AU620655B2 - Combination furniture - Google Patents

Description

~4% i *I i u L I 06 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA The Patents Act 1952-1969 04 00 0q 0 0 ao 01 o o.

Name of Applicant: Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: JOHANNUS ADRIANUS PRONK 43 Robinson Road East, GEEBUNG. QUEENSLAND. 4034.

JOHANNUS ADRIANUS PRONK G.R. CULLEN COMPANY, Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 79 Eagle Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

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a o 0 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR THE INVENTION ENTITLED: COMBINATION FURNITURE 000 The following statement is a full description of the invention including the best method of performing it known to me: 2 THIS INVENTION relates to combination furniture units of the type which is capable of providing different furniture items by rotation of a multi-item component about a vertical axis. The invention also relates to a hinge mechanism for such furniture units.

Combination furniture units of this type are well known. In its usual form the rotatable component is arranged for rotation through 180 degrees or 360 degrees and comprises a back-to-back arrangement of alternative furniture items.

In one position of the rotatable component, access is provided to one furniture item and on rotation of the I component through 180 degrees access is provided to the other S 0o o furniture item. Commonly, one furniture item is a fold-down I gg bed or divan while the other furniture item may be a bar, bookcase or cabinet or even a decorative panel.

It is one optional feature of the present invention I t t to provide one item in the rotatable component which provides I e kitchen facilities while the other item provides bedroom facilities such as a fold-down bed. With this feature the 2C, invention provides a combination furniture unit which enables one room to double as a bedroom and a kitchen.

However, known combination furniture of the above type is subject to a number of disadvantages, a major disadvantage being the floor space required to be occupied.

As will be appreciated, the floor space required by such unit is at least the circular area circumscribed by the rotatable rI component if lateral movement of the component is avoided.

Accordingly, the furniture requires a depth of floor space equal to the width of the unit. This requirement thus limits the width of the rotatable component if the furniture is not to project excessively into a room.

The present invention overcomes this problem by providing a combination furniture unit of the above type requiring a depth of floor space which is substantially less than the width of the rotatable component while substantially Q t minimising lateral movement of that component.

t of The rotatable component may conveniently be mounted in t t a cabinet in which case the unit is self-contained. This arrangement is particularly suitable for a free standing furniture unit.

In one form the invention resides in a combination Sfurniture unit comprising: a fixed component and a rotatable component rotatable t4444 about a vertical axis, said furniture unit including a rotatable A 4 ,9 hinge assembly comprising: 4 2,Q, toothed rack means attached to said fixed component; a guide member attached to said fixed component and substantially parallel to said rack means; arcuate toothed pinion means having teeth engageable with said rack member and including a vertical shaft at the axis of rotation of said pinion means which engages with said guide member, said pinion means being rigidly attached to said rotatable component whereby rotation of said rotatable component t about the vertical axis causes said pinion means to engage with j L.C I I-II I~-~--IIIIII~- OY-CSP 4 and move along said rack means thereby causing said vertical shaft to move along said guide means.

Preferably the vertical axis is displaced laterally towards one side of the rotatable component. With that arrangement the component is able to circumscribe a rearward path having a radius not substantially greater than the distance between the vertical axis and the adjacent side of the rotatable component. If desired the vertical axis may also be displaced towards the front or rear of the rotatable component.

:Ip Desirably, the rack and pinion means are arranged such that on rotation of the module through 180 degrees the rotatable 00 0 O0 0 component occupies the same final lateral position as its initial 000A oo00 lateral position i.e. the rack and pinion means are so dimensioned and located that the axis of rotation of the pinion means moves a distance along the guide means equal to twice the 0 lateral displacement of the axis of rotation from lateral mid- 0000 *go plane of the rotatable component. it will be appreciated that 4aI the pinion is dimensioned so that it can execute a rotation of 1 180 degrees through its movement along the rack.

Suitably the guide means is a channel member St "ii -~ll*~uurrrar~ l rr~3~ I-I I~ Irotatably supporting a vertical shaft located at the axis of rotation of the pinion member. The rack, pinion and guide members are suitably arranged below the base of the module.

Conveniently, a similar arrangement may be provided at the top of the rotatable component.

If desired electrically operated components may be incorporated in the rotatable component. Moreover, if desired, rotation of the component may also be electrically operated and actuated by remote switch means.

0 o° The furniture items incorporated in the rotatable 0 0 o0 component may be selected in accordance with desired 0 0 o° requirements. However, it is particularly convenient if one 0 0 °2 item is a fold-down bed. The fold-down bed disclosed in 0000 o Application No. 37982/89 by the present applicant may be utilised as one item.

In a further aspect the invention comprises a hinge o" o mechanism for a rotatable furniture unit comprising: o a' a longitudinally extending toothed rack member having a stop at one end thereof, the tooth adjacent said 2p444a stop being truncated; I 4 i a guide member substantially parallel to said rack It member, said guide member being adapted to be attached to a fixed component of a rotatable combination furniture; an arcuate toothed pinion member the teeth of which are adapted to engage said rack member and including a shaft located at the axis of rotation of said pinion member and a

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^if 6 adapted to engage said guide member said pinion member being adapted to be attached to the rotatable component of said unit, said members being so arranged on said unit whereby on rotation of said movable component said pinion moves along said rack thereby rotating said rotatable component of said unit.

Suitably a hinge mechanism according to the invention is located at the top and bottom of said rotatable component and said fixed component.

SO*0 In a preferred form of this aspect of the invention 0, the hinge mechanism includes additionally a pin adapted to be 0 004 0"o 0o located on an upper or a lower surface of said rotatable 0o S0 00 component and an approximately arcuate latching track on said O0 i gs0 fixed component whereby as said rotatable component approaches one operative position of said rotatable component said pin engages said latching track to positively engage 00 0 0,o said pin and retain said rotatable component in said 04 operative position. In operation the engagement of the pin t:t«cj and the latching track disengages said pinion member from S'O said rack member. The truncation of the said adjacent tooth ct C, is arranged to ensure this disengagement and permit subsequent engagement between said pinion member and said rack member when said rotatable component is moved to another operative position of said rotatable component.

In order to enable the invention to be more clearly understood the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying ^4 i -C I i c ~li L-~ 7 drawings will be particularly described. As illustrated FIGURES la and Ib are perspective views of an embodiment incorporating a fold-down bed in back-to-back relation with a shelf and cabinet unit.

FIGURES 2 to 5 illustrate the operating mechanism of the furniture unit illustrated in FIGURE 1 with the rotatable component in different positions in the course of rotation.

FIGURES la and Ib illustrate a unit having a P, rotatable component 1 comprising a fold-down bed 2 and shelf unit 2a which items are alternatively made available by rotation of the component through 180 degrees. The component is maintained in cabinet 3 which is constructed as a portable 00o 00,, free-standing unit.

As illustrated in FIGURES 2 to 5, component 1 is mounted in cabinet 3. The figures may be viewed as vertical oo plan views showing the arrangement of the mounting of the o o' component 1 in cabinet 3 at the base and top of the component.

2O t As illustrated toothed rack 4 is fixed to an upper surface of the base of cabinet 3 and to a lower surface of the top of cabinet 3. Also rigidly attached to said surfaces is guide means 5 comprising a metal channel shaped member.

Rack 4 and guide means 5 are parallel and extend transversely of cabinet Also fixed on the same surfaces of cabinet 3 as rack 4 and guide 5 is a retaining member 6 the function ti which will be described later.

Rigidly mounted on component I on both a lower bottom surface and an upper top surface is pinion 7. in the embodiment illustrated pinion 7 is a circular sector.

Extending vertically at the centre axis of pinion 7 is a vertical shaft 8 which is arranged to rotate in and move longitudinally along guide 5. Shaft 8 mounted on the lower surface of -TouFx is constructed with a bearing iurface engaging the base of guide 5. Lower shaft 8 thus supports IDO component 1 for rotation about the axis of the shaft. U'Pper shaft 8 provides a retaining member maintaining the Supper pinion 7 in rotatable and slidable contact with upper guide As will be evident from the constructions described, component 1 is rotatable about collinear upper and lower shafts 84 As component I is rotated about shafts 8, pinion s 7 rotate on racks 4 thus moving shafts 8 longitudinally of guides 5. Component I thus moves laterally as it is rotated about shafts 8.

Shafts 8 are displaced laterally of the front-toback centre plane of component 1 while racks 4 and guides extend to a position equally displaced on the other side of the centre plane. Accordingly, as component 1 rotates shafts 8 move along guides 5 to a position in the centre plane where the component is at right angles to cabinet 3 to a f inal position where shafts 8 occupy a position which is a mirror 9 image of their initial position. As a result of this movement component 1 has rotated through 180 degrees thus bringing the initially concealed furniture item in an operating position.

In the initial position of component 1 as illustrated in FIGURE 2, the component substantially abuts the left hand side wall of cabinet 3 and abuts stop 9, Dae to the initial sideways motion of component 1 cabinet 3 is made somewhat wider than the width of component 1. The extended portion is suitably embraced by hinged panel 10. In i tc order to maintain component 1 in a rigid position in cabinet 4 3 when rotated through 180 degrees, component 1 is provided j with pin 11 projecting from its upper and lower surfaces.

S Pin 11 is adapted to engage\stop 6. Stop 6 is provided with a substantially V-shaped guide. Accordingly, when component 1 is rotated through slightly less than 180 degrees, pin 11 engages stop 6 thus effectively preventing further forward j motion of component 1 and inhibiting rearward motion. In order to reverse the rotation of component 1 a small force is required to be exerted in order to move pin 11 rearwardly in stop 6. As this motion does not initially involve movement of pinion 7 in rack 4, the final tooth of the rack is made of somewhat lesser height than that of the other teeth in order to permit a slight movement of pinion 7 not strictly controlled by rack 4.

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i; I-,i I~ -I ~C-C^Il~I CI I~ i~ As will be evident from FIGURES 2 to 5, the arrangement described permits the cabinet 3 to be constructed having a depth approximately equal to the lateral spacing of shaft 8 from the adjacent side wall of module 1.

In the construction illustrated the pinion 7 is part circular with a constant radius of curvature. It will be appreciated that the pinion may have a radius of curvature which is variable, for example, the pinion shape may be part elliptical. In such cases, the guide will require to maintain a spatial relationship with the rack which maintains C: the pinion in constant contact with the rack during rotation.

In some circumstances it may be desirable for the movable component to project outwardly of the cabinet in one position c where this is required, the pinion may have a decreasing radius of curvature.

It will also be appreciated that the present invention is particularly suitable for double furniture units in, for example, side by side relation. In this arrangement the units may if desired be interconnected by a linkage whereby rotation of one unit causes simultaneous rotation of the other unit.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to the embodiment illustrated the invention is not limited to that construction but includes all modifications as fall within the scope of the present disclosure and claims.

Claims (6)

1. A combination furniture unit comprising: a fixed component and a rotatable component rotatable about a vertical axis, said furniture unit including a rotatable hinge assembly comprising: toothed rack means attached to said fixed component; a guide member attached to said fixed component and substantially parallel to said rack means; ,f arcuate toothed pinion means having teeth engageable 019 with said rack member and including a vertical shaft at the axis of rotation of said pinion means which engages with said guide member, said pinion means being rigidly attached to said rotatable component whereby rotation of said rotatable component about the vertical axis causes said pinion means to engage with and move along said rack means thereby causing said vertical shaft to move along said guide means.

2. A combination furniture unit as claimed in claim 1 wherein said hinge assembly is located at the top and bottom of said rotatable component. SC:

3. A combination furniture unit as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the or at least one hinge assembly includes an approximately arcuate latching track on saia fixed component and a pin on said rotatable component adapted to engage the associated latching track in one operative position of said rotatable component.

4. A combination furniture unit as claimed in claim 3 wherein the or each said rack member includes a stop for co- operating with the associated pinion member at one end of said 1 4- 12 rack member and said rack tooth adjacent said stop is truncated to permit said pinion member to disengage said rack member following said pin engaging said associated latching track.

A combination furniture unit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said rack means and said guide means are straight whereby said vertical shaft or shafts move in a straight line.

6. A combination furniture unit substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this Eighteenth day of November, 1991. ,gO JOHANNUS ADRIANUS PRONK 00 0 0o00 by his Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO. I 4 14 ,z