GB2213551A - Furniture joints and furniture - Google Patents

Abstract

A furniture joint for joining two parts of furniture is described. The joint comprises a pair of wedges 31, 32 located within a cavity 26 in one part and a peg 20 that extends through a tongue 19 on the other part. To assemble the two parts of furniture, the two parts are brought together so that the tongue on one part is located within the cavity of the other part. The pegs then engage behind the respective wedges. When the parts are pushed together, the pegs move down the wedges until the whole assembly is held tightly together. <IMAGE>

Description

FURNITURE JOINTS AND FURNITU This invention relates to joints for furniture, and to self-assembly furniture of the type known as flat-pack furniture.

The invention relates to a joint which may be used in most forms of furniture, including lounge and dining room furniture, such as armchairs, settees, dining chairs, tables etc.

Self-assembly furniture which is capable of being packed reasonably flat so that it can be transported easily and then assembled by the user at home has become very popular. Most furniture of this type has fairly complicated jointing systems using bolts, screws etc.

One object of the present invention is to provide a joint which enables furniture to be put together without the need for any tools or any skill on the part of the assembler.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is a furniture joint in which one part of the furniture has a wedging surface incorporated in it, and another part of the furniture has a peg or dowel, hereinafter referred to as a peg, so located that it may be engaged with the wedging surface so as to join the two parts together and hold them in close contact.

The peg may for example be carried by an extended arm or tongue, hereinafter referred to as a tongue, on one part of the furniture, and be adapted to engage an upstanding wedge located in a recess or cavity in the other part of the furniture.

Preferably the peg extends outwardly on both sides of the tongue and the upstanding wedge is in two parts, or there are a pair of wedges, so that the peg engages a wedging surface on each side of the tongue when in use.

As applied to a furniture jointing system the joint may be used for example to join the back of a chair or settee to the sides, and also to join the front rail to the sides or legs of the furniture.

In this context the back may be provided with two or more, preferably four, laterally extending tongues, each tongue carrying a peg which extends through the tongue and projects on either side of it, and the sides of the chair or settee may be provided with recesses adapted to receive the tongues, and containing a wedging surface or a pair of space wedging surfaces engageable by the respective pegs.

Preferably, each peg extends horizontally through its respective tongue and the wedging surface in each recess is in the form of an upstanding formation.

The recesses are large enough to enable the tongues to be inserted in the recesses and then moved along the wedging surface so that the wedging action of surfaces pull the parts together and hold them in close contact.

Preferably the arrangement is such that the cavity containing the wedging surface or surfaces is completely closed by the adjacent part of the furniture so that it is not seen in practice.

There may be one or two wedging surfaces and they may be in the form of upstanding triangular formations, within the cavities. Thus an armchair incorporating the present invention may comprise a back portion, adapted to be attached to two side portions carrying legs, by means of the joints described above, and a front rail portion adapted to be attached to the legs or to the side portions again by joints embodying the invention, the armchair being completed by a seat squab which may be in the form of a frame with some form of springing such as webbing or other resilient members.

A settee may be constructed in the same way, with the main items being the back, two sides or end portions with legs, and a front rail, and again the back may be attached to the sides by joints embodying the present invention and the rail may also be attached to the sides or legs by similar joints. Again the settee may be completed by additional seat squab which may be a simple frame with stretched resilient supporting members on it to receive usual cushions etc.

Preferably, the front rail portion is provided with two laterally extending tongues, each tongue carrying a peg which extends vertically through the tongue so that each of its ends projects from the tongue, and the sides of the chair or settee are provided with recesses adapted to receive the tongues, each containing a horizontally extending wedging surface or a pair of horizontally extending wedging surfaces engageable by the respective pegs.

Not only does the joint of the present invention enable the furniture to be assembled quickly and easily without the use of tools by an unskilled person, but its construction is such that it permits the items comprising furniture to be packed into a flat box for transport, since all of the items can lie substantially flat within the box.

Furthermore there are no loose parts such as bolts brackets etc. which sometimes get lost in transit, and when the furniture is taken apart for transport, there is no need for an additional bag to contain bolts, etc.

However, it is advantageous to have one or more spring clips secured to each inner side portion of the chair or settee, each spring clip being engageable with the seat squab so as to provide further rigidity to the assembled chair or settee.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is an exploded view seen from the front of a chair embodying the present invention; Figure 2 is a scrap view, partly in section, showing the upper right-hand joint between the back of the chair and one side of the chair; and Figure 3 is an enlarged isometric view showing the details of the same joint.

The piece of furniture illustrated in Figure 1 is a chair but the principle involved can equally well be applied to settees and indeed to other articles of furniture including tables, desks, cupboards, bureaus etc.

The chair in Figure 1 consists of four basic parts to which may be added the usual cushions or upholstered seat and back portions (not shown).

The chair consists of a back part 10, two sides 11 and 12 and seat squab 13. Attached to the back 10 are rails 14 and 15 which have extensions in the form of tongues 16, 17, 18 and 19. Each tongue has a peg 20 which extends right through the tongue and projects on either side of it as can be seen in Figure 3 particularly.

The two side portions 11 and 12, which also comprise legs 21, 22, have recesses of cavities 23 to 28.

Within each of these cavities is mounted a pair of wedges 29, 30, best seen in Figure 3, having wedge surfaces 31 and 32 respectively.

Seat squab 13 is in the form of a framework having a front lateral member 33, side members 34 and 35 and a rear member 36.

Conventional webbing 37 is stretched across the frame of the squab and engages in the usual grooves on the front and back members 33 and 36 respectively.

On the rear of front member 33 is a rail 38 similar to rails 14 and 15 and carrying similar tongues 39, 40 through which extend pegs 41 and 42.

It will be noted that each of the four principal parts of this chair are themselves are of substantially flat configuration so that the whole chair may be packed flat in boxes for transport, and then assembled by the ultimate user.

Assembly is very simple. The back 10 is offered up to the sides 11 and 12 in turn. For example, the tongues 16 and 17 are entered into the cavities 23 and 24 as best seen in Figure 2 and then the back is moved downwardly relatively to the side so that the pegs 20 engage behind the wedges 29 and 30 and move down the wedging surfaces 31 and 32 until the whole assembly of back and side is tightly held together. At this time the end of rail 14 will cover the opening of the cavity 23. Similarly the end of rail 17 will cover the end of cavity 24.

This process is repeated or the side 11.

The seat squab is then rested so that its back rail 36 rests on a lower rail 43 and the tongues 39 and 40 are respectively entered into the cavities 28 and 25 so that as the front of the seat squab is pushed downwardly the tongues will engage over the corresponding wedge surfaces within these cavities.

The seat is now completely assembled, and it will be noted that this assembly can be done without the use of tools and indeed without any particular skill being needed.

It will also be noted that there are no extraneous nuts bolts, washers etc. which may be lost in transit, and the whole piece of furniture is a self contained four part chair.

If the same principles are applied for instance to a settee, it can be done in a very similar way to that shown in Figure 1. The only differences would be that the width of the back and the width of the seat squabs will be extended to the appropriate width for a settee, and additional strengthening rails will be added along the seat squab. The same jointing method could be used and the joints could be located in the same relative positions.

The two sides shown in Figure lcan be constructed as an H frame in which the legs of the chair are the lower portions of the two legs of the H. The wedges in the cavities 24 and 25 might then rest upon the cross arm of the H. The sides would be completed by addition of hardboard or other thin laminar material to the H frame.

In the construction shown in the drawings, each tongue 39 and 40 of the front member 33 has a horizontally extending peg 41 and 42, which is engageable with a pair of upstanding wedges 29 and 30 formed within recesses 28 and 25, respectively. However, in another construction, each tongue 39 and 40 can have a vertically extending peg (instead of a horizontally extending peg) which is engageable with a pair of horizontally extending wedges formed within recesses 28 and 25, respectively.

In a preferred, modified construction, one or more spring clips is secured to the inner walls of sides 11 and 12 between recesses 27 and 28, and recesses 24 and 25, respectively. Each clip is engageable with the sides of the seat squab 13 so as to impart further rigidity to the settee or chair when assembled.

It is of course understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims (1)

1. Claims

   1. A furniture joint for joining two parts of furniture in which one part of the furniture has a wedging surface incorporated in it, and another part of the furniture has a peg so located that it may be engaged with the wedging surface so as to join the two parts together and hold them in close contact.

   2. A furniture joint as claimed in claim 1 wherein the peg is carried by a tongue on one part of the furniture, and is adapted to engage the wedging surface which is located in a recess in the other part of the furniture.

   3. A furniture joint as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the peg extends outwardly on both sides of the tongue and the wedging surface is in two parts so that the peg engages the wedging surface on each side of the tongue when in use.

   4. A furniture joint as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the wedging surface comprises a pair of triangular shaped wedges.

   5. A furniture joint substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

   6. A furniture assembly comprising a back portion and a front portion, each joinable to a first and second side portion by means of a furniture joint as claimed in any preceding claim.

   7. A furniture assembly as claimed in claim 6 wherein the back portion is provided with two or more laterally extending tongues each carrying a peg which extends through the tongue and extends from each side of it, and wherein each side portion is provided with two or more recesses each adapted to receive a tongue, and wherein each recess contains a wedging surface engageable by a respective peg.

   8. A furniture assembly as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7 wherein the front portion is provided with two laterally extending tongues each carrying a peg which extends through the tongue and projects from each side of it, and wherein each side portion is provided with recesses each adapted to receive a tongue, and wherein each recess contains a wedging surface engageable by a respective peg.

   10. A furniture assembly as claimed in claim 9 wherein each peg provided on the front portion extends vertically through each tongue and wherein each respective, engageable wedging surface comprises a pair of horizontally extending triangular formations.

   11. A furniture assembly as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 10 wherein each side portion is provided with one or more spring clips engageable with a seat frame securable to the front portion and the back portion.

   12. A furniture assembly as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 11 when assembled.

   13. A furniture assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.