US3467432A - Tablet chair construction - Google Patents

Description

P 15, 1969 w. H. SULLIVAN 3,467,432

TABLET CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 5. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 INVENTOR.

WlLLlAM H. SULLIVAN BY @14 m @9414 ATTORNEYS Sept. 16, 1969 w. H. SULLIVAN TABLET CHAIR CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. WILLIAM H. SULLIVAN AT TORNEYS Filed Jan. 5, 1968 United States Patent 3,467,432 TABLET CHAIR CONSTRUCTION William H. Sullivan, Shaker Heights, Ohio, assignor to Dictaphone'Corporation, Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of New York Filed Jan. 5, 1968, Ser. No. 696,035 Int. Cl. A47b 39/00, 83/02 US. Cl. 297-162 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to furniture and more particularly to chairs of the type having a writing tablet on one arm.

In most tablet chairs the writing tablet is a permanent fixture and either forms an arm of the chair or is permanently mounted thereon. Such constructions interfere with the free movement of a person using the chair and require him to move into it with combined rearward and sidewise motion. Also, when the writing tablet is not being used it interferes with the free movement of the arms and body of a person sitting in the chair.

It has heretofore been proposed to pivotally mount the writing tablet on thearm of the chair for swinging movement from a rearward inoperative position at the side of the chair to a forward operative position overlying the seat To this end, a connecting sleeve is mounted to slide on a rod fixed to the side of the chair arm in spaced relation thereto and having a circular disc projecting into a grooved track on the tablet to adapt the latter for sliding and rotating movement thereon. As a result, the tablet may rotate and slide relative to the connecting member, and the connecting 'member and tablet may slide relative to the arm of thechair. With the proposed construction there is no control of the motion of the tablet as it is raised and swung from its inoperative to its operativeposition, and such uncontrolled movement of the, tablet is extremely hazardous to theoccu pant of the chair. Furthermore, the tablet must extend from one arm to the other for support, which preventsa person from entering or leaving the chair when the tablet is in its operative position. i .7

One of the objects of. the present invention is to provide an improved construction and arrangement of elements for mounting a writing tablet on a chair arm which facilitates its transfenfrom arearwardstored position at the side of the chair to an operative position overlying the seat.,.

Another object is to provide a chair of the type indicated ,whichpositively controls the path of movement of the writing tabletas it is shifted from its inoperative to its operative position and reduces the hazard of possible injury to the occupant of the chair. I

Still another object is to provide a tablet chair of the type indicated whichis of simple and compact construction, economic-alto manufacture, reliable in operation, and one which 'will permit a person to enter and leave the chai -while the tablet is in its operative position.

These and other objects will become more apparent from the following description and drawings in which like reference characters denote like parts throughout the several views; It' is to be expressly understood, however,

ice

that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tablet chair incorporating the novel features of the present invention and showing the writing tablet in its retracted inoperative position at the side of the chair;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view of the side of the chair and showing the construction for mounting the writing tablet on the arm of the chair and the manner in which the tablet is raised and moved forwardly;

FIG. 3 is a partial plan view of the chair illustrated in FIG. 1 and showing the tablet swung over the top of the arm to its operative position;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 2 to show the detail of the hinge and a stud projecting from one of the leaves into a track on the writing tablet;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the tablet rslised and moved forwardly relative to the arm of the 0 air;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 showing the writing tablet folded over the arm of the chair to an operative position; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 2 and showing the, laterally projecting head on one of the hinge studs in interlocking engagement with the T-shaped slot in the track at the rearward side of the tablet.

While the writing tablet 10 of the present invention may be applied to other similar articles of furniture, it is shown applied to a conventional chair 11. The chair comprises legs 12, 13, 14 and 15 braced by cross-struts 16 and 17 and supporting a seat 18. Arms 19 and 20 extend from the upper ends of the front legs 12 and 13, respectively, to an intermediate location on the rearward legs 14 and 15. Rear-ward legs 14 and 15 extend upwardly beyond the arms 19 and 20 and the extensions are con nected by cross pieces 21 to form a back.

In accordance with the present invention the tablet 10 is hingedly and slidably mounted for upward and for ward and then swung over the arm of the chair in a controlled path from its inoperative stored position at one side of the chair to an operative writing position overlying the seat at one side thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 the tablet 10 is mounted on the chair 11 by a piano type hinge 25 having one leaf 26 attached to the outer side of the chair arm 19 by means of a plurality of fasteners 27, shown in the form of screws.

The opposite leaf 28 of the hinge has a pair of headed studs 29 and 30 (see FIGS. 2 and 7) projecting therefrom into a pair of parallel tracks 31 and 32 on the side of the tablet 10 adjacent the arm. As shown, each of the studs 29 and 30 is of rectangular shape with rounded ends and has side flanges interlocking with the tracks. The tracks 31 and 32 may be formed on the surface of the writing tablet 10, but in the illustrated embodiment they are shown in recessed grooves 33 and 34 in the tablet and attached thereto by means of fasteners 35 such as screws. As shown most clearly in FIG. 7, each track 31 and 32 is formed with a T-shaped slot and each of the headed studs 29 and 30 are of a corresponding T- shape in cross section and form keys interlocking with the tracks but permit relatively sliding movement.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tracks 31 and 32 are inclined upwardly and forwardly to the top and bottom edges of the tablet 10 so that when the tablet is raised relative to the studs 29 and 30 on the attached hinge 25,

it is moved forwardly from the position illustrated in full lines to the position illustrated in dash lines in FIG. 2. When the tablet 10 is in raised position illustrated in FIG. 5, it may then be rocked on the hinge 25 to overlie the top of the chair arm 19 as shown in FIG. 6 which will hold it in its operative position overlying a portion of the chair seat 18. One form of the invention having been described in detail, the mode of operation is now explained.

When the writing tablet 10 is in its rearward inoperative position illustrated in full lines in FIG. 1, the chair is open so that a person may sit in it without any interference. When desired, the Writing tablet may be raised from the position illustrated in FIG. 1 to that illustrated in FIG. 2 by sliding it and its spaced parallel tracks 31 and 32 upwardly relative to the headed studs 29 and 30 projecting from the leaf 28 of the hinge 25. Because of the rigid attachment of the hinge 25 to the chair arm 19, the writing tablet 10 moves forwardly as it is moved upwardly in a controlled path as governed by the inclined tracks 31 and 32 and relatively fixed studs 29 and 30 as shown in FIG. 2. At any time during the raising of the tablet 10 it may be folded over the top of the arm 19 from the position shown in FIG. 5 to that shown in FIG. 6 to provide a writing surface. The movement of the tablet 10 during such folding movement is also controlled by the studs 29 and 30 projecting from the fixed hinge 25 and the tracks 31 and 32 held in fixed relation on the tablet so that the entire movement of the tablet relative to the chair arm 19 reduces the hazards which would result from any uncontrolled movement thereof.

As will be observed by reference to FIG. 3, the writing tablet 10 in its operative position only projects inwardly from the arm 19 a relatively short distance so that the occupant may slide out of the chair while the tablet is in operative position. However, if the tablet interferes with the movement of the occupant he may easily and quickly move the tablet from its forward operative position over the seat to its rearward inoperative position at the side of the chair by merely rocking the tablet to an upright position on the hinge 25 and then lowering the raised tablet along the side of the chair. The entire seat is then open for the occupant to leave the chair without interference.

It will now be observed that the present invention provides an improved construction and arrangement of elements in a tablet type chair which facilitates its transfer from a rearward stored position at the side of the chair to an operative position overlying the seat. It will also be observed that the tablet type chair of the present invention positively controls the path of movement of the writing tablet to reduce the hazard of possible injury to the occupant of the chair during a transfer from its inoperative to its operative position, and vice versa. It will still further be observed that the present invention provides an improved tablet type chair which is of simple and compact construction to adapt it for economical manufacture and one which is reliable in operation while 4 changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A tablet chair of the type having a seat and an arm at one side with a writing tablet on the arm, the combination with said chair and writing tablet of at least one hinge for pivotally mounting the tablet on the arm for controlled movement from an inoperative stored position at one side of the chair to an operative position overlying the seat, said hinge having one leaf attached to the side of the chair arm, theother leaf of said hinge having rigid studs projecting therefrom, and said writing tablet having spaced parallel tracks extending diagonally to at least one of the edges of the tablet whereby to adapt the tablet to be stored in a retracted inoperative position at the side of the chair and to be moved with a combined upward and forward motion as controlled by the studs and tracks and folded over the arm of the chair to an operative position forwardly of its stored position.

2. A chair having legs, a seat, an arm at one side of the seat, a hinge having one leaf attached to the side of said arm, the other leaf of said hinge having spaced rigid studs projecting therefrom, a writing tablet having spaced tracks into which the studs on the hinge leaf project to connect the tablet for sliding movement on the arm, and said tracks being inclined to at least one edge of the tablet so that the tablet may be moved downwardly at one side of the chair to a retracted inoperative position and moved upwardly, forwardly and over the arm in a fixed path as controlled by said rigidly located studs and tracks to a forward operating position overlying said seat.

3. A chair in accordance with claim 2 in which the hinge is a piano hinge extending through a substantial portion of the length of the tablet.

4. A chair in accordance with claim 2 in which the studs have heads projecting laterally, said tracks on the tablet having flanges overlying the laterally projecting heads on the studs, and said heads being of rectangular shape and having the same inclination as the tracks relative to the tablet to prevent any angular movement of the tablet relative to the studs while permitting relative sliding movement therebetween. I

5. A chair in accordance with claim 4 in which the tracks on the tablet have T-shaped slots, and the rectangular shaped heads on the studs have a corresponding T- shape in cross section. l

References Cited HUNIT'ED' sT TEs PATENTS I 1,196,050 8/1916 wa kins. 2 97 ,162 1,217,231 2/1917 Soper 297 x 1,749,937, .3/1930 Dettenborn siz -322 3,261,641 7/1966 Black etal. ,297 6z 3,292,972 12/1966

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