Collapsible table

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6634304
  • Patent Number
    6,634,304
  • Date Filed
    Tuesday, November 13, 2001
    23 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, October 21, 2003
    21 years ago
  • Inventors
  • Examiners
    • Mai; Lanna
    • Tran; Hanh V.
    Agents
    • Rosenberg, Klein & Lee
Abstract
A collapsible table is provided. The collapsible table includes a feet unit having two horizontal rods, a plurality of feet each having an upper end pivotally connected to one end of the horizontal rod. Each foot is provided with a position limit ring and a slidable sleeve disposes thereabout. A guide rod is provided pivotally between a horizontal rod and each slidable sleeve. Each position limit ring has a projecting member, and each slidable sleeve has an engage member for engage the projecting member. The position limit rings stop the slidable sleeve upon spreading the feet unit. The slidable sleeve moves the guide rods to force the feet swing down or up during spreading or collapsing. The engagement of the engage members and the projecting members securely retains the feet unit in the spread position.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




This invention relates to a collapsible table, particularly to one capable to spread and collapse with convenience, and quite stable for use in case of spreading out.




A known convention collapsible table shown in

FIG. 8

includes a feet unit


21


collapsible and having four feet


22


of the same length, an upper base


23


combined respectively with an upper end of each foot


22


, a bottom cover


24


fitted around the bottom of each foot


22


to contact the ground. A slidable sleeve


25


is fitted movably around each foot


22


, two pairs of spreading members


26


consist of a spreading rod


261


respectively and pivotally connected between one slidable sleeve


25


and upper ends of two opposite feet


22


and a connect rod


262


connected between the two opposite slidable sleeve


25


. Further, two horizontal upper rods


27


are provided respectively between the upper ends of two pars of feet


22


, and a hook


231


is fixed on the upper base


23


. Further, a table board


28


consisting of a plurality of narrow boards


281


is provided to be placed on the two upper rods


27


with holes


282


provided on an outermost narrow board


281


engaging the hooks


231


to stabilize the table board on the feet unit


21


.




In case that the conventional collapsible table is to be used, the slidable sleeves


25


on the feet


22


are moved with the spreading members


26


spreading from a collapsed condition to a spread condition, with the horizontal rods


27


becoming horizontal between the two upper bases


23


, with the table board


28


placed stably on the feet unit


21


by means of the hooks


231


engaging the holes


282


. Then the collapsible table is spread completely for use. If the spread table is to be collapsed, first the table board is removed from the feet unit


21


, and then pull up one end of the horizontal rods


27


to force it vertically located beside one of the feet


22


, and then the connect rods


262


is rotated with the spreading rods


261


as a fulcrum, so the slidable sleeves


25


gradually moving down along the feet


22


until the slidable sleeves


25


reach the bottom cover


24


in the collapsed condition.




Although the conventional collapsible table can be collapsed to become a small capacity for a user to easily carry out for use, it has the following disadvantages.




1. Spreading width of the feet unit have to be slowly adjusted for engaging the holes and the holes for placing the table board on the feet unit, extremely inconvenient for handling for too many points for engaging and for lack of stopping means of the slidable sleeves.




2. The feet unit is liable to sway, swing or be collided by something before it is spread stably for placing the table board for lack of stopping means of the slidable sleeves.




3. The dimensions of the table board is limited, impossible to supply a larger space for use, because the feet are spread and collapsed by means of the spreading members having their length restricted and moving height of the slidable sleeves also restricted.




4. Its structure is limited by the height of the feet, so its spread dimensions are not large. Subsequently, when any edge of the table board receives too large shock, its center of gravity may be unstable, and if worse, the table may fall down.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The main objective of the invention is to offer a collapsible table mainly including a feet unit consisting of two horizontal rods and four feet respectively having an upper end pivotally connected to one of the two ends of each horizontal rod, spreading members respectively pivotally provided between two feet, each spreading member having plural connect strips pivotally connected with each other. Each foot is possible to be swing up to become parallel to the horizontal rod, having a slidable sleeve fitted movably around and a position limit ring fixed around between the slidable sleeve and the upper end. Further, a guide rod is pivotally connected between each slidable sleeve and the horizontal rod. The spreading members move the slidable sleeves upward along each foot, which is then spread down to become vertical to the horizontal rod, with the slidable sleeves stopped by the position limit rings. Then the collapsible table in the invention is spread out fully for use, with a table board placed on the feet unit, needing no more adjustment.




Another objective of the invention is to offer a collapsible table, in which each position limit ring has a projecting member, and each slidable sleeve has an engage member to engage the projecting member in case of spreading the feet unit, keeping stably the feet unit by means of engagement of the projecting member and the engage member, without possibility of collapsing randomly or falling down.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




This invention will be better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein:





FIG. 1

is a perspective view of a collapsible table in a spread condition of the present invention.





FIG. 2

is a side view of the collapsible table of the present invention, showing how to collapse feet.





FIG. 3

is a partial magnified view of the collapsible table of the present invention.





FIG. 4

is a partial magnified perspective view of the collapsible table of the present invention.





FIG. 5

is another partial magnified view of the collapsible table of the present invention.





FIG. 6

is a side view of the collapsible table in the spread condition of the present invention.





FIG. 7

is a perspective view of the collapsible table being collapsed of the present invention.





FIG. 8

is an exploded perspective view of a known conventional collapsible table.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




A preferred embodiment of a collapsible table of the present invention, as shown in

FIG. 1

, includes a feet unit


1


consisting of a horizontal rod


11


, and a plurality of feet


12


respectively having an upper end pivotally connected to two ends of the horizontal rod


11


. Each foot


12


may be swung up to become parallel to the horizontal rod


11


as shown in

FIG. 2

, and a spread member


13


is pivotally connected between each pair of feet


12


connected to the two parallel horizontal rods


11


.




The spread member


13


includes a plurality of connect strips


131


pivotally connected with each other with a shaft


132


, and each connect strip


131


has an upper end pivotally connected with the upper end of each foot


12


and a lower end pivotally connected with a slidable sleeve


14


fitted movably around each foot


12


, as shown in FIG.


6


. Further, a guide rod


15


is pivotally provided between each slidable sleeve


14


and the horizontal rod as shown in

FIG. 3

, and a position limit ring


16


is fixed around each foot


12


at a proper point, having a projecting member


161


extending outward. The slidable sleeve


14


has an engage member


141


to engage the projecting member


161


as shown in

FIGS. 4 and 5

.




When the collapsible table is to be spread for use from a collapsed condition to a spread condition, the two horizontal rods


11


are pulled outward, letting the slidable sleeve


14


of the feet


12


are moved up by the spread members


13


, with the slidable sleeves


14


moving up and bringing the guide rods


15


to swing down the feet


12


as shown in

FIG. 2

until the slidable sleeves


14


are stopped by the position limit rings


16


. Then all the feet


12


are located vertical to the horizontal rods


11


as shown in

FIG. 3

, kept stable by engage the engage members


141


with the projecting members


161


of the position limit rings


16


as shown in

FIGS. 4 and 5

. In this way, the feet unit


1


is completely spread out on the ground as shown in FIG.


6


.




Conversely, if the feet unit


1


is to be collapsed, disengage the engage members


141


from the projecting members


161


, and the two horizontal rods


11


are pushed inward, with the spread members


13


moving down the slidable sleeves


14


, and with the guide rods


15


swinging the feet


12


upward to become parallel to the horizontal rods


11


. Then the collapsible table is collapsed, having a minimum capacity, convenient to store away and carry out, as shown in FIG.


7


.




Compared with the conventional collapsible table, the collapsible table in the invention has the following advantages.




1. The feet unit needs no additional adjusting for its spread width, because the feet have respectively a position limit rings to stop the slidable sleeves after spread out fully for directly placing a table board.




2. The position limit rings respectively have the projecting member and the slidable sleeves respectively have an engage member to engage the projecting member to keep stably the feet respectively without swaying around.




3. It only has two opposite sides pivotally connected with the spread members to spread the feet unit to a rectangular shape of a comparatively large area for a user to use.




4. When it is spread out fully, it has a good stability with the rectangular shape, never fall down because of unstable center of gravity in case of any edge of the table board receiving a shock.




5. Its structure is a device of interactive function, easy and quick to collapse or spread, only having four engaging devices, simple to handle.



Claims
  • 1. A collapsible table comprising mainly a feet unit, said feet unit consisting of two parallel horizontal rods, a plurality of feet respectively having an upper end pivotally connected to one of two ends of each said horizontal rod, each said foot swinging upward to become parallel to each said horizontal rod, a spread member respectively provided pivotally between two of said feet connected with each said horizontal rod, each spread member having an upper end pivotally connected to the upper end of said foot and a lower end pivotally connected to a slidable sleeve fitted movably around each said foot;a position limit ring fixed about each said foot, a guide rod provided pivotally between each said horizontal rod and each said slidable sleeve; said position limit rings being disposed to stop said slidable sleeve upon spreading of said feet unit, said spreading members moving said slidable sleeves up or down in case of spreading or collapsing, said guide rods moving said feet upward to parallel positions to said horizontal rods for collapsing and moving said feet downward to the vertical positions to said horizontal rods for spreading.
  • 2. The collapsible table as claimed in claim 1, wherein each said position limit ring has a projecting member extending outward, and each said slidable sleeve has an engage member to engage each said projecting member said feet unit spreading out to securely retain said feet unit in the spread position.
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960281 De Moss Jun 1910 A
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1369943 Springer Mar 1921 A
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2077541 Wieslander Apr 1937 A
2412395 Goosmann Dec 1946 A
4341164 Johnson Jul 1982 A
4579229 Porcaro et al. Apr 1986 A
5794546 Carter Aug 1998 A
5865127 Carter Feb 1999 A
6073894 Chen Jun 2000 A
6158361 Zheng et al. Dec 2000 A
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number Date Country
2120539 Dec 1983 GB
06237823 Aug 1994 JP