GB2309634A

GB2309634A - Height adjuster for furniture

Info

Publication number: GB2309634A
Application number: GB9601856A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Langham
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-01-30
Filing date: 1996-01-30
Publication date: 1997-08-06
Anticipated expiration: 2016-01-30
Also published as: GB2309634B; GB9601856D0

Abstract

The height of furniture with legs is adjusted using a device having a leg-receiving cup within which is a resilient barb, eg annular part 9 with a funnel shaped opening 11, which permits relatively easy insertion of the leg but resists its withdrawal. The device may comprise hexagonal upper and lower parts 2,3 held together by screws in studs 5 and stabilised in connection by nibs 16 on part 3 which engage within the periphery of the part 2. The lower part can receive an extension 8 with studs 14 which frictionally engage apertures in sleeves (15) on the underside of part 3, whereby height adjustment can be varied.

Description

FURNITURE HEIGHT ADJUSTERS This invention concerns devices for adjusting the height of furniture.

The height of furniture is set during manufacture. However, even though there are rough norms for the height of tables and chairs, for example, different manufacturers can make them of different heights. Furthermore, even if they were to be made to a standard height, this would not be suitable for all users.

For example, disabled or handicapped people frequently find chairs too low.

Furniture with legs can obviously be lowered by shortening the legs. However, increasing the height of such furniture presents problems. It is obviously possible to raise the height of such furniture on blocks. However, there is a great risk that it will be unstable and fall off, and moving the furniture almost certainly necessitates moving the blocks and positioning them accurately so that the item of furniture placed on them will not fall off.

Many of these disadvantages are overcome with the adjustment devices described in GB 1461588. These hitherto proposed devices consist of two or more pairs of cups into which the furniture legs are placed, the cups being spaced apart by adjustable linkages which are set for a particular item of furniture. In the case of a chair, for example, four cups are interconnected by two adjustable linkages which preferably cross and are themselves interconnected at the crossing point. This interconnection can also be used to fix the adjustment of the length of the linkages. The height of the furniture can be adjusted by inserting one or more blocks into each of the cups before the furniture is placed in the cup.

The devices described in GB 1461588 have been very successful, in particular as the cups prevent the furniture legs falling off the blocks in use, and the rigid interconnections between the blocks ensures that the cups are in the correct relative position after the devices have been moved. However, apart from relatively localised movement of the furniture, so that the devices can be slid on the floor with the furniture legs in the cups, moving the furniture for example from one room to another frequently necessitates separate movement of the item of furniture and the height adjustment device. The rigid interconnections between the cups makes relocation of the furniture legs in them relatively easy, but the height adjustment blocks can fall out of the cups, necessitating their repositioning before the furniture legs can be placed back in the cups.

The present invention seeks to overcome the above problem.

According to the present invention there is provided a device for adjusting the height of a leg of an item of furniture, the device comprising a leg receiving cup for receiving said leg when the device is in use, and resilient leg engaging means retained within the cup and into which the said leg is inserted, the leg engaging means comprising a resilient barb which engages the said leg whilst permitting relatively easy insertion of the leg into the leg engaging means but resisting removal of the leg therefrom and thereby from the device.

The resilient barb is preferably substantially circular, thereby forming an annulus around the furniture leg once the leg has been pushed into it. Whilst other annular shapes of resilient barb can be used, for example to be similar to the cross-section of leg to be held by the barb, circular barbs can usually be used with furniture legs of various cross-sections, for example circular, square or rectangular.

Devices in accordance with the present invention will usually include a height adjustment means within the cup so that when the furniture leg is inserted into the device the leg will be raised above floor level.

Adjustment of the height by which the furniture leg is raised above floor level is preferably effected by attachment of the base of the cup to at least one height modifying means, the attachment preferably being by locating plugs, optionally combined with securing means such as self-tap screws.

An embodiment of device in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which: Fig. 1 shows a side view of the device with extension piece included; Fig. 2 shows a view of the device from above; Fig. 3 shows an exploded cross-sectional view of the device as shown in Fig. 1 with the extension piece removed; Fig. 4 shows the top of the device from underneath; Fig. 5 is a view of the base section of the device from above; Fig. 6 is a view of the extension piece from above; and Fig. 7 is a side view of the extension piece of Fig. 1 removed from the rest of the device.

Referring to Fig. 1, the device shown consists of a cup 1 formed from a substantially hexagonal top section 2 and a hexagonal base section 3. The top section 2 is connected to the base section 3 by three self-tapping screws which are passed upwardly through each of three blank ended tubes 4 and screw into studs 5 which extend downwardly within the top section 2, the studs 5 being an integral part of the top section 2.

The base section 3 has a central spigot 6 which serves as a support for a leg of an item of furniture (not shown) which is inserted into the device through an aperture 7 in the top section 2. The central spigot 6 provides a preset amount of lift for the furniture leg. Further lift of the furniture leg can be provided by the extension piece 8, as will subsequently be described herein.

Within the top section 3 is located a resilient member 9 which is captive within the device 1 as a result of the top section 2 being secured to the base section 3.

The resilient member 9 has a substantially cylindrically tubular portion 10, which serves to locate it within the device 1 between the top section 2 and the base section 3, and a truncated funnel section 11 through which the furniture leg to be raised by the device is passed. The open, narrower end of the funnel section 11 points downwardly and it forms an annular barb which can allow a furniture leg to be pushed through the section 11 fairly easily against the inherent resilience of the member 9, whilst positively gripping the leg when attempts are made to pull the leg upwardly out of the section 11.

Support walls 12 within the base section 3 serve both to strengthen the base section 3 itself and to provide a support surface for the resilient member 9 between the base section 3 and the upper surface 13 of the top section 2.

Referring to Figs. 1, 5 and 6, a means is shown for providing a further height adjustment to that provided by the spigot 6. A hexagonal extension piece 8 has three circular section locating pins 14 which project upwardly beyond its upper surface 15.

The pins 14 are positioned to engage corresponding apertures in sleeves 15 in the lower surface of the base section 3, the pins 14 preferably doing so with an interference fit such that the extension piece 8 is held attached to the base section 3 when they are plugged together, and a significant force is required to separate them.

Although the tubes 4 and the studs 5 are joined by self-tapping screws, which provide positive location of the top section 2 on the base section 3, even more positive locations of the sections 2 and 3 relative to each other is provided by three nibs 16 which extend upwardly and inwardly of alternate side walls 17 of the base section 3. With the top section 2 located on the base section 3, the three nibs 16 are located inwardly of, and in contact with the internal surface 18 of the top section 2, thereby preventing relative movement between the top and base sections 2 and 3.

Claims

1. A device for adjusting the height of a leg of an item of furniture, the device comprising a leg receiving cup for receiving said leg when the device is in use and a resilient leg engaging means retained within the cup and into which the said leg is inserted, the leg engaging means comprising a resilient barb which engages the said leg whilst permitting relatively easy insertion of the said leg into the leg engaging means but resisting removal of the leg therefrom and thereby from the device.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the resilient barb is substantially circular.