WO2011082553A1

WO2011082553A1 - An electric furniture frame assembly

Info

Publication number: WO2011082553A1
Application number: PCT/CN2010/070120
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dehui Deng
Original assignee: Great Fortune (Hk) Limited
Priority date: 2010-01-11
Filing date: 2010-01-11
Publication date: 2011-07-14

Abstract

An electric furniture frame assembly (100) is disclosed as including a base (102) and a frame (106) engaged with the base, in which the frame is selectively movable relative to the base in one of two modes of movement, and in the first mode of movement, the frame is swivellable relative to the base about a first axis (A-A), and in the second mode of movement, the frame is swivellable relative to the base about a second axis (C-C) which is non-parallel to the first axis. A cradle may be attached with the assembly to form an electric cradle or electric rocker, and a chair or seat may be attached with the assembly to form an electric glider.

Description

An Electric Furniture Frame Assembly

This invention relates to an electric furniture frame assembly, and in particular such an assembly to which a cradle may be attached to form an electric cradle or electric rocker to which a chair or seat may be attached to form an electric glider.

In conventional electric cradles, the cradle usually can be operated to move in one way only, e.g. reciprocate lengthwise or transversely, or swing about a generally longitudinal axis. Such conventional cradles therefore cannot cater for different needs of different babies, or even different needs of the same baby at different time.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an electric furniture frame assembly, an electric cradle, an electric rocker and an electric glider incorporating such an assembly in which the aforesaid shortcomings are mitigated, or at least to provide a useful alternative to the public.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric furniture frame assembly including a base and a frame engaged with said base, wherein said frame is selectively movable relative to said base in one of at least two modes of movement, wherein in said first mode of movement, said frame is swivellable relative to said base about a first axis, and wherein in said second mode of movement, said frame is swivellable relative to said base about a second axis which is non-parallel to said first axis. According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric cradle or electric rocker including an electric furniture frame assembly, said assembly including a base and a frame engaged with said base, wherein a cradle is attached with said frame, wherein said frame is selectively movable relative to said base in one of at least two modes of movement, wherein in said first mode of movement, said frame is swivellable relative to said base about a first axis, and wherein in said second mode of movement, said frame is swivellable relative to said base about a second axis which is non-parallel to said first axis.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electric glider including an electric furniture frame assembly, said assembly including a base and a frame engaged with said base, wherein a chair or seat is attached with said frame, wherein said frame is selectively movable relative to said base in one of at least two modes of movement, wherein in said first mode of movement, said frame is swivellable relative to said base about a first axis, and wherein in said second mode of movement, said frame is swivellable relative to said base about a second axis which is non-parallel to said first axis.

An electric furniture frame assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an electric furniture frame assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the assembly of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the assembly of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the assembly of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the assembly of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 6 is an bottom perspective view of the base of the assembly of Fig. 1 with a base cover removed for showing its interior parts;

Fig. 7 is a further bottom perspective view of the base of the assembly of Fig. 6, with an inner cover removed for showing further details;

Fig. 8 is a further bottom perspective view of the base of the assembly of Fig. 7 with the movement regulator in an alternative position;

Fig. 9 is a further bottom perspective view of the base of the assembly of Fig. 8 showing the movement converter in the movement regulator;

Fig. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the movement regulator of the assembly of Fig. 1 ; and

Fig. 11 is an enlarged exploded view of one of the gears in Fig. 10.

An electric furniture frame assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in Figs. 1 to 5 and generally designated as 100. The assembly 100, being an electric frame assembly for a household furniture, includes a base 102 with a generally planar bottom (not shown) for resting on a support surface, e.g. a floor (not shown). A frame 104 is engaged with the base 102 for movement relative to the base 102, to be discussed below. As shown in more detail in Fig. 5, the frame 104 is made up of an upper support frame 106 in the shape of a closed-loop, a front support 108 with a pair of support arms 110, and a rear support 112 with a pair of support arms 114.

The front support 108 has a body 11 6 with a through hole 118 through which a bolt 120 is received for engaging the front support 108 to a hole 122 on a front part 124 of the base 102. When so assembled, the front support 108 is swivellable relative to the front part 124 of the base 102 about a vertical longitudinal axis A-A of the bolt 120, simulating the motion of a mother when holding her baby. It can be seen that the axis A-A is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102.

The front support 108 is engaged with the upper frame 106 via two bolts 126 which are received within respective holes 128 at the upper ends of the support arms 110 of the front support 108 and corresponding respective holes 130 of the upper support frame 106. By way of such an arrangement, the upper support frame 106 is swivellable relative to the front support 108 (and thus the base 102) about a common horizontal longitudinal axis C-C of the bolts 126, which is perpendicular to both the axis A-A and the axis B-B discussed above, simulating the motion of a mother holding her baby.

As to the rear support 112, the two support arms 114 are engaged with a body 132 which is engaged with and movable relative to a movement regulator 134 in the base 102 of the assembly 100, to be further discussed below.

At the free longitudinal end of each support arm 114 of the rear support 112 is a tunnel structure 136 for receiving therein a portion of the support frame 106, and the tunnel structures 136 are slidable relative to the support frame 106.

When duly assembled, and if the movement regulator 134 is positioned such that a slot 138 (as shown in solid line in Figs. 1 and 3) is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102, the body 132 of the rear support 112 may reciprocate relative to the movement regulator 134 along the slot 138, i.e. perpendicular to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102. In this scenario, the upper support frame 106 and the front support 108 are swivellable relative to the base 102 about the axis A-A, in the direction indicated by the bi-directional arrow D-D in Fig. 3.

If the movement regulator 134 is swivelled by 90°, it is positioned such that the slot (shown in dotted lines and designated as 138' in Figs. 1 and 3) is parallel to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102, the body 132 of the rear support 112 may then reciprocate relative to the movement regulator 134 along the slot 138', i.e. parallel to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102. In this scenario, because the portions of the upper support frame 106 over which the tunnel structures 136 of the support arms 114 travel are slanted relative to the horizontal plane, the to-and-fro movement of the support arms 114 of the rear support 112 in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102 will cause the frame 1 06 to swivel relative to the front support 110 and the base 102 about the axis C-C, in the direction indicated by the bi-directional arrow E-E in Fig. 4.

It can thus be seen that the mode of movement of the upper support frame 106 relative to the base 102 can be selectively changed by changing the orientation of the movement regulator 134, in particular the orientation of the slot 138 of the movement regulator 134 relative to the base 102.

A cradle (not shown), e.g. formed of a piece of fabric or various other materials, may be attached to the support frame 106 to form an electric cradle or electric rocker for containing a baby or toddler, such that the cradle is selectively movable in one of the two modes of movement discussed above. A baby may be kept in the cradle during change of the mode of movement. Similarly, a chair or seat may be attached to the support frame 106 to form an electric glider. As shown in Fig. 6, an inner cover 140 is fixedly secured to the base 102 and over the movement regulator 134 of the assembly 100. To an upper inner surface 142 of the cover 140 is fixedly secured a quarter-circle rack 144 with teeth on its inner side. As it is necessary to describe the operational relationship between the quarter-circle rack 144 and the parts of the movement regulator 134, the quarter-circle rack 144 is shown in both Figs. 7 and 8, despite removal of the inner cover 140. It should however be understood that as the quarter-circle rack 144 is fixedly secured to the base 102, the quarter-circle rack 144 is also fixedly secured to, and thus stationary relative to, the base 102.

Fig. 9 shows the base 102 with the movement regulator 134 removed, thus showing a movement converter 146. The movement regulator 134 is engaged with the movement converter 146 for simultaneous swivelling movement about their common longitudinal axis F-F which, when the movement regulator 134 and the movement converter 146 are duly assembled with the base 102, is parallel to the axis A-A.

As shown in Fig. 9, the movement converter 146 has a pair of parallel rails 148 fixedly secured to a circular wall 150 of the movement converter 146, and defining therebetween the slot 138. A cross-bar 152 with a longitudinal slot 153 is engaged with the rails 148 for to-and-fro movement relative to the rails 148 in the direction indicated by the bi-directional arrow G-G, i.e. perpendicular to the length of the rails 148. A connection pin (not shown) which is fixed relative to the body 132 of the rear support 112 extends from below the body 132 of the rear support 112 through the slot 138, and is engaged with recesses 154 of the cross-bar 152 for simultaneous movement with the cross-bar 152. Thus, to-and-fro movement of the cross-bar 152 relative to the rails 148 will bring about corresponding to-and-fro movement of the connection pin and the body 132 of the rear support 112 relative to and along the length of the slot 138 of the movement regulator 134.

It can also be seen that if and when the movement converter 146 is swivelled by 90° about its longitudinal axis F-F, the orientation of the slot 138 will also change accordingly. Turning now to Fig. 10, the movement regulator 134 includes a bridge portion

156, an upper gear box cover 158a and a lower gear box cover 158b encasing a gear chain with five gears 1 60, 1 62, 1 64, 1 66, 1 68 for rotation, an electric motor 170, and a cam wheel 172 with an eccentric pin 174 (i.e. not positioned at the centre of the cam wheel 172). The motor 170 may be run by dry batteries or rechargeable batteries housed in the base 102 or by municipal a.c. current.

The output spindle 176 of the motor 170 is in mesh with the gear 1 60, which is in turn in mesh with the gear 1 62. The gear 1 62 is in mesh with the gear 1 64. An upper square-prism-shaped spindle 178 of the gear 1 64 extends through the upper gear box cover 158a and is received within a correspondingly sized and shaped square hole 180 of a gear 182 received on the bridge portion 156. Thus, the gear 1 64 and the gear 180 are engaged with each other for rotation about a common longitudinal axis. The gear 182 is in mesh with a gear 184 on the bridge portion 156. A cover 186 covers both the gears 182, 184 and is fixedly engaged with the bridge portion 156. By way of such an arrangement, while the gears 182, 184 are rotatable relative to the bridge portion 156 about their respective longitudinal axis, they are otherwise movable simultaneously with the bridge portion 156. The gear 164 is in mesh with an upper gear 1 66d of the stepped gear 1 66, and a lower gear 1 66e of the stepped gear 166 is in mesh with the gear 1 68. A lower square-prism-shaped spindle 188 of the gear 1 68 extends through the lower gear box cover 158b and is received within a correspondingly shaped and sized square hole 190 of the cam wheel 172. Thus, the gear 1 68 is engaged with the cam wheel 172 for simultaneous rotational movement about their common longitudinal axis, and such will also bring about rotational movement of the pin 174.

It can thus be seen that, upon activation of the motor 170, the gears 160, 162, 1 64, 166, 1 68 will be set into rotational movement. In addition, as the gear 164 is set into rotational movement, so are the gears 182, 184. Similarly, as the gear 1 68 is set into rotational movement, so are the cam wheel 172 and the pin 174 carried by it. It should also be noted that if the direction of rotation of the output spindle 176 is reversed, the direction of rotation of the gear 182 will be reversed, which will bring about a reversal of the direction of rotation of the gear 184.

Fig. 11 shows an enlarged exploded view of the stepped gear 166 shown in Fig. 10. As shown in Fig. 11 , the stepped gear 1 66 includes a stopper 1 66a, a spring 1 66b, a pin 1 66c, an upper gear 1 66d and a lower gear 1 66e, which collectively form a clutch arrangement. The stepped gear 1 66 constitutes a safety arrangement for preventing malfunctioning of the assembly 100 when the weight carried by the support frame 106 is above the loading capacity of the motor 170, thus causing damage to the motor 170 and the gears in the gear chain. The pin 1 66c is received through a central through hole 1 66f of the upper gear

1 66d such that the upper gear 166d is rotatable relative to the pin 1 66c and is also movable relative to the pin 1 66c axially. On the other hand, the pin 1 66c is fixedly engaged with the pin 1 66c for simultaneous movement. On a lower surface of the upper gear 1 66d are a number of teeth 1 66g which are in mesh with a set of corresponding teeth 1 66h on an upper surface of the lower gear 1 66e.

The pin 1 66c is received through the spring 1 66b, and the stopper 1 66a keeps the spring 1 66d in place. By way of such an arrangement, and in normal operation, the spring 1 66b biases the upper gear 1 66d towards the lower gear 1 66e to keep the upper gear 1 66d and the lower gear 1 66e in a meshing relationship, such that the upper gear 1 66d and the lower gear 1 66e move (in particular rotate) simultaneously.

However, when the weight carried by the frame 104 (in particular by the upper support frame 106) is above the loading of the motor 170, the upper gear 1 66d will move away from the lower gear 1 66e against the biasing force of the spring 1 66b, and thus become out of mesh with the lower gear 1 66e, and thereby out of mesh with the gear 164. With the breakdown of the chain of power transmission, operation of the motor 170 will only cause the gears 1 60, 162, 1 64 to rotate without loading. As the gear 1 68 stops rotation, so does the cam wheel 172. Of course, when the weight carried by the frame 104 is brought to or below the loading capacity of the motor 170, the spring 1 66b will again serve its function of biasing the upper gear 1 66d and the lower gear 166e into meshing relationship, whereupon the gear chain 1 60, 162, 1 64, 1 66, 1 68 will resume normal operation. Returning now to Figs. 7 to 9, we assume here that the movement regulator 134 is initially at the position as shown in Fig. 7, and that the motor 170 causes the gear 184 to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow J. It should be understood that the gear 184 is on the same level as the quarter-circle rack 144 such that the gear 184 may be in mesh with the rack 144. However, in the position as shown in Fig. 7, rotation of the gear 184 in the direction indicated by the arrow J will cause the gear 184 to be just out of mesh with the rack 144. Thus, the movement regulator 134 will remain stationary relative to the base 102. Meanwhile, activation of the motor 170 causes the gear 1 68 (and thus the cam wheel 172) to rotate. The eccentric pin 174 carried by the cam wheel 172 is received within the longitudinal slot 153 of the cross-bar 152. Rotation of the cam wheel 172 (and thus of the eccentric 174) will cause the cross-bar 152 to reciprocate relative to the rails 148 in the direction indicated by the bi-directional arrow G-G, i.e. in the same direction as the length of the slot 138 of the movement regulator. The movement converter 146 thus converts circular movement of the cam wheel 172 and the pin 174 into linear to-and-fro movement of the cross-bar 152.

In this position, the slot 138 is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102. Thus, the body 132 of the rear support 112 will move along a path which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102, thus causing the support frame 106 (and the cradle/bed or chair/seat carried by it) to swivel about the axis A-A. In addition to the common ON/OFF button(s), the assembly 100 also includes a

MODE CHANGE button (not shown) operable to change the mode of swivelling of the support frame 106. Activation of the MODE CHANGE button will in effect reverse the direction of rotation of the output spindle 176 of the motor 170. Turning again to Fig. 7, a reversal of the direction of rotation of the output spindle 176 of the motor 170 will cause the gear 184 to rotate in a direction opposite to that indicated by the arrow J. The gear 184 will then come in mesh with the quarter-circle rack 144 and travel relative to and along the rack 144 until it reaches the position shown in Fig. 8, where the gear 184 is again just out of mesh with the rack 144. However, travel of the gear 184 along the quarter-circle rack 144 causes the movement regulator 134 and the movement converter 146 fixedly engaged therewith to swivel about their common longitudinal axis F-F by 90° relative to the base 102 to the position shown in Fig. 8. As the direction of rotation of the output spindle 176 of the motor 170 is reversed, the direction of rotation of the cam wheel 172 and that of the eccentric pin 174 will also be reversed. However, such will not cause any significant changes to the operation of the movement converter 146, as the cross-bar 152 will still exhibit to-and-fro reciprocating movement in the direction of the length of and relative to the slot 138. However, as in this position, the slot 138 is parallel to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102, the body 132 of the rear support 112 will move along a path which is parallel to the longitudinal axis B-B of the base 102, thus causing the support frame 106 (and the cradle/bed or chair/seat carried by it) to swivel about the axis C-C.

If it is desired to revert the assembly 100 to the previous mode of movement, the MODE CHANGE button may be activated again to reverse the direction of rotation of the output spindle 176 of the motor 170, so that the gear 184 rotates again in the direction indicated by the arrow J, whereupon the gear 184 comes into mesh again with the quarter-circle rack 144, travels along the rack 144, thus bringing the movement regulator 134 and movement converter 146 into simultaneous and corresponding swivelling movement about their common longitudinal axis F-F until they have travelled back by 90°, when the gear 184 is again in the position shown in Fig. 7, in which it is just out of mesh with the rack 144.

It should be understood that the above only illustrates an example whereby the present invention may be carried out, and that various modifications and/or alterations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention. It should also be understood that various features of the invention which are, for brevity, described here in the context of a single embodiment, may be provided separately or in any appropriate sub-combinations.

Claims

1 . An electric furniture frame assembly (100) including:

a base (102), and

a frame (106) engaged with said base,

wherein said frame is selectively movable relative to said base in one of at least two modes of movement,

wherein in said first mode of movement, said frame is swivellable relative to said base about a first axis (A-A), and

wherein in said second mode of movement, said frame is swivellable relative to said base about a second axis (C-C) which is non-parallel to said first axis.

2. An assembly according to Claim 1 wherein said second axis is substantially perpendicular to said first axis.

3. An assembly according to Claim 2 wherein said first and second axes are substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis (B-B) of said base.

4. An assembly according to any of the preceding claims including a movement regulator (134) movable relative to said base to selectively change the mode of movement of said frame relative to said base.

5. An assembly according to Claim 4 wherein said movement regulator is swivellable by an angle of substantially 90° to bring about a change of the mode of movement of said frame relative to said base.

6. An assembly according to Claim 5 wherein said movement regulator is swivellable about an axis (F-F) which is substantially parallel to said first axis.

7. An assembly according to Claim 4, 5 or 6 wherein said movement regulator is engaged with said frame via engagement means (132), and wherein said engagement means is reciprocatable relative to said movement regulator.

8. An assembly according to Claim 7 wherein when said frame is in said first mode of movement, said engagement means is reciprocatable relative to said movement regulator along a path substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said base.

9. An assembly according to Claim 7 or 8 wherein when said frame is in said second mode of movement, said engagement means is reciprocatable relative to said movement regulator along a path substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said base.

10. An electric cradle or electric rocker including an electric furniture frame assembly according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a cradle is attached with said frame.

1 1 . An electric glider including an electric furniture frame assembly according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, wherein a chair or seat is attached with said frame.