US2308201A

US2308201A - Wire spring for cushioned seats

Info

Publication number: US2308201A
Application number: US279534A
Authority: US
Inventors: William H Neely
Original assignee: JOHN C LINCOLN
Current assignee: JOHN C LINCOLN
Priority date: 1939-06-16
Filing date: 1939-06-16
Publication date: 1943-01-12
Anticipated expiration: 1960-01-12

Description

Jan. 12, 1943. w. H. NEELY WIRE SPRING FOR CUSHIONED SEATS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 16, 1939 INVENTOR. WILL/HM H. NEE'LY A RNEY.

Patented Jan. 12, 1943 WIRE SPRING FOR CUSHIONED SEATS William H. Neely, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to John C. Lincoln, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Application June 16, 1939, Serial No. 279,534

6 Claims. (Cl. 155-479) This invention relates to fiat springs of sinuous or similar shape to be used for seats of upholstered furniture, such as davenports and. chairs, necessitating substantial vertical shifting of the seating surface and yielding of said surface for comfortable rest and complete relaxation of persons seated thereon. Presently used fiat springs designed for such purpose embody an upper axially compressible and extensible seating portion made of sinuously shaped wire, a yielding, rearwardly and downwardly extending supporting means of substantial length arranged at the front end of the seating portion, and a down wardly extending supporting means at the rear end of the seating portion. The supporting means for the seating portion are integrally formed with the seating portion or rigidly connected to the ends thereof, so as to effect upwardly directed bulging and bending stresses and therewith increased resistance of the seating portion against downward bulging when a load is placed upon the seating portion. In these It is the primary object of this invention to overcome the above referred to deficiencies in presently used fiat springs by providing a flat spring of the type referred to above with rear supporting means of V-shaped form having its lever arms connected with each other by means of a link, so as to permit of proper downward yield of the rear end of the seating portion of the spring when loaded and simultaneously prohibit excessive forward movement of such seating portion.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a flat spring of the type referred to above with rear supporting means of v-shaped form having its levers at the vertex of the v yieldingly connected with each other and having their outer ends connected to each other by means of a link, so as to permit of yielding deformation of said supporting means when the spring is loaded to effect proper downward yield of the rear end of the seating portion and simultaneously limit the forward movement of the seating portion.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a flat spring of the type referred to above with rear supporting means of V-shaped form having its levers at the vertex of the V yieldingly connected with each other and their outer ends linked together by means of a' link, the rear supporting means including in one lever of its lever arm yielding means permitting yielding deformation of the supporting means when the spring is loaded to effect proper downward yield of the rear end of the seating portion and limitation of its forward movement.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a spring of the type referred to with a V-shaped yielding rear supporting means including a U-shaped link interconnecting the ends of the lever arms of said supporting means thus prohibiting lateral swaying action of said supporting means with respect to the seating portion of the spring.

In addition, the invention has certain other marked superiorities which radically distinguish it from presently known structures. These improvements embodying certain novel features of construction are more clearly set forth in the following specification and the appended claims; and a preferred embodiment of the invention is hereinafter shown with reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of the specification.

In the drawings: I

"Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view, partly in elevation, through a furniture frame spring structure having fiat springs according to the invention mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the furniture frame spring structure shown in Fig. 1, the section being taken on line22 of said figure.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a fiat spring of sinuous shape made in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of the rear end portion of the spring shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing the link member disconnected from one of the arms of the V-shaped rear supporting means of the spring.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the link member coupling the lever arms of the vshaped supporting means with each other.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing the rear supporting means of the spring while clamping and supporting an edge wire.

Referring now more particularly to the. drawings reference numeral 2 represents the frame of a chair embodying at its bottom portion a rectangular open frame 3, the front, rear and

side rails

4, 5 and 6 of which are secured to the front and rear legs I and 3 of frame 2 of the chair. The open frame 3 supports on its front and rear rails 4 and 5 a. plurality of fiat springs 9 made of sinuously-shaped spring steel wire, the loops I of which extend substantially parallel to each other, so as to form seating portions II. Preferably, as shown, these seating portions are curved downwardly prior to the attachment of the springs to a frame, all as hereinafter more fully described and explained.

downwardly extending lever arm I5, integrally extended from the front end of the seating portion II, a substantially straight, forwardly extended, integral arm I3, yieldingly connected with arm I by means of a coil I1, and integral attachment means I8 on the free end of arm i6 and coupled therewith by means of a coil I9 of less stiffness than coil Ill. The integral attachment means I8 on arm I6 embody a rectangular wire portion extended from the top of coil l9 and. an integral, substantially U- shaped resting and attachment member 2| formed by bending the end of the rectangular wire portion 20 to a U, arranged in a plane rectangularly related to the end of said wire portion and further bending of the wire at the end of the U downwardly, so as to provide a doublelegged-resting and attachment member adapted to engage the top and the inner wall of front rail 4 to which front supporting portion I2 may be secured by means of staples 22. The rear supporting portion l4 of the spring which is integrally formed with the seating portion II and consists of a V-shaped yielding lever system having

integral levers

23 and 24 shorter in length than lever arm I5.

Levers

23 and 24 are yieldingly connected with, each other by a coil 25. As shown, lever 23 extends from the rear end of seating portion II, and lever 24 extends from the free end of coil 25. The lever 24 carries integral attachment means 26 yieldingly connected with said lever by means of a coil 21. Preferably, integral attachment means 26 are formed by bending the free end of coil 21 to a U-shaped seat 28 adapted to be hooked upon and attached to rear rail 5 of frame 3. This seat embodies two integral, spaced,

parallel U-shaped portions

29 and 30 which permit of resting and attachment of the spring on rear rail 5 at spaced points and prohibit tilting of the spring at its rear end.

Levers

23 and 24 which form the V-shaped yielding lever system of rear supporting portion I4 are forced toward each other and connected with each other bya link member 32. Thus lever 24 embodies in the web of U-shaped seat 28 struckup portions 30' which pivotally support the cross rod 3| of the substantially U-shaped link member 32 the arms 33 of which are provided at their free ends with hook members 34 and adapted to be hooked upon and slidably engaged with the last coil 35 of seating portion II. It should be noted, that link member 32, when engaged with U-shaped seat 23 and coil 35, effects a tensioning of the V-shaped lever system (see Figs. 4 and 5) and that, when the spring is attached to frame 3, it is in upwardly inclined position so as to permit of downward movement and slight forward movement of the spring under load. Link member 32 furthermore, in co-operation with

coils

25 and 21 of the V-shaped lever system, effects sufllcient resistance of the lever system against excessive forward movement of the rear end of the seating'portion II while simultaneously permitting suflicient downward movement of said rear end, so as to permit of the spring being sufficiently moved downwardly for efiectinga comfortable seat. In addition, lever' arm I5 will effect longitudinal stretching of the seating portion II of the spring under load and provide the necessary resistance against excessive downward bulging of the seating portion.

Link member 32 provides a simple and economical means for supporting an edge wire 36 at the rear end of the seating portion II, as will best be understood from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 7, in which figures edge wire 36 is yieldingly clamped between wire 31 of coil 35 and hook members 34 of the link member 32, hook members 34 for such purpose being provided with elongated end portions 39 facilitating the desired attachment and support of edge wire 36.

Preferably the seating portions II of springs 9 in their unassembled condition have concavely curved seating portions (see Figure 3) to bring about a reduction in the rate of bulging stresses effected in springs with substantially straight seating portions when loads are placed thereon. In addition, the springs embody sharp bends 40 adjacent to or near. the rear ends of their seating portion II, which bends prevent building up of excessively hard areas in the springs at these particular points.

In the assembly of a spring seat structure the thus constructed springs are mounted and attached with their rear supporting means on rear rail 5 of frame 3, so that their seating portions II extend upwardly and then seating portions II are forced downwardly until their front supporting portions I2 have their attachment means I3 resting on and rigidly secured to front rail 4. The thus mounted springs are then interlocked with each other by U-shaped edge wires 4| and 36 or in any other customary manner interengaged with each other to form a continuous yielding seating surface.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A wire spring for seat structures comprising a horizontally corrugated seating portion, an integral, rearwardly and downwardly extending yielding, V-shaped supporting means extending from the front end of said seating portion, an integral, substantially V-shaped yielding supporting means at the rear end of said seating portion, an integral, U-shaped attachment means at the end of said last supporting means, and link means connecting the rear end of said seating portion with the web portion of said U-shaped attachment means.

2. A wire spring for seat structures as described in claim 1, wherein said U-shaped attachment means embody U-shaped portions spaced from each other and integrally connected at their ends with each other for supporting said spring at spaced areas and prohibiting its tilting lateral stresses.

3. In a wire spring for seat structures as described'in claim 1 bearing means in said attachment means to pivotally connect said link means with said attachment means.

4. In a wire spring for seat structures a horizontally corrugated seating portion, means for supporting the front end of said seating portion, and resilient, substantially triangularly shaped supporting means integrally extendedfrom the rear end of said seating portion, said rear supporting means including a V-shaped portion having resilient arms, and link means connecting the outer end portions of said arms with each other and holding same in tensioned relation with respect to each other.

5. In a wire spring for seat structures a horizontally corrugated seating portion, means for supporting the front end of said seating portion, and resilient, substantially angularly shaped supporting means integrally extended from the rear end of said seating portion, said rear supporting means including a V-shaped portion having arms, and link means connecting the outer end portions of said arms with each other and holding same in tensioned relation with respect to each other, one of said arms including means to aci1-- itate bending of this arm and permit or deformation of the shape of the angularly shaped supporting means when said spring is mounted on a frame and loaded.

6. A seat structure comprising a frame, a plurality of wire springs mounted on said frame crosswise thereof, and an edge wire supported by said springs, said springs each including a seating portion and angularly shaped supporting means integrally extended from the rear end of said seating portion, and said supporting means including a V-shaped portion having arms, and link means connecting the outer end portions of said arms with each other and holding same in tensioned relation with respect to each other, said link means including elongated hook means engaging said edge wire and hooked upon the outer end portions of the inner arm of said V- shaped portion to force the edge wire into contact with the outer end portion of said inner arm,

WILLIAM H. NEELY.