AU6448899A - Furniture improvements - Google Patents

Description

49714 P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: MICHAEL LUDWIG and TANIA LUDWIG Actual Inventors: MICHAEL LUDWIG and TANIA LUDWIG Address for Service: COLLISON CO.,117 King William Street, Adelaide, S.A. 5000 Invention Title: FURNITURE IMPROVEMENTS Details of Associated Provisional Application: Australian Patent Application No. PP7665 Dated 11th December 1998 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: The present invention relates to fumrniture and specifically to improvements in lounges such as couches and arm chairs as well as sofa beds.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A piece of furniture such as a couch or arm chair has the typical structure of a backrest, a seat portion, on which rest one or more cushions, as well as arm rests. To provide support for a person using the seat or lounge, the cushions are generally supported by webbing that extends across the width of the furniture piece from the backrest to the front. In the case of sofa beds, it is not possible to use such webbing since that would interfere with the folding action 1 0 and the seats effectively rest on the folded sofa bed. The support provided by the cushions is usually quite poor and the cushions need to be much firmer with the end result that the sofa bed is not as comfortable as desirable.

Furthermore, even in the case of couches the webbing stretches over time leading to sagging which is especially pronounced in the mid portion of the 1 5 lounge.

It is the object of the present invention to overcome at least some of the abovementioned problems or to at least provide the public with a useful "*'**"alternative.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, in one form of the invention, though this need not be the only or indeed the broadest form there is proposed a couch of the type having at least one removable cushion, said couch including; a frame adapted to removably hold a support member; said support member having a plurality of elastic bands extending 2 5 within and fixed to said support member whereby said elastic bands support said at least one removable cushion.

Preferably said frame includes a flange adapted to hold said support member.

Preferably said flange is directed internally. In this way the support member snugly fits within said frame and is not externally visible appearing like a 3 0 normal couch.

In preference said support member includes a rectangular frame having two parallel longitudinal members joined at their ends by two side members, said elastic bands extending between said longitudinal members.

In a further form of the invention there is proposed a sofa bed of the type having at least one removable cushion, said sofa bed including; a frame adapted to hold a support member; said frame having pivotably attached thereto a bed foldable from a stored to an extended position, said support member adapted to extend over said bed when in said stored position and supported by said frame and 1 0 adapted to be pivoted to a position allowing said bed to be folded out to an extended position.

Preferably said frame includes an inward flange adapted to support said support member and wherein said flange is located above said bed when it is in a stored position.

1 5 In a yet further form of the invention there is proposed a sofa bed of the type having at least one removable cushion, said sofa bed including; a frame defining a chamber, a foldable bed located within said chamber when in a stored position and extendable from the chamber when in an unfolded position; 20 an inwardly extending flange located around the periphery of said chamber so as to provide support for a support member, said support member including a frame providing support for plurality of support bands extending between said frame to provide support for at least one said cushion placed on •said support member.

S SO Preferably said support member is pivotably attached to said frame and movable from a first position wherein it is supported by said flange to a second S" position on the side of and at least partially within said chamber to enable said bed to be unfolded.

S e, BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS To further assist in understanding the invention reference is now made to the drawings in which: Figure 1 is a front perspective exploded view of a couch according to a first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a front view of the first embodiment of the invention as per Figure 1; Figure 3 is a front perspective view of a sofa bed according to a second embodiment of the invention; 1 0 Figure 4 is a front perspective view of the second embodiment showing the sofa bed partly through its fold out stage; Figure 5 is a close-up partial perspective view of a sofa bed being extended; Figure 6 is a front perspective view of a sofa bed fully extended; 15 Figure 7 is a partial cross-section view of the extended sofa bed of Figure 6; Figure 8 is a partial cross-section view of the sofa bed of Figure 3 when in a folded position; 0:"a4i Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view of a third embodiment of the invention when used with a sofa bed; and Figure 10 is the sofa bed of Figure 9 when in an extended position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Turning now to the figures detail and specifically to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown a lounge seat or couch 10 having a backrest 12, armrests 14 and cushions 16. The couch 10 includes a frame 18 providing the skeletal support. In a first embodiment of the invention frame 18 includes an inwardly extending flange or lip 20 that provides support for seat support or support member 22. The support member 22 includes a frame 24 that rests on flange 20. The support member support 22 further includes elastic bands or webbing 26 extending across the frame 24 and which provides support for cushion 16.

However, the webbing may be made from any suitable material which provides sufficient support and comfort for a person sitting on cushions supported by the webbing.

1 0 In Figure 1 the frame 24 the frame utilises square cross-sectional members whilst in Figures 2 to 10 the frame support is shown as tubular members which engage flange 20. It is thus to be understood that the cross-sectional shape of the frame support may vary.

Figure 1 exhibits the invention used with a conventional couch or lounge to 1 5 provide additional support for cushions. Since the support member 22 is removable and when the webbing 26 has stretched under the weight of continuous sitting, the support may simply be replaced with a new one.

Otherwise it would be necessary to essentially dismantle the lounge to effect .*.replacement of permanently fixed webbing. This is obviously a great 20 advantage over existing couches where the webbing is permanently attached to the frame of the couch. Of course, to ensure that the support member provides good support, the interior dimension of the frame is made to be the same as the size of the support member.

In sofa beds, a foldable bed 28 is located within the couch 10 and such support is usually not available. Having a seat support 22 then provides the additional support necessary for cushion 16 when the sofa bed is in a folded o position and the sofa bed is used as a normal couch.

To enable the sofa bed 28 to be extended, the support member 22 is adapted to be either completely removable, or as shown in the Figures 3 to 8, is 3 0 adapted to operationally or pivotally rotate so as to rest against the side of the aperture and against the backrest 12 and allows the sofa bed 28 to be extended.

6 Figure 5 details the seat support 22 which includes frame 24 which is substantially in an upright position when one needs to extend the sofa bed.

When in a fully extended position, the sofa bed 28 is itself supported by a middle support assembly 30 and an end support assembly 32 providing support for frame 38. Extending between frame 38 is a material, such as canvas 34, supported by springs 36 and support a mattress or the like for a person to sleep on. To allow the sofa bed 28 to be folded, the frame 38 comprises a number of pivot points 40 so that the end two-thirds of the bed are foldable upwards in direction 42, resulting in the sofa bed folding across the 1 0 fold lines 44 and 46. To enable the sofa bed 28 to be completely folded, both the middle and end support assemblies 30 and 32 are pivotally linked by linkages 48 to the frame 38.

Looking specifically at Figure 8, there is shown a partial view of an extended sofa bed. The sofa bed 28 is connected to support member 50 via a linkage 1 5 member 52 that pivots in direction 54 with respect to pivot point 56. There is also an additional linkage member 58 which is adapted to pivot in direction around pivot point 62. This is further operatively connected to support member 50 through a slidable element 64 that engages stud 66 and is ***pivotally attached to linkage 58 at pivot 68. When the linkage member 58 20 rotates around pivot point 62, stud 66 slidably moves with respect to groove 70 towards pivot point 68, allowing the linkage member 58 to rotate. The linkage member 58 is also pivotally connected to the front of the sofa bed 28 at pivot point 72.

Seat support 22 is also pivotally attached to frame 58 via linkage element 74 which connects to the seat support 22 at pivot point 76 and to linkage member 58, by a groove 78 engaging stud 80 on linkage member 58.

This structure allows both the sofa bed to be folded within the couch and the :-:seat support 22 to be folded downwards so as to provide support for cushions, the folded construction shown in Figure 7.

3 0 It is to be understood though that the exact way of attaching the seat support to the sofa bed is not crucial and the seat support itself could be pivotally attached to the arm members instead of the sofa bed.

In a further embodiment, the present invention enables the seat support 22 to itself provide a portion of the sofa bed when in an extended position. This embodiment can be shown in Figure 10 wherein the sofa bed instead of consisting of three individual foldable portions now simply has two portions supported by the middle and end support assemblies and wherein the front third of the sofa bed is in fact defined by the seat support 22.

The seat support may be used in single arm chair assembly or in a couch having two or three seat assemblies. The webbing between the seat support may be constructed of different materials or may be of continuous canvas 1 0 support. The sofa bed itself may have multiple extensions and may either be foldable within the couch or towards the back of it.

Thus one can see that the present invention provides for a piece of sitting furniture that provides additional and replaceable support.

It is to be understood that other embodiments and improvements may be 1 5 made to the invention without deviating from the scope of the invention and the purpose of the present specification is to describe the invention and not to **limit it thus.

o* o o o* *o oo o* o** *o oo***o

Claims (7)

1. A couch of the type having at least one removable cushion, said couch including; a frame adapted to removably hold a support member; said support member having a plurality of elastic bands extending within and fixed to said support member whereby said elastic bands support said at least one removable cushion.

2. A couch as in claim 1 wherein said frame includes a flange adapted to hold said support member. 1 0 3. A couch as in claim 2 wherein said flange is directed internally

4. A couch as in any one of the above claims wherein said support member includes a rectangular frame having two parallel longitudinal members joined at their ends by two side members, said elastic bands extending between said longitudinal members. 1 5 5. A sofa bed of the type having at least one removable cushion, said sofa bed including; a frame adapted to hold a support member; said frame having pivotably attached thereto a bed foldable from a stored to an extended position, said support member adapted to extend over said 20 bed when in said stored position and supported by said frame and adapted to be pivoted to a position allowing said bed to be folded out to an extended position.

6. A sofa bead as in claim 5 wherein said frame includes a inward flange adapted to support said support member and wherein said flange is located above said bed when it is in a stored position.

7. A sofa bed of the type having at least one removable cushion, said sofa bed including; a frame defining a chamber, a foldable bed located within said chamber when in a stored position and extendable from the chamber when in an unfolded position; an inwardly extending flange located around the periphery of said chamber so as to provide support for a support member, said support member including a frame providing support for plurality of support bands extending between said frame to provide support for at least one said cushion placed on said support member.

8. A sofa bed as in claim 7 wherein said support member is pivotably attached to said frame and movable from a first position wherein it is supported by said flange to a second position on the side of and at least partially within said chamber to enable said bed to be unfolded. 1 0 9. A couch substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to Figures 1 and 2. A sofa bed substantially as hereinbefore described and with reference to Figures 3 to 8.

11. A sofa bed substantially as hereinbefore described and with 1 5 reference to Figures 9 and DATED this 13th day of December 1999 MICHAEL LUDWIG and TANIA LUDWIG 20 By their Patent Attorneys COLLISON CO a a *O tl* Ot* o *o