Chair or other piece of furniture and method of making same |
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申请号 | US13790958 | 申请日 | 2013-03-08 | 公开(公告)号 | US09345330B2 | 公开(公告)日 | 2016-05-24 |
申请人 | Jose Bernardo Andrade; | 发明人 | Jose Bernardo Andrade; | ||||
摘要 | A chair or other piece of furniture can include a built-up frame including at least a portion of a premade plastic chair, such as an off-the-shelf plastic lawn or deck chair. The frame can have a seat and a backrest shaped to accommodate a person. Cushioning material can be installed over the frame. A cover can be installed over the cushioning material. Another kind of frame including plastic can be used instead of the built-up frame. The cover can be affixed to the frame or can be a removable slip cover. The cover can include sports jersey material and can be made from stock unstitched jersey pieces. A drawer, plush ornament, recess, or sports equipment can be provided at a lower supporting portion of the chair. Feet made of sports equipment can be attached to the bottom of the frame. A backrest opening can receive a piece of sports equipment. | ||||||
权利要求 | What is claimed is: |
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说明书全文 | The present invention relates to furniture, such as chairs. Furniture, such as chairs, can suffer from a number of problems. Chairs may be heavy and difficult to rearrange within a room. Lighter chairs may be unsafe for heavy occupants or easy to damage if not treated gently. Chair upholstery is also susceptible to damage or staining by food or drink. These problems can be intensified when chairs or other furniture are used in a sports-viewing environment, such as in a rec. room or bar. Chairs designed for use by children can suffer from similar problems. In addition, chairs used in these environments are typically made to be exclusively used as seating and provide little or no other functionality to users. According to one aspect of the present invention, a chair or other piece of furniture can include a built-up frame including at least a portion made of plastic, such as a premade plastic chair. The built-up frame can have a seat and a backrest shaped to accommodate at least one seated person. Cushioning material can be installed over the built-up frame. A cover can be installed over the cushioning material. According to another aspect of the present invention, another kind of frame including plastic can be used instead of a built-up frame. According to another aspect of the present invention, the cover can be affixed to the frame. According to another aspect of the present invention, the cover can be a removable slip cover. According to another aspect of the present invention, the cover can include sports jersey material and can be made from stock unstitched jersey pieces. According to other aspects of the present invention, one or more of a drawer, plush ornament, recess, and sports equipment can be provided at a lower supporting portion of the chair. According to another aspect of the present invention, feet made of sports equipment can be attached to the bottom of the frame. According to another aspect of the present invention, an opening can be provided at the backrest to receive a piece of sports equipment. According to another aspect of the present invention, a chair includes a frame including a seat and a backrest shaped to accommodate at least one seated person, cushioning material installed over the frame, and a removable slip cover installed over the cushioning material. The removable slip cover can be made of sports jersey material, a jacket, a T-shirt, a tracksuit, or other suitable material. The drawings illustrate, by way of example only, embodiments of the present disclosure. The term chair as used in this disclosure is not limited to furniture that seats a single person and may be taken to mean a piece of furniture that seats more than one person (e.g., a loveseat, sofa, etc). With reference to The seat 22 and backrest 24 are shaped to accommodate at least one seated person. The chair 20 can shaped and sized to accept any size of occupant, such as a large adult or a small child. The armrests 26, in this embodiment, are formed as continuous with the seat 22 and backrest 24, such that no opening exists between the armrests 26 and the seat 22 or backrest 24. The seat 22 and backrest 24 are similarly continuous. This may have the advantage of reducing or preventing the risk of injury, such as injury that may occur if a child were to have a body part become lodged in such an opening. Lack of such openings may also make the chair 20 easier to clean. The chair 20 includes a cover 34 that may be made of any suitable fabric. In some embodiments, the cover 34 is made of upholstery fabric. In this embodiment, the cover 34 is made of sports jersey material. Sports jersey material may include one or more materials such as nylon, polyester, cotton, blends of such materials, and the like. Sports jersey material may be wholly or partially formed of one or more layers of mesh. Moreover, the cover 34 need not be homogenous, but can include different types of sports jersey materials used together. Using sports jersey material for the cover 34 may advantageously result in the cover 34 having increased toughness, durability, breathability, stain resistance, and tear or cut resistance. In other embodiments, other materials, such as upholstery fabric, can be used for the cover 34. The cover 34 may further include a team logo 36, a sports league logo 38, a player number 40, a player name 42 (on the back of the chair, hidden; or on the front of the lower portion 28), and other visual elements 44 of sports jerseys, such as portions of team color, contrasting color, and similar. The locations shown are examples, and the logos 36, 38, player number and name 40, 42, and other visual elements 44 can be placed at various locations on the cover 34. For example, player number 40 and/or name 42 can be placed on the seat 22 surface. Further, each of these elements 36-44 can be individually included or omitted for a particular cover 34. In this way, the cover 34 can be used to display a sports jersey or elements thereof, while also serving a useful function by protecting the chair 20. The cover 34, in this embodiment, is made from stock unstitched jersey pieces available from jersey manufacturers as intermediate pieces during the jersey manufacturing process. This can advantageously save the effort of having to unstitch seams of a finished, off-the-shelf jersey. Moreover, this can improve the appearance of the cover 34 because there is less risk of fraying the edges of the jersey pieces or otherwise damaging the jersey as there may tend to be when unstitching a finished jersey. However, in other embodiments, the cover 34 may include jersey pieces obtained from unstitching a finished jersey. The cover 34 on its exterior may include one or more pockets 46 for storing items, such as snacks or drinks, within reach of the person seated on the chair 20. In this embodiment, each of several pockets 46 is formed by an additional layer of cover material and is located at the supporting portion 28, specifically, at the lower front corners of the chair 20. One or more pockets 46 can be included at other locations on the chair 20, such as the side or the back, in addition to or instead of pockets 46 at the front lower corners of the chair 20. The chair 20 may further include a feature 48, such as a drawer, recess, plush ornament, piece of sports equipment, or the like, located at the supporting portion 28. Drawers will be discussed in detail further below. When the feature 48 includes a recess, as depicted, the recess may be used to store items, play games, or shelter pets. The recess may be shaped and given the appearance of a goal related to the sport indicated by the sports jersey material used for the cover 34. For example, when hockey jersey material is used, the recess may be made to look like a hockey net and may be shaped to function as a miniature hockey net in a casual game of hockey. When the feature 48 includes a plush ornament, such an ornament may include the mascot of the team indicated by the sports jersey material, a plush version of sports equipment (e.g., a plush football), and similar. As the chair 20 need not be made to reflect a sport, the plush ornament can include other items, such as a stuffed animal or character, which may appeal to children and may assist in training children to remain seated. The feature 48 can include a piece of sports equipment, such as a sports ball, netting material, or the like. Such equipment can be modified to include a fastener (e.g., hook-and-loop material, clips, etc) for permanent or removable attachment to the cover 34 at the lower portion 28 or other part of the chair 20. The feature 48 may be located at the front of the chair 20, as depicted, or on a side or back of the chair 20. Multiple features 48 may be provided at different locations. The built-up frame 60, in this embodiment, includes a plastic chair 62, which may be a premade plastic chair, such as a plastic lawn or deck chair of the kind commonly available off the shelf. Using an off-the-shelf lawn or deck chair may be advantageous because such chairs are readily available and inexpensive. In addition, using a plastic chair 62 may save forestry resources. Further, many kinds of premade plastic chairs are strong (e.g., some are rated for 300 lbs; 136 kg) and light, and can therefore provide a high strength-to-weight ratio to the chair 20. This can be advantageous when the chair 20 is used by sports fans because the chair 20 has a reduced chance of being damaged by roughhousing and yet is light and easy to reposition to accommodate viewing of sporting events or other activities. It should be noted that the plastic chair 62 need not be a premade or off-the-shelf item and can be custom made with the general properties of off-the-shelf lawn or deck chairs. When an off-the-shelf plastic lawn or deck chair 62 is used, the legs 64 of the plastic chair 62 may be reinforced by the lower portions 66 of the legs 64 being cut off and then reattached to overlap, at 67, the now new lower portions of the legs 64. Such reattachment can be performed by nesting the cut-off lower portions 66 with the legs 64 and applying screws. This may provide for increased weight capacity and stability of the finished chair 20. When the plastic chair 62 is custom made, the lower portions of the legs may be designed as thickened sections to attain similar reinforcement characteristics. In other embodiments, the legs 64 are entirely or nearly entirely cut off to facilitate attachment of other kinds of legs or a swivel or rocker base. The built-up frame 60, in this embodiment, further includes a base 68, a seat reinforcement portion 70, and a front support 72. The base 68, in this embodiment, is a flat and sturdy piece of material to which the legs 64 of the plastic chair 62 may be affixed. The base 68 may be made of wood, plastic, or other suitable material. In this embodiment, the base 68 is made from a sheet oriented strand board (OSB). The shape, size, and weight of the base 68 can be selected to inhibit the chair 20 from tipping. The weight of the base 68 can be specifically selected by taking into account the lightness of the plastic chair 62, so as to lower the center of gravity of the chair to reduce the risk of tipping while maintaining an overall lightness to the chair 20. In other embodiments, the base 68 includes a swivel or rocker mechanism. The seat reinforcement portion 70, in this embodiment, is affixed atop the seat 63 and between the armrests 65 of the plastic chair 62. The seat reinforcement portion 70 includes a central recess or opening 74 ( The front support 72, in this embodiment, is positioned between the base 68 and the front piece 76 of the seat reinforcement portion 70. The front support 72 provides additional support for the seat of the finished chair 20, particularly when the front piece 76 of the seat reinforcement portion 70 is sized to overhang the plastic chair 62. The front support 72 may be made of wood, plastic, or other suitable material. In this embodiment, the front support 72 is made from several wooden boards attached together to form an H-shaped frame. When a drawer is provided at the front of the chair 20, the front support 72 may serve to define the opening for the drawer and support hardware such as drawer runners. As shown in As shown in Also in this embodiment, a back panel piece 94 can be affixed to the back rest of the plastic chair 62 just above the seat area. The back panel piece 94 is used for securing the cover 34 to the built-up frame 60. With reference to As shown in As shown in As shown in Construction of the chair 20 can follow the general sequence shown in In the chair 150, when a plastic portion with legs, such as the plastic chair 62 ( It should be apparent from the above that the present invention provides a chair or other piece of furniture that may have one or more of the advantages of light weight, high strength and weight capacity, high strength-to-weight ratio, efficient construction, a construction that readily permits providing a feature at a lower portion near the floor, a durable cover, a removable slip cover, a cover that is readily made from a sports jersey. In further embodiments, aspects described herein are used in a conventional chair that does not include a plastic frame portion, such as a premade plastic chair. For instance, the slip cover 34 can be applied to such a chair. Further, the drawer, recess, plush ornament, piece of sports equipment, or other feature can each be applied to a chair that does not include a plastic frame portion. In addition, the sports equipment feet and/or sports equipment holder with the opening at the backrest can also be applied to a chair that does not include a plastic frame portion. Further, it is noted that this disclosure is not limited to furniture to display sports jerseys and sports equipment. For example, the teachings of this disclosure can be used to make a bedroom-style chair with suitable cover material and legs, without the use of a sports jersey or sporting equipment. Moreover, different, non-jersey materials can be used for the cover, such as sports jackets (e.g., varsity jackets), tracksuits, T-shirts, and the like. While the foregoing provides certain non-limiting example embodiments, it should be understood that combinations, subsets, and variations of the foregoing are contemplated. The monopoly sought is defined by the claims. |