EP0839477A2

EP0839477A2 - Adjustable support for pieces of furniture

Info

Publication number: EP0839477A2
Application number: EP97110930A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ezio Traversa
Original assignee: Manufatti Plastici Traversa Ezio SNC
Current assignee: Manufatti Plastici Traversa Ezio SNC
Priority date: 1996-11-05
Filing date: 1997-07-02
Publication date: 1998-05-06
Also published as: ITMI960728V0; ITMI960728U1; EP0839477A3; IT240988Y1

Abstract

Adjustable support for pieces of furniture comprising:

two coaxial hollow casings (1, 2) of different diameter, tumbler-shaped and telescope-like inserted into one another with the respective communicating cavities, of which a first casing (1), having the function of bearing base, has a greater diameter and is provided on its inner base surface with a means (5) for the connection of a pin end (4); and the second casing, having the function of support, has a smaller diameter and is provided with a central through-hole (11) and a means (13) for locking a threaded nut (3) coaxial to said central hole (11), and
an adjustment pin (4) having and end connected, by elastic articulated fitting, to said connection means (5) of the first casing (1), a threaded stem (18) screwed in said threaded nut (3), and the other end inserted and passing through the central hole (11) of the second casing (2) and provided with a shaped cavity (20) suitable to restrain a wrench for screwing and unscrewing a screw of the socket-head type.

Description

This invention relates to an adjustable support for pieces furniture.
More particularly, this invention relates to an adjustable support particularly suitable to be uses as bearing foot for pieces of furniture.
The word "piece of furniture" as used in the present description and the appended claims, comprises any artefact from wood, metal or plastic material, necessary and/or functional, that can be shifted, used to furnish a house, an office or any other room, such as for instance tables, cupboards, dressers, faces, refrigerators, cookers, dishwashers, washing machines, ovens, etc.
As is known, the pieces of furniture are provided with supports or bearing feet fastened to the base plane, in correspondence of each top.
Such supports, whose task is to space the piece of furniture from the floor, are generally adjustable in height, to make up for possible defects of the floor and to place the piece on a levelled plane.
Different types of supports or feet are known: they comprise a bearing base fastened to an end of a pin or stem having the opposite end fastened to the furniture plane.
To cause these supports to be adjustable in height, the pin or stem is threaded and screwed into a bolt fixed to the furniture plane; by screwing or unscrewing the pin to the fixed bolt, the lowering or siring of the furniture plane with respect to the bearing plane is obtained.
Therefore, the adjustment takes place with the coming out of the pin, spacing the piece of furniture plane from the floor.
Adjustable supports are commercially very well known and are used successfully. However, they are not without drawbacks of a functional and aesthetic nature.
From the functional point of view, the main drawback is due to the difficulty or non-easiness of unscrewing the pin to rise the piece of furniture, especially when the latter is heavy. Besides, these supports are adjusted on the part that rests on the floor, creating difficulties to the operator, in particular as concerns the supports that remain in the back of the piece of furniture.
The aesthetic drawback is found when the difference in height to be made up for is marked; in fact, in this case, the threaded stem must be unscrewed to a great extent, becoming therefore visible and rendering unpleasant the aspect.
Object of this invention is to obviate the drawbacks of the supports of the known art.
More particularly, object of this invention is to realise an adjustable support for furniture wherein the height adjustment can be made easily and the adjustment pin does not become visible also in case of very marked height differences from the bearing plane.
The Applicant has now found that this aim is achieved by means of an adjustable support comprising:

two coaxial casings of different diameter, tumbler-shaped and telescope-like inserted into one another with the respective communicating cavities, of which a first casing, having the function of bearing base, has a greater diameter and is provided on its inner base surface with a means for the connection of a pin end, and the second casing, having the function of support, has a smaller diameter and is provided with a central through-hole and a means for locking a threaded nut coaxial to said central hole, and
an adjustment pin having and end connected, by elastic articulated fitting, to said connection means of the first casing, a threaded stem screwed to said threaded nut and the other end inserted and passing through the central hole of the second casing and provided with a shaped cavity suitable to restrain a wrench for screwing and unscrewing a screw of the socket-head type.

By screwing or unscrewing the adjustment pin in the threaded nut, it is possible to perform the variation of the distance between the two casings and therefore to vary the height of the support.
According to a preferred embodiment of the adjustable support of this invention, the means for the connection of the bearing casing is constituted by an extension having a shaped cavity, so as to support by telescope-like elastic articulated fitting an end of the adjustment pin. Preferably, the cavity is cylindrical with an intermediate annular restraint narrowing, and correspondingly the end of the adjustment pin is provided with a cylindrical head having a diameter essentially equal to the diameter of the pin and connected to said end by a cylindrical portion having a smaller diameter.
Said cylindrical head is inserted by elastic fitting into the shaped cavity of the extension, so that the cylindrical portion with a smaller diameter places in the annular restraint narrowing.
The second support casing comprises a circular disk having a diameter substantially equal to the external diameter of the first casing. Said disk has a central hole and is provided on the side facing the first casing with two circular sectors coaxial with one another, with the central hole and with the disk axis, and on the opposite side, with a holed extension with a through-hole coaxial with said circular sectors and in communication with the central hole.
Of the two circular sectors, the innermost one is so shaped as to house and lock the threaded nut and has a height at least equal to the height of the threaded nut. The external circular sector has an external diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the first bearing casing, so as to be slidingly inserted in the same, and a height smaller that the depth of said first casing, so that the circular disk can rest on the upper plane of said bearing casing.
In order to facilitate the sliding of the first support casing into the bearing casing, and to prevent the rotation of one of them with respect to the other one, sliding rails are provided, constituted by at least a vertical rib, obtained on the inner peripheral surface of the first bearing casing, and which inserts Into a corresponding groove obtained on the external peripheral surface of the second casing.
The construction and functional characteristics of the adjustable support of this invention will be better understood thanks to the following description wherein reference is made to the attached drawings which illustrate a particular embodiment of said support, and wherein:

Figure 1 shows the schematic view of a through-section of the adjustable support of the invention;
Figure 2 shows the schematic top-view of the adjustable support of Figure 1; and
Figure 3 shows the schematic exploded view of the cross-section of Figure 1.

With special reference to the figures, the adjustable support of the invention comprises a first bearing casing 1; a second supporting casing 2; a threaded nut 3 and a threaded adjustment pin 4.
The first bearing casing 1 is tumbler-shaped and is provided with a means 5 for the connection of the adjustment pin 4 on the inner base surface, and preferably with at least a rib 6, parallel to the rotation axis of said first casing 1, along the inner peripheral surface. The number of ribs 6 may vary from 1 to 6 or more, although 4, arranged at 90°, are preferred.
Means 5 for the connection of the adjustment pin 4 comprises an extension 7 integral with casing 1 and provided with a cavity 8 so shaped as to support an end of the adjustment pin 4. Preferably, said cavity 8 has a cylindrical shape connected to a cylindrical open end 8' of the same diameter by an annular restraint narrowing 9.
The second support casing 2 comprises a circular disk 10 having a diameter smaller with respect to the external diameter of the bearing casing 1 and provided with a central hole 11, and on one side with two circular sectors 12 and 13, coaxial with one another, with the disk axis and with the central hole 11. On the opposite side, said circular disk 10 is provided with an extension 4 provided with a through-hole 15, coaxial with said sectors 12 and 13 and in communication with the central hole 11.
Of the two circular sectors 12 and 13, the innermost one 12 has a diameter greater that the inner one 13 and smaller that the inner diameter of the first casing 1, and is provided with at least a groove 16 along its external surface wherein rib 6 of the first casing 1 inserts, when the second support casing 2 is telescope-like inserted into the first casing 1. Preferably, the number of grooves 16 is equal to the number of ribs 6.
The circular sector 13 is so shaped internally as to house and lock the threaded nut 3.
The threaded pin 4 is provided at and end with a cylindrical head 17 connected to stem 18 by a cylindrical portion having a smaller diameter 19. The other end of pin 4 is provided with a shaped cavity 20 suitable to restrain a wrench for screwing and unscrewing a screw of the socket-head type.
The cylindrical head 17 of the adjustment threaded pin 4 is pressure-inserted into the cylindrical cavity 8 of extension 1 of the first casing 1, in such a way as to cause the restraint 9 ring to adhere to the portion of smaller diameter 19 of pin 4. In this way, pin 4 is articulatably restrained in said cavity 8 and can oscillate freely in such a way as to cause the bearing case 1 to orient according to the bearing plane and to adhere to the same.
The threaded stem 18 of pin 4 is screwed into the threaded nut 3, causing the rotation of the second support casing 2 with respect to the first casing 1. The free end of pin 4 inserts and goes through the central hole 11 and hole 15 of extension 14.
By screwing and unscrewing the adjustment pin 4 into the corresponding threaded nut 3, both casings 1 and 2 take on the position of complete approach (indicated by the full line in Figure 1) or of complete spacing (indicated by the broken lines in Figure 1).
The screwing or unscrewing of the adjustment pin 4 is through a polygonal section wrench which fits into the corresponding cavity 20 having a section equal to the section of the wrench.
The adjustable support of the invention is fastened to the base of a piece of furniture by drilling a through-hole in said base and inserting extension 14 in said hole. To this purpose, the height of extension 14 is preferably equal to the thickness of the base of the piece of furniture. The base of the piece of furniture rests on the circular disk 10 and is supported by the same.
The advantages obtained by means of the adjustable support of the present invention are obvious thanks to the above description. They are constituted essentially by the easy adjustment of the support height through a simple screwing or unscrewing of the adjustment pin 4 obtained with a wrench inserted in the shaped cavity 20, and by the aesthetic aspect, even when the two casings 1 and 2 are completely spaced from one another. In fact, the adjustment pin 4 is always covered by the two superposed casings 1 and 2, and cannot be seen from the outside.
Besides, thanks to the adjustable support of this invention, the first casing 1 rests on the bearing plane and the adjustment is by rising the second casing 2, having in this way the advantage of seeing always one only piece and avoiding uncovered spaces.
Both casings 1 and 2 can be made from any suitable material; preferably from a thermoplastic material such as nylon, PVC, polyethylene, polystyrene, etc. or mixes thereof, possible filled with mineral fibres or fibreglass.
Preferably, nut 3 and the adjustment pin 4 are from metal, even though they could be made from plastic material.
The working of the support for pieces of furniture of the present invention is quite opposite to the known supports available on the market. In fact, while the known supports level the piece of furniture by means of the coming out of a pin in the middle of their base, with the ensuing rising of the bearing plane of said base fastened to the base of the piece of furniture, the support of the invention causes the base to remain always resting on the bearing plane, rising by screwing the second support casing, which accordingly rises the piece of furniture.
Even though this invention has been described with reference to an embodiment, many variants and alternatives will be obvious to those skilled in the art, in the light of the above description.
Therefore, this invention encompasses all the variants and alternatives that fall within the spirit and the protection scope of the appended claims.

Claims

An adjustable support for pieces of furniture comprising:
- two coaxial hollow casings (1, 2) of different diameter, tumbler-shaped and telescope-like inserted into one another with the respective communicating cavities, of which a first casing (1), having the function of bearing base, has a greater diameter and is provided on its inner base surface with a means (5) for the connection of a pin end (4); and the second casing, having the function of support, has a smaller diameter and is provided with a central through-hole (11) and a means (13) for locking a threaded nut (3) coaxial to said central hole (11), and

- an adjustment pin (4) having and end connected, by elastic articulated fitting, to said connection means (5) of the first casing (1), a threaded stem (18) screwed to said threaded nut (3), and the other end inserted and passing through the central hole (11) of the second casing (2) and provided with a shaped cavity (20) suitable to restrain a wrench for screwing and unscrewing a screw of the socket-head type.
The adjustable support according to claim 1, wherein the means (5) for the connection of an end of a pin (4) comprises an extension (7) integral with said casing (1) and provided with a cavity (8) so shaped as to articulatably support an end (17) of the adjustment pin (4).
The adjustable support according to claim 2, wherein cavity (8) has a cylindrical shape connected to a cylindrical open end part (8') of the same diameter by an annular restraint narrowing (9).
The adjustable support according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the second support casing (2) comprises a circular disk (10) having a diameter smaller with respect to the external diameter of the first bearing casing (1), and provided with a central hole (11) and on one side with two circular sectors (12, 13) coaxial with one another, with the axis of disk (10) and with the central hole (11); of said coaxial circular sectors (12, 13), the inner one is so shaped as to house and lock the threaded nut (13) and the external one (12) has a diameter greater than the inner one (13) and smaller than the inner diameter of the first casing (1).
The adjustable support according to claim 4, wherein the circular disk (10) is provided, on the side opposite to the side of the two circular sectors (12, 13), with an extension (14) drilled with a through-hole (15), coaxial with said sectors (12, 13), and in communication with the central hole (11).
The adjustable support according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the internal circular sector (13) has a height at least equal to the height of the threaded nut (3) and the external circular sector (12) has a height smaller than the depth of the first casing (1).
The adjustable support according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the external circular sector (12) is provided with at least a groove (16) along its external surface and, correspondingly, the first bearing casing (1) is provided with at least a rib (6) along its inner peripheral surface; each rib (6) being inserted into the corresponding groove (16) when the second support casing (2) is telescope-like inserted into the first casing (1).
The adjustable support according to claim 7, wherein the number of ribs (6) is comprised between 1 and 6 and is equal to the number of grooves (16); preferably, ribs and grooves are in number of 4 and arranged at an angle of 90°.
The adjustable support according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the end of the adjustment pin (4) articulatably restrained in the connection means (5) comprises a cylindrical head (17) connected to the threaded stem (18) of a cylindrical portion (19) having a smaller diameter.
Utilisation of the adjustable support according to any of the preceding claims as a supporting foot for pieces of furniture.