Selectively convertible chair-table

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the art of convertible furniture, and more particularly to a chair-table particularly adapted for use as an item of children’s furniture which can be selectively employed as a comfort chair for television viewing or the like, or a work table and chair in which the chair provides desired low back support.

A variety of items of convertible furniture have been evolved which permit the use of the item of furniture for more than one purpose. Thus combination chairs and tables have been developed in which the item may 'be selectively converted from a chair to a table or to a combination chair and table.

Thus Levy in U.S. Pat. 1,948,387 of Feb. 20, 1934 discloses a chair-table in which a cross-legged folding chair is formed with a back member pivotally secured to an upwardly extending portion of the leg by a thumb screw. By loosening the screw the back member can be selectively positioned either in a vertical plane so that the back member functions as the back of the chair, or in a horizontal plane so that the back member functions as a table surface.

McCaw in U.S. Pat. 2,506,606 of May 9, 1950 discloses a seat and bench arrangement in which the back of the seat is supported on a bell-crank linkage pivoted at the rear of the chair so that it may be moved to a horizontal plane to provide a table surface as desired. McCaw distinguishes over Levy in the use of a bell-crank and the latching mechanisms employed.

Mickelson in Design Patent 178, 611 discloses a similar arrangement in which the back of the chair may be moved to a horizontal plane. The Mickelson patent distinguishes over the McCaw and Levy teachings in that the backrest is supported on a frame member which is pivoted to the front of the chair so that the frame member provides arms for the chair when the back is positioned in a vertical plane.

One of the problems present in these prior art chairtable combination is that when the table surface is extended, the resulting chair structure is backless, making it relatively inconvenient for the user. This is patricularly a problem where the chair table is intended for use by small children, since the lack of back support tends to make the child restless, and his limited attention span is further limited by the physical discomfort of being in a seat without a back support.

Another problem with the prior art constructions is that the positioning of the table surface in an operative position requires a relatively complex mechanism, requiring careful and trained manipulation by the user, and involving a relatively expensive construction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is with the above considerations in mind, that the present improved chair-table has been evolved providing a relatively simple structure, simple in manufacture and use, serving to provide a chair which may be selectively converted from a relatively high backed chair providing full back support into a chair and table with the chair providing low back support, and subject to simple manipulation to desired orientation.

It is accordingly among the objects of this invention to provide a selectively convertible chair-table which may be employed as a chair for comfort purposes or a combination table and chair.

Another object of the invention is to provide a selectively convertible chair-table in which conversion from a chair to a combined table and chair involves relatively simple manipulation, requiring minimal physical skills, so that the chair-table may be employed by a child.

A further object of the invention is to provide a selectively convertible chair-table in which the chair member is always provided with a back rest particularly adapted for the use to which the chair is to be put, on the one hand providing high back support for comfort purposes, and on the other hand providing low back support for work purposes.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a convertible chair-table in which secure locking of the members in desired chair or table orientation is accomplished without requiring manipulation by the user.

These and other objects of the invention which will become hereafter apparent are achieved by forming the chair-table with a seat member supported by four legs at each corner thereof. The legs are preferably formed of tubular stock with a pair of front and rear legs on each side of the chair formed of a continuous length bent into the form of an inverted U. A low back rest is secured to the rear of the chair, preferably supported on an inverted U-shaped tubular member secured to the left and right hand leg members at the rear of the chair. A table back member support frame is provided, also preferably formed of a continuous tubular member. The support frame is substantially S-shaped in side elevation as viewed from each side of the chair, with a latch bar joining the lower edges of the S-shaped portion of the frame. This table back support frame is pivoted to the front of the seat, preferably to the leg members at a point just beneath the front of the seat, with the latch bar extending slightly beneath the seat, and subject to movement in an arc between limiting positions adjacant the rear surface of a front leg, and the bottom surface of said seat.

A feature of the invention resides in the fact that the conventional leg structure of the chair provides a detent for the latch bar serving to maintain the table-back member in desired position, as selected either as a table, or as a seat back.

Another feature of the invention resides in the fact that the back-table support frame is dimensioned so as to provide no interference with the spreading of the knees, when the table is extended.

A further feature of the invention resides in the fact that the back-table is of a dimension such that when it is in a backrest supporting position, it provides relatively full back support such as would be desired when the chair is employed for comfort purposes as for example

3,554,597 ³ when a child uses the chair for television viewing or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The specific details of a preferred embodiment of the chair-table, will be particularly pointed out in clear, concise, and exact terms in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational view, looking from a rear corner at the chair-table, with the table surface extended for use;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational perspective view of the chair-table, showing the table member retracted to provide a high back support for the chair; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the chair-table illustrating the movement of the table-back support frame required to selectively convert from the high backed chair shown in solid line position to the low backed chair with table shown in extended dotted line position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, like numerals in the various figures will be taken to designate like parts.

As seen in the drawings, the chair-table 10 is formed with a seat member 15, which may be formed of any one of a large variety of materials found to provide a suitable seating surface. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the chair-table 10 is embodied for use as an item of children’s furniture, and accordingly the seat member 15 is preferably formed of a relatively rigid and sturdy sheet material such as composition board, Masonite being found eminently suitable.

The seat 15 is provided with four legs 16, 17, 18 and 19. Legs 17 and 19 provide front legs for the chair, while legs 16 and 18 provide the rear legs. Each pair of legs on each side of the chair are preferably joined together into an inverted U-shaped leg assembly, subject to being fabricated of a length of tubing or the like. Thus a leg assembly 22, as viewed to the right in FIG. 1, will provide for rear leg 16 joined to front leg 17 by a seat supporting side piece 23. Similarly leg assembly 25, as viewed to the right in FIG. 2, will include legs 18 and 19 joined together by seat supporting side piece 26. Rivets, or the like fastening members 27 may be satisfactorily employed for securing the seat member 15 to the leg assemblies 22 and 25.

A low back supporting backrest is provided by securing inverted U-shaped backrest frame 30 to the rear of the chair. This is preferably done by securing by means of rivets or the like, the downwardly extending legs 31 and 32 of the backrest frame 30 to rear legs 18 and 16 respectively of the chair, as best seen in FIG. 1. A backrest member 35, preferably formed of the same material as the seat 15 is secured by riveting or the like between the backrest frame legs 31 and 32, as best seen in FIG. 1.

The table forming assembly 40 comprises a pivotally mounted support frame preferably formed of a tubular material like that of the legs. The support frame is shaped in the contour of two flattened S-shaped members 42 and 44 (as viewed in side elevation) joined by a latch bar 45 extending between the ends of the bottom legs of the S-shaped members. Back-table support frame 40 is pivoted adjacent the front of the chair with the latch bar 45 extending behind front legs 17 and 19, and beneath seat 15 as viewed in the drawings. As illustratively shown in the drawings, pivoting of the support frame 40 to the chair is accomplished by extending a pivot pin 47 which may be a headed rivet or the like through the lower legs of the S-shaped portion of frame 40 and the seat supporting portion 23 and 26 of the leg assemblies 22 and 25, it being understood that free pivoting of the support frame 40 with respect to the chair is provided by the pivoting connection, A back-table member 49, formed of a smooth relatively rigid material is secured to the upper portions of the support frame 40 by means of rivets 50 or the like. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the back-table member 49 is formed of the same material as the seat 15 and backrest 35 with the dimensions of the back-table member 49 being larger than that of the backrest 35, and preferably of the same size as the seat member 15.

OPERATION

The aforedescribed chair-table 10 is assembled by the utilization of simple riveting techniques or may be shipped “Knocked Down” for assembly of the legs, backrests, table-back and support frame by the use of nuts and bolts.

In use, as best seen in FIG. 3, the back-table support frame 40 with the back-table member 49 secured thereto may be selectively moved from the solid line position to the dotted line position, as shown in FIG. 3.

In the solid line position, the back-table member 49 overlies the low backrest 35, and since the center of gravity of the frame 40 and back-table member 49, as viewed in FIG. 3 is to the left of the pivot, the weight of the member tends to keep it in the solid line position illustrated in FIG. 3 once the back-table member has been brought to the left of the pivot pin 47. Additional security of support of the back-table member 49 in its backrest position shown by solid lines is provided by latch bar 45 bearing against the inner surface of front legs 17 and 19, as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3. In this solid line position, it will be noted that the chair has a relatively high backrest with arms formed by the intermediate portions of the S-shaped part of frame 40 serving to provide a relatively comfortable chair.

When it is desired to employ the chair-table 10 for play, work, or eating, the table orientation may be obtained by bringing the chair-table surface 49 to the dotted line position illustrated in FIG. 3 as shown in FIG. 1, which merely requires grasping of the chair-table member 49 and pivoting the chair table member 49 along with the support frame 40 about pivot pin 47, to the right as illustrated in FIG. 3. The table 49 is assured of proper orientation with respect to the chair by virtue of the fact that the latch bar 45 comes to rest against the seat supporting portions 23 of the leg assembly, adjacent the bottom surface of the seat.

It is thus seen that a simple construction has been provided for a selectively convertible chair-table which may have its parts positioned to provide a chair for use for comfort purposes providing arm rests and a relatively high back, or converted to a combination chair and table in which desired low backrest support is provided along with a table surface. By virtue of the fact that the support frame 40 has no portions extending below the knees of the user, when the table is extended, desired freedom for the legs of the user is provided.