US3833949A

US3833949A - Interlaced wire locking apparatus for coiled box spring construction

Info

Publication number: US3833949A
Application number: US00372601A
Authority: US
Inventors: J Piliero
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Leggett and Platt Inc
Priority date: 1973-06-22
Filing date: 1973-06-22
Publication date: 1974-09-10
Anticipated expiration: 1991-09-10
Also published as: CA1002671A

Abstract

An interlaced wire grid having mutually interlocking crimped wire segments are each wire intersection is disclosed for frictional engagement with the upper coil turns of coil springs. The grid forms a plurality of individual wire-bound perimeters each having a pair of parallel grid wire sections at equal distances from a supporting framework slat upon which the coil springs are secured, and adjacent parallel sections for completing the locking perimeter forming the frictional engaging surfaces. During assembly parallel wires of the grid may be deformed to admit the top coil and thereafter restored into locking engagement wire-to-wire as well as coil-to-wire perimeter to restrain coil spring movement.

Description

I United? s t ateSI aten t- 91 i v 3,777,322 12/1973 Larkin Piliero Sept. 10, 1974 fINTERLACED WIRE LOCKING Primary Examiner-James C. Mitchell APPARATUS FOR COILED BOX SPRING ey, g or mei ip mins CONSTRUCTION I [76] Inventor: James Piliero, 30-83 37th St., [571 ABSTRACT I Astoria, NY. 11103 An interlaced wire grid havingmutually interlocking v crimped wire segments are each wire intersection is [22] F led. June 22, 1973 disclosed for frictional engagement with the upper coil [21] Appl. No.: 372,601 turns of coil springs. The grid forms a plurality of indij vidual wire-bound perimeters each having'a pair of .7 1 I I: Q parallel grid wire sections at equal distances from a' .[52] 77": 5/ as 2. 54 supporting framework slat upon which the coil springs [51'] m Cl 1 v K 23/02 aresecured, and adjacent parallel sections for com- [58] Fie'ld 266 267 pleting the locking perimeter forming the frictional I 1'1 I .i 3 engaging surfaces. During assembly parallel wires of [56] References Cited 1 1 the grid may be deformed'to admit the top coil and 1 thereafter restored -into locking engagement wire-to- I UNITED STATES E T 1 3 wire as well as coil-to-wire perimeter to restrain jcoil 670,211 3/1901 Staples); 5/266 fls rin mo e 7i i 5l e F g res; I I

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55 j 4. 7 25' a 3 7 g I INTERLACED WIRE LOCKING APPARATUS FOR COILED BOX SPRING CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to apparatus as well as methods for assembling coil springs on a furniture framework and more particularly to a construction in which wires forming a grid may be readily sprung into locking engagement with a coil spring.

The prior art is replete with various coil spring fastening arrangements which join portions of springs to each other and to a supporting framework. The general objectof these systems is to provide lateral support without inhibiting the flexibility desirable in spring mattresses, for example. Also, the relative position of the coil springs as well as the orthogonality of the coil spring array is preserved by these systems even while local portions of the array are subjected to downward pressure. In addition to the foregoing, it is equally important that such supporting arrangements be easy to assemble to lessen manufacturing assembly costs. In this regard, the prior art arrangements have proven to be awkward to assemble and require an inordinate amount of as sembly time.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to furnish a coil spring fastening arrangement which both is relatively easy to assemble and exhibits superior mechanical support properties.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a spring coil support of minimal weight with the requisite strength, elasticity, and durability in addition to a con- It is a more specific object of this invention to provide an interlaced wire coil spring support which has interlocking surfaces at intersections of the wire supports and sufficient flexibility to aid in the assembly of coil springs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These and other objects are achieved in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the invention which comprises a mutually interlocking wire grid attached to a supporting framework which grid forms individual coil springs locking perimeters. Each perimeter comprises one pair of parallel grid wire sections at a different elevation than the remaining two sections of the perimeter. These grid sections form a slot into which a coil spring turn is installed in accordance with my invention and secured by grasping adjacent pairs of the grid section.

At each intersection of the wire grid the wires are pre-formed so as to have crimps of a specific shape which permit locking of the grid when the coil spring turn near the intersection is installed. This arrangement has the advantage that the wire grid is easily deformed before the coil turn is installed for assembly but has a positivelocking action once the coil is in place. The crimps pre-formed inthe wires are in the form of upper and lower portions, similar in some respects to a complete sine wave cycle.

Importantly, this invention can be advantageously used with the coil spring anchor assembly disclosed in my earlier co-pending application serial number 313,804, now US. Pat. No. 3,783,459, and entitled COIL SPRING ANCHOR ASSEMBLY. In the prior application, I taught a prefabricated spring anchor which is installed (embedded) in a furniture slat. That anchor holds the bottom turn of the coil spring, while the present disclosure teaches my interlaced grid for securing the top turn of the coil spring. It should be appreciated that both disclosures fully teach a novel construction technique for box springs, for example.

Returning now to the present invention, it is a feature of my invention to provide an interlaced and interlocking wire grid which cooperates with an installed coil spring turn to secure the coil spring.

It is still another feature of my invention to furnish a pre-formed wire grid having crimps formed along predetermined specified and equal distances of each wire length which may be brought into locking engagement for relative ease of coil .spring installation by grasping BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein: I

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a furniture bottom frame showing transverse slats and two intermediate slats on which three helical springs respectively have been installed and secured in place by the interlaced wire grid arrangement;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a single coil held in position by clenching fingers of an embedded U-shaped anchor and by the interlaced wire grid;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1.;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section taken along lines 4-4 of FIG. 1 showing the pre-formed crimp shape; and

FIG. 5 shows an alternate crimp shape which may be substituted for those shown in the other figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT pieces 11 and 12. At intermediate points along pieces 1.1 and 12 there are secured transverse cross pieces 13 and 14 which are commonly known as slats. These slats are rigidly attached to the cross pieces by screws, bolts, etc; to prevent shifting. This figure also depicts helical spring coils 15-20 anchored to slats 13 and 14 by U- shaped anchors, e.g., anchor 21 for coil 18, taught in my earlier application as well as the interlaced wire runs comprising horizontal runs 22-25 and vertical runs 26-31. It will be appreciated that only a portion of each run is shown and that the method of anchoring each run at its respective ends is not shown. For purposes of this disclosure it is assumed that a large rectangular frame (not shown) bounds the edge of the box spring and each of the runs is secured to that frame at their respective ends.

Upon closer examination of FIG. 1, it will be noted that the top turn; e.g., turn 32 of coil spring 17, is interlocked with the horizontal and vertical wire runs. For example, turn 32 of coil spring 17 is interlocked in

horizontal runs

24 and 25 as well as in

vertical runs

26 and 27. These runs form an interlocking perimeter of wire segments, or sections, 3336. Turn 32 is woven above and below alternate connecting segments. In particular, turn 32 is below

parallel segments

33 and 35 and above

segments

34 and 36. Thus, it may be observed that coil spring 17 is restrained in vertical movement (into and out of the drawing figure) as well as in lateral movement by grid segments 33-36 which define a restraining perimeter.

Another equally important aspect of this invention is the manner in which each of the vertical and horizontal wire runs are interlocked at their intersections. The intersections may be generally viewed in FIG. 1 but to appreciate significant details it is best to examine the perspective view of a typical coil shown in FIG. 2 and the interlocking detail of FIG. 4. FIG. 2 depicts coil spring having its lower coil 41 secured by a U-shaped anchor 42 embedded in a slat 43. The top turn 44 is woven in interlocking fashion under and over alternate wire segments 45-48, respectively.

Turning now to the interlocking engagement of the wire runs, attention is directed to wire intersection 49 where

wire segments

45 and 46 intersect. During instal lation top turn 44 is laid, for example, under

opposite wire segments

45 and 47.

Segments

46 and 48, for purposes of discussion, it will be assumed are pulled away from one another and are thus not in contact with turn 44. To engage the interlocking sections,

segments

46 and 48 are grasped and pulled toward one another. As soon as the wire run of which segment 46 is a part passes over crimped surface 50 it becomes interlocked with the run of which segment 45 is a part. Similarly, the three

other intersections

52, 53 and 54 become interlocked in the same action concurrently.

FIG. 4 provides a view of the intersection of wire runs 31 and 22 showing the interlocking engagement and the position of coil spring 18 which exerts an upward locking force once the runs are in interlocking engagement.

FIG. 5 depicts an alternative crimping shape in which wire runs 61 and 62 have U-shaped crimps at specified equal intervals there along. One such deformation is shown in wire run 61. The relative position of coil spring 60 is shown in FIG. 5 to enable one to make a correspondence between FIGS. 4 and 5. The arrangement of FIG. 5 is considered to be the preferred embodiment.

FIG. 3 which is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1, shows that the resultant profile of the interlacing arrangement is substantially flat with a minimum of vertically protruding surfaces.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that there are many modifications,

changes and improvements which may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. A coil spring anchoring arrangement for securing the top turn of a coil spring comprising a grid of wires having at least a first pair of wires in spaced apart relation and a second pair of wires transverse to said first pair of wires in spaced apart relationship lying substantially in the same respective plane, each of said wires of said first and second pairs of wires having mutually interlocking surfaces at the points of intersection of said first pair of wires with said second pair of wires, and opposite wire segments of said first pair of wires between said points of intersection being at a different plane elevation from said adjacent wire segments of said second pair of wires thereby defining an interlocking coil spring securing member.

2. A coil spring anchoring arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein said mutually interlocking surfaces comprise a pre-formed deformation of each of said wires, and said deformation is substantially of a sinusoidal shape.

3. A coil spring anchoring arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein alternate contiguous segments of each wire are at differing planar elevations.

4. A combined coil spring anchoring arrangement for securing a coil spring within a furniture framework comprising a holding arrangement for a bottom turn of said coil spring comprising a substantially U-shaped member which is adapted to be driven through said framework and thereafter shaped to form clenching fingers to retain said bottom turn, a cooperating holding arrangement for a top turn of said coil spring comprising an interlaced wire grid having mutually interlocking crimped surfaces at equal intervals along each wire of said grid, said grid forming at least one four sided wire perimeter with corners at said interlocking surfaces, and opposite wire sides of said perimeter being at a different planar elevation than said remaining wire sides thereby defining an interlocking surface for retention of said top turn.

5. A combined coil spring anchoring arrangement in accordance with claim 4, wherein said crimped surfaces are adapted to be held in interlocking engagement when said top turn is installed within said wire perimeter.

6. A combined coil spring anchoring arrangement in accordance with claim 4, wherein said crimped surfaces take the form of an upper curved section and a contiguous lower curved section, and interlocking engagement occurs when said lower curved section of one wire is linked with an upper curved section of a transverse wire.

7. A coil spring anchoring arrangement in accordance with claim 1, wherein said mutually interlocking surfaces comprise a pre-formed deformation of each of said wires.