US2770815A

US2770815A - Article of furniture

Info

Publication number: US2770815A
Application number: US308264A
Authority: US
Inventors: Keys Francis Jackson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1952-09-06
Filing date: 1952-09-06
Publication date: 1956-11-20
Anticipated expiration: 1973-11-20

Description

Nov. 20, 1956 F. J. KEYS 7 ARTICLE OF FURNITURE Filed Sept. 6, 1952 .cides with the inner face of the adjacent headboard.

this view certain parts are broken away and shown par' United States Pate nt "O ARTICLE OF FURNITURE Francis Jackson Keys, Pasadena, Calif.

Application September 6, 1952, Serial No. 308,264

Claims. (Cl. 5-67) This invention relates to furniture and is particularly adaptable for use in the construction of diminutive furniture such as used by children for dolls furniture.

One of the objects of the invention is to produce a simple inexpensive article of furniture having features of construction that adapt it to serve either as a bedstead or as a divan.

Another object of the invention is to provide simple means for establishing a pivotal connection for the seat member and the back member of the divan that will function in a simple manner to enable the article to be quickly transformed from the bedstead form to the divan form and visa versa; one of my purposes being to provide, or develop interest in the child using the furniture in transforming it, and also to economize space by providing a single article of furniture that functions as two different articles of furniture.

In practicing the invention the base-member of the article of furniture may be constructed so that it presents a trunk space covered by the seat-member of the divan, and one of the objects of the invention is to provide means for holding the seat-member in an elevated position to give access to the trunk space, the general purpose being to prevent any accidental injury to a child particularly a very young child, by the seat member falling by accident onto the childs hand.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention it includes two head boards between which the seat-member of the divan and its back-member are pivotally connected, and one of the objects of the invention is to provide an organization of parts including coupling members that will enable a simple coupling member on each headboard to hold either the back-member in an inclined position to enable it to function as the back of the divan, and the seat-member in an inclined position to prevent its falling accidentally when a child is gaining access to a trunk space in the base-member.

Patented Nov. 20, 1956 elevated position such as it would have when the child was gaining access to the trunk space in the base-member of the furniture.

Figure 4 is a section taken along the lines 4-4 as viewed in Figure 3, further illustrating the preferred construction for the pivotal connection for the seat-member at one of the headboards that supports the adjacent ends of the seat-member when in its raised position. In this view a portion of the upholstering is broken away to show the hinge leaf of the pivotal connection that is attached to the seat-member.

In practicing the invention this article of furniture is constructed so that it includes a pair of spaced apart headboards 1 which are secured to a substantially rectangular base-member 2. The base-member is preferably in the form of a rectangular frame having end bars 3 and longitudinal side bars 4. As illustrated, they are of rectangular form. A bottom 5 of ply-board or other material is attached to the underside of the bars 3 and 4, and operates to define a trunk space or compartment 6 in which blankets, sheets, or other articles may be placed.

Extending between the headboards, a seat-member 7 is provided and a back-member 8. These two members may be substantially identical in construction, but if desired, the member 8 may be slightly narrower than the seat member. The upper side of each of these members, as illustrated, may be provided with an upholstered covering 9.

In order to facilitate setting up the two members 7 and 8 to form a divan such as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2,

I or a bedstead as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 2,

Further objects of the invention will be evident from a careful reading of the specification and study of the drawing.

The invention consists in the novel parts and combinations of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an eflicient article of furniture.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification, while the scope of the invential'ly in section to further illustrate details.

Figure 3 is a section similar to Figure 2 in the same plane, but this view shows the seat-member held in an in which the back member is supported in a horizontal position, I prefer to provide means for connecting the back so that it can swing rearwardly at its forward edge from its normal upright position. This enables the back to swing down to a horizontal position. These pivotal connections are located at about the level of the upper face of the seat. The seat is narrower than the width of the base-frame so that when the back is swung down to its horizontal position to form the bedstead its forward portion will be supported on the rear portion of the baseframe that is not covered by the seat. In order to accomplish this I prefer to employ a pivotal connection 10 at each headboard 1 and each of these pivotal connections is common to both of the members 7 and 8. For this purpose I provide a special hinge having two hinge leaves 11 and 12, one of which is attached to the frame of the member 8 and the other attached to the frame of the member 7. For a hinge pin I employ a long pin 13 which may be a wire nail, if desired; and this hinge pin is of such a length as to enable it to lie within the sleeve 14 of the hinge leaf, preferably 'as shown in Figure 4 with the head 15 of the pin or wire nail abutting against the adjacent edge of the sleeve 14. In other words, the nail should be short enough so that it does not project through the outer face of the headboard.

Ordinary wood screws 16 such as illustrated in Figure 4 may be used to secure the ends of the base-member 2 to the headboards.

The hinge connection 10 is preferably located as indicated in Figures 2 and 3, that is-to say, it is located at a considerable distance inwardly from the rear side of back wall of the base-member 2, and its height or level above the upper side of the base-member should be substantially the same as the vertical height or thickness of the bodies of the members 7 and 8 when they are disposed in a horizontal position. As a result of locating the pivotal connections 10 as shown and described, the underside of the seat-member 7 can rest through its entire width upon the upper side of the frame of the base member 2, that is to say, it rests at its forward edge on the forward or front bar 4 and at its ends on end rails or bars 3.

The rear space or area of the upper side of the basemember 2 which is not covered by the seat member operates as a ledge on which, the forward portion of the back-member 8 rests when this member is in its horizontal position to give the bed setup. This is indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 2. When the two members 7 and 8 are in their horizontal position their adjacent side faces 17 are substantially abutting against each other.

In order to enable the back-member 8 to be held in an inclined position such as indicated in Figures 1 and 2, to form the divan, I prefer to provide a yielding connection of a type known as a snap connection, that is to say, it includes a spring pressed member on one of the parts and a socket or keeper on the other part into which the spring pressed member snaps when the two cooperating coupling parts come into alignment with each other. type" pintle 18, see Figure 4, having a rounded nose 19 and a fiat rear end that is secured to a disc 20 which is pressed in an outward direction from the inner face of the headboard 1 by a coil spring 21 housed in a bore 22. The rounded nose 19 of the pintle 18 is retained in the bore 22 by a small opening in a thin plate 23 through which the tip of the nose 19 projects. This snap fastener or spring pressed coupling-part is located near the upper edge 24 of each headboard and slightly below its level so as to be in the path of both of the socket plates or keepers 25 that are attached on the adjacent end faces 26 of the members 7 and 8.

These socket plates are attached by small fasteners such as small nails 27 (see Figure 4) and each plate may have an elongated eye or socket 28 so as to make it unnecessary to secure the keeper plates very accurately in position. These elongated eyes or slots 28 extend substantially radially from the pivotal connection to facilitate their co-operation with the spring pressed pintle 18. And of course, each of the socket plates is mounted at the same distance radially from the pivotal connection 10. This enables the pintle 18 to function as a yielding latch for either the back-member or the seat-memberto hold the back member 8 sufiiciently upright for use as a back for the divan; and also operates to hold the seat-member 7 in an open position as shown in Figure .3 to give access to the interior or trunk space above the bottom 6 within the base member 2. Latching the seat 7 up in this way leaves both of the users hands free for reaching into the trunk space 6. and also prevents the seat from falling down onto ones hand.

if desired an apron 29 of fabric may be provided (see Figure 2) the edges of which are attached to lower edge of the back-member, and the upper side of the basemember frame. It closes the rear side of the trunk-space. It should have suflicient fullness of material to prevent its being subjected to destructive tension when the backmember is swung down to its horizontal position.

Many other embodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. An article of furniture capable of serving as a divan and a bedstead, comprising a pair of spaced apart head boards, a base-member connecting the same, a seatmembcr and a backember above the base-member extending through the space between the head boards, a ivotal connection on each head board located at the level of the upper sides of the seat member and the backmcmber common to the seat-member and the back-member connecting the same to the head-boards, said pivotal connections located adjacent to, and inwardly with respect to the rear edge of the base-member, and at a sufficient height above the base-member to enable the back-member to rest in a horizontal position above the upper side of the basemember, and supported in that position by said pivotal connections and the portion of the upper side of the base-member located to the rear of the axis of the For this purpose i prefer to provide a "bullet pivotal connection, and disconnectiblc means including a coupling part on the seat-member and a coupling part on the back-member; and a single coupling part mounted on each head-board cooperating with each of said first named coupling parts to hold either the back-member or the seat-member in an inclined position.

2. An article of furniture according to claim 1, in which the divan has a closed compartment under the seat, and the coupling parts mounted respectively on the backmember and the seat-member include a keeper with a recess therein; and a coupling part on the head-board including a yielding pintle part operating to permit either the seat-member or the back-member to move partially past the pintle part, thereby enabling the pintle part to spring into the recess and hold the seat-member raised to give access to said compartment, or to hold the backmember yieldingly in its upright position.

3. An article of furniture capable of serving as a bedstead and a divan, including a base-member having a trunk space within the same, accessible from above; a seat-member and a back-member supported on the upper side of said base-member and covering the trunk space, the said back-member and seat-member when forming the bedstead, lying juxtaposed with their longitudinal side edges substantially abutting each other, a common pivotal hinge pin with twohinge leaves mounted on the same, a headboard at each end carrying its corresponding hinge pin projecting from its inner face to support the hinge leaves with their edges adjacent to the headboards, one of said hinge leaves attached to the seat member and the other hinge leaf attached to the back member, a socket plate on the end of the back member, another socket plate on the end of the seat member, said socket plates being located at the same distance from the hinge pin, a single spring actuated pintle with a rounded nose carried in the inner face of the headboard with a spring pressing the same toward an outward position, said spring cooperating with the socket plate on the back member to hold the same in an upright rearwardly inclined position, and cooperating with the socket plate on the seat member to hold the same in an upwardly inclined position when the back member is disposed in its horizontal position to give access to the upper side of the base member.

4. in a furniture piece to function as a divan and a bedstead, the combination of a base-frame with headboards at its ends, a seat of narrower width than the base-frame supported on the forward portion of the baseframe, a back with means for pivotally supporting the same to swing about an axis located at about the level of the upper face of the seat; means mounted in the headboards for yieldingly engaging and yieldingly holding the back to maintain the same normally in a substantially upright and rearwardly inclining position; said last named means functioning to permit the back to be swung down to its horizontal position with its forward portion restiug over the rear portion of the base-frame, said pivotal connection for the back and the said rear portion of the frame constituting the sole means for supporting the back in its horizontal position and with its upper face at the evel of the upper face of the seat.

5. An article of furniture capable of serving as a bedstead and a divan, including a base member having a trunk space within the same, accessible from above: a seat-member and a back-member supported on the upper side of the said base-member and covering the trunk space, the said back-member and seat-member when forming the bedstead, lying juxtaposed with their longitudinal side edges substantially abutting each other, a common pivotal hinge pin with two hinge leaves mounted on the same, a headboard at each end carrying its corresponding hinge pin projecting from its inner face to support the hinge leaves attached to the seat-member and the other hinge leaf attached to the back-member, a socket plate on the end of the back-member, another socket plate on the end of the seat-member, said socket plates being located at the same distance from the hinge pin, a single spring actuated pintle with a rounded nose carried in the inner face of the headboard with a spring cooperating with the socket plate on the back-member to hold the same in an upright rearwardly inclined position, and cooperating with the socket plate on the seat-member to hold the same in an upwardly inclined position when the back-member is disposed in its horizontal position, to give access to the upper side of the base-member, an apron of flexible material attached at its edges to the lower side edge of the back-member and to the upper face of the base-member, respectively, at a point adjacent to the rear side edge of the base-member, said apron hanging freely and unobstructed at all times and with a fullness of material permitting the said back-member to assume its upwardly inclined position and also its horizontal posi- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 641,865 Kuersten Jan. 23, 1900 676,004 Karpen June 11, 1901 702,958 Jones June 24, 1902 1,344,257 Block June 22, 1920 1,365,409 James et al. Jan. 11, 1921 1,435,960 Glocker Nov. 21, 1922 2,483,296 Murtagh Sept. 27, 1949 2,613,370 Lorenz Oct. 14, 1952 2,636,187 Poskin Apr. 28, 1953