GB2247166A - Furniture kit - Google Patents

Abstract

A furniture kit which may be assembled into two or more different forms comprises two end-boards 10, each having a number of sockets 11, and a number of rods, each end of each rod being designed to fit into one of the sockets. The sockets in each end-board are so arranged that, in combination with the sockets in the other end-board, they define the cross-sectional profiles of the frames of different pieces of furniture. For example, the furniture kit can be assembled as the frame of a bookcase, a single bed, an armchair or settee, a double bed, a rocking chair or a rocking cot. <IMAGE>

Description

Furniture Item The present invention is an item of furniture which may be assembled in two or more different forums, each of which is capable of performing a different function.

The popularity of so-called "do-it-yourself" furniture, more accurately called "self-assembly" furniture, which is supplied as an unassembled pack of components with instructions on their assembly, continues at a high level. Such packs are invariably supplied specific to a single item of furniture, for example a chair or a bookcase, and often are difficult or impossible to disassemble again once constructed.

In contrast to such currently available items of self-assembly furniture, the present invention provides a furniture item having the capability of being assembled in two or more alternative forms corresponding to different furniture functions.

The furniture item according to the present invention comprises two end-boards each having a number of sockets therein, and a number of rods not exceeding said number of sockets, each end of each rod being adapted to fit into one of said sockets, the sockets in each end-board being so arranged as to define, in different oombinations of sockets, the cross-sectional profiles of the frames of at least two different pieces of furniture. Thus, by arranging some or all of the rods between selected combinations of corresponding sockets in the two end-boards, the user may assemble the frame of a desired piece of furniture.He may then place appropriate shelves, cushions or the like upon the assembled frame, as necessary, and the piece of furniture is complete.

The end-boards may be essentially rectangular or essentially triangular in shape or may have other shapes, depending upon the intended function and also the desired appearance of the finished pieces of furniture. The endboards will usually have at least one straight edge in order to impart stability to the furniture but, as an alternative or in addition, they may have a convexly curved edge to allow the resulting furniture to rock upon that edge, for example as a rocking chair or cot. The end-boards may be of solid or laminated wood or of a rigid plastics material or a metal, for example steel sheet.

The sockets in the end-boards, into which the ends of the rods are fitted, may penetrate the full thickness of the end-boards in the form of apertures visible from both faces of the boards, or may be blind bores, on one face only. The sockets may be threaded, to receive threaded rod-ends, or the rod-ends may be secured by means of a fastener on the face of the end-board remote fran the rods. For example, threaded nuts, including possibly wing-nuts, may be fitted to the rod-ends, or flush-fitting or other caps may be used for this purpose. As one alternative, the rod-ends may be secured by wedges passed through transverse slots in the rods.

The rods themselves may be of wooden dowelling or of a heavier timber design or may be of metal or a plastics material, shaped for example by extrusion. They are preferably of a rotationally symmetrical cross-section, for example square or more preferably circular, or may be flat in cross-section.

The arrangement of the sockets in each end-board is important since the selected combination of corresponding sockets in the two end-boards determines the shape of the furniture frame produced. It is a feature of the invention that different combinations of sockets give different frame cross-sections. At its simplest, the arrangement allows the assembly of either of two different structures but if desired it may be such as to allow any one of three or more different pieces of furniture to be assembled. It should be understood that the orientation of the end-boards may be different for different items of furniture, as will be apparent from the description hereinafter of one preferred embodiment of the invention.For example, one pair of opposed edges of an end-board may be straight and curved respectively, so that the end-board may be used to form a bed or seat standing upon the straight edge or a rocking-cot upon the curved edge.

When the rods and end-boards have been assembled, the resulting structure may or may not be camplete in itself.

For example, if the furniture required is a bookcase, it may be desired to fit shelves upon the rods. If the furniture is a bed or seat, bedding or cushions respectively may be required. However a slatted seat may be formed fram the end-boards and rods alone.

The invention allows a user to choose which of two or ore items of furniture to assemble fran a given kit of end-boards and rods. However, if the method by which the rods are secured in the sockets is such as to permit their subsequent release, then the user may choose to oonvert one piece of furniture into another at some subsequent time, for example when rearranging a roam or removing fran one property to another.

The invention will now be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the acoompanying drawings, which illustrate one preferred embodiment of the furniture according to the present invention and wherein: Fig. 1 is an elevation of one end-board before use; Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view, to a larger scale, showing one arrangement for securing the end of a rod within a socket in the end-board; and Figs. 3 to 8 illustrate six different combinations of sockets to enable the assembly of six different items of furniture.

The end-board 10 illustrated in Fig. 1 is formed of a widen laminate and is pierced over a large area of its surface by a total of 30 apertures 11, distributed as shown.

TWD identical such end-bDards 10 are provided. As shown in Fig. 2, the threaded end 12 of a metal rod 13 is retained in one of the sockets 11 by means of a flush-fitting threaded cap 14.

In practice, a number of the metal rods 13 are provided, depending in part upon the furniture to be assembled. Using the illustrated headboard, it is possible, as described below, to assemble any one of six different items of furniture using not mDre than eleven rods.

The furniture is assembled by connecting selected pairs of corresponding sockets on the two end-boards with the double-ended rods 13. The sockets 11 seen in Fig. 1 are so distributed over the surface of the end-board that, when the appropriate pairs of sockets are connected, the rods 13 form a frame for the required item of furniture.

The diversity of shapes that may be formed in this way is illustrated diagrammatically in Figs. 3 to 8. For example, when the sockets lying on the broken line 15 in Fig. 3 are each connected with a rod 13 to the corresponding sockets on a second end-board, then a framework of rods having the stepped profile shown by the broken line is formed. This structure, preferably after the addition of shelves, may serve as a bookcase. Similarly, when the sockets lying on the broken line 16 of Fig. 4 are connected to the corresponding sockets on a second head-board, the structure forms the base for a single bed.

With different pairs of sockets connected and with the end-boards lying on their sides, the armchair or multipLe- seater settee (depending upon the length of the rods) shown in Fig. 5 or the double-bed base shown in Fig. 8 may be assembled.

The end-boards may also be inverted so as to rest upon the curved edges 17, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, in order to form the frame of a rocking chair or rocking cot respectively.

The various structures, once assembled, can readily be dismantled and reformed as different pieces of furniture as desired.

Claims (9)

CIAIMS

1. An item of furniture which comprises two end-boards each having a number of sockets therein, and a number of rods not exceeding said number of sockets, each end of each rod being adapted to fit into one of said sockets, the sockets in each end-board being so arranged as to define, in different combinations of sockets, the cross-sectional profiles of the frames of at least two different pieces of furniture.

2. A furniture item as claimed in claim 1, wherein said end-boards are essentially rectangular or essentially triangular in shape.

3. A furniture item as claimed in claim 1, wherein said end-boards have a convexly curved edge.

4. A furniture item as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein said end-boards are of wood, a rigid plastics material or a metal.

5. A furniture item as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the sockets are in the form of apertures penetrating the full thickness of the end-boards and wherein fasteners are provided to secure the rod-ends from the face of the end-board remote from the rods.

6. A furniture item as claimed in claim 5, wherein the fasteners are threaded nuts or caps and the rod-ends are threaded.

7. A furniture item as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the rods are of square or circular ctoss- section or of flat cross-section.

8. A furniture item as claimed in any of the preceding claims, canprising also one or more shelves or cushions or bedding.

9. An item of furniture substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the acccmpanying drawings.