BACKGROUND
1. Field
Shipping couches compactly.
2. General Background and State of the Art
Much furniture is made outside the United States and is imported in intermodal shipping container on container ships to the United States and other countries. The standard lengths of the containers are 20 or 40 feet (about 6 to 12 m).
Manufacturers pay shipping companies by-the-container, so manufacturers normally want each container to be full without wasted space.
The Covid-19 pandemic hurt the global supply chain in 2021 and 2022 making it difficult for manufacturers to have ships holding their products to reach ports to unload. If a manufacturer could increase the number of products it could load on each container, more of its products could be imported on each ship, so supply chain disruptions could have less adverse effects to manufacturers.
Some furniture manufacturers like Ikea ship unassembled furniture. Consumers buy the furniture unassembled and put it together themselves or have services assemble it. Most traditional furniture stores sell assembled furniture, which they do not assemble from scratch.
SUMMARY
The furniture described here are couches or sofas. Applicant's couches are designed to ship unassembled to take up a smaller volume than earlier couches of the same size. The couch has a base with outside walls including a top, a bottom, a front wall, a rear wall and two side walls. The bottom of the base is open between the front wall, the rear wall and the two side walls to form a first cavity. Seat cushions are stored in the cavity during shipping, and a flexible cover holds the cushions in the cavity until the cover is opened to remove the cushions. During shipping, the couch's arms rest on the bottom of the base. The inside of each arm has fittings for attaching the arms to the side walls of the base.
A brace in the cavity extends between the front wall and the rear wall. The brace has a hump between the front and rear walls. The brace can pivot between one position in which the hump is parallel to the bottom of the base and another position in which the hump is raised above the bottom of the base. The brace's first position lets the seat cushions fit into the first cavity. The brace's second position helps secure the base's front and rear walls in their positions.
The cushions for the seatback are under the base during shipping. During assembly, a flexible covering, which extends from the base to the back of the seatback, covers the seatback and allows the seatback to be positioned properly on the base. One or more clips attach the covering to the base. The sides of the seatback have metal fittings that mesh with the couch's arm's metal fittings when the seatback is positioned on the top of the base. The seatback's shape fits to the base in the seatback proper position.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the compact system for shipping furniture shown being removed from a box, and the top of the system's base is facing up.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the base of the compact system with the bottom of the system's base facing up.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the compact system with seat cushions being removed from a cavity in the base.
FIGS. 4 and 5 are sectional views through planes 4-4 in FIG. 3.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the compact system with the bottom of the system's base facing up and side arms being attached to the sides of the base.
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the compact system with the bottom of the system's base facing up and legs being attached to the bottom of the base.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the compact system with the top of the system's base facing up and the seat back being attached to the arms.
FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the compact system with the top of the system's base facing up and the seat cushions being moved onto the top of the base.
FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the compact system with the cushions and optional pillows in place.
FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the bottom of an assembled couch.
FIG. 12 is a detailed view of a clip in enlargement 12 in FIG. 11.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Parts 10 for applicant's couch normally ship in box 2 (FIG. 1). The boxes and their parts load in an intermodal shipping container sized to reduce wasted space in a shipping container. After the parts are removed from the box, the box is not involved with assembling the couch. The furniture in FIGS. 1-3 and 6-11 is a three-cushion couch, a piece of furniture with a back on which two or more people can sit facing forward. Some couches are long enough for four or more people. Couches for two people are often called “love seats.” Many couches, including those shown in the drawings, have arms at their ends.
The compact system for shipping furniture includes base 12 (FIGS. 1-11) formed of rigid material such as wood or plastic. The base has top side 14 (FIGS. 7, 11), which faces downward in other figures, and bottom side 16 opposite the top side. They are thick enough to support the parts of the couch and people sitting or lying on it. Front wall 22, rear wall 24 and two side walls 26 and 28 form cavity 18 (FIG. 3) with panel 20 at its bottom in the FIG. 3 view. The panel may be plywood, pressboard, or similar materials. During shipping, the cavity is covered with material 96 that may be secured by a zipper or other connector. Unzipping the material allows access to the cavity.
Base 12 mounts on seatback 72 during shipping. See FIG. 1. Covering 74 (FIGS. 1, 8, 11) of flexible, stretchable material extends between the seatback and the bottom of base 12 to cover the outside of rear wall 24.
During shipping, seat cushions 50, 52, and 54 are on panel 20 in cavity 18 (FIGS. 2, 3, 7, 9, 10). The cushions have short extensions 56 and 58. The cavity's dimensions let the cushions fit tightly in cavity 18. For couches with two cushions, one extension can be forward during shipping, and the other extension can be rearward to that the two extensions together fill the space between the main parts of the seat cushions.
When assembly begins, cover 30 (FIGS. 2, 3, 4), which protects the seat cushions during shipping, is unzipped to allow the cushions' removal from the cavity.
Brace 32 extends between front wall 22 and rear wall 24 (FIGS. 3-6) and can be pivoted between a first position in which hump 34 is horizontal (FIG. 4) and a second position in which the hump extends downward away from panel 20 (FIG. 5). Because the base is upside down in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the hump extends upward in those figures. When the brace is in its first position, the hump lets the seat cushions fit in cavity 18. When the brace is in its second position, it helps hold the front and rear walls apart and parallel to each other.
Strut 36 extends between side walls 26 and 28 (FIGS. 4, 5). The strut may be a metal bar of plated steel or stainless steel. One or more brackets 38 help position the strut relative to rear wall 24. Short extension 40 (FIGS. 4 and 5) extends from brace 32. The extension is positioned such that it engages strut 36 when the brace is in its second position to hold the brace in the FIG. 5 position.
Arms 60 and 62 (FIGS. 1 and 6-11) are on panel 20 during shipping. See FIG. 1. They attach to side walls 26 and 28 through fittings such as dowels or bolts (not shown). Feet 64, 66, 68, and 70 attach to the bottom of side walls 26 and 28 or to the bottom of arms 60 and 62. (FIG. 5). If the feet attach to the arms, the part of the arms where the fee attach should be rigid enough to support the feet. The feet may have different shapes depending on the style of the couch. They may be shipped with screws (not shown) in their bases for attaching to the side walls. Small box 93 (FIG. 1) or a bag may hold the feet and other hardware. Base 12 is turned over after the feet are attached. See FIG. 8.
Seatback 72 (FIG. 8) may be hard material such as wood to support users pushing rearward against the seat back. Metal fittings 76 and 78 attach to the sides of the seatback, and mating fittings 80 and 82 are on the inside of arms 60 and 62. Structure on the latter fitting engage fitting 76 and 78 on the seatback to hold the seatback in position.
Groove 84 (FIG. 8) extends the width of the seatback, and the groove engages edge 86 of rear wall 24 when the fittings on the seatback and arms engage each other.
Seatback cushions 86, 88, and 90 attach to seatback 72. The cushions may attach with Velcro® fasteners or other attachment systems or they may be an integral with the rest of seatback 72. They also may be loose and rest on seat cushions 50, 52, and 54 (FIGS. 9, 10) after the seat cushions are slid into place on panel 20 (FIG. 9).
Previously mentioned covering 74 (FIGS. 1, 8, 11) ships attached to the back of seatback 72. It is shown attached to the middle of the seatback, but it could attach elsewhere. Clip 94 attaches to the base (FIGS. 11, 12). When the seatback is attached to the couch's base, the bottom of the covering is secured to the base by the clip after stretching the covering over the bottom of the base. The stretch of the covering pushes seatback groove 84 against the back of the base.
Extensions 56 and 58 of the outside seat cushions extend in front of arms 60 and 62. One can place decorative or plain pillows 92 on the seat cushions.
The description is illustrative, not limiting and is for example only. Although this application shows and describes examples, those having ordinary skill in the art will find it apparent they can make changes, modifications, or alterations. Many examples involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, but those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to meet the same goals. Acts, elements, and features discussed only with one embodiment are not intended to be excluded from a similar role in other embodiments.
“Plurality” means two or more. A “set” of items may include one or more of such items. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and similar words in the written description or the claims are open-ended, i.e., each means, “including but not limited to.” Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases regarding claims. The ordinal terms like “first,” “second,” and “third,” in the claims don't by themselves connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed. Instead, they merely are labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for the ordinal term's use). Alternatives like “or” include one or any combination of the listed items.
Patent Application
20250185815
