Patent Publication Number: US-2023147575-A1

Title: Ready to assemble chair base

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates generally to ready to assemble furniture, and more particularly to a ready to assemble chair base for a rolling office chair. 
     2. Background of the Related Art 
     Rolling office chairs are known to include a large diameter chair base having 5 or more legs radiating out from a central hub. Multiple legs in combination with a large diameter provides stability for a chair that is able to roll about as well as recline. While the large diameter chair base is critical to stability of the chair, it has the drawback of significantly increasing shipping costs because the diameter of the chair base is the largest dimension of the chair, and thus dictates the size of the packaging of the chair for shipping. A larger box reduces the number of boxes that can fit into a shipping container and increases the overall landed costs of the chair when shipped. 
     To reduce shipping costs, many such chairs are broken down into smaller subassemblies for shipping. For example, the chair base, post (gas lift), seat and seat back are disassembled and packed into a smaller box. This significantly reduces the size of the shipping box and the landed cost. However, the diameter of the chair base remains the largest dimension of the box contents and, as a result, still dictates the largest single dimension of the box. Because it is an ongoing objective of manufacturers to continually reduce landed cost of products, there is a continuing need in the industry to reduce the size of packaging, and in this case, packaging for rolling office chairs. 
     SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure provides a unique and novel ready to assemble chair base, which is broken down into several component parts, packed in a smaller volume of space, and then easily assembled by the consumer. 
     In one exemplary embodiment, the chair base is formed in such a manner that the base comes apart into at least two components. 
     A first removable leg component comprises a truncated portion of one of the five legs. A second hub component comprises a central body portion having a central tapered axially extending hole therein, a plurality of full length radially extending legs and a shorter leg receiver configured and arranged to receive and retain the first leg component when the chair base is assembled. 
     The leg receiver includes a radially inwardly extending channel with two semicircular receiver slots in the sidewalls of the channel. The channel further includes wedge walls extending radially outwardly from an inner wall thereof. 
     The leg component has a blade portion extending radially inwardly from an inner end thereof with two locking posts extending laterally outwardly therefrom. 
     During assembly, the inner end of the leg is inserted at an angle into the channel with the locking posts positioned in the receiver slots such that when the leg component is rotated into the assembled position (parallel with the leg receiver), a rounded wedge formed on the inner end of the blade contacts the wedge walls as the leg is rotated into assembled position to wedge the locking posts firmly into the receiver slots. When the locking posts are firmly positioned into the receiver slots and the blade is wedged firmly against the wedge walls the top wall of leg engages a lower inner wall of the channel to provide a stable user assembled chair base. 
     The top wall of the channel may further include a threaded hole therein to receive a bolt that is inserted through a hole in the underside of the removable leg and engaged with the threaded hole to firmly retain the leg in the assembled position. 
     In some exemplary versions of the chair base, the non-removable chair legs include grooves formed therein to replicate the assembly seam seen on the removable leg and create a uniform appearance of all legs. 
     In some exemplary embodiments, two or more of the five legs of the chair base are made to be removable. 
     Among the objects of the present disclosure is the provision of a ready to assemble chair base that is broken down into at least two component parts allowing it to be packed into a smaller volume of space than the fully assembled components. 
     Another object of the present disclosure is the provision of a ready to assemble chair base that may be easily assembled by the consumer with simple readily available tools. 
     Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where: 
         FIG.  1    is a top perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the ready to assemble chair base constructed in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure; 
         FIG.  2    is a top view thereof; 
         FIG.  3    is a bottom view thereof; 
         FIG.  4    is an exploded top perspective view thereof; 
         FIG.  5    is an exploded bottom perspective view thereof; 
         FIG.  6    is an enlarged exploded bottom perspective view of the removable leg joint construction of the ready to assemble chair base accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure; 
         FIG.  7    is a cross-sectional view showing insertion of the leg component into the receiving channel of the base; 
         FIG.  8    is a cross-section view taken along line  8 - 8  of  FIG.  2   ; 
         FIG.  9    is a cross-section view taken along line  9 - 9  of  FIG.  2   ; and 
         FIG.  10    is a cross-section view taken along line  10 - 10  of  FIG.  2   . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
     Certain exemplary embodiments will now be described to provide an overall understanding of the principles of the structure, function, manufacture, and use of the device and methods disclosed herein. One or more examples of these embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Those skilled in the art will understand that the devices and methods specifically described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings are non-limiting exemplary embodiments and that the scope of the present invention is defined solely by the claims. The features illustrated or described in connection with one exemplary embodiment may be combined with the features of other embodiments. Such modifications and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure. Further, in the present disclosure, like-numbered components of the embodiments generally have similar features, and thus within a particular embodiment each feature of each like-numbered component is not necessarily fully elaborated upon. Additionally, to the extent that linear or circular dimensions are used in the description of the disclosed systems, devices, and methods, such dimensions are not intended to limit the types of shapes that can be used in conjunction with such systems, devices, and methods. A person skilled in the art will recognize that an equivalent to such linear and circular dimensions can easily be determined for any geometric shape. Further, to the extent that directional terms like top, bottom, up, or down are used, they are not intended to limit the systems, devices, and methods disclosed herein. A person skilled in the art will recognize that these terms are merely relative to the system and device being discussed and are not universal. 
     Generally, the present disclosure provides a unique and novel ready to assemble chair base  10 , which is broken down into two, or more component parts, allowing it to be packed in a smaller volume of space, and then easily assembled by the consumer. 
     Turning now to the drawings,  FIGS.  1 - 10    illustrate an exemplary embodiment wherein the chair base  10  is formed in such a manner that the base comprises at least two components, namely a leg component  12  and a hub component  14 . 
     The first component is a leg portion  12  that includes a truncated portion of one of the five legs. The second component comprises a hub portion  14  having a central support  16  with a tapered axial hole  18  therein, a plurality of full length fixed legs  20  extending radially outwardly from the central hub  16  and a short leg receiver  22  configured and arranged to receive the leg component  12  when the chair base is assembled. The central hole  18  of the central support  16  is tapered and formed to receive and retain a gas lift assembly that functions as a seat post to support the seating portion of the chair. 
     Turning to  FIGS.  6 - 10   , the manner in which the leg  12  attaches to the leg receiver  22  is illustrated and detailed. The leg receiver  22  includes a radially inwardly extending channel  24  therein with two semicircular receiver slots  26  in the opposing sidewalls  28  of the channel  24 . The channel  24  further includes wedge walls  42  extending radially outwardly from an inward wall  44 . 
     The leg component  12  has a blade portion  30  extending radially inwardly from an inner end thereof with two locking posts  32  extending laterally outwardly therefrom. 
     During assembly, the inner end of the leg  12  is inserted at an angle into the channel  24  with the two locking posts  32  positioned in the receiver slots  26  (See  FIG.  7   ) such that when the leg  12  is rotated into the assembled position (See  FIGS.  8 - 10   ), a rounded wedge surface  46   a  formed on the inner end of the blade  30  contacts the wedge walls  42  to wedge the locking posts  32  firmly into the receiver slots  26 . When the locking posts  32  are firmly positioned into the receiver slots  26  and the blade  30  is wedged firmly against the wedge walls  42 , the top wall  31  of the blade  30  engages a lower wall of the channel  24  to provide a stable user assembled chair base  10 . 
     The top wall  34  of the channel  24  includes a threaded hole  48  therein to receive a bolt  50  that is inserted through a hole  47  in the underside of the removable leg  12  and engaged with the threaded hole  48  to firmly retain the leg  12  in the assembled position. 
     It can be further seen that the leg receiver  22  includes shoulders  36  flanking the ends of the channel  24  sidewalls  28 . The shoulders  36  are configured and shaped to engage against corresponding shoulders  38  formed on the end of the leg  12  adjacent the blade  30 . When the leg  12  is in the assembled relation and the locking posts  32  are engaged with the retainer slots  26 , the shoulders  38  are drawn tightly into mating relation with shoulders  36  to provide additional support for the leg attachment to the base. Further it should be noted that the shoulders  36  and  38  are tapered in a manner to prevent them from further slipping in the assembled relation thereby adding stability to the assembled chair base  10 . that are configured and 
     It should be appreciated that while at least one removable leg  12  is shown, in other versions of the exemplary embodiment, more than one of the five legs for the chair base may use the same connection as detailed such that are also made to be removable, further providing even smaller packing sizes. 
     In some exemplary embodiments, the non-removable chair legs  20  include grooves  40  formed therein to replicate the assembly seam seen on the removable leg to provide a uniform appearance of all of the legs  12 / 20 . 
     It can therefore be seen that the present disclosure provides a ready to assemble chair base that can be broken down into at least two component parts and packed into a smaller volume of space than the assembled components. 
     It can further be seen that the present disclosure provides a ready to assemble chair base that be easily reassembled by the consumer with simple readily available tools. 
     Although the embodiments shown herein illustrate a ready to assemble chair base, it would be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the chair base described herein may be adapted for various other types of chairs, stools, tables and/or standalone use. 
     Further, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the illustrated embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention. All such modifications and changes are intended to be within the scope of the present invention. While the present disclosure provides for various embodiments, it is intended for the subassemblies of the various embodiments to be discrete subassemblies that can be used in the various embodiments interchangeably.