Abstract:
The present invention is a folding bench where two side pieces fold substantially flat against a back piece in a closed or folded position and fold outwardly about a hinge to an open position. Support means for a seat secured against the back piece and side piece is completed with removable means for easy assembly and low cost construction.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates to bench seating devices that are capable of folding to a substantially flat side view.  
           [0002]    U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,099,709 and 4,236,460 disclose that a flat back piece can be vertical and have at its vertical end sides hinges that permit side pieces to fold away from the back piece to form two L-shaped vertical supports from the back piece so that a shelving assembly can be made that folds relatively flat. The shelves may either be inserted into grooves in the side and back pieces or hinged to the back piece to be raised and secured in place by connections to the side pieces. The construction of the devices in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,099,509 and 4,236,460 are of sufficient bulk that no additional support is provided to the shelving pieces. It would be preferable to develop a device with less such bulk while preserving the relatively free space beneath the support surface, i.e., the shelving in these patents.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    The present invention comprises a folding bench. The bench folds substantially flat for storage or shipping and is easily assembled so that a combined weight of over 300 pounds can be supported thereon in an open and fully assembled position. The invention comprises at least a lower back piece and two lower side pieces, preferably of bendable solid metal bar material to reduce visible bulk and obtain a pleasing appearance. An upper back piece and two upper side pieces are preferable but optional and extend upward from the lower adjacent pieces thereby forming a backrest and/or armrests as the case may be. The side pieces are hingeably attached to the back piece so that they may lie substantially parallel to the back piece in a storage position. In an opened position, the side pieces form two L-shaped vertical supports from the back piece. The top edge of the lower pieces comprises an L-shaped seat support for the bench seat. The L-shaped support supports a substantially rectangular bench seat laterally on three sides and from underneath near those three sides. Each of two removable struts are attached from above a forward leg or edge of a lower side piece, where the attaching location is substantially above ground level, to the forward, unsupported edge of the bench seat. The two removable struts are surprisingly short for the necessary support strength required, as one of the preferred embodiments comprises the bench seat as having a mortar-seated mosaic on its top surface, thereby increasing the overall weight supported by the rest of the folding bench. Another embodiment is presented that is less visibly desirable. This embodiment does not have the leg to bench seat strut of the preceding strut-supported embodiment, although requires substantial additional support structure to achieve the invention objects. This other embodiment is substantially the same as the strut-supported embodiment but includes a removable bar extending from the top and forward edge of each lower side piece substantially parallel to the L-shaped seat support together with a tensioning X-shaped strut assembly connecting the four corner legs of the folding bench at about a distance of at least about 8 inches below the L-shaped seat support and substantially parallel to it. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0004]    FIGS.  1 - 3  are front perspective views of the strut-supported embodiment of the invention having an upper back piece functioning as a back rest and two upper side pieces functioning as armrests. FIG. 1 shows a side piece to the left in the folded position and the other side piece to the right in an opened position. FIG. 2 shows both side pieces in open positions. FIG. 3 shows the bench seat being lowered to be supported by the L-shaped seat support.  
         [0005]    [0005]FIG. 4 is a magnified view of a threaded end and wing nut as means for making the assembly connections for the leg to seat struts.  
         [0006]    [0006]FIG. 5 is a section A-A of FIG. 2 including a cutaway view of the L-shaped seat support and a portion of bench seat comprising a support pan having mosaic topped mortar therein.  
         [0007]    [0007]FIG. 6 is a section B-B of FIG. 3 of a bench seat comprising a support pan having mosaic topped mortar therein.  
         [0008]    [0008]FIG. 7 is a wireframe diagram for the invention embodiment without the upper back piece or upper side pieces.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 8 is a wireframe diagram for the invention embodiment with the upper back piece or upper side pieces.  
         [0010]    FIGS.  9 - 12  are perspective views of an alternate embodiment of the present invention without a leg to seat strut but having a removable support bar and a tensioning X-shaped strut assembly. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0011]    The invention is now discussed with reference to the Figures.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 1 shows the invention folding bench in a preferred embodiment as shown more generally in FIG. 8. The folding bench  100  comprises an upper back piece  101  continuous with a lower back piece comprising legs  109  and  1   10  that continue upward to become side edge supports for upper back piece  101 , where the legs  109  and  110  and their upper extensions  104  are continuous bars and/or are integrally weld connected by lowest bar  111 , a back to section of L-shaped seat support  113  and top bar  102 . Top bar  102  and the back section of L-shaped seat support  113  are connected by bars  103  to improve structural strength and the effectiveness of a back support for the folding seat. Piece  101  therefore comprises a substantially planar and vertical structural element of the invention. The center back leg  110  and upper extension thereof are a critical aspect of the invention support in the back piece.  
         [0013]    With the exception of the bolt and wingnut connections for removable strut  117 , the wireframe FIG. 8 shows black dots as locations of such integral weld connections. The present embodiment is discussed in a form as if iron or steel round rods were used with a diameter of from about {fraction (3/16)} inches to about ⅜ inches were used. The most lightweight, low cost and visually appealing forms are of the invention are constructed from this material.  
         [0014]    Referring again to FIG. 1, two side pieces are hingedly attached to the back piece. A back piece comprises for the FIG. 1 embodiment two horizontal pieces in the armrest  105  and side section of L-shaped seat support  113  and two vertical pieces in the front leg  108  and its upper extension and the hinge  106  attachment to the back piece end leg  109 . It is preferable for visual and structural support that welded strut  107  be connected at about half way down leg  108  and at close to a rear position on the side section of L-shaped seat support  113 . It can be seen in FIG. 8 that this angled orientation provides a folding bench with a more visually open structure than if it were horizontal as welded strut  107  is shown in FIG. 7. Structurally, the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 8 as to strut  107  are more preferable than that the strut  107  of FIG. 7, as the weight of the seat  114  and a person seated thereon is directed down toward the front leg  108 , which has the beneficial effect of causing an upward lift through removable strut  117  on the bottom of seat  114 . It will be understood by the skilled person that the side pieces of FIG. 1 in the upper section comprise a rectangular frame where a rear vertical frame piece supports a portion of hinge  106 . It is preferable that hinge  106  extend forward and outward from the back piece so that when a side piece is folded against the back piece (as is the side piece on the left as viewed in FIG. 1), the side piece is substantially parallel with the back piece. The folding bench is of such a length (over about 3 feet) so that the folded side pieces in the closed position do not interfere with fully contacting the side piece against the back piece, i.e., the side pieces don&#39;t block each other from closing.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1 shows two opening direction arcs  112  which indicate the directions for opening and closing the side pieces against the back piece. FIG. 2 shows the two side pieces in an open position relative to the back piece. Each side piece and the back piece  101  of FIGS.  1 - 3  and  8  are horizontally intersected with a critical support piece, the L-shaped seat support  113  having a L-shaped cross section as shown in FIG. 5, which is adapted to securely support from underneath and laterally seat  114  on three edges  113 ′ (as in FIGS. 7 and 8). The L-shape of support  113  are maintained through its length so that seat  114  is retained therein when seat  114  is lowered onto support  113  from above in direction  115  as in FIG. 3. Final assembly requires that bolts mounted underneath seat  114  (not shown) in locations  116  are connected to upper ends of removable struts  117  with wing nuts  120  as in FIG. 4, thereafter connecting lower threaded ends of strut  117  to a curved, decorative spiral extension of strut  107  near about halfway down the front leg  108 . The act of attaching both struts  117  to the underside of seat  114  and effectively to leg  108  completes all the structure needed for the invention folding bench, where (as in FIG. 8 in broken lines) an effective seat support line  111  is formed. Line  111  shows that although seat  114  does not have a continuous support bar as support  113  does for edges  113 ′, a complete peripheral bottom and lateral support is formed for the invention folding seat comprising the L-shaped seat support  113  and the support provided by struts  117 . Seat  117  in the fully assembled position cannot move forward (away from the back piece) because it is constrained by the struts  117  or backward or sideways because of the vertical portions of the support  113 . The ends  118  and  119  of struts  117  are shown in close up in FIG. 4 as using a threaded end with a wing nut  120 , although other such removable means are adaptable for the objects of the invention so long as such attachment means leave strut  117  removable from the other bench pieces.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6 shows a cross section of the seat  114  as a preferred mosaic topped embodiment. A continuous pan  121  is filled with an effective amount of mortar or grout  123  so that a top layer of decorative mosaic pieces may form the top viewable portion of the seat  114 .  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 7 shows an alternate embodiment of the present invention for a folding bench without an upper section for the back or side pieces. In FIG. 7, it is intended that the rectangular frame of the upper side piece of FIG. 8 (formed by armrest  105 , upper section of leg  108 , a side section of support  113  and a rear vertical bar comprising part of the hinge  106 ) is effectively removed to the lower section of the side piece. In effect, the hinge  106  of FIG. 8 moves to the location of hinge  150  of FIG. 7 so side pieces are movable about arc directions  112  of FIG. 7 to obtain the open and folded positions of FIGS.  1 - 3  for the side pieces. Further, the top support of armrest  105  of FIG. 8 becomes an equivalent support for the hinge  150  of FIG. 7 as a side piece of support  113  and the side piece of support  113  of FIG. 8 becomes an equivalent support for the hinge  150  of FIG. 7 as horizontal welded strut  107 . In all other respects, the embodiment of FIG. 7 operates to support and restrain seat  114  in the same way as does the embodiments of FIGS.  1 - 3  and  108 . Thus the invention lower sections of the back piece and the side pieces may be used with or without the upper sections thereof that form back support and armrests otherwise.  
         [0018]    An alternate embodiment of the invention folding bench is shown in FIGS.  9 - 12 . Folding bench  200  comprises many of the inventive features and objects as the devices above, although the means required for providing equivalent support as compared to struts  117  is somewhat different. It will be seen that the back piece  101  is substantially the same as in FIG. 1, although seat  114  comprises a hinge attachment at a rear edge  125  to a simple rod support  126  that replaces the back piece L-shaped seat support of FIGS.  1 - 3 . In addition, a removable rod support  131  comprises ends C′ and D′ (as in FIG. 10) insertable into hole supports C and D (as in FIG. 11). This rod support  131  in part will accomplish support for seat  114  folded down in direction  127  to contact side pieces L-shaped seat supports  113  and support  131 , but the support is insufficient to prevent buckling of the structure upon full weight loading. Additional tensioning means must be applied at about halfway down and horizontally inward from legs  108  and  109  at about locations  132  so that a central ring  128  and adjustable bolts  129  connect thereto through struts  130 . Struts  130  are adapted to with distal end hooks E′, F′, G′ and H′ such that they respectively hook into support holes E, F, G and H. Struts  130  are further adapted with proximal ends E″, F″, G″ and H″ that hook into rings of ring bolts  129 . Bolts  129  are connected to ring  128  with nuts or with threaded holes in ring  128 .  
         [0019]    As shown in FIG. 11, the bolts  129  have been tightened so that application of downward force on the seat  114  as shown in FIG. 12 will prevent legs  108  and/or  109  from buckling outward.  
         [0020]    The above design disclosures present the skilled person with considerable and wide ranges from which to choose appropriate obvious modifications for the above examples. However, the objects of the present invention will still be obtained by the skilled person applying such design disclosures in an appropriate manner.