US3144236A - Protector-type cover for furniture corners - Google Patents

Description

AUS- 11, 1964 A. L.. cLANlN 3,144,236

PROTECTOR-TYPE COVER FOR FURNITURE CORNERS Filed June l, 1962 Fig.2

/0 V/ y I Alfa L. Clan/'n -V- i| INVENTOR. 8 22 22 BY L corner portions.

United States Patent O 3,144,236 PROTECTR-TYPE CUVER FOR FURNITURE CORNERS Alta L. Clanin, Rox 134, Toluca, Ill.

Filed .lune 1, 1962, Ser. No. 199,351 1 Claim. (Cl. 24S-446.1)

The present invention relates to safety-type corner guards, corner protectors and the like and has to do with accident prevention in that it functions as a practical and reliable safeguard for careless youngsters and children.

It is a matter of common knowledge that many of the accidents which occur in homes are traceable to falls where, during the course of play the child victim collides with a dangerous corner on an article of furniture. Attempting to curb running and romping activities of accident-prone children is usually unsuccessful despite warnings and their own knowledge of recurring accidents when colliding with corners on end tables, coffee tables, card tables and the like. To cope with the problem corner shielding caps and protectors have been devised. Persons conversant with the state of the art to which the invention relates are aware that many and varied corner guards have been proposed and offered for use.

Because it has a bearing on the instant matter, the corner protector, attention is directed to Bright, 2,995,864. Brights protector is a typical example in that it has components which are cooperable with exposed edges and It will be noted that the several segmental walls are secured in place by difficult-to-remove adhesive elements. Moreover, only minimal areas are shielded while other vulnerable areas are left uncovered.

An object of the instant invention is to improve upon the Bright corner protector and any other prior art adaptations which fall in the category to which the present invention pertains. To the ends desired, and as will be hereinafter made more clearly apparent the instant accident preventing cover shields not only the sharp vertical corner at the juncture of the right angular marginal edge portions of the table top but, in addition, top and bottom walls serve to cover significant top and bottom surfaces at the vicinity of the corner.

More explicitly, the invention features triangular top and bottom walls disposed in spaced parallelism and having their outer marginal edge portions joined by a connecting web. The connecting web provides a vertical wall and has right angular portions which coact with the marginal surfaces of the corner construction and also shield the aforementioned sharp vertical edge.

Furthermore, novelty is predicated on top and bottom triangular walls properly joined together and wherein these Walls are washable and preferably made of plastic material and are quilted and padded.

Then, too, the overall attachment is novel in that it is provided with suitably elongated flexible tapes or ties which may be tethered to an adjacent leg whereby to securely hold the cover in its intended place while, at the same time, permitting it to be removed whenever necessary or desired.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE l is a view in perspective showing a fragmentary portion of a leg-supported table wherein the corners at the left and right are shielded and safeguarded by the improved protector-type covers herein disclosed and claimed;

FIGURE 2 is a view in perspective showing one of the covers removed from the table corner;

3,144,236 Patented Aug. 11, 196.4

FIGURE 3 is an exaggerated view in section taken on the plane of the section line 3-3 of FIGURE 1 looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGURE 4 is a plan view on a small scale showing the several component parts from which the finished cover is made up.

Unlike cardboard, foam rubber and one-piece sheet material prior art corner guards the one herein shown and. described is preferably constructed from material which is suitably cushioned but is also washable, is economical, easy to handle and otherwise suitable for the purposes intended. While it would be Within the purview of the concept to provide a cap-like cover and to equip it with attaching tapes or ties the preferred construction is that illustrated and which is characterized by a triangular top wall 6, a corresponding triangular bottom wall 8 and an intervening connecting wall or web 1t?. The latter in plan as shown for example in FIGURE 4 maybe regarded as rectangular in outline. In any event each wall is made of cotton-filled quilted plastic material. The plastic plies as shown, for example, at the top in FIG. 3 are denoted at 12 and 14 and are fashioned into pockets which contain the cotton filling or compressibly resilient pads 16. The component portions of the plies which go to make up the pockets are electronically sealed rather than stitched. The coacting marginal edges between the component parts 6, 8 and 10 are overlapped and sewn or sealed together to provide seams as at 18 which go to make up the seams 18 are, of course, stitched in the usual manner and then the article is turned inside out so that the seams project in and actually engage coacting edge portions of the table to afford additional protection and in fact to protect the same against ready breakage and separation. The edges 20 (FIG. 4) are stitched or electrically seamed (not shown) to the converging or diverging marginal edges 22 in a manner to join the components 6, 8 and 10 together to provide the finished triangulate hollow cap or cover shown in FIG. 2.

The tethering tapes or ties are denoted at 24 and have their end portions joined to the corner portions of the cover as shown at 26 in the manner clearly illustrated in FIG. 2. These tapes or ties are of suicient length that they may be tethered and secured around the leg of the table in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1.

With further reference to FIG. 1 the table top is denoted at A, the top surface at B, the bottom surface at C, the marginal surfaces at D and E and it will be noticed that when the device is in use and tied in place these significant surfaces A to D, inclusive, as well as the sharp edge F (FIG. 3) are all protectively covered.

While the edges 28 and 30 are illustrated as stitched it will be evident that these edges could, within the purview of the invention, be heat-sealed and, if desired, can be covered with edge-binding tape or the like. In fact, double rather than single plies of material can be used by simply folding rectangular components (not shown) into triangular halves.

It is believed that a careful study of the specification in conjunction with the views of the drawing will enable the reader to fully comprehend the invention. Therefore, a more extended description is thought to be unnecessary.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly al1 suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

An accident preventing safety-type guard for ready application to and removal from a right angled sharp corner on the top structure of an end table, coffee table, card table, kitchen table or the like comprising: a conformable snug-fitting corner enclosing surface capping cover, said cover comprising a padded top Wall triangular in plan, a padded bottom Wall also triangular in plan and approximately the same size as the top Wall, said top and bottom walls being provided with and connected by an intervening elongated web, said Web having portions thereof at right angles to each other and having upper and lower marginal edge portions secured to cooperating marginal edge portions of said top and bottom Walls, said cover thus constructed constituting a triangular corner enclosing cap wherein the top and bottom Walls cooperate in `assuring that when the cap is in place it becomes substantially self-retaining, and a pair of individual tying tapes having outer ends secured to opposite end portions of said bottom Wall where the marginal edge of the latter is joined with marginal ends of said web, the opposite ends of said tapes being free and thus designed and adapted References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,712,352 March May 7, 1929 1,856,799 Waters May 3, 1932 2,586,153 Eisman Feb. 19, 1952 2,904,128 Boham et al. Sept. 15, 1959 2,940,210 Aulds June 14, 1960 3,030,728 Wesman Apr. 24, 1962 3,041,775 Brown et al July 3, 1962

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