Horizontally supported planar surfaces – Plural related horizontal surfaces – Coplanar extension surface
Patent
1981-06-23
1984-05-08
Zugel, Francis K.
Horizontally supported planar surfaces
Plural related horizontal surfaces
Coplanar extension surface
108 77, 16357, A47B 104
Patent
active
044467966
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to tables having folding or "drop" leaves and in particular to an improved hinge mechanism for use in connection therewith.
Background of the Prior Art
Tables and table services having folding or "drop" leaves have long been known in the prior art. The most common of these prior art systems is the type having a simple hinge leaf arrangement which allows the leaf to be raised to a horizontal position flush with the table top to provide a useable table surface of the desired width. When the table is not in use the leaves can be "dropped" or lowered to a vertical position at the sides of the table below the surface thereof, to provide for more compact storage. A slide bar arrangement such as the one shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,058 issued to Bue has been used to hold the leaves in their horizontal position.
One application of a table with leaves is in the hotel field where a small table placed on castors and having such leaves is of greater value as a room service table. These tables are used for carrying prepared meals from the kitchen to the hotel guest's room and are used as dining tables. Folding drop leaves are provided so that the room service table will be narrow enough to conveniently pass through doorways, halls and elevators, while still providing a conveniently large dining surface. Such a table is described in detail in the U.S. Patent cited above.
The present invention improves over the prior art by providing a folding leaf table having hinge means which permit the leaves to be placed in a perpendicular and upward orientation with respect to the table surface so as to provide "sidewalls" for the table top which would help contain the articles placed on the table surface. In the case of a room service table, where the table is mobile, having the leaves in such an orientation helps prevent the prepared food from falling off the sides of the table as it was wheeled down the corridors of a hotel. Further, tables according to the present invention have guard means located on the undersides of the leaves so that when the leaves are in the above-described orientation, the guards will serve to protect walls and corners of the hotel corridors from damage when the table accidentally brushes against them.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a table including a wheeled support, a table top, an extension leaf for the table top, and means hingeing the leaf to the table top for movement from a first position aligned with the table to second and third positions oppositely orthogonal to the top, including means operable to maintain the leaf in each of the first and second positions.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a locking hinge for enabling pivotal movement of a table leaf with respect to a table top from a first position, aligned with the table top, to second and third positions oppositely orthogonal to the table top, and for locking the leaf in each of the first and second positions. The locking hinge includes the combination of a pivot member having a mounting surface for securement below a table top near an edge thereof so that the pivot member extends in part beyond the edge, a slide member having a mounting surface for securement below a leaf to be hinged to the table top along the edge, so as to extend beyond an edge of the leaf toward the pivot member, a resilient means urging the slide member toward the pivot member, the pivot means including a pivot pin having an axis for alignment with the edge of the table top below the mounting surface, and having depending walls and a cross member extending therebetween to define a channel extending orthogonally to the mounting surface, and the slide member comprising an elongated tongue adapted to be slidably received in the channel, and including an elongated slot for traversal by the pin.
Various advantages and features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity
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Carlson Ronald R.
Wilson Kermit H.
Sico Incorporated
Zugel Francis K.
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