GB2445536A

GB2445536A - Collapsible coat stand

Info

Publication number: GB2445536A
Application number: GB0700401A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Andrew Bartle
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-01-10
Filing date: 2007-01-10
Publication date: 2008-07-16
Also published as: GB0700401D0

Abstract

A collapsible coat stand 1 comprises: a head 4; a base plate 5; hook members 6; an upright member 2 consisting of three tubular sections 3, adjacent tubular sections being interconnected by connecting elements in the form of two centring sleeves 7 force fitted within the adjacent ends of the tubular sections 3, a hollow interconnecting bush 8 having ends which fit within the centring sleeves 7 and an interconnecting threaded rod 11 extending within the bush 8 and threadedly engaged at its ends with threaded recesses 13 in the centring sleeves 7, providing accurate alignment of the tubular sections 3 with respect to one another.

Description

I

Collapsible Coat Stands This invention relates to collapsible coat stands.

It is esabIished practice for coat stands for use in offices and the like to be supplied in flat-pack form, and for such stands to be assembled on site by the user. Typically a foot portion is secured to a bottom end of an upright member of the stand, and coat hook portions are secured to a top end of the upright member to produce the filly assembled stand that can then be stood upright in a suitable location for coats to be suspended from the hook portions.

Although coat stands assembled from sections of tubing are available commercially, the appearance of such stands is generally poor due to the difficulty in ensuring that the sections are correctly aligned with one another at the joints. This results in the joints being clearly visible in the assembled stand, and making it very apparent to the user that the stand consists sections of tubing connected together.

It is an object of the invention to provide a novel coat stand that can be assembled from tubular sections in a straightforward manner such that the joints betweens sections are not too apparent in the assembled stand.

According to the present invention there is provided a collapsible coat stand comprising comprising an elongate upright member made up of tubular sections interconnected by connecting elements, wherein the connecting elements comprise a respective centring sleeve fitted within an end region of each tubular section, and an interconnecting bush having a first end portion fitted within the centring sleeve in said end region of one of the tubular sections and a second end portion fitted within the centring sleeve in said end region of another of the tubular sections such that said end regions are held in aligned abutment with one another.

The appearance of such stands can be of very high quality with the joints being almost invisible in the assembled stand by virtue of the fact that the sections are correctly aligned with one another at the joints.

In a preferred embodiment the centring sleeves are secured together by an interconnecting rod extending through a hollow space within the interconnecting bush, the interconnecting rod preferably incorporating at least one screw thread for securing the centring sleeves together. Each of the centring sleeves may have a seat for receiving a respective end portion of the interconnecting bush, the seat incorporating a threaded recess for receiving a respective threaded end of the interconnecting rod.

Additionally in the preferred embodiment a head is detachably secured to an upper end region of the upright member, the head preferably being detachably secured to the upper end region of the upright member by a threaded interconnecting rod engaging a threaded recess in a centring sleeve in the upper end region of the upright member.

Additionally in the preferred embodiment a base plate is detachably secured to a lower end region of the upright member, the base plate preferably being detachably secured to the lower end region of the upright member by a threaded bolt engaging a threaded recess in a centring sleeve in the lower end region of the upright member.

Additionally in the preferred embodiment at least one hook member is detachably secured to an upper end region of the upright member, the at least one hook member preferably being secured to the upper end region of the upright member by a threaded bolt extending through a hole in the upper end region of the upright member. The threaded bolt may extend through an outer sleeve that is secured thereon by a hook end threaded onto the bolt. More particularly the threaded bolt may extend through a first outer sleeve on one side of the upright member before passing through the hole in the upright member and a second outer sleeve on the opposite side of the upright member, the outer sleeves being secured on the bolt by hook ends threaded onto the bolt.

Furthermore the at least one hook member may be provided with an outwardly extending tab from which an article may be suspended in use.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood, a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows the assembled coat stand; Figure 2 shows the assembled coat stand from above; Figure 3 shows a section through a joint between two sections of the stand; Figure 4 shows a partial section through the top of the stand; and FigureS shows a section through the bottom of the stand.

Referring to Figure 1, the collapsible coat stand 1 comprises an upright member 2 consisting of three tubular sections 3 connected together in a manner to be described below, a head 4, a base plate 5 and hook members 6. As can best be appreciated from the view from above of Figure 2, the hook members 6 project outwardly from the stand 1 with equal angular spacing.

Adjacent tubular sections 3 of the upright member 2, which are made from mild steel tubing or extruded plastic or aluminium tubing, are interconnected by connecting elements in the form of two centring sleeves 7 force fitted within the adjacent ends of the tubular sections 3, a hollow interconnecting bush 8 having ends which are a snug fit within the centring sleeves 7 within the ends of the tubular sections 3, and an interconnecting threaded rod ii extending through the hollow space within the bush 8 and threadedly engaged at its ends with internally threaded nuts 13 located in seat parts of the centring sleeves 7. The centring sleeves 7, which are made from a hard polymeric material such as polypropylene, are held by an interference fit within the ends of the tubular sections 3 and are provided with equally angularly spaced axial slots along their inner cylindrical surfaces to assist fitting of the bush 8 within the centring sleeves 7. The axial slots allow some tolerance in achieving the required interference fit of the centring sleeves 7 within the ends of the tubular sections 3, as well as decreasing the surface contact of the centring sleeves 7 with the outside surface of the interconnecting bush 8 to assist sliding of the bush 8 into the centring sleeves 7.

During assembly, after fitting of the centring sleeves 7 within the ends of the tubular sections 3 so that the ends of the centring sleeves 7 are slightly recessed within the ends of the tubular sections 3, the bush 8 is fitted within the centring sleeve 7 in the end of one of the tubular sections 3 such that it abuts the seat part of the centring sleeve 7, and the interconnecting rod 11 is then screwed into the nut 13 in the seat part. After fitting of the other centring sleeve 7 within the end of the other tubular section 3 in similar manner, the two tubular sections 3 are brought together so that the projecting end of the bush 8 is introduced into the centring sleeve 7 and the interconnecting rod 11 projecting from the one tubular section end is introduced into the nut 13 in the seat part of the centring sleeve 7 in the other tubular section end. The connection between the two tubular sections 3 is then tightened simply by rotating one tubular section 3 with respect to the other tubular section 3 until a firm aligned joint is formed. The centring function is performed by providing a degree of slack in the seating of the internally threaded nuts 13 within the seat parts of the centring sleeves 7 so as to permit fairly inaccurate initial location of the interconnecting rod 11 with respect to the centring sleeve 7, subsequent tightening of the joint causing the bush 8 to guide the tubular sections 3 together to provide a perfect fit.

As best seen in Figure 4 the head 4 is mushroom-shaped and incorporates a threaded connecting rod 10 received within a threaded recess IOA at its upper end and within the threaded recess I OB at its lower end in a further centring sleeve 7A that is a force fit within the end of the uppermost tubular section 3 in a similar manner to the centring sleeves 7 already referred to.

As further shown in Figure 4, each pair of oppositely disposed hook members 6 is formed by a threaded bolt 12 extending through outer sleeves 6A and holes in the wall of the uppermost tubular section 3, with the ends of the threaded bolt 12 engaging within threaded recesses 9 in mushroom-shaped hook ends 5. Each of the outer sleeves 6A is formed with a shaped boss 16 in abutting contact with the wall of the tubular section 3, and each boss 16 is provided with an outwardly extending tab 17 from which a coat or other article of clothing may be suspended in use by means of its hanging tab (as an alternative to the coat or other article of clothing being suspended by being draped over one of the hook ends 5).

Referring to Figure 5 a base plate 19 is secured to the lower end of the lowermost tubular section 3 by passing a threaded bolt 14 through a hole in a centre boss 15 of the base plate 19 and threadedly engaging the bolt 14 with a threaded recess in an insert 20 which is a force fit within the end of the tubular section 3.

In a non-illustrated variant of the described embodiment, the insert 20 may be replaced by a centring sleeve similar to the centring sleeves 7 and 7A described above, and the base plate 19 and lowermost tubular section 3 may be connected together by a threaded interconnecting rod engaged within a threaded recess in the centring sleeve and a threaded recess in the base plate centre boss 15 in a manner analogous to the connection of the head 4 to the uppermost tubular section 3.

Although the manner of securing together the tubular sections has been described above with reference to a coat stand, it will be understood that the securing together of tubular sections in this manner also has other applications outside the field of coat stands, and in particular can be used for securing together sections of other types of stand, such as bag stands (e.g. exhibition stands for holding carrier bags), drying stands, music stands and the like, or for securing together sections of other types of support structure.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A collapsible coat stand comprising an elongate upright

member made up of tubular sections interconnected by connecting elements, wherein the connecting elements comprise a respective centring sleeve fitted within an end region of each tubular section, and an interconnecting bush having a first end portion fitted within the centring sleeve in said end region of one of the tubular sections and a second end portion fitted within the centring sleeve in said end region of another of the tubular sections such that said end regions are held in aligned abutment with one another.
2. A coat stand according to claim 1, wherein the centring sleeves are secured together by an interconnecting rod extending through a hollow space within the interconnecting bush.
3. A coat stand according to claim 2, wherein the interconnecting rod incorporates at least one screw thread for securing the centring sleeves together.
4. A coat stand according to claim 3, wherein each of the centring sleeves has a seat for receiving a respective end portion of the interconnecting bush, the seat incorporating a threaded recess for receiving a respective threaded end of the interconnecting rod.
5. A coat stand according to any preceding claim, wherein a head is detachably secured to an upper end region of the upright member.
6. A coat stand according to claim 5, wherein the head is detachably secured to the upper end region of the upright member by a threaded interconnecting rod engaging a threaded recess in a centring sleeve in the upper end region of the upright member.
7. A coat stand according to any preceding claim, wherein a base plate is detachably secured to a lower end region of the upright member.
8. A coat stand according to claim 7, wherein the base plate is detachably secured to the lower end region of the upright member by a threaded bolt engaging a threaded recess in a centnng sleeve in the lower end region of the upright member.
9. A coat stand according to any preceding claim, wherein at least one hook member is detachably secured to an upper end region of the upright member.
10. A coat stand according to claim 9, wherein the at least one hook member is secured to the upper end region of the upright member by a threaded bolt extending through a hole in the upper end region of the upright member.
11. A coat stand according to claim 10, wherein the threaded bolt extends through an outer sleeve which is secured thereon by a hook end threaded onto the boit.
12. A coat stand according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the at least one hook member is provided with an outwardly extending tab from which an article may be suspended in use.

S S S.. *

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13. A collapsible coat stand substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

12. A coat stand according to claim 10, wherein the threaded bolt extends through a first outer sleeve on one side of the upright member before passing through the hole in the upright member and a second outer sleeve on the opposite side of the upright member, the outer sleeves being secured on the bolt by hook ends threaded onto the bolt.

13. A coat stand according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the at least one hook member is provided with an outwardly extending tab from which an article may be suspended in use.

14. A collapsible coat stand substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. A collapsible coat stand comprising an elongate upright member made up of tubular sections interconnected by connecting elements, wherein the connecting elements comprise a respective centring sleeve fitted within an end region of each tubular section, and an interconnecting bush having a first end portion fitted within the centring sleeve in said end region of one of the tubular sections and a second end portion fitted within the centring sleeve in said end region of another of the tubular sections such that said end regions are held in aligned abutment with one another, and wherein the centring sleeves are secured together by an interconnecting rod extending through a hollow space within the interconnecting bush.

2. A coat stand according to claim 1, wherein the interconnecting rod incorporates at least one screw thread for securing the centring sleeves together.

3. A coat stand according to claim 2, wherein each of the centring sleeves has a seat for receiving a respective end portion of the interconnecting bush, the seat incorporating a threaded recess for receiving a respective threaded end of the interconnecting rod.

:. 4. A coat stand according to any preceding claim, wherein a head is detachably secured to an upper end region of the upright member.

5. A coat stand according to claim 4, wherein the head is detachably secured to the upper end region of the upright member by a threaded interconnecting rod engaging a threaded recess in a centring sleeve in the upper end region of the upright member.

* 6. A coat stand according to any preceding claim, wherein a base plate is detachably secured to a lower end region of the upright member.

7. A coat stand according to claim 6, wherein the base plate is detachably secured to the lower end region of the upright member by a threaded bolt engaging a threaded recess in a centring sleeve in the lower end region of the upright member.

8. A coat stand according to any preceding claim, wherein at least one hook member is detachably secured to an upper end region of the upright member.

9. A coat stand according to claim 8, wherein the at least one hook member is secured to the upper end region of the upright member by a threaded bolt extending through a hole in the upper end region of the upright member.

10. A coat stand according to claim 9, wherein the threaded bolt extends through an outer sleeve which is secured thereon by a hook end threaded onto the bolt.

11. A coat stand according to claim 9, wherein the threaded bolt extends through a first outer sleeve on one side of the upright member before passing through the hole in the upright member and a second outer sleeve on the opposite side of the upright member, the outer sleeves being secured on the bolt by hook ends threaded onto the bolt.