FOLDAWAY WALL BED MOUNTING

Abstract

A foldaway wall bed mounting to fold a bed frame to a wall comprising support plates, and a folding mechanism. The support plates are spaced apart and mountable perpendicularly to the bottom of a solid wall support via a wall connector. The folding mechanism is attachable to each of the support plates comprises a spring assembly, and a pivotable arm. The spring assembly comprises spring members fastened to openings defined on a side of the support plates, and the distal ends of the spring members are fastened to openings on a spring bracket. The pivotable arm is hingedly connected to an opposing end of the spring bracket, and the pivotable arm is adapted to engage with a side rail of the bed frame, whereby the spring assembly provides controlled movement of pivotable arm which enables movement of the bed frame between a vertical folded position and a horizontal open position.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to the U.S. Provisional Patent application No. 62/136,723 filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Mar. 23, 2015, entitled “FOLDABLE BED MOUNTING ASSEMBLY”. The specification of the above referenced patent application is incorporated herein by reference in it's entirely

BACKGROUND

Foldaway beds, such as, wall beds or murphy beds and similar wall-enclosed pieces of furniture have been widely used where available space within a room is limited. Foldaway beds have become increasingly popular in recent years because of the limited space available in homes, wherein the bed can be extended from a folded position when needed to provide temporary sleeping accommodations and can be folded back against the wall when not in use. These type of beds are generally provided with a folding mechanism that allows the bed to pivot upwards from its horizontal usage position to a vertical storage position adjacent to or contained within a wall. Generally the folding mechanism comprises a spring loaded system or piston and cylinder assembly.

However, conventional foldaway beds have certain serious limitations due to complicated construction, difficulty in folding or extending and more importantly have safety issues due to methods of mounting to a support wall. Typically, foldaway bed mechanisms are mounted onto wooden side panels, which are in turn have an attached nail rail at the top of the wooden side panels. The nail rail is further screwed to the wall studs, thus holding the side panels in position. Here, the top rail serves as the only point of attachment for the entire wooden panel/foldaway bed assembly to the support wall.

There exists numerous instances where the top rail anchors or screws have pulled out of the wall studs causing the springs to collapse the bed inflicting serious injury or death. Since, these beds are marketed as a do-it-yourself type product, customers may not follow the installation directions correctly. For example: customers may use the wrong screws, easy anchors, mollies or fail to anchor to one or more studs. In addition, the spring mechanism bears hundreds of pounds of pressure when the foldaway bed is operated, and the pressure is exerted on the nail rail attachment, which may cause the entire bed assembly to fall or pull away from the wall support.

Therefore, there exists a potential need to solve the above mentioned problem by a secure bed mounting means such as a foldaway wall bed mounting that consequently enables the safe mounting and easy operation of foldaway beds, including murphy beds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The foldaway wall bed mounting disclosed herein is configured to fold a bed frame to a wall, and the foldaway wall bed mounting comprises a pair of support plates, and a folding mechanism. The pair of support plates are spaced apart and mountable perpendicularly to the bottom of a solid wall support via a wall connector. The folding mechanism is attachable to each of the support plates, and the folding mechanism comprises a spring assembly, and a pivotable arm. The spring assembly comprises multiple spring members fastened to a series of openings defined on a side of the support plates, and the distal ends of the spring members are fastened to openings positioned on one end of a spring bracket. The pivotable arm is hingedly connected to an opposing end of the spring bracket, and the pivotable arm is adapted to engage with a side rail of the bed frame, whereby the spring assembly provides controlled movement of pivotable arm which enables movement of the bed frame between a vertical folded position and a horizontal open position.

In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting further comprises a spring cover configured to cover the spring assembly. In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting further comprises a stop lever pivotally connected between the pivotable arm and the spring assembly, where the stop lever is configured to restrict the inclination of the bed frame at a predetermined angle between the vertical folded position and the horizontal open position. In an embodiment, the spring bracket is generally T shaped comprising multiple openings on one side to receive and fasten the spring members, and a single opening on the opposing end to receive and fasten the pivotable arm.

In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting further comprises an adjustable leg leveler fastened to a lower end of the support plates, wherein the adjustable leg leveler comprises a threaded section with nuts to increase and decrease the height of the pair of support plates. In an embodiment, the wall connector is generally of L shape comprising one or more sleeved openings, where the wall connector is connected to the support plate via fasteners, further where sleeved openings allow linear traversal of the fasteners to adjust for different widths of wall panels. Additionally, it allows for different types and thicknesses of wall based moldings. In an embodiment, the pivotable arm is attached via brass bushings to the support plate and spring bracket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a left side foldaway wall bed mounting.

FIG. 1B is a side view of the foldaway wall bed mounting.

FIG. 1C is a rear view of the foldaway wall bed mounting.

FIGS. 2A and 2B shows cross sectional views of pivoting ends of the pivotable arm of FIG. 1B.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of the foldaway wall bed mounting.

FIG. 4A illustrates a perspective view of the foldaway wall bed mounting attached with a bed frame.

FIG. 4B is a perspective view of the left side foldaway wall bed mounting attached to the left side of bed frame of FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4C is a perspective view of the right side foldaway wall bed mounting attached to the right side of bed frame of FIG. 4A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a left side foldaway wall bed mounting 100, FIG. 1B is a side view of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100, and FIG. 1C is a rear view of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100. The foldaway wall bed mounting 100 is configured to fold a bed frame 400 as shown in FIG. 4, to a wall, and the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 comprises a pair of support plates 101, and a folding mechanism 103. The pair of support plates 101 are spaced apart and mountable perpendicularly to the bottom of a solid wall support via a wall connector 102. The folding mechanism 103 is attachable to each of the support plates 101, the folding mechanism 103 comprises a spring assembly 104, and a pivotable arm 108. The spring assembly 104 comprises multiple spring members 105 fastened to a series of openings 106 defined on a side of the support plates 101, and the distal ends of the spring members 105 are fastened to openings 106 positioned on one end of a spring bracket 107. The pivotable arm 108 is hingedly connected to an opposing end of the spring bracket 107, and the pivotable arm 108 is adapted to engage with a side rail 400a of the bed frame 400, whereby the spring assembly 104 provides controlled movement of pivotable arm 108 which enables movement of the bed frame 400 between a vertical folded position and a horizontal open position.

In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 further comprises a stop lever 109 pivotally connected between the pivotable arm 108 and the spring assembly 104, where the stop lever 109 is configured to restrict the inclination of the bed frame 400 at a predetermined angle between the vertical folded position and the horizontal open position. In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 further comprises a spring cover 110 configured to cover the spring assembly 104 as shown in FIG. 1C. In an embodiment, the spring bracket 107 is, for example, a generally T shaped element comprising multiple openings 107a on one side to receive and fasten the spring members 105, and a single opening 107b on the opposing end to receive and fasten the pivotable arm 108. In working, a user raises the bed frame 400 by unlocking the pivotable arm 108 which enables the user to raise the bed to a desired angle. The stop lever 109 pivotally connected between the pivotable arm 108 locks the bed at the desired angle as preferred by the user, where the tension in the spring members 105 disallow a sudden collapse of the bed defined by the bed frame 400.

FIGS. 2A and 2B shows cross sectional views of pivoting ends of the pivotable arm 108 of FIG. 1B. In an embodiment, the pivotable arm 108 is attached via brass bushings 111 to the support plate 101 and spring bracket 107. The pivotable arm 108 attached to the support plate 101 and spring bracket 107, and pivots around pivot points comprising brass bushings 111 and a locking section positioned on the wall connector 102. It also shows a spring cover 110 for covering the spring members 105 from, for example, interfering with external elements like bedding, fabrics etc. The spring cover 110 further protects user fingers from jamming into the spring members 105 while operating the bed assembly which is defined by the bed frame 400. A suitable lubricant, for example, grease is applied between the brass bushings 111 and the pivotable arm 108 for smooth movement of the pivotable arm 108 in contact with the brass bushings 111.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100. As shown in FIG. 3 and in FIGS. 1A-1C, a left side foldaway wall bed mounting 100 is shown, and it comprises a support plate 101 mountable perpendicularly to a support wall using a wall connector 102. The support plate 101 is connected to the wall connector 102 using connecting means, for example, HT nuts. The spring assembly 104 comprising multiple spring members 105 is attached to the spring bracket 107, where the spring bracket 107 is attached to a pivotable arm 108 adapted to engage with a side rail 400a of a bed frame 400. The wall connector 102 further allows for various depths of wood side panels by use of slots in wall connector 102. The foldaway wall bed mounting 100 further comprises a stop lever 109, for locking and holding the pivotable arm 108 in a partially extended position. The support plate 101 further comprises an adjustable foot support, for adjusting the height and level of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 from the floor.

In an embodiment, the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 further comprises an adjustable leg leveler 112 fastened to a lower end 101a of the support plates 101, wherein the adjustable leg leveler 112 comprises a threaded section 112a with nuts to increase and decrease the height of the pair of support plates 101. In an embodiment, the wall connector 102 is generally of L shape comprising one or more sleeved openings 113, wherein the wall connector 102 is connected to the support plate 101 via fasteners 114, further where the sleeved openings 113 allow linear traversal of the fasteners 114 to adjust for different widths of wall panels. Additionally, the sleeved openings 113 allows for different types and thicknesses of wall based moldings. The sleeved openings 113 are used to adjust for the depth of the perpendicular side panels and/or the thickness of any wall base molding. The pivotable arm 108 is pivotally attachable to the support plate 101 via fastener elements 115. The support plate 101 further comprises adjustable leg leveler 112, the support plate 101 can be mounted to a wall using wall connector 102 secured with a threaded fastener 114 and associated component such as a washer 114a.

FIGS. 4A-4C illustrates multiple views showing the attachment of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 attached with a bed frame 400. FIG. 4A illustrates a perspective view of the foldaway wall bed mounting 100 attached with a bed frame 400. FIG. 4B is a perspective view of the left side foldaway wall bed mounting 100 attached to the left side of bed frame 400 of FIG. 4A. FIG. 4C is a perspective view of the right side foldaway wall bed mounting 100 attached to the right side of bed frame 400 of FIG. 4A. The foldaway wall bed mounting 100 is adapted to receive a bed frame 400 comprised of at least two side frame members or side rails 400a onto the left and right mounting units or foldaway wall bed mountings 100. The pivotable arm 108 on each of the foldaway wall bed mountings 100 is adapted to receive an engaging member present on each side rail 400a of the bed frame 400 and the spring assembly 104 enables controlled movement of pivotable arm 108 between horizontal open position for usage and vertical closed position for stowing the bed defined by the bed frame 400.

The bed frame 400 comprises a head rail fixed to the side rail 400a, which comprises screws 401 for engaging with the opening located in the pivotable arm 108 attached to the support plate 101. FIG. 4C shows a magnified view of the side rail 400a of bed frame 400 attached to the right side foldaway wall bed mountings 100. The side rail 400a of bed frame 400 is attached to the pivotable arm 108 using fasteners 402, such as nuts, screws and washers. In an example, the foldaway wall bed mountings 100 enables secure mounting of the spring loaded folding mechanism 103 to the bottom of a solid support wall and or sill plate and also allows optional attachment of nail rail, of wood panel, to wall studs. One of the advantages of the present foldaway wall bed mountings 100 is the ability to safely attach the bed frame 400, together with the folding means and ease of operation, including unfolding for use and folding back for stowing, without any need of attachment of the top wood panel nail rail to wall studs.

The foregoing examples have been provided merely for the purpose of explanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting of the present concept disclosed herein. While the concept has been described with reference to various embodiments, it is understood that the words, which have been used herein, are words of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation. Further, although the concept has been described herein with reference to particular means, materials, and embodiments, the concept is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed herein; rather, the concept extends to all functionally equivalent structures, methods and uses, such as are within the scope of the appended claims. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of the teachings of this specification, may affect numerous modifications thereto and changes may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the concept in its aspects.

Claims

1. A foldaway wall bed mounting configured to fold a bed frame to a wall, comprising:

a pair of support plates spaced apart and mountable perpendicularly to the bottom of a solid wall support via a wall connector;

a folding mechanism attachable to each of the support plates, the folding mechanism comprising; a spring assembly comprising a plurality of spring members fastened to a series of openings defined on a side of the support plates, and distal ends of the spring members fastened to openings positioned on one end of a spring bracket; a pivotable arm, wherein the pivotable arm is hingedly connected to an opposing end of the spring bracket, and the pivotable arm is adapted to engage with a side rail of the bed frame, wherein the spring assembly provides controlled movement of pivotable arm which enables movement of the bed frame between a vertical folded position and a horizontal open position.

2. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, further comprising a spring cover configured to cover the spring assembly.

3. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, further comprising stop lever pivotally connected between the pivotable arm and the spring assembly, wherein the stop lever is configured to restrict the inclination of the bed frame at a predetermined angle between the vertical folded position and the horizontal open position.

4. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, wherein the spring bracket is generally T shaped comprising multiple openings on one side to receive and fasten the spring members, and a single opening on the opposing end to receive and fasten the pivotable arm.

5. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, further comprising an adjustable leg leveler fastened to a lower end of the support plates, wherein the adjustable leg leveler comprises a threaded section with nuts to increase and decrease the height of the pair of support plates.

6. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, wherein the wall connector is generally of L shape comprising one or more sleeved openings, wherein the wall connector is connected to the support plate via fasteners, further wherein the sleeved openings allow linear traversal of the fasteners to adjust for different widths of wall panels.

7. The foldaway wall bed mounting of claim 1, wherein the pivotable arm is attached via brass bushings to the support plate and spring bracket.