US2697575A - Base construction for furniture - Google Patents

Description

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 8, 1952 FIG.

ATTO RN EYS Dec. 21, 1954 Fiied Dec. 8, 1952 C. EAMES BASE CONSTRUCTION FOR FURNITURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTQR CHARLES EAMES 424: IYW rid $14 ATTORNEYS Dec; 21, 1954 c. EAM ES BASE CONSTRUCTION FOR FURNITURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 8, 1952 FIG. 5.

INVENTOR 5 E m E w M m am; New:

J ATTORN EYS United States Patent BASE CONSTRUCTION FOR FURNITURE Charles Eames, Santa Monica, Calif., assignor to The Herman Miller Furniture Company, Zeeland, Mich., a corporation of Michigan The present invention relates to an improvement in furniture bases or supports of metal. An object thereof has been to provide a skeleton type construction which embodies the necessary strength with a minimum of weight so that the supporting structure of chairs, tables, or the like, may be made advantageously of relatively small-gauge steel wire or rod stock. A further object has been to provide light-weight furniture bases capable of being employed as supports for various different kinds or styles of chairs, tables or the like and which may be shipped as separate units, with one base in nested relation with another, thus providing a compact shipping package affording economy both in packing and in transportation. A further object has been to provide a skeleton-type furniture base or support which may be assembled by mass production methods into artistically attractive designs and rugged structures, having great strength and durability. Other objects and beneficial results from the employment of my invention will appear from the following description of a practical embodiment thereof and wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective with a portion of a compression member of one leg broken away to more clearly disclose details of construction of the inner bracing structure;

Figure 2, a view partly in transverse vertical section on the line 2-2 of Figure 3;

Figure 3, a top plan view of a support structure according to Figure 1 except that upper end portions of two of the outer compression members are bent inwardly instead of outwardly as in said Figure 1;

Figure 4, a view in vertical section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5, a view in perspective of a modified form of base wherein bracing members each having a short upper arm and a longer lower arm are combined with compression members to provide a reinforced skeleton leg construction; and

Figure 6, a fragmentary view on enlarged scale and partly in central transverse vertical section illustrating more clearly the modified form of foot structure shown in Figure 5.

The invention resides in a metal supporting base for articles of furniture, as chairs or tables, comprising four legs each having an upright or compression member, braces interposed between the diagonally spaced uprights on each pair of uprights consisting of a front and the rear upright diagonally spaced therefrom, intermed1- ate portions of the braces for one such pair of uprights extending across and being welded to intermediate portions of the braces of the other pair of uprights, and end portions of said braces being welded to longitudinally spaced portions of said uprights.

Referring to the drawings, the diagonally spaced compression members or uprights 1 and the diagonally spaced compression members or uprights 2 are interconnected by braces having outer end portions welded to upper and lower longitudinally spaced portions of said uprights. Thus, the uprights 1 are directly connected by an upper brace 3 and a lower brace 4, Figure 1; and the uprights 2 are directly connected by the upper brace 5 and the lower brace 6.

The upper brace 3 includes intermediate horizontallydisposed portions, 3a, lying between and in the same plane with the horizontally disposed portions 4a of lower brace 4. Upper brace 3 also includes arms 3 b extending upwardly and outwardly in opposite directions from said intermediate portions 3a and having approximately V-shaped end portions, the tips of which are welded respectively to upper end portions of said diagonally spaced compression members 1 at 30, Figure 1 S milarly, the lower brace 4 includes the intermediate horlzontal portions 4a, disposed as above indicated in relation to the intermediate portions 3a of the upper brace 3, and arms 4b extending downwardly and outwardly in opposite directions from said intermediate portions 4a and having approximately V-shaped end portions, the outer ends of which are welded respectively to lower end portions of said compression members 1 at 40, Figure 1.

The upper brace 5 and the lower brace 6, Figure 1, have the same functional relations to each other and to the diagonally spaced uprights 2 as the upper brace 3 and the lower brace 4 have to each other and to said uprights 1, as above described.

As appears more clearly from Figure 4, the intermediate portions of one set of braces, as 3 and 4 extend transversely across and underneath intermediate portions of the other set, as 5 and 6. Thus, the portions 5a, 6a extend across and rest upon the portions 3a and 4a; and are welded thereto at their intersections of which there are sixteen in the arrangement shown in Figure 3.

In commercial embodiments of the invention, I have employed 6 gauge steel wire to form the herein de scribed braces when used with 0 gauge wire as stock for the compression members 1 and 2. The welded intersections 8 are made between contiguous portions of the lower braces 4 and 6, Figure 4; and the welded intersections 9, between contiguous portions of the upper braces 3 and 5.

in the modification shown in Figure 5, the brace construction includes four braces each having intermediate portions, a short upper arm and a longer lower arm, said arms being approximately V-shaped at their outer ends. Thus, to form a base, a set of two of said braces is arranged between and directly connected to the diagonally spaced compression members 1; and another set comprising the two other of said braces is arranged between and directly connected to the diagonally spaced compression members 2. The intermediate portions, as 1011 and 11a, respectively, of the first-mentioned set are in the same plane; and the intermediate portions, as 12a and 13a, respectively, of the other set are in the same plane and are arranged transversely to said intermediate portions 10a and 11a above said plane thereof. Said intermediate portions 10a and 11a are positioned transversely across and are welded to upper surfaces of intermediate portions 12a and 13a. The outer ends of the short arms, as 10b, 11b, 12b and 13b and of the longer arms 10c, 11c, 12c and 13c are welded to upper end portions and lower end portions, respectively, of said uprights 1 and 2 to form an effective skeleton base structure.

The flattened upper end portions of the uprights 1 and 2, Figures 1, 2, 3 and 5 are provided with holes 14 to facilitate connection of the base with a chair seat, table top, or other appropriate item of furniture by means of bolts or the like, not shown. The lower ends of said uprights are formed to provide or support feet such as glides 15, Figure l, or a modified form of glide as shown in Figure 6. In this case, the lower end of each upright is provided with a ball tip 21 which fits into a suitably shaped cavity 22 in a rubber foot block having a constricted opening 23 into said cavity. A metal or other suitable cap 20 of smooth rounded contour has its peripheral edge clamped over a pheripheral flange 24 of said rubber body. The foot parts here described are assembled by forcing the ball tip 21 into cavity 22 through the opening 23 which fits snugly around the lower end portion of the compression member, as 1 or 2, adjacent to the ball 21.

As shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, the top ends 16 of the uprights 1, 2 are turned outwardly. The construction shown in Figure 3 varies from that of Figures 1 and 2 in that the top ends of two adjacent uprights 1 and 2, as of the rear legs, have their upper ends 17 turned inwardly while the upper ends 16 of the front uprights 1 and 2 are turned outwardly. This arrangement permits attachment of the supporting base to a chair frame, or appropriate part thereof wherein the connectlng means,

as bolts (not shown) for the rear legs are spaced closer together than those for the front legs.

In making the skeleton base shown in Figure 1, it is economically advantageous to form the several upper and lower braces initially as flat blanks, i. .e. with the wire runs thereof all in .the :same plane. For {convenience in assembling, a set consisting of an upper brace blank and a lower brace blank is arranged in one plane, and another set .consisting .of another .upper =brace blank and lower brace blank is assembled in another plane and in crossed relation .to said first-mentioned set with intermediate portions of said second set resting upon intermediate por tions of -.the first set. This arrangement, viewed in plan, presents the appearance-of a small four-pointed star within a larger four-pointed-star. These'blanks are weldedtogether at their several intersect-ions while still in flat form. Thereafter, the short arms are bent in one direction and the long arms in the opposite direction to the desired angular relation to form the above described bracing means. The supporting base embodying the invention is completed by welding the uprights 1 and 2 'to the outer ends of the arms of said bracing means.

-I claim:

1. Supporting base for articles of furniture comprising two pairs of diagonally spaced legs, each leg having an upright member, a set of braces interposed between the diagonally spaced uprights of each pair of legs, each of said sets of braces comprising two braces having horizontally arranged intermediate portions which extend transversely across and are welded to corresponding intermediate portions of the other set of braces, each of said sets of braces having arms extending in opposite direct ions upwardly and outwardly from said intermediate portions and arms extending in opposite directions downwardly and outwardly from said intermediate portions,

and the outer ends of the arms of each set of braces being welded to the diagonally spaced uprights of the corresponding pair of uprights.

2. Supporting base for articles of furniture as claimed in claim 1 and wherein the upwardly and outwardly extending arms of each set of braces are shorter than the downwardly and outwardly extending arms thereof.

3. Supporting base for articles .of furniture as claimed in claim 1 and wherein one of said braces ineach set provides said upwardly and outwardly extending arms and the other ,of said braces provides said downwardly and outwardly extending arms.

4. Supporting base for articles of furniture as claimed in claim 1 andwherein each :brace of one of said sets is welded to both braces of the other set.

5. Supporting .base torarticles of furniture as claimed in claim 1 and wherein said intermediate portions of one set of braces rest upon intermediate portions of the braces .01? said other .set.

:6. Supporting base :for .articles of furniture as claimed in claim 1 and wherein .each brace includes a short upper arm extending upwardly .and outwardly from said intermediate portion thereof vand having its outer end welded to one iQf a pair of uprights, and a longer lower arm extending downwardly .and outwardly from said intermediate portion thereofand having its outer end welded *to the-other nprighttoftsaid pair of uprights.

References Cited in :the fileof .this patent STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 365,999 Hog'berg July 5, 1887 417,32?! Lindber-g Dec. 17, 1 889 1,936,428 iFriesner Nov. 21, 1933

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