US2954636A - Universal furniture foot construction - Google Patents

Description

1960 R. J. GAMMACHE 2,954,636

UNIVERSAL FURNITURE FOOT CONSTRUCTION Filed April 16, 1958 Richard J. Gammache INVENTOR.

BY 2mm WWW 3M1:

United States Patent UNIVERSAL FURNITURE FOOT CONSTRUCTION Richard J. Gammache, 1564 Mission Road, Lancaster, Pa.

Filed Apr. 16, 1958, Ser. No. 728,887

1 Claim. (Cl. 45-137) This invention relates in general to new and useful improvements in accessories for furniture, and more specifically to an improved furniture foot construction.

In furniture construction, particularly chairs, the legs of such furniture are oftentimes disposed at an angle to the vertical. As a result, when a foot member is driven into the end of the leg, the foot member does not present a horizontal surface for engagement with a floor and therefore not only is the chair partially unstable, but also results in a very small area of engagement between the foot and the floor or floor covering so as to result in the damaging of the floor or floor covering.

It is therefore the primary object of this invention to provide a furniture foot unit which is of such a nature that it is self-levelling so that when the furniture foot unit is mounted in a chair leg or the like which is disposed at an angle to the vertical, a foot member thereof will automatically adjust to the horizontal so as to form a full contacting surface with the floor or floor covering.

Another object of this invention is to provide a furniture foot unit, the furniture foot unit being of the selflevelling type and including a foot member having a flat floor engaging surface and a mounting member adapted to be engaged with or in a furniture leg, and there being provided a universal connection between the mounting member and the foot member whereby when the furniture is set on a floor, the fioor engaging surface of the foot member will automatically be disposed coplanar with the floor surface to provide a full support for the furniture.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved furniture foot construction, the foot construction including a mounting member adapted to be mounted in a furniture leg at an angle to the vertical and concentric with the axis of the furniture leg, and a foot member, the foot member having a flat floor engaging surface which is intended to be disposed at an angle to the axis of the mounting member and coplanar with the surface of the floor, the foot member being connected to the support member by means of a universal connection so as to be automatically levelling, there being pro vided a covering for the universal connection, the cover being secured to the foot member and engaging the mounting member so as to both function as the desired cover and to prevent separation of the universal connection.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chair leg having mounted on the lower end thereof a furniture foot unit in accordance with this invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken through the foot unit and shows the specific details thereof including the manner in which it is mount- 2,954,636 Patented Oct. 4, 1960 ed within the lower end of the chair leg, which chair leg is tubular;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 3-3 of Figure 2 and shows further the connection between the foot unit and the chair leg; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional view similar to Figure 2 and shows a slightly modified form of foot uni-t.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it will be seen that there is illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3 a preferred form of furniture foot unit, the foot unit beingreferred to in general by the reference numeral 14 The foot unit 10 is mounted on the lower end of a chair leg, the chair leg 12 being of the tubular type.

The foot unit 10 includes a foot unit which is referred to in general by the reference numeral 14. The foot unit 14 includes an annular portion 16 which has a generally flat, but slightly rounded lower floor engaging surface 18. The portion 16 includes an enlarged annular part 20 adjacent the upper edge thereof. The foot member 14 also includes a centrally located upwardly projecting pin portion 22 which terminates in a rounded upper end part 24.

The foot unit also includes a mounting member which is referred to in general by the reference numeral 26. The mounting member 26 includes an elongated shank 28 which terminates at the lower end thereof in an enlargement 30 which has formed integrally therewith a downwardly open generally semi-spherical cup member 32. The upper end of the shank 28 is provided with a spring retaining clip which will be described in more detail hereinafter. The spring retaining clip is referred to in general by the reference numeral 34.

'It is to be noted that the cup portion 32 is seated on the rounded head part 24 of the pin portion 22 to form a swivel connection between the mounting member 26 and the foot member 14. Thus when pressure is applied to the foot member 14 by engagement of the foot member 14 against a surface, such as the floor surface 36, although the support member 26 may be disposed at an angle to the vertical, the universal connection between the pin portion 22 and the cup shaped portion 32 will permit the automatic levelling of the foot member 14 so that the floor engaging surface 18 thereof will automatically be disposed substantially coplanar to the surface of the floor 36.

In order to both enclose the universal connection between the cup shaped portion 32 and the pin portion 22, which universal connection is referred to in general by the reference numeral 38, there is provided a cover 40. The cover 40 will be formed of sheet metal and has a lower portion 42 thereof engaged around the projecting part 20 so as to interlock the cover 40 with the foot member 14.

The upper part of the cover 40 is of a reduced width and is internally bent to form a seat 44. The seat 44 is disposed concentric to the pin portion 22 and engages the outer surfaces of the cup shaped portion 32. Thus the cover 40 also serves to retain the cup shaped portion 32 on the pin portion 32 and thus prevent separation of the universal connection 38. The fit between the seat 44 and the exterior surface of the cup shaped portion 32 seals the universal connection 38.

The spring retaining clip 34, as is best shown in Figure 3, includes a central portion including a plurality of outwardly directed spring fingers'48 which are circumferentially spaced. As is best shown in Figure 2,- the spring fingers 48 normally bow downwardly and thus facilitate the insertion of the spring retaining clip 34 within the tubular chair leg 12. However, when it is attempted to withdraw the mounting member 26, the

spring fingers 48 attempt to straighten out and dig firmly into the interior surface of the chair leg 12 thus preventing removal of the mountingimember 26.

' As isbest shown-in Figure 2, the shank 28 is hollowed out as at 50 to be tubular. The upper part of the shank 50 is buckled as at 52 to provide a lower seat for the spring retaining clip 34. The upper end of the shank 28 is outwardly flared as at 54 to cooperate with the shoulder 52 to secure the spring retaining clip 34 on the shank 28.

The lower part of the shank 28 passes through a central opening 56 in a closure member 58 for the lower end of the chair leg 12. The closure member 58 includes an offset portion 60 of a size to be received in the chair leg 12 and a peripheral flange 62 which abuts against the lower end of the chair leg 12 so as to prevent movement of the closure member 58 into the chair leg 12. The closure member 58 abuts against the shoulder 30 and is retained in place in the lower end of the chair leg 12.

Referring now to Figure 4 in particular, it will be seen that there is illustrated a modified form of furniture foot unit which is referred to in general by the reference numeral 64. The foot unit 64 includes a foot member 66 which is identical with the foot member 14. The foot unit 64 also includes a cover 68 which is identical with the cover 40. Accordingly, a description of these two parts is believed to be unnecessary.

The foot unit 64 also includes a mounting member 70 which is of a slightly different construction from the mounting member 26. The mounting member 70 includes an elongated shank 72 which is in the form of a drive fastener. The shank 72 terminates at the lower end thereof in an enlargement or shoulder portion 74 which has formed integral therewith a cup shaped portion 76. The cup shaped portion 76 cooperates with the foot member 66 and the cover 68 to form a universal connection 78 which is identical with the universal connecr tion 38.

The foot unit 64 is intended to be used with chair legs or other types of furniture legs which are of a solid wood construction. Such a chair leg is referred to by the reference numeral 80. The shank 72 is driven into the chair leg 80 to retain the foot unit 64 in place. The shank 72 has the lower portion thereof received through a washer 82 which bears against the lower end of the chair leg 80 and forms a seat for the shoulder 74.

From the foregoing description of the foot units which are the subject of this invention, it will be seen that while 4 H the foot units are of an extremely simple construction, the construction thereof is such that a universal con nection is provided between the support member and the foot member thereof so that irrespective of the angle which the leg of the furniture makes to the floor, the foot ember will automatically be disposed in flush engagement with the floor surface because of the self-levelling feature thereof.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous mod ifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equiva- F lents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

A furniture foot unit comprising a foot member, a mounting member, a universal connection between said foot member and said mounting member, said universal connection including a pin projecting upwardly from said foot member, said pin being circular in cross-section and terminating in a rounded upper end, said mounting member terminating in a downwardly opening cup-shaped member seated on said upper end, said cup-shaped member having a semi-spherical inner surface and a semispherical outer surface, and a cover for said universal connection, said cover being secured to said foot member and engaging said mounting member to prevent separation of said universal connection, said cover having a seat which is circular in outline and disposed concentric to said pin, said seat engaging the exterior surface of said cup-shaped member and preventing movement of said cup-shaped member away from said foot member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 659,532 Jordan Oct. 9, 1900 926,579 Laughlin June 29, 1909 1,254,566 Bard Jan. 22, 1918 1,332,605 Child Mar. 2, 1920 1,638,725 Chestnut Aug. 9, 1927 1,885,558 Payne Apr. 26, 1952 2,699,567 Kramcsak Jan. 18, 1955 2,807,042 Cramer Sept. 24,1957 2,819,918 Seaquist Jan. 14, 1958

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