Modular furniture and support therefor

A support for a piece of modular furniture, and a piece of modular furniture which includes the support. The support includes first and second legs connected by a longitudinal member and a support member. The support member extends generally transversely to the longitudinal member in a direction allowing it to extend under a seat and support the seat. The piece of furniture preferably includes two or more such supports, each having a support member which extends towards the other support, so that they together may support the seat. The supports are generally universal in design, in that a single type of support may be used to make many different types of furniture, such as a chair, a sofa, an end table and a full table. Chairs and sofas may include backs, and therefore the supports used with such types of furniture include extensions which support the back.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention is directed to furniture and, more particularly, to the field of modular furniture manufacturing.

2. Description of the Related Art

The concept of modular furniture has been known for many years. As used herein, the term “modular furniture” refers to furniture made with standard units and parts. The use of standard, interchangeable components allows the swift and assured assembly of the desired furniture. Further, the use of standardized components may reduce the costs and speed the assembly of the furniture.

There have been many types of modular furniture in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,723 to DeCursu, et al. was a relatively early endeavor in this direction, but one that still used a number of different parts. It describes a modular furniture assembly in which leg assemblies engage a box-shaped seat member. The seat member has a fixed width and depth and has a bottom which provides support for the user when in the furniture.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,528,096 to Moberg, is another attempt at modular furniture, but is directed to furniture made of only two elements: a pair of opposed legs and a seat. The legs are connected by a member which may serve as the back of a chair, so that the entire chair has only two different kinds of components. It also requires no fasteners. However, this over-simplified structure is very limited and gives the ultimate user a highly restricted and inflexible design. The legs, again, provide no support to the seat in the space between the legs. The seat must provide its own support.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,182 to Gallagher is a still further attempt to provide easy-to-assemble furniture utilizing standardized components yet it, too, results in a limited range of styles and appearances. Furthermore, the legs thereof offer no support for the seat member.

There is therefore still a need in the art for a new design and method for producing modular furniture which allows for the quick assembly of a range of furniture with a suitable range of design and features, while maintaining the benefits of modularity. In particular, all of the mentioned prior patents describe modular furniture having pre-defined widths (i.e., the distance from side-to-side of the furniture), and requiring that the seats provide their own support. There is therefore also a need for modular furniture which can provide additional support for the seat member of the furniture while still allowing the furniture to be made to any desired width and in any desired configuration and maintaining the benefits of standardization association with modular furniture. As used herein, the term “seat member” or “seat” refers to any generally horizontal piece of the furniture. It would include the seat of a chair or sofa, and would include, for ease of reference, a tabletop, and may include cushions or padded material if intended to act as a seat of a chair or sofa.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved support for modular furniture, and modular furniture which utilizes such a support.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a support for a piece of modular furniture, and a piece of modular furniture including such a support which allows for the use of a limited number of different kinds of supporting pieces in the assembly thereof, while maintaining the ability to provide a wide range of customized and customizable pieces of furniture.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a support for a piece of modular furniture which provides for improved support of a seat, and a piece of modular furniture which includes such a seat.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a piece of modular furniture which may be assembled quickly and easily, with the use of a minimum number of different pieces, while still offering variety in the design of the piece of furniture constructed therewith.

Briefly stated, the invention is a support for a piece of modular furniture, and a piece of modular furniture assembled from such a support. The support comprises: a base having first and second legs connected by a longitudinal member, and a support member, for supporting a seat. The longitudinal member extends in a first direction. The support member extends from the longitudinal member in a second direction generally transverse to the first direction, so that the support member may extend under the seat and provide support thereto.

In a preferred embodiment, the support may further comprise a back support which extends from one of the legs in a third direction generally transverse to both the first and second directions.

In a still further preferred embodiment, the support may further include a fastener for fastening the seat to the support. In refinements of the invention, the fastener may be one piece of a two-piece fastener, such as a hook-and-loop fastener, a snap fastener, a tongue-and-groove fastener, a threaded fastener, a magnetic fastener, and a male/female fastener. In still further refinements, the seat includes the other piece of the two-piece fastener.

In yet another preferred embodiment, the support member includes at least two braces which extend generally in the second direction, whereby the braces may support the seat. In refinements of this embodiment, each of two supports have such braces which extend towards the other support and under the seat, so as to provide improved support for the seat which is supported thereby.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1shows an inventive piece of furniture made in accordance with the invention, shown generally at10. As illustrated, piece of furniture10includes two supports12and12′. Supports12and12′ are essentially mirror images of one another and are intended to be used as the left and right supports, respectively (when viewed from the front), of piece of furniture10. It will be appreciated that the terms “left” and “right” as used herein refer to the sides of piece of furniture10when viewed from the front thereof, which is to say from the viewpoint looking up from the page ofFIG. 1. That being said, “left” and “right” and “front” and “back” are essentially arbitrary designations for ease of reference and have meaning only in relationship to one another. Similarly, “up”, “down”, “top” and “bottom” are used with reference to the positioning of piece of furniture10as shown in the drawings, and as intended to be used. Because components of embodiments can be positioned in a number of different orientations, the directional terminology is used for purposes of ease of understanding and illustration only and is not to be considered limiting.

Supports12and12′ have generally the same (but mirrored) components, and so components of support12′ which correspond to similar components of support12are designated by a prime (“′”), and will not be separately described, except as may be needed for a clearer understanding of the invention.

For purposes of the following description, it is presumed that piece of furniture10sits on a perfectly level floor, lying in the horizontal plane. “Vertical” is therefore intended to mean the direction defined by a normal drawn perpendicular to the horizontal floor. Otherwise, as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, piece of furniture10may actually be positioned on a floor at any angle with respect to “true” horizontal. Further, the floor may be uneven, or non-planar. However, the relative positioning of the components of piece of furniture10are not affected by the environment in which it is used, and so will remain unchanged, except as may be noted herein.

Support12includes a first, front, leg14and a second, rear, leg16connected by a longitudinal member17having a support member18used to support a seat20. First leg14, second leg16, longitudinal member17and support member18together comprise a base for piece of furniture10.

Preferably, if piece of furniture10is intended to be for sitting and includes a back (described below), such as a chair, sofa or settee, for comfort, front leg14rises slightly higher from the horizontal than does rear leg16, so that longitudinal member17(and seat20) will preferably lie at an angle α falling in the range of up to about 15° from the horizontal (see,FIG. 2). If piece of furniture10is intended to be used without a back, such as as a table or ottoman, then angle α preferably lies closer to the horizontal. If intended for use as, for example, a drafting table, angle α could be higher, such as, for example, in the range of about 30° to about 50°, depending on the nature of the intended use. The specific value for angle α is therefore a matter of design choice.

In an embodiment in which the user intends to sit on piece of furniture10, piece of furniture10preferably includes a back support22to which a back24may be attached by a fastener26. Back support22preferably extends upwardly from second leg16forming an angle β between back24and vertical of from about 10° to about 30°, and may include a bend as shown for added stability. Alternatively, it could include a stiffening member affixed thereto. Also preferably, as shown inFIG. 2, back24forms an angle γ with seat20, with angle γ preferably lying in the range of from about 100° to about 115°. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that angles α, β and/or γ may be selected to fall outside of these preferred ranges as a matter of design choice in a particular application if so desired by the user.

In the preferred embodiment, the elements of piece of furniture10(other than seat20and back24) are made of a sturdy, rigid material, such as wood, metal, plastic or any other suitable material. In the preferred embodiment, these elements are made primarily of hardened steel or solid hardwoods. Front leg14has a height preferably in the range of about 12 inches to about 18 inches from the horizontal, and the length (depth) of longitudinal member18is preferably in the range of from about 15 inches to about 30 inches, depending upon the application. The height of rear leg16therefore depends on the height of the corresponding front leg14, the depth of seat20(and the concomitant length of longitudinal member17) and the value of angle α selected for the particular application.

The width of piece of furniture10depends upon the width of seat20and the intended application. An end table, for example, may be only six to eight inches wide, while a sofa may be six to eight feet wide. Supports12and12′ are spaced apart to accommodate the width of seat20and provide support therefor, as will be described presently.

Support members18,18′ preferably extend from supports12,12′ (respectively) in a direction toward the opposing support12′,12(respectively) to a distance suitable to provide support to seat20, such as in the range of about one inch to about fifteen inches depending upon the width of seat20.

Seat20and back24may preferably be made of any suitable firm yet supporting material and may also include a cushioning element28on seat20and/or a further cushioning element30on back24where the user comes into contact with those components (see,FIG. 3). Any kind of cushioning may be utilized, as a matter of design choice, such as, for example, foam rubber, other foam (e.g., polyurethane foam), horsehair-stuffed cushions, air pillows and the like. In the most preferred embodiment, polyurethane foam is utilized.

Continuing with reference toFIG. 3, piece of furniture10may optionally include arms32which may be attached to piece of furniture10in any conventional fashion, such as by fasteners or screws26c, d.

Returning toFIG. 1, fastener26may be of any suitable kind, and may be a known two-piece fastener, such as a hook-and-loop fastener, a snap fastener, a tongue-and-groove fastener, a threaded fastener (such as a nut/bolt arrangement), a magnetic fastener, or a male/female fastener. In this case, one piece of two-piece fastener26would be affixed to, or part of, back support22, and the other placed in a corresponding manner on the rear of back24to ease assembly of piece of furniture10. Similarly, seat20may be affixed to supports12,12′ by a further fastener (omitted for clarity). In the most basic embodiment, two-piece fastener26is a screw-and-thread arrangement, as shown inFIG. 3, where screws26aare screwed into holes26b(only some of which are shown for clarity) to retain the two pieces together. In an alternate embodiment, as also depicted inFIG. 3with respect to arms32, fastener26may be a male/female arrangement where male elements26care inserted into, and retained in, female elements26d, as for example by snap-fit or magnetic locking.

One of ordinary skill in the art would be able to select a suitable fastener26depending upon the pieces available, the costs of the various types of fastener available at the time of construction and any other consideration which may arise at the time of manufacture.

A further embodiment of the inventive piece of furniture10is shown inFIG. 4. In this embodiment, piece of furniture10is wider than necessary to accommodate a single user, as, for example in the case of a coffee table, sofa or settee. In this case, a wider seat20and/or back24are needed. To provide support for the wider seat20and/or back24, a third support12″ may be utilized. The basic components of third support12″, such as front leg14″ and rear leg16″ correspond generally to the corresponding components of first and second support12and12′, the numbering of which is omitted fromFIG. 4for clarity. Third, or middle, support12″ also includes a third support member18″ which may differ from support members18and18′ in that it preferably (but not necessarily) includes two opposed support members18a,18b. In the preferred embodiment, support members18aand18bare generally mirror images of one another, extending outwardly from support12″ towards supports12and12′, respectively, and thereby provide additional support to seat20. Longitudinal member17″ is preferably generally at the same angles α and γ as longitudinal members17and17′ to offer the optimum support for seat20and/or back24.

Similarly, in those applications in which a wider piece of furniture10will be used for sitting, support12″ preferably has a third back support22″, similar to back supports22and22′, to provide additional support for back24.

Seat20and back24are preferably attached to third support12″ with a further fastener or fasteners (not shown) similar to fastener26.

In a refinement of the preferred embodiment, and as shown inFIG. 1, each support member18and18′ includes at least two braces36,36′, respectively. Braces36,36′ each form a supporting area therebetween which serves to increase the effective surface area of support member18and18′, thereby increasing the support offered thereby.

The inventive support as described herein provides significant benefits in manufacturing and assembly compared to prior art modular furniture.

The design hereof can be standardized, so that either all support members are identical (but for being ‘left” or “right”) or in a small number of sizes for a range of construction options. Once the supports are manufactured, they may be easily assembled either by a technician or the end user, by simply fastening together the components via fasteners26, for example by snapping pieces together without even requiring any tools, if fastener26is a snap-fastener. The resultant piece of furniture may also be easily disassembled by un-fastening fastener26, and then reconfiguring the elements, as, for example, changing seat20and/or back24due to wear, or a change in purpose, such as making it larger or simply changing its appearance.

In yet another embodiment, where it is not intended that the components will be disassembled, fastener26may be a permanent fastener, such as an adhesive or other similar means for securing the components together.