US3847431A

US3847431A - Cantilevered booth construction

Info

Publication number: US3847431A
Application number: US00320303A
Authority: US
Inventors: H Nielsen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-01-02
Filing date: 1973-01-02
Publication date: 1974-11-12
Anticipated expiration: 1991-11-12

Abstract

A booth having two facing booths and an intermediate table which table is supported from a beam extending between the booth supporting frames by means of a demountable cantilever assembly. The construction includes a free standing divider panel bolted to the beam and the demountable cantilever structure and a special floor to foot anchoring tab.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 Nielsen 1 Nov. 12, 1974 1 1 CANTILEVERED BOOTH CONSTRUCTION [76] inventor: Harold R. Nielsen, 615 Centennial Dr., Kenyon, Minn. 55946 221 Filed: Jan. 2, 1973 211 Appl. No.: 320,303

521 11.5.0 ..297/158, 108/152 511 int. (:1 547b 3 9100 58 Field of Search 297/135, 157, 158, 170,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,429,939 9/1922 Eichman 297/158 1,656,812 1/1928 Balko et a1 297/157 X 2,478,118 8/1949 Mills 297/157 X 3,260,489 7/1966 Hentzi... 248/215 3,386,591 6/1968 Cassel 248/1889 X 4 1971 Von Pongracz 108/152 x 3,574,394 3,653,624 4/1972 Abel 248/215 X D183,814 10/1958 Scott 297/158 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 100,197 0/1940 Sweden 248/1889 656,219 0/1951 Great Britain 248/235 Primary Examiner-Roy D. Frazier Assistant Examiner-Wil1iam E. Lyddane Attorney, Agent, or FirmNeil B. Schulte [5 7 1 ABSTRACT A booth having two facing booths and an intermediate table which table is supported from a beam extending between the booth supporting frames by means of a demountable cantilever assembly. The construction includes a free standing divider panel bolted to the beam and the demountable cantilever structure and a special floor to foot anchoring tab.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures CANTILEVERED BOOTH CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OFTHE- INVENTION In the prior art, booth structuresare generally manufactured at a remote facility and shipped to the installation location where they must be assembled in place. It is desirable therefore to provide a type of booth structure which can be easily broken down for shipmentand later assembled with a minimum of labor and time consumed. Also it is desirable to have the table supported by means of the same structure which supports the booth so as to avoid having to provide special floor mounts to support the table. It would also be desirable if the table supporting structure does not interfere with the leg space between the booths. Yet another advantageous feature would bethe provision of means to segregate the various booth structures without the necessity of permanently emplaced walls. My invention provides a booth structure which accomplishes all of the-above described advantages. In addition; various other advantages are afforded bymy inventionas will be described hereinafter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, my invention contemplates a single welded tube framework for supporting two oppositely facing booths. A single cross beam connects the two booths together at one end of 'the'booths.-'The-table is cantilevered up from this cross beam so that no supports are necessary between the booths leaving a generous the booth to segregate it from other similar booths."

Since the booth is completely self contained it may be moved about as desired or anchored to thefloor ;by 7

means of a special foot anchoring tab which is described in detail later: Itmay therefore'be seen 'thatit is an object of my invention-toprovidean improved booth structure which, because of specially designed demountable cantileverstructure can *be easilyinstalled and assembled with a minimum of laborand time cost. Further objects and adva'ntageswill become apparent upon consideration of the following description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view' of the completed booth of my'invention.

FIGJ2 is a perspective'detail view-of the detachable cantilever bracket "showing the detailed structure thereof. I

FIG. 3 is a perspective'view of the-bench supporting framework structure showinghow the detachable can including the free standing divider panel used to segregate the booth from other booths.

FIG. Sis a simplified side elevation of the apparatus of FIG. 3 showing in particular the special floor mounting tab used to-locate the booth.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. 1 the completed construction of my booth is shown in perspective. A pair of

bench seats

10 and 12 are shown supported on the framework. Generally,

bench seats

10 and 12 comprise preformed molded seats constructed from laminated layers of wood and plastic in a manner well known to those skilled in the art. The framework consists essentially of four legs l4, l6, l8 and 20 which extend downward from a pair of generally rectangular frames 22 and 24. Rectangular frames 22and24 are connected together at one of their narrow ends by means of a main cross beam 26. A table 28 is supported on a demountable caantilever bracket assembly shown generally by arrow 30 which bracket assembly is described in greater detail with respect to 36 are a pair of vertical supports 38 and40.

Vertical supports

38 and 40 are connected together by a specially shaped bracket'42which has a vertical portion 44 designed to be welded to

vertical supports

38 and 40.

Bracket 42 also has a horizontal portion'46 designed to rest on top of cross beam 26 as will be described later and a'hooked retaining portion48' designed to fit over theback of the cross beam 26. A diagonal brace 50 extends between bracket 42 and table support arm 34.

Table-28 is secured. to the top of the arm 34 and bracket 36 by screws-inserted through variousholes 52 provided inbracket'36andarm 34. It should be noted at this point that the-use of a detachable cantilever assembly permits the table top to be positioned on a convenient surface-while detachable bracket 30 is fastened to the under side of table top 28 with screws through holes52. This obviates the-tedious prior art task of having to crawl underneath .the nearly assembled .booth structure and fasten "the table top down with screws inserted from underneath .the table top. Detachable cantilever assembly bracket -30 can easily be fastened-to table top '28 and then simply dropped into place on -the framework asshown-withrespect to FIG-3.

' In FIG. '3 the bench supporting framework is shown in perspective. lt-maybe seen that the generally rectangular frames 22 and 24.are formed from long members numbered 54,- 55,56 and 57;.which are connected together at their

outsideends byshort members

58 and 59. Long members '54 55, 56 and '57 are weldedzdirectly to crossbeam 26-with the

legs

14, 16, 18 and'20 welded in at vthecorners as shown-The detachable cantilever bracket assembly "30' simply slides over cross beam26 as shownin FlGi3 with horizontal portion:46

on bracket'42 resting onutop .of cross beam 26. The

smallhook-orlip48 extendsoverithe back side of cross member 26- while

thetwo verticalmembers

38 and 40 extend down alongthefront side of cross beam 26 so as to anchor. the-detachable cantilever bracket assembly 30 firmly in place. Returning momentarily to FIG. 2 it may be seen that

vertical members

38 and 40 are provided with small holes 60 through which bolts may be inserted into corresponding holes in cross beam 26 so as to permanently anchor bracket assembly 30 in place with a minimum of time and effort.

A portion of the assembled framework of FIG. 3 is shown in an elevational side view in FIG. 4. In FIG. 4 it may readily be seen how bracket 42 on the detachable cantilever bracket assembly 30 slides down snugly over cross beam 26. To provide privacy from other booths a divider panel 32 may be mounted in a pair of holes 62. (Holes 62 are mounted visible in FIG. 2) In FIG. 4 it may be seen that free standing divider panel 32 may be molunted directly to the framework assembly by means of two pairs of extension rods 64 and 66. Each extension rod 64 is screwed directly into divider panel 32 and locked in place by means of a nut 67. The other end of rod 64 is threaded and inserted through one of the holes 62 in angle bracket 36. The rod is secured in place by means of a pair of

nuts

68 and 69. A similar extension rod 64 is of course used for the other hole 62 in angle bracket 36 and fastened in-a similar manner. At the lower end of divider panel 32, extension rod 66 is surrounded by a spacer 70. Rod 66 is screwed into panel 32 in the same manner as described earlier and locked in place with a nut 71. The other end of rod 66 is then inserted through suitable holes provided either in cross beam 26 or

legs

14 and 18 and secured in place by means of a nut and washer combination 72. The diagonally braced detachable cantilever bracket assembly 30 is not only strong enough to support table top 28 but also quite adequate to support a free standing divider panel 32 such as shown in FIG. 4.

Since the booth need not be secured to a wall and is provided with its own privacy panel it can stand alone if desired. Thus, additional structure is provided on the booth to secure it in place on the floor so that it will not inadvertantly slide around. This structure is shown in FIG. 5.

In FIG. the general framework construction is shown in another elevational side view which is not cut away. Small details are omitted for clarity. The primary purpose of FIG. 5 is to show the foot mounting anchor assembly. It is known to provide leveling feet comprising a plastic or rubber foot 80 connected by means of a threaded rod 81 to a threaded hole in a block 82 which block is welded or crimped into a leg member such as leg 20. In the embodiment of the present invention foot 80 is additionally provided with a tab 85 extending therefrom which is provided with a hole to accept a screw 87 which screw can be inserted into a special floor imbedded plastic anchor 88 of a construction well known to those skilled in the art. Tab 85 provides a dual function in that it not only secures the entire booth from being moved around unnecessarily but also insures that foot 80 may not be rotated so as to change the height and leveling adjustment of the booth. Foot anchor constructions suchas shown in FIG. 5 may, if desired, be used on all four of the legs although it is shown only on leg 20 for clarity.

Clearly then, my invention provides an improved booth construction which is easy to assemble, thus, saving time and money, and which does not require extensive modification at the installation site in order to accommodate the booth. The booth provides its own privacy panel and its own floor anchoring mechanism thus further minimizing any alterations necessary in the establishment in which the booth is installed. Of course a number of minor deviations from the particular constructional details shown could be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and thus the following. claims are intended to cover only the patentable innovations of my invention.

I claim:

1. A booth assembly comprising in combination:

a pair of benches;

a pair of generally rectangular frames, each of said frames supporting one of said benches and each of said frames having two legs extending downward from the portion of the frame supporting the rear of the bench, said frames connected together at their narrow ends by a single cross beam so as to support the benches in a generally parallel facing relationship; table positioned between the benches;

a cantilevered bracket assembly for supporting said table, said bracket assembly comprising a first table supporting generally horizontal member extending generally perpendicular from a second table supporting generally horizontal member, two vertical support members extending downward from said second table supporting member to a position alongside the cross beam, and a diagonal brace extending from said first table supporting member to a fastening bracket connected between said two vertical support members, said fastening bracket shaped to fit over said cross beam in a position to hold the table generally level, said fastening bracket comprising a horizontal portion shaped to rest on top of the cross beam and a flanged portion shaped to fit around the back of the cross beam on the side opposite from said vertical members.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including a privacy panel mounted to said cantilevered bracket assembly and said cross beam.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 including at least one threaded vertically adjustable foot mounted in the bottom of said frame structures, said foot having a tab extending generally horizontally therefrom adapted tobe secured to the floor.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 including at least one threaded vertically adjustable foot mounted in the bottom of said frame structures, said foot having a tab extending generally horizontally therefrom adapted to be secured to the floor.

Claims

1. A booth assembly comprising in combination: a pair of benches; a pair of generally rectangular frames, each of said frames supporting one of said benches and each of said frames having two legs extending downward from the portion of the frame supporting the rear of the bench, said frames connected together at their narrow ends by a single cross beam so as to support the benches in a generally parallel facing relaTionship; a table positioned between the benches; a cantilevered bracket assembly for supporting said table, said bracket assembly comprising a first table supporting generally horizontal member extending generally perpendicular from a second table supporting generally horizontal member, two vertical support members extending downward from said second table supporting member to a position alongside the cross beam, and a diagonal brace extending from said first table supporting member to a fastening bracket connected between said two vertical support members, said fastening bracket shaped to fit over said cross beam in a position to hold the table generally level, said fastening bracket comprising a horizontal portion shaped to rest on top of the cross beam and a flanged portion shaped to fit around the back of the cross beam on the side opposite from said vertical members.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 including at least one threaded vertically adjustable foot mounted in the bottom of said frame structures, said foot having a tab extending generally horizontally therefrom adapted to be secured to the floor.