WO2004100720A1

WO2004100720A1 - Knockdown furnishing element

Info

Publication number: WO2004100720A1
Application number: PCT/IB2004/001540
Authority: WO
Inventors: Werther Toffoloni
Original assignee: PERESSINI BRUNO Srl
Current assignee: PERESSINI BRUNO Srl
Priority date: 2003-05-15
Filing date: 2004-05-13
Publication date: 2004-11-25
Anticipated expiration: 2005-11-15
Also published as: ITUD20030104A1

Abstract

Furnishing element (10) comprising a seat element (11), a back element (12) and two lateral supporting elements (13, 15). Each lateral supporting element (13, 15) comprises two supporting legs (31). One of either the seat element (11) or the back element (12) comprises, on one side, first coupling members (21, 25) of the male/female type, which cooperate with mating second coupling members (35) made on the inner side of each of the lateral supporting elements (13, 15), in order to determine the snap-in coupling and clamping, without ironwork elements, of the seat element (11), the back element (12) and the lateral supporting elements (13, 15).

Description

"KNOCKDOWN FURNISHING ELEMENT" * * * * *

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns a furnishing element of the knockdown type, such as for example an armchair, a sofa or suchlike. To be more exact, the furnishing element according to the present invention comprises a plurality of component elements, able to be selectively assembled to and dismantled from each other simply and quickly, without the aid of screws, glues, bolts or auxiliary tools. The component elements are also of the interchangeable type, allowing to achieve a modular system. Moreover, the back is connected to the relative seat so as to be selectively either dismantled or rotated with respect to the latter into a position wherein the spaces necessary for packing the whole furnishing element are reduced to a minimum during the steps of storage and transport .

In the following description we will refer specifically to an armchair, but it is understood that the invention can also be applied to sofas, chairs or other similar furnishing elements .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Furnishing elements are known, such as for example armchairs provided with a seat, a back, two lateral sides each defining two legs and an armrest, and stuffed elements, such as cushions or suchlike.

The components of such armchairs are normally assembled together by means of screws, or other ironwork elements which guarantee that the assembly holds together. One of the main requirements of the field is to achieve furnishing elements that can be completely dismantled in order to reduce the costs of storage and transport, in any case guaranteeing quick and easy assembly for the final user. In order to satisfy this requirement armchairs are normally delivered to the user in a dismantled condition, and supplied with specific assembly kits.

However, the assembly kits supplied generally provide to use a plurality of screws, bolts, tools or other ironwork elements which, in most cases, are made specifically for each type of armchair. For example, in some cases, specific screws are provided to assemble the seat to the back, other types of screws to assemble the legs and/or armrests, and so on.

If only one of these screws is lost or broken, this may entail considerable inconvenience for the user, both to complete the assembly and also to find a spare screw.

Moreover, specific tools are also normally necessary for tightening, since they have to be able to operate in very narrow or angled places. This disadvantage entails, especially for users who do not have specific technical knowledge, considerable inconvenience, difficulties and long times to assemble the armchair. Another disadvantage of known armchairs is that, on the surfaces of their component elements, specific notches or housing seatings must be made, in order to position the screws or other tightening elements. This disadvantage, apart from increasing the production times and costs, makes it impossible to achieve a certain modularity of the components, intended to allow the legs and/or armrests to be interchanged with others having a different shape and design.

Moreover, known armchairs are packed either with the back or the seat coupled and already assembled, thus taking up a lot of space and increasing the costs of storage and transport, or with the two components totally dismantled, which can entail considerable difficulties in assembly for the user and also determines a rather voluminous bulk.

One purpose of the present invention is to achieve a furnishing element which is simple and economical to make and which allows a quick and modular assembly of its component elements, without the aid of screws, tools, glues or other ironwork elements .

Another purpose of the present invention is to achieve a furnishing element which can be packed in the smallest possible space, in order to reduce the costs of delivery and storage yet at the same time ensuring that the furnishing element can easily be assembled by the final user.

Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages . SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is set forth and characterized in the main claim, while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the present invention or variants to the main inventive idea. In accordance with the aforesaid purposes, the furnishing element according to the present invention comprises at least a seat element, at least a back element, and at least two lateral supporting elements, each defining at least a leg and an armrest. In a preferred embodiment, the furnishing element also comprises a front element attached to the front side of the supporting plane of the seat element and disposed, in use, substantially orthogonal to the supporting plane.

According to a characteristic feature of the present invention, at least one of either the seat element or the back element comprises, on at least one side, first coupling means of the male type, for example with a pin or plug, able to be inserted into respective second coupling means of a female type, for example slotted holes, made on the inner side of each lateral supporting element, so as to determine the snap-in coupling and clamping, without ironwork elements, of the various components of the furnishing element .

According to a variant, the supporting plane, the back element and the front element, if present, comprise not only coupling means able to co-operate with mating holes made in the relative lateral supporting elements, but also means for the quick reciprocal coupling, i.e. one to each other, for example the back element with the supporting plane and the supporting plane with the front element.

According to another embodiment, the seat element and the back element are connected together so as to allow the reciprocal rotation thereof between a first operating position, wherein the back element is substantially erect with respect to the seat element, and a second, compact, inactive position, wherein the back element is turned over to be arranged substantially below the seat element in a position included in its bulk.

In this way, it is possible to assemble the furnishing element simply and quickly first by assembling the supporting plane, the back element and the front element together, or placing the back element in its operating position, and then by inserting the relative coupling pins or plugs inside the respective slotted holes, without the aid of screws, glues, specific tools, and without needing to make particular and specific hollows, seatings, grooves or otherwise. This not only allows to reduce the times and costs needed to make the components, but also to assemble them in modular manner with the possibility of interchanging a plurality of different lateral sides to the same seat element and back element . Moreover, the compact folding of the seat and back, and/or the dismantling of the supporting plane, the back element and the front element from each other, allows to prepare packing containers with a minimum bulk and substantially square in shape, so as to allow them to be easily stacked inside a store or a means of transport.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferential form of embodiment, given as a non-restrictive example, with reference to the attached drawings wherein:

- fig. 1 is a lateral view of a furnishing element according to a first embodiment of the present invention in a first assembled condition; - fig. 2 is a lateral view of the furnishing element in fig. 1 in a second dismantled condition;

- fig. 3 is an exploded view of the furnishing element in fig. 1;

- fig. 4 shows an enlarged and partly sectioned detail of the furnishing element in fig. 1;

- fig. 5 is a lateral view of a furnishing element according to a second embodiment of the present invention in a first assembled condition;

- fig. 6 is a lateral view of the furnishing element in fig. 5 in a second dismantled condition;

- fig. 7 is an exploded view of the furnishing element in fig. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERENTIAL FORM OF EMBODIMENT

With reference to the attached figures, a furnishing element 10 according to the present invention is in this case an armchair comprising a seat 11, a back 12, two lateral supporting elements 13 and 15, and two stuffed cushions 16. The seat 11 comprises a supporting plane 17, which includes, at one front end, a front element 19 substantially orthogonal thereto .

In the embodiment of figs. 1-3, the front element 19 is a separable component with respect to the supporting plane 17.

In this embodiment, the back 12 and the front element 19 comprise quick coupling means consisting of respective flanges 40 with holes 41 (fig. 1) inside which mating pins

42 provided on the underside of the supporting plane 17 are able to be quickly inserted and clamped.

In the embodiment of figs. 5-7, the lower end of the back

12 is pivoted to the rear end of the supporting plane 17 by means of at least a hinge 20, and the front element 19 and the supporting plane 17 are in a single piece to constitute together the seat 11.

In both embodiments, the front element 19 is substantially rectangular in shape and comprises, on its lateral edges, two coupling pins 21.

Each coupling pin 21 comprises a shaft 22 (fig. 4) and a widened head 23.

The back 12 comprises an upper part 12a, slightly inclined backwards for ergonomic reasons, and a lower part 12b, substantially vertical in use, clamped or pivoted to the seat 11. On the lateral edges of the lower part 12b two coupling pins 25 are provided, advantageously equal to those provided on the front element 19, also provided with a shaft 26 and a widened head 27.

The hinge 20 that connects the back 12 in rotatable manner to the seat 11 is of the substantially known type, and comprises a first plate 29 attached to the rear surface of the lower part 12b, and a second plate 30 attached to the lower surface of the seat 11. In the second embodiment, the hinge 20 allows the reciprocal rotation of the seat 11 and the back 12 between a first operating position (fig. 5) , wherein the back 12 is substantially erect with respect to the seat 11, and a compact, inactive position (fig. 6) , wherein the back 12 is arranged below the seat 11 and is included in the bulk thereof .

Each lateral supporting element 13 or 15 comprises in this case two supporting legs 31 (figs. 1 and 3; figs. 5 and 7) connected together in the upper part by a cross-piece functioning as an armrest 32.

On the inner surface of each supporting leg 31 a rounded metal plate 33 is attached (figs. 3, 4, 7), on which two slotted holes 35 are made, with interaxes equal to those of the corresponding coupling pins 21 and 25.

According to a variant, the slotted holes 25 are made in a piece directly on the corresponding supporting leg 31.

Each slotted hole 35 comprises a first upper insertion segment 36 (fig. 4) , substantially circular, and of a size mating with that of the head 23 and 27 of the respective coupling pins 21 and 25, and a second lower clamping segment 37, substantially elongated, of a size mating with that of the shaft 22 and 26 of the respective pins 21 and 25.

The two cushions 16 are positioned respectively on the seat 11 and on the back 12 in order to increase the comfort of the armchair 10.

The armchair 10 as described heretofore is assembled in two steps: in a first step, the supporting plane 17, the front element 19 and the back 12 are assembled together (first embodiment) , or the back 12 is arranged in its operating position with respect to the seat 11 (second embodiment) ; in a second step, the assembly so obtained is mounted onto the lateral supporting elements 13 and 15 by inserting the coupling pins 21 and 25 into the respective slotted holes 35, to be more exact, by inserting the heads 23, 27 of the pins 21, 25 into the first segment 36 of the respective slotted holes 35. At this point it is enough to exert a slight pressure downwards on the seat 11, even by sitting down, so that the heads 23 and 27 slide downwards and are clamped into the second segments 37 of the respective slotted holes 35.

When the armchair 10 has to be dismantled, the operations described above are carried out in the inverse order.

After having dismantled the lateral supporting elements 13 and 15, the front element 19, the supporting plane 17 and the back 12 can be separated by detaching the pins 42 from the relative holes 41 in the flanges 40, or the back 12 can be rotated into the second compact inactive position, reducing the bulk in height of the armchair 10 to that of the seat 11 alone.

In the event of transport or storage, the whole armchair 10 can be packed in a square box 38 (figs. 2 and 6), to facilitate stacking, of extremely small size, stacking a first of the two cushions 16, the two lateral supporting elements 13 and 15, and the compact block consisting of the seat 11, the back 12 and the second of the two cushions 16. It is obvious that the sequence of stacking the components can vary.

As seen above, the assembly and dismantling are carried out without using screws, tools or other ironwork elements.

It is clear, however, that modifications and/or additions of parts may be made to the furnishing element 10 as described heretofore, without departing from the field and scope of the present invention.

For example, the lateral elements could be coupled only with the seat 11 or with the back 12, or only with the supporting plane 17. In this case a removable clamping member may be provided in order to clamp reciprocally the seat 11 and the back 12 in the first operating position and the second inactive position. According to another variant, the coupling pins 21 and 25 can be arranged on the inner side of the lateral supporting elements 13 and 15, while the slotted holes 35 can be made partly on the seat 11 and partly on the back 12.

It is also clear that, although the present invention has been described with reference to specific examples, a person of skill in the art shall certainly be able to achieve many other equivalent forms of knockdown furnishing element, all of which shall come within the field and scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. Furnishing element comprising at least a seat element (11) , at least a back element (12) and at least two lateral supporting elements (13, 15), each comprising at least a supporting leg (31), characterized in that at least one of either said seat element (11) or said back element (12) comprises, on at least one side, first coupling means (21, 25) of the male/female type, able to cooperate with mating second coupling means (35) made on the inner side of each of said lateral supporting elements (13, 15), in order to determine the snap-in coupling and clamping, without ironwork elements, of said seat element (11) , said back element (12) and said lateral supporting elements (13, 15).

2. Furnishing element as in claim 1, wherein said seat element (11) comprises a supporting plane (17) and a front element (19) attached to the front side of said supporting plane (17) and disposed, in use, substantially orthogonal to said supporting plane (17) , characterized in that it comprises means (40, 41, 42) for the quick reciprocal coupling of said back element (12) with said supporting plane (17) and of said supporting plane (17) with said front element (19) .

3. Furnishing element as in claim 1, characterized in that said seat element (11) and said back element (12) are connected together, so as to allow the reciprocal rotation thereof between a first operating position, wherein said back element (12) is substantially erect with respect to said seat element (11) , and a compact inactive position, wherein said back element (12) is turned over so as to be arranged below said seat element (11) , substantially parallel and in a position included in the bulk thereof.

4. Furnishing element as in claim 1, characterized in that said first coupling means comprise a plurality of pins (21, 25), and in that said second coupling means comprise a plurality of slotted holes (35) .

5. Furnishing element as in claim 1, characterized in that said first coupling means comprise a plurality of slotted holes (35) , and in that said second coupling means comprise a plurality of pins (21, 25) .

6. Furnishing element as in claim 4 or 5, characterized in that each of said pins (21, 25) comprises a head (23, 25), widened with respect to its intermediate shaft (22, 26), and in that each of said slotted holes (35) comprises a first upper insertion segment (36) , of a size mating with that of said widened head (23, 25) of said pins (21, 25), and a second lower clamping segment (37) of a width mating with the thickness of the shaft (22, 26).

7. Furnishing element as in claim 6, characterized in that said slotted holes (35) are made in twos on slightly rounded metal plates (33) able to be attached to said lateral supporting elements (13, 15) or to said seat element (11) or to said back element (12) .

8. Furnishing element as in claim 4, characterized in that a first pair of said pins (21) is arranged at the edges of said seat element (11) , and a second pair of said pins (25) is arranged at the edges of said back element (12) .

9. Furnishing element as in claim 3, characterized in that said seat element (11) and said back element (12) are pivoted together by means of a hinge (20) .

10. Furnishing element as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that it is able to form, in a dismantled condition and with said back element (12) folded with respect to said seat element (11) , a square block that can be contained in a stackable box (38) .