1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a chair assembly including a seat, a back and a pair of arms that can all be detachably connected together without requiring the use of tools, hardware or special skill. The chair assembly can be advantageously shipped disassembled in a compact, space-efficient package so as to reduce shipping costs.
2. Background Art
Articles of furniture have long been shipped in a fully-assembled condition from a manufacturer to a retailer and then carried off by an end user to a home or office. Consequently, such an article of furniture is characteristically bulky, cumbersome and difficult to transport in a space-efficient manner. That is to say, a fully-assembled article of furniture consumes relatively large shipping space during transport by boat, truck, etc. to a retailer. Similarly, the purchaser/end user may need to have available a specially-sized vehicle should he wish to carry a large article of furniture to his home or office. The inefficient shipment of large articles of furniture between the manufacturer and end user often results in inconvenience as well as significantly higher transportation costs which are commonly passed through to the purchaser.
To overcome the aforementioned disadvantages, it is known to ship articles of furniture disassembled. In this case, the end user is typically required to have available and be able to use at least some hand tools and hardware provided by the manufacturer in order to complete the furniture assembly. Sometimes, the user may not have the skill required to use the tools and manipulate the hardware which may consequently hinder the user's ability to easily assemble and immediately enjoy his furniture. In other cases, the user may lack time and become frustrated which can result in his failure to complete the assembly altogether. Thus, the article of furniture may remain disassembled and eventually have to be returned to its point of purchase.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a particular article of furniture (e.g., a home or office chair) that is adapted to be shipped and transported disassembled within a compact shipping container so as to minimize shipping costs and then be relatively quickly and easily assembled without requiring special skill or the use of tools or hardware.
In general terms, the seat, back and one arm of a home or office chair assembly are described which can be detachably connected together without requiring the use of tools, hardware or special skill. The chair assembly can be shipped disassembled in a compact, space-efficient package to reduce shipping costs.
An arm bracket receiver is connected below the seat at each side thereof. The arm bracket receiver includes a flat plate having a receiving channel located at each side. An arm connection bracket is connected to the arm. The arm connection bracket includes a back plate affixed to the arm and a front plate that is aligned perpendicular with and projects from the back plate.
A back bracket receiver is connected to the arm. The back bracket receiver includes a channel that runs longitudinally along one side of the arm. A flexible lock release lever is pivotally coupled to the channel of the back bracket receiver so as to be rotatable between locked and unlocked positions. The lock release lever has a locking catch at one end and a pair of locking legs at the opposite end.
A back connection bracket is connected behind the back at each side thereof. The back connection bracket includes a back plate that is affixed to the chair back and a front plate that is aligned perpendicular with and projects from the front plate. The back connection bracket also includes a sliding back bracket rail. The sliding back bracket rail has a leg affixed to the front plate of the back connection bracket and a base with a locking notch formed therein.
The seat, back and arm of the chair assembly are detachably connected to one another by first attaching the arm to the seat. To this end, the arm is pushed towards one side of the seat so that the sliding front plate of the arm connection bracket that is connected to the arm is moved underneath the seat and into engagement with the arm bracket receiver that is connected below the seat. In particular, the sliding front plate of the arm connection bracket slides through and is captured by the receiving channels of the arm bracket receiver. Next, the back is held above and pushed downwardly towards the arm so that the sliding back bracket rail of the back connection bracket that is connected to the back is moved into engagement with the channel of the back bracket receiver that is connected to the arm. In particular, the base of the sliding back bracket rail slides through the channel, and the locking catch of the flexible lock release lever of the back bracket receiver is rotated to the locked position and into receipt by the locking notch formed in the base of the sliding back bracket rail.
A preferred embodiment for a no-tools chair assembly 1 is described while referring concurrently to
The chair assembly 1 includes a seat 3, a back 5 and a pair of arms (only one of which 7 being shown and described). The seat 3, back 5 and arm 7 are packaged and shipped disassembled to be detachably interconnected to one another by the user to assemble a home or office chair. The seat 3 of chair assembly 1 is preferably manufactured from plywood, although the precise material is not to be considered a limitation of this invention. An arm bracket receiver 9 (best shown in
The arm bracket receiver 9 is preferably a flat rectangular plate 11 that is manufactured from stamped steel or the like. A receiving channel 12 is affixed (e.g., welded) to each side of the plate 11 of arm bracket receiver 9. A guide rail 14 is affixed (e.g., welded) to the plate 11 of arm bracket receiver 9 so as to lie between the opposing receiving channels 12. Holes 16 are formed through the receiving channels 12 and the guide rail 14 therebetween to receive respective ones of the fasteners (i.e., bolts) 10 so that the arm bracket receiver 9 is connected by the manufacturer below one side of the seat 3 of chair assembly 1. As is best shown in
An arm connection bracket 24 is affixed to the arm 7 of the chair assembly 1 to enable a no-tools attachment by the user of arm 7 to the arm bracket receiver 9 connected below one side of the seat 3. The arm connection bracket 24 is preferably manufactured from stamped steel, or the like, and as is best shown in
The chair arm 7 to which the back plate 26 of the arm connection bracket 24 is affixed may be manufactured from any one of a variety of materials (e.g., molded plastic, wood, etc.) and may have any one of a variety of shapes to enhance the ornamentality of the chair assembly 1. In the example shown in
A back bracket receiver 40 is affixed to the chair arm 7 at one side 36 of the frame thereof. As is best shown in
The lock release lever 48 has a locking catch 54 at one end thereof and a pair of locking legs 56 and 57 located at the opposite end so as to be angled relative to and spaced apart from one another. It is preferable that the lock release lever 48 is manufactured from a flexible (e.g., plastic) material. Therefore, the spaced locking legs 56 and 57 of lock release lever 48 can be pushed (i.e., bent) towards one another in response to a compressive force applied thereto by the user for a purpose that will be explained in greater detail hereinafter.
A back connection bracket 60 is affixed by means of suitable fasteners (e.g., bolts) 62 behind one side of the back 5 of the chair assembly 1. The back connection bracket 60 is preferably manufactured from stamped steel, or the like, and, as is best shown in
A generally T-shaped sliding back bracket rail 70 of the back connection bracket 60 is affixed (e.g., welded) to the front plate 66 thereof. The back bracket rail 70 includes a flat base 72 and a perpendicularly-aligned leg 74 projecting from the base 72. As best shown in
The detachable interconnection by the user of the seat 3, back 5 and arm 7 of chair assembly 1 without the use of tools or special skill will now be described while continuing to refer to
The no-tools chair assembly 1 of
The lock release lever 48 which is pivotally coupled between the lock carrying tab 46 and the lock support 47 of the back bracket receiver 40 is automatically rotated around pivot 52 in a clockwise direction to the locked position. That is, and as best illustrated when referring to
Should it become necessary to disconnect the chair back 5 from the chair arm 7 of the chair assembly 1, the user applies a pushing or compressive force against the locking leg 56 of the pair of angled legs 56 and 57 of lock release lever 48. Because of the flexible nature of lock release lever 48, the locking leg 56 (of
Once the pushing (i.e., compressive) force is removed from the lock release lever 48, the angled locking legs 56 and 57 thereof will automatically move apart so that the locking catch 54 is again biased to snap into locking engagement within the locking notch 76 formed in the base 72 of the sliding back bracket rail 70 whenever the base 72 of the rail 70 of the back connection bracket 60 is pushed into and through the channel 42 of back bracket receiver 40. Therefore, it may be appreciated that the flexible lock release lever 48 has a spring memory such that the locking legs 56 and 57 are adapted to be pushed towards one another and compressed and then separate and expand as lever 48 rotates around pivot 52 first from the locked position to the unlocked position and then from the unlocked position back to the locked position.
When the chair back 5 is separated from the chair arm 7 as just explained, should it become necessary, the arm 7 may be detached from the seat 3 by the user pulling the arm away from the seat in order to cause the arm connection bracket 24 to slide out and separate from the arm bracket receiver 9.
The no-tools chair assembly 1 shown in