Beds – Sofa bed – Sliding and pivoting back
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-28
2002-01-29
Grosz, Alexander (Department: 3628)
Beds
Sofa bed
Sliding and pivoting back
C005S043000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06341392
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
The present invention relates to a sofa bed, which sofa bed can be used in sofa position or bed position.
The sofa bed according to the invention suits especially well to be used in places in which, e.g. because of the lack of space in the room, a separate sofa and bed cannot be placed. Thus, a piece of furniture that is used as a sofa during the daytime can be changed into a bed and the furnishing of a room is made comfortable and easy to change. In this connection, the sofa bed means a furniture that can be used as well as a seat and a bed. Such a furniture is, e.g. all sorts of sofas and chairs that can be opened and folded.
At present a plurality of various sofa-bed arrangements are known which, according to their opening direction, and thus according to their sleeping direction, can be divided into sofa beds parallel with the back rest, i.e., longitudinal sofa beds, and into sofa beds perpendicular to the back rest, i.e., transversal sofa beds.
Longitudinal sofa beds are disclosed, e.g., in U.S. patent publications U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,109 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,317 and in a French patent publication FR 2 733 887. In the publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,109 a longitudinal sofa bed is carried out by means of a folding back rest, so that a bed section is formed of a seating section and a backwards lowered back rest. In the publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,317 a longitudinal sofa bed is formed by lowering into the bed level together joined seating section and front and back parts of the back rest forming the back rest.
In the sofa disclosed in the publication FR 2 733 887, the back rest includes a sliding support part, the lifting of which relieves the end section of the seating section, which thus serves as a bed with the rest of the seating section.
Transversal sofa beds are disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,630 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,544 as well as in GB 2 070 423 and EP 0 943 268. In the arrangements disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,590,630 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,544 a bed section can be folded inside the frame of the sofa. In the arrangement disclosed in GB 2 070 423, a sofa is changed into a bed by lowering down a back rest connected to a seating section and by lifting the bottom part of the seating section as an extension to a thus formed surface. In the arrangement disclosed in EP 0 943 268, a bed is changed into a sofa by pulling the seating sections outwards from below the back rest in which case the back rest remains in its position partly above the bed section.
The most difficult problem in the known arrangements, especially in the longitudinal beds, is their complex structure. The use of sofa beds comprising a large number of hinges, turnable parts or removable pieces is thus often difficult. Especially in common use, e.g. in hotels and ships, unaccustomed users may easily break the mechanisms of the sofas when using these sofa beds. In addition, unaccustomed users may even hurt themselves, e.g. by leaving their fingers between the folding hinges. Due to the complex structure, the known sofa bed arrangements are often also much more expensive to manufacture than ordinary sofas, so it has not been profitable to acquire a sofa bed for only to be used occasionally as a spare bed without a regular need. Furthermore, due to the complexity of the known arrangements, the structure of sofa beds is very heavy, which impedes the transportation and moving of the sofa bed.
In addition, one problem of the known arrangements is their substantial need of space. Changing a sofa into a normal-size double bed, that is, into a bed having a length of 200 centimeters and a width of 160 centimeters, has been a problem in the known arrangements, especially when using the sofa in a small space. The problem associated with transversal beds is that folding or otherwise closing of the bed section would require too much space as a part of the structure of the sofa or inside the sofa. The problem associated with longitudinal sofa beds is caused by the fact that in the known arrangements, due to a space required by the folding of the back rest, a useless space is left between the wall and the bed section. In addition, in order to achieve a maximal width of the bed, the seating depth of the sofa had to be widened, whereupon the sitting comfort has suffered.
Yet another problem associated especially with the transversal sofa beds is, that in connection with the sofa bed, e.g. inside the sofa bed, there is no stowage room for, e.g. bedclothing, because of a substantial amount of space required by the mechanism of the sofa bed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a better sofa bed than previous ones.
The intention is thus to provide a sofa bed which can be opened to form a longitudinal bed by turning the back section of the sofa forward towards the seating section in which case the back of the back section serves as a bed surface preferably together with the seating section.
The intention is thus to provide a sofa bed which can be placed in close proximity to a wall and opened to a bed position without moving the sofa bed off the wall.
It is also desirable to provide a sofa bed that is simple and easy to use.
It is an object to provide a sofa bed which can be opened to a bed position and thus provide a longitudinal full-size sofa bed to substitute even a bed.
It is another object to provide a sofa bed inside the frame of which a space is left to be used for stowage room, e.g., for bedclothing.
It is still another object to provide a sofa bed on the back side of the back section of which the bedclothing can be attached, thus being easy to take into use when opening the sofa to a bed.
The sofa bed according to the invention, which sofa bed can be used in a sofa position and bed position, comprises typically a frame comprising end sections, a seating section connected to the frame, and a back section pivotally connected to the frame in at least two turning points, the back section comprising a front that serves as a back rest of the sofa, and a back side of the sofa. In this connection, the frame means all such constructions that, as regards their structure or other properties, can be used as a support structure of the sofa bed. Such constructions suitable for a frame are, e.g., different ribbings made of metal, plastic, wood or the like, or elements or constructions mounted of parts, such as tubes, connected to each other. The frame includes also the constructions surrounding the sofa bed, such as, e.g., the walls of the building in the case that the seating section and the back section can be attached directly to them. The sofa bed can also comprise more than one frame. In this connection, the end section means the area or construction at the end sections of the frame, such as, e.g. the short sides of the frame ribbing, which, e.g. form or to which the end plates of the sofa are attached. The turning point means, in this connection, a point around which a movement of some part of the sofa bed, e.g. of the back section, takes place.
In the end sections of the sofa bed according to the invention, is a turning guide and a substantially upwards orienting directing guide, which turning guide and directing guide are generally elongated in form and substantially at an angle with each other. In this connection, turning guide and directing guide mean an element that serves as a guide for the movement of the turning point of the sofa bed. The turning guide and directing guide can be different from each other and their structure can be, e.g. groove-, tube-, slot-, track- or bar-like and they can be made, e.g. of metal, wood, plastic or of some other material suitable for the purpose. The turning guide and directing guide can be bent or curved as well as joined together, e.g. by welding, but there is an angle between their general forms. The substantially upwards orientation of the directing guide means, in this connection, that the direction of the directing guide deviates substantially from the horizontal plane. The guides can be fixed parts of the end
Grosz Alexander
I. S. Mäkinen Oy
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
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