Folding table

• US 3,954,068 A
• Filed: 04/09/1975
• Issued: 05/04/1976
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/1975
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Brenda J.O. Roberts, Deborah Ann Roberts, Donald Lester Roberts, Sadie Roberts
• Original Assignee: Brenda J.O. Roberts, Deborah Ann Roberts, Donald Lester Roberts, Sadie Roberts
• Inventors: Roberts, Sadie, Roberts, Deborah Ann, Roberts, Donald Lester, Roberts, Brenda Jo
• Primary Examiner(s): Mitchell, James C.
• Application Number:
  US05/566,191
• Time in Patent Office: 391 Days
• Field of Search: 108/115, 108/118, 108/119, 108/124, 108/129, 108/132, 108/134, 108/157, 248/188.8
• US Class Current: 105/124
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 2003/0806 and the table top rotating around a horizontal axis
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 3/0918 the struts being permanently connected by pivots to the legs only

Abstract

A table-tray combination having a foldable supporting structure consisting of a pair of legs, held in a vertical position by bases pivoted from the lower ends of each leg and locked in place by slotted braces and detent studs. An arm frame, pivoted from the upper middle region of each leg, forms, together with the upper ends of the legs, the plane to which the detachable tray is clipped. When the bases and arm frame are folded for storage, the structure and tray assume an essentially flat shape. Clips, rigidly attached to each leg, hold the folded structure for storage and preclude opening them improperly.

Claims

1. A folding table comprising a tray surface, an inverted U-shaped leg member, depending from, and attached to said tray surface adjacent to one edge thereof by clip means grasping the horizontal traverse segment of said leg member, an inverted U-shaped arm member, depending from, and attached to said tray surface adjacent to an opposite edge thereof, by clip means grasping the horizontal transverse segment thereof with the lower extremities of said arm member pivotally attached to the leg member approximately at the mid-points of the vertical segments of said leg member, forming a cantilevered support for said tray surface, two base members, one pivotally attached to the lowest extremity of each vertical segment of said leg member such that said base members are mutual parallel and when folded away from said leg segments about the pivot points, orthogonally intersect the line joining said pivot points on the two vertical leg segments, said pivot points on said base members being situated such that approximately four-fifths of said base members extends beneath the tray surface, two brace members, one pivotally attached to each base member in a direction toward the arm member supported edge of the cantilevered tray surface, with the brace members being of the standard slotted type having enlarged circular areas near the ends opposite the pivots to engage the interim diameter of studs affixed to each vertical leg segment at a distance above the lowest extremity of said segments equal to the separation of the brace and base to leg pivot points along the base members, said braces locking said base members at right angles to said vertical leg segments by spring action, two clip members, each formed generally as a rectangular parallelopiped, having three equally spaced circular cross-section grooves formed, transverse to the long dimension, on one surface, with slightly more than half the circular section embedded into said clip member, and having the outer corners of the surface opposite the grooves aesthetically rounded, one of said clip members being rigidly attached to each vertical leg segment, said leg segment passing through the central of the three grooves, above the aforementioned arm member pivot points, at a distance not exceeding that which would permit the folded base members from engaging one of the outer grooves in said clip member, and four "cane tip" type protective caps, one placed over each end of each base member, the entire structure being supported by the base members placed horizontal on a reference surface, thereby holding the leg member in a vertical position and thereby supporting the tray surface in a horizontal plane, said structure being capable of folding such that the base members pivot internal to the separation between the vertical segments of the leg member, being held parallel to said segments by the clip members, and the arm member pivots external to said leg member segments, also to be held vertical by said clip members, with the tray surface forming a nearly vertical plane adjacent to the plane of the folded structure, said tray surface being attached by clip means to the horizontal transverse segment of the arm member.

2. A folding table as defined in claim 1, having said tray surface permanently affixed to said horizontal transverse segment of said arm member in a circumferentially pivotal manner.

3. The folding table of claim 2 in which said brace members are comprised of two segments, pivotally connected at one end of each segment and when extended, pivotally attached at the opposite ends to the base members and leg member, respectively.