameter could be overfitted on the
tubular leg components. An entirely different leg effect could be
created by applying a U-shaped tubular leg over each pair of side
legs or by securing wooden base members to the leg components. By
way of the foregoing examples, the versatility of the instant
invention is underscored.
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