Furniture and assembly method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11378115-B2
Application number	US-201816769191-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 9, 2018
Priority date	Dec 11, 2017
Publication date	Jul 5, 2022
Grant date	Jul 5, 2022

Abstract

A piece of furniture includes:a first and a second resilient section (100A, 100B) mutually displaced from each other forming a gap (G) there between;a cross-member (200) configured to connect with the first section and the second section thereby bridging the gap; anda first and a second joint arrangement (300A, 300B) configured to attach the cross-member to the first and second section, respectively;wherein each of the first and second joint arrangements comprises a pair of:a male part (320) formed by a dowel (321) extending in a longitudinal direction and having a free end (322) facing away from a surface (101A, 101B) of the respective section or away from the surface of the cross-member; anda female part (330) formed by a recess (331) in the surface of the cross-member or in the surface of the respective section, the recess having a recess extent with an insertion portion (332), an intermediate portion (333), and a locking portion (335);wherein as the respective dowel passes a section biasing portion (334) in the intermediate portion, the first and second sections are resiliently displaced and as the dowel reaches the locking portion the sections are relaxed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A piece of furniture comprising:
a first section and a second section mutually displaced from each other forming a gap there between;
wherein the first section and the second section are resilient relative to each other such that the gap may be widened or partly reduced by application of a force;
a cross-member configured to connect with the first section and the second section thereby bridging the gap, the cross-member having a surface configured to face the first section and the second section;
a first joint arrangement configured to attach the cross-member to the first section; and
a second joint arrangement configured to attach the cross-member to the second section;
wherein each of the first and second joint arrangement comprise a pair of:
a male part being arranged either on the surface of the cross-member or being arranged on the respective first or second section; and
a female part being arranged on the other one of the surface of the cross-member and the respective first or second section;

wherein each of the male parts is formed by a dowel extending in a longitudinal direction and having a free end facing away from a surface of the respective section or away from the surface of the cross-member,
wherein each of the female parts is formed by a recess in the surface of the cross-member or in the surface of the respective section, the recess having a recess extent with an insertion portion, an intermediate portion, and a locking portion,
whereby the respective dowel is configured to first be moved relative to the associated recess in the longitudinal direction of the respective dowel into the insertion portion and thereafter be moved along the recess extent via the intermediate portion to the locking portion by moving the cross-member relative to the first and second sections in a travel direction having a main component orthogonal to the gap,
wherein the locking portion is configured to engage with the dowel such that the dowel is prevented from being removed from the associated recess along a longitudinal direction of the dowel when the dowel is located in the locking portion of the associated recess,
wherein the recess is shaped such that as the respective dowel passes a section biasing portion in the intermediate portion of the associated recess, the first and second sections are resiliently forced away from each other providing a widened gap or forced towards each other providing a reduced gap and as the dowel reaches the locking portion the sections are relaxed compared to when the dowel passes the section biasing portion, thereby providing a bias of the dowel towards the locking portion once it has been transferred past the section biasing portion.

2. A piece of furniture according to claim 1 , wherein each recess has a curved extent such that when the dowel is positioned in the insertion portion, the sections are relaxed as compared to when the dowel passes the section biasing portion.

3. A piece of furniture according to claim 1 , wherein each recess is shaped and oriented such that a geometrical line segment between the insertion portion and the locking portion has a main component orthogonal to the gap.

4. A piece of furniture according to claim 1 , wherein a geometrical line segment between a centre point of the insertion portion and a centre point of the section biasing portion forms a first slope angle (α) with the travel direction being smaller than a second slope angle (β) between the travel direction and a geometrical line segment between the centre point of the section biasing portion and a centre point of the locking portion.

5. A piece of furniture according to claim 1 , wherein each joint arrangement comprises:
at least two pairs of male and female parts,
the male part of each pair being arranged either on the surface of the cross-member or on the respective section,
the female part of each pair being arranged on the other one of the surface of the cross-member or the respective section, thereby complementing the male part of the same pair.

6. A piece of furniture according to claim 1 , wherein the male part or parts are arranged on the respective section, and the female part or parts are arranged on the surface of the cross-member.

7. A piece of furniture according claim 1 , wherein the sections, apart from being connected to each other by the cross-member, also are connected to each other at another position being at a distance from the gap, the distance being measured orthogonally to the gap, and the distance being at least 25% of the gap.

8. A piece of furniture according to claim 1 , wherein the recess has a length extending along the recess extent, a depth, and a width which varies with the recess extent and with the depth,
wherein:
the insertion portion has a first width;
the locking portion has a mouth having a third width being smaller than the first width,
wherein the dowel has, along the longitudinal direction from the free end thereof:
a first portion forming a locking segment and having a first width; and
a second portion connected to the first portion and forming a core segment and having a second width being smaller than the first width,
wherein the first width of the recess is greater than the first width of the dowel, such that the dowel can be inserted into the insertion portion of the recess, and the third width of the recess is between the first and the second width of the dowel, such that the dowel is prevented from being removed along a longitudinal direction of the dowel once in the locking portion of recess.

9. A piece of furniture according to claim 1 , wherein the recesses are shaped and orientated such that when the respective dowel passes the section biasing portion in the intermediate portion of the associated recess, the first and second sections are resiliently forced towards each other providing a reduced gap.

10. A piece of furniture according to claim 9 , further comprising a bracing configured to be positioned between the sections to abut the sections thereby counter-acting movement of the sections towards each other.

11. A piece of furniture according to claim 10 , wherein the bracing is configured to extend into a first groove in the cross-member at a junction between the cross-member and the first section and/or in the first section and into a second groove in the cross-member at a junction between the cross-member and the second section and/or in the second section.

12. A piece of furniture according to claim 10 , wherein the bracing comprises a first locking arrangement at a connection between the bracing and the first section and a second locking arrangement at a connection between the bracing and the second section, each locking arrangement comprising a locking pin configured to be moved from a released position to a locked position in which the locking pin interacts with the respective section,
wherein the locking pins, when in the locked positions, counter-act removal of the bracing from a position in-between the sections.

13. A piece of furniture according to claim 12 , wherein each locking arrangement further comprises a fixing pin configured to interact with the respective locking pin, wherein, when the fixing pin is in a released position, the locking pin is allowed to move from the released position to the locked position and vice versa, and, when the locking pin is in the locked position, the fixing pin is configured to be moved to a fixing position in which the fixing pin counter-acts removal of the locking pin from the locked position.

14. A method for assembling a piece of furniture, comprising the sequenti

Assignees

• Ikea Supply Ag

Inventors

• Sjostedt Goran
• Eriksson Anders

Classifications

• F16B2012/103

  Sleeves or dowels for connection fittings · CPC title

• A47B3/06

  with separable parts · CPC title

• F16B12/22

  using keyhole-shaped slots and pins · CPC title

• F16B12/10 Primary

  using pegs, bolts, tenons, clamps, clips, or the like (glued F16B12/04; fastening means per se F16B15/00 - F16B47/00) · CPC title

• A47C4/02

  Dismountable chairs · CPC title