COMBINATION DESK AND CHAIR

• US 3,770,334 A
• Filed: 11/09/1970
• Issued: 11/06/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/1969
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Reinold Weber
• Original Assignee: Reinold Weber
• Inventors: Weber, Reinold
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilliam, Paul R.
• Application Number:
  US05/087,780
• Time in Patent Office: 1,093 Days
• Field of Search: 312/223-249,194 297/170 248/404-405,422 108/147
• US Class Current: 312/223.4
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 2037/005 Tables specially adapted for laboratories
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 2083/025 Computer workstation with integrated seat
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 21/03 with substantially horizontally extensible or adjustable parts other than drawers, e.g. leaves
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 21/06 characterised by means for holding, fastening or concealing cables
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 2200/0072 Computer work stations with integrated seat or chair
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 2200/0085 Supplementary support fixed on the edge of a desk or table
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 2200/0086 Supplementary support fixed to the extension of a table leg
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 9/10 with vertically-acting fluid cylinder

Abstract

A desk top is rigidly secured to a vertically movable column constituting a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder for a piston rising from the floor or depending from the ceiling. The piston is tubular and accommodates wiring and/or fluid pipes supplying electric or other equipment on the desk. A chair facing the desk top has a frame fastened to the piston or the cylinder. Receptacles, such as a waste basket and a file cabinet, are slidably received in rails on the underside of the desk top and are normally raised off the floor to facilitate sweeping, these receptacles being provided with casters for easy transportation to another location upon being lowered onto the floor and withdrawn from their rails.

Claims

1. A piece of office furniture comprising a desk top and a support therefor, said support consisting essentially of an upright extensible post including a cylinder member and a piston member slidable in said cylinder member under fluid pressure, one of said members being rigid with said desk top, the other of said members being fixedly secured to a surrounding building structure, said piston member being hollow and internally provided with at least one supply line having terminal means at said desk top for connecting to office equipment to be supplied thereby;

said desk top being cantilevered to said post by a marginal portion engaging said one of said members and including a swingable worktable provided with hollow pivot means hingedly securing same to said marginal portion, at least part of said terminal means being carried on said worktable and connected to said supply line by conductor means axially traversing said hollow pivot means.

2. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 1 wherein said piston member is rigid with the floor of a room defined by said building structure.

3. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 1 wherein said structure is provided with utility mains, said supply line being coupled to said mains through a pair of mating connectors at an end of said piston member.

4. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 1, further comprising an adjustable frame extending from said post beneath said desk top and a seat on said frame confronting said desk top on a side remote from said marginal portion.

5. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 1 wherein said desk top is provided on its underside with rail means and with depending receptacle means detachably secured thereto by said rail means.

6. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 5 wherein said receptacle means is provided with an undercarriage enabling transportation thereof along a floor.

7. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 5 wherein said desk top is provided with at least one access opening overlying said receptacle means.

8. A piece of office furniture comprising a desk top and a support therefor, said support consisting essentially of an upright extensible post including a cylinder member and a piston member slidable in said cylinder member under fluid pressure, one of said members being rigid with said desk top, the other of said members being fixedly secured to a surrounding building structure provided with utility mains, said piston member being hollow and internally provided with at least one supply line joining said mains at an end of said piston member and having terminal means at said desk top for connection to office equipment to be supplied thereby;

said supply line including a flexible element emerging from the interior of said piston member at an intermediate point and continuing thence outside said piston and cylinder members with enough slack to allow movement of an edge of said cylinder member past said intermediate point in opposite directions, said cylinder member being spaced from said piston member in the region of said edge with formation of a clearance accommodating part of said element.

9. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 8 wherein said cylinder member is provided with an external sheath spacedly surrounding same and forming therewith a channel for a portion of said element.

10. A piece of furniture as defined in claim 5 wherein said cylinder member is provided near said edge with a hole traversed by said element between said channel and said clearance.

11. A piece of office furniture comprising a desk top and a suppoRt therefor, said support consisting essentially of an upright extensible post including a cylinder member and a piston member slidable in said cylinder member under fluid pressure, one of said members being rigid with said desk top, the other of said members being provided with an open-ended socket fixedly secured to a surrounding building structure and being further provided with retaining means for immobilizing same in said socket, said piston member being hollow and internally provided with at least one supply line having terminal means at said desk top for connection to office equipment to be supplied thereby;

said supply line including at least one electrical conductor and coupling means comprising an axially movable base plate in said socket resiliently biased toward the open end of said socket receiving said other of said members, the latter having an end plate with a termination for said conductor, said base plate carrying a complementary formation engageable with said termination in a fully inserted position of said other of said members and tied to utility mains in said structure.

12. A piece of office furniture comprising a desk top and a support therefor, said support consisting essentially of an upright extensible post including a cylinder member and a hollow piston member slidable in said cylinder member under fluid pressure, one of said members being rigid with said desk top, the other of said members being provided at an end portion thereof with a socket fixedly secured to a surrounding building structure and being further provided with retaining means for immobilizing said end portion in said socket;

electrical conductor means within said post passing partly through said piston member and partly through said cylinder member in a generally vertical direction, said conductor means having a first termination at said desk top for connection to office equipment to be supplied thereby and having a second termination at said end portion; and

connector means in said socket matingly engaging said second termination upon insertion of said end portion into said socket, said connector means being conductively joined to utility means in said structure.