NZ547244A - Retractable television mounting - Google Patents

Abstract

A retractable television mounting 10 for mounting a television having a thin flat panel television screen 11 with a front face12 and housing 13. The mounting 10 includes a support structure including mounting means for the television and an elevating mechanism. The elevating mechanism includes drive means, a control means and a telescopically extendable upright linear lifting mechanism having at least three telescoping arms.

Description

No.: Date: NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION RETRACTABLE TELEVISION MOUNTING Karinga Furniture Pty Ltd of 10-12 Dreamhaven Court, Epping, Victoria 3076, Australia hereby declare(s) the invention, for which it pray(s) that a patent may be granted to it, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: 1 lINTE^^ }" MAR 2007 SiLCjETVE o I RETRACTABLE TELEVISION MOUNTING Field in the Invention This invention relates to a retractable television mounting for a television having a relatively thin flat panel television screen with a front face which is presented to a user and a housing surrounding the periphery of the front face and extending behind the front face. A bed incorporating a television and the mounting is also described.

Background of the invention Over recent years televisions having flat panel relatively thin television screens, e.g. based on LCD or plasma screen technology, have become affordable for relatively large numbers of people, making them more versatile, e.g. in complementing the decor of living spaces. In bedrooms it is known for such thin or flat panel televisions to be mounted in or on a cabinet, or on a wall, beyond the foot of a bed so that a user can sit or lie in bed watching broadcast or recorded programs. However, such mounting can be too distant from the user for comfortable visibility or maximum enjoyment.

It has been proposed to provide a passive projection screen at the foot of a bed, the screen being capable of being retracted into or adjacent the foot of the bed when it is not being used. A broadcast television or recorded video program can then be projected from an overhead position above the user lying or sitting on the bed onto the elevated screen. However, the quality of such projected images may not be as good as the thin or flat panel television screens now available.

The above references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in other countries.

It would be advantageous if televisions with flat panel thin television screens could be effectively mounted so as to be retractable, e.g. at the foot of a bed, or in association with olher furniture pieces, or in other aesthetically desirable decors, or in primarily functional environments, including in domestic, commercial, office, industrial or other environments.

Summary of the invention According to the present invention there is provided a retractable television mounting for a television having a relatively thin flat panel television screen with a front face which is presented to a user and a housing surrounding the periphery of the front face and extending behind the front face, the television mounting including: a support structure including a mounting means for the television screen and an elevating mechanism for raising the mounting means from a retracted stored position to an elevated position in which the television screen is presented for viewing by the user, the elevating mechanism including drive means and an associated control means selectably operable to raise the mounting means and the television screen mounted thereby in response to operation of the control means by the user; and wherein the elevating mechanism includes at least one telescopically extendable upright linear lifting mechanism having at least three telescoping arms.

Preferably the elevating mechanism is operative to provide a lifting travel length at least equal to the height from a base of the support structure to a top extremity of the support structure so as to thereby elevate the top edge of the television screen to a height equal to or greater than twice the height at which the top edge of the television screen is located above the base when the mounting means is in the retracted stored position.

Preferably the elevating mechanism is operative to raise the mounting means sufficiently so that the television screen mounted thereby is raised entirely above the level at which the top extremity of the support structure is located the mounting means is in its stored position.

Also the retractable television mounting preferably further includes a shield to restrict access to the rear of the television screen, the shield being located behind the television screen and having a lower portion extending below the bottom edge of the television screen and the housing to restrict access to the television screen and its housing from behind and below when the mounting means is in its elevated position.

In a retractable television mounting according to the invention, the lower portion of the shield preferably has a compact stored condition which it adopts when the mounting means is in its stored position and an enlarged operative condition having greater height than when in its stored condition so as to increase the height of the entire shield restricting access to the rear of the television screen and housing when the mounting means and television screen mounted thereby is raised from its retracted stored position to its elevated position. The lower portion of the shield may include a skirt having a lower edge which is raised in the compact stored condition thereof and which moves downwardly relative to the main body of the shield under gravity as the elevating mechanism raises the mounting means and shield upwardly from the retracted stored position whereby the skirt increases the effective height of the entire shield which restricts access to the rear. In one possible construction, the shield includes a shielding panel mounted by the support structure behind the location of the television screen and its housing and the lower portion includes a solid skirt panel mounted at the lower edge of the shielding panel and which is movable relative to the shielding panel to adopt a lesser height as the support structure and the shielding panel mounted thereby approach and reach the retracted stored position. The skirt panel may be mounted to the shielding panel for vertical sliding movement relative to the shielding panel.

In a retractable television mounting according to the invention, the mounting means preferably provides a mounting formation to cooperatively receive complementary mounting fittings associated with the television screen and its housing. The mounting formation may be mounted on the shield whereby the complementary mounting fittings seem ed lo the screen housing behind the front face can be coupled to the mounting formation so as to be selectably releasable therefrom for installation, servicing or replacing of the television screen.

In a retractable television mounting according to the invention, the elevating mechanism may include two spaced telescopically extendible upright linear lifting mechanisms each having at least three telescoping arms and between which the shield extends and by which the mounting means is carried, the drive means being operative to synchronously and reversibly operate the telescopingly extendible upright linear lifting mechanisms to elevate the mounting means and shield from the retracted stored position to the elevated posi tion and vice versa. Each of the linear lifting mechanisms may comprise an electrically operable telescopically extendable linear lifting member between which, the shield extends.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a bed having a bed base, a bed head and a bed foot, the bed foot having a top beneath which there is a cavity in which is located a television mounted by a retractable television mounting according to either the first aspect of the invention, the top of the bed foot having an opening aligned with the cavity so that the television screen mounted by the mounting can be raised from its retracted stored position entirely within the cavity and below the top of the bed foot to an elevated position in which a front face of the television is entirely above the top of the bed foot and faces the bed head, the shield and its lower portion when the mounting means is in the elevated position extending upward! v behind the housing of the television screen from a level substantially at the level of the top of the bed base.

Preferably the bed is further provided with a top panel which extends across the width between the lifting mechanisms, and which closes the opening in the cavity when the mounting means and the television screen are in the retracted stored position in the bed foot, and which remains horizontal throughout raising and lowering of the mounting means and the television screen.

Brief description of the drawings Possible and preferred features of the present invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings. However it is to be understood that the features illustrated in and described with reference to the drawings are not to be construed as limiting on the scope of the invention. In the drawings: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view from the front or viewing side of main components of a retractable television mounting embodying the invention in use, and Figure 2 is a rear perspective view of the retractable television mounting in use in the foot of abed and shown in its elevated condition.

Description of preferred embodiment The drawings show a retractable television mounting 10 for a television having a relatively thin fiat panel television screen 11 having a front face 12 which is presented to a user and housing 13 surrounding the front face 3 2 and extending behind the front face. The television mounting is being used in assembly with a bed 20 having a bed base 21. a bed head 22, and a bed foot 23 which has a top 24 (which has movable panel 25) beneath which there is a cavity 28. The television screen 1 i is mounted by the mounting 10.

The mounting 10 includes a support structure 30 which includes a mounting means 3 i for the screen 1 ' and an elevating mechanism 36 for raisins the mounting means 31 from a retracted stored position within the cavity 28 to an elevated position (as shown in the drawings) in which the screen 11 is presented for viewing by the user. The elevating mechanism 36 includes drive means 37 and an associated control means 38 which is selectively operable by the user to raise the mounting means 31 and the television screen 1 1 mounted thereby in response to operation of the control means 38 by the user.

A shield 40 restricts access to the rear of the television screen 11. The shield 40 is located behind the television screen and has a lower portion 41 extending below the bottom edge of the television screen 11 and its housing 13 to restrict access to the television screen and its housing from behind and below when the mounting means 31 is in its elevated position (see Fig. 2).

The elevating mechanism 36 provides a lifting travel length at least equal to, and in the illustrated preferred embodiment greater than, the height from a base 50 of the support structure 30 to a top extremity of the support structure (where the top movable panel 25 of the bed base 23 can be mounted). In this way the top edge of the television screen 11 is elevated to a height equal to, or in the illustrated preferred embodiment to a height greater than, twice the height at which the top edge of the television screen 11 is located above the base 50 when the mounting means 31 is in the retracted stored position.

In the illustrated embodiment, the elevating mechanism 36 is operative to raise the mounting means 31 sufficiently so that the television screen 11 mounted thereby is raised entirely above the level where the top extremity of the support structure i s located when the mounting means 31 is in its stored position (i.e. at or immediately below the level of the top 24 of the bed base 23). That is, the height A of the elevating mechanism 36 when fully retracted is equal to or less than the height B of the bed base 23 so that the retracted support assembly can fit entirely within the cavity 28 in the bed base 23. However, when fully elevated, the height C is at least equal to, and preferably greater than, twice the height A so that the television screen 11, including its bottom edge, will be elevated entirely above the level of the top 24 of the bed base 23, as shown in broken line in Fig. o In the illustrated embodiment, the elevating mechanism 36 includes two telescopically extendible upright linear lifting mechanisms 45, 46, each having three telescoping arms. The lifting mechanisms 45. 46 may comprise for example two spaced linear mechanisms between which the shield 40 extends and by which the mounting means 31 is carried. A drive means 37 is provided within each lifting mechanism 45, 46 and the respective drive means operate synchronously and reversiblv to elevate the mounting means 31 and shield 40 from the retracted stored position to the elevated position and vice versa. Each of the linear lifting mechanism 45, 46 can comprise an electrically operable telescopically extendible linear lifting member between which the shield 40 extends. Suitable linear lifting mechanisms 45. 46 may be electric linear actuators or lifting columns, e.g. of the kind manufactured by Linak A/S (website: www.linak.com) such as Linak "Desklift DL3" lifting columns. The stroke length of each lifting column may for example extend the overall length of the column from about 575 mm when fully retracted to about 1250 mm when fully extended.

The lower portion 41 of the shield 40 has a compact stored position which it adopts when the mounting means 31 is in stored position and an enlarged operative condition (Fig. 2) having greater height than when in its stored condition so as to increase the height of the entire shield 40 and thus restrict access to the rear of the television screen 11 and housing 13 when the mounting means 31 and television screen 11 are raised. In the drawings, the lower portion 41 comprises a skirt 42 having a lower edge 43 which is raised in the compact stored condition and which moves downwardly relative to the main body of the shield 40 under gravity as the elevating mechanism 36 raises the mounting means 31 and shield 40 upwardly from the retracted stored position so that the skirt 42 increases the effective height of the entire shield 40 which restricts access to the rear. In the drawings, the shield 40 comprises a main shielding panel 51 mounted behind the location of the television screen 11 and its housing 13. The lower portion 41 comprises a solid skirt panel 42 mounted at the lower edge of the main shielding panel 51 and movable relative to the panel 51 to adopt a lesser height as the support structure and the shielding panel 51 mounted thereby approach and reach the retracted stored position. This is achieved by mounting the skirt panel 42 to the shielding panel 51 for vertical sliding movement relative to the shielding panel 51 by providing upright slots 52 in the skirt panel through which pins 53 project, the pins 53 having enlarged heads to retain the skirt panel 42 as it vertically moves relative to the main shielding panel 51.

Instead of the illustrated sliding skirt panel 42, the apparatus may provide functionally equivalent shielding such as a shielding panel which concertinas to adopt a lesser height when the assembly is retracted.

In the illustrated embodiment, the mounting means 31 provides a mounting formation 32 to cooperatively receive complementary mounting fittings 33 associated with the television screen 11 and its housing 13. The mounting formation 32 is mounted on the shield 40, particularly on the inside face of the main shielding panel 51, although if desired, the formation 32 could be provided elsewhere, e.g. at suitable locations on the elevating mechanism 36 or beneath the top panel 25. As illustrated, the complementary mounting fittings 33 can be secured to the screen housing 13 behind the front face 12 and can be coupled to the mounting formation 32 so as to be selectively releasable therefrom for easy installation, servicing or replacing of the television screen 11.

In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the mounting formation 32 comprises a hooked rail and the mounting fittings 33 comprise complementary hook members 34 having hook formations at their upper ends. The hook members 34 can be vertically slotted members through which screw's 35 can be passed into a rear portion of the housing 13. The use of such slotted hook members 34 and complementary hook shaped mounting rail 32 enables television screens 11 made by different manufacturers and thus having differing housing configurations and fittings to be mounted by the retractable television mounting of the present invention without needing to modify the construction and configuration of the support structure 30, elevating mechanism 36, shield 40, or the construction and configuration of the bed 20.

In use of the retractable television mounting 10 as described and illustrated in the drawings, the top 24 of the bed foot 23 has an opening 26 aligned with the cavity 28 so that the television screen 11 mounted by the mounting 10 can be stored in a retracted position entirely within the cavity 28. The television mounting 10 can be raised to an elevated position in which the front face 12 is entirely above the top 24 of the bed foot 23 and faces the bed head 22 so that a user can sit or lie on the bed 20 and see the front face 12 entirely elevated above the mattress and other bedding on the bed base 21, and above the user's feet. As seen in Fig. 2, the shield 40 including its lower portion 41 when the mounting means 10 is in the elevated position extends upwardly from a level slightly below or substantially at the level of the top 24 of the bed base 23 so as to substantially entirely cover the rear of the housing 13 of the television screen 11 and thereby prevent access to the rear of the housing and to cabling or the like extending from the television screen 11 downwardly into the bed base 23 (and thence to an input power source and to user controls).

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the preferred embodiment of the retractable television mounting can provide a versatile, aesthetically pleasing, robust, and safe mechanism for enabling selective retraction of a television screen. The mounting can be used as particularly described in the bed base of a bed. However, it will be appreciated that the mounting can be provided as a separate modular unit which can be used in other environments, e.g. in a sideboard, entertainment unit, bench top, desk 11 top, shop counter, wall cavity, or other analogous situations. The retractable television mounting can be the central part of a furniture piece in itself, e.g. appearing as a compact box or the like freestanding on a floor but which, upon user selection and operation of a control, can vertically extend to present the television screen for viewing.

It is to be understood that various alterations, modifications and/or additions may be made to the features of the possible and preferred embodiment(s) of the invention as herein described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

Claims (15)

1. A retractable television mounting for a television having a relatively thin flat panel television screen with a front face which is presented to a user and a housing surrounding the periphery of the front face and extending behind the front face, the television mounting including: a support structure including a mounting means for the television screen and an elevating mechanism for raising the mounting means from a retracted stored position to an elevated position in which the television screen is presented for viewing by the user, the elevating mechanism including drive means and an associated control means selectably operable to raise the mounting means and the television screen mounted thereby in response to operation of the control means b}' the user; and wherein the elevating mechanism includes at least one telescopically extendable upright linear lifting mechanism having at least three telescoping arms.

2. A retractable television mounting as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elevating mechanism is operative to provide a lifting travel length at least equal to the height from a base of the support structure to a top extremity of the support structure so as to thereby elevate the top edge of the television screen to a height equal to or greater than twice the height at which the top edge of the television screen is located above the base when the mounting means is in the retracted stored position.

3. A retractable television mounting as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the elevating mechanism is operative to raise the mounting means sufficiently so that the television screen mounted thereby is raised entirely above the level at which the top extremity of the support structure is located when the mounting means is in its stored position.

4. A retractable television mounting as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and further including a shield to restrict access to the rear of the television screen, the shield being located behind the television screen and having a lower portion extending below the bottom edge of the television screen and the housing to restrict access to the television screen and its housing from behind and below when the mounting means is in its elevated position.

5. A retractable television mounting as claimed in claim 4 wherein the lower portion of the shield has a compact stored condition which it adopts when the mounting means is in its stored position and an enlarged operative condition having greater height than when in its stored condition so as to increase the height of the entire shield restricting access to the rear of the television screen and housing when the mounting means and television screen mounted thereby is raised from its retracted stored position to its elevated position.

6. A retractable television mounting as claimed in claim 5 wherein the lower portion of the shield includes a skirt having a lower edge which is raised in the compact stored condition thereof and which moves downwardly relative to the main body of the shield under gravity as the elevating mechanism raises the mounting means and shield upwardly from the retracted stored position whereby the skirt increases the effective height of the entire shield which restricts access to the rear.

7. A retractable television mounting as claimed in claim 6 wherein the shield includes a shielding panel mounted by the support structure behind the location of the television screen and its housing and wherein the lower portion includes a solid skirt panel mounted at the lower edge of the shielding panel and being movable relative to the shielding panel to adopt a lesser height as the support structure and the shielding panel mounted thereby approach and reach the retracted stored position.

8. A retractable television mounting as claimed in claim 7 wherein the skirt panel is mounted to the shielding panel for vertical sliding movement relative to the shielding panel.

9. A retractable television mounting as claimed in claim 4 wherein the mounting means provides a mounting formation to cooperatively receive complementary mounting fittings associated with the television screen and its housing.

10. A retractable television mounting as claimed in claim 9 wherein the mounting formation is mounted on the shield whereby the complementary mounting fittings secured to the screen housing behind the front face can be coupled to the mounting Formation so as to he selectably releaseable therefrom for installation, servicing or replacing of the television screen.

11. A retractable television mounting as claimed in claim. 4 wherein the elevating mechanism includes two spaced telescopically extendible upright linear lifting mechanisms each having at least three telescoping arms and between which the shield extends and by which the mounting means is carried, the drive means being operative to synchronously and reversibly operate the telescopically extendible upright linear lifting mechanisms to elevate die mounting means and shield from the retracted stored position to the elevated position and vice versa.

12. A bed having a bed base, a bed head and a bed foot, the bed foot having a top beneath which there is a cavity in which is located a television mounted by a retractable television mounting as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 12, the top of the bed foot having an opening aligned with the cavity so that the television screen mounted by the mounting can be raised from its retracted stored position entirely within the cavity and below the top of the bed foot to an elevated position in which a front face of the television is entirely above the top of the bed foot and faces the bed head, the shield and 15 its lower portion when the mounting means is in the elevated position extending level of the top of the bed base.

13. A bed as claimed in claim 12 wherein there is provided a top panel which extends across the width between the lifting mechanisms, and which closes the opening in the cavity when the mounting means and the television screen are in the retracted stored position in the bed foot, and which remains horizontal throughout raising and lowering of the mounting means and the television screen.

14. A retractable television mounting substantially as herein before described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings.

15. A bed substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 16 THIS PAGE IS BLANK 17