US1752295A - Chair cushion - Google Patents

Description

April 1, 1930. B. B. FELIX 1,752,295

' CHAIR CUSHION Filed Deo. 14, 192e BY www.

ATTORNEYS 'l Patented Apr.` 1, 1930 'l UNITED STATES "PATENT calificaL BENJAMIN B. FELIX, OIE CHICAGO, lI1'.I.`.II\lOIS ASSIGNORflO FEATHEREDGE RUBBER COMPANY, IN C., A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS cnam cUsHroN- Application lc'd'December 14, 192.@ Serial No. 154,684.

Chair cushions are now in general use made up of sponge rubber` with one surface covered with fibrous material such as felt, woven fab-A ric, vreal or imitation leather (all of which are intended to be embraced within the term fabric as hereafter used). Such cushions 1 are sometimes criticized as being unpleasant the rubber in contact with the fabric.

in hot weather. This can be obviated by -perforating the cushion, but if holes are punched in the combined materials, the-edges areapt to be raggedQand it is also dificult to apply a cover in which holes have been punched in exact registry with a rubber cushion in which holes have been formed.

in accordance with the present invention, the cushion is formed by molding the cover and body of the cushion together and curifng I a mold is used having pins in it to formthe perforations in the tnal cushion and the cloth is perforated so that it will readily slip down over the pins, there will bea tendency for the sponge rubber to force its Waybetween the pin and the edge 'of the cloth and rubber will show on the surface of the finished product. This l objection can4 be overcome and a cushion of very attractive appearance can be i made by forming holes in the fabric cover slightly smaller than the pins, then stretching the holes over the pins, Ordinarily it will be found more satisfactory to form the holes in the sheetof compound also-but this is not always necessary. During thecuring of the sponge rubber compound the pressure generated will force the fabric down over the pins,

but the friction of the fabric against the pin will tend to keep the edge of the fabric adj acent each opening, from reaching the bottom of the mold, with the result that the fabric* will be slightly turned in-at the edge of each hole. The perforations in the fabric may be round or they may be formed in other ways, as for example, simply by making two crossing slits in the fabric, but in any event the holes should be made in such a way that when the cushion is finished a portion of the fabric covering will be turned into the hole.

rfhe desired effect can be increased and an appearance given to the cushion that 'somewhat resembles tufting, if the pinsare made to taper all the way from their base to the top. rBy adjusting the amount of taper in y relation to the size of the holes and nature of the :fabric the extent to which the fabric will' extend into the finalopening 'can be modified to a very considerable extent.

ln order to illustrate the manner in which a cushion of the type described can be produced, I attach hereto a drawing showing a cushionin the course of manufacture. The method of producing a cushion here described is such that the invention described and claimed in Hood '& Wedlock Patent No.

1,610,286, dated December 1 4, 1926, will likewise be utilized.

In the drawings, Fig. l shows a sectional y' view through a portion of a moldfwith the materials that make up the cushion in place prior to the Vulcanization F ig. 2 is a sectional view through a fragment of a finished cushion embodying my invention; Fig. 3 is a sectional View of a modi-fied for-m of mold.

For the purposes of illustration, the mold here illustrated is the one for producing the preferred form of cushion, that is, where tapering pins are used. It is to be understood, as has already been pointed out, that this is not essential to the broader phases of the ing'- vention.

The mold here shown hasa lowenpart 2 with a cavity formed in its upper surface and has a at'upper part 3. Fixed in the lower part 2 are a series of pins 4 which in the present embodiment taper upward. In carrying out the manufacture of a chair cushion a sheet of stock properly compounded so that sponge rubber-will result after curing is cut to a size and shape approximating the mold cavity in part 2 but slightly larger. One surface of this compound is then `cleaned with a cleaning materialv such as kerosene anda piece of fabric is cut to approximately the same size and shape, laid over the rubber compound and 'pressed down to makeit adhere smoothly to the compound. Holes are then punched through the compound and fabric in a position correspondingto the position of the pins 4 but the diameter of these holes is less than the diameter of the base of the pins 4.' The sheet of rubber compound and the fabric is then placed in the mold so that the tips of the pins pass through the holes which have been cut 1n thefabric and compound sheet.

The edges of lthe compound'sheet and fabric pressure stretchesthe fabric slightl around the pins, turning the edge of the fabric up vin closee'ontactwith the pins so that no rubber flows between the pin and the fabric to appear on the surface of the finished cushion. At the same time (depending in de' gree upon the taper given to the pin) the fabric immediately adjacent the-base of the pin will beT/held awayfrom the base of the -mold 'so that the cushion will have a tufted appearance as is clearly illustrated in Fig. 2.

In (Fig. 3 I Ashow a modified form of mold. Here the lower mold 3 is formed with raised bosses 7 through which extend u the pins 4. lThese pins ay be mounted in aiottom plate 8 'and may either be made so that the may be readily withdrawn to clean the mo d etc. or may be made to fit permanentlyin place.

A In this modification the fabric 5 and compound 6 have formedin them holes slightly larger than the pins 4 but in thisca'se the@ raised bosses 7 will function like enlarged bases for the pins vand the pressureof the expanding compound will hold the edge portionsl of the fabric stretched and pressed against these bosses so that the resulting product will have portions of the fabric turned in about edge portions of the perforations and-will have these edge portions of the fabric embedded in the" rubber. Thus it does not vary the broadc'idea of this invention if the parts which form the perforations are pins alone or pins which combine with bosses formed in the bottoml of themold, both of. which are embracedwi-thin the term'fprojections. It is -to beunderstood that the molds which are shown in the illustrations are given only as examples-and that many variations may be made in the' method ofmanufacture withwhich the fabric around the perforations is stretched and heldin stretched position by its adhesion to the rubber.

3. A product as defined in claim 1 in which the fabric is stretched between adjacent perforations to give a roundedcross sectional line between adjacent perforations, and the rubber body is likewise shaped accordingly.v

4. A product as defined in claim 1 in which the perforations taper toward the lower side .75 of the cushion and the surface of the fabric Y y on any vertical section forms a smooth curved line continuation of the line of the side of each perforation. l

-5. The method of producing perforated cushions which comprises the steps Aof forming openings in a piece of fabric, putting such openings a out upwardly exten ing p'rojecv` tions in the mold, said openings and said prol .jections being so related that the fabric between' adjacentprojections must be deiiected and stretched to reach the lowest parts of the mold, putting a sheet of sponge rubber compound in the mold' so that it is over the fabric, lclosing the mold and vulcanizing, whereby 'the expansion of the lcompound forces the fabric against' the mold between the projections and leaves edge portions ofv the fabric turned about the perfor-ations formed by said projections and vembedded in vthe rubber. f

' 6. A process as defined in claim 5 in which the projections are -p'ins and the bottom of ifslhe mold between the pins is substantially at.

7. A process as defined in claim 5 in which the projections are/ tapered pins and the` openings are formed in" the fabric of such 'a size that the edges of the fabric about the pins will be held a'substantial distance from the baom ofthe mold. 105

8; A process as defined in claim 5, in which the',fabric and sheet qf'com ound are put* togetherand Both perforated) before being putinthe mold. H6 -BEIQZAMI'Nl B. FELIX.

out. departing from the -spiritvof the inven-i tion.

What-I claim is: 1. As a new product, a cushion com rising s ponge rubber with a fabric cover or the npper face integrally unitedto the rubber by4 vulcanization, said cushion having perforau 60- tions extending through the rubber and the fr l `fabric and having edge portions of the fabric f turned down. around bdge--portions ofthe perforations and having the edges of the fabric embedded in the s onge rubber body. n 2.A product-as efined inclau'i 1, .1n

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