US20030052524A1

US20030052524A1 - Connector for a wooden backrest of a chair

Info

Publication number: US20030052524A1
Application number: US09/954,553
Authority: US
Inventors: Ping-Kuei Chiang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Jolly Wood Sdn Bhd
Priority date: 2001-09-17
Filing date: 2001-09-17
Publication date: 2003-03-20

Abstract

A connector for a wooden backrest of a chair, wherein the connector is configured as a tube with a top opening and a bottom opening. The wooden backrest is constituted of an upper part and a lower part and each part having ends to be force fitted into the top opening and the bottom opening of the connector respectively, and thereby connects the upper part and the lower part together to form the backrest in order to efficiently consume wood in manufacture of the chair and assist in environmental protection concern.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a connector, and more particularly to a connector for a wooden backrest of a chair such that the connector is used to connect an upper part and a lower part of the backrest together for the purpose of reducing both the cost of the chair and environmental protection concern.

2. Description of Related Art

Chairs are a kind of common house furniture that people have used for centuries, and there are various types of chairs available in the market. With reference to FIG. 5, a conventional chair commonly seen is shown. The chair has a support ( 50), a backrest (52) securely connected to the support (50), and a seat (54) mounted on the support (50). The backrest (52) further has two rods (522) formed parallel to each other and at least one cross rail (524) connecting the two rods (522). Although there are a lot of materials that can be used to produce the chair mentioned, wood is the preferred kind among the materials to make the main structure of the chair, that is, the support (50) and the backrest (52). However, the cost of wood depends on its length, and from observing the figure it is obvious that the longest component of the chair is the rod (522) of the backrest (52). Therefore, if the rod (522) can be formed by assembling two separate rods instead of an integral rod, the cost of the chair can be reduced. Moreover, wasteful manufacture of chairs in the manner described is one more burden on forest management and epitomizes the destruction of our precious natural resources. Therefore, assembling two short rods into a long rod to form the rod (522) of the backrest (52) is a “green concept” in relation to environmental protection concern.

Accordingly, the present invention tends to provide a connector for a wooden backrest of a chair to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention is to provide a connector for a wooden backrest of a chair such that the connector is able to connect multiple short rods into a long rod to form a rod of the backrest of the chair so as to reduce both the cost of the chair and environmental protection concern.

Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a chair having a connector in accordance with the present invention; [0008]
FIG. 2 is an exploded, perspective view of the chair in FIG. 1; [0009]
FIG. 3 is a partial, cross-sectional view of the chair in FIG. 1; [0010]
FIG. 4 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of the connector assembled on the chair; and [0011]
FIG. 5 is a side view of a conventional chair.[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a chair having a connector in accordance with the present invention is shown. The chair has a support ([0013] 10), a seat (20), and a wooden backrest (40) having two connectors (30).
The support ([0014] 10) rests on the ground and bears a seat (20) mounted thereon. The support (10) and the seat (20) are well known articles thus detailed description is omitted. The backrest (40) has an upper part (402) and a lower part (404). The upper part (402) is constituted of two upper rods (4022) formed parallel to each other and at least one cross rail (4024) connecting the upper rods (4022) to each other. Tile lower part (404) has two lower rods (4042) formed parallel to each other and securely connected with the support (10). The lower rods (4042) are spaced apart from each other in a distance corresponding to a distance between the upper rods (4022).
With reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, each connector ([0015] 30) has a configuration of a tube with a top opening (302) and a bottom opening (304) to respectively connect the upper part (402) and the lower part (404) together. When assembling the backrest (40), two bottom ends of the upper rods (4022) are respectively force fitted into the top openings (302) of the connectors (30). Then the connectors (30) are connected to the lower part (404) of the backrest (40) by respectively force fitting top ends of the lower rods (4042) into the bottom openings (304) of the connectors (30). Therefore, the connectors (30) connect the upper part (402) and the lower part (404) to form the backrest (40).
It is noted from the above description that the connector ([0016] 30) has the advantage and function of connecting the upper rods (4022) with the lower rods (4042) instead of using integral rods as of the conventional chair, in order to reduce the cost of the chair and also to protects the environment.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims. [0017]

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A connector for a wooden backrest of a chair, the wooden backrest having an upper part and a lower part, the upper part having at least one upper rod and the lower part having at least one lower rod, the connector comprising:

a tube having a top opening configured for force fitting with a bottom end of the at least one upper rod, and a bottom opening configured for force fitting with the top end of the at least one lower rod, whereby the connector connects the upper part and the lower part of the wooden backrest together.