US3822079A

US3822079A - Furniture having components which can be assembled in different ways

Info

Publication number: US3822079A
Application number: US00276202A
Authority: US
Inventors: H Probber
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-07-28
Filing date: 1972-07-28
Publication date: 1974-07-02
Anticipated expiration: 1991-07-02

Abstract

An article of furniture having a seat portion and, if desired, an upper portion forming an arm or back. The seat portion has a lower frame and legs some of which are short and extend only downwardly from the lower frame and some of which are long and extend not only downwardly from but also upwardly from the lower frame. If an upper portion is joined to the seat the upper portion has a frame joined to the longer legs. The legs and frames are embedded in blocks of foam plastic with the legs extending downwardly beyond the lower block of a seat to the floor. The upper frames of the upper portions can be fixed to the longer legs. In this way it is possible to assemble components to provide articles of furniture of different desired configurations.

Description

[11] 3,822,079 [451 July 2,1974

[ FURNITURE HAVING COMPONENTS WHICH CAN BE ASSEMBLED IN DIFFERENT WAYS [76] Inventor: Harvey Probber, Guion Rd., Rye,

[22] Filed: July 28, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 276,202

3,709,560 l/l973 Binek 297/440 Primary Eraminer-Paul R. Gilliam Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Blum Moscovitz Friedman & Kaplan ABSTRACT An article of furniture having a seat portion and, if desired, an upper portion forming an arm or back. The seat portion has a lower frame and legs some of which are short and extend only downwardly from the lower frame and some of which are long and extend not only downwardly from but also upwardly from the lower frame. If an upper portion is joined to the seat the upper portion has a frame joined to the longer legs. The legs and frames are embedded in blocks of foam plastic with the legs extending downwardly beyond the lower block of a seat to the floor. The upper frames of the upper portions can be fixed to the longer legs. In

this way it is possible to assemble components to provide articles of furniture of different desired configurations.

6 Claims, 30 Drawing Figures PAIENTEBJuL 21914 I SHEEI 1 0f 4 mEmEnJuL 21914 3322.079

sum 3 m 4 I TEFL] a.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to articles of furniture.

In particular, the present invention relates to articles of furniture such as upholstered chairs having seats as well as, if desired, arms and backs.

At the present time articles of furniture of this type are designed so that a specific construction of an upholstered chair, for example, is provided, and in order to save costs one specific design of an upholstered chair, for example, is repeatedly manufactured over and over. The drawback of this type of article of furniture resides in the fact that it does not lend itself to economical manufacture of different designs of the article of fumiture. For example it may be highly desirable to be able to manufacture economically upholstered chairs or the like with different arrangements of arms and backs or even without arms and backs depending upon where the articles of furniture are to be used and the size of the space which is to be occupied by the articles of furniture. For example if the article of furniture is to be placed in a corner of a room, or next to a wall of the room, one type of design may be highly desirable, whereas if the article of furniture is to be placed in an open space distant from a wall of a room an entirely different type of design will be desired. Furthermore, depending upon the space which is available it may be highly desirable to place several articles of furniture one next to the other according to a predetermined pattern so as to form a sectional article of furniture which occupies a relatively large space with the different sec tions situated in such a way as to provide an attractive appearance while at the same time being convenient to use and providing a high degree of comfort. Thus where an article of furniture is to be accommodated in a relatively large space such as the lobby of a hotel or theater, there will be one set of requirements whereas where the article of furniture is to be located in a relatively small space such as a room in a house or in an office,.then other requirements must be met.

In view of the above factors it is exceedingly difficult at the present time to manufacture economically articles of furniture which will be adapted for the various conditionsreferred to above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide articles of furniture which can be economically manufactured to meet all of the varying requirements encountered in practice, such as those referred to above.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide furniture components of different shapes and sizes which can readily be combined in an economical manner to provide an article of furniture of a preselected configuration. 1

It is especially an object of the present invention to provide an article of furniture of the above type where selected components can be assembled together quickly and economically to provide a relatively inexpensive and at the same time comfortable and attractive article of furniture.

2 It is especially an object of the present invention to provide articles of furniture of the above type which are capable of withstanding a relatively large amount of wear and which at the same time are easy to maintain.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide articles of furniture of the above type which are free of any pockets or the like in which dust can accumulate undesirably.

Also, it is an object of the present invention to provide articles of furniture of the above type which can readily and conveniently be provided in an inexpensive manner with any desired covering fabric, for example, so that not only is the initial manufacture of the article of furniture relatively inexpensive but in addition it is possible to replace a covering whenever required without involving large costs.

It is furthermore an object of the present invention to provide articles of furniture of the above general type which lends themselves to being placed one next to the other to form in this way a sectional article of furniture having individual articles placed one next to the other to provide a total attractive appearance with the final total article of furniture being both comfortable and capable of withstanding hard use.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively small number of components which can selectively be assembled in a number of different ways which give an almost limitless possibility for achieving furniture configurations of different shapes and sizes.

In accordance with the invention the article of furniture has a lower seat portion, and if desired, at least one upper portion forming an arm or back. An endless lower seat frame has a plurality of corners, and a plurality of elongated legs of different lengths are adapted to be fixed to the lower frame at the corners thereof. These legs include low, relatively short legs to be fixed to and extend only downwardly from any corner of the lower frame which does not support an upper portion of the article of furniture. However, the legs also include high, relatively long legs to be fixed to any cor ners of the frame which are to support an upper portion of the article of furniture. These long legs extend downwardly from the frame to the same extent as the short legs and also extend upwardly from the frame for a given distance. A plurality of upper portions of the article of furniture respectively have upper frames which are adapted to be fixed to and extend upwardly from the long legs, if any, which are fixed to the corners of the lower frame, these frames of the upper portions having lower extensions to be fixed to at least some of the longer legs. A lower block of resilient foam plastic in which the lower seat frame is located also encloses the legs which extend downwardly beyond the block into engagement with the floor. This block of plastic extends upwardly from the lower frame and encloses those portions of the long legs which extend upwardly beyond the lower frame. Additional upper blocks of resilient foam plastic are provided with the upper frames embedded therein, and these upper frames have lower extensions which are fixed to the long legs, so that in this way a preselected combination of frames and legs can be assembled and embedded in. the blocks to. provide articles of furniture of different configurations.

The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspectiveexploded illustration of one possible combination of components of the invention capable of being combined together to form part of an article of furniture of the invention;

FIG. 1A is a plan view of a lower frame of a different configuration from that shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration of an upper frame which may be used as part of a relatively low wide arm;

FIG. 3 is a perspective illustration of an upper frame adapted to form part of an arm or back of the article of furniture;

FIG. 4 is a perspective illustration of a table arm capable of being combined with other components to form an article of furniture according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective illustration of part of the lower frame of FIG. 1 showing different types of components assembled therewith;

FIG. 6 is a perspective illustration of another type of upper frame adapted to be used in a relatively thin upper arm;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the structure of FIG. 1

shown without the spring of FIG. 1 and showing in phantom dot-dash lines the final outline of the completed article of furniture;

FIG. 8 is a transverse section of the frame of FIG. 7 taken along line 88 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows and showing also in phantom dot-dash lines the outline of the final article;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary transverse sectional elevation taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 7 in the direction of the arrows and showing details of the construction;

FIG. 10 is a perspective illustration of one possible article of furniture according to the invention;

FIGS. 10a and 10b are respectively a perspective illustration of the frame of FIG. 10 and a top plan view of the article of FIG. 10 showing the interior frame in a phantom dot-dash line representation;

FIG. 11 is a perspective illustration of another possible configuration of an article of furniture according to the invention;

FIGS. 11a and 11b are respectively a perspective illustration of the frame structure of FIG. 11 and a top plan view of the article of FIG. 11 showing the frame in phantom lines;

FIG. 12 is a perspective illustration of a further possible article of furniture according to the invention, this article of FIG. 12 corresponding to that shown in FIGS. 7-9;

FIGS. 12a and 12b are respectively a perspective illustration of the frame structure of FIG. 12 and a top plan view of the article of FIG. 12 showing the frame structure in phantom lines;

FIG. 13 is a perspective illustration of a further possible article of furniture which may be manufactured from the components of the invention;

FIGS. 13a and 13b are respectively a perspective illustration of the frame structure of FIG. 13 and a top plan view of the article of furniture of FIG. 13 showing the frame in phantom lines;

FIG. 14 is a perspective illustration of yet another possible article of furniture according to the invention;

FIG. 14a and 1412 are respectively a perspective illustration of the frame structure of FIG. 14 and a top plan view of the article of furniture of FIG. 14 showing the frame in phantom lines;

FIG. 15 is a perspective illustration of a still further possible article which may be constructed according to the invention;

FIGS. 15a and 15b are respectively a perspective illustration of the frame structure of FIG. 15 and a top plan view of the article of furniture of FIG. 15 showing the frame outline in phantom lines;

FIG. 16 is a side elevation of a frame structure of another embodiment of an article of furniture according to the invention, the outline of the completed article of furniture being shown in phantom lines in FIG. 16; and

FIG. 16a is a perspective illustration of the frame structure of FIG. 16.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIG. 1, there is illustrated therein the inner frame structure of one possible article of furniture which may be constructed according to the invention. This inner frame structure includes a lower endless frame 20 which may be made, for example, of any suitable tubular metal and which in the illustrated example has a rectangular or square configuration so that it has four corners. However, it is to be understood that in accordance with the invention the lower frame of the article of furniture may have different configurations. Thus there is shown in FIG. 1A a lower frame 22 which is also endless and made of a tubular metal, for example, but which has the configuration of a quadrant of a circle. Thus it is possible in accordance with the invention to have lower frames either of the configuration of the frame 20 or the configuration of the frame 22, depending upon the final desired article of furniture, and of course further configurations of endless lower frames are also possible.

The manufacturer of the furniture will have on hand a supply of frames such as the frames 20 and 22. In addition, the manufacturer will have on hand a supply of different types of tubular leg components. Thus, there is shown in FIG. I, at the corner 24 of the frame 20 a relatively low or short leg component 26 which is selected from a supply of these components and which is fastened to the corner 24 in any suitable way as by being bolted or welded thereto. The remaining corners of the endless frame 20 have fixed thereto relatively long legs 28 which may be constructed of the same tubular stock as the legs 26 but which have a longer length, as is apparent from FIG. 1. In accordance with the invention the relatively short or low legs 20 are fixed to any corner of the frame 20 (or 22) which is not to support an upper portion of the article of furniture, such an upper portion forming an arm or back, as will be apparent from the description which follows. The long legs 28 are fixed to comers of the frame 20 in the same way as the leg 26 and extend downwardly from the frame 20 to the same extent as the leg 26. However it will be noted that these legs 28 extend upwardly from the frame 20 through a given distance for a purpose referred to below.

FIG. 1 further illustrates a spring supporting assem bly 30 which may be hooked on to the frame in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1.

The short legs 26 and the long legs 28 are used only at the corners of the frame 20 (or 22). Where an upper portion of the article, forming an arm or back thereof, is to be supported between the corners of the lower frame 20, the manufacturer selects from different support stubs such as the support stub 32 shown in FIG. 1. Thus, this support stub 32 is fixed at its lower end, as by welding or bolts or the like, to the frame 20 extending upwardly therefrom in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1 for the purpose of supporting an upper portion of the article of furniture at a location between the corners where the

legs

26 or 28 are located.

FIG. 1 further illustrates an upper frame 34 which may be made of tubular metallic stock of a diameter slightly smaller than that of the stock from which the

legs

26 and 28 are formed, so that the lower extensions 36 of the upper frame 34 may be telescopically received in the upper ends of a pair of legs 28, as is apparent from FIG. 1. The upper frame 34 is reinforced by an elongated rod 38 of relatively small diameter which is fixed at its opposed ends in any suitable way to the pair of side arms of the upper frame 34 so as to reinforce the latter. It will be noted that while the upper frame 34 extends in a generally upright direction upwardly from the legs 28 it is at the same time inclined so as to extend outwardly beyond the outer frame 20, for a purpose referred to below.

The frame 34 is but one example of a plurality of different frames of different configurations and sizes which are kept on hand by the manufacturer so that by a selection from among the different frames it is possible to manufacture articles of furniture of different configurations as will be apparent from the description which follows.

Thus, FIG. 2 shows an upper frame 40 which is of a horizontal rectangular configuration. and which has fixed thereto lower extensions 42 adapted to be fixed in any suitable way to longer legs 28 or intermediate support stubs 32 in the manner described in greater detail below, the frame 40 forming part of an arm of the article of furniture which is of a relatively wide low configuration.

FIG. 3 is a perspective illustration of an upper frame 44 which is identical with the frame 34 except that it is shorter. Thus the left lower extension 46 of the frame 44 may be joined to the left leg 28 of FIG. I while the right lower extension 46 may be joined tothe support stub32. In this case also the tubular stock which forms the frame 44 may be telescopically received in the upper open ends of the left leg 28 and support stub 32 of FIG. 1, and it will be noted that frame 44 is also reinforced by an elongated rod 48.

FIG. 4 illustrates a table arm 50 according to the invention. This table arm includes a relatively rigid wall 52 made of wood, metal, plastic, or the like, and having a suitably finished upper surface 54. At its lower surface the plate 52 is fixed in any suitable way as by glue, screws, or the like, to a pair of smaller square plates 56 which in turn are fixed with lower extensions 58 made of the same tubular stock as the tubular stock used for any of the upper frames referred to above so that these lower extensions 58 may be received, for example, in the left leg 28 and the supportstub 32 of FIG. 1.

Finally, FIG. 6 illustrates a further embodiment of an upper frame 60 according to the invention. This upper frame 60 is made of the same tubular stock as any of the upper frames referred to above, but in this case the upper frame 60 is not inclined as is the case with the

frames

34 and 44. Instead the entire frame is located in a single vertical plane, although its opposed side arms are inclined inwardly toward each other. These arms terminate in the lower extensions 62 which are adapted to be telescopically received in supports such as the left leg 28 of FIG. 1 and the support stub 32. It will be noted that in this case also the upper frame 60 is reinforced by an elongated rod 64.

In addition to the components described above, the present invention comtemplates the use of legs and support stubs which are offset outwardly beyond the lower frame for a purpose referred to below. Thus, FIG. 5 fragmentarily illustrates part of the frame 20 of FIG. 1 which in the case of FIG. 5 forms an article of furniture which may be identical with that of FIG. 1 except that the left leg 28 of FIG. 1 is replaced by a leg 66 and the support stub 32 of FIG. 1 is replaced by a support stub 68. The relatively long leg 66 of FIG. 5 has upwardly beyond the frame 20 an outwardly inclined portion 70 which terminates in an upper end 72 adapted to receive the left lower extension 62 of the frame 60 of FIG. 6. The support stub 68 has an outwardly inclined portion 74 fixed to and extending upwardly and outwardly from the frame 20 and terminating in a vertical portion which is adapted to telescopically receive the right lower extension 62 of the frame 60 of FIG. 6. Thus, in this case, as will be apparent from the description below, these outwardly offset legs and support stubs are adapted to be used with a vertical frame of the type shown in FIG. 6 which is to form part of a relatively thin arm of the article of furniture.

It is possible by combining the component described above and shown in FIGS. 1-6 in different ways to achieve an almost limitless varieth in the configurations of the articles of furniture. For this purpose a lower frame such as the frame 20 of FIG. 1 with preselected legs and support stubs fixed thereto is embedded in a block of resilient foam plastic. Although manydifferent plastics are available for this purpose, it is preferred to use a urethane foam which is wrapped in a relatively puffy coat of Dacron. The urethane foam is reinforced by the frame and leg structure as well as the spring assembly 30, and preferably the urethane foam is selfskinned. In other words the cells may be closed at the outer surface of the block of urethane foam. The surrounding coat of Dacron lends an additional softness to the structure.

Thus, referring to FIG. 8, there is shown therein the lower frame and leg assembly of FIG. 1 in a side elevation with the resilient plastic block in which the components are embedded being illustrated in a dot-dash line illustration. Thus, FIG. 8 shows in phantom lines a lower block 76 in which the lower frame 20 and the legs and support stub fixed thereto are embedded. For this purpose the lower frame 20 and the legs and support stub fixed thereto are placed in a mold in which the foam plastic is molded. It will be: noted that the legs extend downwardly beyond the block 76 into engagement with the floor 78, and the bottoms of the legs may be closed with any suitable closure elements which engage the floor 78 in a predetermined manner. The block of foam plastic surrounded with Dacron extends all the way up to the stops of the legs 28 and the support stub 32 in the illustrated example. In the illustrated example the upper frame 34 as well as the upper frame 44 are also embedded in a block of resilient foam plastic which is surrounded with Dacron in the manner described above. Thus, FIG. 8 shows at the right the frame 34 embedded in a block 82 and at the left the frame 44 embedded in a block 84. These

blocks

82 and 84 are also shown in phantom lines and are composed of the urethane foam surrounded by the Dacron. It will be noted that in the case of the

upper frames

34 and 44, the lower extensions thereof extend downwardly beyond the

upper blocks

82 and 84 to be received telescopically in the top ends of the legs and support stub, in the manner shown most clearly in FIG. 8. Thus, with this particular combination it is possible to provide as shown in FIG. 7 an elongated back 82 supported by the frame 34 and an elongated arm 84 supported by the frame 44. The rest of the block 76 is not used to support any back or arm, and it will be noted that the one corner of the frame 20 which does not support an arm or back utilizes only the relatively short leg 26.

FIG. 9 shows the components of the block 84, namely the urethane foam plastic 84a encased at its top and sides within Dacron 84b. In the same way the block 76 is made up of the urethane foam block 760 encased within Dacron 76b which is at the top and sides of the block 76a. Moreover, FIG. 9 shows in detail how the upper portion of the leg 28, which is illustrated at the left in FIG. 8, telescopically receives the lower left extension 46 of the frame 44. Thus, because these extensions, such as the extensions 46 extend downwardly beyond the block 84, they are free to be placed within the upper portions of the legs 28 or the supporting stub 32, and a suitable screw 86 is provided to extend through aligned openings of the telescoped tubular portions for holding them together in the desired relationship, as illustrated in FIG. 9. The dacron layer 76b is physically compressed to permit insertion of screw 86.

Moreover, the block 84, the block 82, and the block 76 may be covered with any suitable fabric such as the fabric 88 shown covering the block 84 in FIG. 9 and the fabric 90 shown covering the block 76in FIG. 9. At the places where the extensions, such as the extensions 46, extend beyond the block 84 or the block 82, the fabric is provided with an opening reinforced by a suitable grommet such as the grommet 92 shown in FIG. 9, and in a similar manner in alignment with the leg 28 and supporting stubs such as the stub 32 the fabric 90 is provided with suitable openings reinforced by a grommet 94. When the extensions are telescopically received in the top ends of the legs 28 or supporting stubs the upper portions of the article of furniture are pressed against the lower portions so that a construction as shown in FIG. 9 is provided. It will be noted that with this construction there are no pockets in which dust can accumulate.

It will be noted with the article of furniture as shown in FIGS. 79 the upper back 82 and arm 84 include the

upper frames

34 and 44 which are inclined outwardly beyond the lower frame 20. As a result of this feature when the occupant of the article of furniture leans back, the frame 34 will provide a relatively large volume of foam to support the occupant, and in the same way should the occupant lean to the side against the arm 84, the outwardly inclined frame 44 will act in the same way.

Of course in the case of the arm 84 the shorter frame 44 coacts with the stub 32 in the same way that it coacts with the leg 28. In the case of the back 82 the longer frame 34 coacts with the pair of rear legs 28 in the same way as described above in connection with the front end of the frame 44 and as shown in detail in FIG. 9.

FIG. 10 shows an exceedingly simple form of an article of furniture according to the invention. This article is composed, as shown in FIG. 10a, only of the frame 20 and four of the short legs 26. This frame of FIG. 10a is embedded in the foam plastic block 76 in the manner described above, and in turn this block may be covered with a suitable fabric so as to provide in this way thearticle of furniture shown in FIG. 10. The manner in which the frame is enclosed within the block 76 is illustrated in FIG. 10b. Of course, in the case of a quadrant frame 22 as shown in FIG. 1A, the article of furniture of FIG. 10 would have the configuration of a quadrant of a circle.

FIG. 11 shows an article of furniture which corresponds to that of FIGS. 79 without the arm 84 and the frame 44 therein. Thus, in the case of the article of furniture shown in FIG. 11, the frame 20 has fixed to its front corners a pair of the legs 26 and to its rear corners a pair of the legs 28 which are joined with the longer frame 34 in the manner described above and shown in FIG. 11a. Thus, this article of furniture which is shown in FIG. 11 has, as shown in FIG. 11b, the frame 20 and the front legs 26 and the rear legs 28 with the single block 82 extending across the back of the article of furniture.

FIGS. 12, as well as 12a and 12b illustrate the article of furniture which was described in detail in connection with FIGS. 79.

Thus, it will be noted that the embodiment of FIG. 11 differs from that of FIG. 10 by adding to the latter the back 82 while the embodiment of FIG. 12 differs from that of FIG. 11 by adding to the embodiment of FIG. 11 the arm 84.

The embodiment of FIG. 13 adds to that of FIG. 11 a pair of relatively thin arms 96. In this case, since all of the corners of the lower frame support an arm or a back, the legs 28 are used for the rear corners. However, the legs 66 are used for the front corners because in this case the front legs are inclined above the frame 20 outwardly beyond the latter, as shown in FIG. 13a. Also, instead of the straight support stub 32, the opposed sides of the frame 20 have fixed thereto the support stubs 68 shown in FIG. 5. Because of the fact that the side arms 96 of this embodiment are relatively thin, the outwardly offset legs and support stubs are used in the case. Thus, the frame 60 shown in FIG. 6 is embedded in a suitable block of plastic such as a urethane foam surrounded by Dacron, and this combination is situated within a suitable fabric covering precisely as described above. The lower extensions 62 are then telescopically received in the top ends of the legs 66 and stubs 68 and fastened thereto in a manner described above in connection with FIG. 9. In this way it is possible by using the frames 60 of FIG. 6 and the outwardly inclined legs 66 and support stubs 68 to achieve an article of furniture having the configuration shown in FIG. 13 and illustrated in further detail in the top plan view of FIG. 13b.

Instead of adding to the structure which is shown in FIG. 10 a relatively long back 82, it is possible to add a relatively short back to achieve the construction" shown in FIG. 14. Thus, as may be seen from FIG. 14, the block 76 is supported on the same frame 20 which in this case is connected only with short legs 26. This latter construction is apparent from FIG. 14a. Thus, in this case none of the corners of the frame 20 support an upper portion of the article of furniture so thatonly the short legs 26 are required. However, in order to support the relatively short back 84, since this back is identical with the block 84 of FIG. 12, the rear portion of the frame 20 has fixed thereto a pair of support stubs 32'which are spaced inwardly from the rear comers of the frame 20 so as to be situated from each other midway between these rear corners by a distance equal to the distance between the pair of lower extensions 46 of the frame 44. Thus simply by providing the pair of stubs 32 in the manner shown in FIG. 14a it is possible to achieve with the block 84 supported by the frame 44 in the manner described above an article of furniture as shown in FIG. 14. FIG. 14b shows in plan view how the components are arranged.

FIG. shows an article of furniture of the invention which is identical with that of FIG. 11 except that a relatively low wide arm 98 has been added. This arm is made by incorporating the frame 40 of FIG. 2 in a block of suitable plastic such asthe urethane foam encased within the Dacron in the manner described above, and in this case the extensions 42 are received in a front leg 28 and a support stub 32. These details of the frame structure are illustrated in FIG. 15a. FIG. 1512 shows in plan view how the components are arranged. It will be noted that in thiscase it is the front left corner which does not support any upper portion of the article of furniture and which therefore has the short leg 26 fixed thereto, while the remaining corners of the frame 20. have the longer legs 28 fixed thereto with the rear legs supporting the frame 34 while the remaining front leg 28 and the support stub 32 support the frame 40. In this case the frame 32 is of course located at the right side of the article of funiture.

It is to be noted that instead of a low relatively wide arm 98 shown in FIG. 15, it is possible to replace this component with the table arm 50 of FIG. 4, and of course it is possibleto locate the relatively wide arm 98 or the table arm 50 at the side of the article of furniture opposite from that illustrated in FIG. 15 for the arm 98.

It is to be noted that the above specific examples are only a small number of the possible various configurations of articles of furniture which may be made in accordance with the invention in accordance with selecting different combinations of the components of FIGS. l-6 to be joined together in any of the ways described above. Moreover, because of the simple structure of the invention, apparent from FIGS. 10-15, it is possible to place several of the articles of furniture according to the invention which may have different configurations one next to the other to form a sectional article of furniture. When'utilizing square or rectangular articles of furniture with quadrant-shaped articles utilizing the frame 22 of FIG. 1A, it is possible for the sectionalarticle of furniture to have a wavy S-shaped configuration of any desired attractive appearance simply by combining together articles of furniture of predeterminedconfigurations.

Although in the above described examples the article of furniture is made by preselected combinations of the components shown in FIGS. L6 and described above, it is possible also to practice the invention by utilizing an arrangement as shown in FIGS. 16 and 16a. The particular article of fumiture illustrated in FIGS. 16 and 16a corresponds to that shown in FIG. 11. Thus, the frame 20 has the short legs 26 fixed to its front corners. However, in this case instead of long rear legs and a frame 34, the rear frame structure is formed on a single elongated tube reinforced only by the rod 102 and having in one piece the configuration resulting from the combination of a pair of legs 28 and the frame 34 as described above in connection with FIG. 11a. This frame structure which is shown in FIG. 16a, and of course including a spring assembly 30 as described above in connection with FIG. 1, is then placed in a suitable mold so that a single body of plastic is molded directly onto the frame forming a one-piece molded plastic body 104 shown in phantom lines in FIG. 16. In this case also the block 104 may be composed of an inner urethane foam plastic covered by Dacron, and then the entire assembly may be covered with a suitable fabricfThus, while the embodiment of FIGS. 16 and.

16a corresponds to that of FIG. 11., it has, for the added costs required by the unitary frame and block structure, a still more rugged construction than that shown in FIG. 11. Thus if the added costs required by the manufacture of a more unitary article as shown in FIGS. 16 and 16a is justified, it is still possible to practice the invention with an arrangement as illustrated in FIGS. 16 and 16a, so that only a one-piece foam plastic structure and a unitary frame structure is utilized. This same principle may be applied to any of the embodiments of the invention described above.

Also, the basic components of this invention readily lend themselves to the utilization with other components of a decorative nature. For example, the embodiments disclosed hereinabove have simple tubular legs. However, these legs may be used to form a framework for bases of other designs. A decorative sleeve or a sleeve having a larger outside diameter could be overfitted on the tubular leg components. An entirely different leg effect could be created by applying a U- shaped tubular leg over each pair of side legs or by securing wooden base members to the leg components. By way of the foregoing examples, the versatility of the instant invention is underscored.

What is claimed is: I

1. An article of furniture comprising a lower seat portion including an endless lower seat frame, a plurality of separateelongated legs adapted to be fixed to said seat frame and to project downwardly therefrom, at least two seat frame post members mounted on said seat frame and extending upwardly therefrom and a block of resilient foam plastic completely surrounding said seat frame and at least a portion of each of said legs and seat frame post members adjacent said seat frame; and an upper seat portion defining at least one of an arm or back of said article of furniture, said upper seat portion including an upper portion frame, at least two upper portion post members mounted on said upper portion frame positioned for registration with said seat frame post members, and an upper block of resilient foam plastic completely surrounding said upper portion frame and at least a portion of said upper portion post members adjacent to said upper portion frame; and means permitting the releasable couplingof said upper portion post members and said seat frame lower frame is of a geometric shape.

4. An article of furniture as recited in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of said seat frame post members are formed integral with and as extensions of a corresponding portion of said legs.

5. The combination of claim 1 including a relatively flat rigid wall forming a table arm, said wall being fixed to at least two table arm post members which extend downwardly from said wall, said lower seat member including further post members mounted on said seat frame for registration with said table arm post members, said table arm and further post members including said releasable coupling means.

6. The combination of claim 1 and wherein a sheet material covers all of said blocks and is formed with openings surrounding said extensions and said long legs, said sheet material having grommets at said openings.

Claims

1. An article of furniture comprising a lower seat portion including an endless lower seat frame, a plurality of separate elongated legs adapted to be fixed to said seat frame and to project downwardly therefrom, at least two seat frame post members mounted on said seat frame and extending upwardly therefrom and a block of resilient foam plastic completely surrounding said seat frame and at least a portion of each of said legs and seat frame post members adjacent said seat frame; and an upper seat portion defining at least one of an arm or back of said article of furniture, said upper seat portion including an upper portion frame, at least two upper portion post members mounted on said upper portion frame positioned for registration with said seat frame post members, and an upper block of resilient foam plastic completely surrounding said upper portion frame and at least a portion of said upper portion post members adjacent to said upper portion frame; and means permitting the releasable coupling of said upper portion post members and said seat frame post members, said releasable coupling means including a socket formed in one of each of said seat frame post members and said upper portion post members for receiving the other of the corresponding seat frame post member and said upper portion post member.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein at least some of said legs and frames include sections which are inclined relative to a vertical axis through a horizontal plane which includes the lower seat portion.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said lower frame is of a geometric shape.