Patents by Inventor William B. Raftery

William B. Raftery has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4580841
    Abstract: A chair seat structure is formed of a plurality of identically dimensioned planar members and a plurality of plastic connective members having slots to receive and engage the planar members. This construction provides easy handling, economical shipment and storage, and dimensional adjustability of the chair seats during manufacture. In use the chair seats can adjust to uneven floor surfaces which support the frame on which the chair seat is mounted. This adjustability under the weight of an occupant aids in preventing the chair from undergoing discomforting teetering.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 1984
    Date of Patent: April 8, 1986
    Assignee: Steelcase, Inc.
    Inventor: William B. Raftery
  • Patent number: 4498702
    Abstract: A seating unit including a concavely curved seat element and a concavely curved thigh support flexibly connected by leaf springs, a stop bracket to define a gap therebetween, having a stop bracket and tabs on the thigh support to reduce the gap at the sides of the seating unit, and having arms which mask the gap at the sides of the seating unit. The thigh support resiliently and resistively deflects downward to a point at which it contacts the stop bracket, and the leaf springs lie parallel in the same plane so that the ends of the leaf springs do not separate as the thigh support is deflected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1982
    Date of Patent: February 12, 1985
    Assignee: Steelcase Inc.
    Inventor: William B. Raftery
  • Patent number: 4456212
    Abstract: A height adjustable furniture support for a table or the like having a pedestal or base with a substantially vertical column. A reversible collar fits onto and can be secured to the column, the collar also cooperates with and is securable to a support plate to which the table top or other furniture piece is then attached. The combination of the pedestal, reversible collar, and support plate provides a choice of two heights which can differ by more than the overall height of the collar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 1983
    Date of Patent: June 26, 1984
    Assignee: Steelcase, Inc.
    Inventor: William B. Raftery
  • Patent number: 4351541
    Abstract: A system for towing a plurality of wheeled load-carrying vehicles in a train in which coacting tongue and pin members are provided on the vehicles. Each vehicle has a body having a front end and a back end, a pair of fixed position wheels secured to the underside of the body at the back end, a single caster wheel assembly secured to the underside adjacent the front end, and a tongue member mounted on the back end of the vehicle and having an opening in one end. The caster wheel assembly includes a flange secured to the wheel support and a downwardly extending towing pin on the outer end of the flange. To achieve tracking of a trailing vehicle behind a leading vehicle, the tongue on the leading vehicle is moved to a position in which the tongue opening receives the caster wheel pin on the trailing vehicle. A releasable connection is thus made, with the pulling force applied directly to the caster wheel support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 1980
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1982
    Assignee: Herman Miller, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert L. Propst, William B. Raftery
  • Patent number: 4290369
    Abstract: A pallet consisting of a substantially flat body, a plurality of slots in the body and feet positioned in the slots. Each of the feet is readily molded from a suitable plastic and has an open upper end and a downwardly tapered cavity in which an internal support surface is formed. In stacking of pallets, the foot of the top pallet telescopes downwardly into the foot of the bottom pallet to a supported position on the internal support surface in which the pallet bodies are maintained in a spaced relation so that they can readily be separated when desired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1979
    Date of Patent: September 22, 1981
    Assignee: Herman Miller, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert L. Propst, William B. Raftery
  • Patent number: 4265483
    Abstract: The specification discloses modular seating in which interchangeable arm and armless end frames include a common rear frame portion joined to each respective front frame portion in butt wise fashion to give an integrated rather than tacked on appearance. The arm and armless end frames both have arcuately inturned rear portions and the armless has a similar arcuately inturned front portion for joining to front and rear cross supports. In contrast, the upwardly extending front leg of the arm frame includes an inwardly projecting bracket for joining to the front cross support and a sleeve on the bracket compensates for the length of the inturned front portion of the armless frame. Since the front and rear cross supports are at different levels, a leveling bracket or apron having triangular shaped sides is mounted between the front and rear cross supports to levelly support a table top thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1979
    Date of Patent: May 5, 1981
    Assignee: Steelcase Inc.
    Inventors: William B. Raftery, Ronald L. Whitwam, Joseph M. Wisniewski
  • Patent number: D250507
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 1976
    Date of Patent: December 12, 1978
    Inventors: William B. Raftery, Dale T. Maza, Glen E. Tomblin
  • Patent number: D265955
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1979
    Date of Patent: August 31, 1982
    Assignee: Steelcase Inc.
    Inventors: William B. Raftery, Ronald L. Whitwam
  • Patent number: D266038
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1979
    Date of Patent: September 7, 1982
    Assignee: Steelcase Inc.
    Inventors: William B. Raftery, Ronald L. Whitwam
  • Patent number: D268551
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 1982
    Date of Patent: April 12, 1983
    Assignee: Steelcase Inc.
    Inventors: William B. Raftery, Ronald L. Whitwam
  • Patent number: D268552
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 1982
    Date of Patent: April 12, 1983
    Assignee: Steelcase Inc.
    Inventors: William B. Raftery, Ronald L. Whitwam
  • Patent number: D281208
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 1983
    Date of Patent: November 5, 1985
    Assignee: Steelcase Inc.
    Inventor: William B. Raftery