WO1999047022A1

WO1999047022A1 - A foldable support preferably for tables

Info

Publication number: WO1999047022A1
Application number: PCT/DK1999/000131
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mogens Ib Jensen
Original assignee: Miliki Invest Aps.
Priority date: 1998-03-17
Filing date: 1999-03-16
Publication date: 1999-09-23
Also published as: AU2714399A; DK9800097U3

Abstract

The invention relates to a foldable support preferably for tables, said support comprising two or more pairs of legs (11, 12) which are rotatable at their central portions about a substantially horizontal common axis to perform a scissors-like movement about the axis with a view to folding-together or unfolding the support, said support being adapted to receive and be secured to a tabletop at an upper end of the pairs of legs (11, 12) in the unfolded position. Each leg (11, 12) in the support comprises a central longitudinal slot (13), with leg halves of approximately the same size on each side of the slot, said halves being kept assembled at the outer ends of the leg, said axis being formed by an axis element (7) which passes transversely through the slots (13) in a pair of legs and is protected against movement at least in the longitudinal direction of the slots (13), at least one leg of each pair of legs (11, 12) being rotatable with respect to the axis element (7).

Description

A FOLDABLE SUPPORT PREFERABLY FOR TABLES

The invention relates to a foldable support preferably for tables, said support comprising two or more pairs of legs which are rotatable at their central portions about a substantially horizontal common axis to perform a scissors-like movement about the axis with a view to folding- together or unfolding the support, said support being adapted to receive and be secured to a tabletop at an upper end of the pairs of legs in the unfolded position.

Such foldable supports are used for folding tables, including garden tables and tables for cafes and pavement restaurants. Here, there will frequently be play in the mounts that provide the foldability. For example between the pairs of legs and the horizontal axis for the scissors-like movement. Further, the legs are formed by rods which have a limited rigidity. In combination, this means that such tables are unstable and do not very well resist shocks and shakes so that e.g. glasses or other tableware on the tabletop easily upsets.

To prevent this, the foldable support according to the invention is constructed such that each leg comprises a central longitudinal slot, with leg halves of essentially the same size on each side of the slot, said halves being kept assembled at the outer ends of the leg, and that an axis element forms the axis and passes transversely through the slots and is protected against movement at least in the longitudinal direction of the slots, and that at least one leg of each pair of legs is rotatable with respect to the axis element.

The special structure of the legs with the longitudinal slot provides an increase in the flexural rigidity of each leg in that the halves are secured at the outer ends of the slots. It is also very simple to arrange the rotary joint between the axis element and at least one leg, since the joint may now be constructed without using brackets because of the passage of the axis element transversely through the slot. The axis element may be fixedly connected with the other leg of a pair of legs, or a corresponding rotary joint may be provided between the axis element and this leg. The slot may e.g. be shaped so as to resiliently grip the axis element, thereby providing a certain bias of the legs, which con^¬ tributes to giving these an increased rigidity against deflection, it being moreover ensured by the bias that wear, if any, in the mounts does not cause play.

As stated in claim 2, there is one through and substan^¬ tially horizontally extending axis element, and the scis^¬ sors-like movement of the pairs of legs extends in a plane which forms an angle α relative to the vertical plane, which is perpendicular to the axis element, of between 5 and 15 degrees. This ensures an additional in^¬ crease in the overall rigidity of the support. The through axis element, together with the attachment of the pairs of legs to the tabletop, provides an extremely rigid frame structure. Additionally, the angling of the pairs of legs at the ends of a table with respect to the vertical will increase the strength of the support. Only two pairs of legs are used for relatively short tables, one at each end, and the legs must then be inclined out- wards at the stated angle relative to the central plane of the table. If the table is long, it is possible to use pairs of legs, between the two outer pairs, whose scissors-like movement extends in the vertical plane, which is perpendicular to the axis element, or which are also angled. As stated in claim 3, in each pair of legs, one leg may be non-rotatable, and the other leg may be rotatably secured to the axis element. This provides the necessary scissors-like movement between the legs in a very simple manner .

According to claim 4, the foldable support may be con^¬ structed such that the rotary connection between a leg and the axis element is established in that the through axis element has a circular cross-section in an area, and that, in each half of the leg facing the slot, a cut cor^¬ responding to the circular cross-section of the axis element is provided in the transverse direction of the leg, said area of circular cross-section preferably having a smaller diameter than the largest transverse dimension of the axis element and an extent in the longitudinal direction of the axis element which corresponds to or is greater than the cross-section of the leg in the longitudinal direction of the axis element. This provides a link connection between the axis element and the leg entirely without using brackets or separate elements. If the area of circular cross-section has a smaller diameter than the largest transverse dimension of the axis element, also the leg, which is arranged here with the slot extending around the axis element, will be fixed in the longitudinal direction of the axis element within the area of the reduced transverse dimension and circular cross-section.

As stated in claim 5, each leg is formed by a slotted rod, said slot extending from the upper end of the leg at the tabletop and downwards toward a substrate, said slot having a termination near the substrate, a connecting part being inserted at the termination with a view to preventing the slot from extending beyond the termina- tion. Each leg may hereby be produced in a very similar manner, and the mentioned bias is obtained when the axis element is inserted and presses the two parts of the leg thus slotted to their respective sides at the centre. Here, the connection to the axis element is established, e.g. in the form of a rotary link for one leg of a pair of legs, and in the form of a fixed connection e.g. with pins or glue for the other leg of a pair of legs. Such a slotted leg will tend to crack completely, and to prevent this a connecting part is inserted at the termination of the slot near the substrate, said connecting part clamp- ing the two sides together, each of which forms a part of the leg.

The slot may be correspondingly terminated at the upper end of the leg, or, as stated in claim 6, an assembling element may be provided, said assembling element partly assembling the two parts of each leg and partly connecting one leg of each of the pairs of legs in the longitudinal direction of the axis element. When the assembling element connects one leg of the pairs of legs, a stiffen- ing is obtained, thereby obviating the necessity of having a transverse rod downwardly on the pairs of legs in the longitudinal direction of the axis element, as is otherwise known in this type of supports.

As stated in claim 7, it is expedient if the assembling element, at one side, is secured by a hinge bracket or the like to the tabletop, and that the assembling element, at the other side, has a locking device for releas- able attachment of the assembling element to the table- top. This ensures that the support is fixed to the lower side of the tabletop, and folding together provides a compact unit which is easy to transport. Unfolding of such a folding table then takes place in a simple manner in that the legs of the pairs of legs are rotated rela- tively to each other, following which the locking device is caused to engage to ensure the attachment of the assembling element to the lower side of the tabletop.

When, as stated in claim 8, the legs of each pair of legs are arranged at a mutual distance in the longitudinal direction of the axis element, it is ensured that he scis^¬ sors-like movement, in spite of the angle of the legs relative to the horizontal, can take place to one side where the legs are positioned in parallel with assembled upper ends, and to the other side where the upper end of the leg gets close to the lower end of the other leg. If one leg of a pair of legs is additionally longitudinally movable to some extent along the axis element, it is additionally ensured that the leg, by this movement, will have a certain resilience to irregularities in the substrate.

An example of a support according to the invention will be described more fully below with reference to the draw- ing, in which:

fig. 1 is an ordinary support of the scissors type, seen from the end,

fig. 2 is a top view of the support shown in fig. 1, but without a tabletop,

fig. 3 shows a support according to the invention in a section transversely to the axis element,

fig. 4 shows the support of fig. 3, seen from above and without a tabletop.

Fig. 1 shows a traditional support having two legs 1, 2 which are rotatably mounted about a common through shaft

3. The legs are shown in the unfolded position with the lower ends resting on a substrate 6. Fig. 2, in which the same support is shown from above, shows that there is an additional pair of legs 4, 5 corresponding to the pair 1, 2, and that the pair 4, 5 are assembled at the opposite end of the shaft 3.

Fig. 3 shows a section through an axis element 7 accord^¬ ing to the invention. The legs 11 and 12 are mounted on this, and, as will be seen, each of these has a longitu- dinal slot 13 which divides the legs into parts of approximately the same size. The legs are attached to the axis element 7 in that this has been passed through the slot 13. A connecting part 14 is arranged near the substrate and prevents the slot from expanding down toward the substrate. In the example shown, each leg is made of a single piece, but, of course, it is also possible to make each leg by combining two strip-shaped pieces. The connecting part 14 may be an ordinary screw connection, consisting of two elements which are screwed into a hole from their respective sides, and are screwed together so as to clamp the two sides of the leg against each other. Because of the slot, there will be a certain spring pressure between the two parts of the leg 13, which are thereby pressed against the axis element 7.

Fig. 4 shows the same element as in fig. 3, but in its entirety and seen from above. It appears that the two legs 11 and 12 are arranged at an angle which differs from 90° with respect to the axis element 7. More par- ticularly, the legs must be arranged such that the scissors-like movement of each leg takes place in a plane which forms an angle α relative to the plane perpendicular to the axis element 7, and this angle α should be in the range from 5° to 15°. The angle α must be selected with such a sign that the lower ends of the legs will be inclined away from the central plane of a table when the erection has been performed, which corresponds to the situation in fig. 4.

As will additionally be seen in fig. 4, the individual legs 11, 12 and 21, 22 of the pairs of legs are arranged at a certain distance to each other on the axis element 7. This distance ensures that the legs may be folded to^¬ gether either by positioning them in parallel, or by folding them in different directions. In the shown em- bodiment of the invention, one leg 11 and 21 of each pair of legs is moreover non-rotatably connected with the axis element 7, while the other leg 12 and 22 of each pair of legs is connected with the axis element 7 in a rotatable link connection.

The link connection is established in that a cut 15 of circular cross-section is provided on the axis element 7, as is shown in fig. 3. Also, a cut 16 is provided in a direction toward the slot 13 on the leg parts, said cut 16 corresponding to the circular cross-section of the cut 15. When the two parts of the leg 12, 22 are now pressed on their respective sides of the slot with spring action against the cut 15 of the axis element 7, the leg is rotatably secured to the axis element 7. The non-rotatable connection between the legs 11, 21 and the axis element 7 may be established in a simple manner in that the outer end of the axis element is milled flat, so that the slot in the legs 11, 21 may be passed with slight spring action inwardly over the flat-milled part of the axis ele- ent and be secured permanently to it by glue, nails, pins or screws or by combinations thereof.

The legs must be secured at their upper ends to the lower side of a tabletop, and this may be done in many differ- ent ways. For example, the lower side of the table may be provided with openings in which the legs may be received as a tight fit when the slot at the upper end of the legs is clamped resiliently together. This provides a good and stable connection between the tabletop and the support. Alternatively, the upper ends of the legs 12 and 22 and the upper ends of the legs 11 and 21 may be connected transversely to their respective beams in parallel with the axis element 7. The beam may be constructed such that it may just be accommodated in the slot and be secured there to the two parts of each leg, so that the two beams will be in the form of connecting elements. One beam or connecting element may then be secured to the lower side of the tabletop via a hinge, and the other may serve as a mount for a bracket which allows detachable attachment to the lower side of the tabletop.

The example of the invention shown in figs. 3 and 4 is based on the use of wood, and one of the advantages achieved here is that the number of bracket parts may be kept at an absolute minimum. Of course, the invention may be realized with many other materials, such as metal or plastics, or in a combination of two or more materials.

Claims

P a t e n t C l a i m s

1. A foldable support preferably for tables, said sup- port comprising two or more pairs of legs (11, 12; 21,

22) which are rotatable at their central portions about a substantially horizontal common axis to perform a scissors-like movement about the axis with a view to folding- together or unfolding the support, said support being adapted to receive and be secured to a tabletop at an upper end of the pairs of legs (11, 12; 21, 22) in the unfolded position, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each leg (11, 12, 21, 22) comprises a central longitudinal slot (13) , with leg halves of essentially the same size on each side of the slot (13), said halves being kept assembled at the outer ends of the leg, and that an axis element (7) forms the axis and passes transversely through the slots (13) in a pair of legs and is protected against movement at least in the longitudinal direction of the slots (13), and that at least one leg of each pair of legs (11, 12; 21, 22) is rotatable with respect to the axis element (7) .

2. A foldable support according to claim 1, c h a r - a c t e r i z e d in that there is one through and essentially horizontally extending axis element (7), and that at least the pairs of legs (11, 12; 21, 22) at the ends of an overlying table have a scissors-like movement which extends in a plane forming an angle ╬▒ relative to the vertical plane, which is perpendicular to the axis element (7), of between 5┬░ and 15┬░.

3. A foldable support according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that, in each pair of legs, one leg (11, 21) is non-rotatable and the other leg (12, 22) is rotatably secured to the axis element (7) . 10

4. A foldable support according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the rotary connection between a leg (12, 22) and the axis element is established in that the through axis element (7) has a circular cross- section in an area (15), and that, in each half of the leg (12, 22) facing the slot, a cut (16) corresponding to the circular cross-section of the axis element is provided in the transverse direction of the leg, said area (15) of circular cross-section preferably having a smaller diameter than the largest transverse dimension of the axis element (7) and an extent in the longitudinal direction of the axis element (7) which corresponds to or is greater than the cross-section of the leg (12, 22) in the longitudinal direction of the axis element (7) .

5. A foldable support according to claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each leg (11, 12, 21, 22) is formed by a slotted wooden rod, said slot (13) extending from the upper end of the leg at the tabletop and downwards toward a substrate, said slot (13) having a termination near the substrate, a connecting member (14) being inserted at the termination with a view to preventing the slot (13) from extending beyond the termination.

6. A foldable support according to claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that an assembling element is inserted in the slot (13) at the top of each leg, said assembling element partly assembling the two parts of each leg and partly connecting one leg (11, 12; 21, 22) of the pairs of legs in the longitudinal direction of the axis element (7) .

7. A foldable support according to claim 6, c h a r - a c t e r i z e d in that the assembling element, at one side, is secured by a hinge bracket or the like to the 11

tabletop, and that the assembling element, at the other side, has a locking device for releasable attachment of the assembling element to the tabletop.

8. A foldable support according to claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the legs of a pair of legs are arranged at a mutual distance in the longitudinal direction of the axis element.