Patent Application
20200022494
The present general inventive concept relates generally to a table, and particularly, to a table with stabilizing rectangular prisms.
Quite often, furniture can be unbalanced due to uneven flooring or legs, causing unnecessary wobbling and/or causing items placed on top to fall to the floor. Currently, on the market, there are products that exist to aid in stabilizing furniture, but these require tedious adjustments that only provide a temporary fix.
Therefore, there is a need for a table that is easily leveled and stabilized.
The present general inventive concept provides a table with stabilizing rectangular prisms that may be used to level the table.
Additional features and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.
The foregoing and/or other features and utilities of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing a table, including a tabletop, a rod connected at a first end to a bottom surface of the tabletop, a base having a top surface connected to a second end of the rod, the base including a plurality of rectangular prisms disposed at a bottom surface of the base to individually move towards and away from the base in response to the base being placed on an uneven surface, a rectangular prism locking mechanism to prevent the plurality of rectangular prisms from moving while maintaining the individually moved rectangular prisms in their positions.
Each individual rectangular prism of the plurality of rectangular prisms may move towards and away from the base to correspond to irregularities in the uneven surface.
The rectangular prism locking mechanism may include a locking pedal disposed on the top surface of the base to lock the plurality of rectangular prisms in their respective positions when the locking pedal is depressed, and an unlocking pedal disposed on the top surface of the base to unlock the plurality of rectangular prisms such that the plurality of rectangular prisms are movable when the unlocking pedal is depressed.
The rectangular prism locking mechanism may include a locking lever disposed at a side portion of the tabletop to unlock the plurality of rectangular prisms such that the plurality of rectangular prisms are movable when the locking lever is pulled away from the side portion of the tabletop, and to lock the plurality of rectangular prisms in their respective positions when the locking lever is pushed back into the side portion of the tabletop.
These and/or other features and utilities of the present generally inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Various example embodiments (a.k.a., exemplary embodiments) will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which some example embodiments are illustrated. In the figures, the thicknesses of lines, layers and/or regions may be exaggerated for clarity.
Accordingly, while example embodiments are capable of various modifications and alternative forms, embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the figures and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure. Like numbers refer to like/similar elements throughout the detailed description.
It is understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.).
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including,” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be further understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art. However, should the present disclosure give a specific meaning to a term deviating from a meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill, this meaning is to be taken into account in the specific context this definition is given herein.
The table 100 may be shaped like any type of table known to one of ordinary skill in the art, and may be constructed from metal, plastic, rubber, wood, cloth, etc., but is not limited thereto.
Although the present general inventive concept is directed to being applied to the table 100 being described as a table known to one of ordinary skill in the art, the present general inventive concept may also be applied to other furniture and/or appliances for leveling and/or stabilization thereof, including, but not limited to, chairs, refrigerators, stoves, pool tables, pinball machines, etc.
As illustrated in
A top surface of the base 110 may be connected to a first end of the rod 120, and a second end of the rod 120 may be connected to a bottom surface of the tabletop 130. As such, a combination of the base 110, the rod 120, and the tabletop 130 may form the table 100, which may be any table known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
The base 110 may be a single base, or may include a plurality of legs to act as a base for the table 100.
As illustrated in
The plurality of rectangular prisms 111 may be individually movable up and/or down in directions toward and/or away from the base 110 (i.e., in first and second directions perpendicular to the base 110).
The plurality of rectangular prisms 111 may be individually movable in order to help level and stabilize the table 110 when the table 110 is sitting on an uneven surface.
Specifically, if a surface upon which the table 110 is sitting is uneven (i.e., the surface includes multiple bumps, ramps, nooks, crannies, etc.), then some of the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 may move up and/or down in order to level the table such that the tabletop 130 is parallel to the surface.
The table 100 may include a rectangular prism locking mechanism to lock the rectangular prisms in positions where they are set. In other words, if there is no rectangular prism locking mechanism in the table 100, the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 would continue to move up and down. However, inclusion of the rectangular prism locking mechanism causes the rectangular prisms to lock in their positions, and be immobile. In other words, the rectangular prism locking mechanism may prevent the rectangular prisms from moving while maintaining the moved rectangular prisms in their positions.
For example, the base 110 may include as the rectangular prism locking mechanism a combination of a locking pedal 112 and an unlocking pedal 113, both disposed on a top surface of the base 110.
When the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 are in their proper positions to make the table 110 be leveled, a user may step on the locking pedal 112 in order to lock the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 into place. As such, the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 cannot move until the user steps on the unlocking pedal 113.
When the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 are locked into position via the locking pedal 112, the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 can no longer move, and thus, the table 110 will not wobble. In effect, the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 provide a customized bottom surface for the base 110 that automatically and accurately conforms to any irregularities of the surface upon which the table 110 is disposed.
As an alternative to the rectangular prism locking mechanism described above, the tabletop 130 may include a locking lever 131 disposed at a side portion thereof.
Instead of using the locking pedal 112 and the unlocking pedal 113 to lock and unlock the plurality of rectangular prisms 111, the user may slide the locking lever 131 outward away from the tabletop 130 to unlock the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 to allow the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 to movably conform to an irregular surface. Once the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 are in their proper positions, the user may then slide the locking lever 131 inward toward the tabletop 130 to lock the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 and thus prevent the plurality of rectangular prisms 111 from moving.
The locking lever 131 may be connected to a system that connected through the rod 120 and down to the base 110, in order to allow the locking lever 131 to control the locking and the unlocking of the plurality of rectangular prisms 111.
The rectangular prism locking mechanism may include a variety of systems, including, but not limited to, electrical, hydraulic, pressure, etc.
Also, as can be seen in
Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
