Supported tray system
A tray and tray support system which is suited for attachment to a portable folding chair enables the tray mechanism to be either left closely adjacent to the portable seating and unused, or pivoted to a position of deployment. Deployment is effected by causing a tray suspended from a fitting to be pivoted from a vertical hanging position and through an angle of about 270° to then be stably supported at a general horizontal position. The responsibility for pivoting support is divided and uses a pivot stop structure within a tray deployment fitting, and a set of tray supports which are also pivotally attached to the tray deployment fitting about an axis adjacent and parallel to the axis of the main horizontal extent of the main tray bearing member.
The present invention relates to a deployable and stowable tray mechanism for use with any support structure and which can be adjusted to a first position as a side support position to one side to allow a user to rise and re-seat freely, and to a second position where the table is brought to a stable supported position and which may be immediately before a seated user.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe term “tray” and “tray support system” and “tray mechanism” includes a mechanism for deployment and stowage of a generally horizontal surface for supporting food and drink, for writing upon and for supporting reading materials, to name a few. The use of folding tray support mechanisms has been found to be beneficial in airline seating, university classroom seating, and highly specialized, and virtually always non-moveable or non-portable seating, which allowed a good number of tray structures to develop from its own support, apart from the seating. Airline seating uses a well-stowed, highly articulating tray support system for bulkhead seats. The overall bulkhead stowage apparatus for airlines needed to have a weight savings to justify the fuel consumption involved in multiple flights, but due to airline safety regulations, the tray mechanism cannot be insubstantial and must not present a hazard in an emergency.
None of the aforementioned tray and tray support mechanisms is suitable for carriage with general use seating and particularly portable seating, sometimes known as a folding chair. First, where seating is foldably deployed, a needed tray support mechanism should be compatible with the deployment and stowage mechanism of the seating. Where seating collapses in a direction which leaves the tray or tray mechanism protruding, an unwieldy partially structure will result.
Second, the overall weight of the tray and tray support must be minimally additive to the weight of the portable seating. The portable seating will typically have a significant portion of its carriage by hand, and so the resulting overall weight should not be significancy more then the overall weight of the portable seating without the tray and the tray's supporting structure.
Third, the overall structural dependency from the supporting portable seating should not be compromised. A tray and tray mechanism for a portable seat should enable very nearly the same user reliance on use of the tray and its support for writing, reading and support of food and drink on the tray. All support should be stable, but particularly stable when the portable seating is occupied in supporting the weight of a user, and also capable of stability when the portable seating is unoccupied, and especially when ultra-light seating is utilized and where tipping over might be an issue.
Fourth, an ideal tray mechanism should ideally have a high range of chair types and associated structures with which it may be implemented. This includes both original equipment manufacture as well as retrofit applications. Detachability is important for fulfilling the utility functions of the user, as there are instances where the user may wish to have the ability to detach the tray mechanism and leave it at home, or to have a more compact cache of tray mechanisms to attach to seating when they are needed. Maximizing the capability to increase user preference can make a tray mechanism for portable seating more valuable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to a tray and tray support system which is ideally suited for attachment to a vertical member of a portable folding chair. The method of attachment enables the tray mechanism to be either left closely adjacent to the portable seating and unused, or pivoted to a position of deployment. Deployment is effected by causing a tray suspended from a fitting to be pivoted from a vertical hanging position and through an angle of about 270° to then be stably supported at a general horizontal position.
The ability to pivot is accomplished through a pivot stop structure. The pivot stop structure which occupies about 165° of arc and engages a stop occupying about 63° of arc after rotating about an angle of about 130°. A tray depends from a pair of supports which are pivotally connected to a pivot fitting which sets the axis of pivot as spaced from an axis of pivot from the pivot stop structure, and which uses the bearing presence of the pivot stop structure upon which to stably rest the pair of supports after pivoting through an angle of about 140°. The total angular displacement of the pivot stop structure angle of about 130° and the pivot fitting angle of about 140° to produce a total angular displacement of about 270°.
The pivot stop structure will generally be mounted to depend from portable seating so that it is generally horizontal. In one embodiment, especially amenable for retrofit capability, the pivot stop structure has a horizontal main extent and a vertical main extent which attaches to a mounting bracket. The vertical extent and bracket attach to a vertical member on portable seating. The right angled portion, by virtue of its connection to a non-horizontal member of the portable seating, provides a sturdy resistance to the turning moment applied to the pivot stop structure when the tray is in the horizontal position. Other attachment methods and other structures which can provide an anti-turning support in the pivot stop structure may be employed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention, its configuration, construction, and operation will be best further described in the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring to
A first horizontally extending arm 35 is connected to a front vertical support 37 and a rear vertical support 39.
A second horizontally extending arm 35 is connected to a front vertical support 41 and a rear vertical support 43. A rear seat back support 45 is connected to generally horizontal seat support 23, and a rear seat back support 47 is connected to generally horizontal seat support 25. In the unfolding of the seat 21, a connected cloth material may generally be used to set the limits over which the seat 21 will unfold. These may be generally seen as a bottom seating suspension material 51 which is connected to and extends between pair of lateral seat supports 23 and 25, and a back seating suspension material 53 which is suspended between rear seat back supports 45 and 47.
Hereinafter, components attached to the seat 21 to form a tray system 55 of the invention will be described. A tray system support fitting 61 is seen attached to the vertical support 41 and a portion of its body partially covers and is secured to the vertical support 41. It is understood that tray system support fitting 61 could fit onto a variety of other structures provided on other forms of seating and that seat 21 is but one example. Tray system support fitting 61 is attached to vertical support 41 with an attachment member 63 which may preferably penetrate tray system support fitting 61 and the vertical support 41 and may be a rivet or threaded member or locking pin, to name a few. On the right side of the tray system support fitting 61, a moveable locking clip 65 is seen. Locking clip 65 may be pivotable over and onto a portion of the tray system support fitting 61 to increase compression or constriction of a portion of the tray system support fitting 61 or pivotable free of a portion of the tray system support fitting 61 to release such compression or restriction.
Tray system support fitting 61 is seen as having a portion of its body partially surrounding and pivotally supporting a main tray bearing member 71 its main vertical main extent 73. The main vertical extent 73 transitions into a main horizontal extent 75 preferably through a gradual curved corner. A lower cap 77 is seen at the bottom most portion of the vertical main extent 73.
From the main horizontal extent 75, a pair of spaced apart tray deployment fittings 81 can pivotally rotate over a limiter range. From each of the pair of spaced apart tray deployment fittings 81 a pair of supports 85 have first ends pivotably connected to the pair of spaced apart tray deployment fittings 81. The pair of supports 85 have second ends which are attached to one side of a tray 91. Tray 91 is seen from its underside in
A pivoting attachment which can provide a pivoting rotation of 270° with good holding force is generally difficult to achieve, but is provided in the tray system 55 by both splitting the components which must accommodate the rotation, as well as by using the shape and diameter of the tray deployment fittings 81 and the pivot point provided on the tray deployment fittings 81 spaced apart from the main horizontal extent 75 to provide a location and mechanics for the pair of supports 85 to be supported. This deployed final resting location is based upon the limited angular displacement of the tray deployment fittings 81 with respect to the main horizontal extent 75, as well as the limited angular displacement of the pair of supports 85 with respect to the tray deployment fittings 81.
The overall movement capabilities of the tray system 55 of the invention will first be shown with regard to the capabilities as they appear to the user, and then sectional drawings illustrating the inner workings of the various fittings which allow such capabilities will be illustrated in Further detail. As before,
Movement to this position is generally preceded by opening release of moveable locking clip 65, and a re-locking of the moveable locking clip 65 once the position seen in
Regardless of whether or not the seat 21 would be occupied, further deployment steps are likely to occur. From the position seen in
Referring to
Referring to
If an individual sitting in the seat 21 were to lean or rest on the tray 91, such resting is most likely to occur on either the edge of the tray 91 closest to the main horizontal extent 75 of the main tray bearing member 71, or directly on the main horizontal extent 75 itself. Utilizing a support member for the tray 91 closest to the seated person helps to eliminate the need for reinforcement of the support of the tray 91 against inadvertent leaning weight on the tray 91 which would translate into bending moment if the tray 91 were not supported most immediately adjacent the line most closely adjacent an individual, if they were seated in the seat 21. Also note in
The structures which control and fix the tray system 55 will next be examined in more detail. Referring to
Other structures visible in
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The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of presently preferred embodiments and is not intended to represent the only forms in which the present invention may be constructed and or utilized. While preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it is understood by those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A tray system comprising:
- a tray system support fitting for attachment to a structure;
- a main tray bearing member having a first end adjacent a vertical main extent and a second end adjacent a main horizontal extent, said main horizontal extent having an right angled with respect to said main vertical extent, said main vertical extent of said main tray bearing member selectably fixably supporting said main tray bearing member;
- said tray system support for selectably enabling at least one of a height and a pivoting adjustment of said main tray bearing member;
- a tray deployment fitting depending from said main horizontal extent of said main tray bearing member; and
- a tray pivotally attached to said tray deployment fitting and enabled by said tray deployment fitting to be pivoted from a vertical hanging stowage position to a deployed horizontal support position and to remain in said deployed horizontal support position due to the influence of gravity.
2. The tray system as recited in claim 1 wherein the pivot from a vertical hanging stowage position to a deployed horizontal support position occurs at a pivot of about 270°.
3. The tray system as recited in claim 1 wherein the tray deployment fitting enables a first part of the pivot of said tray to occur about a first axis and a second part of the pivot of said tray to occur about a second axis.
4. The tray system as recited in claim 4 wherein said first axis is parallel to said second axis.
5. The tray system as recited in claim 1 wherein the tray deployment fitting includes a first aperture for enabling the tray deployment fitting to rotate about said main horizontal extent of said main tray bearing member, and a pivot pin bore spaced apart from said first aperture, said pivot pin bore for enabling said tray to pivot about said tray deployment fitting.
6. The tray system as recited in claim 5 wherein said tray deployment fitting rotation about said main horizontal extent of said main tray bearing member and wherein said angular displacement of said tray about said tray deployment fitting divide the angular displacement of said tray about said main horizontal extent of said main tray bearing member while still summing to about 270°.
7. The tray system as recited in claim 6 wherein said tray deployment fitting rotation about said main horizontal extent of said main tray bearing member is about 130° and wherein said angular displacement of said tray about said tray deployment fitting is about 140°.
8. The tray system as recited in claim 1 wherein said tray system support frictionally engages said vertical main extent.
9. The tray system as recited in claim 1 and further comprising at least one support having a first end attached to said tray and a second end attached to said tray deployment fitting and wherein said tray deployment fitting provides an angular displacement stop of a pivot of said tray from a vertical hanging stowage position to a deployed horizontal position.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 3, 2010
Publication Date: Mar 8, 2012
Inventors: Leonard R. Stamper (Anaheim Hills, CA), Brian Sykes (Mission Viejo, CA)
Application Number: 12/807,393