US2849058A - Armchair, sofa or the like, made up entirely of a resiliently yieldable material without any carrier framework - Google Patents

Description

1958 L. BULLERI El'AL 2,849,058

ARMCHAIR, SOFA OR THE LIKE, MADE UP ENTIRELYDF A RESILIENTLY YIELDABLE MATERIAL WITHOUT ANY CARRIER FRAMEWORK Filed Sept, 19, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1

S 2 s r 12 INVENTORSI LEONETTO BuLLEFu MT RENMo BULLEN 8x] RJLKW 10M Jada THE/IL firroruv y S Aug. 26, 1958 BULLERI El'AL 2,849,058

ARMCHAIR, SOFA OR THE LIKE, MADE UP ENTIRELY 0F MATERIAL WITHOUT ANY CARRIER FRAMEWORK A RESILIENTLY YIELDABLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 19, 1955 INI/EmroRs TTo BULLERI LEONE W REM/{T0 (3 u LLLIZI United States Patent ARMCHAIR, SOFA OR THE LIKE, MADE UP EN- TlRELY OF A RESILIENTLY YIELDABLE MATE- RIAL WITHOUT ANY CARRIER FRAMEWORK Leonetto Bulleri and Renato Bulleri, Cascina, Italy Application September 19, 1955, Serial No. 535,212 Claims priority, application Italy September 21, 1954 4 Claims. (Cl. 155-179 This invention relates to articles of furniture such as sofas, armchairs and the like, provided with yieldable surfaces. Presently these objects are formed by a stiff reinforcement or framework, with which pliant and resiliently yieldable members, such as metallic wire springs, layers of rubber, sponge rubber and the like or stuflings of fibres, are combined and the whole assembly is completed by a suitable outer covering.

The present invention relates to a different manufacturing method of articles of furniture of the above mentioned type and it also relates to the articles obtained by the said method.

According to the present invention we provide an article of furniture such as an armchair, sofa or the like, characterised in that it is made up entirely of a resiliently yieldable material, such as sponge rubber or an equivalent material, without any supporting framework at least in its upper portion, the supporting function being carried out by the resiliently yieldable material.

In order to obtain the necessary consistency of the articles in question, the resiliently yieldable material,

which is used advantageously but not necessarily must offer different properties of resilient suppleness in its various zones, for the purpose of assuring a suflicient yielding and offering the required comfort along the outer layers, and offering sufiicient resistance to deformations in the zones which are required to support the stresses the article is subjected to and restrict the deformations of the article of furniture.

The articles of furniture, such as armchairs, sofas and the like, may be formed by one or more members combined with one another. Each of the said members may be made up of a single body in practice in a single die by using suitable arrangements so as to modify the consistency of the material in its various zones. Each member may alternatively, be obtained by an appropriate fixture of blocks and layers of resiliently yieldable material to one another, the various blocks and layers having similar or different properties of resilient yielding.

As mentioned above, a method of manufacture of articles of furniture of the above mentioned type provides for the forming of one or more shaped members for the construction of the article, the members being made up of sponge rubber or similar resiliently yieldable material, and the manufacture is such that it is possible to obtain a variation of the resilient suppleness properties for each member over the various members. An article of furniture of this kind preferably is made by connecting a number of layers or blocks of sponge rubber to one another and by using a material having different resilient properties for the formation of the various zones. The formation of a member or directly of an article of furniture may be provided for by interconnecting the various layers, subjected to different resilient deformations one to another, so as to obtain the outer shape. The outer shape may be completed by removing the material by means of a cutting tool or an abrasive tool, such as a grinding wheel, a rasp or the like.

An article of furniture or a member for the article of furniture preferably is completed on its surface zones,

or at least on the surfaces whereupon the sitters body rests, by means of layers of sponge rubber or the like, extended parallel to the final surface, the layers being formed of a relatively very soft material.

In the design of an armchair, sofa or another article of furniture of this kind, it is sometimes appropriate although not indispensable, to take into consideration the requirements of the resistance to deformations and make the contours, which allow for the formations of buttresses or similar shapes, capable of withstanding, according to tensile strength, flexion and shearing, and the heavy stresses which certain zones, in particular those acting as parts of the back are subjected to. The buttresses or similar formations may be obtained by suitably forming the arms or by suitable bending of the backs, or in any other suitable Way.

The article of furniture, such as an armchair or the like, may be provided with a layer for resting on the floor or the like, upon which the article of furniture is to be rested, which layer is also formed of the same resiliently-yieldable material, such as rubber, sponge rubber or the like. Alternatively, the article of furniture may be provided at the bottom with a stilf base layer, such as, for example, a Wooden platform or any similar structure, which may also be provided with feet. The yieldable material, forming the article of furniture, is anchored to the stiff base layer, and the base layer may be partly covered at least by a layer of the yieldable material. The base layer may be provided with upwardly directed, extended stiff structures.

The accompanying drawing shows, constructional embodiments of the In the drawings:

Figs. 1 and 2 are respectively a vertical cross-section and a plan view of an armchair, embodying the invention, Fig. 2 being taken on the plane of the line IIII of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 shows in a perspective view another type of an armchair;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a sofa constructed according to the invention; and g Figs. 5, 6 and 7 respectively are a top plan view, a cross-section on the line VI-VI in Fig. 5 and a partial cross-section on the line VIIVII in Fig. 6 of another construction of the armchair.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2:

The armchair shown in these figures is formed by two elements, one acting as a seat and the other as a back made so as to form the arms without any joints.

The base is formed by a pair of wooden boards or the like 1a and 1b spaced by struts 1c so as to form a horseshoe base, two cross-beams 2 and 3 being arranged between the wings of the base. The base rests on feet 4 and the back 5 is secured to. the base and invention.

is extended to the front at 5a in order to form the arms.

The seat 6 is formed by a number of layers 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d and 6e which are substantially parallel to the base and are suitably formed and shaped, both in thickness and plan profile, so as to form the seat and to be adapted to the back 5. At leastone layer 7 covers the assembly of the said layers 6a-6e. that the resilient suppleness of the material forming the layers should be increased from the layer 6a to the layer 62, the layer 7 being the softest. The layers may all be formed of sponge rubber, made in a known way, in order that they shall have an appropriate different resilient suppleness or of a resiliently yieldable material the lower layer 6a being made up of a harder inatebeams 2 and 3.

by way of example, i

It is appropriate The assembly 5, 5a which is anchored to the base 1a, 1b, 1c is formed of superimposed adjacent layers or blocks 9 arranged so as to form the interior portion of the back and the layers are formed of a more substantially yieldable material in the upper zones and of a stiffer materal in the lower zones. The substantially horizontal layers 9 may be of U-shape, as shown in the plan view in Fig. 2 and they may each be onepiece or formed by elements or sectors for saving in manufacture as also shown in Fig. 2. Soft layers 10 of rubber or the like material cover the front surface portion of the back and the arms, the layers being bent at 10a in order to obtain an upper front peripheral shape. Layers 11 of a stiffer rubber than that used for the layers 10 are located in the rear and increase th strength of the back.

The various layers and blocks made up of rubber, sponge rubber or the like, are fixed to one another, for example, by putty. The layers, and more particularly the outer more substantially yieldable layers, may be provided with and have imparted to them a required shape and thickness by the deformation of the material. Such deformation will remain permanent, owing to the fixing and the tension created by the deformations being also permanent. This contributes in facilitating the shaping of the members and in modifying the deformation according to requirements.

If required, the assembly may be appropriately covered by fabric, leather or the like.

When a person sits on an armchair of this kind and bears against the back 5, the latter is capable of supporting the required stress both owing to the resistance offered by the layers forming the back and owing to the resistance to the deformation offered by the arms structure 512 forming buttresses which are subjected to tensile strength, flexion and shearing in the direction of their longitudinal vertical cross-section. Low stiff structures may be provided with the base and may be upwardly directed as shown at 12, but are such as to leave the characteristic deformability of the member unaltered.

In the construction shown in Fig. 3, the back of the armchair is higher than the arms connected to it, the arms also operating in such a way as to increase the resistance to the thrust, due to the person resting against the back. The arms may also be reduced in dimension or even eliminated, in which case the resistance would be entrusted to the single structure of the back made up of an appropriately stiff material.

Fig. 4 shows a sofa wherein the back 13 is laterally supported by the arms 13a and at some intermediate positions by buttress projections 13b which are formed by a suitable shaping of the front surface of the back or of the surface separating the stiffer zones and the softer zones. The buttresses may be eliminated by increasing the thickness and/or the stiffness of the material.

In the modfication shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the base of the armchair is formed by two wooden U-shaped slats 21a and 21b spaced by the struts 210 which are partly extended in the interior and support an annular frame 22, carrying flexible strips 23 which are transversally arranged and spaced. A single block 24 of sponge rubber, made in a die and having constant or different resilient properties in the various zones, lies on the frame 22 and on the strips 23. The block 25, which forms the back and arms, is secured to the base formed by the elements 21a, 21b and 21c. This block 25 is made up of sponge rubber and has constant or difierent resilient properties in the various zones.

The drawings only show certain embodiments of the invention, which can be varied in their shapes and arrangements, while falling within the scope of the following claims.

What we claim is:

1. An armchair including a rigid base, a back supported on said base, said back continuing around the base and forwardly thereof to form side arm rests, said back being composed of mutually fastened together portions of material having different resilient yielding characteristics and a resilient seat supported on said base between said arm rests.

2. An armchair including a rigid base of horseshoe shape, including side wing portions, cross beams extending across the space between said Wing portions, a back supported on said base at the rear thereof, said back continuing around the base and forwardly thereof so as to form side arm rests, said back and arm rests being composed of horizontally disposed layers of rubber, the rear surface of said back and arm rests being composed of layers of rubber harder than the horizontally disposed layers, the front surface of the back and arm rests being composed of layers of rubber softer than the horizontally disposed layers, all of said layers being fastened together, an annular seat frame supported on said crossbeams, within the confines of the horseshoe base, and a seat composed of superimposed layers of rubber fastened together and supported on said frame.

3. An armchair including a rigid base of horseshoe shape including side wing portions, said base being formed of two spaced parallel boards, perpendicular struts holding said boards in spaced relation, cross-beams extending across the space between said wing portions, a back supported on said base, said back continuing around the base and forwardly thereof so as to form said arm rests, said back and arm rests being composed of horizontally disposed layers of rubber, the rear surface of said back and arm rests being composed of layers of rubber harder than the horizontally disposed layers, the front surface of the back and arm rests being composed of layers of rubber softer than the horizontally disposed layers, all of said layers being fastened together, an annular seat frame supported on said crossbeams, within the confines of the horseshoe base, and a seat composed of superimposed layers of rubber fastened together, the lower layer of said seat being more rigid than the upper layers and resting on the seat frame, and a cover composed of a layer of soft rubber stretched over the upper and front surfaces of the seat.

4. An armchair including a rigid base of horseshoe shape including side wing portions, said base being formed of two spaced parallel boards, perpendicular struts holding said boards in spaced relation, supporting beams extending across the space between said wing portions, a back supported on said base at the rear thereof, said back continuing around the sides of the base and forwardly thereof so as to form side arm rests, said back and side arm rests being composed of superimposed layers of resilient material, the rear surface of said back and side arm rests being composed of layers of resilient material harder than the superimposed layers, the front and inner surface of the back and arm rests being composed of layers of resilient material softer than the superimposed layers, an annular seat frame supported on said supporting beams, flexible strips extending across the space provided by said seat frame, and a seat of resilient material supported on said seat frame and flexible strips.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 975,258 Kurtz Nov. 8, 1910 2,150,287 Minor Mar. 14, 1939 2,180,304 Minor Nov. 14, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 5,686/27 Australia May 20, 1927 354,281 Italy Nov. 17, 1937 447,100 Great Britain May 12, 1936

Images