Supports – Stand – Understructure
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-09
2001-03-06
King, Anita M. (Department: 3632)
Supports
Stand
Understructure
C248S188200, C248S188400
Reexamination Certificate
active
06196505
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of pedestal inserts for insertion into furniture and equipment legs and, in particular, to height adjustable pedestal inserts for insertion into table legs, chair legs, and the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The use of separate and adjustable feet adjacent to the bottoms of furniture and equipment legs is well known in the art. These feet provide a means for adjusting the height of each leg, allowing the legs to be leveled to insure the stable positioning of the furniture or equipment regardless of the unevenness of the floor on which it is placed.
A typical adjustable foot includes an insert portion that is inserted and retained within the furniture or equipment leg, and a threaded foot portion that threads into a hole within the insert portion to allow the foot to be adjusted upward and downward. These threaded portions have traditionally been manufactured of materials, such as zinc, into which threads are commonly machined. As these materials do not have an aesthetically appealing finish, it is often necessary to include sleeves and caps of a different material over the insert and foot portions to provide an appealing finish. In addition, the thickness of the threaded insert sections, coupled with the materials used, necessitates the use of a separate retaining ring to prevent these inserts from withdrawing from the furniture or equipment leg.
Although prior art leg inserts perform their desired function in a satisfactory manner, the number of parts of differing materials that are utilized, the machining steps involved in preparing those parts, and the assembly required to provide a finished insert, increase the cost of these leg inserts to a point where they are not cost effective for lower priced furniture or equipment. Thus, there is a need for an adjustable leg insert that minimizes the number of parts, eliminates the need for parts of differing materials, does not require extensive machining steps and is relatively simple to assemble, thus providing a simplified, yet functional and aesthetic, replacement for what now exists.
A number of United States Patents have issued relating to adjustable feet. However, none of these patents meets the above referenced need. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,384,020, titled “ADJUSTABLE LEG”, discloses a leg that includes a leg insert that is adjusted through adjustment of a wedge portion within the leg. This adjustable leg is limited to substantially straight legs, has a limited range of adjustment and includes a number of component parts that must be assembled.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,750,709, titled “REVERSIBLE LIFT FOR FURNITURE LEGS”, discloses an attachment to a straight furniture leg that frictionally locks the leg at a desired height. These lifts must also be used with substantially straight legs, and include a number of component parts of differing materials that must be machined to exacting tolerances and assembled.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,212, titled “ADJUSTABLE FLOOR GLIDE”, discloses a threaded floor glide that mates with a plastic retainer within a furniture leg. Though requiring fewer parts, this glide still requires the use and assembly of machined parts, and parts of different materials. Further, the extension of the threaded portion beyond the level of the leg bottom exposes the threads, detracting from the aesthetic appeal of the chair.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,620, titled “FURNITURE GLIDE”, discloses a glide assembly attached to a hollow lower portion of a furniture leg that includes a screw stud having a cylindrical plug projecting from the bottom of the leg upon which is supported a free moving vertically displaceable sleeve having a skirt slidable between the periphery of the plug and the walls of the leg. This glide, typical of many prior art designs, includes a multitude of machined parts and requires a substantial degree of assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,720,978, titled “INDEXING FURNITURE GLIDE”, discloses a glide that may be adjusted axially through the use of indexing leaf springs that are set on edge and resiliently biased against flats on a foot-ended stud that is threaded up to a nut fixed in the leg, so as to yieldably stop the stud at quarter turn intervals when the foot is rotated to thread the stud further up into or down from the nut. As described, this glide requires that a multitude of component parts be machined and assembled.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,068, titled “CHAIR WITH ADJUSTABLE LEGS”, discloses an adjustment mechanism that includes an internally threaded insert sleeve received within a hollow area of the leg member and a leg extension having an external thread that is dimensioned to mate with the internal thread of the leg extension. This mechanism includes fewer component parts than other designs and, thus, is easier to assemble. However, the insert sleeve and threaded leg extension must both be machined to mate with each other and, as with other designs, the threads of the leg extension are exposed, detracting from the aesthetics of the chair.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,624, titled “TABLE LEG EXTENSION”, discloses an extension for supporting a leg of a table that includes a receiving tube within which the leg is disposed, an abutment plate mounted within the tube for engaging and supporting the leg in a spaced relationship relative to the lower end of the tube, and a threaded member attached to the abutment plate. As with the other designs cited, this design requires a multitude of machined parts that must be assembled and results in an extension having exposed threads that detract from the aesthetics of the furniture to which it is mounted.
In the prior art, there is not found an adjustable leg insert that does not require a large number of parts, that eliminates the need for parts of differing materials, that does not require extensive machining steps, that is relatively simple to assemble, and that does not include exposed threads that detract from the aesthetics of the furniture or equipment to which it is mounted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an adjustable pedestal for insertion into a substantially cylindrical opening in a furniture or equipment leg. In its most basic form, the pedestal includes a substantially cylindrical hollow insert and a foot. The insert includes a leg opening, a foot opening, and a leg portion disposed adjacent the leg opening. The leg portion of the insert has an outside diameter substantially equal to the inside diameter of the opening in the furniture or equipment leg and an inside surface into which are formed a plurality of threads. A cup portion is disposed adjacent the foot opening of the insert. The cup portion has an outside diameter greater than the inside diameter of the opening in the leg for preventing the insert from complete insertion within the leg. At least one retainer is formed within the insert for preventing rotation of the insert within the leg and for preventing withdrawal of the insert from the leg. The foot is substantially hollow and includes a shell end and an insert end. A threaded portion is disposed adjacent the insert end of the foot and has an outside surface into which a plurality of mating threads are formed to mate with the threads of the insert. A foot shell is disposed at the shell end of the foot and is dimensioned to mate with a foot attachment.
In operation, the foot is inserted within the leg opening in the insert until the mating threads come into contact with the threads on the insert. The foot is then rotated to engage the mating threads with the threads of the insert such that the foot shell extends through the foot opening in the insert and the threaded portion of the foot is passed completely within the leg opening of the insert. The insert is then inserted within an opening in the furniture or equipment leg such that the retainer engages within the leg to hold the insert in a substantially fixed position. The foot is then rotated until extends a desired distance from the insert.
In the preferred embodiment, the threaded portion of the foot has a dia
DeLuca Jerome A.
King Anita M.
Ritchie William B.
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