US20020170470A1

US20020170470A1 - Foldable table structure

Info

Publication number: US20020170470A1
Application number: US09/859,538
Authority: US
Inventors: Chung-Hsiung Cheng
Original assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute ITRI
Current assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute ITRI
Priority date: 2001-05-18
Filing date: 2001-05-18
Publication date: 2002-11-21

Abstract

The present invention is a foldable table structure, which is comprised of a fore-board, a backboard and two connection rods. Wherein, two symmetrical concave troughs are arranged at the connection side of the fore-board and the interior of the concave troughs each has a folding plane and an unfolding plane. Corresponding to two concave troughs of the fore-board, two concave troughs are arranged at the connection side of the backboard and each interior of the concave troughs also has a folding plane and an unfolding plane. The connection rod has a fore-end and a back-end. The fore-end is pivotally connected inside the interior of the concave trough of the fore-board and the back-end is pivotally connected inside the interior of the concave trough of the backboard. When the table is unfolded, the connection side of the fore-board is connected against to the connection side of the backboard, and the connection rods contact flatly with the unfolding planes of the fore-board and keep an appropriate angle with the unfolding planes of the backboard. When the table is folded, the backboard is rotated unto the fore-board to make the connection rods contact flatly with the folding planes of the fore-board and the backboard.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a table structure, especially to a foldable table structure with a fore-board and a backboard. By unfolding and folding the fore-board and the backboard may control the available space of the table surface.

2. Background of the Invention

Nowadays, general transportation vehicles for long trip (such as: airplane, steamship, highway bus and train, etc.) will provide a design of foldable table structure in passenger's chair-back or armrest for passenger to take meal or drink in the trip. During unused period, the foldable table structure is stored inside the chair-back or armrest to avoid the occupation of interior space of the transportation vehicle. When it is necessary, the foldable table structure will be unfolded to facilitate the passenger to take meal.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a separation diagram for a

foldable table structure

10 of the prior art. It includes a fore-board 12, a backboard 14 and two connection rods 16. Two symmetrical concave troughs 122 are arranged at the connection side 121 of the fore-board 12. The interior of the concave trough 122 has an unfolding plane 123 and a folding plane 124. Wherein, the folding plane 124 and the board surface 125 of the fore-board 12 are vertical to each other, the unfolding plane 123 and the board surface 125 are parallel to each other and the upper portion of the connection side 121 is designed as round angle. Corresponding to two concave troughs 122 of the fore-board 12, two concave troughs 142 are arranged at the connection side 141 of the backboard. Wherein, the interior of the concave trough 142 has an unfolding plane 143 (not shown) and a folding plane 144. The folding plane 144 and board surface 145 are vertical to each other. The unfolding plane 143 and the board surface 145 are parallel to each other. Further, the altitude of the folding plane 124 of the fore-board 12 is same as that of the folding plane 144 of the backboard 14. Furthermore, the upper portion of the connection side 141 of the backboard 14 is designed as round angle, which is as same as the fore-mentioned upper portion of the connection side 121 of the fore-board 12. The above-mentioned two connection rods each has a fore-end 161 and a back-end 162. The fore-end 161 is pivotally connected to the interior of concave trough 122 of the fore-board 12. The back-end 162 is pivotally connected to the interior of concave trough 142 of the backboard 14.

Please refer to FIG. 2(A) and FIG. 2(B), which are the illustrations for the unfolding and folding motions of the

foldable table structure

10 of the prior art. The manner to unfold the table structure 10 is to unfold the backboard 14 to make connection side 141 of the backboard 14 connect against to the connection side 121 of the fore-board. In the mean time, the connection rod 16 contacts flatly with the folding plane 123 of the concave trough 122 of the fore-board 12 and with the folding plane 143 of the concave trough 142 of the backboard 14. At this time, a larger table surface room will be formed by unfolding the fore-board 12 and backboard 14 of the table structure 10 to provide passenger to take meal or place article. The manner to fold the table structure 10 is to rotate the backboard 14 onto the fore-board 12. Wherein, the connection rod 16 contacts flatly with the folding plane 124 of the concave trough 122 of the fore-board 12 and with the folding plane 144 of the concave trough 142 of the backboard 14. At this moment, the fore-board 12 and backboard 14 of the table structure 10 are folded up to each other to form a small table surface, then the folded table structure 10 is stored inside the chair-back or armrest.

However, the

foldable table structure

10 of the prior art still has lots of drawbacks to be improved during use. The biggest one among these drawbacks of the prior art is that the top surface edges of the connection side 121 of the fore-board 12 and the connection side 141 of the backboard 14 are designed as round angle shape. The initial purpose of this design is to facilitate the unfolding and folding for the table structure 10. However, because of the existence of round angle design, when the table structure 10 is unfolding, it causes an uneven surface between the connection place of fore-board 12 and backboard 14, and a long hollow is formed in the middle of the table structure 10. This hollow will bother passenger during use, for example, it will cause inconvenience to place articles or trap small articles inside it. Furthermore, when the passenger is writing, the existence of the hollow always makes the paper be pierced through by pen.

The above-mentioned shortcoming always causes trouble for the passenger and motivates the present inventor to devote himself to study and develop new technology of the foldable table structure in an expectation to solve the use inconvenience caused by the table structure of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main purpose of the present invention is to provide a foldable table structure, which is without round angle design at the connection sides of fore-board and backboard. Therefore, when the table structure is unfolded, dissimilar to the table structure of the prior art, a long hollow will not be generated at the connection place of fore-board and backboard. When the table of the present invention is unfolded, it shows a complete flatness, so the bother of the prior art will not happen during use.

The foldable table structure of the present invention includes a fore-board, a backboard and two connection rods. Two symmetrical concave troughs are arranged at the connection side of the fore-board. The interior of concave trough has a folding plane and an unfolding plane. The folding plane is vertical to the board surface of the fore-board. The unfolding plane is an inclined plane and forms an obtuse angle with the folding plane. Corresponding to two concave troughs of the fore-board, two concave troughs are arranged at connection side of the backboard. Its interior also has a folding plane and an unfolding plane. The folding plane is vertical to the board surface of the backboard. The unfolding plane is an appropriately inclined plane and contacts tightly with the bottom surface of the connection rod. The above-mentioned two connection rods each has a fore-end and a back-end. The fore-end is pivotally connected with the concave trough of the fore-board and the back-end is pivotally connected with the concave trough of the backboard.

The biggest difference between the present invention and the prior art is that in present invention, the connection side of the fore- and back-boards and the board surfaces of the fore- and back-boards are designed as vertical angles, which are dissimilar to the connection sides designed as arc shapes in prior art. Therefore, when the table of the present invention is unfolded, the connection side of the fore-board and the connection side of the backboard contact with each other with flat plane, so the unfolded table structure is a completely flat surface and no long hollow is generated at the connection place of fore- and back-boards. Wherein, the connection rod is an inclined rod and contacts flatly with the unfolding plane of the fore-board and also contacts tightly behind the unfolding plane of the backboard during the unfolding state of the table (because it is an inclined plane). When the table is folded, the backboard is rotated up onto the fore-board to make the connection rod contact flatly with the folding planes of the fore-board and backboard.

When the table structure of the present invention is unfolded, no long hollow exists on the connection sides of the fore-board and backboard, but a long, narrow connection fissure. However, in general speaking, the flat surface of the table is more even than that of the prior art after the table being unfolded. Therefore, when the article is placed on the table, it won't happen the situations of dropping off or falling down. Additionally, it won't happen the phenomenon that paper is pierced through by pen during writing. Above-mentioned design greatly promotes the convenience for using the foldable table structure.

For your esteemed review committee to further understand and recognize the purposes, characteristics and functions of the present invention, a detailed description together with several diagrams are presented as following:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a separation diagram for the foldable table structure of the prior art. [0014]
FIG. 2(A) is an unfolding motion illustration for the foldable table structure of the prior art. [0015]
FIG. 2(B) is a folding motion illustration for the foldable table structure of the prior art. [0016]
FIG. 3 is a separation diagram for the foldable table structure of the present invention. [0017]
FIG. 4 is an unfolding illustration for the foldable table structure of the present invention. [0018]
FIGS. [0019] 5(A)-5(C) are folding motion illustrations for the foldable table structure of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a separation diagram for the [0020] foldable table structure 20 of the present invention. The table structure 20 has a fore-board 22, a backboard 24 and two connection rods 26. Two connection rods 26 pivotally connect the fore-board 22 and backboard 24 to make the table structure may proceed the motions of folding and unfolding. The following explanations of the most preferable embodiments will describe the present invention in detail.
The fore-[0021] board 22, part of the table structure 20, is a flat-board shaped structure, wherein two symmetrical concave troughs 222 are arranged at the connection sides 221. The above-mentioned two concave troughs 222 are made of metal materials and each interior has a folding plane 224 and an unfolding plane 223. The folding plane 224 is vertical to the board surface 225 of the fore-board 22. The unfolding plane 223 is an inclined plane and forms an obtuse angle with the folding plane 224 (The optimum angle is within 100 degree). The connection place of unfolding plane 223 and folding plane 224 is processed to an arc angle (no assigned number in the diagram).
The part of [0022] backboard 24 is a flat-board-shaped structure, which includes a board surface 245 and a connection side 241. Wherein, two concave troughs 242 are arranged at the connection sides 241 and each one is corresponding to two concave troughs 222 of the fore-board 22. The interiors of above-mentioned concave troughs 242 each has a folding plane 244 and an unfolding plane 243 (not shown in the diagram). The folding plane 244 is vertical to the board surface 245 of the backboard 24. The angle between the unfolding plane 243 and folding 244 is an acute angle. The unfolding plane 243 is an appropriately inclined plane, of which slope is same as that of the unfolding plane 223 of the fore-board, and contacts tightly with the bottom side of the connection rod. The connection place between the unfolding plane 243 and folding plane 244 is processed as an arc angle (no assigned number in the diagram) and the depth of the folding plane 224 of the fore-board is shallower than that of folding plane 244 of the backboard 24.
The part of the [0023] connection rod 26 includes a fore-end 261 and a back-end 262. The fore-end 261 is designed as an arc end and pivotally connected to the interior of the concave trough 222 of the fore-board 22. The arc end matches with the arc angle of the concave trough 222 and makes the fore-end 261 of the connection rod 26 rotate freely inside the concave trough 222. Similarly, the back-end 262 of the connection rod 26 is designed as an arc end and pivotally connected to the interior of the concave trough 242 of the backboard 24. The arc end matches with the arc angle of the concave trough 242 and makes the back-end 262 of the connection rod 26 rotate freely inside the concave trough 242. Additionally, the concave troughs 222, 242 of the fore-board 22 and backboard 24 and the connection rods 26 in the present invention are designed as wearing-proof and stronger metal materials and can be manufactured independently and then assembled onto the fore-, back- boards 22, 24. Please refer to FIG. 4, which is an unfolding diagram for the foldable table structure of the present invention. In this embodiment, the angles between the connection sides 221, 241 of the fore-, back- boards 22, 24 and board surfaces 225, 245 are not designed as round angle shape but vertical angle shape. Therefore, when the table structure 20 is unfolded, the connection side 221 of the fore-board 22 contacts flatly with the connection side 241 of the backboard 24. Since the table structure 20 is a complete plane after being unfolded, so there is no long concave trough (as shown in FIG. 2(A)) existing at the connection place of the fore-, back- boards 22, 24. Wherein, the connection rod 26 is an inclined rod, which contacts tightly with the unfolding plane 223 of the fore-board 22 and with the unfolding plane 243 of the backboard 24 during unfolding state.
Please refer to FIGS. [0024] 5(A)-5(C), which are the folding motion illustrations for the table structure 20 of the present invention. The first step for folding the table structure 20 is to lift the backboard 24 up a little bit to keep the connection rod 26 in horizontal level. At this time, the connection rod 26 contacts flatly with the unfolding plane 243 of the backboard 24 and keeps an appropriate angle with the unfolding plane 223 of the fore-board 22 (as shown in FIG. 5(A)) and the pivotal axis center of the connection rod 26 moves backward. Then, the backboard 24 is rotated around (as shown in FIG. 5(B)) until the backboard 24 is rotated onto the top of the fore-board 22 and makes the connection rod 26 contact tightly with the folding planes 224, 244 of the fore-, back- boards 22, 24 to complete the folding procedure of the table structure 20 (as shown in FIG. 5(C)). The above separation motions are the detailed explanations for the folding motion of the table structure 20 of the present invention, in reality, the motions are continuous and very easy during operation.
Please refer to FIG. 4, which shows the biggest advantage of the present invention, namely, when the [0025] table structure 20 is unfolded, there is no long hollow existing at the connection sides 221, 241 of the fore-board 22 and backboard 24 but a long, narrow connection fissure. In general speaking, after being unfolded, the table surface of the table structure 20 of the present invention is flatter than that of the prior art. Therefore, when articles are placed on the table, it won't happen the situation of dropping off and falling down. Furthermore, there is no such phenomenon that paper is pierced through by pen during writing. The present invention greatly promotes the convenience in using the foldable table structure 20.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A foldable table structure includes:

a fore-board, which has a connection side and at least one concave trough capable of receiving a connection rod, said concave trough being arranged at said connection side, said concave trough further having an interior which includes a folding plane and an unfolding plane;

a backboard, which has a connection side corresponding to said fore-board and at least one concave trough capable of receiving a connection rod, the concave trough of the backboard being arranged at said connection side of said backboard, interior of said concave trough of said backboard also has a folding plane and an unfolding plane; and

a connection rod, which includes a fore-end and a back-end, wherein said fore-end is pivotally connected to the interior of said concave trough of said fore-board and said back-end is also pivotally connected to the interior of said concave trough of said backboard;

wherein, when said table is unfolded, said connection side of said fore-board is contacted with said connection side of said backboard, and said connection rod contacts flatly with said unfolding plane of said fore-board and contacts flatly with said unfolding plane of said backboard; when said table is folded, said backboard is rotated up onto said fore-board and makes said connection rod contact flatly with said folding planes of said fore-board and said backboard.

2. The foldable table structure according to claim 1, wherein said folding plane of said fore-board is vertical to the board surface of said fore-board, and the angle between said unfolding plane and said folding plane of said fore-board is an obtuse angle, and said folding plane of said backboard is vertical to the board surface of said backboard, and the angle between said unfolding plane and said folding plane of said backboard is an acute angle.

3. The foldable table structure according to claim 1, wherein the connection place of said folding plane and said unfolding plane in said fore-board is designed as an arc angle, and the connection place of said folding plane and said unfolding plane in said backboard is also designed as an arc angle.

4. The foldable table structure according to claim 3, wherein said fore-end and back-end of said connection rod each is arranged with an arc end which matches with said arc angles of said fore-board and said backboard.

5. The foldable table structure according to claim 1, wherein the depth of said folding plane of said concave trough of said fore-board is shallower than that of said folding plane of said concave trough of said backboard.

6. The foldable table structure according to claim 1, wherein said connection rod is made of metal materials.

7. The foldable table structure according to claim 1, wherein said concave trough of said fore-board and said concave trough of said backboard are made of metal materials.

8. The foldable table structure according to claim 1, wherein said connection side of said fore-board is vertical to said board surface.

9. The foldable table structure according to claim 1, wherein said connection side of said backboard is vertical to said board surface.

10. The foldable table structure according to claim 1, wherein two symmetrical concave troughs are arranged at said connection side of said fore-board, and two concave troughs symmetrically corresponding to two concave troughs of said fore-board are arranged at said connection side of said backboard.