GB2417893A

GB2417893A - Pre upholstered modular furniture requiring no tools for assembly

Info

Publication number: GB2417893A
Application number: GB0420237A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Brian Johnson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-09-13
Filing date: 2004-09-13
Publication date: 2006-03-15
Also published as: GB0420237D0

Abstract

A plurality of pre upholstered modules (12, 16, 18) may be assembled to produce items of furniture which may include - a chair, seat, bed or bed - settee. When assembling the modules together no tools are required. It is preferred that the modules slot together using a grooved c - shape fitting having a tapered profile ( Figs 4,5,6). The seat may have armrests (12) that are handed or are reversible. The armrests may have feet (14) and may also engage with the central base module(30) to support said module. Hook and loop fastenings may be used to secure the seat squab to the base. The chair may incorporate a fold away bed or a reclining means.

Description

24 1 7893 - 1 -

UPHOLSTERED CHAIRS

The present invention relates to upholstered chairs, this term being used to include armchairs, reclining chairs, settees with multiple seats, and sofa beds.

The conventional manner of making an upholstered chair is to form a frame, usually of wood, which defines the base, the arms and the back of the chair. The upholstery is then fitted to the frame, the term "upholstery" being used to refer to the springs, webbing, padding and cover fabric which are used to make the chair soft the touch, comfortable to sit on, and visually appealing.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an upholstered chair which comprises forming a plurality of modules, separately upholstering the modules, mounting on the upholstered modules fittings to enable the modules to be secured to one another without the use of tools, and assembling the chair by coupling the modules to one another.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an upholstered chair which comprises a plurality of modules having fittings to enable the modules to be secured to one another after each module has been separately upholstered, the fittings being interlockable with one another without the use of tools.

In the present invention, modules that constitute a chair, such as the base, the armrests and the back, are formed as separate modules which are not assembled to form a complete chair until after they have been upholstered.

Furthermore, as the fittings for securing the modules to one another require no tools, the chair can be transported and stored as separate modules and its assembly can readily be carried out after it has been delivered to the end user. In - 2 - this way, the invention introduces the concept of flat packs to items of upholstered furniture, such as armchairs and settees or sofa beds.

It is preferred that the fittings should not be visible in the assembled chair so that the assembled chair can be as visually appealing as a conventional upholstered chair without betraying its flat pack origins.

The modular approach to the construction of chairs, as proposed in the present invention, offers many advantages to the manufacturer, transporter, retailer and end user.

The manufacture is simplified because it is easier to upholster a single module than an assembled frame. Each single module can effectively be formed as a small box, which is easy to manoeuvre while applying the necessary webs, springs or padding and over which a preformed cover can readily be stretched. By contrast, an assembled frame is heavy and cumbersome to work on and the cover cannot be preformed but must effectively be constructed in situ around the frame.

Transportation is simplified because the individual modules are much smaller and easier to handle. This is particularly important when delivering furniture to homes with narrow doors and passageways and with elevators that are not large enough to accommodate an assembled sofa.

To the retailer, the invention offers the advantages of compact storage and the ability to offer a chair with any number of seats by storing only the necessary modules from which the chair can be constructed. Furthermore, should a module be damaged while in storage or on display, it is only that module that needs to be replaced, not the entire chair. - 3 -

To the end user, the main advantage offered by the invention will be derived from the reduced cost resulting from the savings achieved during manufacture, storage and transportation. The modular furniture also offers the advantage of additional versatility in that chairs can be reconfigured as necessary to suit the requirements of the room. For example, when moving a three-seater chair into a smaller room, one of the modules can be removed to convert it into a two-seater.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the armrest modules are reversible to permit left and right armrest modules to be interchanged. The left and right armrest modules may either be identical or handed. In the latter case, interchanging the armrest modules will enable the appearance of the chair to be changed. In either case, as the front ends of the armrests are the parts of a chair that are subjected to the most wear, being able to move the front ends of the armrest modules to the back of a chair significantly increases its useful life.

It is preferred for each of the fittings used to secure the modules to one another to comprise male and female shoes that fit one inside the other, each comprising a channel of C-shaped cross-section that tapers along its length. When the male shoe is slotted into the female shoe, the effect of the tapers is to wedge the two shoes together so that the effect of gravity will be to lock the two shoes together.

Such fittings are already known from other applications and are commercially available.

It is preferred for the armrest modules to be provided with feet to support the weight of the chair on the floor and for the weight of the base module to be support through the fittings on the armrest modules. As opposed to using the base module to support the weight of the armrest modules, this construction offers the advantage of improved 4 - stability, because the feet are wider apart, and the armrest modules can be used to carry the chair in the normal way without them coming away from the base.

In a two-seater or three-seater settee, the base can be formed either as a single module or as a plurality of modules that are connected to one another. In the latter case, if the weight of the base is supported on the armrests, a thin separator with feet resting on the ground lo may be interposed between each pair of base modules. This allows a settee to have any number of seats and ensures that each base module is separately supported on the ground so that the structure of the settee is not weakened.

When the base is formed of separate modules, the appearance of a settee can be marred by leaving the separators exposed when viewed from the front. It is therefore preferred to provide an additional squab that extends across the full width of the base of the settee to cover the fronts of the individual base modules and the separators between them. Such a squab may be purely decorative or it may support the front edge of the seat cushion to provide same level of comfort as a chair with a spring front edge.

The squab can be affixed to the bases using the same type of fitting as described above for coupling the remaining modules to one another but alternatively it may be secured to the fronts of the base modules by means of hook and loop (Velcro) tape.

The use of a separate squab offers the additional advantage that no part of the base modules is on view in the assembled settee. The base modules need not therefore be upholstered in the same expensive fabric as the remainder of the settee. Aside from reducing cost, this allows the same base modules to be used in settees of different design.

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The invention can also be applied to sofa beds and reclining chairs which only require a modification to the base modules to incorporate a folding bed mechanism or a reclining mechanism.

The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figures 1 and 2 are a front and a side view, lo respectively of an armchair of the invention, Figure 3 is an exploded front view of the armchair of Figure 1, Figures 4 and 5 are front views of a male and a female shoe, respectively, which together form one of the fittings that couple the modules of the armchair of Figures 1 to 3 to one another, Figure 6 is a plan view of the shoes of Figures 4 and 5 when mating with one another, Figures 7 and 8 are front views of a two-seater and a three-seater settee, respectively, constructed in the same manner as the armchair of Figures 1 to 3, Figures 9 and 10 are front and side views, similar to Figures 1 and 2, showing an alternative embodiment of the invention, Figure 11 is a front view of a further settee embodying the invention, Figures 12, 13 and 14 are top, side and end views of a separator for use in a further embodiment of the present invention, Figures 15 and 16 are top and side views, respectively, of a corner base module for use in a further embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 17 is a front view of an armchair housing a reclining mechanism of a still further embodiment of the present invention. - 6

Figures 1 and 2 show front and side views of an armchair 10 of the invention. The armchair 10 has two armrests 12 with feet 14, arranged on opposite sides of the base 16. The armchair 10 also has a back 18, a seat cushion s 20 and a back cushion 22. The armchair 10 thus has the outward appearance of a conventional armchair and the design of its armrests 12, base 16, back 18 and cushions 20 and 22 can be varied at will to match any desired design.

lo The novelty of the armchair resides in its method of construction which is shown in the view of Figure 3. It can be seen from this exploded view that the armrests 12, the base 16 and the back 18 are formed as separable upholstered modules that are secured to one another by fittings that comprise male shoes 32 and female shoes 30. These shoes, which will be described below in greater detail with reference to Figures 4 to 6, are screwed to the modules after they have been upholstered in positions where they will not be visible when the modules are assembled to one another.

The individual modules may be manufactured by the method used conventionally to produce simple box structures, such as foot stools. For example, a frame made of wood is padded out with wadding and a preformed fabric cover is stretched over it.

The shoes 30 and 32 are a known example of fittings that can be assembled without the use of tools. As can be seen from Figures 4 and 5, the male and female shoes are of similar construction in that each of them is an elongate plate with side edges 36, 38 bent over to form a generally Cshaped cross section. Both the shoes 30 and 32 taper along their length, being wider at the top than at the bottom.

The female shoe 30 differs from the male shoe in that it is wider and is provided at the bottom with an ledge 34 to act as an end stop for the male shoe 32. - 7

As shown in Figure 6, the two shoes 30, 32 lock securely one inside the other when the male 32 is slid from the top into the female 30. The taper of the two shoes acts to improve the clamping force with increasing downward force on the male shoe 32. The shoes can, however, be separated readily by applying an upward force to the male shoe 32.

In the illustrated embodiment, the weight of the entire armchair is supported on the feet 14 of the armrests 12 by lo fitting the male shoes 32 to the base module 16 and the female shoes 30 to the armrests 12. In this way, the modules will not come apart if the armchair is raised by means of its armrests. Furthermore, placing the feet 14 on the armrests moves them further apart and therefore enhances the stability of the armchair 10. In principle, however, it would be alternatively possible to place the feet 14 on the base module 16 and to reverse the shoes 30 and 32 so that the weight of the armrests 12 is supported by the base module 16.

The back module 18 is connected to the base module 16 in the same way but in this case the female shoes 30 are fitted to the base module as shown in Figure 3. The shoes are shown in ghost outline in Figure 3 because they are at the back of the base module and cannot be seen from the front of the armchair. The male shoes of the back module are slid from above into the female shoes at the back of the base module and the back module then remains in place under the action of its own weight. The cushions 20 and 22 simply rest on the base module 16 and against the back module 18.

After the male shoes 32 of the base 16 have been slotted into the females shoes 30 of the armrests 12 and the male shoes 32 of the back module 18 have been slotted into the female shoes 30 at the back of the base module 16, assembly of the armchair 10 is completed by dropping the seat and back cushions 20 and 22 into place. The entire - 8 assembly can therefore readily be carried out without the use of tools.

The armchair can be transported in one piece if it is lifted by means of the armrests but it is also possible to dismantle the armchair for transportation by reversing the operations performed during its assembly.

By using a larger base unit 16a or 16b as shown in lo Figures 7 and 8, it is possible to construct a two-seater and a three-seater settee. In this design, all the seat cushions 20 are of the same size and shape but there are three shapes of back cushion, In particular, there is a first cushion that is rounded on both sides as used in the armchair, a cushion that is rounded on only one side as used on both sides of the two-seater settee and at the ends of the three-seater settee, and a cushion without a rounded side as used in the centre of the three-seater settee.

It is of course possible for any of the base modules 16, 16a or 16b to include a reclining mechanism or a fold away bed mechanism. An arrangement wherein the base module is replaced by a U- shaped support frame 46 is shown in Figure 17 in which items previously described have been allocated the same reference numerals but with the addition of two primes. The base module is provided with male shoes 32 which slot into female shoes located on the inner faces of the armrests 12, in the same way as described with reference to the base module. The U-shaped support frame 46 provides a base to which a sofa bed mechanism 48 or a reclining mechanism may be attached. In the case of the sofa bed mechanism, the U-shaped support frame 46, must still provide female shoes for receiving the back module 18, whereas in the case of the reclining mechanism, the back module 18 will be attached to the mechanism to allow it to move as the seat reclines. 9 -

An important advantage of all three chairs of Figures 1, 7 and 8 is that the left and right armrests 12 are interchangeable. As the illustrated armrests 12 are symmetrical, interchanging the armrests does not alter their appearance. If the armrests are not symmetrical, the appearance of the chairs can be changed by interchanging them. Regardless of whether or not the appearance of the chairs is altered, interchanging the armrests allows the front ends of the armrests to hidden, my moving them to the back of the chairs, as then become worn.

The embodiment of Figures 9 to 10 differs mainly in design from that described above and to avoid repetition like parts have been allocated like reference numerals with the addition of a prime. In this case, the armrests 12' are not symmetrical and the seat cushion 20' is T-shaped to bring its ends forward of the armrests. Furthermore, a squab is mounted on the front of the base module and it too projects laterally beyond the base module to overlie the lower part of the front of the armrests 12'.

The provision of a separate squab 40a in the case of the two-seater settee of Figure 11 offers the additional advantage of allowing the base to be built up of several modules. In this case, a thin separator 42 (see Figures 12, 13 and 14) resting on its own feet 14 has female shoes 30 on both its sides to receive male shoes mounted on the base modules. This allows as many seats as required to be connected to one another to form a single settee without the risk of the base sagging in the middle and without the joins of the base units being seen at the front of the settee.

Optionally, as shown in Figure 13, the separator may have peripheral padding 44 and it may be lightened by cut outs such as the circular cut outs 46.

The squab 40 is a decorative element rather than a structural element and as such it can be secured less firmly - 10 to the base modules. Hook and loop tape is less expensive than the earlier described mechanical fittings and avoids the needs for accurate positioning of the shoes in the base modules and the back of the squab.

If the upper edge of the squab projects higher than the top surface of the base modules, it can act as a sprung edge making the armchair more comfortable by providing more resilience at the front of the chair.

A further advantage of the designs of Figures 9 to 11 is that the base modules cannot be seen from the front, thereby enabling less expensively upholstered modules to be used and also allowing the same base modules to be used regardless of the fabric selected for the modules that are visible in the assembled chairs.

A further embodiment is shown in Figures 15 and 16 which show a top and side view, respectively, of a corner base unit 44. The corner base unit is provided with female shoes 30 on each of its four faces and feet 14, as it is intended to be a load bearing member. By providing a corner base unit acting a load bearing module, two or more base modules 16 may be joined together to provide seats at right angles to one another. The corner base module 44 is in the same form as base module 16, previously described. The unused female shoes 30 on the corner base module 44 may then engage with male shoes provided on back modules 18, in the same way as described in previous embodiments, in order to produce a complete corner seat module. r - 11

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing an upholstered chair which comprises forming a plurality of modules, separately upholstering the modules, mounting on the upholstered modules fittings to enable the modules to be secured to one another without the use of tools, and assembling the chair by coupling the modules to one another.

lo

2. An upholstered chair which comprises a plurality of modules having fittings to enable the modules to be secured to one another after each module has been separately upholstered, the fittings being interlockable with one another without the use of tools.

3. An upholstered chair as claimed in claim 2, wherein the fittings are not visible in the assembled chair.

4. An upholstered chair as claimed in claim 2 or 3, wherein the chairs comprises armrest modules that are reversible to permit left and right armrest modules to be interchanged.

5. An upholstered chair as claimed in claim 4, wherein the armrest modules are identical.

6. An upholstered chair as claimed in claim 4, wherein the armrest modules are handed.

7. An upholstered chair as claimed in any of claims 2 to 6, wherein each of the fittings used to secure the modules to one another comprises male and female shoes that fit one inside the other, each comprising a channel of C shaped cross-section that tapers along its length.

8. An upholstered chair as claimed in any of claims 2 to 7, comprising armrest modules having feet to support the - 12 weight of the chair on the floor and a base module the weight of which is support through the fittings on the armrest modules.

9. An upholstered chair as claimed in claim 8, wherein the chair has multiple seats and wherein the base of the chair is formed of separate base modules and wherein a separator supported on feet on the ground is interposed between each pair of base modules to support the weight of lo the base modules.

10. An upholstered chair as claimed in claims 2 to 9, wherein a squab extending the full width of the base is provided to cover the front of base module or base modules.

11. An upholstered chair as claimed in claim 10, wherein the squab is secured to the bases by means of hook and loop tape.

12. An upholstered chair as claimed in any of claims 2 to 11, wherein the chair has a base that incorporates a fold-away bed or reclining mechanism.

13. An upholstered chair constructed substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.