Chairs and seats – Chair hardware or attachment
Patent
1997-09-02
1999-04-06
Cuomo, Peter M.
Chairs and seats
Chair hardware or attachment
248501, 296 63, 2972161, 29721616, 244122R, B60N 244
Patent
active
058907688
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a leg attachment system and method for seats attached to a seat support.
The invention has particular utility to the mounting of seats to the floor of a vehicle or the deck of a vessel where the seats of the vehicle or vessel can be subjected to an appreciable lateral force when the motion of the vehicle or vessel is suddenly impeded.
The invention, however, is not limited to such application and has general utility as an attachment system for pedestals or standards of any general form which are required to be anchored to a floor and which may be subject to the application of a lateral force.
BACKGROUND ART
In recent times, and with the application of new technologies, large passenger carrying marine craft are achieving speeds of a magnitude normally experienced in motor vehicles and so are capable of subjecting passengers seated within them to high lateral forces which can cause serious injury if the motion of the vessel is suddenly impeded.
One of the problems with designing leg attachment systems for seating in marine vessels, and which does not present itself to the same degree in relation to land based vehicles, is the weight consideration which seriously affects the design of the particular leg attachment system that is adopted. Moreover, in order to achieve high speeds, passenger ferry craft are required to be light weight, whereby the weight of the vessel directly affects the maximum speed that can be obtained by the vessel. Consequently, passenger ferry craft these days are constructed with decks of extremely light gauge material, for example aluminium sheeting which can reach thicknesses of down to 2 mm. Consequently, the leg attachment systems that have previously been designed for seating to attach to decks of such light gauge material have similarly been of light weight design and hence have skimped on meeting minimum safety standards for resisting laterally applied impact forces.
An immediate solution to the problem would be to make leg attachment systems of heavier gauge material, however the inherent problem with this is that this would considerably add to the weight of the vessel.
A further problem is that the beam of marine craft is not limited to the same extent as the breadth of land based vehicles and hence there is much more flexibility in the positioning and the number of seats that are able to be mounted upon a deck than is the case with land based motor vehicles. Hence, the ability to position seats easily and removably is also an important design consideration which detracts from having permanent fixed point anchoring systems for leg attachment systems, which are easier to design for meeting high loading requirements than is the case of impermanent anchoring points and fixtures.
Present types of anchoring techniques for leg attachment systems are basically divided into three classes. The first is the flange or base plate anchoring system as shown in FIG. 1A of the accompanying drawings, the second is the block mounted anchoring system as shown in FIG. 1B of the drawings, and the third is the track mounted anchoring system using either diamond or T-head bolts (not shown) or angle bolts shown in FIG. 1C.
As shown in FIG. 1C, this system uses an interlocking angle `a` to which tie bolts `b` are fixedly mounted to fixedly retain a seat pedestal leg `c` to a track `d`. The track `d` itself is permanently fixed to the deck and is formed with a longitudinally extending cavity, centrally disposed within and circumscribed by a C-shaped channel portion `e`. Such an arrangement has the advantage that the interlocking angle can be positioned close to the installation site without having to be slid along the entire length of deck track, which would otherwise be the case if a captive T-head section was used. Although a T-head section would provide greater locking ability and hence strength, as lengths of track can be as long as 50 m or more along a deck, such a system is impractical to use.
The first two of these systems falls into the category of p
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Bailey William
Beurteaux Kenneth William
Beurteaux Rodney William
Hill Colin Edward
Beurteaux (Australia) Pty Ltd.
Cuomo Peter M.
White Rodney B.
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