US2178788A

US2178788A - Arm rest

Info

Publication number: US2178788A
Application number: US198907A
Authority: US
Inventors: William R Haines
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1938-03-30
Filing date: 1938-03-30
Publication date: 1939-11-07
Anticipated expiration: 1956-11-07

Description

Nov. 7, 1939. w R HAINES 7 2,178.788

ARM REST Filed March 30, 1958 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 7, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT FFlCE;

ARM REST William R. Haines, Long Beach, Calif. Application March 30, 1938, Serial No. 198,907

1 Claim.

This invention relates to an arm rest furnished with improved means for being adjusted to and from projecting and pendant positions.

Although the invention is more particularly intended to be installed upon an automobile to afford arm rests for the occupants thereof, yet it is capable of being used in a variety of other situations, without departing from its scope as defined by the claim. 1

Among the objects of the invention are to provide more dependable and easily operable means for adjustably mounting an arm rest; to provide, in combination with other improved features a reversible arrangement of parts so as to render a single pattern of arm rest mountable upon either the right or left interior side of an automobile, and to provide an improved slidably operable releasing means to unlock the shelf preparatory to adjusting it from a projecting to a pendant position, or vice versa.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will hereinafter appear.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, which illustrates what is at present deemed to be a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a view showing the device partly in plan and partly in transverse section, on line l-I of Fig. 2, the adjacent portion of the wall to which the device is attached also being sectioned.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device, showing the same independently of a support, and looking at the side thereof away from the support.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the device looking at 35 the same reversed from the showing thereof in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a vertical mid-section of the device on line 44 of Fig. 1, showing the same in the attached position, the adjacent portion of the 40 wall to which it is attached being also shown in section. This view is on a larger scale than the remaining views.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of one of the twin brackets or hangers viewing the same as shown in Fig. 4 apart from the structures adjacent thereto.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the shelf portion of the arm rest consists, by preference and as shown, of a swingably mounted metallic plate 10, having attached to its upper (when in the extended position) face a cushion means ll supported by a wooden or other base member I2; and including also the trunnion or pivot structures l4 and I5. As viewed in Fig. 4, said plate II) has a flange 2U directed upwardly from its free edge at a right angle thereto, and along its hinged side a flange which is angular in cross section, having a lower portion 2| extending upwardly and an upper portion 22 extending toward the wall 23 by which the device is supported. Also at each end of the shelf l0 there is a flange 24, which is a continuation of the flange 20, one of these end flanges being shown in Fig. 4.

Describing more in detail the cushion means H, the base member I2, is a rather thick plate of rigid material having a chamfer 25 along the lower part of its free and end edges, and a deeper chamfer 26 along the lower portion of its hinged edge. The chamfers afford a loose fit of the base member upon and within the flanged portion of the plate Ill so that, when the padding 28 is enclosed within the facing sheet 29 the lower edge portions of said sheet may be gripped between the plate flanges and base as shown in Fig. 4. Attaching tacks 30 are shown securing the facing sheet 29 to the base member I 2, and screws 3 I, one

of which is shown in Fig. 4, may be used to see cure the base member l2 to the plate 10.

Identically constructed end brackets or hangers and 36 are shown to support the swingable portion of the structure upon the wall 23, each of said hangers having apertured attaching ears 3! and between these ears a body portion 38 having through it a passage 39 which is polygonal (desirably square) in cross-section, and having at the outer end of such passage a housing portion 40 into which is projectable the trunnion It (or IE) at that side of the arm rest. As the outer end portions of the trunnions necessarily occupy a spaced relation to the wall to which the device is attached, these housing portions safeguard against coats or wrappers catching upon the end portions of said trunnions, as well as otherwise protecting them.

Each of the trunnions I l and I5 is partly circular and partly square (or polygonal) in crosssection, the square portion Ma of the trunnion l4 being its outer end portion while its round portion 14b is nearer to its base, there being a reverse arrangement of the square portion [5a and round portion I51) of the trunnion I5. I

When the device is put into its operative position the

hangers

35 and 36 are attached to the wall sufiiciently far apart to allow for shifting the plate II) in an endwise, horizontal manner in such a way as simultaneously to render both of the trunnions rotatable or else non-rotatable within the hangers, a traction spiral spring being provided which tends to maintain the plate I 0 and its trunnions shifted to the nonswingable condition whether said plate is in the extended or dependent position. The recess Illa: afforded between the inner angle of the angularly related flanges 2| and 22 provides an operating clearance for the coiled portion of the spring 45. This construction not only affords a sheath for the spring 45 at all time, but it also makes it possible to mount said spring substantially in axial alinement with the trunnions, where its contractile force will be exerted in the most eflicient manner. By constructing the parts adjacent to the spring 45 in such a manner that the angularly related flanges along the attached edge of the arm rest plate Ill form wall portions of said recess the machine work which would otherwise be required in constructing a housing for said spring is eliminated. Said flanges are formed by a die and may be stamped out with great rapidity. The intermediate flange 2| and terminal flange 22 are well shown in Fig. 4 in their relation to the spring 45.

The twin bracket 36 (see Fig. 5) is shown having an angular recess 4| in the center of its basal portion through which passes the attaching arm 45a. of the spring 45, said arm of the spring being shown having a circular loop 4512 which extends loosely around the trunnion I5.

The recess 4| consists of a notch cut across the mid-length portion of the Wall-engaging side of each bracket, the entire side, except for its notched portion, abutting against the wall when its attaching screws are in place. The attaching portion 450. of the spring 45 is anchored to the bearing portion of the bracket 36 by reason of the fact that its loop 45b surrounds the circular part of the adjacent trunnion and abuts against the apertured portion of said bracket 36.

I claim:

In a device of the kind described, an arm rest plate having a trunnion projecting from each end thereof, each of said trunnions as viewed in cross section having a round portion and a polygonal portion with angularly related sides, two brackets secured to a wall in a parallel, spaced apart relation to each other, each of said brackets having a socket with angularly related sides which alines with the socket of the other, each polygonal trunnion portion having a slidable nonturnable fit in the socket at its side of the device, said plate being shiftable to bring said polygonal portions of said trunnions into or out of engagement with said sockets whether said plate is in a projecting or a pendent position, and a spiral tension spring extending between one of said brackets and said plate, said brackets having straight wall abutting sides except for being notched in their mid-length portions, thus providing clearances under the applied brackets, a portion of said spring passing through the notch of one of said brackets, said spring having a loop portion which encircles one of said trunnions and has a bearing on a shoulder formed on the inside of one of said brackets, said spring tending to shift said plate into the position wherein its said trunnions are non-turnable in relation to said brackets.

WILLIAM R. HAINES.