This application claims priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 200820112678.9, filed Apr. 17, 2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the manufacture of furniture in general, and in particular, to the manufacture of glue-laminated or “engineered” bamboo furniture in which the ends of bamboo board furniture components are hidden from view.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, bamboo furniture is made using wood or engineered bamboo boards or artificial “particle” boards (i.e., medium density compression-glued fiber or particle boards and the like) as substrates, to which thin decorative veneers, laminates and end sealing strips are then applied for cosmetic appearance. Since solid wood furniture consumes a relatively large amount of timber, the development of the furniture industry is constrained by the scarcity of available timber resources. The use of artificial boards in furniture therefore makes for a more efficient use of scarce timber resources. However, because more adhesive, and hence, more formaldehyde, is used in producing this type of furniture, this can also result in furniture that is not environmentally friendly, and in some cases, potentially harmful to human health.
Bamboo resources are currently very abundant in China. In the prior art, glue-laminated (“gluelam” or so-called “engineered bamboo”) furniture typically incorporates one of two types of construction. As illustrated in
The process for manufacturing furniture of this type is as follows. First, a bamboo veneer 10 is bonded on upper and lower surfaces of an artificial board substrate 20 with an adhesive. Then, the laminated substrate is pressed in a hot-press to cure the adhesive. After the adhesive is cured, the pressed laminated substrate is removed from the press and bamboo veneer strips 30 are bonded on the edges of the board 20 by an edge banding tool, thereby forming a finished panel 40. Finally, legs or panel supports 50 made of, e.g., steel or other materials, are then connected to the panel 40, thereby completing the desired article of furniture, e.g., a table. However, furniture panels 40 made in accordance with the foregoing process tend to warp easily in humidity and to produce unsightly bubbles on their surfaces, and further, the sealing strips on the edges of the panels are easily delaminated and stripped away from the panels, such that furniture incorporating such panels is not durable or practical.
As illustrated in
In accordance with the present invention, articles of glue-laminated bamboo furniture are provided, including gluelam main panels therefor, that overcome the disadvantages of the prior art and produce furniture that has an a novel structure, an aesthetically pleasing appearance, good buckling and deformation resistance, and good practicality.
In one embodiment, an article of glue-laminated bamboo furniture, for example, a table, comprises a main panel having a plurality of main panel supports coupled thereto. The main panel includes a main framework, a main plate disposed on the main framework, and a outer framework covering lateral sides of the main plate and framework. The main framework is formed by joining corresponding ends of a plurality of frame borders to each other. The main plate corresponds in shape to a plane enclosed by the main framework and includes sloped interfacial edges. The outer framework is formed by joining corresponding ends of a plurality of sealing plates to each other in miter joints. The sealing plates have upper edges that are sloped to match the slope of the interfacial edges of the main plate and serve to hide the exposed ends of the bamboo boards of the furniture.
A better understanding of the above and many other features and advantages of the novel furniture articles of the present invention and the methods for making them may be obtained from a consideration of the detailed description of some example embodiments thereof below, particularly if such consideration is made in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures thereof.
The gluelam bamboo furniture articles of the present invention are described in detail below in the context of a table as an example embodiment. However, it should be understood that the construction techniques described herein can also be applied to many other types of furniture articles, e.g., chairs, benches, armoires, and the like.
An example embodiment of an article of gluelam bamboo furniture, viz., a table, in accordance with the present disclosure is illustrated in the perspective view of
The main plate 12 defines a rectangular plane that corresponds to the rectangular plane enclosed by the main framework 11, and extends out to interfacial edges 121 that are mitered at 45 degrees. Referring to
The rectangular outer framework 13 of the table is formed by connecting four sealing plates 131 at corresponding corners. As illustrated in
In one example embodiment, the thickness of the main plate (12) is from about 10 mm to about 15 mm, and the thickness of the sealing plate (131) is from about 5 mm to about 8 mm. The relatively thin sealing plates 131 ensure that the end portions of the engineered bamboo boards of the main panel 1 are completely hidden from view, thereby providing the panel with a novel and more pleasing aesthetic appearance as compared to the exposed board ends of the prior art panels of
An alternative embodiment of a main plate 12 that can be used in the table of
It should be understood that, in the present invention, the main panel 1 of the furniture article is not limited to rectangular shapes, and that main panels having other shapes, such as squares, equilateral polygons, triangles, circles and ellipses can also be connected using the above techniques. For an equilateral polygonal, the slope angle α at both ends of the sealing plates 131 forming the outer framework is given by the formula: α=90-180/n, wherein n is a integer number equal to or greater than 3. This will ensure that the ends of the sealing plates 131 are hidden after adjacent sealing plates are joined to each other in the miter joint. Furthermore, the end portions of the bamboo boards of the main panel 1 are hidden after the upper slopes of the sealing plates 131 and the side interfacial edges 121 of the main plate 13 are joined with each other to provide the furniture with a finished, aesthetic appearance.
The furniture articles of the present invention provide several advantages over the prior art furniture:
By now, those of skill in this art will appreciate that many modifications, substitutions and variations can be made in and to the materials, apparatus, configurations and methods of the novel gluelam bamboo furniture articles of the present disclosure without departing from its scope. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to the particular embodiments illustrated and described herein, as they are merely by way of some examples thereof, but rather, should be fully commensurate with that of the claims appended hereafter and their functional equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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200820112678.9 | Apr 2008 | CN | national |