US2962086A - Tv stool and rest - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 29, 1960 G. N. WALTIMYER TV STOOL AND REST Filed May 25. 1959 INVENTOR.

Georye (U. U/alfiml er ATTORNE United States Patent TV STOOL REST George N. Waltimyer, 561 S. Main St., Red Lion, Pa.

Filed May 25, 1959, Ser. No. 815,473

2 Claims. (21. 155-153 V the leg means adjacent one end of the seat are removed but the legs at the other end are connected in their normal position relative to the seat, said seat may be disposed in an inclined position so as to be supported respectively by the legs at one end while the other end of the seat rests upon the same supporting surface as the legs, such as a iloor, whereby the seat portion will be inclined and thereby may serve as a head and shoulder rest or asa chest and chin rest for a person when reclining upon the article.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple stool-like article of furniture having padded means ad jacent one end of the seat for purposes of resting the back of the head or the chin of a person thereon when the seat is disposed in inclined position relative to a supporting surface, and the opposite end of the seat is shaped with inwardly tapered sides to provide a narrower opposite end from that upon which the padding means is connected,

whereby the seat may serve as a comfortable stool when disposed in horizontal position relative to a supporting surface. T V V A further object of the invention is to provide a stoollike member having a seat supported by legs adjacent opposite ends thereof, and when a leg'adjacent one, end

is removed and the seat means is disposed at an incline to a supporting surface, said seat means includes a receptacle within which the removed leg may be stored temporarily to prevent the same from becoming lost or mis placed.

Details of the foregoing objects and of the invention are set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing comprising a part thereof.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a TV stool and rest embody ing the principles of the present invention and showing, in full lines, the stool and rest in position to serve as a stool, and in dotted lines showing the seat means in inclined position as when the stool and rest is to serve as arest. pp p Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical elevation taken on the line 22 of Fig. l and showing details of means by which a removable leg is connected detachably to the seat means of the stool and rest.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the stool and rest shown in Fig. 1 and illustrating in broken lines an exemplary position of a person when seated upon the stool and rest as when the same is serving as a stool.

Figs. 4 and 6 are side elevations on a smaller scale than that employed in Fig. 1 and illustrating the stool and rest shown in broken lines in Fig.1 when serving as a rest, said figures respectively showing in dotted lines the stool and rest supporting the head and shoulders of a person, and, also in dotted lines, the position of a persons chin and chest when resting upon said inclined rest.

Fig. 5 is a view on the same scale as Figs. 4 and 6 but showing the stool and rest with all of the leg means connected thereto, whereby the seat is horizontal to serve as a stool, said view illustrating fragmentarily the outlines of a human body seated thereon.

' Referring to the drawings, the combination stool and rest 10 comprises a relatively small number of components including a seat 12 which may be formed attractively from wood or other similar material and of suitable size and thickness to support the weight of an average person seated thereon when the device is serving as a stool as indicated in full lines in Fig. 1. As will be seen from Fig.

3, wherein the plan view of the seat 12 is shown, said seat has a relatively wide end 14 and a relatively narrow end 16, the narrow end16 being formed so as to render the same capable of being straddled comfortably bythe legs- 18 of a person seated thereon as illustrated in broken lines in Fig. 3, while the buttocks 20 of the person, seeFig. 5, are disposed nearer the wide end 14 of the seat 12.. v I

Depending from the lower surface of the seat 12 adjacent the wide end 14 thereof are a pair of preferably similar attractive'legs 22, the upper ends of which may be secured by any suitable means, such as screws, securely to the lower surface of seat 12. Preferably, the legs 22 may be formed so as to have a suitable ferrule 24 which is" pressed onto the lower ends thereof. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the legs 22 may be formed from wood but any other suitable material may be used. The legs 22 are spaced apart a substantial distance as shown in Fig. 3 so as to offer transverse stability to the seat when it is in the horizontal position to serve as a stool, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, or when his inclined as shown in broken lines in Fig. 1, to serve as an inclinedrrest.

Detachably secured to the relatively narrow end 16 of the seat 12 so as to depend from the lower surface thereof, is another leg 26 which preferably is similar to the legs 22 and has a ferrule 24 on the lowerend thereof. The leg 26 selectively may either be securely attached at its upper end against the lower surface of seat 12 or it may quickly be detached from said seat by the employment of a screw 28 which is either driven or threaded into the upper end of the leg 26 so as to leave a portion of the screw 28 projecting thereabove,.whereby saidprojecting upper end of the screw 28 may be threaded into an in.

ternally threaded plug 30 which is recessed into the lower surface of seat 12 as shown in Fig. 2. The plug 30 is of a well known type employedin furniture manufacturing and may be press-fitted into a suitablerecess drilled into the lower surface of seat 12, the perimeter of the plug 30 having serrations which are forced into the walls of the recess in the seat 12 so as to firmly retain theplug 30 therein and also prevent relative rotationbetween the plug and seat 12. Preferably, the threads upon thjeup per end of screw 28 and within the plug 30' are rela tively coarse and have a substantial lead so as to facilitate upholstered projection 32 which extends upwardly from the upper surface of seat 12 and preferably slopes downwardly from the outer end thereof to the upper surface of seat 12 intennediately of the opposite ends thereof.

The padded projection 32 maybe formed conveniently by utilizing a Wooden panel 34, as shown in Fig. l, placing conventional furniture padding material thereon and,

covering the same with flexible upholstering covering 36 of suitable material, the edges of the cover 36 being secured to the undersurface of the wooden panel 34 by tacks, cements, or the like, whereby the padded projection 32 somewhat resembles a small sloping pillow which may be attached to the upper surface of seat 12 by any suitable means such as a plurality of screws 38 of sufficient number, as shown for example in Fig. 3, to firmly secure the padded projection 32 to the seat 12.

Secured to the lower surface of seat 12 is a retaining means 40 which preferably is strap-like and flexible, being formed from any suitable material such as leather, flexible taping, or otherwise, and the opposite ends thereof are secured to the lower surface of seat 12 by tacks, screws, or the like as indicated at 42. The retaining means 40 is of suitable size that the removable leg 26 may be inserted thereinto as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and in full lines in Figs. 4 and 6, as when the leg 26 has been removed from the seat 12 so that the seat may be disposed in an inclined manner relative to the supporting surface 44. Such surface may comprise a floor or, if desired, the stool and rest may be supported upon any other suitable surface such as the upper surface of a bed or sofa.

Particularly from reference to Figs. 4 through 6, it will be seen that when the removable leg 26 has been detached from the seat 12 and is received within the retaining means 40, the stool and rest may be positioned with the seat 12 inclined to the supporting surface 44, whereupon-a person 46 may recline upon the inclined seat 12 with his head and shoulders disposed as shown in Fig. 4, While resting upon his back, or he may recline his chest and chin upon the rest 10 as shown in Fig. 6. In such positions, it has been found convenient to recline for observing TV. The soft cushion-like nature of the padded projection 32 serves as a convenient rest for the back of the head or chin of a person.

When the stool and rest 10 are arranged with the removable leg 26 connected to the seat 12 however, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1 and also in Fig. 5, the device then serves as a very satisfactory stool upon which a person may sit with his buttocks partly disposed upon the padded projection 32, and his legs 18 straddling the narrower end 16 of the seat 12, such as shown in enlarged manner in Fig. 3.

By providing the retaining means 40, the removable leg 26 will not become lost or misplaced when disconnected from the seat 12 as when the device 10 is serving as an inclined rest as shown in Figs. 4 and 6.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the article of furniture 10 comprises an extremely but highly useful item which may serve either as a stool having a horizontal seat or as a rest having an inclined surface, whereby the article, though simple, is adaptable to a number of difierent uses to support various portions of the human body in different positions, especially for viewing TV and the like. The adaptability of the article to either horizontal or inclined positioning of the seat takes place by means of the provision of a quickly detachable leg adjacent the narrower end of the seat member, whereby said seat may be disposed in inclined manner relative to a supporting surface while the leg means at the other end of the seat holds said other end elevated and the opposite end directly engages the supporting surface. The device is rugged and may be manufactured attractively from relatively inexpensive material, if desired. The position of relatively wide and narrow ends permits the narrower end thereof to readily be straddled by the legs of a person when seated upon the article when serving as a stool, and the provision of a padded projection on the Wider end thereof adds comfort thereto especially when serving as an inclined rest so as to be engaged by the back of the head or chin of a person inclined upon the article when in position to serve as an inclined rest.

While the invention has been described and illustrated in its preferred embodiment, and has included certain details, it should be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise details herein illustrated and described since the same may be carried out in other ways falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. A multi-position stool and rest unit to support a person selectively either when sitting upon the stool and rest when disposed horizontally or when disposed at an angle to a supporting surface so as to serve as a prop or rest, said stool or rest comprising in combination a seat member wider at one end than the other in a transverse direction, a pair of legs fixed to and depending substantially vertically from the normally lower surface of said seat member adjacent one end thereof and engageable with said supporting surface at a substantially right angle, said legs respectively being positioned adjacent opposite sides of said seat, an upholstered pad affixed to and extend ing transversely across the upper surface of said seat means adjacent said one end thereof, said pad being thick at the outer end of said seat and tapering downward toward said seat at the opposite end of the pad, and a single leg member of similar length to said leg means readily detachably connected to and depending substantially vertically from the normally lower surface of said seat member adjacent the opposite end thereof, whereby when said leg member is connected to said seat member the latter will be disposed horizontally for said unit to serve as a stool and when said leg member is removed from said seat member said seat member will be elevated only at the end to which said leg means are connected and the opposite end of said seat member will rest upon the same supporting surface as the leg means to dispose the seat member at an angle to said surface for said unit to serve as a prop or rest and said upholstered pad on said elevated end is positioned to serve selectively as a head rest or chin support.

2. The multi-position stool and rest set forth in claim 1 further characterized by said pair of legs and single leg member respectively being connected to the seat member closely adjacent said ends thereof, thereby to minimize tipping of said seat when positioned horizontally upon a supporting surface, and said single leg member being threadably connected to said seat member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,593,623 Stempel Apr. 22, 1 952 2,611,417 Henry Sept. 23, 1952 2,664,329 Kraska Dec. 29, 1953

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