The present invention relates to furniture and a method of conversion whereby a sofa can be easily converted into a wide bed.
In recent years financial pressures have caused many furniture manufacturers to discontinue and redesign their products in order to meet foreign competition and rising labor costs. Convertible sleeper sofas are generally expensive but are furniture items which people like because of the dual functionality. Sleeper sofas are particularly advantageous in small houses and apartments having minimum floor space and number of bedrooms. However, the mechanical mechanism involved in the conversion process which resides below the sofa seat has in some cases become cost prohibitive for certain furniture lines. Also, such mechanisms are often difficult to repair and very expensive to replace. Due to the many moving parts of such standard mechanisms, dust and debris often infiltrate the mechanisms, causing the mechanisms to malfunction and work inefficiently. Conventional sleeper sofas also are usually heavy due in part to the metal mechanisms and are difficult to move once in a house or apartment.
Thus, based on the problems and disadvantages of conventional convertible sleeper sofas the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide convertible furniture which does not employ a conventional mechanical conversion mechanism.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide convertible furniture which can be manufactured and sold at a relatively low price for easy affordability due to the simplicity of the design.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide convertible furniture having a frame with a slide affixed thereto for simple, manual conversion from a sofa to a bed.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a method for converting furniture to form an extra wide bed.
It is yet a further objective of the present invention to provide convertible furniture which can be easily moved and transformed from a sleeper mode to a sofa mode and back by one individual of average or small size.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed description is set forth below.
The aforesaid and other objectives are realized by providing convertible furniture, preferably in the form of a sofa having a rectangularly shaped metal tubular frame or slide with three (3) L-shaped legs depending therefrom. Each of the L-shaped legs includes a pair of casters for ease in moving and during the conversion process. Slide rails are affixed to the side or arm panels of the furniture to maintain and support the slide when in the sofa mode whereby the slide can be easily pulled forwardly from the slide support when converting from the sofa mode to the bed mode. A seat having a stiff covered plywood bottom is affixed to the slide such as by conventional screws and includes a back pivotally attached thereto. The back is sewn along its lower front edge to the upper rear edge of the seat for pivotable movement. A seat extension also having a covered plywood bottom is provided and affixed to the rear of the slide support likewise by conventional screws. A spring loaded latch positioned at the front panel maintains the furniture in the sofa mode. The conversion method teaches grasping a handle on the front panel and the latch manually released with finger pressure applied to a latch ball to enable moving the slide forwardly. Stops attached to the arm side panels terminate the forward rolling motion of the slide. The back is pivoted into a flat, horizontal position into alignment between the seat and seat extension which is about 25 cm wide to form a relatively wide bed. While the preferred embodiment is shown as a sofa convertible to a bed other types of furniture such as chairs or the like could likewise by made for similar conversion. The arm side panels are affixed to the slide support and rest on the floor to allow the arm side panels to act as anchors during the conversion process as the slide is extended from the slide support by pulling the handle on the front panel. A rear panel is affixed to the arm side panels for added stability and in maintaining the back in an upright posture while in the sofa mode.
The latch mechanism employed includes a finger manipulatable ball which is affixed to a rotatable L-shaped metal angle. The angle is attached to the tubular slide with an axle pin and spring and includes a notch for engaging a lip on the slide support. Thus, when the ball is pushed inwardly the angle is rotated downwardly, extending the spring while pivoting to thereby release the slide support lip from the notch in the angle. By pulling the handle the slide can then be extended forwardly from the slide support with ease due in part to the casters. The handle on the front panel provides ease in pulling the seat and slide forwardly and in manipulating the latch ball. The front panel also provides an opening for a pair of drawers for the storage of items beneath the seat.
The method of converting the sofa to a bed and back into a sofa is relatively easy to learn and does not require the energy for lifting as in heavy, conventional convertible sofas.
For a better understanding of the invention and its conversion method, turning now to the drawings,
Furniture 10 further includes slide 20 and slide support 40 shown in
Slide support 40 is also rectangular in shape and includes lower support members 41, 41′, rear upper support member 42, side members 43, 43′ and slide rails 44, 44′ mounted atop lower support members 41, 41′. Slide support 40 is affixed between side panels 13, 13′ such as by conventional nuts and bolts or screws (not shown). Rear panel 28 is likewise affixed to side panels 13, 13′ for stability and to provide support for back 12 when in the sofa mode.
In
Latch mechanism 30 shown slightly enlarged in
The various phases of the preferred conversion method are shown in
In
Slide 20 in
The preferred conversion method shown in
The illustrations and examples provided herein are for explanatory purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2476062 | Pierce, Jr. | Jul 1949 | A |
2784766 | Hale | Mar 1957 | A |
2866207 | Smilow et al. | Dec 1958 | A |
6161231 | Kraft et al. | Dec 2000 | A |
20020175523 | Lu | Nov 2002 | A1 |