Self-leveling furniture glide
AssigneeCarpin Manufacturing, Inc.
InventorsHenry J. Carpinella, Ralph Carpinella
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The free end of each leg of a chair, desk, or table has a glide member secured thereto for resiliently distributing at least the neutral weight of the furniture onto a floor. The glide has a base for contacting the floor and a rivet assembly engaging the chair leg. A cup-like urethane cushion is located between the rivet assembly and the base for transferring the chair load resiliently, thereby deflecting the cushion in the vertical direction commensurate with the load. In alternative embodiments, the cushion is augmented or replaced by a coil spring. Thus, each glide adjusts individually for leveling the piece of furniture.
Claims14
A self-leveling glide for attachment to the lower end of a furniture leg, comprising:
- a base having a substantially flat lower surface and an upper surface including at least a portion that is parallel to the lower surface;
- a resilient leveling cushion in the form of an inverted cup defining a rim bearing on said portion of the base upper surface, a pedestal surface spaced from the rim and oriented substantially parallel with said portion of the base upper surface, and a sidewall extending between the rim and the pedestal surface;
- a rivet assembly having an upper end which is connectable to the lower end of one of said legs and a flat lower end which bears against the pedestal surface;
- and
- means for retaining the base to the rivet assembly while permitting the rivet assembly to move relative to the base, thereby straining the cushion.
A self-leveling glide for attachment to the free end of a furniture leg, comprising:
- a base having a substantially flat upper surface and a lower surface for resting on a floor;
- a rivet assembly having an upper end which is connectable to the free end of said leg and a lower end having a pad portion spaced from and facing the base upper surface;
- resilient means interposed between the base member upper surface and the rivet assembly pad portion, for transmitting furniture weight loads from the leg to the base and deflecting commensurately with the magnitude of the transmitted load;
- and
- means for retaining the base to the rivet assembly while permitting the rivet assembly to move relative to the base as the leg is loaded;
- wherein the rivet assembly includes,
- a hollow plug having an open tubular end for engaging said free end of the leg and means for closing the other end of the plug except for an axial bore therein,
- a rivet piece having one end rigidly secured to the closed end of the plug, the other end of the rivet piece having said pad portion formed thereon and in contact with the resilient means, and a stem portion intermediate the ends of the rivet piece, and
- wherein said means for retaining fixedly engages the base and telescopingly engages said stem portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.