AU2011202370A1 - Aquatic resort furniture - Google Patents

Abstract

An article of furniture (1, 11, 21) and a method of securing articles in a lockable compartment (7, 17, 27) are disclosed. An article of furniture with an unlocked compartment is available for use but one with a locked compartment is not available. Locks (9, 19, 29) having both a key (41) and a lock barrel (32) are rented to a bather, The lock barrel is installed manually in the compartment by the bather and manually removed from the compartment by the bather at the end of the swimming session and returned to the resort management. Thus sunlounges and like articles of furniture can be unambiguously reserved and portable articles protected whilst a bather is swimming. 3004BE-AU 1 cyll

Description

Editorial Note for 2011202370 There are 7 pages of description AQUATIC RESORT FURNITURE Field of the Invention The present invention relates to resorts or similar establishments such as hotels which 5 have a source of water which creates an aquatic environment. The source of water can be a beach, a swimming pool, a spa or the like. In particular, the invention relates to an article of furniture such as a sunlounge, seat or bench used adjacent the source of water. The invention also relates to a method of securing portable articles of at least temporary value in the possession of a resort bather whilst the bather uses such a 10 source of water. Background Art Beach resorts, hotels and like establishments often provide sunlounges, seats and the like for the use of resort bathers to permit them to sunbake before or after swimming. 15 Two problems which inevitably arise in such circumstances are how to adequately identify such a sunlounge which is in use, particularly if the bather is swimming, and how to secure portable articles such as a wallet, handbag, a mobile or cell phone, a room key, cigarettes, money or even a towel against possible theft while the bather is swimming. 20 The traditional way of indicating that a sunlounge or the like is in use is for the bather to place a towel on the sunlounge. This reservation method provides a number of difficulties. For example, almost all bathers are using the towels of the hotel rather than their own towels and thus each towel is the same. Also since all the sunlounges 25 are essentially the same, there is endless potential for confusion. Furthermore, since such towels are the property of the hotel, there is no incentive for the bather to ensure that the bather takes the towel with him at the conclusion of the swimming session. As a consequence, many sunlounges appear to be reserved when in point of fact they are not. 30 As for securing portable articles of the type mention above, it is an important aspect of preventing petty theft to ensure that temptation is not placed in a person's way. Therefore it is desirable for such portable articles not to be left merely lying on, or under, the sunlounge when the bather goes swimming. In order to address this 3004BE-AU problem, it is known to provide pool or beach lockers each of which is provided with a permanently installed metal lock and a metal key and for a small sum a bather can utilise such a locker and then take the metal key swimming with him. 5 Genesis of the Invention The genesis of the present invention is a desire to simultaneously ameliorate both problems by the provision of an article of furniture such as a sunlounge, seat or bench which has an inbuilt compartment for receiving such portable articles. The compartment is lockable but the lock is entirely removable by the bather so that a 10 locked compartment simultaneously secures the portable articles and also indicates that the sunlounge is in use, whereas an unlocked compartment without a lock indicates that the sunlounge is not in use. Summary of the Invention 15 In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of securing portable articles of at least temporary value in the possession of a resort bather whilst the bather uses a beach, swimming pool, spa or like source of water which creates an aquatic environment, said method comprising the steps of: (i) providing a plurality of aquatic environment articles of furniture each adapted 20 for use adjacent said aquatic environment, each of said articles of furniture having a compartment in which a resort bather can store said portable articles, and each said compartment having a pivoted lid and a lock operable by a key fabricated from a plastics material unaffected by said aquatic environment, (ii) providing said resort bather with a lock having a corresponding key and a lock 25 body, said lock body being manually installable into, and removable from, said compartment or lid by said bather only when said lid is open; (iii) permitting said resort bather to manually install said lock body in an unutilized one of said articles of furniture having an unlocked compartment, place the bather's said portable articles in said compartment, close and lock said lid; take 30 said key into and from said source of water, open said lid, remove said portable articles, remove said lock body, and return both said lock body and said key, and (iv) in the event of failure of said resort bather to return said lock barrel and/or said key corresponding thereto, using a master key to open said locked compartment 3004BE-AU to remove said lock barrel therefrom to thereby free said article of furniture for use by another resort bather. In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed an 5 aquatic environment article of furniture for resort bathers and adapted for use adjacent a beach, swimming pool, spa or like source of water which creates an aquatic environment, said article of furniture having a compartment in which a bather can store portable articles of at least temporary value, and said compartment having a pivoted lid and a lock operable by a key, wherein said key is fabricated from a plastics 10 material unaffected by said aquatic environment, said lock has a lock body which is manually insertable into, and removable from, said compartment or lid by said bather by finger manipulation, only when said lid is open. Brief Description of the Drawings 15 Several embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an injection moulded plastic sunlounge in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a steel frame sunlounge with wooden slats in 20 accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a bench in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a plastic compartment lock able to be used with the articles of furniture of Figs. 1-3, and including a corresponding plastic 25 compartment key, Fig. 5 is a plan view of a multiplicity of compartment keys all arranged in a sprue network and each having a different combination, and Fig. 6 is a credit card style plastic room key of essentially conventional nature modified so as to also be useable as a compartment key in accordance with a still 30 further embodiment of the present invention. 3004BE-AU Detailed Description As seen in Fig. 1, a sunlounge I is provided with a seat 2, a backrest 3, legs 4 and armrests 5. Built into the seat 2 is a compartment 7 having a pivoted lid 8 and a lock 9. 5 Turning now to Fig. 2, whilst the sunlounge I of Fig. I is formed by injection moulding from plastics material, the sunlounge 11 of Fig. 2 is formed from a metal frame 15 and timber slats 16. Again the sunlounge 11 has a compartment 17, a pivoted lid 18 and a lock 19, 10 As seen in Fig. 3, a plastics bench 21 is similarly provided with a compartment 27, lid 28 and lock 29. As illustrated in Fig. 4, each of the locks 9, 19, and 29 preferably takes the form of a 15 lock barrel 32 having a tongue 33, a keyway 34 and a securing device in the form of a locknut 35 threadably engageable with a thread 36 on the exterior of the lock barrel 32. Each lock barrel 32 has a lock indicium 37 which in this embodiment is the number 20 18. It will be apparent from Figs. 1-3 that the lock 9, 19, 29 when installed is installed in such a manner that the lock indicium 37 is only visible if the compartment 7, 17, 27 is unlocked and the lid 8, 18 and 28 is pivoted into its open position. Also illustrated in Fig. 4 is a compartment key 41 which is preferably moulded in a 25 single piece from plastics material and provided with a key indicium 42 (which in this instance is the number 18) and a releasable attachment device in the form of a slit 43 in an arched loop 44. The compartment key 41 is also preferably buoyant. The compartment key 41 also has one or more prongs 46 which are able to enter the 30 keyway 34 and the position and shape of which constitute a simple combination code which enables each lock barrel 32 to be operated by the corresponding compartment key 41. 3004BE-AU Turning now to Fig. 5, a plurality of compartment keys 41 is illustrated formed on a sprue network 51 in which each individual key 41 is connected to the sprue network 51 by means of two thin sprues 52 and 53. This fabrication method is widely used for fabricating toy model aircraft. As a consequence, each individual key 41 is able to be 5 detached from the sprue network 51 by means of twisting the key so as to eventually rupture each of the corresponding sprues 52, 53. It will be also be seen in Fig. 5 that a master key 61 is provided which operates each of the individual lock barrels 32. 10 Finally, as illustrated in Fig. 6, in many hotels a plastic room key 71, which is approximately the same size and shape as a credit card, is utilised to open the door of the hotel or resort rooms. Typically such prior art plastic room keys 71 incorporate magnetic technology to open the lock of the door (conventional but not illustrated). In 15 accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention the plastic room key 71 can deformed by cutting away the material indicated by broken lines 73 so as to thereby form prongs 76 which can be inserted into the keyway 34 and thereby operate the lock barrel 32 of Fig. 4. 20 The preferred method of resort operation is as follows. Each of the articles of furniture being sunlounge 1, sunlounge 11 and bench 21 is provided with a corresponding compartment 7, 17 and 27 and the corresponding lock 9, 19, 29 is able to be manually placed in the corresponding lid 8, 18, 28 and manually secured in position by finger tightening the locknut 35 of Fig. 4. Similarly, the lock 9, 19, 29 is 25 able to be removed from the corresponding article of furniture by the bather undoing the locknut 35 with his fingers and removing the lock barrel 32 from the lid 8, 18, 28. Thus the resort or hotel manager is able to rent to any of the prospective resort bathers, a lock barrel 32 and corresponding compartment key 41. The bather having 30 made such a purchase then goes to his preferred article of furniture 1, 11, 21 which, if it does not include a lock barrel 32, must therefore be unreserved. In this way, the article of furniture can be immediately ascertained as to whether or not it is reserved. In addition, if a resort guest should be occupying the sunlounge 1 in an unauthorised 3004BE-AU fashion so there is no lock 9 present, then such an unauthorised occupation can be quickly brought to an end and the occupant "evicted". The resort bather having rented the lock barrel 32 and corresponding compartment 5 key 41, then installs the lock barrel 32, places his valuable articles such as wallet, room key, mobile phone, etc into the compartment 7, and then locks the lock 9 using the compartment key 41 which is then withdrawn from the lock. Thereafter the compartment key 41 can be attached by means of the slit 43 in the arched loop 44 to the swimming costume worn by the resort bather. This enables the resort bather to go 10 swimming safe in the knowledge that his personal belonging are securely retained within the compartment 7, and also that the sunlounge is reserved for him and cannot be appropriated by another. At the end of his swimming session, the resort bather unlocks the compartment 7, 15 undoes the lock nut 35 and removes the lock barrel 32 and thus returns the entire lock 9 with its corresponding compartment key 41 to the resort manager and is thereby rewarded by return of a monetary deposit. Since the number of lock barrels 32 and corresponding compartment keys 41 on issue 20 at any time is equal to the number of articles of furniture available to be so reserved, the abovementioned arrangement constitutes a reliable reservation scheme without the possibility of double bookings. Furthermore, should the resort bather happen to leave the resort without returning the 25 compartment key 41, the lock of the corresponding article of furniture can be opened by means of the master key 61 as indicated in Fig. 5. This enables the lock barrel 32 having the lock indicium 18 to be removed from the lid where it was previously installed. Furthermore, since multiple sprue networks 51 are easily fabricated and already on hand, a new compartment key 41 bearing the key indicium 18 can be 30 removed from another sprue network 41, thereby enabling the lock barrel 32 having the lock indicium 18 to be placed back into operation. 3004BE-AU In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 6 the plastic room key already issued to the hotel guest is nibbled away on the payment of a compartment rental fee so as to convert the plastic room key 71 into a compartment key 41 also. 5 The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the art, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention. The term "comprising" (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used in the 10 inclusive sense of "including" or "having" and not in the exclusive sense of "consisting only of'. 3004BE-AU

Claims (14)

1. A method of securing portable articles of at least temporary value in the possession of a resort bather whilst the bather uses a beach, swimming pool, spa or like source of water which creates an aquatic environment, said method comprising the steps of: (i) providing a plurality of aquatic environment articles of furniture each adapted for use adjacent said aquatic environment, each of said articles of furniture having a compartment in which a resort bather can store said portable articles, and each said compartment having a pivoted lid and a lock operable by a key fabricated from a plastics material unaffected by said aquatic environment, (ii) providing said resort bather with a lock having a corresponding key and a lock body, said lock body being manually installable into, and removable from, said compartment or lid by said bather only when said lid is open; (iii) permitting said resort bather to manually install said lock body in an unutilized one of said articles of furniture having an unlocked compartment, place the bather's said portable articles in said compartment, close and lock said lid; take said key into and from said source of water, open said lid, remove said portable articles, remove said lock body, and return both said lock body and said key, and (iv) in the event of failure of said resort bather to return said lock barrel and/or said key corresponding thereto, using a master key to open said locked compartment to remove said lock barrel therefrom to thereby free said article of furniture for use by another resort bather.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 including the further steps of simultaneously moulding from plastics materials a plurality of said keys arranged in a sprue network and each individually detachable from said sprue network by twisting each key to break the sprue or sprues interconnecting said key to said sprue network. 3004BE-AU 1 'Ui NUMBER

3. The method as claimed in claim I or 2 including the further step of moulding into each said key a releasable attachment device by means of which a bather having a swimming costume can releasably attach said key to said swimming costume.

4. The method as claimed in claim I including the further steps of: issuing each resort bather with a plastic credit card size sheet comprising a room key, and forming said compartment key by deforming an edge of said sheet room key.

5. The method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein said article of furniture is selected from the class consisting of sunlounges, seats and benches.

6. The method as claimed in any one of claims 1-5 wherein said plastics compartment key is buoyant in said source of water.

7. An aquatic environment article of furniture for resort bathers and adapted for use adjacent a beach, swimming pool, spa or like source of water which creates an aquatic environment, said article of furniture having a compartment in which a bather can store portable articles of at least temporary value, and said compartment having a pivoted lid and a lock operable by a key, wherein said key is fabricated from a plastics material unaffected by said aquatic environment, said lock has a lock body which is manually insertable into, and removable from, said compartment or lid by said bather by finger manipulation, only when said lid is open.

8. The article of furniture as claimed in claim 7 wherein said compartment key is moulded from plastics material and a plurality of said keys are arranged in a sprue network and are each individually detachable from said sprue network by twisting each key to break the sprue or sprues interconnecting said key to said sprue network. 3004BE-AU 2 IU-I NUMBER

9. The article of furniture as claimed in claim 7 or 8 wherein each said compartment key has a moulded releasable attachment device by means of which a bather having a swimming consume can releasably attach said key to said swimming costume.

10. The article of furniture as claimed in claim 7 wherein each said resort bather is issued with a plastic credit card size sheet comprising a room key, and said compartment key is formed by deforming an edge of said sheet room key.

11. The article of furniture as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 10 wherein said article of furniture is selected from the class consisting of sunlounges, seats and benches.

12. The article as claimed in any one of claims 7-10 wherein said plastics compartment key floats.

13. A method of securing portable articles, said method being substantially as herein described with reference to the drawings.

14. An article of furniture substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 4 and 5 and any one of Fig. 1 or Fig. 2 or Fig. 3 of the drawings. Dated this 17h day of May 2011 SEBEL FURNITURE LTD By FRASER OLD & SOHN Patent Attorneys for the Applicants 3004BE-AU 3