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(11) | EP 0 477 148 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Sofa bed with folding back-side . |
| (57) A sofa bed is described having folding back-side (74) and essentially consisting
of a plurality of frames (12, 14) connected to each other by means of rods (18, 22,
26) driving their movement, suitable to collapse on top of each other in the sofa
mode and to lie in a plane in the bed mode. The back-side (74) of the sofa is connected,
by means of a proper return kinematic mechanism (44, 46, 52, 54, 68) provided for
in the fixed base, to said frames (12, 14) so that it takes a first or back-side position
in the sofa mode and, in the bed mode, it is brought to a second position in which
it lies in the same plane of the other frames (12, 14). |
[0002] Different kinds of sofa-bed are known provided with mechanisms precisely designed to obtain a structure with variable trim which may be used in a first position as a bed and, in a second position, as a sofa.
[0003] The sofa bed according to this invention is, in particular of the type forming the object of the European Patent No.0245219 filed on April 15, 1987 by the same applicant. All matters lying outside of the innovative part of this invention may be considered in the description and drawings of said European patent.
[0004] By means of the sofa bed forming the object of the above mentioned European patent the problem was advantageously solved of the opening and closing of the piece of furniture to bring it in the two using conditions.
[0005] Nevertheless it was found that, in said sofa, the backside, that became the head of the bed, was fixed and therefore hardly replaceable. This caused a drawback with regard to a differentiated production of items according to the specifications required by the customers. The same disadvantage arose for the user when he wanted to change the conformation of the back-side, i.e. of the head of the bed.
[0006] It was also found, in the above mentioned piece of furniture, that in the sofa mode the portion of mattress near the back-side was placed on the outside of the frame and it had substantially a shape like an inverted U with adhering sides. This aspect, even if advantageous as a portion of the mattress can be used also as the back-side of the sofa, could be obtained only making the mattress with a weakening cross-line in the area wherein the U-folding had to take place. Obviously a mattress having such a shape needs works usually not foreseen in the standards of manufacturing of traditional mattresses and makes more complex the realization of the piece of furniture.
[0007] Now it has been invented, and it is the object of this invention, a sofa bed with folding back-side that permits to eliminate the above mentioned disadvantages of the previous sofa bed.
[0008] According to the first remarkable characteristic of the sofa according to this invention, its structure is provided with means suitable to control the movements of the back-side so that it is in the position of actual back-side when the piece of furniture is in the sofa mode and it is brought, in the bed mode, in such a position to constitute, with the other frames the sofa is provided with, the plane of the bed.
[0009] According to a further characteristic of the sofa bed according to this invention, it has such a structure that the folding of the portion of mattress, when the piece of furniture is brought to the sofa mode, takes place around the panel constituting the back-side so that said folding is helped and the mattress is of standard production without any weakening cross-line.
[0010] According to another advantageous characteristic of the sofa according to this invention, an actual head of the bed visible in the bed mode, can be linked to the folding back-side in a proper position, and anyhow in an easily changeable way. This head of the bed can be an element of the equipment of the sofa supplied by the manufacturer or it can be an optional that may be purchased by the user that will provide to have it applied on the sofa, once he has chosen the desired type.
[0011] These and further characteristics, as well as the advantages of the sofa bed according to this invention will become clear from the following detailed description of a non-limiting embodiment thereof, made with reference to the attached drawing in which:
FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the partially opened sofa;
FIGURE 2 is a side view of the sofa in the closed condition;
FIGURE 3 is a side view of the sofa in partially opened position; and
FIGURE 4 is a view of the sofa in the completely spread out condition.
[0012] Referring to said figures there is shown that the sofa according to this invention is essentially composed by a fixed frame referenced as a whole by 10 and by two mobile frames, referenced as a whole respectively by 12 and 14, the first mobile frame 12 thereof is adjacent to the fixed frame 10, while the second mobile frame 14 is adjacent to the first mobile frame 12 and constitutes the extreme frame of the sofa in the bed mode.
[0013] The fixed frame 10 as well as the two mobile frames 12 and 14 are made of metallic tubular and have a substantially rectangular shape. As it can be noticed in particular from Fig. 1, to the two mobile frames 12 and 14 a plurality of wood ledges 16, known also as "staves", is applied, whose extremities are introduced in the cross-sides of the frames 12 and 14 so that they extend lengthwise, i.e. in a direction parallel to the one of the opening and closing of the sofa. The wood ledges (or staves) 16 thus constitute the bearing surface of the mattress but clearly they could be replaced by a bedspring.
[0014] As it is shown in Fig. 1 the fixed frame 10 is not provided with said ledges and some of the means are contained in it which allow to the sofa a new movement according to this invention, with regard to the one of the sofa object of the above mentioned European patent.
[0015] Now the connection will be described between the different frames 10, 12 and 14 referring to only one of the sides of the sofa as the connection between said frames on the other side is substantially the same.
[0016] The three frames 10, 12 and 14 are connected to each other by means of a whole of substantially rectilinear rods which allow the mobile frames 12 and 14 to go from the position represented in Fig. 2 (sofa) to the one represented in Fig. 4 (bed) through the intermediate position shown in Fig. 3.
[0017] The first mobile frame 12 is connected, at its ends, both to the second mobile frame 14 and fixed frame 10. More particularly the first mobile frame 12 is connected to the second mobile frame 14 by means of a substantially rectilinear rod 18 which is pivoted at 19 on the front end of the first mobile frame 12 and at 20 on the second mobile frame 14 in a zone thereof slightly behind with respect to the medium zone.
[0018] The first mobile frame 12 is connected as well to the fixed frame 10 by means of a substantially rectilinear rod 22 which is pivoted, at 24, on the rear end of the first mobile frame 12, while lowerly it is pivoted, in the way that will be detailed described in the following, on the fixed frame 10.
[0019] The three frames 10, 12 and 14 are connected to each other by means of the substantially rectilinear rod 26, having a length greater that the previous rods 18 and 22, which has more particularly a length substantially equal to the sum of the lengths of said rods.
[0020] The connecting rod 26 is pivoted, on an end, at 28 on the front end of the fixed frame 10 and, on the other end, at 30, to the rear end of the second mobile frame 14. The rod 26 is pivoted, on a substantially medium area thereof, at 32, in a substantially medium part of the first mobile frame 12. From this description it follows that the rod 26 connects simultaneously the three frames 10, 12 and 14 to each other.
[0021] Each of the frames 10, 12 and 14 is provided with small legs referenced with 34, 36 and 38 respectively and, according to one of the characteristic of the sofa according to this invention, the small legs 38 of the second mobile frame 14 are of a kind slightly extensible, in particular of telescopic kind, so that said small legs 38, in the bed mode as well as particularly in the sofa mode, can take-on the same height of the remaining small legs 34, 36 of the other two frames. The telescopicity of the small legs 38 of the second mobile frame 14 is shown more in particular in Fig. 3.
[0022] Referring again to the attached figures but referring in particular to the Figs. 1 and 3 there can be seen that the pivoting point of the rod 22 connecting the first mobile frame 12 to the fixed frame 10 is not directly placed on the bar 10A of said fixed frame 10, but said pivoting point 25, as on the other hand the pivoting point 28 of the rod 26 on the fixed frame 10, is placed on a bushing indicated respectively with 40 and 42, fixed on any known fashion under said bar 10A.
[0023] According to one of the characteristics of the sofa according to this invention said rod 22 extends under said fixed frame 10, beyond the pivoting point 25, of a short segment after which said rod 22 bends of a right angle forming an essentially cross-section or rod 44 connecting and forming a single piece with the lower ends of the two rods 22. Thus the rod 44 will be rotating around the same pivoting point 25 of the rods 22 on the fixed frame 10.
[0024] On the cross rod 44, in correspondence with its ends and inside the frame 10, a shaped plate 46 is fixed in any known fashion, for instance by welding, which in the considered embodiment is a four lobes plate.
[0025] As it is shown in particular in the Figs. 1, 3 and 4 two opposite lobes 48, 50 of the plate 46 connect the plate to the fixed frame 10 by means of a pair of springs. More particularly the lobes 48 and 50 are connected respectively by means of the springs 52 and 54 to the ends 56, 58, of a fixed bar 10B underneath and parallel to the bar 10A. The function of the springs 52 and 54 is to help and facilitate the opening operations of the sofa to bring it in the bed mode and vice versa.
[0026] According to a further advantageous characteristic of the sofa bed according to this invention, the third lobe 60 of the shaped plate 46 is pivoted on the end of a fixed rod 62, substantially L-shaped, placed upside down and in particular having the lower end of the longer side fixed in any known fashion, for instance by welding, to the lower bar 10B.
[0027] According to the characteristic aspect of the sofa according to this invention, the pivoting point of the lobe 60 of the plate 46 on the rod 62 is aligned with the pivoting point 25 of the rod 22 on the fixed frame 10, i.e. the two pivoting points are placed at the same height. This because when the rod 22 rotates around the pivoting point 25, the plate 46 must rotate around a pivot coinciding with the pivot 25.
[0028] The fourth lobe 64 of the plate 46 is pivoted at 66 on the end of a connecting rod 68 extending towards the rear part of the fixed frame 10 and pivoted at 70 on a short rod 72 whose other end is linked to a folding panel referenced with 74. The folding panel 74 is pivoted on the fixed frame 10, in the rear part thereof, by means of a pair of short rods 76, 78 hinged to each other on an end at 80 and fixed on the other end respectively to the folding panel 74 and to the bar 10A of the fixed frame 10.
[0029] As it is noticed in particular from Fig. 1, also the folding panel 74 is provided with wood ledges (or "staves") 16 as said panel, because of the above mentioned connection can be brought from the position represented in Fig. 2, in which it is the back-side of the sofa, to the position in Fig. 4 in which it is a part of the plane of the bed.
[0030] As it is noticed in particular from Fig. 1 and 2 the mattress 82, which in the bed mode is completely spread out, is folded on the outside of the sofa in the closed condition thereof, and said folding is helped by the counterclockwise rotation of the folding panel 74, around which a portion of the mattress 82 places itself substantially folded in a shape like an inverted U. This action of the folding panel 74 thus cooperates to the folding of the mattress as above said and this can be of standard production without any weakening area in the folding portion as required in the sofa bed object if the above mentioned European patent.
[0031] Furthermore it must be noticed that, besides the advantages deriving from the presence of the folding panel 74 constituting the back-side of the sofa as well as one of the frames of the plane of the bed, in the sofa according to this invention it is possible to apply, on the lower edge of said panel 74, a tubular structure referenced with 84 and shown, as an example, only in Fig. 1 which can advantageously constitute the head of the bed.
[0032] In the considered embodiment said tubular structure 84 is composed by two pieces 86, 88 pivoted to each other at 90, so that it can have the less encumbrance in the sofa mode, and it is fixed on one end at 92 to the ends of the lower edge of the folding panel 74.
[0033] Such in a way, when the sofa is brought in the bed mode (Fig. 4) the tubular structure can be opened, i.e. brought in a completely plane position forming advantageously the head of the bed. It is clear that this head of the bed can be easily replaced depending on the particular requirements the user will have, when he wants to change, because of taste or of need, the head of his bed.
[0034] The working of the structure of the sofa bed according to this invention is clear from the attached figures and is briefly recalled in the following.
[0035] Wanting to bring the piece of furniture from the sofa mode in Fig. 2 to the bed mode in Fig. 4, it is sufficient to move away the second mobile frame 14 from the fixed frame 10 reaching the condition in Fig. 3, which is an intermediate condition, and this operation is helped by the action of the springs 52 and 54 which, from the stretched position in Fig. 2, reach the one in Fig. 3 in which they to not act elastically, being the position of the sofa shown in this figure an unstable intermediate position, after which the sofa is brought in the bed mode in Fig. 4 through the position in Fig. 1. Such in a condition the plate 46, because of the clockwise rotation of the rod 22, is brought in the condition in Fig. 4 in which the springs 52 and 54 are stretched once again, helping the next operation of closing of the sofa bed.
[0036] The operations required to bring back the sofa from the bed mode in Fig. 4 to the sofa mode in Fig. 2 are exactly the opposite so their description is omitted.
[0037] Referring in particular to Fig. 2 we can see that the telescopicity of the small legs 38 of the second mobile frame 14 allows to adjust the height of said small legs to the one of the other small legs of the sofa, thus making necessary a contact device 94 substantially flat such as, for instance, a small rubber foot or similar.
1. Sofa bed comprising at least a fixed frame and at least a pair of mobile frames suitable
to be moved from a first position in which they are substantially collapsed on top
of each other and of the fixed frame, this position corresponding to the use as a
sofa, to a second position, corresponding to the use as a bed, in which they are substantially
placed side by side to each other and to the fixed frame, the operations to bring
the sofa bed from a position to the other and vice versa being allowed, for each side
of the sofa, by a whole of rods connecting said mobile frames to each other and to
the fixed frame, said rods comprising at least a rod connecting simultaneously to
each other said mobile frames and the fixed frame, said rod cooperating with at least
a pair of rods the first thereof connecting the second mobile frame to the first mobile
frame, while the second one connecting the first mobile frame with the fixed frame,
characterized in that the two rods (22) connecting the first mobile frame (12) with
the fixed frame (10) extend underneath the latter beyond the pivoting point (25) and
are connected by a substantially cross rod (44) which is in turn connected, by a return
kinematic mechanism to a folding panel (74) pivoted, in correspondence with its lower
edge, to the rear side of the fixed frame (10), said folding panel (74) being suitable
to take two positions, the first thereof, substantially vertical, corresponds to the
condition of back-side of the sofa, while in the second one, substantially horizontal,
the folding panel (74) constitutes a portion of the plane of the bed.
2. Sofa bed according to claim 1, characterized in that said return kinematic mechanism
comprises at least a pair of shaped plates (46) fixed on the cross rod (44) and having
a portion connected, by means of a connecting rod (68) to an end of the folding panel
(74).
3. Sofa bed according to claim 2, characterized in that a second portion (60) of the
plate (46), placed in a substantially diametrical position with respect to portion
(64), is pivoted on a rod (62) substantially shaped like an inverted L whose other
end is fixed to a bar (10B) underneath a bar (10A) of the fixed frame (10).
4. Sofa bed according to claim 3, characterized in that the pivoting point of the portion
(60) of the plate (46) on the rod (62) is substantially aligned along a substantially
horizontal line with the pivoting point (25) of the rod (22) on the fixed frame (10).
5. Sofa bed according to claim 4, characterized in that the pivoting point (25) of the
rod (22) on the fixed frame (10) as well as the one of the portion (60) of the plate
(46) on the rod (62), aligned with it, as well as the pivoting point (28) of the rod
(26) connecting the free frames (10, 12, 14) are placed slightly underneath the bar
(10A) of the fixed frame (10).
6. Sofa bed according to claim 3, characterized in that two portions (48, 50) of the
plate (46) placed in a substantailly diametrical position are connected, by means
of the springs (52, 54), to the fixed frame (10) of the sofa.
7. Sofa bed according to claim 2, characterized in that the connecting rod (68) is pivoted
at (70) on a short rod (72) whose other end is fixed to the lower edge of the folding
panel (74).
8. Sofa bed according to claim 7, characterized in that the folding panel (74) is pivoted,
on each side of the sofa, on the fixed frame (10).
9. Sofa bed according to claim 1, characterized in that the small legs (38) of the second
mobile frame (14) are essentially of telescopic type.