Supports: racks – Shelf type – Knockdown
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-21
2004-01-13
Stodola, Daniel P. (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Shelf type
Knockdown
C403S294000, C403S354000, C403SDIG001, C108S153100, C108S158120, C312S271000, C211S135000, C211S183000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06675979
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to devices wherein upright, rigid, planar supporting members have the structure to support a horizontal surface from opposite sides of the surface and project toward each other. In particular, the present invention relates to a free standing furniture system that is disassemblable and reassemblable without using permanent or threaded or similar fasteners.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Furniture is often permanently assembled using glue, threaded fasteners, and other kinds of fasteners that are intended to be reasonably permanent. This method of assembly is generally desirable when the furniture will be used in one location for an extended period of time and when limited flexibility for adding on or changing components is not important. A disadvantage of this kind of furniture is that it is difficult to easily disassemble and reassemble, move, and store. Consequently, non-permanently assemblable furniture that can be readily assembled, disassembled, and re-assembled is very useful in certain situations. Adults may use this kind of furniture in temporary work settings where furniture is needed to hold or help organize items. Students may use this kind of furniture in temporary living situations such as apartments or dorm rooms that must be vacated at the end of each school year. Even children can use this kind of furniture, which may provide some sense of self-determination in that it is easy to tear down and set-up when children want to rearrange their bedroom or play areas.
Reassemblable furniture is well known to those in the art. Examples of this kind of furniture include Scarlett, U.S. Pat. No. 2,486,987, Fabricated Chair; Leeper, U.S. Pat. No. 2,526,246, Self-Locking Structure; Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,546,812, Knockdown Table Furniture; Beaver, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,924, Inexpensive and Disassemblable Structural Units; Wartes, U.S. Pat. No. 3,788,700, Multifunctional Pegged Furniture; Chacon, U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,065, Modular Furniture; and Hogberg, U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,113, Table or Stool of Separable Components.
In particular, shelves or bookcases have been made to be assemblable, such as Takahashi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,311, Sectional Unit Furniture Assembly and Merkel, U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,022, Component Shelf System, wherein interlocking slots are used, or tabs positioned through slots perpendicularly and secured in place by securing bars or wedge members positioned through the tabs. Other shelves or bookcases use only tabs positioned through slots and secured by wedges, wedge bars, or tapping pegs positioned through the tabs, such as the furniture disclosed in Rosenthal, U.S. Pat. No. 2,366,676, Knock-Down Shelving Structure; Schneider, U.S. Pat. No. 2,595,002, Display Stand; and Gollick, U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,232, Modular Shelving Interconnection Assembly. Each of these shelving units or bookcases uses upright side pieces that are one integral or unitary piece of wood or other similar material. Thus, the tabs must be at the ends of the shelves, and the wedges or other holding means generally cannot be used to support the shelves. In Rubenstein, U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,101, Joint Construction, the side pieces of the shelves are comprised of several pieces. These side pieces, however, are not interlocking; rather they abut the tops and bottoms of the shelves and held in place merely by wedges inserted through slots in the shelves. These wedges likewise cannot offer additional support to the shelves.
It would be advantageous to have shelves or bookcases that include side members that are not unitary, so that the furniture is expandable and different side piece components and shelves can be intermixed for different appearances, and whereby the side members are interlocking in three dimensions to give the furniture additional stability. It would also be advantageous if the means to hold the side members and shelves in place could be used to help support the shelves when the furniture is assembled.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A furniture assembly system utilizes upright members having a pair of protruding hook portions that cooperate with a similar pair of hook portions of another upright member and mutually interconnect through slots in a shelf to hold the shelf in place. A plug inserts into an aperture formed by the interconnecting hook portions to hold the upright members in place and secondarily to provide further support to the shelf.
The present invention provides a furniture assembly system. The furniture is reassemblable and can be used in a myriad of situations by persons of all ages. The system is easy to assemble and does not use permanent or threaded or similar fasteners so that tools are unnecessary for assembling a system. The sides of the system are not unitary, so that the furniture is expandable and different upright members and shelves can be intermixed. The upright component members have hook portions to cooperatively and mutually interconnect to give added stability to the system, which hook portions have fluted surfaces where they interconnect to offer additional lateral stability. The system uses plugs to hold the upright members in place, and the position of upright members is not limited only to the ends of the shelves.
A preferred embodiment of a free standing shelf assembly system comprises at least one shelf and upright members including at least two foot members and at least two side members, the top side members being crown members and the other side members being middle members, with each shelf and upright member having opposing planar surfaces. The shelf has top and bottom opposing planar surfaces, two opposing ends, and at least one slot approximate each end. A foot member is positioned at each end of the shelf and positioned along a plane approximately perpendicular to the shelf and aligned with the respective at least one slot. A foot member has a top surface to engage the bottom surface of the shelf and at least one lower hook portion that is constructed and arranged to extend through the respective slot. A side member is likewise positioned at each end of the shelf so that its planar surfaces align with those of the respective foot member. Each side member has a bottom surface to engage the top surface of the shelf and at least one upper hook portion extending through the respective slot to cooperatively and mutually interconnect with the respective lower hook portion of the respective foot member, whereby an aperture is formed. A plug is positions in the aperture to hold the interconnecting upright members in place.
In general, a preferred embodiment of the joint construction and arrangement comprises separable first, second and third planar, joined members, wherein each member has opposing planar surfaces and wherein the planar surfaces of the second and third members are aligned with each other along a plane approximately perpendicular to the first member. The first member has at least one slot therethrough aligned with the second and third members. The second and third members respectively engage opposite surfaces of the first member and have hook portions extending through the slot to engage each other in a cooperative and mutually interconnecting manner that forms an aperture. A plug is positioned in the aperture to hold the second and third members in place, and consequently the first member as well.
To assemble a preferred embodiment of the joint, a first planar member, having opposing planar surfaces and having at least one slot therethrough, and second and third planar members, each having opposing planar surfaces and a hook portion, are provided. The planar surfaces of the second and third members are aligned with each other along a plane approximately perpendicular to the first member and with the at least one slot and positioned to engage opposite surfaces of the first member. The hook portion of each the second and the third members are extended through the at least one slot to engage the hook portion of the other in a mutually interconnecting manner, and a plug is provided and in
Novosad Jennifer E.
Patterson Thuente Skaar & Christensen P.A.
Stodola Daniel P.
LandOfFree
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