US3384037A

US3384037A - Sewing-machine table

Info

Publication number: US3384037A
Application number: US656145A
Authority: US
Inventors: Kenneth A Blevins
Original assignee: Sirco Manufacturing Inc
Current assignee: Sirco Manufacturing Inc
Priority date: 1967-07-26
Filing date: 1967-07-26
Publication date: 1968-05-21
Anticipated expiration: 1985-05-21

Description

y 21, 1968 K. A. BLEVINS 3,384,037

SEWING-MACHINE TABLE Filed July 26, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 KENNETH A. BLEVINS INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS May 21, 1968 K. A. BLEVINS 3,384,037

SEWING-MACHINE TABLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 26, 1967 FIG 3 INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEYS L. KENNETH A. BLEVINS United States Patent 3,384,937 SEWiNG-MACHINE TABLE Kenneth A. Blevins, Missoula, Mont., assignor to Sirco Manufacturing, Inc., Missoula, Mont, a corporation of Washington Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 566,422,

July 19, 1966. This application July 26, 1967, Ser.

8 Claims. (Cl. 108-17) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A table convertible from a one-level structure usable for general purposes to a two-level structure in which the lower-level component provides support for a portable sewing-machine and the upper-level component overhangs such lower component and serves as a working surface additive to the working platform of the machine, the upper component having a U-shaped plan configuration along the margin which overhangs.

The present application is a continuation-in-part of my application for Letters Patent of the United States filed July 19, 1966, Ser. No. 566,422; issued Oct. 10, 1967, as Patent No. 3,345,958.

The invention pertains to a table for a portable sewingmachine, One more especially in which the table is comprised of two sections one a foundation section on which the base portion of the machine rests, and the other a fly section on which material which is being sewed is supported at a height properly correlated to the sewing mechanism of the machine, and for its principal object aims to provide a structure which when not in use as a sewing machine table may be easily and quickly converted to a one-level structure and thus made double-duty in nature.

As a further and more particular object the invention aims to provide a table of the above character is which the fly section is swingably connected to the foundation section for parallel-motion movement, and in swinging to the upper of its permitted two levels moves into a position overhanging the foundation section.

A yet further object of the invention is to provide a table in which the overhanging margin of the fly section is U-shaped in plan configuration to provide side arms which lie at each side of the base of the sewing-machine to hold the machine against lateral displacement upon the table and also extend the machines working platform so as to give the same greater width for supporting material on which a sewing operation is being performed.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a table having folding legs of perfected construction.

The above and other objects and advantages in view, looking to the provision of a perfected convertible sewing-machine table, will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Inthe accompanying drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view with the fly section shown in the raised position occupied when the table is being used for a sewing operation.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are a top plan view and an underside plan view, respectively, with the fly section lowered to a position co-planar with the foundation section, and in the latter view showing the table legs folded; and

FIGS. 4, and 6 are fragmentary transverse vertical sectional views drawn to an enlarged scale on lines 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6, respectively, of FIG. 3.

A conventional portable sewing-machine has a platform serving as the working surface, and provides a supporting base which elevates the platform in a fairly substantial degree. The more favored tables for these portable machines are two-level in character to provide a lower surface on which the base is seated and an upper surface which occupies much the same level as the elevated working platform. There are two types of two-level tables. In one type the two surfaces are immovable with respect to one another. The other is a convertible type of table allowing the two surfaces to be brought into a co-planar flush relationship when the table is not being used to support the sewing-machine.

The table of the present invention is of the convertible type but whereas it has been usual heretofore to have a dropleaf on which to support the sewing-machine my table has a fixed-level stand for the support of the machine and has attached to such stand a raiseleaf, to produce the upper-level surface. The two sections are cut by a coping band-saw from a single rectangular piece of plastic-faced plywood or the like, say 22 x 38" size, and are denoted by the reference numeral 10 in the instance of the fixed or foundation section and by 11 in the instance of the fly section. In making its cut the coping saw traces a path somewhat suggestive of the Greek letter omega, initiating the cut in a transverse direction at a point more or less central to the length. The cut is made so that a tongue 12 occurs in the foundation section, being located median to the width thereof. An 11" length and 10" width are suitable dimensions. As the mating counterpart of the tongue there is thus formed in the fiy section a fairly deep pocket defined between side arms 14.

Three

folding legs

15, 16 and 17 support the foundation section 10, and a parallel-motion linkage connects the fly section to such foundation section for swing movement between a lowered flush position and the elevated position in which the fly section is illustrated in FIG. 1.

The legs are attached by pivot pins 18 to respective brackets which are secured to the underside of the foundation section. Two of the

brackets

20 and 21 are positioned adjacent the outer end of the tongue, spaced a moderate distance one from the other at opposite sides of the longitudinal median line of the section and have their pivot pins disposed transversely on cocked axes which cause the free ends of the two

related legs

15 and 16 to progressively spread as the legs are opened. The third bracket 22 is located at the opposite end of the foundation section on the longitudinal median line thereof, and the related leg 17 is comprised of two lengths of tubing joined together through the greater part of the length and turned outwardly at the free ends to give a wide footing.

The span between the bearing feet of the

opened legs

15 and 16 approximates the transverse span of the footing which is provided by the leg 17, this being somewhat less than the transverse width of the table so that the feet will not protrude laterally beyond perpendiculars dropped from the side edges of the table.

The brackets provide a channel opening in which the root end of the related leg is received, and plugs 19 are fitted in such root ends. The plugs produce a thickened wall which is traversed by the related pivot pin 18, the two ends of the pin being supported from a respective one of the two cheek plates which define the channel opening of the bracket. Mounting flanges extend outwardly from bottom edges of the cheek plates.

A bridge 32 connects the cheek plates of each bracket at the back end thereof, being placed so that the same will operate as a stop limiting the outward swing movement of the legs to approximately or which is to say 15 or so beyond a transverse vertical plane which includes the respective pivot pin. Each leg carries a latch pin 33 which catches behind the inner wall of the bridge 3 when the leg reaches said stopped position, the latch pin eing released by endwise pressure manually applied against the yielding resistance of a spring 34.

Said parallel-motion linkage is comprised of two rods each bent to a U-shape with the cross-arm 23 of each U serving as the fulcrum and the side branches 24 serving as radius arms. The radius arms have a jog at the free ends to produce a shoulder-rest 25, and have journal tips 26 turned outwardly parallel with the cross-arm. The two cross-arms each has a length somewhat greater than the width of the tongue 12 and extends transversely thereof, being attached to the underside of the tongue by hooklike clips 27 for rocking movement, one cross-arm adjacent to one end of the tongue and the other cross-arm adjacent to the other end. Similar clips 23 journal the out-turned tips 26 of the radius arms 24 to the underside of the fly section.

As will be seen from an inspection of FIG. 4, the radius arms can be swung upwardly through somewhat more than a 90 are, at which point the fly section is brought to bear upon the shoulder-rests 2 5, When lowered, the fly section engages stops 30 and can be secured in this lowered position by pivoted keepers 31.

It is thought that the invention and the manner of its usage will be clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description of my now-preferred illustrated embodiment. Changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is accordingly my intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A table for a portable sewing-machine, a machine being mounted upon a base having a seating surface upon its underside and at its front end having a working platform extending the full width of the base and raised a substantial distance above said seating surface, the table comprising foundation and ily sections interconnected by radius arms for parallel-motion swing movement about transverse horizontal axes between a lowered position lying co-planar to the foundation section and a raised position elevated above the foundation section a distance approximating the vertical spacing between the machines working platform and the seating surface of the base, the foundation section being formed with a tongue extending longitudinally of the section and on which said base is adapted to seat, the fly section being formed with a pocket which finds a mating fit with the tongue when the fly section occupies its lowered position.

2. A sewing-machine table according to claim 1 in which there are two pairs of said radius arms one pair located beyond one side edge of the tongue and the other pair located beyond the other side edge.

3. A sewingmachine table according to claim 2 in which said radius arms comprise the side branches of U- shaped rods, the cross-arm of each U underlying the tongue and being attached thereto for rocker motion, the free ends of the side branches being turned outwardly and attached to the underside of the fiy section for pivotal motion about a coinciding axis paralleling said rocker axis of the related cross-arm.

4. A sewing-machine tab-1e according to claim 2 in which at least one of the radius arms in each of said pairs has a jogged end portion on which the fly section is brought to bear upon swinging the radius arms upwardly through and beyond a perpendicular raised from the axis about which the swing motion is made.

5. A sewing-machine table according to claim 1 having supporting legs attached for folding movement to the underside of the foundation section.

6. A sewing-machine table according to claim 1 in which the table is produced from a single piece of sheet stock divided by a coping cut to form the two sections.

7. A sewing-machine table according to claim 1 having stops protruding from the underside of the foundation section and against which the underside of the fly section bears when the two sections occupy their co-planar position.

8. A sewing-machine table according to claim 7 having keepers carried by the fiy section and engageable with the underside of the foundation section to hold the two sections in a co-planar relation.

References Cited UNTTED STATES PATENTS 2,144,801 1/1939 Hohmann 112220 2,305,343 12/1942 Gadbois 112217.1 2,631,074 3/1953 Stump 108-102 3,011,846 12/1961 Blevins 108-112 3,264,046 8/1966 Preuss 312-26 3,347,184 10/1967 Kiraly 10817 3,345,958 10/1967 Blevins 108-13 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

GLENN O. FINCH, Assistant Examiner.