Abstract:
An adjustable locking mechanism incorporated in a bracket embracing laterially slidable first and second members, said mechanism being incorporated in the bracket and having a first element engaged with the bracket and a second element engaged with the first element and movable through both the first element and the bracket into engagement with the first member to force the first member into engagement with the second member to hold said first and second members in fixed lateral relationship to each other.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
     Not Applicable. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to beds and bed frames which have metal or wooden bed rails and to metal adjustable cross bars with legs for supporting the cross bars. While this invention is particularly applicable to full, queen, California king and king size beds which require legs on the cross bars to support the extra width and weight of such beds and bedding, it also is applicable to twin size beds where legs may be desired. 
     Specifically, this invention is related to adjustable angle iron cross bars for bed rails and frames designed for use with various sized beds and to a fastener for connecting the parts of the adjustable angle iron cross bars together, which fastener has a support leg fastened thereto. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Conventional beds and bed rails require longitudinally spaced, transversely extending wooden or metal slats extending between the side rails. The side rails tend to warp, twist outwardly or deflect under the weight of the box spring and other bedding components, which causes the box spring to sag. This especially is a problem with wider span beds and bedding, such as, queen size and king size widths, since the wider bedding is heavier as well as being wider and longer. Slats setting on angle iron or wood rails not only push the rails downwardly, but also push the rails outwardly when weight or torquing of these rails frequently cause the bed legs to split when the slot in the legs of the beds is too close to the outside edge of the leg, or cause the bed legs to split away from the end board. These slats are normally 1″ thick or less and create a sway in the box spring between one slat and the next, thereby weakening the frame of the box spring. 
     Prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,674 issued Jan. 3, 1977 discloses metal bed rails for queen size beds which eliminate the use of transverse slats and are interconnected by a centrally located angle iron rigid cross member with legs and adjustable glides. By extending the threaded glides to contact the floor they prevent the box spring from sagging and eliminate undue stress on the side rails and bed legs. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,039 discloses an adjustable cross bar and foldable adjustable legs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,852 is an improvement on the adjustable leg structure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,039. U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,155 is an improvement on the adjustable cross bar shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,039 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,413 is an improvement on U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,155 in that it provides for the installation of the leg on the fastener which holds the cross bar members together. 
     U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,203,039; 5,502,852; 6,209,155; and 6,397,413 are owned by the assignee of this application. The present invention is an improvement on the support legs shown in the aforementioned patents in that it provides for the leg being riveted to the fastener which is a relatively inexpensive fastening technique compared to the spot welding required in U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,413. It also is fabricated at the factory and does not require assembly in the field, saving on installation costs by the installer. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a cross bar construction, especially for full, king, California king, and queen size beds, which is adjustable in width and height, and which is easily and inexpensively fabricated at the factory. 
     Another object is to provide an adjustable cross bar construction for bed frames in which a leg is riveted to the bracket which slidingly retains the free ends of the cross bar members. These and other objects will become apparent hereinafter. 
     This invention comprises a bed frame cross bar having relatively expandable members and a locking bracket for retaining the expandable members in a fixed position with a leg riveted to the locking member by a relatively inexpensive and accurate technique at the place of fabrication. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
       In the drawings wherein like numbers refers to like parts wherever they occur: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the leg and locking member which is the subject of this invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an end elevational view of this invention applied to two relatively slidable cross bar members; 
         FIG. 3  is a fragmentary front elevation view of this invention as shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a front elevational view of the cross bar shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a plan view of the connecting member shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a vertical sectional view taken on line  6 — 6  of  FIG. 3 ; and 
         FIG. 7  is a sectional view taken on line  7 — 7  of FIG.  3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following detailed description illustrates the invention by way of example and not by way of limitation. This description will clearly enable one skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and describes several embodiments, adaptations, variations, alternatives and uses of the invention, including what we presently believe is the best mode of carrying out the invention. 
     This invention is an improvement on the adjustable cross bar connector shown in detail in FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,039 and identified by numerals 20-25 of that patent and on the connector identified by the numerals  100  et. seq. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,209,155 and 6,397,413. The structures of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,203,039, 5,502,852, 6,209,155 and 6,397,413 are herein incorporated by reference to the extent necessary to define background for a completion of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 3  shows a cross-bar  100  which comprises a main cross bar member  101  and an adjustable cross bar member  102 . 
     The main cross bar member  101  is an “L” angle, which has a horizontal flange or web  103  and a right angle vertical flange or web  104 . The vertical flange  104  terminates at  105  inwardly from the outboard edge  106  of the horizontal flange  103 . This defines a cut-out area which engages the inside of side rail  107  while the horizontal flange  103  has an opening  108  which overlaps the lip  107   a  of the side rail  107  and accommodates a screw  108   a  or other suitable means for fastening the main cross member  101  to the side rail  107 . The adjustable cross bar member  102  likewise has a vertical flange  109  and a horizontal flange  110 . The flanges  103 , 110  and  104 , 109  are of approximately equal size. The outboard end  111  of the adjustable cross member  102  is of similar construction to the outboard edge  106  of the main flange  101  and includes an opening  108  to accommodate a screw  108   a  or other suitable fastener to attach the cross bar  102  to the side rail lip  107   a.  When the side rails  107  and lips  107   a  are wood, screws are used to fasten the cross bars members  101 , 102  to the lips  107   a.  When the side rails  107  and lips  107   a  are metal, bolts and nuts are used. 
     The novel bracket  10  of this invention is used to tie the cross bar members  101  and  102  together at their inboard or free ends  112  and  113 . The bracket  10  preferably is about five inches in length for a bed cross bar, but can be any length for other applications as long as it is sufficiently long to provide rigidity and strength to the extended cross bar. 
     The horizontal flange  103  of the cross bar member  101  has a longitudinal free edge  115  while the vertical flange  104  has a longitudinal free edge  116 . The horizontal flange  110  of the adjustable cross bar member  102  has a longitudinal free edge  117  and the vertical flange  109  has a longitudinal free edge  118 . This is more clearly shown in FIG.  2 . 
     As seen more clearly in  FIG. 1 , the bracket  10  comprises right angular flanges  11  and  12 . The flange  11  is horizontal and the flange  12  depends therefrom at a right angle. The free edges of the flanges  11  and  12  are turned backwardly over the outer surfaces  11   a,    12   a  of the flanges  11 , 12  to form a horizontal track  13  and a vertical track  14 , respectively. The track  13  embraces the free ends  115  and  117  of the cross bar flange members  103 , 110  and the track  14  braces the free ends  116 , 118  of the cross bar flange members  104 , 109 , respectively. This is seen in FIG.  2 . This allows the members  101 , 102  to be relatively movable through the tracks  13 , 14 , thus allowing the members  101 , 102  to be sized to fit the distance between the side rails  107 . 
     An adjustable locking mechanism  20  is incorporated into the bracket  10  ( FIG. 6 ) and is positioned adjacent to the flange inside surfaces  11   b  and  12   b.  A boss or gusset  21  is formed in the flange  12  on the inside surface  12   b  thereof. The boss  21  has a rectangular base  21   a  and triangular sides  21   b (FIG.  1 ). An opening  22  is formed in the base  21   a  of the boss  21  and a Tinnerman nut  23  is positioned over the base  21   a  and frictionally engages the front and backsides thereof. The Tinnerman nut  23  has legs  24 , 25  provided with openings  24   a  and  25   a.  The openings  24   a,    25   a  are sized to mate with the boss opening  22 . The leg  25  has outwardly flared edges around the opening  25   a  which act as a lock nut for an L-shaped threaded bolt or elbow  26  which is positioned through the openings  22   a,   24   a,   25   a.  When the elbow  26  is tightened its end  27  engages the inside surface of the cross bar member  101  to lock the cross bar members  101 , 102  into frictional engagement with the bracket  10 . 
     The tracks  13  and  14  are sized to accommodate the cross bar members  101  and  102  in a relatively sliding arrangement. 
     When the cross bar member ends are firmly seated against the inside edges of the bed rails  107  and attached by the screws  108   a,  they will resist rotation or other movement. An important aspect of this invention is that the bracket horizontal flange  11  and the cross bar member horizontal flanges  103 , 110  are aligned so that the weight of the spring, mattress and users urges them into frictional engagement and strengthens the grip of the elbow  26  against the inner surface  112  of the cross member flange  103 . 
     An important improvement of this application is the way the leg  30  is attached to the fastening bracket  10 . In U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,413, the leg is welded to the fastening member in any of several different ways. Spot welding is an expensive way of attaching metal parts together and requires considerable time and skill on the part of the welder. In the present application, the leg  30  is riveted to the bracket  10 . Riveting is less costly and requires less skill and is more easily automated. 
     The leg  30  is formed of hot rolled steel and has right angular flanges  31  and  32 . The flange  31  has rivets  33  applied to fasten the leg  30  to the leg bracket flange  12 . The rivets  33  have heads  34  which are positioned on the outside of the flange  31  and the inside of the vertical bracket flange  12 , i.e., between the flange  12  and the inside cross bar member  112 . To provide ease of engagement the rivet heads  34  and the cross bar member  112 , protrusions or dimples  35  are formed in the bracket flange  12   b.  The dimples  35  are deeper than the thickness of the rivet heads  34  and therefore the cross bar members  101 , 112  slide on the tops of the dimples  35  and do not hang up on the wide flat rivet heads  34  (FIG.  7 ). 
     To facilitate securing the leg  30  to the bracket  10 , an opening  40  is formed in the bracket vertical flange track  14  (FIG.  4 ). It is aligned with the rivet heads  34 . The opening  40  allows access to the rivet heads  34  on the bracket  10  to facilitate the riveting process. An opening  41  is formed in the bracket horizontal flange  11  and a downwardly depending stabilizing flange  42  ( FIG. 1 ) is formed which tends to prevent leg deformation if lateral load is applied to the leg  30 , e.g., by dragging the leg  30  across a floor. 
     To facilitate installation of the Tinnerman nut  23 , an opening  45  is formed in the bracket horizontal track  13 . The opening  45  is aligned with the boss  21 . An opening  46  is formed in the horizontal flange  11  aligned with the boss  21  to also facilitate installation of the Tinnerman nut  23 . 
     The free end of the leg  30  has a square bracket  50  which retains a threaded plastic nut  51  which holds an extensible foot  52  which is threaded to move in and out to thereby change the length of the leg  30  and provide firm support for the cross bar. 
     In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects and advantages of the present invention have been achieved and other advantageous results have been obtained. 
     As various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.