Knockdown rocking chair

Abstract

The rocking chair includes a plurality of seat slats and back slats which extend between opposite side panels which also include rocker cams and arms. Preferably second thicknesses of the construction material are applied at the rocker cams and arms. Intermediate ones of the slats are provided with long tenons which fit through corresponding mortices in the side panels. The uppermost, lowermost/rearmost and foremost slats are provided with short tenons which are received in blind mortices in the side panels. Fasteners applied through the blind sides of the latter mortices and into the six ends of the respective slats retain the chair in an assembled condition. Removal of these fasteners permits easy and substantially complete disassembly of the chair into a flat, compact, easily shipped or stored kit.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Shipping and storage are important factors in the furniture industry, because when bulky, non-rectangular solid furniture articles are packed for shipment or storage there is often more air space than furniture article within each package leading to the inefficient use of cargo transport facilities. The inefficiency is further exhibited when the ultimate purchaser of the article must pack it for a move from one residence to another.

Rocking chairs are particularly difficult to transport by small car because of the lengths of the rocker cams and their distance apart.

Although many designs of disassemblable furniture are precursors of the present invention, ones which combine provide sturdiness, beauty and ease of assembly and disassembly are much rarer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The rocking chair includes a plurality of seat slats and back slats which extend between opposite side panels which also include rocker cams and arms. Preferably second thicknesses of the construction material are applied at the rocker cams and arms. Intermediate ones of the slats are provided with long tenons which fit through corresponding mortices in the side panels. The uppermost, lowermost/rearmost and foremost slats are provided with short tenons which are received in blind mortices in the side panels. Fasteners applied through the blind sides of the latter mortices and into the six ends of the respective slats retain the chair in an assembled condition. Removal of these fasteners permits easy and substantially complete disassembly of the chair into a flat, compact, easily shipped or stored kit.

A variation is described, wherein each slat is provided with an individual pad.

The principles of the invention will be further hereinafter discussed with reference to the drawings wherein preferred embodiments are shown. The specifics illustrated in the drawings are intended to exemplify, rather than limit, aspects of the invention as defined in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front and left side perspective view of the rocking chair;

FIG. 2 is a right, outside elevation view of the rocking chair;

FIG. 3 is a top and left side perspective view of the rocking chair;

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation view of the rocking chair; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the rocking chair in a substantially disassembled condition, the outside of the right side panel and the inside of the left side panel being shown to expose more detail; and

FIG. 6 is a transverse cross-sectional view of one slat as an example of the full complement, showing a modification wherein padding and a tubular sleeve are provided thereover.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The rocking chair 10 includes right and left side panels 12, 14 as major components. Each panel 12, 14 is a unitary structure, e.g. made of several pieces of wood edge glued and/or dowelled together, preferred locations for seams being indicated by lightweight lines 16. Thus, portion P1 forms a rocker cam 18 and base stubs 20, 22 of a rear leg 24 and a combined front leg and arm post 26, respectively; portion P2 forms the remainder of a rear leg 24, a back support post 28, a stub 30 of an arm 32, and a stub 34 of a seat support bracket 36; portion P3 forms the remainder of a combined front leg and arm post 26, and another stub 38 of a seat support bracket 36; portion P4 extends between the stubs 34 and 38 to form the remainder of a seat support bracket; and portion P5 extends between the upper end of the portion P3 and the stub 30 to form an upper stub of the arm post 26 and the remainder of an arm 32. Note that where the usage of wood is followed in accordance with the highly preferred form illustrated, the grain of portions P1, P4 and P5 extends generally horizontally and the grain of the portions P2 and P3 extends generally vertically, optimizing the strength of the wood. Of course, each entire panel 12 or 14 could be made as a unit of e.g. an aluminum casting, plywood, or the like. The array of arm, posts seat support bracket and cam provides, for each panel 12, 14, a lower major opening 40 and an upper major opening 42, both having generally rounded-corner rectangular shapes.

The outer side of each panel 12, 14 is preferably provided with an arm augmentation 44 and a rocker cam augmentation 46, preferably made of the same material as the respective panels. The upper edge 48 of the arm augmentation 44 substantially follows the laterally adjacent upper edge 50 of the respective arm 32 as a smooth continuation thereof and the lower edge 52 of the rocker cam augmentation 46 substantially follows the laterally adjacent lower edge 54 of the respective rocker cam 18 as a smooth continuation thereof. Each element 44, 46 is, in a sense, laminated to the structure it augments, e.g. using two fasteners 56 for each instance. In the embodiment illustrated, the fasteners 56 are each a cross-slotted, beveled head, bright plated wood screw, turned down tightly against a similarly plated beveled washer 58.

The augmentations may be further coupled to the respective panels by dowels (not shown) received in blind sockets.

The back support post 28 of each panel 12, 14 is provided with a plurality of vertically elongated, generally oval mortices 60, including an uppermost one 60A and a lowermost one 60B which are blind. More particularly, all the intermediate ones of the mortices 60 proceed completely through the post 28, inside-to-outside, but the uppermost and lowermost ones 60A, 60B proceed only part way, e.g. half way, through the post 28, inside-to-centerline so that the existance thereof is not readily apparent from the outside of the post 28.

The seat support bracket 36 of each panel 12, 14 is provided with a plurality of horizontally elongated, generally oval mortices 62, including a foremost one 62A which is blind. More particularly, all but the foremost one of the mortices 62 proceed completely through the seat support bracket 36, inside-to-outside, but the foremost one 62A proceeds only part way, e.g. half way, through the seat support bracket 36, inside-to-centerline so that the existance thereof is not readily apparent from the outside of the seat support bracket 36.

The mortices 60A, 60, 60B, 62, 62A can be properly conceived to be a single series which starts out being generally vertically elongated, shifts to being generally horizontally elongated between the last complete mortice 60 and the nearest complete mortice 62, one mortice in this transitional region, the mortice 60B, being a blind one and the other blind mortices 60A and 62A being at the opposite extremes of the complete series. The mortice 60B may be oriented more obliquely than shown, in which instance that mortice is properly also thought of as the rearmost mortice of the 62 series.

Preferably, the foremost blind mortice 62A is somewhat oblique, so that the chair, when assembled as described below, will provide a more anatomically conforming support for the chair user.

In addition to the panels 12, 14, the chair 10 further includes a plurality of back support and seat slats 64, with long tenons 66 and a lesser number of such slats 68 with short tenons 70.

The chair 10 is assembled by inserting the long tenons of each slat 64 through respective complete mortices 60, 62, socketing the short tenons 70 of each slat 68 in the respective blind mortices, and inserting fasteners 72, from the outside of each panel 12, 14, from the blind side of each blind mortice, into the respective slats 68, through each short tenon 70. The fasteners 72 are preferably identical to the ones 56. Holes 74 for receipt of the fasteners 72, 56 may, of course, be predrilled as shown (FIG. 5).

Notice that the tenons 66, 70 are also of oval cross-section so as to snugly fit the respective mortices and cause the respective slats to cleanly shoulder against the insides of the panels 12, 14. By preference, the long tenons 66 protrude about as much through the panels 12, 14 as the respective thicknesses of the latter. The tenons are preferably reduced in width, but not in thickness, compared to the remainder of the slats upon which they are respectively provided.

According to the variation shown in FIG. 6, each slat 64, 68 is provided with an overlayment of padding 80, e.g. of upholsterer's foamed plastic padding about as wide and as thick as the respective slat, but terminating even with the shoulders 82 where the tenons have their respective bases. The padding 80 is retained in place by a tubular sleeve, e.g. of canvas, pulled over the combination of the slat and padding, much as a sandwich is slid into a plastic sandwich bag.

The number of slats used in the rocking chair and the length thereof may be changed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein. For instance, the chair, in being manufactured, may be scaled down and/or one or more less slats used in the seat or back support when the chair is suited for a child's use. Likewise one or more additional slats may be provided in the seat or back support when the chair is suited for a heavy and/or tall person's use. By making the salts relatively longer than as depicted, a two or more person rocker, i.e. a rocking bench may be provided.

It should now be apparent that the knockdown rocking chair as described hereinabove possesses each of the attributes set forth in the specification under the heading "Summary of the Invention" hereinbefore. Because the knockdown rocking chair of the invention can be modified to some extent without departing from the principles of the invention as they have been outlined and explained in this specification, the present invention should be understood as encompassing all such modifications as are within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Claims

We claim:

1. A rocking chair, comprising:

two individually unitary side panels, each having:

a rocker cam portion, a front leg and arm post, a rear leg and back support post, a seat support bracket and an arm; the rocker cam, front leg, seat support bracket and rear leg cooperating to define a first generally rectangular opening among them; the seat support bracket, arm post, arm and back support post cooperating to form a second rectangular post among them; a plurality of mortices arranged in a row, descending the back support post, turning, and extending forwardly on the seat support bracket; and

a plurality of slats, each provided with a tenon at each end thereof, the slats being arranged in a row extending transversally between the two side panels, with respective tenons being received in corresponding ones of the mortices;

and fastener means securing at least some of the tenons to the respective side panels to maintain the rocking chair in an assembled, useful condition;

at least a majority of the mortices being completed through the respective panels and the tenons received therein protruding substantially therebeyond;

a minority of the mortices being blind sockets opening toward the inside of the chair; the fastener means comprising threaded elements received through the blind, outer sides of the blind sockets and into the respective tenons, the latter tenons being correspondingly shorter than those which protrude through said completed mortices;

separate arm augmenting means coextending along the outer sides of each arm with the upper edge thereof level with the upper edge of the respective arm; and means securing those augmentations to the respective arms.

2. The rocking chair of claim 1 further comprising separate rocker cam augmenting means coextending along the outer sides of each rocker cam with the lower edge thereof level with lower edge of the respective rocker cam; and means securing those augmentations to the respective rocker cams.

3. The rocking chair of claim 1 wherein mortices and the tenons are oval shaped in transverse cross-section, elongated substantially vertically on the back support posts and elongated substantially horizontally on the seat support brackets.

4. The rocking chair of claim 1 wherein the fasteners are removable screws and constitute the sole means for retaining the chair against disassembly into a kit of slats and panels.

5. A rocking chair, comprising:

two individually unitary side panels, each having:

a rocker cam portion, a front leg and arm post, a rear leg and back support post, a seat support bracket and an arm; the rocker cam, front leg, seat support bracket and rear leg cooperating to define a first generally rectangular opening among them; the seat support bracket, arm post, arm and back support post cooperating to form a second rectangular post among them; a plurality of mortices arranged in a row, descending the back support post, turning, and extending forwardly on the seat support brackets; and

a plurality of slats, each provided with a tenon at each end thereof, the slats being arranged in a row extending transversally between the two side panels, with respective tenons being received in corresponding ones of the mortices;

and fastener means securing at least some of the tenons to the respective side panels to maintain the rocking chair in an assembled, useful condition; each panel being fabricated of five major wooden portions connected at abutting edges, these being: a rocker cam portion including a forward and a rear upwardly projecting stubs, a rear leg and back support post portion mounted on the rear stub and including a lower and an upper forwardly projecting stubs, a front leg and arm post portion mounted on the forward stub and including a rearwardly projecting stub generally at the level of said lower forwardly projecting stub; a seat bracket portion extending between the rearwardly and lower forwardly projecting stubs and an arm portion extending between the upper forwardly projecting stub and upon the upper end of the front leg and arm post portion; the wood of the panels being grained, the graining thereof being elongated generally horizontally on each rocker cam portion, each seat bracket portion and on each arm portion and being elongated generally vertically on each front leg and arm post portion and on each rear leg and back support post portion.

6. A rocking chair, comprising:

two individually unitary side panels, each having:

a rocker cam portion, a front leg and arm post, a rear leg and back support post, a seat support bracket and an arm; the rocker cam, front leg, seat support bracket and rear leg cooperating to define a first generally rectangular opening among them; the seat support bracket, arm post, arm and back support post cooperating to form a second rectangular post among them; a plurality of mortices arranged in a row, descending the back support post, turning, and extending forwardly on the seat support bracket; and

a plurality of slats, each provided with a tenon at each end thereof, the slats being arranged in a row extending transversally between the two side panels, with respective tenons being received in corresponding ones of the mortices;

and fastener means securing at least some of the tenons to the respective side panels to maintain the rocking chair in an assembled, useful condition; a bar of resilient padding upon each slat extending between the bases of the tenons thereof and a tubular sleeve of upholstery slid over each so-padded slat, the upholstery sleeves also terminating at the respective bases of the tenons, so that the upholstery sleeves fully extend between the inner sides of the panels.

7. The rocking chair of claim 6 wherein the padding is constituted by resilient foamed plastic material and the upholstery sleeves are constituted by canvas.