US3506984A

US3506984A - Convertible furniture

Info

Publication number: US3506984A
Application number: US715427A
Authority: US
Inventors: Weldon T Ellis Jr; Donald Cowan
Original assignee: WELDON T ELLIS JR
Current assignee: WELDON T ELLIS JR
Priority date: 1968-03-22
Filing date: 1968-03-22
Publication date: 1970-04-21
Anticipated expiration: 1987-04-21

Description

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CONVERTIBLE FURNITURE Filed March 22, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TORS.

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CONVERTIBLE FURNITURE Filed March 22, 1968 s Sheets-Sheet s I I 3 4/ w J -l 1 IN VEN TORS.

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M WJ ZA United States Patent 3,506,984 CONVERTIBLE FURNITURE Weldon T. Ellis, Jr., 3813 Hillsboro Road, and Donald Cowan, 1215 Chickering Road, both of Nashville, Tenn. 37215 Filed Mar. 22, 1968, Ser. No. 715,427 Int. Cl. A47c 17/13 U.S. Cl. 29 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present furniture is primarily a convertible chairbed that can be used as either a chair or bed and two, three or more of said chair-beds can be assembled to provide love seat-beds or sofa-beds as desired. Each such chair-bed has three basic units, namely an outer chair frame, an inner folding frame serving as either the seat of the chair or springs of the bed and three cushions to be used as the seat and back of the chair or mattress of the bed.

The present invention is concerned with furniture to be used as a chair-bed or the like.

The chair-bed can be used as a chair or as a chaise, cot or bed or combined to provide a love-seat or sofa readily changeable into a queenor king-size bed. Each chair-bed has a chair frame, cushions and an inner frame connected to and foldable into or extended from said chair frame with the cushions being either used as chair seat and back or mattress. Special legs are provided to be substituted on a plurality of said chair-beds whereby the love-seat queen-size bed or sofa king-size bed combination can be provided as desired.

The object of the present invention is to provide furniture having the appearance of a regular chair, love-seat or sofa which can be quickly and easily transformed into a chaise, cot or bed and which furniture has all of the comfort elements of either the chair, chaise or bed, the outer chair frame can be of a variety of styles or types and there are a minimum of moving parts to the foldable inner frame providing for a long life therefor.

Further objects of the invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the following description of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the present chair-bed with extended positions of the inner frame shown in dotted lines;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of the chair-bed without cushions and with the inner frame fully extended;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the chair-bed with the inner frame fully folded;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the inner frame in its extended position and connected to a chair leg which is partly broken away;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a front view of a love seat provided by combining a pair of said chair-beds; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged exploded view of the front and rear legs for use with said love seat.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings wherein like and corresponding parts are indicated by like reference characters, 1 refers to a front leg while 2 indicates a second front leg, and 3 one of a pair of rear legs of which only one is shown. A back upright 4 is integral with and extends upright fro-m leg 3 while a similar upright 4a is integral With and extends upright from the other rear leg (not shown).

"Ice

A bar 5 extends between and connects

front legs

1 and 2, bar 6 similarly extends between and connects the rear legs while a plurality of bars 7 extends between and connects bars 5 and 6 providing a cushion shelf.

A board 8 extends between and connects said rear legs at about their junction with

uprights

4 and 4a while

bars

9 and 10 extend between and connect said uprights. A back 11 of sheet material such as canvas is connected to and extends between

bars

9 and 10.

A side board 12 extends between and connects the upper end of leg 2 and board 8, while a similar side board (not shown) connects the upper end of leg 1 and board 8.

A bar 13 connects

legs

1 and 2 above bar 5, while a bar 14 connects said rear legs and is on a level with bar 13. A bar 15 connects

bars

13 and 14 alongside of leg 1 and its rear leg while a second bar 16 connects

bars

13 and 14 alongside

legs

2 and 3. Bars 13 to 16 thus provide a frame fixed to said legs. A bar 17 connects bars 5 and 6 alongside leg 1 and its rear leg so that

bars

5, 6, 7, and 17 provide a shelf for a cushion, for example.

Legs

1 and 2 each have a longitudinal corner recess 18 such as shown for leg 1 in FIGS. 5 and 6. The bottoms of the recesses have a depression 19.

A hinge 20 pivotably connects bar 13 to a bar 21 alongside bar 13. A bar 22 is attached to and extends normal from one end of bar 21. A pin 23 extends through a U-shaped bracket 24 attached to lateral bar 25 attached to and extending normal from bar 22. A hinge 26 pivotably connects bar 25 to bar 27 alongside bar 25, while plate 28 is fixedly attached to the top of bar 27 and capable of extending over bar 25 as shown in FIG. 5.

A further bar 29 is attached and extends normal to bar 27. A bracket 30 is attached to the inner side of bar 29 and has a longitudinal slot 30. A button 31 slides in slot 30' and is attached to link 32 which link is pivotally connected by pin 33 to leg 34. Said leg 34 is also pivotally attached to pin 23. A second leg 35 is attached to bar 29 and extends perpendicular thereto. A board 36 is attached to leg 35.

Cross bars

37 and 38 extend between and are attached to

legs

34 and 34a and 35 and 35a respectively.

A bar 22a is connected at one end to hinge 20 at the other end of bar 13 next to leg 2 and extends normal to bar 13. Bar 22a has its other end connected to hinge 26 and is thus pivotally connected to one end of bar 29a. Leg 35a is attached to the other end of bar 29a,

bars

38a and 38 and board 36.

A U-shaped bracket 24a is attached to bar 25 and has a pin 23a. extending therethrough with leg 34a pivotally attached to pin 23a. Also link 32a is pivotally attached at one end to leg 34a and has a button 31a at its other end slideably mounted in a slot in bracket 30a attached to the inner side of bar 2911.

Slots 2% are provided along the length of bar 2911 and similar slots are provided along the length of

bars

15, 16, 22, 22a, and 29. Straps 46 extend through the slots of and between the

bars

15 and 16, 22 and 22a and 29 and 29a forming a mattress support when extended or the straps of

bars

29 and 29a a seat support when folded as in FIG. 4.

Supports

39 and 41 are attached to arm rests 40 and.

As can be realized from the

foregoing bars

13, 14,

15, and 16 form a fixed frame mounted on the chair frame, bars 21, 22, 22a and 25 form' a second frame pivotally connected along bar 21 to bar 13 by hinge 20, bars 27, 29, 29a and 35a form a third frame pivotally connected along bar 27 to bar 25 by hinge 26, legs 34 and 34a are pivotally connected to bar 25 and thus the second frame by pins 23 and 23a respectively, links 32 and 32a are pivotally connected to legs 34 and 34a respectively, and both pivotally and slideably connected to

rods

29 and 29a respectively by brackets 30 and 30a respectively and thus the third frame to which is fixedly attached

legs

35 and 35a by bar 38a.

In the use of the present chair-bed as a chair, the second frame is pivoted on hinge 20 onto the first fixed frame. The third frame is pivoted on hinge 26 onto the second frame whereupon links 32 and 32a pivot legs 34 and 34a to a position alongside bars 22 and 22a respec tively of the second frame.

Legs

35 and 35a mate with recesses 18 of the

legs

1 and 2 respectively as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Cushion 43 is then positioned on straps 46 of the third frame providing a seat cushion 44- on seat cushion 43 and against back 11 providing a back and cushion 45 on the shelf provided by

bars

5, 6, 7 and 17. Board 36 is thus a front for the seat.

To use the chair-bed as a cot, chaise or single bed, board 36 is pulled from the chair frame whereupon the third frame pulls the second frame by hinge 26 to the position of FIG. and links 32 and 32a, move legs 34 and 34a respectively to an upright position whereupon the legs of the chair frame,

legs

34 and 34a and 35 and 35a support the frames upon which the cushions can be laid as a mattress. Reversing the procedure will store the frames as in FIG. 4.

A pair of said chair-beds can be combined to provide a love seat changeable into a double bed or a plurality of three or more of said chair-bed combined to provide sofas of various lengths changeable into queenand king-size beds. For this purpose a front leg 47 is substituted for

adjacent legs

1 and 2 of a pair of chair-beds, for example, and a leg 54 substituted for the adjacent rear legs of the chair-beds.

Leg 47 has a pair of front recesses 48 and 49' provided by a center longitudinal L-shaped plate 50.

Angle irons

51 and 52 are mounted on top of leg 47 as is base 53 of plate 50. Leg 54 has the base 55 of a U-shaped bracket fixedly mounted on the top thereof with

bracket sides

56 and 58 separated by upright plate 57 providing a pair of channels.

Bar of the left-hand chair-bed of FIG. 7 is placed the channel between angle iron 51 and plate base 53 and in the channel between side 56 and plate 57 while the bar 16 of the right-hand chair-bed of FIG. 7 is placed in the channel between plate base 53 and angle iron 52 and also between upright plate 57 and bracket side 58. Screws, rivets or the like can be driven through holes 59 for retaining

bars

15 and 16 and thus attaching the chair frames together.

Legs

35 and 35a fit into

recesses

48 and 49 respectively when the frames are in their folded position.

As many of said chair frames can be similarly attached side by side as desired omitting the chair arms therebetween to provide various types of furniture.

Legs

34, 34a, 35 and 35a are of the same length and of a length for supporting

bars

22, 22a, and 29, 29a, in a horizontal plane with bars 95, 16, when the chair is extended as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, and said legs are on a supporting surface providing a fiat bed.

When the chair has

bars

22, 22a, and 29, 29c, folded on top of

bars

15, 16

legs

35, 35a, are positioned in recesses 18 of

legs

1 and 2, as shown in FIG. 3 and the bottoms 19 of said recesses 18 are spaced up from the lower end of

legs

1 and 2, a desired distance so that

legs

35, 35a extend above

legs

1 and 2, and also above hinge 26 with the result that bars 29, 29a slant downwardly from the front to the back of the chair to assure a comfortable chair seat.

In place of straps 46, expanded metal sheets or other supports could be attached to each of said three frames by conventional means such as screws, spot welding or the like.

We claim:

1. A convertible chair-bed comprising a plurality of legs, a four-sided frame having an opposite pair of sides thereof connected to and extending between and laterally of said legs, a second four-sided frame pivotally attached at one side to a third side of said first four-sided frame, a back fixedly attached to the fourth side of said first foursided frame and extending laterally thereof, a third foursided frame pivotally connected at one side to a side of said second frame opposite the first-mentioned side of said second frame, a plurality of legs fixedly attached to a side of said third frame opposite the first mentioned side of said third frame and extending laterally thereof, a plurality of legs pivotally connected to said secondmentioned side of said second frame, links pivotally connected to said second plurality of legs and slideably and pivotally connected to the remaining sides of said third frame and a plurality of cushions for providing'a seat and back or mattress on said frames and back.

2. A convertible chair-bed as claimed in claim 1 wherein a hinge connects said first and second frame providing the pivoting attachment of said frames and said hinge is mounted on the side of said frame which is uppermost when said chair-bed is positioned for use as a bed and a hinge connects said second and third frames providing the pivoted attachment therebetween and said second hinge is mounted on the lowermost side of said frames when said chair-bed is positioned for use as a bed.

3. A convertible chair-bed as claimed in claim 1 wherein some of said first mentioned legs have recesses for receiving said last mentioned legs when said frames are folded together.

4. A convertible chair-bed as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said frames is formed of four bars each attached at an end to a second of said bars, one bar of said second frame forming said second side thereof, brackets mounted on said one bar pivotally supporting said third plurality of legs and brackets with slots mounted on said third frame having said links extending to and in said slots.

5. A convertible sofa-bed comprising a plurality of sets of frames with each set having three frames with a pair of end frames and an intermediate frame of the set being pivotally connected at opposite sides to the end frames of the set, a plurality of legs, one end frame of each of said sets of frames being fixedly mounted on some of said legs and adjoining end frames on said legs being connected together, a second plurality of legs fixedly connected to the other end frames of said sets of frames, a third plurality of legs pivotally connected to said intermediate frames and links pivotally connected to said third plurality of legs and slideably and pivotally connected to said other end frames and cushions for providing backs and seats or mattresses.

Y 6. A convertible sofa-bed as claimed in claim 5 wherein said first plurality of legs have recesses for receiving said second plurality of legs when said frames of said frame sets are folded onto one another, the legs of said first plurality of legs between adjoining end frames supported by said legs each having a pair of channels on the top thereof with each channel having a portion of an end frame mounted therein and means connecting said end frames to said legs.

7. A convertible sofa-bed as claimed in claim 6 wherein each of said legs between adjoining end frames at the front of the sofa-bed has a recessed front, a plate extending longitudinally of the recess providing said recesses for receiving said second plurality of legs, a pair of angle irons on the top of the leg and said plate extends between said angle irons providing said pair of channels on the top of the leg.

8. A convertible sofa-bed as claimed in claim 6 wherein each of said legs between adjoining end frames at the back of the sofa-bed has a U-shaped bracket on the top thereof with a central plate thereon providing the pair of channels on said legs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 324,661 8/1885 Crandall 297-109 X 3,085,257 4/1963 Laemmle 529 6 FOREIGN PATENTS 895,947 5/ 1962 Great Britain.

CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner 5 US. Cl. X.R. 297-105