Patent Application
20240349883
Foldable/collapsible furniture, such as tables or chairs, has been around for a long time. To provide easy and safe folding/locking functionality, different designs have been done on many over-the-shelf products.
Present invention provides an innovative design based upon a mechanism of “locking a core rod into a notch groove of a bracket” mechanism, with a L-rod structure controlling the lock or release of the core rod. This mechanism provides for safe, easy and effective folding/locking implementation that can help to reduce to cost of manufacturing this type of foldable furniture.
The present invention's main operating principle of putting a core rod into a notch groove of a bracket, where an L-rod controls the locking or releasing of the core rod to effectuate the unfolding the leg structure and locking it place safely and releasing the core rod to fold down the leg structure quickly and easily.
The core rod is connected to two bars, which in turn are connected to a support beam of a leg structure that is hingeably connected to a furniture piece.
A support piece is made on one side of the main plane of the furniture piece. The bracket is installed to the support piece.
The notch groove is sized substantially fit to receive the core rod.
An L-rod is pivotably residing in the bracket. The L-rod generally can be made in the shape of the letter “L”, thus the name. It has a push tab on one end and a lock tab on another end. L-rod serves as the control mechanism of said bracket to lock the leg structure in place when the core rod is received into the notch groove.
To set up the furniture, such as in the case of a table, the leg structure is unfolded away from a main plane of the furniture piece. The core rod, with connection to the two bars hingeably connected to the support beam, will be directed towards the notch groove on a bracket. Apply some pressure to the push tab of the L-rod and put the core rod into the opened notch groove. The lock tab will be actuated, by a spring, to lock the core rod in place, thus keeping the leg structure stably and securely set up in an unfolded position.
To fold down the furniture, apply pressure to said push tab, said core rod can be released from said notch groove, allowing said two bars to pull said core rod away from said bracket, and the leg structure to be hingeably pivoted and folded towards said main plane of the furniture piece.
A spring inside the bracket serves to provides an actuating power to keep said L-rod in a closed position until the push tab is pushed to open up the notch groove when the core rod needs to come in, or be released.
The accompanying drawings exemplify the preferred embodiments of the invention. Together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A brief description of the drawings is as follows:
The present invention relates to a new folding and locking mechanism applicable for furniture pieces, such as chairs or tables.
The mechanism primarily composed a core rod 10, two bars 15 with one end of each of said bar 15 connecting to said core rod, and a leg structure 25 having a support beam 20 hingeably connected to the other end of each of said two bars 15.
A main plane 50 has a hingeable connection to said leg structure 25. The main plane 50 can be the main surface (including the underside) of a table, or a chair.
A support piece 35 is made on one side of the main plane 50; on said support piece 35 is installed a bracket 30 for receiving said core rod 10. The bracket 30 has a notch groove 31 sized substantially fit for receiving the core rod 10. An L-rod 40 is pivotably residing in the bracket 30, further having a push tab 41 on one end and a lock tab 49 on the other end. Reference
L-rod 40 serves as the control mechanism of said bracket 30 to lock the leg structure 25 in place when setting up the furniture (chair or table) piece by unfolding the leg structure 25, or when collapsing the furniture by folding the leg structure 25 down towards the main plane 50 of the furniture piece.
In the operation of unfolding the leg structure 25, the core rod 10 will be directed towards the notch groove 31 and the lock tab 49 will keep core rod 10 in the notch groove 31. In the operation of folding down the leg structure 25, pressure is applied to said push tab 41, said core rod 10 will be detached/released from said notch groove 31, allowing said two bars 15 to pull said core rod 10 away from said bracket 30, and the leg structure 25 to be hingeably pivoted and folded towards said main plane 50 of the furniture piece.
Inside the bracket 30, a spring (not visible) provides an actuating power to keep said L-rod 40 in a closed position until the push tab 41 is pushed to open up the notch groove 31 when the core rod 10 needs to come in, or be released.
The construction of said spring for the L-rod 40 to perform the pivoting moves is well known in the relevant art and needs no disclosure herein.
Optionally, the lock tab 49 can have a sliding curvy line on the contacting side with said core rod 10 so that when the core rod 10 is pushed towards the notch groove 31, the curvy line allows the core rod 10 to slide in, gently nudging open a small gap until the core rod 10 fits completely inside said notch groove 31, with the spring pushing the lock tab 49 back in and lock the core rod 10 in the notch groove 31, and securely set the furniture piece in a fully unfolded and ready-to-use position.
As can be appreciated, the description and disclosure made herein illustrated the preferred embodiments of the invention and are not meant to limit the scope of the applicant's rights. Variations and alterations may be employed for yet additional embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention herein.
