BACKGROUND
Most furniture in the market today falls into one of two categories: expensive and well-built or cheap and poorly made. Many people needing furniture find themselves in a difficult position, forced to choose between spending a lot of money or buying a poorly made piece of furniture. While many are unhappy with this decision, few alternatives exist.
Further, there is a gap in the marketplace for users who are willing to try and build something themselves. Building furniture from scratch can yield a high quality product that is cheap to make, while also allowing a user to customize the furniture in accordance with their particular desires. However, most people lack the knowledge and/or skill to build a piece of furniture from scratch. Further, building a piece of furniture from scratch may require certain manufactured parts which may be difficult for most people to obtain.
SUMMARY
In view of the above, a need exists for a furniture option that is neither expensive to make nor poorly built. Further, there is a need for a kit that allows easy storage, transportation, and assembly, of components for building a piece of furniture.
In an embodiment the subject technology relates to a furniture kit for storage, transport, and/or assembly of components that may be used to form a piece of furniture. The kit includes a plurality of legs (e.g., steel legs) connectable to a top portion of the piece of furniture such that they support the top portion in an elevated position. The kit may also include a plurality of connectors that are operable to connect a plurality of upper members to one another, thereby forming the top portion. The connectors may also connect the legs to the top portion. When the legs are connected to the top portion, the steels legs support the top portion in an elevated position.
The kit may also include instructions for building the piece of furniture. The instructions may include a cut sheet. The cut sheet may include instructions for cutting furniture material (e.g., wood) to form the plurality of upper members such that the upper members are connectable to form the top portion of the piece of furniture. The instructions may also show how to connect the upper members via the connectors to form the top portion. Further, the instructions show how to connect the steel legs to the top portion via the connectors.
The kit may include a container (e.g., compact box). The container may be capable of storing the instructions, legs, and/or connectors. The container may also be capable of accommodating transportation of the instructions, legs, and/or components. The container may allow the storing and/or transportation of the instructions, legs, and/or components as a unit.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
So that those having ordinary skill in the art to which the disclosed system appertains will more readily understand how to make and use the same, reference may be had to the following drawings.
FIG. 1 depicts a top perspective view of a table which was fully assembled in accordance with the furniture kit of the subject disclosure.
FIG. 2 depicts a perspective view of a furniture kit for storage, transport, and assembly of the components for forming a piece of furniture in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 3 depicts a sample cut sheet for cutting a sheet of plywood to form the table of FIG. 1 in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 4 depicts a sample of instructions for assembling the table of FIG. 1 in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 5 depicts a sample of a portion of instructions for assembling the table of FIG. 1 in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 6 depicts a sample of a portion of instructions for assembling the table of FIG. 1 in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 7 depicts an exploded view of the table of FIG. 1.
FIG. 8 depicts a bottom perspective view of the table of FIG. 1.
FIG. 9 depicts a flowchart depicting a method of assembling a piece of furniture in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 10 depicts a perspective view of connectors and legs in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 11 depicts various views of one type of furniture leg in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 12 depicts various views of one type of furniture leg in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 13 depicts various views of one type of furniture leg in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 14 depicts various views of a connector in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 15 depicts various views of a connector in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 16 depicts various views of a connector in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 17 depicts various views of a connector in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 18 depicts various views of a connector in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 19 depicts various views of a connector in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 20 depicts various views of a connector in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 21 depicts various views of a connector in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 22 depicts various views of a connector in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 23 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 24 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 25 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 26 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 27 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 28 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 29 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 30 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 31 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 32 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 33 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 34 depicts a piece of furniture assembled in accordance with the subject disclosure.
FIG. 35 depicts an assembly technique for assembling a piece of furniture in accordance with the subject disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The subject technology overcomes various existing problems associated with furniture kits. Advantages, and other features of the technology disclosed herein, will become more readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art from the following detailed description of certain preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the drawings which set forth representative embodiments of the present disclosure and wherein like reference numerals identify similar structural elements. It is understood that references to the figures such as up, down, upward, downward, lower, upper, left, and right are with respect to the figures and not meant in a limiting sense.
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, an example of a piece of furniture 100 that was assembled in accordance with the subject furniture kit 110 (FIG. 2) is shown. The piece of furniture 100 may be formed using a combination of (1) parts and instructions included in the furniture kit 110 and (2) parts not contained in the kit but identified in the instructions. In this example, the piece of furniture 100 is a table. However, it should be noted that one skilled in the art would understand that the furniture kit 110 is capable of being used to assemble a wide range of furniture, such as desks, benches, shelves, or television stands, for example, and is not limited to tables.
The piece of furniture 100 may have a top portion 102 that may be formed from a number of upper members 104. The upper members 104 may be cut, for example, from a piece of furniture material (e.g., wood). The upper members 104 may be supported in an elevated position from a ground surface 106 by a number of legs 108.
Referring now to FIG. 2, furniture kit 110 may be used for storage, transport, and/or assembly of components that may be used for forming a piece of furniture. The kit 110 may include a number of parts in a box 112. These parts may include, for example, a package 114 (e.g., box) that contains various connectors, legs 108, and instructions 116. Examples of connectors and how they may be used, inter alia, to attach the legs 108 to the top portion 102 will be described further below.
The instructions 116 may include a cut sheet that may include information for cutting upper members 104 from the furniture material. An example of a cut sheet that may be used will be described further below.
The instructions 116 may also include information for connecting the various components within the kit 110 to form the piece of furniture 100. For example, an embodiment of kit 100 does not include upper members 104. Here, for example, a user may purchase furniture material for the upper members 104 separately and follow the instructions 116 to cut the upper members 104. The user may then connect the cut upper members 104 via the connectors 115 to form the top portion 102.
Referring now to FIG. 3, an example cut sheet 116 that may be used for cutting furniture material to form a plurality of upper members 104 is shown. In an embodiment, the kit 110 does not include the furniture material for forming the upper members 104, thereby allowing the kit 110 to have a more compact size. However, the cut sheet 116 is included in the kit 110, as a part of the kit instructions 116. This may allow the user an option to select furniture material that suits the user's preferences from an outside source.
For example, the furniture material may include wood and the outside source may be a local hardware store, lumber yard, or other location. Here, the user may choose a type of wood (e.g., plywood, walnut, maple, cherry, particle board) suitable to the final piece of furniture the user may desire. Further, the user may select a design and/or finish of the wood to, for example, match an environment where the user expects to use the final piece of furniture. After the user has selected the desired type of wood they can either provide the cut sheet 116 to the outside source to make the necessary cuts, or the user can follow the cut sheet 116 to make the cuts on their own.
Note that while FIG. 3 depicts an example of a cut sheet 116 that may be used for ultimately creating a certain piece of furniture 100 (i.e., a table), other embodiments may provide instructions that may be employed for other pieces of furniture. For example, cut sheet 116 may include instructions for other pieces of furniture such as desks, benches, shelves, and/or television stands. Further, other embodiments may include one or more cut sheets 116 may be necessary to illustrate cuts for a single piece of furniture.
The cut sheet instructions 116 of the example embodiment are followed to cut a four foot by four foot piece of plywood into a number of upper members 104. Alternatively, a standard four by eight piece of plywood can be used to form two pieces of furniture 100 from a single piece of plywood (using the parts from a second kit 110). The upper members 104 include a top piece 122 and bottom piece 124, used to form a top 132 and bottom surface 134 of the piece of furniture 100, respectively. The upper members 104 also include a center strip 126 and two side end pieces 128, which, when the piece of furniture 100 is assembled, run between the top piece 122 and bottom piece 124, as more fully described below.
There are a number of benefits in a kit 110 that uses a four by eight foot piece of plywood, or a size resulting from the clean division of a four by eight piece of plywood, such as a four by four piece of plywood. For example, four by eight pieces of plywood are widely available at most hardware stores and come in a variety of wood types and designs. This allows the kit 110 to include instructions 114 for cutting the plywood, rather than needing to provide the piece of plywood itself. In this way, the kit 110 is able to maintain a compact size and fit within a compact box 112. Further, since four by eight is a standard wood size, the furniture kits 110 often result in little wasted wood. In the present example, the table design is four by four which requires the use of exactly one half of a four by eight piece of plywood, thereby allowing a user to assemble two pieces of furniture 100 with one four by eight piece of wood.
Referring now to FIGS. 4-6, instructions for assembling the piece of furniture 100 of FIG. 1 are shown generally at 116. The instructions 116 direct the user as to how to connect the upper members 104 using the connectors 115, thereby forming the top portion 102 of the piece of furniture 100. The instructions 116 also show the user as to how to connect the legs 108 to the top portion 102 using the connectors 115.
In this case, the types of connectors 115 used to connect the upper members 104 include a 1″×1″×10″ bracket 115a, two 1″×1″×1″ 3-sided corer blocks 115b, and four triangle corner blocks (or chamfered corners) 115c. Further, a number of connectors 115 are screws 115d which serve to affix the other connectors 115 to the upper members 104 and/or the legs 108 to the upper members 104. It should be noted that these particular connectors 115 and legs 108 are used to form the piece of furniture 100 of FIG. 1, in accordance with the present example. Different kits 110 may use different numbers and types of connectors 115 depending on the particular piece of furniture being assembled through use of the kit 110. However, in general, the connectors 115 usually connect upper members 104 to form a top portion 102 and attach legs 108 to the top portion 102.
Referring now to FIG. 7, an exploded view of the table of FIG. 1 is shown generally at 100. The piece of furniture 100 is assembled, in accordance with the instructions of FIGS. 4-6, by utilizing the connectors 115 to affix the center strip 126 and side end pieces 128 to a bottom piece 124 such that they extend vertically widthwise from the bottom piece 124. The top piece 122 sits on top of the center strip 126 and side end pieces 128, connecting thereto via a number of connectors 115. In this way, the upper members 104 are connected together and the top portion 102 of the piece of furniture 100 is formed with a top surface 134 facing upward and a bottom surface 132 facing downward. The legs 108 are then attached to the bottom surface 132 via the connectors 115 (in this case, screws), securing the legs 108 to the top portion 102.
Referring now to FIG. 8, an underside of the fully assembled table of FIG. 1 is shown generally at 100. A number of screws 115 secure the legs 108 to the piece of furniture 100. The screws 115 hold the legs 108 to the top portion 102 such that the piece of furniture 100 can stand upright in an elevated position from a ground surface, as in FIG. 1.
Referring now to FIG. 9, another embodiment of the subject technology is shown. In this embodiment, the subject technology relates to a method 200 for creating a piece of furniture from a furniture kit 110. The method 200 includes forming a plurality of legs 108 and connectors 115 for use with the furniture kit 110 at step 202. At step 204, cut sheet instructions 116 are drafted for cutting a piece of plywood into upper members 104 which eventually connect to form the top portion 102 of the piece of furniture 100. At step 206, assembly instructions 116 are also drafted for assembling the legs 108, connectors 115, and upper members 104 to form the top piece 102 of furniture 100. The furniture kit 110 is then compiled by including, within a compact box 112, the legs 108, connectors 115, and the instructions 116 at step 208.
After the furniture kit 110 is compiled it can be stored for a time if desired at steps 210, 212. Eventually, the furniture kit 110 is transported to a location where the legs 108, connectors 115, and instructions 116 are removed from the box 112 to assemble a piece of furniture at step 214.
The cut sheet instructions 116 are provided to a hardware store and a piece of plywood is cut in accordance with the cut sheet instructions 116 at step 216. Alternatively, a user can procure their own piece of furniture material and follow the cut sheet instructions 116 to cut the piece of furniture material themselves in accordance with the instructions on the cut sheet 116 at step 216.
At step 218, the user follows the assembly instructions 116 to connect the upper members 104, via the connectors 115 provided in the furniture kit 110, thereby forming the top portion 102 of the furniture piece. The user further follows the assembly instructions 116 to attach the legs 108 to the top portion 102 via the connectors 115 at step 220. After the legs 108 have been fixed to the top portion 102, the legs 108 will hold the top portion 102, and therefore the piece of furniture, in an elevated position. In this way, the method 200 of this embodiment can be followed to ultimately create a fully formed piece of furniture.
Referring now to FIG. 10, various parts in accordance with the subject technology are shown. For example, a chamfered corner 115c which can be used in carpentry for various purposes is shown. The chamfered corner 115c includes a first triangle piece 150 which has a first side 150a running along an x axis and a second side 150b running along a y axis. The first and second sides 150a, 150b are connected by a third side 150c, thereby forming a substantially flat surface 150d between the x axis and the y axis. The chamfered corner 115c includes a second triangle 152 with a first side 152a running along a z axis and a second side 152b running along the x axis. The second triangle 152 has a third side 152c which connects the first and second sides 152a, 152b of the second triangle 152 to form a flat surface 152d between the x and z axes. Further, the second side 152b of the second triangle 152 is adjacent to the first side 150a of the first triangle 150. The chamfered piece 115c also has a third triangle 154 with a first side 154a running along the y axis and a second side 154b running along the z axis. A third side 154c of the third triangle 154 connects the first and second sides 154a, 154b of the third triangle 154. The first side 154a of the third triangle 154 is adjacent to the second side 150b of the first triangle 150 and the second side 154b of the third triangle 154 is adjacent to the first side 152a of the second triangle 152. Further, the chamfered piece 115c includes a number of central openings 156 within the triangle pieces 150, 152, 154. For example, as shown, the second and third triangles 152, 154 have central openings. However, any combination of the sides 150, 152, 154 can include central openings 156. The central openings 156 allow for receiving fasteners such as a screws, bolts, or other types of connectors 115. Fasteners can then be used to fix the surfaces of the chamfered piece 115c to various other parts, such as a table top or table legs (i.e. see FIG. 5), thereby holding multiple other parts together.
Still referring to FIG. 10, various table legs 108 are shown, including a table leg 108a designed for use with a coffee table. The table leg 108a includes a bottom member 160 extending along a longitudinal axis “a” and having a first end 162 and a second end 164. The table leg 108a has a first and second side member 166, 168 which are coupled to the first and second ends 162, 164, respectively of the bottom member 160. The side members 166, 168 extend upward from the bottom member 160, angling inwards slightly, towards one another, thereby forming an angle “c” of between 75 and 90 degrees with the bottom member 160. First and second top members 170, 172 are coupled to the first and second side members 166, 168, respectively, running towards one another parallel to the longitudinal axis “a”. A plurality of openings 174 allow fasteners to be inserted into the table leg 108a such that it can be affixed to other pieces, such as a table top or bumpers. Notably, although terms such as “end” are used to describe the various parts of the table leg piece 108a, all members of the table leg piece 108a can be formed from a single, continuous piece of structural material, such as steel. In other words, one single unbroken member may carry out the job of the various members described above.
Referring now to FIGS. 11-13, various types of legs 108 which can be included in the furniture kit 110 are shown. These legs 108 are not meant to be inclusive of all types of legs which can be included in the furniture kit 110, but rather, are illustrative of some designs that have proven to work well.
Referring now to FIGS. 14-22, various connectors 115 which can be included in the furniture kit 110 and used to assemble furniture are shown. For example, FIG. 20 shows various views of the chamfered corner 115c. These connectors 115 are not meant to be all inclusive of all types of connectors which can be included in the furniture kit 110, but rather, are illustrative of some designs of connectors 115 that have proven to work well. For example, furniture kits 115 may also include a number of fasteners and screws.
Referring now to FIGS. 23-34, various pieces of furniture assembled in accordance with various embodiments of furniture kit 110, chamfered corners 115c, table legs 108, and other parts, are shown. The pieces of furniture shown are not meant to be all inclusive, but rather, are illustrative of products that can be created using the subject technology. For example, FIG. 23 shows the table top 100, assembled with the furniture kit 110 as discussed above.
Referring now to FIG. 35, an assembly technique for assembling a piece of furniture in accordance with the subject disclosure is shown. Using the assembly technique of FIG. 35, a user can assemble various pieces of furniture, for example, those shown in FIGS. 23-34. Further, a kit 110 can include parts and instructions to assemble a piece of furniture in accordance with this general assembly technique.
The legs 108 and connectors 115 of the furniture kit can be formed by various structural materials typically used in furniture assembly. For example, the connectors can be various solid structural materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, other metals, or any other material strong enough to hold the upper members together and support their weight. Similarly, the legs could be a variety of structural materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, other metals, wood, or any other material capable of supporting the weight of the top portion in an elevated position. In another example, some or all of the connectors and/or the legs could be formed from a plastic material. One skilled in the art would recognize that the subject disclosure is not limited the above examples and variety of other materials could be used.
It is envisioned that many modifications to the subject technology are possible. While a number of specific applications of the furniture kit are disclosed herein, the subject invention could be utilized to form other furniture pieces, not specifically discussed herein, which utilize a kit in accordance with the present disclosure. Therefore, while the subject technology has been described with respect to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various changes and/or modifications can be made to the subject technology without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Similarly, in some embodiments, any functional element may perform fewer, or different, operations than those described with respect to the illustrated embodiment. Also, functional elements (e.g., assemblies, coupling parts and the like) shown as distinct for purposes of illustration may be incorporated within other functional elements in a particular implementation. With respect to the claims, any or all of the claims may be rearranged to depend from any or all of the other claims in any arrangement. Further, the functions of several elements may, in alternative embodiments, be carried out by fewer elements, or a single element.
Patent Application
20180368570
