GB2142230A

GB2142230A - Furniture leg support

Info

Publication number: GB2142230A
Application number: GB08317966A
Authority: GB
Inventors: William Alfred Mercer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1983-07-01
Filing date: 1983-07-01
Publication date: 1985-01-16
Also published as: GB8317966D0

Abstract

A support is provided for placing below a leg of an article of furniture so that the load of the leg may be borne by an underlying load-resistant surface, without the leg forming a depression in a carpet material covering the load- resistant surface. The support has a body member 1 on which the leg can rest, and a plurality of needle-like elements 4 which project downwardly from the body member and which are spaced so that neighbouring elements can pass at each side of strands of the carpet 5 and can abut by their free ends of the underlying load-resistant surface 6. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Furniture leg support This invention relates to the supporting, on carpeted floors, of articles of furniture having a number of feet which would normally rest on the carpet.

Where an article of furniture is stood on a carpeted floor for any length of time, the carpet will usually become compressed by the pressure of the leg bearing down on it, and such depressed areas commonly remain in the carpet after the load has been removed, thus giving rise to unsightly surface appearances of the carpet.

It is accordingly the object of the present invention to provide a support, for use with a furniture leg, which is adapted to transfer the load, offered by the furniture leg, through the carpet to an underlying load-resistant surface, without subjecting the carpet to any compression by the furniture leg.

In this specification, the term "carpet" is to be interpreted as meaning not only carpets, rugs, runners, felts and mats of woven textile fibres, but also straw mats and like stranded materials and any other floor covering the nature of which is to have interstices, or which is such that penetration by closely-spaced needles does not irreperably harm the covering nor spoil its appearance.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a furniture leg support in the form of a body member for placing in contact with and underneath the lower end of the furniture leg, said body member having a plurality of needle-like elements projecting substantially vertically, when in use, and for substantially the same distance downwardly from the body member, the needle-like elements being spaced each from its neighbours by a lateral spacing which is sufficient to permit the introduction of a portion, e.g. a strand, of the material of the carpet between the needle-like elements, the number of the needle-like elements being sufficient such that their combined area of contact (by their lower tips) on a load-resistant harder surface, underlying the carpet, is sufficient to support the applied load without damage to the underlying surface.

In a preferred form, the body member is provided with means, such as an upper surface formation, for correctly locating the furniture leg placed on it, so far as lateral movement is concerned, and such formation may be a recessed area bounded by a continuous or partial rim or a plurality of spaced lugs, projecting upwardly from the body member.

The body member may incorporate, or have provision to incorporate, means for secure attachment of the body member to the furniture leg. In a first embodiment, such means comprise one or more lugs or spikes projecting upwardly from the upper surface of the body member and adapted to bite a small way into the undersurface of the furniture leg, so as to engage sufficiently to hold the support device in position on the leg when the furniture is lifted or moved, but which will nevertheless permit the support device to be knocked off by hand, or with a simple tool. In another embodiment, the body of the device is provided with one or more through-holes to permit the introduction of a screw or nail or other fastener to secure the device to the furniture leg.

The needle-like elements may be separate elements which are incorporated into the body member, or may be formed integrally on the body member. In a preferred form, the body member and the needle-like elements are formed integrally as an injection moulding of suitably strong plastics material, and advantageously the needle-like elements may be conically tapered in the direction away from the body member towards their tip, and over all or part of their length.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided the combination of a furniture leg, and a furniture leg support of the nature set forth above.

According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided an assembly comprising a furniture leg, and a furniture leg support of the nature set forth above, releasably attached to the lower end of the furniture leg.

According to a still further aspect of the invention there is provided a method of supporting a furniture leg, on a resistant floor, or floor covering, over which a carpet (as herein defined) is present, said method comprising steps of (i) introducing, between the lower end of the furniture leg and the resistant floor or floor covering, a furniture leg support of the nature set forth herein, and (in either order) (ii) introducing the needle-like elements of the furniture leg support through interstices in the carpet until they rest by their tips on the floor or floor covering, and (iii) lowering the furniture leg towards the support until the leg is resting on the support.

With the device and method of the invention, the furniture leg is maintained always at a minimum spacing above the underlying resistant floor or floor covering, and thus does not cause a depression to be formed in the carpet or the pile of the carpet.

In order that the nature of the invention may be readily ascertained, an embodiment of furniture leg support incorporating a number of features thereof is hereinafter particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein: Fig. 1 is a vertical axial section of the device seen in its position of use between a furniture leg and a carpet and a floor on which the furniture is stood; Fig. 2 is a pian view seen in the direction of the arrow "A" in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an underplan view.

The furniture leg support device comprises a robust body member 1 which is advantageously generally circular in pian. The upper surface 2 and the lower surface 3 are parallel, and are horizontal when in use. Within the lower part of the body 1 there are enclosed, e.g. as mould inserts, a plurality of pins 4 which are generally parallel and generally at right angles to the lower surface 3. All of the pins are of the same length, and their lower ends all terminate at substantially the same plane below the surface 3.

In use, the support is placed upright on a carpet 5, and the article is manoeuvred slightly to enable each of the pins 4 to enter between an adjacent pair of threads of the carpet, and to pass to the underside thereof. The plurality of pins 4 then rest by their lower ends on the underlying supporting material 6 which may be a plastics floor covering, linoleum, tiles, or a wooden floor. Due to the number of pins 4, and their closely adjacent positioning, there is substantially no penetration of even such flexible coverings as plastics tiles.

Because of the length of the pins 4, there always remains a spacing "B" between the undersurface 3 and the floor 6, and thus always a spacing "C" between the undersurface 3 and the top of the carpet 5. It will be appreciated that, in practice, the dimension "C" could be very little, or even nil, without risk of any depression being formed in the upper layers or pile of the carpet.

The carpet 5 also would include any underlay, of a kind liable to assume a depressed position under prolonged load carrying, e.g. a felt, spongerubber tread, or compressed paper underlay.

In use, the device is placed under a leg 7 of an article of furniture to be supported. To assist in correct location of the leg 7 with respect to the body member 1, and/or to prevent lateral slipping of the leg with respect to the body member 1, the body member advantageously has a centralised recess 8 in which the lower end portion of the leg 7 engages. The recess 8 may be stepped, as at 8a to receive furniture legs 7 of different dimensions.

Where it is desired to attach the device permanently, but removably, to a furniture leg, the body member 1 may have a central through-hole 9 to receive a wood screw 10, or a nail or the like for engagement into the leg 7. A small number of pins 4 would be omitted at the central area occupied by the hole 9. In another form, the upper face of the body 1 has small spikes 11 adapted to dig into the underside of the leg 7.

The body member 1 and the pins 4 may advantageously be manufactured as a one-piece integral moulding of a suitably strong plastics material, and for this purpose the pins 4 may advantageously be made frusto-conical, instead of rod-like as shown.

The pins 4 may be arranged in a symmetrical pattern over the whole of the pin-bearing area of the undersurface 3, or in an alternative arrangement may be positioned in small groups separated from other groups by a small spacing.

The spacing of each pin 4 from its neighbours need be only that which is sufficient to permit the threads of the carpet 5 to pass readily between the pins without becoming trapped or severed.

Such a device transfers the load of the furniture leg 7 through the carpet 5 directly to the underlying supporting surface 6, and accordingly the carpet 5 is not subjected to compression and thus will not assume the usual unsightly cup or depression caused by the leg of a heavy article of furniture. No harm is done to the carpet, or to the underlying floor 6, and no modification is needed to the furniture leg 7, except the screwing in of the screw 10 if used.

Claims

1. A support for a furniture leg, comprising a body member for placing below the lower end of the furniture leg, and a plurality of needle-like elements projecting substantially vertically (when in use) downwardly from the body member for substantially the same distance, said needle-like elements each being spaced over at least a lower portion of its length from its neighbour by a lateral spacing sufficient to receive a portion such as a strand of carpet material, as herein defined, between neighbouring needle-like elements, the number of the needle-like elements being sufficient such that their combined area of contact by their free ends on a load-resistant surface underlying the carpet material is such as to permit the applied load to be borne by the load-resistant surface without damage.

2. A support, as claimed in claim 1, comprising means on said body member for locating a furniture leg thereon correctly so far as lateral movement is concerned.

3. A support, as claimed in claim 2, wherein said locating means is an upper surface formation of the body member.

4. A support, as claimed in claim 3, wherein said upper surface formation is a continuous or partial rim, or a plurality of spaced lugs, projecting upwardly from the body member and bounding a recess to receive the leg.

5. A support, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, incorporating means for attachment of the body member to the leg.

6. A support, as claimed in claim 5, wherein said attachment means comprise one or more lugs or spikes projecting upwardly from an upper surface of the body member and adapted to bite into the undersurface of the leg.

7. A support, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the body member includes one or more through-holes for the introduction of a fastener to secure the body member to the leg.

8. A support, as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, needle-like wherein the elements are integral with the body member.

9. A support, as claimed in claim 8, wherein the body member and the needle-like elements are an integral moulding of plastics material.

10. A support, as claimed in claim 9, wherein the needle-like elements are tapered in the direction away from the body member towards their free end, and over all or part of their length.

11. A support, for furniture leg, substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.

12. In combination, a support as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 , and a furniture leg resting on said support.

13. In combination, a support as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 1 and furniture leg having said support releasably attached to the lower part of the leg.

14. A method, of supporting a furniture leg on a resistant floor or floor covering over which a carpet (as herein defined) is present, comprising steps of: (i) introducing, between the lower end of the furniture leg and the resistant floor or floor covering, a furniture leg support as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 , thereafter, in either order.

(ii) introducing the needle-like elements of the support through interstices of the carpet until they rest by their tips on the floor or floor covering, and (iii) lowering the furniture leg towards the support until leg is resting on the support.