US3139845A - Collapsible stool - Google Patents

Description

July 7, 1964 J. J. KOLINSKI 3,139,845

COLLAPSIBLE STOOL Filed Sept. 26, 1962 INVENTOR JOSEPH J. Kou/vsm ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,139,845 COLLAPSIBLE STOOL Joseph John Kolinski, 509 S. Front St., Philadelphia, Pa.

Filed Sept. 26, 1962, Ser. No. 226,335 1 Claim. (Cl. 108-119) This invention relates to stools or similar supports and more particularly to a stool or stand of the folding or collapsible variety.

The object of the present invention is to provide a stool or stand which is of great strength capable of supporting an extremely heavy person seated or standing thereon yet which is light and foldable into a flat condition for easy manual transport from place to place where it can be quickly opened into supporting condition and can serve either as a seat or a platform on which a user can stand so as to be elevated above the heads of a crowd.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the stool of the invention set up in a supporting position;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the stool of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the top or seat part in change position;

FIG. 4- is a front elevational view showing the stool in collapsed position;

FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the collapsed stool; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged, broken view of a detail of the invention.

In the drawings the numeral 10 indicates a platform affording a top or seat part of the stool which may be composed of a rectangular sheet 12 of relatively stifi material such as composition board, Masonite (trade name), plywood or similar substance, to the underside of which there are attached as by rivets 14 a pair of spaced metallic strap members 16, 18 which are of substantial strength and rigidity and preferably of a steel having the characteristics of plow steel.

At one end, the straps are bent to form hooks 20 adapted to engage the horizontal part 24 of a unitary inverted U-shaped leg member 26 which may be composed of bent steel tubing having a relatively thick wall section so that the leg member has considerable strength and rigidity. The opposite ends of the straps are bent to form hinges 28 which encircle the horizontal part 30 of a second leg member 32 which is of identical construction as the first leg member 26 except that the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the second leg member 32 are sufiiciently greater than those of the first member 26 so that when in folded condition, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the leg member 26 nests entirely within the leg member 32. To prevent the hinged part 28 from sliding on the horizontal part 30 of the leg member 32, each hinge part may be bracketed by a pair of spaced projections 33 which may be enlarged rivet heads or the like.

The adjacent side parts 34, 35 of the respective leg members 26, 32 are pivotally connected together by a rung assembly 36 which is composed, in part, of an elongated rod 37 which extends through registering holes in the adjacent side parts of the leg members with the ends of the rod being threaded and projecting sufiiciently beyond the outer leg parts 35 to receive conventional cap nuts 38 which serve as stop means to prevent any tendency of the leg side parts to spread laterally. Desirably separating washers 40 are provided between the adjacent leg parts and coaxially arranged over the rod 37 between the inner leg parts 34 of the leg member 26 is a sleeve 42 of preferably strong steel tubing which prevents any tendency of the opposed side parts of the leg members to collapse inwardly towards each other. If desired, the lower ice ends of the leg parts may be provided with conventional rubber cups 44.

Because the inner or smaller U-shaped leg member 26 nests entirely within the outer leg member 32, it will be apparent that the vertical dimension of the side part 34 of the inner leg member must perforce be less than that of the side part 35 of the outer leg member 32. To insure that the top or seat member 12 is perfectly horizontal when the stool is set up as in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inner or smaller leg member 26 may be initially constructed so that its lower ends are about equal to or slightly longer than the corresponding parts of the outer leg member. As a final step of construction the stool may be assembled in supporting condition, as in FIGS. 1 and 2, and turned upside down on a flat surface where a carpenters level extended between the leg ends can be utilized to determine the precise point where the ends of the inner leg member should be cut off so that the seat member 12 will be horizontal when the stool is in its normal position of use. When the ends of the inner leg members have been thus cut off it will be found that when the leg members are in nested condition, the lower ends of the inner leg part will be slightly shorter than the corresponding parts of the outer leg member as can clearly be seen in FIG. 4.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the present invention provides a support of great strength. A particular feature of the invention resides in the use of the spaced strap members which distribute the load to the leg members in a horizontal plane; that is to say, because the two leg members have different vertical dimensions in order to nest, because of the herein described structure the need for a downwardly extending catch member fixed to the bottom of the stool is not required in order to compensate for the difference in the dimensions of the leg members, as is usually the case in so called TV tables in general use. Because the hook and hinge parts of the straps lie in the same plane, the entire load to which the stool may be subjected is taken by the strap members and no load whatever is taken in shear by any part of the stool so that the weight that can be supported thereon is limited only by the strength of the straps and legs.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the stool of the invention is susceptible of a variety of changes and modifications, and of a variety of uses as for a table or other support, without, however, departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A collapsible stool comprising first and second inverted U-shaped leg members of unitary, bent tubular construction, each of said leg members having a horizontal part and spaced side parts, a horizontal rung member extending between and passing through registering holes in the side parts of said leg members intermediate the ends thereof so as to pivotally interconnect said member, the horizontal spacing between the side parts of one of said members and the vertical spacing between said rung and the horizontal part of said member being less than the corresponding dimensions of the other of said members whereby the horizontal and side parts of said first member may nest within the confines of the corresponding parts of the other of said leg members, a pair of spaced metallic strap members having integral hook parts at one end adapted to engage the horizontal part of the smaller of said leg members and having integral hinge parts at the opposite end of said strap members encircling the horizontal part of the larger of said members, and a platform fixed to the upper sides of said straps to provide a supporting surface when the hook parts of said strap members are engaged with the horizontal part of the smaller of said leg members, the dimension of the side parts of the inner smaller of said leg members between said rung and References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 268.214 Frazee Nov. 28, 1882 407,824 Henry July 30, 1889 415,841 Lee Nov. 26, 1889 479,301 Parmelee July 19, 1892 Voorhees Dec. 27, 1892 Collins Oct. 9, 1900 Cerrini July 12, 1910 Nelson et al Dec. 10, 1912 Otto Dec. 31, 1918 Brown Mar. 8, 1921 Pandolfo Apr. 11, 1922 Stone Jan. 27, 1959 Bedol Mar. 26, 1963 FOREIGN PATENTS France Feb. 8, 1933

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