US2962089A - Chair construction - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 29, 1960 M, R, HEN 2,962,089

CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Filed March 14, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 @%em a g Nov. 29, 1960 M. R. COHEN 0mm CONSTRUCTION Filed March 14, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fov/ fzi azeza Uniticd States Patent CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Morton R. Cohen, 5490 S. South Shore Drive, Chicago, Ill.

Filed Mar. 14, 1957, Ser. No. 646,015

1 Claim. (01. 155-194 This invention relates generally to furniture and more particularly is concerned wtih the construction of a chair of the type commonly referred to as a bridge or kitchen chair, although the use of the chair of the invention is not intended to be limited by the designation thereof.

The primary object of the invention lies in the provision of an extremely simple and durable chair which is possessed of great strength and stability.

Many other objects flow from the primary object, and these relate -to the advantages achieved because of the simplicity and strength of construction of the chair.

An important factor in the cost of a given article of furniture to the ultimate consumer is the costs of preassembly, shipping and storage, and chairs are no exception. Storage, insurance, and shipping charges on knocked down, that is dis-assembled furniture are all substantially less than furniture which has been assembled at the factory and is stored or shipped in that form. In addition to the problems of increased charges by others, the cost of packing and handling are much greater.

The chair of the invention herein is so constructed that it is extremely simple to assemble and hence is readily put together by the householder with only the use of a screwdriver. Because of this even the retailer can sell the chair in knocked down condition, using an assembled sample for display purposes. The chair is constructed in such a manner that, when assembled, the parts support and brace one another in a novel manner.

It is, therefore, another object to achieve the advantages set forth above.

The chair of the invention is formed of an upholstered back and seat having tubular metal legs and back bracing members, and another object of the invention is to eliminate from the construction of a tubular metal chair, the bending forces which usually render such chairs wobbly and unstable and likely to become shaky.

Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in this art as a description of the preferred embodiment is set forth hereinafter in some detail. In connection with such description, I have illustrated the preferred embodiment in accordance with the requirements of the patent statutes in the drawings appended hereto, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a chair constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a rear perspecitve exploded view of the chair illustrating all of the parts thereof.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the chair taken generally along the line 3-3 of Fig. 4 and in the indicated direction.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of the chair.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the chair taken generally along the line 5-5 of Fig. 3 and in the direction indicated to show certain constructional details.

Generally the chair of the invention is of the type which is used for general utility purposes and thus has a straight back which may be provided with a back rest padded or upholstered in any conventional manner. The

upright support means for the back and the legs of the chair are formed of bent metal tubing of the usual types, such as for example seamed or seamless steel covered with suitable ornamental coatings. The seat is of conventional construction also.

The invention is characterized, as will more fully be brought out hereinafter, by the provision of unusually long upright support means for the backrest, connected by an integral transverse bar, secured to the rear legs and having a substantial portion thereof parallel with and secured to said rearlegs to provide the sturdiness and stability above referred to. e e 7 Referring now to the drawings, the chair is designated generally by the reference character 10, and it willbe seen that there is provided an upholstered or otherwise padded seat member 12 covered with any' suitable flexible material such as the well-knownplastic sheeting, a padded back rest member 14, a substantially U-shaped upright back rest support means 16, and substantially U-shaped leg members 18 and 20 secured to the seat member 12 on the bottom thereof.

The seat member 12 may be of any conventional construction providing a base or support frame member 22 of wood or the like (see Fig. 3) on the bottom thereof to which the fastening means 24 and 26 are adapted to' be secured. The leg members 18 and 20 are identical and hence the same characters will be applied to both. They are of inverted U-shaped formation, each having a front leg upright 28 and a rear leg upright 30 connected across the upper ends thereof by the transverse horizontal support bar 32. The leg members are of metal tubing integrally formed and bent to shape by any of the well known bending techniques. Suitable perforations are provided in the support bars 32, the rear perforations 34 (Fig. 2) accommodating the fastening means 24 and the front perforations 36 accommodating the fastening means 26. Since principal pull-out force is applied at the front of the chair, the front fastening means preferably comprise mach-ine screws passing through the base 22 and each engaging a threaded nut 38 suitably secured on the interior of the seat to the base member 22. The rear fastening means 24 may be suitable wood screws engaging the base member 22.

The rear leg uprights 30 are canted rearwardly at a greater angle than the front leg upright 28 for rear tipping stability of the chair. The leg uprights may have any suitable friction feet on the bottom ends thereof as shown at 40.

The upright back rest support means 16 is of U-shaped formation, providing a pair of similar side uprights 42' each of which is inserted upwardly into suitable recesses provided in the bottom of the back rest 14 and preferably locked in place by means not shown or of pertinence to the invention. The lower end of the support means comprises a transverse integral cross bar 44 which is spaced considerably below the level of the seat member 12. At approximately the level of the seat member 12, the uprights 42 each have a slight curve or bend 46 so that the portions of the uprights 42 above the seat member 12 may slant upward and backward rendering the chair comfortable, While the portions 48 of the uprights 42 below the bends 46 may be slanted downward and backward the better to conform to the line of the rear leg uprights 30.

The length of the cross bar 44 is such that the portions 48 engage upon the inside of the leg uprights 30 along a substantial portion thereof. The engaged parts are firmly secured together by machine screws 50 which pass through suitable perforations 52 in the portions 48 and engage in the blind swage'd nuts 54 installed in the leg uprights 30 in alignment therewith. Obviously the tubular members are countersunk to render the heads of the screws 50 flush.

The cross bar 44 serves several purposes. In the first place because of its being Spaced below the level of the seat member 12, it exerts greater bracing for the moment tending to bend the leg members 18 and 20 relative the seat member 12. These moments for each member rotate about the axes defined by the respective support bars 32 and tend to loosen the fastening means. In the second place, because the bar is spaced so low it provides the edge-to-edge engagement between thepa'rts 48 and the rear leg uprights 30 along a substantial length rigiditying and strengthening the chair. In the third place, it provides considerably more support for the back rest support means 16 than has been the case with prior chairs, thereby preventing the constant pressure upon the back to tend to loosen the fastening members or weaken the chair.

From the exploded view of Fig. 2, it will be obvious that the chair can be disassembled to small parts readily packaged in small cartons. It will also be seen that by using a screw driver and inserting only eight screws the chair is easily put together by one without any but ordinary mechanical aptitude.

It is believed that the advantages will be appreciated and the invention understood without further explanation, and it is desired to point out that the details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts are capable of being considerably varied without in any way departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Iclaim:

In a chair construction having a seat member and a back rest member, a pair of inverted U-shaped integral members each having front and rear' leg uprights and a connecting transverse support bar, and a back rest support member having vertically arranged side uprights and a transverse cross-bar integral with and connecting the bottom ends of said side uprights across the rear of the chair spaced a substantial distance below the seat member, the U-shaped leg members being secured to the bottom of the seat member and the back rest support member being secured to the rear leg uprights, said leg uprights being canted Iearwardly, the angle at which the rear leg uprights are canted being greater than that of the front leg uprights, said side uprights being bent adjacent the horizontal plane of the seat member to dis pose portions thereof below said plane in substantial alignment with the rear leg uprights, said transverse cross-bar being of predetermined length to locate said portions of the side uprights each in abutting engagement with a rear leg upright and between and secured to said rear leg uprights.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,073,693 Hanauer Mar. 16, 1937 2,578,397 Brown Dec. 11, 1951 2,656,881 Hamilton Oct. 27, 1953 2,706,518 Fleischer Apr. 19, 1955 2,710,053 Hamilton June 7, 1955 2,711,787 Hallowell, et a1 June 28, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 376,251 Great Britain July 5, 1932 437,230 Italy June 26, 1948 850,060 Germany Sept. 22, 1952 1,019,155 France Oct. 22, 1952 1,098,109 France Mar. 2, 1955 1,114,165 France Dec. 12, 1955

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