US2249892A - Chair fastener - Google Patents

Description

y 22, 1941- H. E. I =ULTON 2,249,892.

CHAIR FASTENER Filed Sept. 6, 1940 Patented July 22, 1941 UNETED STATES PATENT QFFICE 2,2 l9,892 mm Fas'rnNEa V V Harry E. Fulton, Bernardsville, J. Application September 6, l94il, Serial No. 355,675

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in chair fasteners and more particularly to that type of fastener which is secured beneath the bottom of the chair and forms a brace for the chair legs.

Although the invention is characterized as a v chair fastener or brace it will be understood that 'it is equally applicable to tables and to any other articles of furniture.

-An object of theinvention is to produce for commercial marketable purposes an economically manufactured easily installable device ofiered to the trade in a simple set-up form so that the merest novice may apply it without error in the proper mode of its application to secure all of its benefits.

-' Another object of the invention is to provide a chair fastener or the like in which the central turnbuckle is made of compact form and short y length because of the condition I create in enabling the main rough adjustment of the wires 4 i to beaccomplished manually, thus leaving to the turnbuckle device only a relatively short and small final adjustment; and in this way the entire --adjustment and application of the wires and turnbuckle device may be achieved much more satisfactorily and quickly with a smaller set-up whereby all the components of the mechanical centralized pulling action are localized in this central plane. a

A still further object of the invention is to provide a simple form of device which may be r packaged in small compass for low transporta tion charges and reduced selling price.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawing, wherein like symbols referto like or corresponding parts throughout the several views.

Figure l is a top plan view of an article of furniture, with parts broken away and parts ,shown in section, showing the improved fastener. Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the same, with parts of the legs broken away.

Figure 3 is a perspective View of one of the Figure 4 is a similar view but with the nut and washer separated. v

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the use of pins on the washer instead of the top flange.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of nut employed, and

Figure 7 is a similar view of a further modified form of nut.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, l0 designates a bottom of a chair of which II are the legs and I2 the aprons.

Hooks l3 are'secured to the chair legs as one means for accommodating the loops I4 at the outer ends of'the wires or other connections l5. It will be understood that the wires may be secured or affixed to the chair legs H in any suitable way other than by the use of the hooks l3 and loops l4. l

I employ four wires [5. Each of these wires is separate and individual and is manufactured separately and selected from any kind, character and gauge of wire or other material possessing sufiicient flexibility and strength for the purpose.

- The inner ends of these four wires are brought together to the turnbuckle device which consists generally of the shaft or rod l6 and of the nut devices threaded thereon. The shaft l6 has right and left threaded end portions l1 and I8 and the nuts 19 and 20 are threaded accordingly and run upon such threads I! and [8. The shaft 15 is rotatable while the nutsare nonrotatable. Therefore on rotation of the shaft in one direction the nuts will travel axially toward the center of the shaft, that is to say together; while on rotation of the shaft It in the opposite sense or direction the two nuts will be caused to move apart or away from one another. For the purpose of convenience in rotating the shaft the central portion thereof may be formed with an opening or eye 2!. It is usual to make a turnbuckle in this form with the central eye adapted to receive a nail, rod or other implement therethrough to give leverage for convenience in rotating the shaft [6 when the nuts 9 and 2!] are drawn together in the act of tightening the wires I5. In forming the eye 2| in such turnbuckle shafts or rods it is customary to flatten the rod to increase the diameter about the eye but such flattened portion has no significance in connection with the present invention.

- In fact any other form of central part of the improved nut and washer assemblies with portions of two wires shown in the interlocked position therein.

shaft may be used with which to cause rotation of the shaft; for instance the central portion may be made square or hexangle to take a wrench.

However it is not so convenient to get a wrench into this position in connection with a chair fastener and therefore I prefer the construction having the eye 2|.

The nuts l9 and 20 may be of usual and standard form of nut. With each nut is associated a washer 22 having a center opening or.hole 23 of a diameter slightly in excess of the external diameter of the threaded portions of the shaft to enable such washer to move freely in an axial direction back and forth along the shaft without interference from the threads thereof whereby the washer may move toward the inner face of the nut to clamp the terminals 24 of the wires l between the washers and the nuts. The inner ends of the wires are received through eyelets 25 which open through a center hole 23 and are arranged at diametrically opposite sides of a vertical center line of a washer which is co-incident with the axial plane of the shaft It. The two eyelets 25 of each washer lie in a substantially horizontal plane when the turnbuckle device is suspended by the wires l5 in their taut condition in actual use. 7

Notches 26 aremade in the outer edges of the Washers 22 in horizontal alinement with eyelets 25 in order to receive the wires at the inner portions of their tension lines from the chair legs and to guide such wires and tend to retain the wires and the turnbuckle device all in the same horizontal plane.

The washers 22 are provided with lower flanges 2'. which extend beneath and overlap the lower edges of their respective nuts i9 and 28. This avoids any casual or accidental rotation of the nut.

In the use of this form of the device the outer ends of the Wires being engaged with the chair legs, the inner ends are brought into the notches 26, passed diametrically across the inner faces of the, washers 22, passed through the eyelets be bent back and forth for the purpose of breaking the same 01f. This will eliminate the necessity for making any disposal of loose wire ends such as wrapping the same around the wires I5 or about the nut assemblies or carelessly allowing the same to depend. The vise action therefore makes for a neat finish.

Instead of the top flange 28 holes may be formed in the washer to receive posts or pins 29, as shown in Figure 5, for the same purpose. The posts are affixed in the holes of the washer in any desired manner.

As will be apparent from Figure 2 the axis of the shaft l6 and therefore of the nuts and washers is in the same horizontal plane with the wires 15 and the points of connection of the wires with the hooks l3. Therefore the mechanical pull exerted upon all four separate wires by the single central turnbuckle device is all in the same axial plane and no distortion of any of the parts is possible.

In practice the size of the shaft [6 will be four inches and each wire will be twelve inches in length. Dependent on the size of the piece of furniture more or less of the length of each wire IE will be needed. Such a length of wire will accommodate all sizes of furniture. With the smaller articles of furniture the excess of the wire may be broken off in the Vises as above described so that irrespective of the length of wire provision is made by the invention for getting rid of the excess and making a uniform neat finish in all jobs large or small.

It is desirable to keep the washers in an upright position. If the washer is tilted the large center hole 23 tends to close upon the threads of the shaft i6 and tends to bind and drag on the threads in a manner to ruin such threads. It

25 and pulled through the space between the washers and the nuts. By pulling strongly upon the outer ends of the wires a rough general adjustment can be made manually. By using four wires each of which is independent of the other and having the loose ends for this rough general manual adjustment, the tension lines of the wires between the chair legs and the notches 26 may be pulled very tight. Such manual adjustment leaves only a small margin of adjustment to the turnbuckle device which enables me to make such turnbuckle device small, short, of a small amount of material and very compact for shipping and sale purposes. Theshaft I6 need only be approximately four inches in overall length with its threaded portions an inch and one-half in length each as the nuts l9 and 20 are only required to travel a short axial distance to secure a final extreme high tight adjustment.

Moreover in the clamped position the nut and washer assembly form Vises along their outer edges in which the excess of the wire ends may will be noted particularly from Figure 2 that it is necessary to bring the terminal end of the wire under its tension line after reeving the wire through the washer and nut assembly and this causes the terminal end of the wire between the washer and nut to be below the center line of the washer. Such terminal end therefore presents an eccentric fulcrum on which the washer tends to cant or tilt diagonally. Inasmuch as this fulcrum is below the center line of the Washer the upper flange 28 or the pins 29 is provided on the opposite side of the center washer to offset any angular movement of the washer out of the vertical.

The requirement for diminished length in shaft [6 and the arrangement of the device for initial manual rough adjustment makes it possible to secure a relatively small inexpensive commercial package even considering the ample lengths of the four wires.

Referring more particularly to Figure 6, a modified form of the device is shown in that nuts 30 may be substituted for the nut and washer assemblies, such nuts being standard and of very much the same character as the nuts 19 and 20. Instead of employing washers in connection with the nuts 30, such nuts are punched to provide eyelets 3| directly through the stock of the nuts into which the ends of the wire are inserted and clinched in any suitable manner, as by overturning the wire ends upon the nuts in a complete loop or circular formation and then twisting the end of the wire about the tension line thereof.

In Figure 7 there is shown a modification of this construction in which a nut 32 of a much thinner stock is employed. Owing to the difficulty of punching nuts such as 30 in Figure 6 because of the thickness of the standard stock, it is desirable to use a thinner stock. This facilitates the punching operation but creates a new problem in that the thin nut 32 is not well suited to taking the threads. For this purpose male and female dies are employed to extrude a central portion 33 of the nut 32 thus giving to this boss or collar 33 an increased axial length and area to adapt it to the functions of a nut.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a fastener for chairs and the like having legs, a short shaft having reversely threaded portions, nuts run on said reversely threaded portions, washers associated with the inner faces of said nuts and having eyelets, said washers movable toward and from the inner faces of said nuts, and wires from the chair legs having their inner ends engaged through said eyelets and clamped between the nuts and washers.

2. In a fastener for chairs and the like having legs, a short shaft having reversely threaded portions, nuts run on said reversely threaded portions of said shaft, a washer associated with the inner face of each nut having an unthreaded opening larger than the diameter of the shaft fitted loosely over the threads thereof and movable axially toward and from the inner face of each nut, said washer having eyelets communicating with the opening, and wires coming from the chair legs and having their inner ends inserted through said openings and eyelets with their terminals lying clamped between the washers and respective nuts, said wires tending to hold the washers against the inner travel of the nuts to develop high clamping action on the wire terminals.

3. In a fastener for chairs and the like having legs, a shaft having reversely threaded portions, nuts run on said reversely threaded portions of the shaft, and a washer loosely received over the shaft] and relatively movable adjacent the inner face of each nut, means between said washer and its nut to lock the washer against rotary motion, and wires coming from the chair legs having inner end portions clamped between said washers and nuts.

4. In a fastener for chairs and the like having legs, a shaft having reversely threaded portions, nuts run on said reversely threaded portions of face each nut, connections coming from the chair legs and having end portions clamped between said washers and nuts, and means between the washers and nuts for maintaining the washers in upright position and against any tilting action incident to fulcruming on said end portions of the connections.

5. In a fastener for chairs and the like having legs, a shaft having reversely threaded portions, nuts run on said reversely threaded portions of the shaft, a washer associated with the inner face each nut and having an unthreaded opening fitted loosely over the threads of the shaft and movable relatively axially along the shaft with respect to the inner face of its respective nut, said washer also having diametrically opposite eyelets opening into said opening, said washer also having a flange overturned upon one edge of said nut to avoid relative rotation of the nut and its washer, said washer also having a second shallower flange nearer the center of the washer and adapted to abut against the inner face of said nut, and wires coming from the chair legs having inner end portions inserted through said opening and eyelets and having terminal ends lying between the nuts and their respective washers, said terminal ends being brought out below the line of said wires at opposite sides of the vertical center of the washer.

6. In a fastener for chairs and the like having legs, a rotatable shaft having reversely threaded portions, non-rotating nuts threaded on the oppositely threaded portions of said shaft for axial movement along the shaft on the rotation of said shaft, washers non-rotatably associated with said shaft and movable freely axially towards the inner faces of said nuts, means between each washer and its nut for holding the washer against rotation, and wires coming from the chair legs, said washers having eyelets at diametrically opposite sides of the vertical plane of the axial line of said shaft for receiving therethrough the inner end portions of said wires, the terminal portions of which are outturned between the washers and. nuts for binding engagement therebetween, means between the washers and nuts for resisting any diagonal tilting of the washers incident to rotating on said wire terminals, said washers having notches in their outer side edges in substantial alinement with said eyelets to cause the lines of the wires to extend from the chair legs to the notches and the eyelets all in a common horizontal plane co-axial with said shaft, the adjacent edges of said washers and nuts forming a vise for the breaking off of the excess wire ends.

HARRY E. FULTON.

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