Chairs and seats – Having detachably interfitting parts or components; i.e.,... – Slotted components normal to each other
Reexamination Certificate
1997-05-14
2001-07-31
Cuomo, Peter M. (Department: 3636)
Chairs and seats
Having detachably interfitting parts or components; i.e.,...
Slotted components normal to each other
C297S440100, C297S440110, C297S188080, C297S188110, C297S440140, C297S284600, C053S436000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06267446
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to furniture and the packaging of furniture for shipment and storage. More particularly, the invention relates to ready-to-assemble furniture, which is to be assembled by the purchaser or end user from packaged components, and the packaging of ready-to-assemble furniture.
2. Background Art
Ready-to-assemble furniture is furniture which is packaged for shipment and storage in disassembled form, with assembly to be done by the consumer or end user. Examples of existing ready-to-assemble furniture include bookcases, television stands, and simple chairs and benches. Furthermore, mass merchandised ready-to-assemble furniture is expected to be rather less expensive to the consumer than comparable pre-assembled furniture or to have distinctive functional features generally not available with its pre-assembled counterpart.
Because of limited shelf or warehousing space in retail facilities, ready-to-assemble furniture available at retail is generally limited to furniture which can be compactly contained in a lightweight, easy to handle package which can be conveniently displayed and transported. Consequently, the genre of ready-to-assemble furniture packaged for mass merchandising retail sale has generally comprised pieces of furniture which are utilitarian or hard-surfaced, and which are available in only limited colors or surface finishes. As such, prior ready-to-assemble furniture does not satisfy the need for primary pieces of upholstered living room furniture in a typical household.
A method is needed to provide comfortable, inexpensive furniture of high quality in a compact, easily storable and transportable way, for distribution by mass merchandising channels and which can accommodate a wide variety of consumer decorating tastes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention uses reduced volume padding in a method of making a kit which provides high quality, ready-to-assemble upholstered furniture. The kit includes a lightweight, compact, easy to handle package well-suited to the shipping, storage and display needs of the mass merchandising industry. The kit, when assembled, provides an article of comfortable upholstered furniture which can match a variety of decors. Interchangeable, fitted decorative coverings are separately provided to cover the furniture and provide continued flexibility and variety in accommodating the consumer's decorating tastes.
The lightweight, compact and maneuverable package is advantageous because it can be efficiently stocked on the display or inventory shelves of mass merchandising retailers.
Accommodating various consumer decorating tastes by having a variety of interchangeable, fitted covering fabrics for the furniture is another advantage associated with the present invention. The covers can be sold separately alongside the package containing the article of furniture.
The ease of transportation of the compact kits by merchants reduces shipping costs and/or labor. Further, the compact nature of the kits allows consumers to easily take the furniture home at the time of sale in their own vehicles, rather than requiring them to wait for later delivery by the retailer.
Conventional, pre-assembled upholstered furniture can be generally classified as having high quality and high cost, or low quality and low cost. The present invention provides ready-to-assemble upholstered furniture of high quality and low cost.
In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method of packaging disassembled upholstered furniture by disposing individual frame members, reduced volume padding and the requisite fasteners into a kit which can be easily shipped, stored, displayed on retail shelves, and transported by the consumer. This embodiment contemplates a variety of fitted covers separately available alongside the kit containing the disassembled furniture.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides an article of upholstered furniture assembled from the components which are disposed in the above-described kit via the present invention method.
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Wieland Blaine L.
Wieland Roy M.
Baker & Daniels
Cuomo Peter M.
Home Reserve, Inc.
White Rodney B.
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