US3709559A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Furniture for seating people
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1971-03-22
•
Granted: 1973-01-09
•
Expires: 1991-03-22
Abstract
Abstract Chairs and other seating units are made with seats and, where present, backs, each comprising a plurality of sinuous spring wires secured to rigid frame members of the seating units, these rigid frame members being themselves held apart by one or more other rigid frame members. The sinuous spring wires are in their natural state shaped in circular or cylindrical arcs which are partially but not completely flattened in the completed seats and backs, to place the springs in tension and to aid in their retention by the frame. The spring wires touch or come quite close to each other at least once per cycle, and a thin sleevelike plastic coating surrounds the wires and follows their sinuous shape. It also surrounds the rigid frame members to which they are secured and links the wires and frame together and links the wires to each other wherever they touch, to provide a unitary seat or back assembly. The springs are, however, secured firmly to the frame, and the plastic is not relied on for rigid attachment. In preferred forms of the invention, the plastic coating has a Shore A durometer between 45 and 90, so that the assembly is held together by the plastic coating without substantially restraining the flexing of the spring wires, and the coating itself provides a spring action between adjacent wires by stretching and contracting, thereby giving a two-way stretch action.
Inventors
- 👤 David Lincoln Rowland
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-08 16:15
CPC Classifications
A; A47; A47C; A47C7/00; A47C7/02; A47C7/28; A47C7/285
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 43
Claim 1
Independent Claim
205 words
A seating assembly, including in combination: a. a frame having at least two rigidly spaced-apart rigid frame portions, b. a series of arcuate, continuous, sinuous wires, each having two ends, each said wire closely approachIng each of its immediately adjacent said wires at frequent intervals, each said wire defining a cylindrical arc, c. retaining means for firmly securing said wires to respective fixed locations of said frame portions adjacent their ends and for preventing relative sliding movement of the wires along said frame portions, each said wire upon installation being flattened from its initial cylindrical arc to a flatter cylindrical arc and placed in tension, and d. a thin sleevelike stretchable plastic coating being a separate member from said retaining means and surrounding said wires, retaining means and frame portions, following the sinuosity of said wires and stretchably joining said wires together where they closely approach each other, said approaches being close enough for effective bridging between them by said coating, whereby said wires, retaining means, frame portions, and plastic coating comprise a unitary assembly and whereby resilience for seating comfort is obtained both by the arcing and tensioning of said wires and by the strenchability of said coating where it bridges between said wires.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
205 words
A seating assembly, including in combination: a. a frame having at least two rigidly spaced-apart rigid frame portions, b. a series of arcuate, continuous, sinuous wires, each having two ends, each said wire closely approachIng each of its immediately adjacent said wires at frequent intervals, each said wire defining a cylindrical arc, c. retaining means for firmly securing said wires to respective fixed locations of said frame portions adjacent their ends and for preventing relative sliding movement of the wires along said frame portions, each said wire upon installation being flattened from its initial cylindrical arc to a flatter cylindrical arc and placed in tension, and d. a thin sleevelike stretchable plastic coating being a separate member from said retaining means and surrounding said wires, retaining means and frame portions, following the sinuosity of said wires and stretchably joining said wires together where they closely approach each other, said approaches being close enough for effective bridging between them by said coating, whereby said wires, retaining means, frame portions, and plastic coating comprise a unitary assembly and whereby resilience for seating comfort is obtained both by the arcing and tensioning of said wires and by the strenchability of said coating where it bridges between said wires.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
23 words
The assembly of claim 1 whereby said frame supports two said series of wires, one for a seat and one for a back.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
23 words
The assembly of claim 2 wherein said seat arches upwardly from side to side and said back arches rearwardly from side to side.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
36 words
The assembly of claim 3 wherein said frame folds said arched seat up to nest within said arched back, with the lower surface of said arched seat then lying within the chord across said arched back.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
63 words
The assembly of claim 3 wherein the seat and back thicknesses are each substantially less than the frame thickness and said frame is stackable upon a like frame with the upwardly arched seats nesting on each other and the rearwardly arched backs nesting on each other, so that compactness of the stack is limited to frame thickness rather than seat or back thickness.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
31 words
The assembly of claim 5 wherein the thicknesses of the seat and back areas are no less than 1/200 and no more than 1/50 of the height of the seating assembly.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
35 words
The assembly of claim 3 wherein the wires in the seat lying closest to the forward edge of the chair are of lighter gauge than the remaining wires of the seat, thereby imparting increased comfort.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
40 words
The assembly of claim 2 wherein in each said assembly said wires occupy a silhouette area of about 17 percent to 75 percent of the area over which they extend so that the sitter is supported without undue load concentration.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
23 words
The assembly of claim 2 wherein said seat arches upwardly from front to rear and said back arches forwardly from bottom to top.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
19 words
The assembly of claim 2 wherein said frame is curved so that the seat and back are compoundly curved.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
25 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein some of said wires are of different natural vibration frequency than others to afford bounce dampening to said assembly.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
14 words
The assembly of claim 11 wherein some wires are different in thickness from others.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
15 words
The assembly of claim 11 wherein some wires are of different arc-cycle length from others.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
15 words
The assembly of claim 11 wherein some wires have a different spring temper from others.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
29 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein said means for securing comprises friction lock means fastening each wire at each end to a said rigid frame portion and preventing withdrawal.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
35 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein said retaining means comprises a strip of metal secured to each said frame portion and providing a plurality of wire-end anchoring means between said strip and said frame portion.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
112 words
The assembly of claim 16 wherein each said frame portion has a cylindrical outer surface and each said strip is a cylindrical segment having two series of projecting tongues, alternating with each other, the tongues of one series being short and lying against the surface of their said frame portion, thereby providing stop portions for ends of said wires, the tongues of the other series being longer and diverging from the surface of their said frame portion to provide space for the wire ends to lie between those tongues and said frame portion along a line parallel to the axis of said frame portion and with their ends abutting the shorter tongues.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
16 words
The assembly of claim 17 wherein said longer tongues provide friction grip means for said wire.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
25 words
The assembly of claim 17 having a rim member surrounding the wires at their sides and ends and enclosed by said coating with the wires.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
79 words
The assembly of claim 17 wherein each said frame portion is cylindrical and each said strip is a cylindrical arc snug against the surface of said frame portion and having punched-out portions and bent out portions for receiving the ends of said wires along a line parallel to the axis of the frame portion, with the ends of the wires snugly against a portion that has not been punched out or bent out and that acts as a stop.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
32 words
The assembly of claim 20 having front and rear non-sinuous rim wires secured to said frame portions by said strips and tangent to the forward and rear wires and coated with them.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
34 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein said frame portions are tubular and said retaining means comprises a series of holes through the walls of said frame portions for receiving bent ends of said wires.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
20 words
The assembly of claim 22 having rim means with portions extending along said frame portions and touching said bent ends.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
28 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein said retaining means comprises a bent wire member separate from said series of wires and fixedly secured to each said frame portion.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
53 words
The assembly of claim 24 wherein said bent wire member comprises a square-wave pattern with two axially-extending portions joined by alternating circumferential portions, one of which serves as a stop, the other of which is bent away from said frame portion to enable the end of a said spring wire to pass thereunder.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
37 words
The assembly of claim 24 wherein said bent wire is bent to provide an axial portion regularly interrupted by two circumferential portions providing a channel, each for receiving an arcuately hooked portion of a said spring wire.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
30 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein said retaining means comprises a series of generally circumferentially extending grooves in said frame portions for receiving arcuately hooked end portions of said wires.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
21 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein said plastic coating has a Shore A durometer in the range of 45 to 90.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
16 words
The assembly of claim 28 wherein said coating has a Shore A durometer of about 75.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
25 words
The assembly of claim 28 wherein the thickness of said plastic coating is from about 20 percent to about 100 percent of the wire thickness.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
19 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein the wire thickness is in the range of 0.05 inch to 0.15 inch.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
36 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein said series of wires comprises a seat and the seat has a consistency such that it depresses between 1 inch and 3 inches when sat upon by a 150-pound person.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
31 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein said series of wires comprises an upwardly arching seat having a crown height that is one sixty-fourth to one-sixteenth of the width of the seat.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
20 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein said series of wires comprises a downwardly arching seat, having a concave upper surface.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
29 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein the empty space between the coated wires occupies from about 2 percent to about 75 percent of the area of the wire assembly.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
23 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein the series of wires comprises a seat and the seat is compoundly curved from a concave shape.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
162 words
A seat for a chair or sofas or the like, comprising: two rigid frame members, held apart by one or more additional stiff frame members, a series of sinuous spring wires extending between said frame members and secured to them at their ends, each wire touching its adjacent wires at leaSt once per cycle, spacing and latching means secured to each said frame member for securing one end of each of said wires to respective fixed locations of said frame members and for properly spacing said spring wires from each other, each said spacing and latching means having a receptacle for an end of each said wire holding it parallel to said frame member and a stop for abutting the actual end, and a thin sleevelike stretchable plastic coating surrounding said wires, frame members, said spacing and latching means and following the shapes thereof and stretchably linking said wires together and providing permanent retention of them to said spacing and latching means.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
162 words
A seat for a chair or sofas or the like, comprising: two rigid frame members, held apart by one or more additional stiff frame members, a series of sinuous spring wires extending between said frame members and secured to them at their ends, each wire touching its adjacent wires at leaSt once per cycle, spacing and latching means secured to each said frame member for securing one end of each of said wires to respective fixed locations of said frame members and for properly spacing said spring wires from each other, each said spacing and latching means having a receptacle for an end of each said wire holding it parallel to said frame member and a stop for abutting the actual end, and a thin sleevelike stretchable plastic coating surrounding said wires, frame members, said spacing and latching means and following the shapes thereof and stretchably linking said wires together and providing permanent retention of them to said spacing and latching means.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
26 words
The seat of claim 37 wherein said spring wires have a silhouette area of between 17 percent and 75 percent of the area of said seat.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
23 words
The assembly of claim 38 wherein said plastic coating has a Shore A durometer of 45 to 90 enabling a two-way stretch action.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
17 words
The assembly of claim 38 wherein said plastic coating has a Shore A durometer of about 75.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
39 words
The assembly of claim 1 wherein the close approaching of said wires comprises overlap of the successive wires, so that while all the wires lie substantially on the same plane, they are actually in different planes at the overlaps.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1976-01-09 | 1976-07-10 | 1977-01-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1980-01-09 | 1980-07-10 | 1981-01-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1984-01-09 | 1984-07-10 | 1985-01-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |