Land vehicles – Runner vehicle
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-16
2001-03-27
Boehler, Anne Marie (Department: 3618)
Land vehicles
Runner vehicle
C016S04200T, C248S346110, C280S028170
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206424
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention pertains to a furniture slide for easily and efficiently moving heavy objects across building floors. This invention is especially concerned with multiple of such furniture slides that may be used in cooperation with one another for the movement of furniture across floor surfaces of varying texture.
In the moving industry and in the carpet cleaning industry, it is quite usual to face the situation of having to move large, heavy and sometimes awkwardly shaped furniture within the confines of buildings. The most common method used for moving heavy objects is for the movers or cleaners to pick the object up and carry it by hand, but this is not always a feasible or preferable arrangement. With the exception of moving furniture up and down stairways, or a special orientation of heavy or awkwardly shaped furniture which requires lifting, it has been found that placing a separate one piece slide under the object to be moved and over the surface to which it is being moved, is beneficial so that the article may be slid across the horizontal surfaces which it must traverse in order to be relocated or moved within the confines of the building.
Various other prior art devices have been suggested for placing under the legs of furniture or placing under a furniture base which does not include legs, in order that the furniture may be moved across floor surfaces. The prior art devices, however, do not take into consideration all of the problems that are associated with moving heavy furniture or other objects across a flooring surface, which may even be a rugged surface. One of the problems that exists is that the surface sliding across the carpet must be a type of material that provides minimal friction between the carpet and the sliding surface, while the upper portion of the slide that meets with the furniture object must provide sufficient frictional contact with the furniture.
Further problems with furniture slides involve furniture slides catching upon the rugged surface on which it slides, causing the slides to come out from underneath the furniture object being moved. In addition, prior art devices, while solving some of the problems, do not specifically provide for a method of exerting a force on the furniture slide itself for movement of the furniture object. Some of the prior art devices, while providing furniture slides under the legs of furniture to be moved, require that the force to move the furniture must be exerted upon the furniture itself, either by a pushing or a pulling force. Such a method can be desirable, but can also introduce excessive stresses and strains on the furniture and on the person moving the object and provides no alternatives.
In addition, prior art furniture slides do not take into consideration the problems encountered when a carpet has been freshly cleaned and the furniture is repositioned. In this situation, when the furniture slides are removed, one is thereafter required to lift the furniture again off of its legs or bottom base and position Cellular expanding Polystyrene drying blocks or the like thereunder to isolate the furniture base from the underlying wet carpet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The furniture slide of the present invention is for placement between an object to be moved and flooring over which it is to be moved, and is comprised of a sheet of material having a convex bottom face for sliding on floor surfaces and compressible material adhered to the top face of the sheet for support contact with an object to be moved. A plug of the compressible material is removable for thereby providing a cavity in the compressible material and a foam drying block dimensioned for insertion into the cavity is provided for direct support contact with the object to be moved.
The upper face of the foam drying block is applied with an adhesive whereby the block will remain adhered to or stuck to the object to be moved after the sheet with its adhered compressible material is removed from the block. Thus when the furniture slides are removed, the furniture is then simply lowered onto the underlying wet carpet which has just been scrubbed and the furniture is thereby isolated from the carpet.
This foam block is preferably thicker than the compressible material whereby the upper face of the drying block projects above the compressible material for insured engagement with the furniture leg or base.
Typically the foam drying blocks will be manufactured of cellular polystyrene such as Styrofoam.
The base sheet for the furniture slide is preferably provided in elongated form with opposing side and end edges with the curvature provided from side edge to side edge.
In addition, and also as a second independent inventive feature, an upturned rim is provided on all edges of the sheet to assist the slide in going over rough surfaces and moving through thick pile carpet.
Also, the base sheet includes a thickened portion adjacent one end edge with a passage through this thickened portion for securing a tow line so that, if desired, the furniture object may be towed with such tow lines and multiple furniture slides of the present invention.
In order to impart maximum slideability to the furniture slide, the base sheet may be comprised of a high density polyethylene material which has slippery surface qualities.
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patent: 252422 (1882-01-01), Briggs
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patent: 1982138 (1934-11-01), Herold
patent: 2317080 (1943-04-01), Phillips
patent: 2538600 (1951-01-01), Swanson
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patent: 3326508 (1967-06-01), Born
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patent: 5220705 (1993-06-01), Bushey
patent: 5557824 (1996-09-01), Bushey
patent: 5743506 (1998-04-01), Adams
patent: 5802669 (1998-09-01), Wurdack
patent: 5984360 (1999-11-01), Edwards et al.
patent: 1013033 (1965-12-01), None
patent: 0218204 (1985-10-01), None
Edwards Donald J.
Edwards Donald V.
Boehler Anne Marie
Carothers & Carothers
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