U.S. patent number 3,911,512 [Application Number 05/415,996] was granted by the patent office on 1975-10-14 for cushioned furniture.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Knoll International, Inc.. Invention is credited to Richard W. R. Plate.
United States Patent |
3,911,512 |
Plate |
October 14, 1975 |
Cushioned furniture
Abstract
Cushioned furniture utilizing a crescent-shaped cushion. The
cushion has loops spaced along an outside edge thereof and hooks at
the ends thereof. The hooks of one cushion may be joined to the
loops of an adjacent cushion. Two or more of such cushions joined
together complete an item of furniture.
Inventors: |
Plate; Richard W. R.
(Frankenburg, DT) |
Assignee: |
Knoll International, Inc. (New
York, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
23648090 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/415,996 |
Filed: |
November 15, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
5/652; 5/636;
297/118; 5/902 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47C
3/16 (20130101); A47C 13/00 (20130101); Y10S
5/902 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47C
13/00 (20060101); A47C 3/16 (20060101); A47C
3/00 (20060101); A47C 023/00 (); A47C 013/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;D6/37,38,39
;5/352,357,345,337,338,327R,327B
;297/118,456,452,461,462,393,DIG.1 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
835,455 |
|
Jun 1960 |
|
GB |
|
385,694 |
|
Jan 1933 |
|
GB |
|
Primary Examiner: Gilliam; Paul R.
Assistant Examiner: Calvert; Andrew M.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Cooper, Dunham, Clark, Griffin
& Moran
Claims
I claim:
1. A cushion useful in making an item of furniture comprising a
crescent-shaped cushion having a curved outside edge and a curved
inside edge meeting at two ends of the cushion, said cushion being
generally oval in sections taken substantially perpendicular to the
curved edges of the cushion and in which the areas of the oval
sections decrease from the central portion of the cushion to the
ends thereof, a plurality of individual fastening members
positioned along said outside cushion edge, and a complimentary
fastener of the type adapted to coact with one of said fastening
members and located generally at each of said two cushion ends.
2. The combination of a plurality of suchions each according to
claim 1 and removably joined together to make an item of furniture
by the removable fastening together of the complimentary fasteners
of each cushion with particular ones of the fastening members of an
adjacent cushion.
3. An item of furniture according to claim 2 in which two of such
cushions are joined together with the complimentary fasteners of
one cushion being joined to the fastening members of the other
cushion at a mid-region of the outside edge of said other
cushion.
4. An item of furniture according to claim 2 in which two of such
cushions are joined together with the complimentary fasteners of
one cushion attached to the fastening members of the other cushion
adjacent the ends of said other cushion.
5. A cushion according to claim 1 in which said fastening members
comprise one or more loops of material.
6. A cushion according to claim 5 in which said loops are formed
from a ribbon of material sewn along said outside cushion edge.
7. A cushion according to claim 5 in which said loops are woven
integrally into said ribbon of material sewn onto said cushion.
8. A cushion according to claim 5 in which said complementary
fasteners comprise hooks adapted to engage said loops.
Description
BACKGROUND AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to furniture. More particularly it relates
to furniture of modular form in which one or more modules may be
employed as desired by a user to form a completed item of
furniture.
The module is a crescent-shaped cushion. The cushion typically
includes fastening members along an outside edge thereof and
complementary fasteners at the ends thereof. The complementary
fasteners of one cushin are joined to the fastening members of
another cushion to position two cushions adjacent to each other. By
utilizing two or more cushions so joined together, and varying the
relative positions of the cushions with respect to each other,
different items of furniture can be easily produced by a user
having an overall configuration determined completely by the
user.
Advantageously the fastening members are loops formed from a ribbon
of material sewn along the outside edge of the crescent-shaped or
woven integrally into the material of the cushion, to name a few
examples. Advantageously the cushion is generally oval in sections
that are taken substantially perpendicular to the curved cushion
edges, and the areas of these oval sections decrease from the
central portion of the cushion to the ends thereof. Additionally,
the curved outside and inside edges of the crescent-shaped cushion
may be of equal radii of curvature. These particular cushion
criteria have been found to be particularly advantageous in the
nesting of cushions one against another.
A crescent-shaped cushion is easily formed, for example, from upper
and lower crescent-shaped pieces of material that are sewn together
along one edge thereof and joined together by a zipper along the
other edge thereof, for example.
The invention will be more completely understood by reference to
the following detailed description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a crescent-shaped cushion in
accordance with the invention.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cushion of FIG. 1 taken along the
section 2--2.
FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views, to an enlarged scale of
representative fastening members useful in the cushion of FIG.
1.
FIGS. 5-8 show cushions joined together in different ways to
complete different items of furniture.
FIG. 9 is a plan view of a crescent-shaped piece of material used
in forming the cushion of FIG. 1.
FIG. 10 is a plan view of the cushion of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Referring to FIG. 1, a crescent-shaped cushion 20 is shown. The
cushion includes a curved outside edge 20a and a curved inside edge
20b. As shown in FIG. 2, the cushion is typically formed from an
upper piece of material 22 and a lower piece of material 24 joined
together by sewing along the outside edge 20a, for example, and by
a zipper 26 along the inside edge 20b. The cushion may be filled
with a padding material 28, for example, or it may be inflated with
air.
A plurality of fastening members 30 are included along the outside
edge 20a of the cushion. The loops 30 may be woven integrally into
the material of the cushion or into a ribbon 32 that is in turn
sewed onto the cushion along the outside edge 20a. The ribbon 32 is
shown in FIG. 3. Another example of fastening members is shown in
FIG. 4 in which loops 30' are formed from a strand of material 34
that is sewn onto ribbon 32'. In any event, a plurality of such
fastening members are advantageously included along the outside
edge 20a of the cushion spaced equidistantly from each other.
Complementary fasteners 36 adapted to coact with the fastening
members 30 of another cushion are attached to the ends of the
crescent-shaped cushion 20 as shown in FIG. 1.
Different arrangements of furniture utilizing a plurality of
cushions as shown in FIG. 1 may be formed as shown in FIGS. 5-8.
FIGS. 5 and 6, for example, show how two cushions 20-1 and 20-2 may
be joined together to define a seat. FIG. 7 shows how three of such
cushions 20-3, 20-4 and 20-5 may be joined together to form a
different type of seat. As another example, FIG. 8 shows how four
of such cushions 20-6, 20-7, 20-8 and 20-9 may be joined together
to form yet another seating arrangement.
It will be noted that by varying the joining of the cushions to one
another and a number of cushions, different items of furniture may
be made very simply and changed very simply at will. The
crescent-shaped cushion with its fastening members along the
outside edge thereof and its complementary fasteners at the ends
thereof permits many, varied uses of the cushions.
As noted above the cushion is advantageously formed from upper and
lower pieces of material 22 and 24. Each piece may take the form
shown in FIG. 9 of sheet 22, which is generally crescent-shaped.
The sheet has cut-away portions 22a along outside edge 22b to
facilitate forming the compound curves present in the cushion
itself. The periphery of the sheet 22 comprises the outside edge
22b which is curved. This outside edge surface leads substantially
tangentially at the ends thereof into two oppositely curved
extensions 22c. The oppositely curved extensions in turn lead into
substantially straight-line segments 22 d that extend generally
toward a common point. The segments 22d in turn lead into a curved
inside edge surface 22e which is generally of a curvature
corresponding to that of the outside edge surface 22b.
When the two sheets of material 22 and 24 are sewn together to form
a cushion as in FIG. 2, that cushion appears as shown in plan view
in FIG. 10. In particular, the periphery of the cushion is defined
by the curved outside edge surface 20a which ends in substantially
straight-line tangential extensions 20a-1. These extensions in turn
lead into straight-line segments 20a-2 substantially at right
angles thereto and which extend generally toward each other. These
segments in turn lead into the curved inside edge surface 20b. The
surfaces 20a and 20b are substantially parallel to each other in a
preferred form of cushion. The centers 40 and 42 of curvature of
these edges are spaced from each other by an amount in the
neighborhood of the length of one of the radii of curvature. In a
preferred embodiment radii of curvature 44 are each 52.25
centimeters. The centers 40 and 42 of curvature are spaced apart by
3.7 centimeters more than the length of one of these radii, i.e.,
spaced apart in the neighborhood of 55.95 centimeters. The
extensions 20a-1 are 29.9 centimeters in this presently preferred
embodiment, while the segments 20a-2 are each 2.2 centimeters
long.
These dimensions are, of course, simply representative and are
included to give an indication of one form of cushion in accordance
with the invention that has suitable nesting characteristics with
respect to other cushions.
The cushion when viewed in section taken substantially
perpendicular to the curved edges 20a and 20b of the cushion is
generally oval. The areas of the oval sections decrease from the
central portion of the cushion to the ends thereof. As noted above
this shape renders the cushion suitable for nesting one with
another; this sectional shape may be varied.
It will be appreciated that representative embodiments of the
invention have been disclosed above. The specific details of the
cushion as shown are presently preferred. The invention, however,
should not be taken to be limited specifically to these details but
rather should be taken to be defined by the appended claims.
* * * * *