Furniture with Improved Safety Features and Methods of Manufacturing Same

The present disclosure relates to furniture. More particularly the present disclosure relates to furniture with improved safety features such as anti-tipping features.

Furniture manufacturers are subject to various safety regulations. For example, the STURDY Act, provides new child safety measures. Under this legislation, mandatory rules were established for freestanding “clothing storage units,” such as dressers and chests. These rules now include an increased testing weight of 60 pounds, effectively simulating the weight of children up to 72 months old during product safety evaluations. Real-world scenarios involving common usage, including factors like carpeting and typical forces applied to dressers, are now integrated into the testing protocols. Furthermore, stringent warning labels have been implemented, ensuring that consumers are well-informed about potential risks associated with these products. With these comprehensive measures in place, the STURDY Act enhances the safety of clothing storage units, effectively mitigating risks to children.

In order to properly comply with the STURDY act, some manufacturers have added weight to the base of the furniture to lower the center of gravity and decrease the chances of furniture tipping. This increase in weight also increases the costs of freight and shipping, which adds to the price of the unit, or decreases profit margins to the manufacturers. The increase in weight also adds waste. Another approach is to shorten dressers, chests and other furniture, but this alone decreases the capacity of these pieces to the detriment of the consumer.

Thus, despite advances that have been made in this area, there are a variety of problems associated with currently available devices and methods. Hence, there is a continuing need for improving these fixtures and methods to address at least some of these concerns.

In some examples, a clothing storage unit, includes a frame having a top and a bottom, a front and a back, and two sides, the frame defining an interior, a plurality of drawers, disposed with the interior of the frame, the plurality of drawers being configured to be pulled out from the front of the frame, at least one side access door disposed on one of the two sides of the frame and configured to allow access into the interior of the frame, and at least one false door affixed to the front of the frame, the at least one false door being disposed orthogonal to the at least one side access door.

Various embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the appended drawings. It is to be appreciated that these drawings depict only some embodiments which may or may not all be required for functionality of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope.

Despite the various improvements that have been made to this field, conventional devices suffer from some shortcomings as described above.

There therefore is a need for further improvements to the devices, systems, and methods of improving safety features of free-standing furniture clothing storage units. Among other advantages, the present disclosure may address one or more of these critical needs.

As used herein, the term “proximal,” when used in connection with a component of a fixture, refers to the end of the component closest to the ground, whereas the term “distal,” when used in connection with a fixture, refers to the end of the component farthest from the ground.

As shown in, a clothing storage unit(e.g., a dresser) may include a framewith a top, bottom, front, back (not shown), and two sides,, defining an interior space. Within this frame, multiple drawersare positioned to be pulled out from the front. In this example, three pull-out drawersare disposed in the middle of frame, although more of fewer drawers are possible. In this example, the uppermost drawer is spaced from the top of the frame by a gap equal to the height of one of the drawers. In this manner, an uncovered cavitymay be formed over the plurality of drawers. The elimination of drawers above a critical height and the inclusion of an uncovered cavitymay be useful in increasing safety by reducing the possibility of tipping of the unit (i.e., a child cannot hang onto a drawer at the height of the uncovered cavity to tip the storage unit). Additionally, unitmay include at least one side access dooron one of the frame's sides,to provide entry into the interior. In this example, two side access doorsare formed on each end of the unit, the side access doors being configured to open via a hinge fixed to the back of the unit. Cubbies, receptacles or compartmentsmay be accessible via the side access doors. To enhance aesthetics (and to maintain the appearance of a traditional dresser), at least one false dooris attached to the front of the frame, oriented at a right angle to the side access door. Two false doorsare shown, flanking the plurality of drawers. False doorsmay be permanently affixed to the front of the frame or hinged to allow access through the front. In some examples, the false doorswill have a pattern that looks like pullout drawers.

illustrates another example of a clothing storage unit. In this example, a clothing storage unit(e.g., a chest) may include a framewith a top, bottom, front, back (not shown), and two sides, defining an interior space. The sidesdefine a first width W, and the front defines a second width W, the second width Wbeing larger than the first width W. Within this frame, multiple drawersare positioned to be pulled out from the front. In this example, three pull-out drawersare shown, although more or fewer drawers are possible. At least one accessible dooris disposed above the drawers. In this example, two accessible doorsthat cover two cavities are shown above the doors. The accessible doorsmay be pivotable. The accessible doorsmay be slidable. The accessible doorsmay be both pivotable over a hinge then slidable so that they are completely out of view when open. The elimination of drawers above a critical height and the inclusion of a cavitymay be useful in increasing safety by reducing the possibility of tipping of the unit. Specifically, in this example, the plurality of drawersare limited to being positioned only below the critical height. This critical height may be 24 inches, 26 inches, 28 inches, 30 inches, 32 inches, 34 inches, 36 inches, 38 inches or 40 inches. Any compartments or cavities above the critical height may be covered only by accessible doors.

illustrate another example of a clothing storage unit. In this example, a clothing storage unit(e.g., a chest) may include a framewith a top, bottom, front, back (not shown), and two sides, defining an interior space (not shown). The sidesdefine a first width W, and the front defines a second width W, the second width Wbeing larger than the first width W. Within this frame, multiple drawersare positioned to be pulled out from the side. In this example, three pull-out drawersare shown, although more or fewer drawers are possible. At least one accessible dooris disposed above the drawers. In this example, one accessible doorcovers two cavities. The accessible doorsmay be hinged, as shown, pivotable or slidable. In this example, the plurality of drawersmay be limited to being positioned only below the critical height, which may be 24 inches, 26 inches, 28 inches, 30 inches, 32 inches, 34 inches, 36 inches, 38 inches or 40 inches. Any compartments or cavities above the critical height may be covered only by accessible doors. Additionally, as shown, the plurality of drawersand the at least one accessible doorhave a similar design and would be indistinguishable to the user from the outside.

illustrate another example of a clothing storage unit. In this example, a clothing storage unit(e.g., a chest) may include a framewith a top, bottom, front, back (not shown), and two sides, defining an interior space (not shown). The sidesdefine a first width, and the front defines a second width, the second width being larger than the first width as previously described with reference to the previous embodiment. Within this frame, multiple drawersare positioned to be pulled out from the side. In this example, two pull-out drawersare shown disposed above two shelves. At least one accessible dooris disposed over the drawersand shelves. The accessible doorsmay be hinged, as shown, pivotable or slidable. In this example, the plurality of drawersmay be limited to being positioned only below the critical height, which may be 24 inches, 26 inches, 28 inches, 30 inches, 32 inches, 34 inches, 36 inches, 38 inches or 40 inches. Any compartments or cavities above the critical height may be covered only by accessible doors.

In another example, shown in, a clothing storage unit(e.g., a dresser) may include a framewith a top, bottom, front, back (not shown), and two sidesdefining an interior space. Within this frame, multiple drawersare positioned to be pulled out from the front. In this example, two pull-out drawersare disposed in the middle of frame, although more of fewer drawers are possible. In this example, the uppermost drawer is spaced from the top of the frame by a gap equal to the height of one or two of the drawers. In this manner, an uncovered cavitymay be formed over the plurality of drawers. The elimination of drawers above a critical height and the inclusion of an uncovered cavitymay be useful in increasing safety by reducing the possibility of tipping of the unit (i.e., a child cannot hang onto a drawer at the height of the uncovered cavity to tip the storage unit). Additionally, unitmay include at least one side access dooron one of the frame's sidesto provide entry into the interior. In this example, two side access doorsare formed, one on each end of the unit, the side access doors being configured to open via a hinge fixed to the back of the unit. Cubbies, receptacles, compartments or lockable hidden lockersmay be accessible via the side access doors. To enhance aesthetics (and to maintain the appearance of a traditional dresser), at least one false dooris attached to the front of the frame, oriented at a right angle to the side access door. Two false doorsare shown, flanking the plurality of drawers. False doorsmay be permanently affixed to the front of the frame or hinged to allow access through the front. In some examples, the false doorsmay have a pattern that looks like pullout drawers. Additional schematics are shown inwhich illustrate variations of the themes and features described herein.

Although the invention herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

It will be appreciated that the various dependent claims and the features set forth therein can be combined in different ways than presented in the initial claims. It will also be appreciated that the features described in connection with individual embodiments may be shared with others of the described embodiments.