EP1871196B1

EP1871196B1 - Table having two or more retractable extensions

Info

Publication number: EP1871196B1
Application number: EP05743417A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Luciano Lucatello
Original assignee: Societa Vetraria Biancadese SAS
Current assignee: Societa Vetraria Biancadese SAS
Priority date: 2005-04-13
Filing date: 2005-04-13
Publication date: 2009-12-30
Anticipated expiration: 2025-04-13
Also published as: WO2006109333A1; ATE453342T1; EP1871196A1; DE602005018687D1; CN101198267A

Abstract

Table (21) comprising a raised tabletop (24) as supported at at least two end 5 portions thereof by corresponding stands (28), and two or more retractable extensions (22), each one of them coupled to a corresponding stand (28) via a rotracting/retracting mechanism (136, 138). This mechanism (136, 138) enables the related extension (22) to be displaced from a retracted position under the tabletop (24), to a protracted position, in which it is co-planar to the tabletop (24), in which said displacement comprises a rotation about the stand (28) and a rotation about a horizontal axis (X1). Said two or more extensions (22), when retracted, are staggered relative to each other, i.e. lie at a different distance from said tabletop (24).

Description

The present invention refers to a table having two or more retractable extensions.
The selection of a table having a fixedly shaped tabletop implies a thorough consideration of a number of factors, such as the place where to position it and the various furniture fittings which it has to be combined or matched with, to be made by the buyer before purchasing it. In addition, it may quite often occur that buyers of a table of this kind, following a change in their taste and preferences, or even owing to particular needs arising in terms of available space or house decoration, find out that a table having a different shape is what they would actually need. Whenever such considerations or newly arisen needs lead to a table being therefore replaced, this will most clearly involve - further to an unavoidable waste - an undesired disbursement to be sustained.
It is a generally known fact that a table designed so as to enable a user to increase the surface area of the related tabletop (or worktop) by means of few, simple manipulations- as is the case with the so-called extensible tables - is highly valued and preferred by the buyers on the marketplace. The reasons for this are fully apparent, in particular when the far greater flexibility and convenience in practical use of such extensible table is considered as compared with a non-extensible one.
This same Applicant currently manufactures and markets tables provided with such retractable extensions. So, for instance, quite popular on the marketplace is currently a table 20 out of this production (see Figures 1 to 3), which is provided with a protracting and retracting mechanism 26 for one or more extensions 22 enabling them to disappear - when retracted - under a tabletop 24 of the same table 20. The extension 22, which - when brought in its protracted position - comes to lie in the same plane as and juxtaposed to the fixed tabletop 24 (see Figure 1), can be rotated (in the direction F1) by the user about a horizontal longitudinal axis X, by means of the articulated retraction mechanism 26 (shown schematically in the drawings), so as to be brought in a horizontal position under the tabletop 24 - see Figure 2. For it to be able to disappear under the tabletop 24, the extension 22 is hinged on to proper supports 28 provided on the tabletop 24 and turns thereabout - see Figure 3, direction F2 - by rotating about a substantially vertical axis Y and, hence, displacing in a horizontal plane. As a result, should there be provided two extensions 22 (as shown by way of example in Figures 1 to 3) that, when protracted, extend on two opposite sides of the table 20, the same extensions, when retracted, will then come to lie co-planar and close to each oder under the tabletop 24. The corresponding, homologous sides 30 of the extensions 22 that are the farthest ones when the extensions 22 are protracted, become the closest ones when the same extensions 22 are in their retracted position (owing to the extensions 22 themselves having been turned by 180°).
Also know in the prior art there is the table disclosed in US 5 520 122 , having leaves at different height when resting under the table-top. There is not disclosed a mechanism able to allow to each extension movements as a rotation about the support in a substantially horizontal plane combined with a rotation about a horizontal axis, to bring the extension in co-planar position with the tabletop.
The Applicant is of the opinion that a further improvement in the construction of a table 20 of this kind may still be possible and prove of particular advantage. In fact, the construction of the above-described table 20 is such as to put a constraint, i.e. restrict the maximum length that the extensions 22 can have (and, hence, the maximum length that can be reached by the table 20 itself), since each one of these extensions shall be capable of being retracted even when the other one is already in its retracted position (so that it might interfere with the first one being displaced into its retracted position). In any case, if the length of the extensions 22 is increased, the same extensions would end up by touching each other with their sides 30 when in their retracted position.
Such further improvement is actually the main object of the present invention, wherein such purpose is reached in a table comprising the features cited in Claim 1.
A table 21 according to the present invention is shown schematically in Figure 4, in which (and the same applies also to the other Figures) the same reference numerals are used as in the preceding Figures to indicate same items and parts (the extensions in their protracted position are indicated with dashed lines in Figure 4). It can be most readily appreciated that, through the use of spacer means (comprised in a protracting/retracting mechanism 136, 138) adapted to determine the distance between the extensions 22 and the tabletop 24 in the retracted position thereof, the possibility is given for the height of the same extensions 22 - relative to both each other and the tabletop 24 - to be offset, thereby creating an additional space enabling the length of said extensions to be further increased. In this connection, it can be noticed that - in the representation shown in Figure 4 - die sides 30 of the extensions 22 can in fact extend above each other, i.e. overlap.
The spacer means determine the distance from the tabletop 24 of the horizontal plane of rotation of an extension 22, which means that this extension 22 keeps in a co-planar relation as it displaces in the horizontal plane (the fixed distance between said tabletop 24 and said horizontal plane is most suitably established either at the factory site or a first time by the user him/herself).
In view of further simplifying the construction of the table 21 according to the present invention, it may be advantageous if said protracting/retracting mechanism 136, 138 is such as to keep the extension 22 horizontal in the retracted position thereof, such that no additional alignment is required during the rotation thereof about the horizontal axis.
For such protracting/retracting mechanism to be provided in a most simple manner, the same may therefore comprise a rotatable support hinged on to the stand 28 about the substantially vertical axis Y, to this rotatable support there being hinged about the horizontal axis X a means for an extension 22 to rest thereupon.
In a most simple, but quite effective embodiment thereof, said spacer means may comprise discs having a calibrated thickness, to be arranged above and/or under the rotatable support hinged on to the stand 28. In this manner, the accurately gauged thickness of the discs sets the distance that has to be kept between an extension 22 (not necessarily all of them) and the tabletop 24 in the retracted position thereof.
Anyway, features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the description of a preferred, although not sole embodiment, which is given below by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematical side view of a table with protracted extensions;
Figure 2 is a schematical side view of the table shown in Figure 1, with the extensions thereof in the protracted, but lowered position;
Figure 3 is a schematical side view of the table shown in Figure 1, with the extensions thereof in die retracted position;
Figure 4 is a schematical side view of the table shown in Figure 1 as modified according to the innovative concept of the present invention;
Figures 5 and 6 are three-quarter views of two protracting/retracting mechanisms of a table according to the present invention, in a first position thereof;
Figure 7 is a three-quarter view of the protracting/retracting mechanism shown in Figure 5, in a second position thereof;
Figure 8 is a top cross-sectional view of the protracting/retracting mechanism shown in Figure 5, taken along a median horizontal plane I-I in Figure 9;
Figure 9 is a side view of the protracting/retracting mechanism shown in Figure 5, in the position shown there;
Figure 10 is a three-quarter view of a side of the table shown in Figure 4.

With reference to Figures 5 through to 10, these illustrate two protracting/retracting mechanisms 136, 138 for an extension 22 (shown in dashed lines in Figure 10 only). In a table 21 according to the present invention (see Figure 10), these protracting/retracting mechanisms 136, 138 are located in the same position and arranged to perform in the same manner as the articulated joint 26 described hereinbefore. In the Figures 5 to 10, the same reference numerals as in the foregoing description are used to indicate like parts and items, whereas the prefix "2" and the brackets are used to indicate like parts of the mechanism 138 that for reasons of greater simplicity are described in connection with the sole mechanism 136, but are not shown.
Each protracting/retracting mechanism 136, 138 comprises a respective resting member 140 (240) for an extension 22 that is capable of rotating about a horizontal axis X1 relative to a rotatable support 142 (242), thanks to a coupling pin 144 (244) integral with the support 142 (242) and accommodated into a corresponding seat 162 (262) in the resting member 140 (240) itself - see Figure 8 illustrating the protracting/retracting mechanism 136 in a horizontal cross-sectional view thereof, which is the same as the protracting/retracting mechanism 138 in this detail, and see also Figure 7 illustrating for example the resting member 140 rotated by 90° with respect to the illustration appearing in Figure 5.
Longitudinally relative to the coupling pin 144 (244), along the axis X1, there is screwed in a screw 159 (259) having a screw head 160 (260). This screw 159 (259) has a smooth shank that passes through a corresponding bore 165 (265) in the body of the resting member 140 (240), and around which there is inserted a spring 163 (263) abutting against both the resting member 140 (240) and the head 160 (260) of the screw 159 (259). The purpose of this screw 159 (259) - which can be set, i.e. adjusted through an aperture 161 (261) provided in the resting member 140 (240) - is to retain the resting member 140 (240) on to the support 142 (242), while however allowing it to displace for a short distance - in the direction F3 in Figure 8 - along the axis X1. The actual length of such displacement is determined by the length of the screw 159 (259) and the extent to which the latter is screwed in.
The resting member 140 (240) comprises a side mouth 180 (280) that can surround a corresponding protrusion 182 (282) of the support 142 (242) - see Figures 7 and 9. In this configuration, the resting member 140 (240) and the support 142 (242) are joined firmly with each other.
For the resting member 140 (240) to be rotated about the pin 144 (244), all it takes is to grasp the extension 22, overcome the biasing force exerted by the spring 163 (263), and move the resting member 140 (240) away from the support 142 (242) in the direction F3 indicated in Figure 8, so that the protrusion 182 (282) moves out of the mouth 180 (280). In this condition, the resting member 140 (240) is now free to rotate about the pin 144 (244). As soon as the resting member 140 (240) - and the extension 22 - has been so caused to rotate by 180° about the pin 144 (244), the extension 22 is released so as to cause the protrusion 182 (282) to fit again into the mouth 180 (280), thereby stabilizing the resting member 140 (240) in a permanent manner.
The rotatable support 142 (242) comprises an annular portion 146 (246) that surrounds a corresponding round head 148 (248) - cf. Figures 8 and 9 - of a base disc 150 (250) that is coupled by means of screws 154 (254) to a containment disc 152 (252). This disc 152 (252) acts to both retain said annular portion 146 (246) in place, while however allowing it to rotate, and provide a resting surface for the tabletop 24.
In Figure 5 and Figure 6, it can be best noticed how the discs 150, 250 and 152, 252 are different in their thickness.
With a construction like the above-described one, each support 142 (242) is therefore able to rotate about a substantially vertical axis Y1 relative to the fixed body fonned by the base disc 150 (250) and the disc 152 (252) associated thereto.
The head 148 (248) of the base disc 150 (250) comprises a horizontal through-bore 166 (266), at the two ends of which there are housed two pins 168, 169 (268, 269) that are radially biased by a spring 172 (272) towards two corresponding diametrical recesses 174, 175 (274, 275) provided in the inside surface of the annular portion 146 (246). The alignment of these pins 168, 169 (268, 269) with the recesses 174, 175 (274, 275) stabilizes the support 142 (242) and the head 148 (248) of the base disc 150 (250) in their position relative to each other, while it anyway takes just a moderate force to be applied for the pins 168, 169 (268, 269) to be able to overcome the biasing force of the spring 172 (272) and slide into the bore 166 (266), thereby allowing the support 142 (242) to rotate relative to the base disc 150 (250). Obviously, the recesses 174, 175 (274, 275) are given an adequately smooth contour, and the pins 168, 169 (268, 269) a correspondingly rounded head, so as to allow the same pins 168, 169 (268, 269) to move back into position ad described above. After a 180°-rotation of the support 142 (242) about the base disc 150 (250), the recesses 174, 175 (274, 275) and the pins 168, 169 (268, 269) are again aligned with each other, so that a non-permanent retaining condition is reestablished.
A basic feature of the present invention is that the protracting/retracting mechanism 136 (138) comprises spacer means that are adapted to determine the distance to be kept between the tabletop 24 and die extension 22 in the retracted position thereof. When looking at Figures 5 and 6, it can be most readily appreciated that such distance is set by the calibrated thickness of the discs 150, 152 (250, 252), which is different in the two mechanisms 136, 138. Owing to the tabletop 24 being attached at an end portion thereof to the containment disc 152 (252) (cf. Figure 10), it ensues in fact that the calibrated thickness of the discs 150, 152 (250, 252) determines the distance of the support 142 (242) from the tabletop 24 and, hence, the distance of the extension 22 from the same tabletop 24 in the retracted position of the former. In this case, such distance is adjusted and set once and for all at the factory, in the design phase, by appropriately calibrating the thickness of the discs 150, 152 (250, 252) so as to prevent the extensions 22 mounted on a table 21 according to the invention from colliding with each other when being retracted - cf. Figure 4.
Other solutions can however be contemplated to such purpose in deviation from, i.e. as a variation in the above-described embodiment. For example, by selecting a single and same thickness for the discs 150, 152 and 250, 252, the resting member 140 (240) may be provided with adjustment means adapted to make the distance between the tabletop 24 and the extension 22 in the retracted position thereof modifiable. In this case, on the resting member 140 (240) there can be provided a vertical nut screw, in which a corresponding spacer screw coupled to the extension 22 can then be inserted. By adjusting this spacer screw, it is therefore possible for the distance between the resting member 140 (240) and the extension 22 in the retracted position thereof and, as a result, between the same extension 22 and the tabletop 24 to be in turn adjusted, wherein those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other adjustable spacer means can be used to such purpose, as well.
In addition, the axis Y1, about which the support 140 (240) is intended to rotate, may also be given different inclinations from the vertical, and one or more spacer discs may be used, as well.
It will be appreciated that all of these further embodiments and variations do anyway fall within the scope of the present invention, so as defined in the following claims.

Claims

Table (21) comprising:
- a raised tabletop (24) having at at least two end portions thereof corresponding supports (28);

- two or more retractable extensions (22), each one of them being coupled to the corresponding support (28) through a protracting/retracting mechanism (136, 138) enabling the related extension (22) to be displaced from a retracted position, under the tabletop (24), to a protracted position, in which it is co-planar to the tabletop (24), said mechanism enabling each extension to rotate about the corresponding support (28) in a substantially horizontal plane, in order to move it out from under the tabletop (24), and

- to rotate about a horizontal axis (X1), in order to bring it in a position in which it is co-planar with said tabletop (24), wherein said two or more extensions, when retracted lie at a different distance from said tabletop (24),
characterized in that said protracting/retracting mechanism (136, 138) comprises spacer means (152, 150, 252, 250) adapted to determine both the distance from said two or more extensions (22) to said tabletop (24) in the retracted position thereof, and
the distance of said horizontal plane, in which said two or more extensions rotable about the corresponding support (28), from the tabletop (24).
Table (21) according to claim 1, wherein said two or more extensions (22) are able to rotate about the corresponding stand (28) in a substantially horizontal plane by a 180°-rotation.
Table (21) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said protracting/ retracting mechanism (136, 138) is adapted to keeps said two or more extensions (22) horizontal when in the retracted position thereof.
Table (21) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said protracting/retracting mechanism (136, 138) comprises a rotatable support (142, 242) hinged on to the stand (28) about a substantially vertical axis (Y1), to this rotatable support (142, 242) there being hinged about a horizontal axis (X1) a resting member (140, 240) for one of said two or more extensions (22) to rest thereupon.
Table (21) according to claim 4, wherein the resting member (140, 240) is hinged on to the rotatable support (142, 242) via a coupling pin (144, 244) that is integral with the rotatable support (142, 242) and housed within a corresponding seat (162, 262) in the resting member (140, 240).
Table (21) according to claim 5, wherein longitudinally relative to the coupling pin (144, 244) there is screwed in a screw (159, 259) having a screw head (160, 260), this screw (159, 259) having a smooth shank which passes through a corresponding bore (165, 265) in the body of the resting member (140, 240), and around which there is inserted a spring (163, 263) abutting against both the resting member (140, 240) and the screw head (160, 260), this screw (159, 259) being adjustable through an aperture (161, 261) provided in the resting member (140, 240), and being further adapted to retain the resting member (140, 240) on to the support (142, 242), while however allowing it to displace for a short distance along said axis (X1).
Table (21) according to claim 6 4, wherein said resting member (140, 240) comprises a side mouth (180, 280) that can surround a corresponding protrusion (182, 282) of the support (142, 242).
Table (21) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said spacer means comprise one or more calibrated-thickness discs (150, 250, 152, 252).
Table (21) according to claim 8, wherein a calibrated-thickness base disc (150, 250) is secured to said stand (28) and comprises a circular head (148, 248) surrounded by an annular portion (146, 246) of the rotatable support (142, 242), said portion (146, 246) being free to rotate on said head (148, 248) and said head (148, 248) being coupled with fastening means (154, 254) to a calibrated-thickness containment disc (152, 252), which retains said annular portion (146, 246) rotatably, and on which said tabletop (24) is able to rest.
Table (21) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said protracting/retracting mechanism comprises means for adjusting said distance from one of said two or more extensions (22) to said tabletop (24) in the retracted position of said extension.