US3333841A

US3333841A - Upholstery supports

Info

Publication number: US3333841A
Application number: US537846A
Authority: US
Inventors: Damiano Charles
Original assignee: Pirelli Ltd
Current assignee: Pirelli Ltd
Priority date: 1965-04-09
Filing date: 1966-03-28
Publication date: 1967-08-01
Anticipated expiration: 1984-08-01
Also published as: BE679264A; GB1126734A; ES325794A1; US3462824A

Description

g- 1, 1957 c. DAMIANO 3,333,841

1 UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS Filed March 28, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 41 C; D E Fig.2.

\\ B INVENTQQ CHmuas DAM/4M0 I BY ATTORNEYS Aug. 1, 1967 c. DAMIANO 3,333,841

UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS Filed March 28, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 l/vvslv'rok DAM IAN 0 v Arron/vex;

Aug. 1, 1967 c. DAMIANO UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 28, 1966 Fig.7

/NVENTO/Z Aug. 1, 1967 c. DAMIANO UPHOLS'I'ERY SUPPORTS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed March 28, 1966 IN VENTOR CH HYLES DEM/Mo ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,333,841 UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS Charles Damiano, London, England, assignor to Pirelli Limited, London, England, a company of Great Britain Filed Mar. 28, 1966, Ser. No. 537,846

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Apr. 9, 1965,

5 Claims. (Cl. 267-111) This invention is for improvements in or relating to articles of furniture which include upholstery supports and to a method of mounting such supports upon said articles so as to be readily removable.

Upholstery supports which are manufactured in the form of sheets or platforms have become well known articles of commerce and the uses of them are becoming more widespread. In the furniture industry (and this is used in its more colloquial sense to indicate the industry which makes chairs, tables, beds and the like as well as in the wider sense which embraces the industry which makes furniture for use in land, sea and air vehicles) there is a requirement for the upholstery support to have four points at which said support can be removably attached to the seat frame for example.

There are numerous ways of doing this. However, any means of attachment must be cheap, easy to incorporate in a seat frame or in a frame of any other article of furniture and/or in an upholstery support and must also be such as will make-the upholstery support simple for those to handle who have to assemble furniture, for example seats.

The object of the present invention is to provide an upholstery support which is adapted to be removably attached to the frame of an article of furniture at a number of points which may 'be four in number or more or less than four in number and which support will be an eflicie'nt and economic alternative to those upholstery supports which already exist.

Accordingly, from a first aspect, the present invention consists in an article of furniture which includes two frame elements in each of which there is formed a passageway, said passageways being in axial alignment with one another and being adapted to accommodate end portions of a length of rod or wire of which a central or intermediate portion is exposed for the purpose of providing an anchorage for an upholstery support.

Preferably, said frame elements are separately made (from wood for example) and are securely joined to one another (for example with a glue). Alternatively, said frame elements are integral with and are not readily separable one from another (for example two portions of a length of metal tubing as used for seat frames in the motor vehicle industry).

From a second aspect, the present invention consists in a method of mounting an upholstery support upon an article of furniture, which method includes the following steps, namely, forming passageways in frame elements of an article of furniture; inserting a length of rod or wire in two axially aligned passageways in such a manner as to accommodate one end portion of said rod or wire in each passageway and as to leave a central or intermediate portion exposed for the purpose of providing an anchorage for an upholstery support.

In a preferred embodiment said passageways are formed in frame elements which are integral with and are not readily separable from one another.

In an alternative embodiment, said passageways are formed in frame elements which are separate from one another, said frame elements being thereafter brought together to form a frame or a part of a frame.

In a further alternative embodiment said passageways 3,333,841 Patented Aug. 1, 1967 are formed in frame elements which are made separately and are joined securely to one another before the passageways are formed therein.

The present invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates in plan one corner of a seat frame upon which an upholstery support has been mounted, in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 illustrates a section on the line HII in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 illustrates in plan one corner of a seat frame upon which an upholstery support has been mounted, in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 4 illustrates a section on the line IVIV in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 illustrates in plan one corner of a seat frame upon which an upholstery support has been mounted, in accordance with another alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 6 illustrates a section on the line VI-VI in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 illustrates in plan one corner of .a seat frame upon which an upholstery support has been mounted, in accordance with a further alternative embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGURE 8 illustrates one advantage obtainable from the employment of at least the embodiments of FIGURES 3 to 6.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, there are illustrated two frame elements A of a seat frame of an article of furniture. According to the preferred embodiment, when the frame has been built, said frame elements are drilled at an angle of 45 in such a manner as to provide a passageway G in each frame element A, the passageways G being axially aligned with each other. A length B of rod or wire, which is a drive fit in the passageways, is driven in and the end F of one of the passageways is then filled up, for example with plastic wood. Said end F need not, of course, be filled up if the article of furniture is to be fully upholstered. Thus disposed, end portions of the length B of rod or wire are accommodated within the two axially aligned passageways G and a central or intermediate portion of said length B is left exposed for the purpose of providing an anchorage for a platform or upholstery support E. The platform or support E is preferably provided at each of four corners with a corner clip D incorporated in said support E during moulding and vulcanisation or cure of the elastorneric material from which said support E is formed. A loose hook C is provided for the attachment of each corner clip D to the central or intermediate portion of the respective length B of rod or wire, each clip D being formed with an arcuate locating portion K for the purpose referred to hereinafter. It will be seen from FIGURE 2 that a single plane contains the centres of all sections of the clip D and of the length B of rod or wire.

The angle of drilling may be varied but it is thought that 45 is the best angle since the stresses are equally spread when the platform is under load. Also, the drilling could be done before the frame members A are put together and, moreover, all passageways could extend right through the respective frame members thereby necessitating plugging (as indicated at F in the drawing) at each end of each length B of rod or wire. Such plugging will serve not only an aesthetic purpose but also the practical purpose of acting as a detent preventing disengagement by one end of the rod or wire of the relevant passageway.

In the case where the frame elements A form parts of a one-piece tubular metal frame, it will obviously not be necessary or possible to plug one end of either passageway G with plastic wood. It might, however, be desirable in some manner to prevent the length B of rod or wire sliding in the direction of its longitudinal axis, for example by deforming the tube at the position indicated by the reference letter H. This could be done by placing'a centre punch at that position and striking the punch with a hammer, thereby deforming the tube radially inwardly.

Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, the upholstery support E is provided at each of the four corners thereof with a corner clip L which, in plan, is approximately triangular. The base M of the triangle makes an angle of about 43 with each of the sides N and each side N terminates in a portion P which extends in a direction which is normal or substantially normal to the base M and which is also formed at its free end in a hook Q. The two portions P and hooks Q lie adjacent one another, possibly being in contact with one another. Further, itwill be seen from FIGURE 4 that a single plane contains the centres of all sections of the base M, of the two sides N and of the length B of rod or wire, a second plane containing the centres of all sections of the portions P being inclined with respect to said single plane.

Referring to FIGURES 5 and 6, the upholstery support E is provided at each of the four corners thereof with a corner clip R which (as with the corner clip L of FIG- URES' 3 and 4) is approximately triangular in plan configuration and has a base S, sides T, portions V and hooks W. The base S makes an angle of about 43 with each side T and other similarities will be apparent from a comparison of FIGURES 5 and 6 with FIGURES 3 and 4. Unlike the embodiment of FIGURES 3 and 4, however, only the centres of all sections of the base S and of the length B of rod or wire are contained in a single plane, and a second plane containing the centres of all sections of the sides T and portions V is inclined with respect to said single plane.

Referring to FIGURE 7, it will be appreciated that the upholstery support E could be provided with a much simplified corner clip X, the hooks of which are formed at the ends of arms Y and Z which are approximately parallel to one another.

Referring to the drawings generally, all of the embodiments are such that, in use, there is not any relative move ment between that part of the corner clip which is embedded in or bonded to the elastomeric material of which the support E is made on the one hand and the said elastomeric material which surrounds said part on the other hand. All of the corner clips illustrated function satisfactorily from this standpoint, deflection of the central part of the upholstery support E downwardly under load cause ing the corner clips to rotate bodily about the longitudinal axis of the length B of rod or wire. Thus, friction will not develop between the corner clips Shown in FIGURES 1 to 7 and the elastomer in which the clips are embedded or to which the clips are bonded. Friction is developed only between metal parts, namely, between the various lengths B of rod or wire and the hooks in FIGURES 3 to 7 or, in FIGURES 1 and 2, between the various lengths B of rod or wire and the various corner clips D on the one hand and the interconnecting hooks C on the other hand.

Further, the employment of the various lengths B of rod or wire will strengthen a wooden frame for which the present invention has primarily been made, although it can also be employed on frames of tubular metal. In a wooden frame, the provision of the lengths B of rod or wire could well make it unnecessary to have a wooden gusset at each corner and also the parts of the frame would be pulled together not only when the upholstery support E is supporting a load but even when said support is unloaded because it must be remembered that the support is mounted under tension on the frame.

Another advantage stemming from the present invention is that only a simple jig drilling operation is required to provide the hole for each length B of rod or wire.

A further advantage obtainable from the employment of the embodiment of FIGURES 3 to 6 is diagrammatically illustrated in FIGURE "8 in which the chain lines AA depict the upholstery outline. The upholstery could be provided with so-called flips extending horizontally inwardly towards the centre of the upholstery support E, said lips being such as will ride over the edges of the support E and corner clips and thereafter either engage the under-surfaces thereof or be such as to engage the under-surfaces thereof as a result of movement of the upholstery. The chain line triangle BB is intended to depict a preformed boss on the upholstery which can either serve merely as a locating device or (if suitable made with so-called 'lips) as a combined 10- cating and anchoring device. The so-called lips, with or without the triangular locating devices or triangular locating/ anchoring devices, will mean that the upholstery is not only easily detachable for cleaning or the like but also held on the upholstery support itself. Obviously, the embodiments of FIGURES 3 to 6 are such as to make use of this advantage with ease, but the other embodiments can also make use of the advantage to a greater or less tions connected to one another by an intermediate portion, the end portions of each of said lengths being located within two axially aligned passageways and the intermediate portion of each of said lengths being exposed; an upholstery support consisting of an elastomeric member and a plurality of spaced clip elements, said clip elements being incorporated in said elastomeric member during cure of the elastomer; and hooks connecting said intermediate portions of said lengths to said clip elements.

2. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frame elements are separately made and are securely joined to one another before the axially aligned passageways are formed therein.

3. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frame elements are separately made and are securely joined to one another after the passageway has been formed in each frame element.

4. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein said frame elements are, integral with and are not readily separable from one another.

5. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein a detent means is provided at at least one end of each of said length of rod, said detent means preventing any amount of axial displacement of said rod or wire such as would result in said lengths of rod disengaging any of said passageways.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,110,752 3/1938 Wright 29448 2,441,858 5/1948 Watter 29-448 3,037,766 6/1962 Berg 267- 3,174,741 3/1965 Wolff 26-7l 1Q CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. AN ARTICLE OF FURNITURE WHICH INCLUDES A PLURALITY OF FRAME ELEMENTS CONNECTED TO ONE ANOTHER IN THE REGION OF THEIR ENDS TO FORM A FRAME; MEANS NEAR EACH END OF EACH FRAME ELEMENT DEFINING A PASSAGEWAY, THE PASSAGEWAYS IN ADJACENT END REGIONS OF ANY TWO OF SAID FRAME ELEMENTS BEING IN AXIAL ALIGNMENT WITH ONE ANOTHER; A PLURALITY OF STRAIGHT LENGTHS OF ROD EACH HAVING END PORTIONS CONNECTED TO ONE ANOTHER BY AN INTERMEDIATE PORTION, THE END PORTIONS OF EACH OF SAID LENGTHS BEING LOCATED WITHIN TWO AXIALLY ALIGNED PASSAGEWAYS AND THE INTERMEDIATE PORTION OF EACH OF SAID LENGTHS BEING EXPOSED; AN UPHOLSTERY SUPPORT CONSISTING OF AN ELASTOMERIC MEMBER AND A PLURALITY OF SPACED CLIP ELEMENTS, SAID CLIP ELEMENTS BEING INCORPORATED IN SAID ELASTOMERIC MEMBER DURING CURE OF THE ELASTOMER; AND HOOKS CONNECTING SAID INTERMEDIATE PORTIONS OF SAID LENGTHS TO SAID CLIP ELEMENTS.