GB2084458A - Seat members - Google Patents

Abstract

A seat member for converting wooden stadium benching into comfortable seating accommodation at low cost comprises a base portion (1, 4) including a load-bearing peripheral frame (1) and having a bottom face arranged to abut a planar support surface, bolts (7) for rigidly securing the frame to such a support surface and seating (2), overlying the inner area of the frame, secured to the frame in spaced, generally parallel, relation to the plane of the bottom face, the seating comprising a layer of resilient polymeric material arranged to carry the weight of a user in suspension from the frame whilst deforming into the space between the seating and the plane of the bottom surface. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Seat members This invention relates to seat members.

A seat member for use in a sports ground stadium is described in the Complete Specification of our British Patent Application No. 1 6096/76.

That seat member comprises a peripheral frame, a base fastened to the frame, and a cushion overlying the base. The frame is a load-bearing structure provided within the cushion and the cushion is made of compressible polymeric material and is provided with a plurality of blind apertures whose mouths engage the base so that each blind aperture constitutes a closed air pocket. Pivot pins and stop pins are welded to the frame and project from the sides of the seat member. Another seat member is described in the Complete Specification of our British Patent Application No. 1 7856/77. That seat member is very like the seat member described in Application No. 1 6096/76 except that it has no base. Both these seat members are very good as regards comfort and resistance to vandalism but they are naturally more expensive than, say, a plain wooden bench.In a vast stadium requiring thousands of seat members, cost becomes very important and there is a need for a seat member which is cheaper than the seat member described in Patent Application No. 1 6096/76 or 17856/77 yet comfortable and resistant to vandalism. Cost is particularly important when an existing stadium has to be re-equipped because the expense of dealing with the old seating has to be added to the cost of installing the new seating.

According to the present invention, there is provided: A seat member comprising a base portion including a load-bearing peripheral frame and having a bottom face arranged to abut a planar support surface, means for rigidly securing the frame to such a support surface, and seating, overlying the inner area of the frame, secured to the frame in spaced, generally parallel, relation to the plane of the bottom face, the seating comprising a layer of resilient polymeric material arranged to carry the weight of a user in suspension from the frame whilst deforming into the space between the seating and the plane of the bottom surface.

The peripheral frame can lie wholly within a wall of the polymeric material, the wall being integrally-formed with the said layer.

The side of the said layer facing the bottom face can be provided with a plurality of integrallyformed ribs.

The ribs can be continuous across the inner area of the frame.

The layer of polymeric material can be joined to the frame by a peripheral bridge portion of polymeric material integrally-formed with the said layer, the bridge portion extending from the frame in an inward direction and away from the said bottom face.

The side ends of the ribs can be integrallyformed with the peripheral bridge portion.

There can be two sets of parallel ribs arranged transversely with respect to each other and integrally-formed at their intersections.

The polymeric material can be rubber moulded about the peripheral frame.

The means for rigidly securing the frame can comprise bolts passing through the frame.

The frame can be a simple closed geometric figure, for example, a rectangle with rounded corners.

The frame can be a hollow metal tube, for example, of square cross-section.

The layer of polymeric material can be a continuous layer of material.

Use of a seat member as defined above can comprise the improvement of a bench seat by rigidly securing the seat member to the bench seat.

By way of example only, an illustrative embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional view, taken on the line 1-1 marked in Figure 2, of a seat member embodying the invention, and FIGURE 2 is an underneath view of the seat member of Figure 1 but to a somewhat smaller scale.

Referring to the drawings, the seat member is constituted by a generally rectangular peripheral load-bearing frame 1 and seating 2 of resilient or compressible polymeric material. The frame 1 is made from a tube of 1 8 gauge steel and has a square cross section of side 3/4 inch. The seating 2 is made of moulded flame resistant rubber and is both moulded about the frame 1 and bonded thereto by means of an adhesive. In addition the frame 1 is preferably provided with a plurality of holes (not shown) in which plug-like extensions of the seating 2 are received to increase the strength of the bond. The frame 1 also has a plurality of chaplets 3 which position the frame within a mould while the rubber is moulded onto the frame.

The seating 2 has an upper part 2a in the form of a layer of rubber 1/4 inch thick overlying the inner area of the peripheral frame 1. A plurality of ribs 2b of depth approximately 3/4 inch and thickness 1/5 inch are integrally-formed on the underside of the layer 2a and arranged in a square lattice defining a plurality of open cavities 2d of (as far as space allows) substantially square crosssection on 1-5/8 inch centres. As can be seen in the drawing, some of the outermost cavities are of other than square cross-section.

The frame 1 is contained in a solid peripheral wall 4 of the rubber seating 2 integrally connected to the layer 2 by an upwardly sloping peripheral bridge portion 5. The side-ends of the ribs 2b are integrally connected to the wall 4 and bridge portion 5. The side-ends of the ribs 2b are integrally connected to the wall 4 and bridge portion 5. The overall dimensions of the seat member are 1 7 inches side-to-side, 12 inches back-to-back with a depth decreasing from 1-7/8 inches measured from the top of the bridge portion at the back of the seat to 1-3/4 inches measured from the top of the bridge portion at the front of the seat. The corners of the wall 4 are given an external radius of 1 inch and an internal radius of 1-7/8 inches whereas the corners of the frame 1 are given an internal radius of 2 inches and an external radius of 2-3/4 inches.The wall 4 is 1/8 inch thick on the inside of the frame 1, 1/4 inch thick on the outside of the frame except at the corners and 1/1 6 inch thick underneath the frame. The lowermost portions of the ribs 2b are 3/4 inch above the plane of the bottom of the wall 4.

The frame 1 has two holes 6 in each of its short sides through each of which passes a respective 3 inch x 1/4 inch screw bolt 7 having its head tack-welded to the upper surface of the frame 1 before the seating is moulded onto the frame.

During the moulding of the seating 2, its top surface is formed with a grained finish which gives the seat a non-slip property and enhances its appearance.

The seat member is excellent for use with a plurality of like seat members for converting wooden stadium benching into comfortable seating accommodation at relatively low cost. The seat members are mounted side-by-side by simply drilling holes in the wooden benching to receive the ends of the bolts 7, fitting the seat member on the benching with the bolts passing through the drilled holes, screwing nuts onto the exposed ends of the bolts, and hammering over the ends of the bolts to prevent vandals from unscrewing the nuts again. By this means the wooden benching is upgraded without the cost of discarding it and installing entirely new seating.

When the seat member is secured to a wooden bench by the bolts 7 and associated nuts, the frame 1 and wall 4 are held securely in place on the top of the bench. On the other hand, the central or upper part 2a of the seating is held above the surface of the bench by the bridge portion 5 and the bottoms of ribs 2b are spaced 3/4 inch from the bench surface. When, however, a user sits on the central part 2a, his or her weight is carried in suspension from the load-bearing frame 1 by means of the wall 4 and bridge portion 5. The seating will deform and sag but the ribs 2b assist in taking the weight of the user and under normal circumstances the bottom ends of the ribs will generally be spaced from the top surface of the bench.

The seat member is far more comfortable to sit on than a plain wooden bench yet is sufficiently cheap to manufacture to make it an economic proposition to upgrade the seating of even a very large stadium. The seat member is also resistant to vandalism.

The ribs provide the seating with a controlled degree of flexural rigidity which can be modified by changing the depth, number and/or thickness of the ribs. The properties of the seat member can also be modified by the choice of the hardness of the rubber used.

The flexural rigidity of the seat can be reduced by reducing the depth of the ribs 2b, by reducing the number or ribs or reducing the width of the ribs. Similarly, the flexural rigidity can be increased by increasing the depth of the ribs, by increasing the number of the ribs or increasing the width of the ribs. Use of softer rubber will result in a seat of lower stiffness and use of harder rubber will result in a seat of greater stiffness.

The flexural rigidity of the seat can also be reduced by making the ribs discontinuous: for example the rib portions bounding corners of each cavity may be omitted so that each cavity is defined by four disconnected ribs and communicates at each of its corners with the corners of adjacent cavities. In this case the flexural rigidity of the seat is considerably reduced in these corner regions. The flexural rigidity of the seat can be further reduced by omitting greater lengths of the ribs. The arrangement and/or size of the ribs can also be varied over the area of the seat so that the flexural rigidity of the seat varies across its area.

The seat described above has many advantages over the conventionai stadium seat. It is more flexible and comfortable than conventional hard plastics moulded seats and it spreads the sitter's weight over the area of the seat; it is versatile in that it can be used with or without arm rests, with or without a back rest and can be used in tiers.

Since the seat has rubber at its edges and in particular along its front edge it is less painful if knocked against. Furthermore the seat is easy to manufacture and can be designed to display a selected load-deflection characteristic.

It will be apparent that a number of modifications could be made to the seat described above. For example the ribs 2b may be arranged in other configurations: for example the ribs may be arranged to define open rectangular cavities or they may be arranged in concentric circles with or without radially extending ribs, thus forming annular cavities. Alternatively the lower part of the seating may be formed with a multiplicity of circular cross-section cavities. Seats of different degrees of stiffness can be made by having, for example, circular, oval, triangular or polyhedral cavities.

The upper part 2a of the seating can be reinforced with a layer of knitted wire fibre, or woven steel. Such a layer could be spot-welded to the frame 1 prior to the moulding on of the seating 2. Such a layer not only increases the strength of the seating 2, but it also enhances its resistance to vandalism. This reinforcing layer could also be made of nylon or other synthetic fibres, and it is possible to wrap the fibres around the frame to form a sleeve around the frame: the fibres may then be bonded to the frame during the moulding process. This technique is also applicable to wire fibre or woven steel. It is also possible to utilise a frame having the cross-section of an inverted U. It would also be possible to make the frame from plastics material, glass fibre or carbon fibre reinforced resin.

The box frame 1 could also be made up from two pieces, of, for example, mild steel which are secured together, for example by welding. For example two angle sections could be used, the screw fixing bolts 7 being secured to one of the limbs of one of the sections. Alternatively, a channel member and a flat bar member closing the channel could be used, the bolts 7 being secured, for example, to the flat bar. Two channel members could also be used the bolts 7 being secured to the base of one member. In each case the bolts can be secured by welding.

In a modified form of the seat member, five parallel ribs extend between the short sides of the frame 1 and nine parallel ribs extend between the long sides of that frame: the ribs defining square cavities having sides of 1-5/8". Further, the depth of the seat, as measured between the tops of the bridging portions is constant at 1-3/4".

Claims (14)

1. A seat member comprising a base portion including a load-bearing peripheral frame and having a bottom face arranged to abut a planar support surface, means for rigidly securing the frame to such a support surface, and seating, overlying the inner area of the frame, secured to the frame in spaced, generally parallel, relation to the plane of the bottom face, the seating comprising a layer of resilient polymeric material arranged to carry the weight of a user in suspension from the frame whilst deforming into the space between the seating and the plane of the bottom surface.

2. A seat member as claimed in claim 1, wherein the peripheral frame lies wholly within a wall of the polymeric material, the wall being integrally-formed with the said layer.

3. A seat member as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the side of the said layer facing the bottom face is provided with a plurality of integrally-formed ribs.

4. A seat member as claimed in claim 3, wherein the ribs are continuous across the inner area of the frame.

5. A seat member as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the layer of polymeric material is joined to the frame by a peripheral bridge portion of polymeric material integrally-formed with the said layer, the bridge portion extending from the frame in an inward direction and away from the said bottom face.

6. A seat member as claimed in claim 5 as dependent on claim 3, wherein the side ends of the ribs are integrally-formed with the peripheral bridge portion.

7. A seat member as claimed in claim 3, 4 or 6 or claim 5 as dependent on claim 3 wherein, there are two sets of parallel ribs arranged transversely with respect to each other and integrally-formed at their intersections.

8. A seat member as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the polymeric material is rubber moulded about the peripheral frame.

9. A seat member as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the means for rigidly securing the frame comprises bolts passing through the frame.

10. A seat member as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the frame is simple closed geometric figure.

11. A seat member as claimed in claim 10, wherein the frame defines a rectangle with rounded corners.

12. A seat member as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the frame is a hollow metal tube.

13. A seat member as claimed in claim 12, wherein the tube is of square cross-section.

14. A seat member as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the layer of polymeric material is a continuous layer of material.

1 5. A seat member substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

1 6. Use of a seat member as claimed in any preceding claim and comprising the improvement of a bench seat by rigidly securing the seat member to the bench seat.