US2735702A - Bracket for folding leg - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 21, 1956 c. o. LARSON 2,735,702

BRACKET FOR FOLDING LEG Filed Feb. 16, 1951 United States Patcfit' v.

BRACKET FOR FOLDING LEG Charles 0. Larson, Sterling, Ill. Application February 16, 1951, Serial No. 211,405 3 Claims. (Cl. 287-14) This invention relates to brackets for uniting table legs to table tops and, more particularly, this invention relates to a specially formed sheet metal bracket for pivotally uniting legs of standard lumber shapes to the underside of wooden tops so that the legs can be swung from a folded position juxtaposed to the underside of the table top to an extended position at right angles to the table top for supporting the table or other top.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a simple type of sheet metal bracket having means whereby the same may be aflixed to the underside of a table top or other support and comprising a pair of spaced apart plates into which the upper end of a table leg or other support may be fitted and wherein the plates and the legs are formed with spaced holes and slots through which one or more bolts are passed in a manner to permit the leg to be shifted down a bit with respect to the table top so that the leg may be folded thereunder and held in such folded position.

Yet another object of the invention resides in providing a sheet metal bracket adapted to be fixed to the underside of a table top or other support, which bracket is provided with a pair of spaced plates between which the leg of the table is adapted to be inserted and wherein the opposed plates are formed with vertically spaced apart registering bolt holes and wherein the leg is provided with an elongated slot-co-extensive in length to the space between the bolt holes whereby the leg may be placed within the socket between the plates with its upper end flush against the upper side of the table top or support and wherein the bolt may be passed through the upper holes of the plates and through the slot of the leg to hold the leg in right angle position with respect to the table top or wherein the bolt may be removed from the upper holes, the leg shifted endwise so that its upper end no longer abuts the underside of the table and wherein the bolt may then be placed in the lower registering holes and passing through the slot in the table leg to permit the leg to be swung to the underside of the table in parallel re lationship therewith.

Yet another object of the invention resides in providing the bracket construction of sheet metal for the various 'types of leg constructions as hereinbefore set forth.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from a perusal of the following specification when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one form of the invention, showing the parallel plates of the bracket provided with vertically spaced bolt holes and wherein the leg is provided with an elongated slot by which construction .on removal of the bolt the upper end of the leg may be spaced from the underside of the table to permit it to 'fold into parallel spaced relation into the underside of the table and then to be held in this folded position by re- 'insertion of the bolt in the lower hole of the bracket plates;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view showing the leg in vertical supporting position;

Fig. 4 shows the leg in the folded position;

Fig. 5 is a view of the leg and plate removed from the table top; and V Fig. 6 illustrates the details of the pair of plates that make the bracket.

In the form of the invention disclosed in Figs. 1-6 of the drawings, the bracket is formed of two separate blanks of sheet metal of desired gauge. The two half brackets are bent to form in a suitable device so that when assembled, they will envelope the sides of the top portion of a leg member.

In this invention it is preferred that the legs be formed of standard shapes of lumber which are preferably rectangular in cross section. In this manner it is simple to purchase the brackets and by using standard shapes of lumber to produce simple and easily assembled tables or other devices having foldable legs.

In the construction of the device shown in Figs. 1-6, the two bracket halves are identical. Each half includes a plane face 2 of desired shape and size. In the present form the face 2 is generally rectangular except that the lower edge is curved for ornateness. At its top each half is provided with a flange 4 bent at right angles to the plane of the face 2 and provided with spaced holes 6'for screws 7 for attaching the bracket to the underside of the table top or other supporting surface whatever it may be. In addition, each face plate is provided along its top vertical edges with a pair of lugs 8 which are bent also at right angles to the plane of the face plate 2 but in planes at right angles to the plane of the flange 4. Each lug 8 is preferably of a length equal to one half of the width of the leg 9 desired to be used and the two lugs 8, when the two brackets are assembled, have their ends confronting and preferably in contact to provide guide flanges to guide the narrower dimensional opposed walls of the leg 9 when the leg is shifted.

In this present construction the top surface 10 of each leg, when the leg is in table top supporting position, as when the leg extends at right angles to the plane of the table top 1, is adapted solidly to support and touch the underside of the top, throughout the area of the top of the leg. This situation is illustrated in full lines of the leg in Fig. 2. To accomplish this and also to permit the leg to fold upwardly substantially close to the underside of the table top, the bracket and each leg are interpivoted in a manner to permit this.

One construction for accomplishing the foregoing is to provide each plate of the bracket with a pair of spaced holes 12 and 14, each hole being of a size to receive the shank of a bolt 16. The bolt at one end is formed with a head 18 of larger diameter than the holes 12 or 14 and the opposite end of each bolt is threaded to receive either a wing nut 20 or a suitable nut for clamping purposes. In addition the leg is provided with a suitable slot 22 at its upper end of a length corresponding to the distance between the bolt holes 12 and 14 which is the preferred construction. The holes in the plates 2 and the slots 22 in the upper ends of the legs 9 and the position of the slots 22 with respect to the upper surface 10 of each leg is selected so that when the top surface 10 of a leg is in contact with the underside of the table 1 as shown in full lines in Fig. 2, the shank of the bolt 16 is disposed in the upper pair of holes 1212 of the bracket plates 2. In this position the wing nut 20 is screwed along the threaded position of the bolt shank into tight engagement with the plates 22 of the bracket whereby firmly to clamp the leg or legs in open or table supportnig position as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. In this position the upper end of the legs fits into position between the end lugs 88 and the side plates which constitute at the top a four sided bracket.

To fold each leg, the wing nut is unthreaded from the bolt and the latter removed and positioned in the pair of opposed holes 1414 of the bracket plates. The slot 22 is of sufficient length to permit the leg pivotally to swing to folded position, as shown in Fig. 3. Before the leg 9 is pivotally shifted to horizontal or folded position it must be moved endwise out of its socket between the flanges 8-8, a distance equal to the height of the flanges. This height corresponds generally to the length of the slot 22. This endwise movement of the leg positions the top edge 10 of the leg as shown in dotted line 24 of Fig. 3 a suificient distance downwardly of the underside of the bracket lugs 8-8 to permit the leg to be pivotally swung to the position shown in Fig. 4.

In this form of the invention, the bolt 16 is removed from one set of holes in the bracket and reinserted in the other set of holes in order to fold or unfold the table leg with respect to its top.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A bracket for pivotally and foldably uniting legs to a table top or other support comprising a pair of side plates spaced apart the width of the leg to receive the leg therebetween and being normally vertically disposed when the leg is in operative supporting position, each side plate having at its upper edge an integral extension disposed at right angles to the plate, said extensions lying in the same plane and being formed with means for attachment to the underside of the table or support, said side plates each having a pair of spaced holes having their centers disposed substantially in a common vertical plane, the holes of each pair being aligned for the reception of a clamping bolt, and a projection formed on each plate at the top thereof to form with the other plate a pair of end plates to form a four sided socket for the top portion of the associated leg.

2. A bracket for pivotally and foldably uniting legs to a table top or other support comprising a pair of side plates spaced apart the width of the leg to receive the leg therebetween and being normally vertically disposed when the leg is in operative supporting position, each side plate having at its upper edge an integral extension disposed at right angles to the plate, said extensions lying in the same plane and being formed with means for attachment to the underside of the table or support, said side plates each having a pair of spaced holes having their centers disposed substantially in a common vertical plane, the holes of each pair being aligned for the reception of a clamping bolt, and a pair of inwardly extending lugs formed on each plate and adapted to engage the edges of similarly formed lugs on the opposite plate when the plates are in leg receiving position to form opposed ends for the bracket.

3. A bracket for pivotally and foldably uniting legs to a table top or other support comprising a pair of side plates spaced apart the width of the leg to receive the leg therebetween and being normally vertically disposed when the leg is in operative supporting position, each side plate having at its upper edge an integral extension disposed at right angles to the plate, said extensions lying in the same plane and being formed with means for attachment to the underside of the table or support, said side plates each having a pair of spaced holes having their centers disposed substantially in a common vertical plane, the holes of each pair being aligned for the reception of a clamping bolt, and relatively short integral end plate means formed on said plates between each pair of adjacent vertical end edges of said pair of side plates, each of said end plate means extending downwardly from the upper edges of said side plates a distance substantially equal to the vertical spacing of said pairs of holes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 136,659 Lovell Mar. 11, 1873 403,602 Neill May 21, 1889 483,460 Lindsay Sept. 27, 1892 1,039,868 Whitney Oct. 1, 1912 1,855,857 Harman Apr. 26, 1932 2,047,389 Sinclair July 14, 1936 2,102,888 Dill Dec. 21, 1937 2,466,205 Burr Apr. 5, 1949

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