US485855A - Folding table - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

B. P. BASSETT.

FOLDING TABLE.

Patented Nov. 8, 1892.

- INV%NT0/R WITNESSES WWW;

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD F. BASSETT, or SEYMOU CONNECTICUT- FOLDING TABLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 485,855, dated November 8, 1892.

Application filed y 2, 1892. Serial No. 431,394. on model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD F. BASSETT, a

. citizen of the United States, residing at Seymour, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Tables; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a folding table which may be either square or round and which while retaining the folding principle may be made sufliciently high fora card-table without making thelegs themselves either jointed or extensible, it being essential in this class of tables that they shall be simple and inexpensive to produce, stand perfectly firm. when set up,be free from obstructions on the under side, so that card-players may sit with their knees under the table, and,furthermore, that the legs shall fold under the table compactly when it is not in use. I am aware that oblong tables have heretofore been made with two legs at each end which folded together. These tables do not make satisfactory cardtables, however, it being desirable in card-tables that they should be either square or round.

In order to overcome the various objections to folding tables now upon the market and to produce a folding table which shall be adapted for general use and especially adapted for use as a card or game table, I have devised the novel folding table which I will now describe, referring by numbers to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is an inverted plan view of my novel table, the legs being in the folded position; Fig. 2, an inverted plan View, the legs being extended; and Fig. 3is a section on the line as w in Fig. 2.

1 denotes the top of the table, which in the present instance I have shown square with rounded corners.

2 denotes cleats around the edges, which I preferably use for the purpose of bracing the top and also bracing the legs against lateral movement when the table is set up, the lateral strain beingtherebyremoved from the hinges.

3denotesindependentlegs,which are hinged at 4 on the under side of the top diagonally opposite to each other, but slightly ofiset, as more clearly shown in Fig. 1, so as to fold inward side by side, cleats 2 being provided with recesses 5,which just receive the hinged ends of the legs, and the legs being provided with shoulders 6, which rest upon the cleats, as shown in Fig. 3, when the table is set up. Each leg is provided on opposite sides with spring-braces 7, which are preferably formed from single pieces of wire and are held n place in the legs by plates 8, which permit the braces to turn freely when the legs are being folded or set up. The free ends of the braces are bent outward at an angle. forming lugs 9, which slide in grooves 10 in diagonally-arranged plates 11, secured on the under side of the table. Plates 11 are also provided with transverse holes 12, which are engaged by the lugs when the legs are at the set-up position, thereby locking the legs firmly in place.

13 denotes guards on the under side of the top, which may or may not be used and which simply act to prevent the braces from being sprung inward far enough to disengage them from the grooves. Two of the legs diagonally opposite to each other are provided at their mid-length with recesses 14 on their inner sides, and the other two legs,which are also diagonally opposite to each other, are provided at their mid-length with recesses 15 in their outer sides.

The operation is as follows: Suppose the table to be set up and that it is desired to fold the legs. The operator turns the table over, as in Fig. 2, pressing the spring-braces 011 the two legs, having recesses on their outer sides, ininward sufficiently to disengage lugs 9 from holes 12 and then folds said legs down to place, as in Fig. 1. The operator then presses the spring-braces on the other legs inward in the same manner and folds them down over the legs first folded. As the recesses 15 in the legs first folded lie upon the outer sides and the recesses 14 lie upon the inner sides, it follows that said recesses will register at the center of the top on the under side when all the legs are folded, as in Fig. 1, thus permit- .ting the legs to fold closely under the table,

the friction of the spring-braces against the bottoms of the grooves in plates 11 being sufficient to retain the legs in the folded position, so that the table may be carried about without the slightest danger of the legs swinging outward.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. The combination,in a folding table, ofa top, cleats surrounding the outer edge thereof, said cleats being recessed on their inner sides, and independent legs hinged to said top and adapted to fit into said recesses when in upright position, said legs and recesses being diagonally placed and slightly offset to allow the legs to be folded side by side in pairs when not in use, together with means for locking the same when in operative position, substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a folding table, of a top, cleats surrounding the outer edge thereof, said cleats being recessed on their inner sides, and independent legs hinged to said top and having shoulders formed near their upper ends, said shouldered ends being adapted to engage said. recessed cleats when the legs are in upright position, said legs and recesses being diagonally placed and slightly offset, so that the diagonally-oppositelegs will fold side by side in pairs, one diagonal pair of said legs being recessed on their outer sides about midway of their length and the other pair having similar recesses 011 their inner sides, so that the two pairs of crossing legs will lie closely against the under side of the tabletop when in folded position, substantially as described.

3. Afolding table consisting of a top having independent legs hinged thereto and arranged to fold inward in pairs from the diagonally-opposite corners thereof, said top being provided on its under side with diagonally-arrangedplates 11,provided with grooves 10 and-transverse holes 12, and the said legs being provided with the outwardly-springing braces 7, extending on both sides of each of said legs and having lugs 9 at their outer ends to engage said holes.

4.. A folding table consisting of a top, legs hinged diagonally opposite each other on the under side thereof, diagonally-arranged plates 11 on the under side of the top, havinggrooves 10 and holes 12, and spring-braces on opposite sides of the legs, which are provided with lugs adapted to slide in the grooves and to engage the holes, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. A folding table consisting of a top, inde pendent legs hinged diagonally opposite each other on the under side thereof, diagonallyarranged plates 11 on the under side of the top, having grooves 10 and holes 12, and springbraces in the legs, held in place by plates 8, the outer ends of said braces having lugs 9, which slide in the grooveswhen the legs are folded and engage the holes when set up to lock the legs in position.

6. A folding table consisting of independent legs hinged diagonally opposite each other on the under side thereof, diagonallyarranged plates having grooves and transverse holes on the underside of the top, springbraces upon the legs. having lugs adapted to engage said grooves and said holes, and guards 13, which prevent the spring-braces from being disengaged fro m the grooves of the plates.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD F. BASSETT.

VVitn esses:

SAMUEL A. BASSETT, AUGUSTUS J. SCHNEIDER.

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