Patents by Inventor William C. Rodgers

William C. Rodgers 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: 5752284
    Abstract: A spring assembly comprising a frame, a plurality of rails secured to the frame and a plurality of spaced springs secured to the rails. Each of the rails has a generally U-shaped cross-section and comprises a bottom and two sidewalls. Each sidewall has an inwardly projecting detent creating a receptacle underneath the detent adapted to receive and hold a spring. Each of the springs has a substantially planar lower portion which is generally S-shaped and adapted to be positioned in the receptacles of the sidewalls of the rail and rotated into a snap-fit locked position. In this locked position, the detents of the sidewalls hold the lower portion of the spring against the bottom of the rail and prevent lateral or vertical movement of the spring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 19, 1998
    Assignee: L&P Property Management Co.
    Inventors: Upton R. Dabney, John P. Kitchen, William C. Rodgers
  • Patent number: 5562274
    Abstract: A formed wire spring assembly having upper and lower spaced decks including a border wire and a plurality of deck wires arranged in a criss-cross fashion. The deck wires of the upper deck and lower decks are paired with one another and are connected by springs disposed between the two decks to support the decks in spaced relationship and yieldable fashion relative to one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 1994
    Date of Patent: October 8, 1996
    Assignee: Hoover Wire Products, Inc.
    Inventors: John P. Kitchen, William C. Rodgers
  • Patent number: 5401007
    Abstract: Wire spring assemblies for use in furniture items such as mattresses and seat cushions are made of two half units. The half units include spring elements extending from a generally planar deck with the spring elements containing complementary connecting structures at their distal ends which enable the half units to be assembled together by inverting one half unit relative to the other, aligning the two half units and snap-fitting the connecting structures of the spring elements together to form a double sided mattress or seat core. The assemblies are then upholstered in a normal fashion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 1994
    Date of Patent: March 28, 1995
    Assignee: Hoover Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Upton R. Dabney, William C. Rodgers
  • Patent number: 5395097
    Abstract: A spring wire core for use in bedding mattresses and/or upholstered furniture cushions and the like comprised of a pair of half units. Each half unit includes a surface portion and a plurality of springs projecting in one direction from the surface portion. Connecting elements are provided to enable a pair of half units, one inverted relative to the other, to be connected together forming a wire core with two spaced surface portions. Preferably, the spring portions are configured to enable a plurality of the half units to be nestably stacked one upon another to enable efficient shipping of the half units without compression of the spring portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 7, 1995
    Assignee: Hoover Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Upton R. Dabney, William C. Rodgers
  • Patent number: 5370374
    Abstract: A spring assembly for bedding and furniture which includes a support frame and a grid unit disposed above and in general vertical alignment with the frame, the grid unit including a border wire and cross wires arranged in a criss-cross pattern on said border wire. A plurality of upright spring modules are arranged in a predetermined pattern on the grid unit and supported on said frame, each of the modules being attached in a clipless manner at the upper end thereof to the grid unit so as to be connected to the unit in a manner such that up and down movement of the grid unit results in up and down compression and expansion of the spring modules. Each of the spring modules being a one-piece wire spring of tapered shape to enable spring modules to be arranged in nested stacks for shipping and storage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 6, 1994
    Assignee: Hoover Group, Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Rodgers, Arval W. Barnes, Sr.
  • Patent number: 5246210
    Abstract: A spring and grid sub-assembly for use in furniture and box spring assemblies in which spring modules are attached to the wire grid through an attachment system in which the springs are in both an over-under relationship and a side-to-side interwoven relationship with the cross wires through plastic deformation of the cross wires whereby the springs can not be removed from the wire grid without plastic deformation of either the grid or spring modules. The resultant sub-assembly can be easily transported from a sub-assembler to a final assembler without risk of the springs being displaced or removed from the wire grid. Furthermore, spring clips are not needed for attaching the spring modules to the grid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1992
    Date of Patent: September 21, 1993
    Assignee: Hoover Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Upton R. Dabney, William C. Rodgers
  • Patent number: 5178372
    Abstract: A spring assembly for bedding and furniture which includes a support frame and a grid unit disposed above and in general vertical alignment with the frame, the grid unit including a border wire and cross wires arranged in a criss-cross pattern on the border wire. A plurality of upright spring modules are arranged in a predetermined pattern on the grid unit and supported on the frame, each of the modules being attached in a clipless manner at the upper end thereof to the grid unit so as to be connected to the unit in a manner such that up and down movement of the grid unit results in up and down compression and expansion of the spring modules. Each of the spring modules being a one-piece wire spring of tapered shape to enable spring modules to be arranged in nested stacks for shipping and storage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1990
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1993
    Assignee: Hoover Group, Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Rodgers, Arval W. Barnes, Sr.
  • Patent number: 5176367
    Abstract: A spring assembly for bedding and furniture which includes a rectangular support frame and a grid unit disposed above and in general vertical alignment with the frame, the grid unit including a border wire and cross wires arranged in a criss-cross pattern on said border wire. A plurality of upright formed wire springs modules are arranged in a predetermined pattern on the grid unit and supported on said frame. Some of the modules constitute main springs which are attached in a clipless manner at the upper ends thereof to the grid unit so as to be connected to the grid unit in a manner such that loads on the grid unit are yieldably resisted by the main springs. Others of the spring modules are corner springs located at the corners of the frame. The corner springs are similar to the main springs but are secured by conventional clips to the corners of the border wire in the grid unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1991
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1993
    Assignee: Hoover Group, Inc.
    Inventors: William C. Rodgers, Arval W. Barnes, Sr.
  • Patent number: 4219233
    Abstract: A chair seat back tilt-adjusting mechanism for use in swivel-type chairs wherein a seat back member is pivotally movable relative to a seat member. The mechanism includes a frame assembly, on which the seat back is supported, pivotally mounted on a support member, which is in turn yieldably movable relative to the seat member. Coacting nut and bolt means are secured to the support member and to the frame assembly so that operation of the nut and bolt means results in pivoting of the frame assembly about a horizontal axis with respect to the support member, thereby moving the seat back to an adjusted position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 1978
    Date of Patent: August 26, 1980
    Assignee: Hoover Universal, Inc.
    Inventor: William C. Rodgers
  • Patent number: 4067610
    Abstract: A control mechanism for a chair having two components which are pivotally movable relative to each other wherein one of the components is the chair seat. The other chair component, in one form of chair such as an office chair, is the seat back. In another form of chair, such as a swivel rocker, the other component is the chair base. The control mechanism includes a torsion bar which has a main body portion that extends front to rear of the seat member, and end portions, one of which is attached to the seat member and the other one of which is attached to the other chair component. During relative pivotal movement of the two pivotally connected chair components, the torsion bar acts as a spring to yieldably resist the pivotal movement and return the chair components to their original positions when the load is removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 1976
    Date of Patent: January 10, 1978
    Assignee: Hoover Ball and Bearing Co.
    Inventors: Wendel P. Doerr, William C. Rodgers