US3427669A - Knockdown furniture - Google Patents

Description

1959 L. A. SWENSON KNOCKDOWN FURNITURE Filed ay 16, 1967 W "W w 4770PNEK United States Patent 3,427,669 KNOCKDOWN FURNITURE Lester A. Swenson, Roland, Iowa 50236 Filed May 16, 1967, Ser. No. 638,981 U.S. Cl. 93 Int. Cl. A47d 7/00, 13/06 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to knockdown type furniture construction and will be described in relation to an article of furniture susceptible of use both as a baby bed or crib and as a playpen.

Description of the prior art The concept of knockdown furniture is disclosed in many prior art patents and includes many types of detachable or collapsible furniture components. The use of interlocking slidable parts is old per se, but in those forms where the parts are completely separable, there is usually found some auxiliary or applied fastening elements that must be removed and thus are susceptible of becoming lost or damaged as well as frequently requiring the use of tools in their removal and application. In the collapsible type of furniture, the several parts generally re main attached to each other so that even in the collapsed state, the total weight of the article is involved in its transportation or movement to a storage area and this is frequently a disadvantage.

Summary The present invention contemplates an article of furniture which will be illustrated in the form of a combined baby bed or crib and playpen, that may be completely assembled or disassembled easily and quickly without the use of any tools. The legs or supports are longitudinally grooved or rabbeted so that each corner component is formed by interlocking two such legs or supports. This is accomplished by sliding the legs with complementary grooves in longitudinal relationship to each other. Braces which hold two legs in spaced relationship and which also serve as siderails for the crib or playpen, are designed to extend transversely of the grooves at selected points so that once the legs are longitudinally introduced to each other, they cannot be laterally displaced and can only be separated by a further relative longitudinal movement.

A floor or bottom is fitted onto the assembled side and end portions so that the erected unit is sufficiently rigid for its intended purpose and no auxiliary or applied fastening elements are required or necessary.

In its disassembled state, the several parts of this invention are completely detached from any other part to facilitate their transportation, movement or storage as desired.

The objects and purposes of this invention set forth, together with such further objects and advantages as may appear herein, or be hereinafter pointed out, will be more fully described and developed in relation to the detailed description of the accompanying drawing.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating this invention arranged as a baby bed or crib,

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional View taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 5 is an elevational view, partly in section, illus trating this invention inverted from the position shown in FIG. 1 for use as a playpen.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring to the drawings, an article of furniture embodying the principle of this invention is shown generally at 10 in FIG. 1 as a baby bed or crib and at 12 in FIG. 5 as a plyapen. The construction for both uses is the same and includes the opposed end sections, 14 and 16, the opposed side sections 18 and 20 and a bottom or floor 22. Each of the end and side sections are similarly constructed and a detailed description of end section 16 and side section 20 as best seen in FIG. 1 will be suificient for an understanding of this invention.

End section 16 includes a pair of spaced parallel vertical leg or support components 24 and 26 that are secured together by a pair of horizontal, vertically spaced and parallel top and bottom rails 28 and 30, respectively, with vertically disposed spaced and parallel slats 32 secured between rails 28. Side section 20 has like parts which include the leg or support components 34 and 36, top and bottom rails respectively, 38 and 40, and slats 42.

Each of the leg components, as for example, members 24 and 36 are elongated, substantially rectangular in cross section and are provided with like respective longitudinal grooves 44 and 46 that extend into such leg components parallel to their longest cross sectional dimension as best seen in FIG. 4. The portion of each leg component at one side of said groove is shortened so that member 24, for example, includes a long side 48 and a short side 50, with member 36 having the corresponding sides 52 and 54.

One of the novel features of this invention is the manner of attachment of the top and bottom rails to the leg components and the slidable interlocking engagements of two such components to form a complete corner post 36 which is accomplished as follows.

Each end of each horizontal rail is provided with an L-shaped notch which can be best illustrated by reference to FIG. 4 Where like numerals are applied to the ends of rails 30 and 40 as shown to designate the short side 58 and the long side 60 of such notch. Each notched end of a rail is secured as by gluing or the like to one of the leg components in one of two arrangements designated generally at 62 and 64 in FIG. 4. In the arrangement shown at 62, the corner of the notch in the rail 30 embraces the end of the long side 48 of the grooved end of leg component 24 so that the long side 60 of the notched rail end extends transversely of the end of side 48, groove 44 and the short side 50 of such leg component. The short side 58 of the notch in the rail end abuts and is secured to the long side 48 of leg component 24. In this position, it is pointed out that the long side 60 of the notched rail end extends transversely past the short side 50 of leg component 24 and in spaced relationship thereto to define a projection 66.

In the arrangement shown at 64, the corner of the notch in the rail end also embraces the end of the long side 52 of the grooved end of leg component 36 but is arranged so that the relative positions of the short and long sides 58 and 60, of the notch in the rail end are reversed from that shown in 62. Thus, in 64, it is the short end 58 of the notch which extends transversely of the long side 52 of leg component 36 and partially transversely of groove 46 to form the shoulder 68 but not transversely of the short side 54 of the leg component 36 which is the case of part 60 relative to part 50 in 62. Likewise, in 64 it is the long side 60 of the rail notch which abuts and is secured to the long side 52 of leg component 36 whereas in 62, the short side 58 of said notch abuts the long side 48 of the leg segment 24. By thus reversing the position of attachment of the notched rail end to different of the like grooved leg components, an effective locking means for the assembled leg components results from projection 66 on one rail and shoulder 68 on another rail as follows.

In the formation of a corner post 56, two leg components, such as 24 and 36 for example, can be introduced in endwise alignment and then he slid longitudinally relative to each other for interlocking or meshing relationship as seen in FIGS. 2 and 3. Each post 56 comprises one leg component on which the side rails are attached in the manner shown at 62 in FIG. 4 and the other leg component as shown at 64. The resulting post 56 is thus substantially square in cross section and the joined leg components cannot be laterally separated because of the respective shoulder 68 and projection 66 on opposite sides of the post and the overlapping relationship of the short sides or arms 50 and 54 in the leg components 24 and 36. It will, of course, be understood that both leg components of one end section may be joined as described simultaneously with a leg component from the two side sections and once the four corner posts are assembled, the floor or bottom 22 is designed to fit within the confines of the formed frame and to merely rest on the bottom rails inside of the several slats. Floor 22 is notched at the corners to fit the posts 56 in an obvious manner and in addition to its primary purpose, it serves to add rigidity to the assembled sides and ends against sway.

As seen in FIG. 1, the length of the posts 56 above the top rails is much less than the length of said posts below the bottom rails so that in the arrangement of FIG. 1, I refer to the post portions above the upper rails as the short legs and the post portions below the lower rails as the long legs. Thus because this article is supported on its long legs in FIG. 1, bottom 22 is sufficiently high enough from floor level for purposes of a baby bed or crib. In FIG. 5, the entire structure ismerely inverted and supported on its short legs, with bottom or floor 22 being placed on the lowermost rails where it is relatively close to floor level for use as a playpen.

The assembled structure illustrated as quite adequate and rigid for its intended purposes and requires no auxiliary or applied fastening deice to maintain this article in full usable condition. It can be easily and quickly disassembled by first removing the floor or bottom 22 and then merely sliding the end and side sections apart in the reverse manner in which they were installed. Once the parts are separated, it will be appreciated that each part can be carried separately, if necessary and that all of the component parts can be stored in a minimum of space. Also the several parts by being entirely separable, can be stored in different places should space conditions require, or arranged as space may permit, for example, in transportation by car. It will thus be appreciated that the physical handling and storing of the knockdown furniture described is considerably facilitated and simplified over foldable or collapsible type furniture where even though the overall size may be reduced, the bulk and weight remain and may be a considerable burden for many to handle conveniently.

From the foregoing it is thought a full understanding of construction and operation of this invention will be had and the advantages of the same will be appreciated. It will be understood that the phraseology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not for limitation and that modifications and changes in the construction and arrangement of this invention can be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit and purpose thereof.

I claim: 1. A knockdown baby bed comprising: a pair of end sections and a pair of side sections, each of said sections including,

a pair of vertically disposed spaced parallel leg components, a pair of horizontal vertically spaced rails secured at respective ends to each respective pair of leg components, each leg component being provided with a like longitudinal groove, each end of each rail disposed to overlie the groove on one of said leg components, and each leg component capable of being interlocked with another leg component by endwise introduction and longitudinal sliding movement relative thereto whereby said interlocked leg components define a corner post and said leg components cannot be laterally displaced by reason of the overlying portions of said rails. 2. A baby bed as defined in claim 1 including a plurality of vertically disposed spaced and parallel slats secured between the upper and lower rails on each section. 3. A baby bed as defined in claim 1 including a bottom member adapted to removably nest within the confines of the assembled side and end sections and to be supported by the lowermost rails and abutting said slats. 4. A device as defined in claim 3 wherein: the distance from the top of the upper rails to the top of said corner posts is considerably less than the distance from the bottom of the lower rails to the bottom of said corner posts to define the respective short and long corner posts,

said article when supported on said long posts defining a baby bed, and

said article when inverted and supported on said short posts and with said bottom member supported on the lower rails in inverted position defining a playpen whereby the bottom of said playpen is substantially closer to floor level than is the bottom when this article is used as a bed.

5. A baby bed as defined in claim 1 wherein:

one side portion of each leg component formed by said groove defines a short side and the other side portion defines a long side,

each end of each rail is provided with an L-shaped 5 6 notch defining a long and short side respectively, References Cited and on each corner post, the long side of said notch on the UNITED STATES PATENTS rails on one leg component extend transversely of 2,586,251 2/1952 l 5 99X the long side of said leg component and the short 5 2,8842% 4/1959 MFnhnger et a1 312 263 sid of said notch on the rails on the other inter- 3O21187 2/1962 Mltchell 312 263 locking leg component extend transversely of the 3195968 7/1965 Freeman 312 263X Ion side of said other 1e com nent 3218037 11/1965 Cork-y 5 99 X g PO 3 354 47s 11/1967 Mart1n 5-99X 6. A baby bed as defined 1n clalrn 4 Wherem: u

the cross sectional shape of said leg components are 10 CASMIR NUNBERG, Primary Examiner rectangular, and

the cross sectional shape of said corner posts after the Us, C1, X R,

interlocking of two leg components is square. 312-26 3; 5-11

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