GB2126883A - Furniture leg raiser - Google Patents

Abstract

A device for increasing the length of a furniture leg, coupling a hollow body 8 having a pocket 10 to receive the end of the furniture leg, a surface 12 for supporting the leg, spacing elements 13 to adjust the pocket depth and resilient ribs 14 for gripping the leg. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Increasing of articles' leg length The invention relates to apparatus for increasing the length of the legs of articles and is particularly though not exclusively applicable to legs of furniture, especially beds and chairs.

It is sometimes necessary to increase the length of the legs of arm chairs, beds and the like and this is especially true if these items are intended for use by elderly or disabled persons who have difficulty when trying to get into or out of low furniture.

It has been known to provide a block of wood, stone or other suitable material upon which to rest the legs of furniture such blocks often having a detent on an upper surface to receive the end of the chair leg or a castor. Arrangements whereby a lower portion of a leg is received within a receptacle in a leg extension member and wedged therein by means of suitable wedges are also known. These arrangements have either been unsatisfactory in that they may be unstable, unnecessarily complicated in fitting, and difficult to move with the chair.

The present invention seeks to mitigate or obviate these disadvantages.

The invention provides therefore lengthincreasing apparatus for a leg of an article comprising a body member having a pocket into which a part of the leg is insertable, means for adjusting the pocket depth, and means within the pocket for gripping the said leg.

Preferably at the base of the pocket there is provided a surface for supporting an end of the leg. The means for adjusting the pocket depth may be one or more spacing elements accommodated in the pocket, resting on the support surface.

The means within the pocket for gripping the said leg may comprise a plurality of ribs extending into the pocket from the walls thereof. Each rib preferably extends at a slight angle to the radial direction. The ribs are preferably resilient.

Desirably a foot is also provided at the base end of the body member the foot being secured to the body member by an interference fit, by means of a threaded fastening such as a screw or other suitable means. The body member or the foot may be provided with a screw-threaded portion or some other convenient fixing means for mounting a castor.

The apparatus is preferably made from plastics material. The spacing elements may be received in a central portion of the pocket in which they do not interfere with the ribs, or may be of a shape such that the ribs are received within cut out portions in the support elements, for example of cross- or star-shape.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view, partly cut away, showing apparatus according to the invention, Fig. 2 is a view in the direction of Il-Il of Fig. 1, with certain parts thereof omitted for clarity, Fig. 2a is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing in cross section part a bed leg in position, Fig. 3 is a particl vertical cross-sectional view of a lower portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3a is a partial vertical cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 3 showing an alternative lower portion arrangement for the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3h is a partial vertical cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 3 showing a further alternative lower portion arrangement for the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a view from above of part of apparatus alternative to that shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a view from below of the apparatus shown in Fig. 4, Fig. 6 is a part cross-section on line A-A of Fig. 5, Fig. 7 is a perspective view from above of a foot for use with the part shown in Figs. 4 to 6, Fig. 8 is a front elevational view of the foot shown in Fig. 7, and Fig. 9 is a perspective view from above of a spacer alternative to that shown at 1 3 in Fig. 1.

The support apparatus shown in the Figs. 1, 2, 3, 3a and 3b is an extension for a bed leg, and comprises a hollow cylindrical member 8 providing a pocket 10 within which is provided near a lower end a support shelf 12 forming a floor. The cut-away portions 1 2a of the shelf 12 are present to facilitate the injection-moulding technique employed in the manufacture of the embodiment described. This floor may support a leg of a bed inserted into the pocket or may support one or more spacing elements 13 (one of which is shown in Fig. 1) placed within the pocket, upon an upper surface of an upper one of which the bed leg may rest. Four inwardly facing resilient ribs 14 extend from the walls of the pocket and are aligned (as shown in Fig. 2) at a slight angle to the radial direction.

The ribs 14 are deformed sideways when a leg 1 5 is inserted into the pocket and, in trying to regain their original position, they grippingly engage the leg (see Fig. 2a). This will occur for any common leg cross-section e.g. square polygonal or round with or without taper.

On the underside of the support shelf 12 there is provided a socket 1 6 which receives the spigot 1 7 of a hemispherical foot 1 8 so that the periphery of the foot abuts and supports the periphery of the cylindrical base of the member 8.

The foot 1 8 shown in Fig. 3 is provided with a threaded socket 20 which is arranged to receive the threaded shank of a castor.

The alternative foot shown in Fig. 3a is merely a hemispherical cap having an aperture 20 therein, the foot being an interference fit at its rim on a flange 22 provided on the lower peripheral margin of the member 8. An internally threaded projection 24 extends from the underside of the support shelf 12 on the member 8 and this receives a threaded spindle of a castor (not shown) via the aperture 20.

The foot and member 8 shown in Fig. 3b are similar to those in the arrangement of Fig. 3a except that no flange 22 is provided and the foot has a peripheral rim 26 of larger diameter to be received in an interference fit around the periphery of the member 8.

In the alternative apparatus shown in Figs. 4 to 9, the hollow member 8 is not cylindrical but towards its base it is gently flared outwards as shown at 8a in Fig. 6 which, as will be appreciated from the drawings, shows a base part of the member 8 when the latter is inverted.

Referring to Fig. 4, ribs 14 are provided as in the previous embodiment together with a support shelf forming a floor 12. Here again cut away portions 1 2a are provided to facilitate injection moulding of the apparatus.

A cylindrical well 40 within a cylindrical boss 42 (see Fig. 6) is provided in the base of the floor 12 an aperture 44 for a screw (not shown) being provided to enable the member 8 to be secured to a foot 1 8 shown in Figs. 7 and 8. Beneath the floor 12 the boss 42 is supported by four webs 46 (see Figs. 5 and 6) which each have a lower surface 48 which does not lie in the plane of the lower surface 50 of the rim of member 8.

In use the member 8 is attached to a foot, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, which has a ground engaging surface 52 of flattened curved shape and has at its periphery a rebate 54 upon which the surface 50 of the rim of the member 8 rests (shown in broken lines in Fig. 8), the depth of the rebate being substantially equal to the depth of surfaces 48 below surface 50 so that horizontal surfaces of corresponding webs 56 on the foot lie in abutment with surfaces 48 on the member 8 when the apparatus is assembled. At a central portion where the webs 56 meet there is provided a boss 58 (complementary to boss 42 on the body 8) and having a bore 60 therein to receive the screw referred to above. The level of the central portion is the same as that of the rebate so that horizontal surfaces of the bosses 42 and 58 lie abutting when the apparatus is assembled.A reinforcing guide ring web 62 surrounds the boss 58 and has upstanding projections 64 with notches 66 therein where the webs 56 intersect it.

The projections serve as a guide to ensure that, when the apparatus is assembled, the horizontal surfaces 48 on the body 8 overlie and abut the corresponding horizontal surfaces on the webs 56.

Fig. 9 shows a star-shaped spacing element 13 having arms 1 3a which when the spacing element is in position in the member 8 as shown in broken lines in Fig. 4 lie between adjacent ribs 14. None, one or a plurality of such spacing elements may be used to adjust the depth to which a leg is received in the pocket of member 8 in a similar manner to that shown in Fig. 2a.

The apparatus is made of tough plastics material, and may be of any suitable dimensions, typically for domestic bed legs 8" long by 3+" diameter.

Various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention, for example the pocket need not be cylindrical but could be of square cross-section or of any other convenient cross-section.

The ribs need not extend throughout the full depth of the pocket, and they may be planar or curved in horizontal cross-section. The support shelf may be replaced by rigid abutments extending from the sides of the pocket. The foot need not be of the shapes described but may be of any convenient shape.

The spacing elements 1 3 may rest within the pocket in a central region not affected by the ribs 14 as shown in Fig. 1, or alternatively may be larger having cut-out portions in their periphery to receive the ribs 14.

Whilst endeavouring in the foregoing specification to draw attention to those features of the invention believed to be of particular importance it should be understood that the applicant claims protection in respect of any patentable feature or combination of features hereinbefore referred to whether or not particular emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims (16)

1. Apparatus for increasing the length of a leg of an article, the apparatus comprising a body member having a pocket into which a part of the leg is insertable, means for adjusting the pocket depth and means within the pocket for gripping the leg.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which there is provided in the pocket a surface for supporting an end of the leg.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the means for adjusting the pocket depth is provided by one of more spacing elements resting in use on said support surface.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which the means within the pocket for gripping the leg comprises a plurality of ribs extending into the pocket from the walls thereof.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which the pocket is cylindrical and each rib extends at a slight angle to the radial direction.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 or claim 5, in which the ribs are resilient.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, in which a foot is provided at the base end of the body member.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, in which said foot is detachably secured to the apparatus by means of an interference fit between said body member and said foot.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8, in which the foot is also secured to the apparatus by a screw fixing.

1 0. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 7 to 9, in which the foot is provided with means for mounting a castor.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, in which said means for mounting a castor comprises a screw-threaded fixing.

12. Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 4, 5, or 6 as appended to claim 3, in which the spacing elements are received in a central position of the pocket in which they do not interfere with the operation of the ribs.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, in which the spacing elements are provided with depressions which receive respective portions of the said ribs.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12 or claim 13, in which the spacing elements are of cruciform shape.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12 or claim 13, in which the spacing elements are of star shape.

16. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the preceding claims made substantially of plastics.

1 7. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1,2, 2a, 3, 3a and 3b of the accompanying drawings.

1 8. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 4 to 9 of the accompanying drawings.