WO1997018932A1

WO1997018932A1 - Chair and furniture components from radially sawn timber

Info

Publication number: WO1997018932A1
Application number: PCT/AU1996/000743
Authority: WO
Inventors: Andrew Karl KNÖRR
Original assignee: The Australian Radial Timber Conversion Company (Radcon) Pty. Ltd.
Priority date: 1995-11-22
Filing date: 1996-11-21
Publication date: 1997-05-29
Also published as: EP0804322A1; AUPN673095A0

Abstract

A furniture making component formed by cutting or machining a radially sawn wedge sector of timber, said wedge sector including two radial faces (5), an apex edge or face (6) and a tangential face (7), so that in a given length of wedge the radial faces (5) taper either increasing or decreasing in width so that either: (a) the tangential face (7) remains a constant width; (b) the tangential face (7) increases or decreases in width; (c) the apex face or point (6) remains a constant width; (d) the apex face or point (6) increases or decreases in width; (e) both the apex face (6) and the tangential face (7) increase or decrease in width.

Description

CHAIR & FURNITURE COMPONENTS FROM RADIALLY SAWN TIMBER

The present invention has for its object a method of producing chairs and associated furniture with major components formed from radially sawn wedges of timber

The advantages of producing chairs and associated furniture with radially sawn wedge sectors include reduced wastage dunng the sawing process dedicated and repetative production menthod for major components 0 minimal drying requirements for wedge sectors reduced wastage dunng machining due to low distortion of wedges strong and easy construction comfortable chair design suiting the requirements of the human back The invention in its most basic embodiment involves constructing a 5 chair so that two radially sawn wedge sectors of timber fixed in an essentially upnght position to form a back to the chair so that the back forms a concave shape with the apex of the radial face of each wedge closest to each other and closest to the spine of a person sitting in the chair The wedges that form the back are taper cut to enhance their appearance This feature is apphed to the 0 front legs of the chair and to furniture parts associated with chairs such as tables

Radial sawing of wedge sectors of a log involve the sawing of a log from the outside to a chosen centre, to produce a wedge shaped sector of timber with two radial faces with the required angle between their radial 5 faces and with growth rings basically at nght angles to the radial faces The two radial faces form an apex that was close to the centre of the tree This point, or a face cut or machined near this point, is called the apex face The ramaining face is called the tangential face It is the face which was the outside of the tree and which generaly after sawing or machining has growth 0 nngs which are basically tangential to it In the accompanying diagrams, Figure 1 shows the end section of a log

(1 ) with sections (2) having a suitable angle between. In mis instance the log has been cut into sectors with an angle of 28° between the radial faces.

Figure 2 shows a basic embodiment of the invention being two wedges (3) aligned in relatively the same position as they came from the log. The apex of the two radial faces of one wedge are closest to the apex of the two radial faces of another wedge with the two wedges tangential faces being furtherest apart. Lines (4) represent the growth rings of the tree with the consistent alignment a characteristic of radial sawn wedges while (5) indicates the radial faces (6) indicates the apex face and (7) indicates the tangential face.

Figure 3 shows the side elevation of a prefered construction of the chair with the two back wedges (8) angled for comfort. In this instance and to increase stability the wedges continue below seat level (9) to connect with angled legs (10) which increase the standing base area of the chair and provide triangalation back to chair seat supports (1 1 ) and upright front leg (12).

Figure 4 (a) shows the radial face elevation of a taper cut back wedge produced by resawing and or machining a radial wedge so that the width of the radial face decreases or increases in a given length of a wedge, so that the tangential face remains a constant width or increases or decreases in width in a given length and so that the face or point that was closest to the apex of the radial face remains a constant width or increases or decreases in width in a given length of radial wedges. This is illustrated in figure 4(a).

(13) indicates an end section (solid line) cut narrower across the radial face at a given distance at dotted line ( 14) causing an increase in width of the apex face as the radial face narrows.

(15) indicating an end section solid line cut narrower across the radial face at a given distance at dotted lines (16) causing an increase in width of the apex face and a decrease in width of the tangential face as the radial face narrows.

(17) indicating an end section (solid line) cut narower across

SUBSTITUTE SHEET {RULE 26) the radial face at a given distance at dotted line (18) causing a decrease in width of the tangential face and the apex face to remain constant as the radial face narrows This feature of tapering faces is also apphed to the front leg wedges to enhance appearance and complement the form of the back Because of the associated nature of furniture, for example, the aesthetic relationship between table and chaιrs,the tapeπng wedge feature is of necessity applied to related objects Because of the strong nature of the tπangulated chair shown in the preferred embodiment, a suitable attachment can be made to turn the chair in to a reclining chair for relaxation

This involves the addition of legs or props which swing out from the back of the chair, which allows the chair to be tilted backwards and be supported by outswung legs or props The chair is tilted the required amount so that the angle is comfortable to the person seated in the chair A device such as a gas 90 strut or a spnng may be fitted to ensure that the strut legs are not partly opened, causing the chair to overturn when it is tilted back

In the accompanying diagram, figure (5) shows a chair with attachment (19) in the closed position

Figure (6) shows the attachment in the open position and figure (7) shows the chair in the reclined position although the chair attachment can apply to other chairs the strong nature of the triangulated wedge chair makes this attachment feasible Wedges used in the method of the invention can be incorporated in other chair designs with backs for example being steam bent to enhance the aesthetic appearance and simplifying design lines Figure (8) shows how apex faces and tangential faces can be curved to enhance appearance for some designs

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1 A furniture making component formed by cutting or machining a radially sawn wedge sector of timber, said wedge sector including two radial faces, an apex edge or face and a tangential face, so that in a given length of wedge the radial faces taper either increasing or decreasing in width so that either

(a) the tangential face remains a constant width

(b) the tangential face increases or decreases in width

(c) the apex face or point remains a constant width

(d) the apex face or point increases or decreases in width

(e) both the apex face and the tangential face mcrease or decrease in width

A component according to Claim One in which at least one of the said tangential or apex faces increase or decrease in width for part of the length of a wedge and remain constant in width at another part of the wedge

3 A chair in which two radial wedges according to claim 1 and 2 are aligned so that the two wedges are organised with their apex faces closest together and their tangential faces fiαrtherest apart to form the back rest of the chair

A chair in which radial wedge sectors of timber are aligned with their apex faces closest together and their tangential faces furtherest apart, so that the wedges form a convex shape to accept the back of the person sitting in the chair

5 An article of furniture constructed with components according to claim 1 A chair accorώng to claims 1 to 4, in which the back wedges are inclined to make the chair comfortable and in which the back wedges continue below the level of the seat to join with angled legs which form the back legs of the chair and increase the base area of the chair and which provide triangulation by continuing back to the front of the seat at, or close to where the front leg is attached to the chair

A chair according to claim 5 in which a pivoting leg or legs are attached to the back or the seat so that the pivoting leg or legs can be folded or swung out from the chair to form another leg or pair of legs that come into use when the chair is angled back into a reclining position

A chair attachment according to claim 1 in which the attachment is attached to any suitably constructed chair

A method according to claim 1 in which a wedge sector of timber, produced by radially sawing it from a log, is resawn or machined for use as a furniture component, so that at least part of a given length of the wedge tapers in width across the radial faces, causing a corresponding increase or decrease in the widths of the apex or tangential faces