GB2247389A

GB2247389A - Pet bed

Info

Publication number: GB2247389A
Application number: GB9116418A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Melvin Brian Driver; Keith Vallis
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-07-31
Filing date: 1991-07-30
Publication date: 1992-03-04
Anticipated expiration: 2011-07-30
Also published as: GB2247389B; GB9016792D0; GB9116418D0

Abstract

A pet bed comprises a demountable framework structure including means (11, 12) for providing logs, means (13 14, 15) for interconnecting the leg means to establish the framework structure, and including flexible material (16) in sheet form for connection with the framework structure to provide a support surface at a predetermined height above floor level. <IMAGE>

Description

AN ITEM OF FURNITURE This invention relates to items of furniture and particularly to pet furniture, though it may also be applicable to play furniture for children. More particularly, it relates to a bed for pets, such as cats and dogs, which can, of course, be used as a resting place or 'house' for the pet when not asleep.

Most pet beds take the form of wicker baskets or one piece plastics moulded baskets which sit directly upon the floor.

These suffer the drawback that the pet is subject to draughts. Another known type of pet bed consists of rectangular metal frame with folding legs and a canvas seat attached to the frame by means of springs. Although this raises the pet clear of draughts, it offers no rear or side supports and tends to trap the fur of the pet in the springs.

It has also been known to provide pets with solid wooden furniture, more akin to domestic furniture, however, these items are very costly and are rapidly damaged by pets which tend to claw and gnaw their beds. These are also unpopular with retailers since such beds occupy large volumes of storage space, particularly - when they are intended for large animals such as Great Danes.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an item of furniture such as a pet bed which raises the pet or other user clear of draughts and which offers peripheral support.

Broadly, according to a first aspect of the invention there is provided an item of furniture including a demountable framework structure including means for providing legs, means for interconnecting the leg providing means to establish the framework structure, and including flexible material in sheet form for connection with the framework structure to provide a user support surface at a predetermined height above floor level.

Preferably the flexible material sheet includes means to facilitate its engagement with the framework. structure during the assembly thereof, the arrangement being such that on assembling the framework structure the flexible material sheet is simultaneously mounted to the framework structure.

According to a further aspect of the invention there is provided an item of furniture comprising a pair of side members, three spanning/interconnection members and a flexible fabric sheet, each side member including two legs and means to locate the spanning/interconnection members, the sheet including means to receive the spanning/interconnection members and means to engage with the side members.

Preferably, each side member also includes a side wall and may of course have two legs. The location means for the spanning/interconnection members may simply be bores. The bores are preferably located in each side wall so that there is one to the front, one to the rear but at a higher level.

By providing a further bore which can be considered as being redundent in so far as sheet mounting is concerned) at the same higher level but at the front it is possible to adopt an identical design for the two side members thereby saving on tooling costs. The side members are preferably one-piece plastics mouldings though they may be made from other materials.

The spanning members are preferably rods which may be solid or hollow and may have any convenient cross-sectional shape, such as round, square, flat. They may ,of course, be more that three in number.

One of the rods, possibly the upper rear rod, may be more positively attached to the two side members, in order to resist their being pulled apart. This may take the form of latches on the rod and bosses on the end members or the rod may have bent over ends which fit into corresponding slots.

The sheet is preferably a woven textile material though it may be non-woven and may be fibrous or non-fibrous. The receiving means for the rods preferably comprise three elongate channels which may or may not be continuous. The means for engaging the side members preferably include a pair of side flaps which are preferably folded around a portion of the side members. The flaps may then be connected to each other or to another part of the sheet, for example on the underside. This may be achieved by stitching or by adhesive or by some form of plastics welding, or alternatively, the connection may -be non-permanent, for example by means of lacing, poppers, hooks/eyes or a hook and loop system such as that known by the trade name VELCRO.

In a more preferred embodiment, however, the flaps are secured to the side members themselves. This may be achieved by any of the means already mentioned, however, in the preferred embodiment a hook and loop system is employed, one part of which is fixed to the side members and the other part to the flaps. In a convenient construction, the side wall members each include a slit in their side walls and the respective part of the loop and hook system is fixed to an under surface. The flaps then extend through the slits and their associated part of the hook and loop system engages the respective part on the under surface of the two end members.

In a first construction according to the invention, the sheet may be kept taut from front to back by the rods which are located by the side members. At the sae time, it is kept taut laterally by its being wrapped around the end members which are held apart by the rods. The loop and hook attachment system is particularly appropriate in this case due to its strength in resisting a shearing type separation.

It will be appreciated that with such a construction, larger sides can be achieved within limits simply by using longer rods and an appropriately sized sheet.

Furthermore, a new side member can be fitted to replace one that has been damaged. However, perhaps the most significant advantage is that the entire item of furniture can be supplied as a kit of parts which can be simply and readilly assembled after purchase, thus, the space occupied during transit and storage prior to sale is minimised.

In order to make the bed more comfortable for the pet and more attractive to the owner, a base and back cushion (possibly interconnected) and two side cushions may also be included. These could either simply fit loosely in position or may be positively located.

For a better understanding of the invention and to understand how to carry the same into effect reference will now be made to the ccompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a first construction for a pet bed incorporating the concepts of the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the bed of Figure 1 when assembled and with additional cushions; Figure 3 is a perspective view from beneath of a part of one side of the bed of Figures 1 and 2, and to a larger scale; Figure 4 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a pet bed incorporating the concepts of the invention; Figure 5 is a part cut-away view of a detail of the bed of Figure 4 to a larger scale; Figure 6 is a section on the line V-V of Figure 5; Figure 7 is a part perspective wiew of a fragment of the detail of Figure 5; and Figure 8 is an exploded view of the bed of Figure 4 illustrating an alternative mode of fitting flexible base and wall forming sheet material to the bed.

Referring now to Figures 1, 2 and 3 the bed shown therein basically comprises two end members 11, 12, three transverse rods 13, 14, 15 and a sheet 16.

The two end members 11, 12 are of similar construction, each being a one-piece plastics moulding, having two legs 17, 18, a front wall 19, a rear wall 21, and a side wall 22.

The side wall 22 terminates at a ledge 23 which extends between the front and rear walls 19, 21. A slot 24 is formed through the side wall 22 at the level of the ledge 23. Three bores 25, 26 and 27 are formed in each side member 11, 12 respectively at the front and rear at the level of the ledge 24 and at the rear at a higher level.

A further bore 28 (which in the construction shown is essentially redundent) is formed at the front at the higher level whereby the two ends members 11, 12 are to all intents and purposes identical rather than mirror images.

A strip 29 of 'Velcro' material is attached to the underside of the ledge 23 (Figure 3).

The rods 13, 14, and 15 are solid light weight circular-section bars, though they may be tubes of any suitable section.

The sheet 16 is of a woven fabric and is generally rectangular with two side flaps 31, 32. There is an elongate channel 33 at the front formed by a fold of material and a similar channel 34 at the rear.

Additionally, there is a further rather larger fold at the rear defining a third channel 35. A strip 36 of 'Velcro' material is fixed underneath each flap 31,32 (Figure 3).

In order to assemble the bed to the condition shown in Figure 2, the three rods 13, 14, 15 are inserted into their respective channels 33, 34, 35 in the sheet, with their ends protruding. The ends of the rods 13, 14, 15 are then located in the respective bores 25, 26, 27 in the two side members 11,12. The flaps 31, 32 are passed through the slots 24 and wrapped underneath the ledge 23 of each side member 11, 12. The 'Velcro' strips 29, 36 are then united and the construction is completed, with the fold defining the third channel forming a back section 27.

As can be seen from Figure 2, the bed can be augmented by additional cushions. Thus, a combined seat and back cushion 38 and two side cushions 39 may be provided.

Figure 3 illustrates in more detail the mode of connecting the flaps 31,32 to the associated length of 'Velcro' strip.

Figures 4 to 8 illustrate a further construction of the pet bed of the invention. In this embodiment a framework structure includes four leg forming elements 40 and associated interconnecting members in place of the side units of the Figure 1 to 3 embodiment.

As can be seen from Figures 4, 5 and 6, each such leg forming element includes a main body 41 with two stub arms 43 and 44 located intermediate the opposite ends 45 and 46 of the body 41 and a leg providing insert portion 41A which forms the lower part of the element. The main body can be of plastics or metal, and the leg providing insert of plastics or metal. The arms 43 and 44 project outwardly of the main body 41 in directions perpendicular to the longitunal axis of the main body and to each other.

Each such stub arm 43 and 44 is adapted at its free end to inter-engage with upper and lower leg element interconnecting members 47 and 48 respectively.

One end , in use the upper end 45, of the main body 41 is provided with two rectanglar recesses 49 (Figure 6) each such recess serving as the female part of an open tenon joint. The directions of the recesses 49 are aligned with the axes of the stub arms 43 and 44 of the associated leg forming element 40.

These recesses 49 are intended to be engageable by the ends of the upper interconnecting members 47, which latter are of rectangular cross section, in the manner of a tenon type joint.

The lower end 46 of the main body insert 41A when in use rests upon the ground whereby the length of the insert 41A portion of the element 40 between this end 46 and the stub arms 43 and 44 forms the actual leg of the element 40 and thus of the pet bed.

The lower interconnecting members 48 in the embodiment shown have a square cross section and are intended telescopically internally to engage with the stub arms 43 and 44 as may be seen from Figure 4.

One mode of assembling the frame for the pet bed shown in Figure 4 involves interconnecting two pairs of the two leg elements 41 by the lower interconnecting members 48 engaging in the stub arms 43. The thus formed subframes (each including two leg forming elements 40 and an interconnecting member 48 are then joined by two further interconnecting members 48 to form Q rectangular frame carried by the leg elements 40.

Those sides of the framework as so far discussed that are intended to serve as the rear and sides of the pet bed are provided with upper interconnecting members 47, the ends of such members being engaged in the appropriate recesses 49.

Thus, as may be particularly noted from Figure 4 the lower four interconnecting members 48 effectively define the level of the bottom of the bed unit; whilst the upper interconnecting members 47 define the heights of the rear and side walls.

The side of the base frame not provided with an upper interconnecting mwmber 47 serves as the front of the pet bed.

The thus discussed frame structure is provided with sheet material 50 which serves to cooperate with the bottom interconnecting members to define a user support surface 51, and which cooperates with the pairs of interconnecting members 47 and 48 to define closures which effectively produces side walls 52 and 53 and a rear wall 54.

There are various modes of mounting this sheet material 50 to the frame structure, for example, in the form of a single piece of the sheet material 50 which can be such as to be able to provide the base surface 51, the side walls 52 and the rear wall 53.

Alternatively, the sheet material can comprise two portions, one portion being intended to provide the support surface 51 and the other portion the side walls 52 and the rear wall 53.

In the case of a single piece of material 50 the sheet is cut so as to provide for a rectangular central part 54 and four rectangular flaps or panels 55, 56, 57 and 58, extending from the sides of the central part. As may be seen three of these panels 55, 56 and 57 are intended to engage with the upper and lower interconnecting members 47 and 48, to provide the wall forming closures, and for this purpose these panels can incorporates sleeves provided at appropriate locations by folds in the material to enable the sleeves to be engaged by the interconnecting members 47 and 48 during the assembly of the latter to form the bed frame structure.

The remaining sheet panel 58 is provided on its underside with a stip or strips (not shown) of a hook and loop connection system such as that known as 'Velcro' whereby on completion of the frame assembly the sheet can be made taut by pulling the panel 58 over the front rail 48 and retaining it in the taut condition by the 'Velcro'.

To ensure a pleasing connection between the fabric and the frame the corner regions 59 between adjacent ends of adjacent pairs of panels 55 anbd 56 etc., are cut away as shown in the Figure.

It will be understood that with the discussed mode of connnecting the single sheet of material to the framework the sheet material is held firmly in place with the major part of the framewok hidden from view, and also such that a pet's fur cannot become trapped between a frame connecting member and the sheet material as could be the case with exposed lower interconnecting members 47.

By using the open tenon joint for the mounting of the upper interconnecting members 47 following their engagement with the sheet material their mounting is facilitated and, in practice, the normal stretchability of a fabric material when used as the sheet material ensures that once the interconnecting members 47 are engaged with the associated recesses 49 the sheet material will exert sufficient pull as to hold the upper interconnecting members 47 firmly in place.

With this arrangment the weight of a pet resting in the pet bed will tend always to pull the upper interconnecting members 47 into their connected positions thereby reducing the possibility of the components of the framework separating.

In a variation of the Figure 4 arrangement the single sheet is replaced by a first sheet portion which provides the base sheet and a separate second sheet portion which provides the side and rear walls.

This is very schematically illustrated in Figure 7 in which the first sheet portion 60 is provided along three sides thereof with suitable sleeves 61 for receiving the interconnecting members 48 whilst the remaining side is provided with a hook and loop attachment arrangement (not shown) to enable tensioning of the sheet about the associated interconnecting member 48 to ensure that the pet bed base surface is as taut as possible.

The second sheet portion 62 forming the rear and side side walls comprises a single length of material provided with transverse sleeves for engaging over the upper parts of the leg forming elements 40, the sheet material being suitably shaped to enable the uppermost ends of the elements to project from the associated sleeve so that the the upper interconnecting members 47 can be engaged with the recesses 49, the sheet portion 62 being suitably. shaped to ensure that the ends of the interconnecting members 47 project outwardly of the sleeve ends.

The dimensions of the wall forming sheet portion 62 are such that when fitted to the leg forming elements and the interconnecting members 47 are engaged with the main body upper end recesses 49 the wall forming sheet portion 62 is taut.

In a further variation, particularly for lightweight pet use, the upper interconnecting members 47 can be dispensed with so that the structure relies upon the strength of the intercoupling afforded by the lower connecting members 48 withg the elements 40. With this construction the dimensions of the wall forming sheet portion 62 are such as to provide for a relatively taut connection with the leg forming elements.

It will be understood that if considered necessary arrangements can be provided for intoerlocking the leg elements and the associated connecting members.

As with the Figure 1 to 3 embodiment the pet bed of Figures 4 to 8 can be provided with suitble padding such as foam rubber.

Whilst the forgoing discussion and drawings have illustrated and considered a generally rectangular framework construction it will be appreciated that by suitably relatively angularly positioning the stub arms 43 and 44 with respect to each other and by using curved interconnection members a non-rectangular construction can be provided; i.e., a circular or oval sahpe.

Claims

1. An item of furniture including a demountable framework structure including means for providing legs, means for interconnecting the leg providing means to establish the framework structure, and including flexible material in sheet form for connection with the framework structure to provide a user support surface at a predetermined height above floor level.

2. An item of furniture as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the user support surface and a closure for one wall is constituted by a single piece of the flexible sheet material.

3. An item of furniture as claimed in claim 1, and wherein the user support surface, a rear wall closure and two side walls closures for the framework are constituted by a single piece of flexible sheet material.

4. An item of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user support surface is provided by a first piece of sheet material, and wherein a further piece of flexible sheet material is utilised as the rear and side walls closures.

5. An item of furniture as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the framework comprises four leg forming elements, each including first and second stub arms extending at right angles to each other and also to the longitudinal direction of the associated leg forming element, and wherein the free ends of the stub arms are adapted for engagement with leg element interconnection members.

6. An item of furniture as claimed in claim 5, and wherein the interconnection members and the stub arms are arranged telescopically to interengage one with the other.

7. An item of furniture as claimed in any preceding claim, and wherein the leg forming elements and the interconnection members interconnect in such manner as to provide a generally rectangular framework structure, the arrangement being such that the leg forming elements are connected by lower interconnnection members, the level of which define the level of the user support surface, and by upper interconnection members whose position relative to the lower interconnection members define the height of the rear and side walls.

8 An item of furniture s claimed in any one of the preceding claims, and wherein the flexible material sheet includes means to facilite its engagement with the framework structure during the assembly thereof, the arrangement being such that on assembling the framework structure the flexible material sheet is simultaneously mounted to the framework structure.

9. An item of furniture as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, and wherein the leg forming elements are permanently interconnected to provide two similar side forming elements.

10. An item of furniture comprising a pair of side members, three interconnection members and a flexible fabric sheet, each side member including two legs and means to locate the interconnection members, the sheet including means to receive the interconnection members and means to engage with the side members.

11. An item of furniture as claimed in claim 10, and wherein each side member also includes a side wall.

12. An item of furniture as claimed in claim 11, and wherein each side member includes two legs, and wherein the location means for the interconnection members comprise bores.

13. An item of furniture as claimed in claim 12, and wherein the bores are located in each side wall so that there is one to the front, two to the rear with one of these at a higher level.

14. An item of furniture as claimed in claim 11,12 or 13, and wherein the side members are one-piece plastics mouldings.

15. An item of furniture as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, and wherein the interconnection members comprise rods which may be solid or hollow and may have any convenient cross-sectional shape, such as round, square, flat.

16. An item of furniture as claimed in claim 15, and wherein one or more of the interconnection members is/are adapted to be more positively attached to the associated leg forming elements in order to resist their being pulled apart.

17. An item of furniture as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 1 to 16, and wherein the sheet is preferably a woven textile material.

18. An item of furniture as claimed in any one of the preceeding claims, and wherein the sheet material is provided with sleeves or the like for facilitating the engagement with the interconnection members.

19. An item of furniture, constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3, or to Figures 4 to 8 of the accompanying drawings.