MODULAR BARSTOOL
A furniture unit includes several components configured to be coupled together to form a modular barstool.
Latest COSCO MANAGEMENT, INC. Patents:
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/869,880, filed Dec. 13, 2006, which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUNDThe present disclosure relates to furniture units, and particularly barstools. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to folding or collapsible modular barstools.
SUMMARYAccording to the present disclosure, a furniture unit, or modular barstool, includes several components. The components are adapted to cooperate to provide a furniture kit or, for example, a modular barstool kit. The kit includes a frame unit, a rigid back brace, and a rigid seat. Each frame unit includes a front leg and a rear leg.
In an illustrative embodiment, the rigid back brace and the rigid seat are configured to be coupled to the frame unit only when the furniture unit is in a use position to form the modular barstool. In another illustrative embodiment, the kit further includes at least one leg brace configured to be releasably coupled to the frame unit only when the frame unit is in the use position.
In an illustrative embodiment, the releasable coupling of the rigid back brace, the rigid seat, and the rigid leg brace are accomplished without the use of tools. In another illustrative embodiment, the several components of the kit are adapted to be displayed on a rack so that a customer may select from a variety of frame unit dimensions and back brace designs.
Additional features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the disclosure as presently perceived.
The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figures in which:
A modular barstool 10, shown, for example, in
Modular barstool 10 is configured to be sold as a kit with the various components displayed for consumer selection on, for example, a rack display 20, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in the exploded view of
Seat 18, as shown in
Seat 18 further includes a connector 62, shown as an elongated clamp 62, which may be a spring clamp, and two connectors 64, shown as spaced-apart clamps 64 fastened to the underside 56 of seat 18 by fasteners 65, such as, for example, screws, as suggested in
Views of the coupling of elongated clamp 62 to upper cross-member 38 and spaced-apart clamp 64 to upper cross-member 34 are shown in
The leg braces 14 are coupled to the front and rear legs 26, 28 in essentially the same manner that the back brace 16 is coupled to the rear legs 28. That is, both the leg braces 14 and back brace 16 include hooks 32 appended to an outer portion 15, as shown in
Using leg brace 14 and front leg 26 as an example,
The modular barstool kit disclosed herein includes components that can be used “in the field” to set-up the modular barstool 10 in a series of steps that do not require tools (such as, for example, screwdrivers, or wrenches etc.). The “set-up” steps include spreading the frames 22, 24 of the frame unit 12 apart to a use position by pivoting the frames 22, 24 about pivot axis 44 formed by pins 42. Back brace 16 may then be coupled to rear legs 28 and secured in place by hooks 32, recesses 30 and pins 72. Leg braces 14 may then be coupled to the front and rear legs 26, 28 in the same manner as the coupling of the back brace 16. The seat 18 can then be coupled to the upper cross-members 34, 38 of the frame unit 12 using elongated clamp 62 and spaced-apart clamps 64 to secure the entire modular barstool 10 in the open or use position. It is within the scope of this present disclosure that after spreading the frames 22, 24 apart to the use position, the remaining components of the kit may be assembled in any order. To disassemble or knock-down the assembled modular barstool 10, the components may be taken apart in reverse order of assembly or in a different order.
It is within the scope of the present disclosure that hooks 32, recesses 30 and pins 72 may be replaced by tabs and slots to provide an interference or similar fitting between the leg braces 14 and the legs 26, 28 as well as between the back brace 16 and the rear legs 28.
It is within the scope of the present disclosure that pins 42 may be removable to provide a knock-down of the frames 22, 24 of the modular barstool kit.
It is within the scope of the present disclosure that seat 18 may include a cushion coupled to the top side 54 of the seat 18.
It is within the scope of the present disclosure that leg braces 14 may include a variety of designs similar to or different from the variety of designs shown for the back brace 16.
It is within the scope of the present disclosure that the coupling of the legs braces 14 and back brace 16 to the front and rear legs 26, 28, and the coupling of the seat 18 to the frame unit 12 may require the use of tools.
Claims
1. A furniture unit comprising
- a frame unit including a pair of frames pivotably coupled to one another for movement about a vertical axis of rotation between a collapsed position of the frame unit and a use position of the frame unit, each frame including a front leg and a rear leg,
- a rigid back brace releasably coupled to the rear legs only when the frame unit is in the use position, and
- a rigid seat releasably coupled to the frame unit only when the frame unit is in the use position.
2. The furniture unit of claim 1, further comprising a rigid leg brace releasably coupled to the front legs only when the frame unit is in the use position.
3. The furniture unit of claim 1, wherein the rigid back brace is releasably coupled to the rear legs without the use of tools.
4. The furniture unit of claim 1, wherein the rigid seat is releasably coupled to the frame unit without the use of tools.
5. The furniture unit of claim 2, wherein the rigid leg brace is releasably coupled to the front legs without the use of tools.
6. The furniture unit of claim 1, wherein each frame further includes an upper cross-member interconnecting the front and rear legs and a lower cross-member interconnecting the front and rear legs, the upper cross-members are pivotably coupled to each other, the lower cross-members are pivotably coupled to each other, and the upper and lower cross-members are configured to rotate about the vertical axis of rotation to place the frame unit in the collapsed position and the use position.
7. The furniture unit of claim 1, wherein each leg includes a recess and a pin located in the recess and the rigid back brace includes a connector configured to be received in the recess and to be releasably coupled to the pin when the rigid back brace is mounted on the rear legs in the use position of the frame unit.
8. The furniture unit of claim 1, wherein each leg includes a recess and a pin located in the recess and the leg brace includes a connector configured to be received in the recess and to be releasably coupled to the pin when the leg brace is mounted on the front legs in the use position of the frame unit.
9. The furniture unit of claim 1, wherein the rigid seat includes a pair of side skirts and a rear skirt, each of the skirts extends downwardly from an underside of the rigid seat, the rear skirt is interconnected with each of the side skirts to form a pair of notches at each interconnection, and each notch provides a spacing such that when the rigid seat is releasably coupled to the frame unit in the use position, the side skirts and the rear skirt do not engage the rear legs of the frame unit.
10. The furniture unit of claim 1, wherein the rigid seat includes a pair of side skirts and a front skirt, each of the skirts extends downwardly from an underside of the seat and is configured such that a spacing exists between the front skirt and each of the side skirts such that when the rigid seat is releasably coupled to the frame unit, the side skirts and the front skirt engage the front legs of the frame unit.
11. The furniture unit of claim 1, wherein when the rigid seat is releasably coupled to the frame unit and a portion of the rigid seat overlies the front legs but does not overlie the rear legs.
12. The furniture unit of claim 6, wherein the rigid seat includes an underside and a first connector fastened to the underside and the connector is configured to be releasably coupled to a first of the upper cross-members when the rigid seat is mounted on the frame unit in the use position.
13. The furniture unit of claim 12, wherein the rigid seat includes a second connector fastened to the underside of the rigid seat and the second connector is configured to be releasably coupled to a second of the upper cross-members when the rigid seat is mounted on the frame unit in the use position.
14. The furniture unit of claim 13, wherein the first upper cross-member lies in a plane above that of the second upper cross-member and the first connector includes a recess allowing the first connector to be releasably coupled to the first upper cross-member and the second connector to be releasably coupled to the second upper cross-member.
15. The furniture unit of claim 13, wherein the first connector includes an elongated clamp having a recess, the second connector includes a pair of spaced-apart clamps each having an upper shoulder and a lower shoulder, the recess allowing the elongated clamp to be releasably coupled to the first upper cross-member, and the shoulders provide a stable coupling of the pair of spaced-apart clamps to the second upper cross-member.
16. A furniture kit including a plurality of components capable of being assembled in the field without tools to produce a furniture unit, the furniture kit comprising
- a frame unit including a pair of frames adapted to be pivotably coupled to one another for movement between a collapsed position of the frame unit and a use position of the frame unit, each frame including a front leg and a rear leg,
- a rigid back brace adapted to be releasably coupled to the rear legs only when the frame unit is in the use position, and
- a rigid seat adapted to be releasably coupled to the frame unit only when the frame unit is in the use position.
17. The furniture kit of claim 16, further comprising a rigid leg brace adapted to be releasably coupled to one of the front legs and the rear legs only when the frame unit is in the use position.
18. The furniture kit of claim 16, further comprising a rigid leg brace adapted to be releasably coupled to the rear legs only when the frame unit is in the use position and a rigid leg brace adapted to be releasably coupled to the front legs only when the frame unit is in the use position.
19. The furniture kit of claim 16, wherein the releasable couplings of the rigid back brace and the rigid seat are accomplished without the use of tools.
20. The furniture kit of claim 17, wherein the releasable coupling of the rigid leg brace is accomplished without the use of tools.
21. A furniture rack display including a plurality of different components arranged on the display for selection as part of a furniture kit, the components of the kit being capable of being assembled in the field without tools to produce a furniture unit, the furniture display comprising
- a plurality of frame units of different sizes for selection by a customer to accommodate a desired seat width, each frame unit including a pair of frames adapted to be pivotably coupled to each other for movement about a vertical axis of rotation between a collapsed position of the furniture unit and a use position of the furniture unit, each frame including a front leg and a rear leg, and the frame unit further including a rigid leg brace adapted to be releasably coupled to the front legs only when the frame unit is in the use position,
- a plurality of different rigid back braces for selection by a customer to accommodate a desired design, each of the rigid back braces adapted to be releasably coupled to the rear legs of the selected frame unit only when the selected frame unit is in the use position, and
- a rigid seat adapted to be releasably coupled to the selected frame unit only when the selected frame unit is in the use position.
22. A method of assembling components of a furniture kit, the components including a first frame having a front leg and a rear leg, a second frame having a front leg and a rear leg, the second frame being pivotably coupled to the first frame for movement between a collapsed position of the frame unit and a use position of the frame unit, a rigid back brace, a rigid leg brace, and a rigid seat, the method steps comprising
- spreading the frames apart to the use position, then
- releasably coupling the rigid back brace to the rear legs,
- releasably coupling the rigid leg brace to one of the front legs and the rear legs, and
- releasably coupling the seat to the frame unit.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein each of the releasably coupling steps occurs without the use of tools.
24. The method of claim 22, wherein the rigid seat includes a connector mounted on an underside of the rigid seat, each frame includes an upper cross-member interconnecting the front and rear legs, and the connector is configured to be releasably coupled to one of the upper cross-members without the use of tools when the rigid seat is releasably coupled to the frame unit in the use position.
25. The method of claim 22, wherein the rigid seat includes a pair of side skirts, a rear skirt extending downwardly from an underside of the rigid seat and interconnected with each of the side skirts to form a pair of notches at each intersection of the side and rear skirts, and a front skirt extending downwardly from the underside of the rigid seat and configured such that a spacing exists between the front skirt and each of the side skirts, and when the rigid seat is releasably coupled to the frame unit in the use position, the side skirts and the rear skirt do not engage the rear legs and the side skirts and the front skirt do engage the front legs.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 16, 2007
Publication Date: Jun 19, 2008
Applicant: COSCO MANAGEMENT, INC. (Wilmington, DE)
Inventor: Sergio S. de Oliveira (Troy, OH)
Application Number: 11/941,773
International Classification: A47C 7/00 (20060101);