Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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COMPOSITE CHAIR
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a chair and particularly to
a composite chair that can be assembled easily without
welding.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Progress of time and increasing quality of people's life
have spawned diversified designs of household articles used
by people to meet various requirements. Take chairs for
instance, there are many types of chairs made of metal to get
the benefits of stronger strength and greater durability. To
make such chairs producers generally have to prepare multiple
types of components, such as front legs, rear legs, a seat
cushion, a backrest and the like that are formed by stamping
metal tubes or plates, then assemble these components by
welding or riveting. As a result, chairs made of metal usually
take more manpower and cost higher than the chairs made of
other material.
For instance, Taiwan patent No. 277284 discloses an
improved assembly structure for a chair leg bracket. The leg
bracket includes a plurality of support bars, a plurality of
bridging bars welded between the plurality of support bars and
a plurality of transverse bars welded on the plurality of
bridging bars. Hence it can be assembled easily by welding.
However, for mass production of the leg bracket at factories,
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the support bars, the bridging bars and the transverse bars
must be first welded in one piece, then surface treatment has
to be made, and finally the backrest and seat cushion are
assembled. As the leg bracket finished by welding is bulky, it
takes a lot of storage space and creates a great deal of troubles
in the assembly plant. Moreover, because the leg bracket
cannot be disassembled, transportation or packing into
containers also is more cumbersome and results in higher
transportation cost.
In addition, in the conventional techniques, if a chair is
assembled and fastened by nuts and bolts, the nuts often need
to be welded inside a chair tube. Such a welding process also
increases the cost. All this indicates that how to design a chair
that can be easily assembled without welding is an issue yet to
be resolved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The primary object of the present invention is to solve the
problems of conventional chairs that are assembled by
welding and result in higher costs and difficult in assembly
and disassembly.
To achieve the foregoing object the present invention
provides a composite chair that includes a chair frame and a
fastening assembly. The chair frame includes a front support
portion, a rear support portion opposing the front support
portion and two parallel support seat tubes to bridge the front
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support portion and rear support portion to form a sitting
space between them. The rear support portion includes a
holding portion which has two locking holes to fasten to the
two support seat tubes. Each of the two support seat tubes has
a first opening faced the sitting space and a second opening
faced one locking hole. The fastening assembly includes two
fastening elements inserted respectively in the first openings,
a support bar connecting to the fastening elements and two
fasteners running through the two locking holes and second
openings to fasten to the fastening elements. Each fastening
element includes a butting portion abutting the surface of the
support seat tube and a screw hole located in the support seat
tube while the fastening element is inserted in the first
opening. Each of the two fasteners includes a thread portion
screwing with the screw hole and a detent block abutting the
holding portion.
In one embodiment each of the two fastening elements
includes a latch portion extending from the butting portions
towards the support bar. The support bar has two coupling
portions coupling on the latch portion.
In another embodiment each of the two fastening elements
includes at least one retaining stud deposed on the butting
portion. Each of the two support seat tubes includes at least
one confining notch corresponding to and latching the
retaining stud to constrain the fastening element from turning
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against the support seat tube.
In yet another embodiment the rear support portion
includes two rear legs connected to the holding portion and a
backrest connected to the two rear legs.
In yet another embodiment the front support portion
includes a bridging tube connecting with the two support seat
tubes and two front legs connected to the bridging tube.
In yet another embodiment the holding portion includes
two connecting portions corresponding to the two locking
holes and run through the second opening to couple with the
two support seat tubes.
In yet another embodiment the chair frame includes a seat
slip deposed in the sitting space and coupled on the two
support seat tubes.
The composite chair thus formed, compared with the
conventional chairs, provides features as follows:
1. The fastening assembly includes the two fastening
elements, the support bar and the two fasteners. The support
bar can be coupled on the two fastening elements, and then the
two fasteners can be fastened to the fastening elements to
assemble the chair frame to easily finish assembly of the
composite chair. Because of the fastening assembly, there is
no need for welding, hence the cost of the composite chair can
be reduced, and assembly and disassembly can be
accomplished easily to shrink the size of the composite chair
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during transportation.
2. Through the retaining stud, the confining notch and the
connecting portions, the chair frame can be coupled with the
fastening assembly simpler and total coupling strength also
increases.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and
advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent
from the following detailed description, which proceeds with
reference to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the composite chair of the
invention.
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary exploded view of the composite chair
of the invention.
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the composite chair
of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED
EMBODIMENT
Please referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention
aims to provide a composite chair that includes a chair frame
1 and a fastening assembly 2 fastened to the chair frame 1.
The chair frame 1 includes a front support portion 11, a rear
support portion 12 opposing the front support portion 11 and
two parallel support seat tubes 13 between the front support
portion 11 and the rear support portion 12 to bridge the front
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support portion 11 and the rear support portion 12. The front
support portion 11 includes a bridging tube 111 connected to
the support seat tubes 13 and two front legs 112 bridged by
the bridging tube 111. In this embodiment the bridging tube
111 and the support seat tubes 13 are welded to form a
U¨shaped frame, but this is not the limitation. In other
embodiments the bridging tube 111 and the support seat tubes
13 can be two separated elements that are fastened together
via, but not limited to, holding elements such as a bolt, a
screw, a screw shank, a pin or a clip ring. The rear support
portion 12 includes a holding portion 121, two fastening holes
122 formed on the holding portion 121 to couple with the two
support seat tubes 13, two rear legs 123 connected to the
holding portion 121, and a backrest 124 connected to the rear
legs 123. In this embodiment, the front legs 112 are connected
to the backrest 124 to form a left armrest and a right armrest,
but this also is not the limitation of the invention. In addition,
the holding portion 121 is located between the two rear legs
123 and connected to the two rear legs 123. In other
embodiments, the holding portion 121 can be two separated
elements respectively located on the two rear legs 123, but
this also is not the limitation of the invention. The two support
seat tubes 13, the front support portion 11 and the rear support
portion 12 jointly form a sitting space 14 for a user to seat.
Each support seat tube 13 has a first opening 131 faced the
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sitting space 14 and a second opening 132 faced the locking
hole 122. The chair frame 1 also has a seat slip 15 coupled on
the support seat tubes 13.
Please referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the fastening assembly
2 includes two fastening elements 21 inserted respectively in
the first openings 131 of the two support seat tubes 13, a
support bar 22 connected to the two fastening elements 21 and
two fasteners 23 run through the locking holes 122 and the
second openings 132 to fasten to the two fastening elements
21. Each fastening element 21 includes a butting portion 211
abutting the surface of the support seat tube 13, a latch portion
212 extending from the butting portion 211 towards the
support bar 22, and a screw hole 213 located in the support
seat tube 13 while the fastening element 21 is inserted in the
first opening 131. The support bar 22 has two coupling
portions 221 coupling on the latch portion 212. In this
embodiment the latch portion 212 is a strut and the coupling
portion 221 is an aperture to hold the strut, but this is not the
limitation of the invention. In other embodiments the latch
portion 212 can be an aperture while the coupling portion 221
can be a strut inserted into the aperture. This also is not the
limitation of the invention. Each fastener 23 includes a thread
portion 231 fastened with the screw hole 213 and a detent
block 232 abutting the holding portion 121 for fastening the
two support seat tubes 13 to the holding portion 121.
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Furthermore, in this embodiment the support seat tubes 13 are
round tubes, hence the butting portion 211 has an arched
surface mating shape of the round tubes. In other
embodiments the support seat tubes 13 can be square tubes,
then the butting portion 211 has a mating flat surface, this also
is not the limitation of the invention.
Also, in order to form firmer coupling and fastening of the
chair frame 1 and the fastening assembly 2, each fastening
element 21 includes at least one retaining stud 214 disposed
on the butting portion 211, and each support seat tube 13 has
at least one confining notch 133 on the surface thereof
corresponding to and latched by the retaining stud 214,
thereby to constrain the fastening element 21 from turning
against the support seat tube 13. In addition, the holding
portion 121 includes two jutting connecting portions 125
corresponding to the two locking holes 122. The connecting
portions 125 can be insert in the second openings 132 and
connected to the support seat tubes 13, thereby facilitate
assembly of the support seat tubes 13. Through the retaining
stud 214, the confining notch 133 and the connecting portion
125, total fastening strength of the chair frame 1 and fastening
assembly 2 can be enhanced.
Please referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, for assembly of the
chair frame 1 and the fastening assembly 2, first, couple the
latch portion 221 of the support bar 22 on the coupling portion
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212 of the fastening portion 21. Next, align the retaining stud
214 with the confining notch 133 and insert the fastening
element 21 into the first opening 131 to position the screw
hole 213 inside the support seat tube 13, and then couple the
second opening 132 on the connecting portion 125 of the
holding portion 121. Finally, have the fastener 23 run through
the locking hole 122 and second opening 132, and screw the
thread portion 231 with the screw hole 213 to make the detent
block 232 tightly pressed against the holding portion 121.
Thus, the chair frame 1 can be easily assembled in one piece
through the fastening assembly 2.
As a conclusion, the composite chair of the invention
includes a chair frame and a fastening assembly. The chair
frame mainly includes a rear support portion and two support
seat tubes connected to the rear support portion. The rear
support portion includes a holding portion and two locking
holes formed on the holding portion to couple with the two
support seat tubes. The fastening assembly includes two
fastening elements inserted into the two support seat tubes, a
support bar connected to the two fastening elements and two
fasteners run through the support seat tubes and the fastened
to the fastening elements. Each fastening element mainly
includes a screw hole plugged in the support seat tube. Each
fastener has a thread portion run through the support seat tube
and fastened to the screw hole, and a detent block abutting the
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holding portion for fastening the holding portion to the two
support seat tubes together. Thus, the chair frame can be
easily assembled to reduce welding cost and physical size.
Moreover, through the retaining stud, the confining notch and
the connecting portion, assembly of the chair frame and the
fastening assembly can be accomplished easier and the
coupling strength thereof also can be enhanced.
