WO2012061867A1

WO2012061867A1 - A chair or stool

Info

Publication number: WO2012061867A1
Application number: PCT/AU2011/001286
Authority: WO
Inventors: Robert Carlo Ukmar
Original assignee: Sebel Furniture Ltd
Priority date: 2010-11-11
Filing date: 2011-10-11
Publication date: 2012-05-18
Also published as: AU2011326323B2; AU2011326323A1

Abstract

A chair or stool (1 ) for use by school students is disclosed. The stool has a seat (2) supported by a leg structure (3) which preferably has four legs (5-8). A cross brace (19) extending between the upper portions of the rear legs is kinked to form a hook (20). A bag (22) can be suspended from the hook by means of a shoulder strap (23). The bag is located within the floor area occupied by the stool and so does not encroach upon aisles formed by rows of stools. The bag lowers the centre of gravity of the stool and so the stool and leg combination is not liable to tip over.

Description

A CHAIR OR STOOL

■Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to furniture and, in particular, furniture for use in schools.

Background Art

Schools represent a large market for furniture because there is a substantial investment in school infrastructure. Each pupil must have a seat and a desk, and generally the number of seats far exceeds the number of students because different types of activity require different equipment so that pupils can access laboratories with benches and stools, craft rooms with stools, class rooms with desks and chairs, etc.

School children also normally have some sort of bag or satchel in which they carry their belongings, lunch, school books, small items of equipment, and the like. In many classrooms there are rows of coat hooks along the walls and each student is allocated a coat hook upon which the student hangs their bag or satchel. Whilst this arrangement is satisfactory, it suffers from the disadvantage that students are not able to easily access their bag in the course of a lesson and must move from their seated position to the hook, and return, if the bag is to be accessed.

It would be desirable if students could access their bag or satchel without having to move away from their seat. One proposal to meet this desirable outcome is that disclosed in US Patent No. 5,860,697 (Fewchuk and assigned to the present applicant) where the student's bag or satchel is hung from a hook or lug located at the upper edge of the backrest of a chair. Whilst this proposal was generally advantageous, it suffered from a number of problems, particularly i that the bags to some extend obstruct the aisles between the rows of desks, and the weight of the bag made the chair more likely to tip over.

Genesis of the Invention

The genesis of the present invention is a desire to enable school bags to be accessed by school children without leaving the location of their seat and in such a manner that the aisles between adjacent desks or benches are not cluttered and the seats are not liable to tip over.

Summary of the Invention

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a chair or stool for use by school children having a bag or satchel with at least one loop or equivalent portion by means of which the bag can be suspended, said chair or stool comprising a seat mounted above a floor engaging leg structure the lower portions of which delineate a floor area occupied by said chair or stool, said seat and floor area comprising the upper and lower extremities of a volume bounded by said leg structure, wherein a hook means connected to said chair or stool is located below said seat and within said volume whereby said bag can be suspended from said hook means and substantially within said volume.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a method of suspending a bag or satchel, with at least one loop or equivalent portion by means of which the bag can be suspended, from a chair or stool, said chair or stool comprising a seat mounted above a floor engaging leg structure having a volume bounded by said seat, said legs, and a floor area delineated by the lower portions of said legs, and having a centre of gravity located within said volume, said method comprising the step of locating a hook means within said volume and from which said bag can be suspended, whereby the centre of gravity of said bag and said chair or stool in combination remains within said volume and is located below the centre of gravity of said chair or stool without said suspended bag.

Brief Description of the Drawings

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view from the front and above of the school stool of the preferred embodiment,

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the stool of Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the stool of Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the stool of Fig. 1 , Fig. 5 is an inverted plan view of the stool of Fig. 1 ,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view from above and the rear of the stool of Fig. 1 , Fig. 7 is a perspective view from the rear but looking from a lower angle than in Fig. 6, and .

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the stool of Figs. 1 -7.

Detailed Description

As seen in the drawings, the stool 1 has a seat 2 which is preferably formed from injection moulded plastics material such as polypropylene, and a leg structure 3 which is preferably formed from steel rod of circular cross-section. The seat 2 preferably slopes downwardly towards its front edge as best seen in Fig. 8.

The leg structure 3 has a right front leg 5, a right rear leg 6, a left front leg 7 and a left rear leg 8. The lower portions of the right front leg 5 and right rear leg 6 are interconnected by means of a right foot 1 1 . Similarly, the lower portions of the left front leg 7 and left rear leg 8 are interconnected by means of a left foot 12. The front legs 5, 7 are interconnected by means of a first lower cross brace 13 which forms a foot rest. The directions right, left, front and rear are with respect to a notional sitter sitting on the stool.

As seen in Fig. 5, the upper portions of the right legs 5, 6 are interconnected by means of a right top rail 15 and the upper portions of the left leg 7, 8 are similarly interconnected by means of a left top rail 16. The seat 2 is secured to the top rails 15,

16 by means of screw fasteners or the like.

The upper portions of the front legs 5, 7 are interconnected by means of a second upper cross brace 18 and the upper portions of the rear legs 6, 8 are interconnected by means of a third upper cross brace 19. The cross brace 19 is kinked so as to form a rearwardly projecting hook 20 which, as best seen in Fig. 7, in addition to projecting rearwardly also projects upwardly.

As a consequence of the above described arrangement, as seen in Fig. 8 a bag or satchel 22 having two shoulder straps 23 in the manner of a haversack (or rucksack) only one of which illustrated in Fig. 8, is able to be suspended from the hook 20 as illustrated.

It will be apparent from Figs. 1 to 4 that the leg structure 3 defines a slightly tapered volume of generally rectangular horizontal cross-section which is delineated by the legs 5-8, the feet 1 1 , 12 and the seat 2. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that with the chair in the condition illustrated in Fig. 1 (that is to say without the bag 22), the centre of gravity Of the stool 1 lies roughly centrally within the

abovementioned volume and, because of the weight of the seat 2, somewhat above the centre of the volume. However, it will be apparent from Fig. 8 that when the bag 22 is suspended on the hook 20, the weight of the bag moves the centre of gravity of the combination so that the centre of gravity is somewhat towards the rear, and somewhat lower within the volume than is the case without the bag 22. Most importantly, · however, the overall arrangement is still very stable because the centre of gravity is located within the abovementioned volume.

As a consequence of the abovedescribed arrangements, the bag 22 is located substantially entirely within the volume above the floor area between the feet 1 1 , 12 and thus the bag 22 does not occupy any floor space which is not already occupied. As a result, the bag 22 cannot encroach upon the aisle areas between adjacent stools when the stools are arranged adjacent rows of desks, for example. In addition, the stool 1 is not liable to tip over whilst supporting the bag 22.

The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the furniture arts, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, the seat 2 can be provided with a backrest 26 as illustrated in phantom in Fig. 8 thereby converting a stool into a chair. For example, the seat and backrest of the abovementioned US Patent No. 5,860,697 can be positioned above the leg structure 3. In addition, if desired the four legs 5-8 can have free end, or the stool can have only three legs. The term "comprising" (and its grammatical variations) as used herein is used inclusive sense of "including" or "having" and not in the exclusive sense of "consisting only of '.

Claims

1. A chair or stool for use by school children having a bag or satchel with at least one loop or equivalent portion by means of which the bag can be suspended, said chair or stool comprising a seat mounted above a floor engaging leg structure the lower portions of which delineate a floor area occupied by said chair or stool, said seat and floor area comprising the upper and lower extremities of a volume bounded by said leg structure, wherein a hook means connected to said chair or stool is located below said seat and within said volume whereby said bag can be suspended from said hook means and substantially within said volume.

2. The chair or stool as claimed in claim 1 wherein said leg structure comprises a left front leg, a left rear leg, a right front leg, a right rear leg, a left foot interconnecting the lower ends of said left legs, and a right foot

interconnecting the lower ends of said right legs.

3. The chair or stool as claimed in claim 2 wherein a cross brace interconnects the upper portions of said rear legs and includes said hook means.

■ 4. The chair or stool as claimed in claim 3 wherein said cross brace extends rearwardly and upwardly to form said hook means.

5. The chair or stool as claimed in claim 4 wherein said cross brace comprises a kinked rod.

6. The chair or stool as claimed in any one of claims 1 -5 wherein a foot rest extends between said front legs.

7. The chair or stool as claimed in any one of claims 1 -6 wherein said seat has a front edge and a rear edge with said front edge being lower than said rear edge.

8. The chair or stool as claimed in any one of claims 1 -7 wherein said seat

includes a backrest whereby said chair or stool comprises a chair.

9. The chair or stool as claimed in any one of claims 1-7 wherein said seat does not include a backrest whereby said chair or stool comprises a stool.

10. A method of suspending a bag or satchel, with at least one loop or equivalent portion by means of which the bag can be suspended, from a chair or stool, said chair or stool comprising a seat mounted above a floor engaging leg structure having a volume bounded by said seat, said legs, and a floor area delineated by the lower portions of said legs, and having a centre of gravity located within said volume, said method comprising the step of locating a hook means within said volume and from which said bag can be suspended, whereby the centre of gravity of said bag and said chair or stool in combination remains within said volume and is located below the centre of gravity of said chair or stool without said suspended bag.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10 including the further step of forming said hook means from a kinked cross-brace which extends between a pair of said legs.