GB2200836A - Furniture component - Google Patents

Abstract

Corner post assembly of bed, divan or other upholstered box bases includes an upright load-bearing post (14) having end parts of side rails (12) attached to its outer faces as by brackets (18) at right angles and spaced from the outer corner of the post, with a filler plece (16) e.g. an expanded polystyrene moulding, mounted on said post outer corner having a radiused outer profile forming a smooth transition between the planes of the outer faces of the rails. The filler piece acts as a protection for the corner edge in use, or in storage or transit. <IMAGE>

Description

FURNITURE COMPONENT This invention relates to components for use in forming furniture, more specifically to a corner post assembly for use in constructing what is hereinafter referred to as an upholstered box base", particularly for beds or divans but, possibly, also for settees, easy chairs or the like.

The term upholstered box base" is here used to mean a substantially rigid box like frame having its sides and top covered by fabric or other material and which normally operatively supports a loose mattress or cushions (depending on the type of furniture). The top may or may not include springing, padding or the like to provide a degree of resilience.

The object of the invention is to provide a corner post assembly for use in forming said box bases which is particularly economical to manufacture, which facilitates assembly of the base, and which is durable in use.

According to the invention a corner post assembly for an upholstered box base comprises an operatively vertical load bearing corner post having outer faces normal to each other to which end parts of operatively horizontal side rails of the base are attached in use, and a non-load bearing filler piece capping the outer corner constituted by said outer faces and having a rounded outer profile forming a smooth transition between the vertical planes of the outerfaces of the rail or rails operatively attached to the respective outer faces of the post.

Conveniently the filler piece is a moulding or extrusion of plastics material, for example expanded polystyrene and it may be bonded to said outer corner of the post by an adhesive.

The post will usually be timber of square section and may include a bore, socket or other mounting for a castor or other ground or floor engaging formation at its operatively lower end.

The assembly may further include attachment means for locating and securing said end parts of the rails to said outer faces of the post, for example a pressed sheet metal bracket having tines or prongs pressed into the post so that it projects laterally of a respective outer face to form a support and/or attachment for the associated rail.

Rail engaging portions of said bracket may include barbs or other projections for more positive engagement with the rail which will also normally be of timber.

An. embodiment of the invention is illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing being a part exploded perspective view of a corner part of the frame of an upholstered box base prior to attachment of any upholstery or covering.

The frame includes a corner post assembly 10 at each of its four corners (one only shown) interconnected by upper and lower timber side rails 12 to form a rectangular frame.

Each assembly 10 comprises a vertical square section load bearing corner post 14 e.g. about 5Omm x 50mum in section, rails 12 which are e.g. about 5Omm deep x 17mm having their ends parts attached in overlapping abutment with the outer side faces of post 14. The end face of rails 12 terminate some 15mm back from the outer corner of post 12 constituted by said outer faces.

A filler piece 16, "in this example a moulding of expanded polystyrene, is glued to said outer corner and has a quarter rounded outer section radiused so that its outer profile forms a smooth transition between the planes of the outer faces of respective pairs of rails 12 mounted on the respective outer faces of post 14.

To better secure and locate the rails 12 on post 14 attachment formations in the form of pressed sheet metal brackets 18 are provided. Each bracket is L shaped in section and is provided with pointed tangs 20 pressed into the post and -with barbs 22 on the part projecting from the post which bite into the face of the associated rail 12 for better location thereof.

Following assembly of the frame it will be covered and/or otherwise upholstered and it will be seen that fabric or other flexible covering material can be drawn tightly around the sides of the frame extending smoothly over the rounded face of the filler pieces 16 so as to give a neat appearance at the corners.

A castor 24 is conveniently mounted on the lower end of each post 14.

The corners are particularly vulnerable to knocking or damage both in use and during storage or transit of the furniture and the polystyrene gives good resistance to impact while being soft enough to deform and absorb types of impact which might otherwise stress or damage the covering material, e.g if the latter was drawn round a sharply angled corner of hard material such as timber.

The invention substantially reduces manufacturing costs in terms of machining and assembly time and use of materials, for example some previous practices has involved machining a timber section having the rounded profile corner filler integral with the corner post by forming a pair of rebates to receive and locate the end portions of the side rails. This method is wasteful of timber and machine and labour costs.

An alternative known method is to fill the corner between the rail ends by building some kind of rounded profile using flexible card or board again involving time and labour and producing a corner which is vulnerable to accidental damage.

A hollow or other extruded plastic section could be used instead of the moulded plastics referred to above, or the filter pieces could be formed of a moulded resilient foamed plastics material.

Claims (11)

1. A corner post assembly for an upholstered box base comprising an operatively vertical load bearing post having outer faces normal to each other to which end parts of operatively horizontal side rails of the base are attached in use, and a non-load bearing filler piece capping the outer corner constituted by said outer faces and having a rounded outer profile forming a smooth transition between the vertical planes of the outer faces of the rail or rails operatively attached to the respective outer faces of the post.

2. An assembly as in Claim 1 wherein the filler piece is a moulding or extrusion of plastics material.

3. An assembly as in Claim 2 wherein the material is expanded polystyrene.

4. An assembly as in Claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the filler piece is bonded to the outer corner by an adhesive.

5. An assembly as in any preceding claim wherein the post includes a bore, socket or other mounting for a castor or other ground or floor engaging formation at its operatively lower end.

6. An assembly as in any preceding claim including attachment means for locating and securing said end parts of the rails to said outer faces of the post.

7. An assembly as in Claim 6 wherein said each attachment means is a sheet metal bracket having tines or prongs pressed into the post so that it projects laterally of a respective outer face to form a support and/or attachment for the associated rail.

8. An assembly as in Claim 7 wherein rail engaging portions of said bracket include barbs or other projections for more positive engagement with the associated rail.

9. An assembly as in any preceding claim wherein the corner post and the side rails -are timber members.

10. A corner post assembly for an upholstered box base substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawing.

11. An upholstered box base including a corner post assembly as in any preceding claim.