Kit for Producing Furniture

The present invention relates to a kit consisting of components for producing furniture, the kit comprising at least one bearing trestle and bearing strunts which can be inserted therein.

In DE 100 22 930 A1 furniture is described that is composed of several plate-shaped individual parts and held together by connectors. Furthermore, DE 10 2018 103 114 A1 describes a camp bed, comprising a four-legged foldable frame made of a laminar renewable raw material and a covering as a lying surface.

In the state of the art in DE 10 2014 106 608 B3 kits for collapsable compartement structures are disclosed. Basis for the furniture that can be fabricated from the kits is a compartement structure that can be pushed together when the item of furniture is not used. However, it is not disclosed that the respective bearing surfaces have fold edges. Like with the kit of the present invention, sustainable materials are used in the construction kit of the state of the art.

Furthermore, in DE 10 2015 001 581 A1 items of furniture are disclosed which can be fabricated from many different components. The furniture is assembled by means of a plug method. For this purpose, a form-fitting connection, consisting of a slot, a recess arranged in the extension of the slot, a slot in the opposite component and a laterally acting latching element must be fabricated. However, it is not disclosed that the items of furniture can be fabriacted from laminar foldable materials.

The construction kits described in the state of the art have considerable disadvantages. On the one hand, the assembly of the furniture is often difficult to carry out, since a plurality of components is used and in many cases connectors or fastening elements must also be attached. Also the bearing strength of the components is not advantageous because it is very small.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide components of kits by means of which stable items of furniture can be fabricated from laminar foldable materials. The components of the kits comprise essentially bearing trestles and bearing struts which can be inserted therein.

The object is achieved by providing a kit consisting of components according to the features of the main claim. Advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent subclaims.

The object of the invention is achieved by a kit for items of furniture, consisting of at least one bearing trestle and at least two bearing struts, wherein the bearing trestle and the bearing struts are formed from laminar foldable materials, wherein the bearing trestle has slots in the bearing area for inserting the bearing struts, and wherein the bearing struts are insertable in folded form into the slots which are introduced in the bearing trestle, and wherein the bearing strut has at least one folding mark in the longitudinal direction, along which the bearing struts are foldable by up to 180°.

According to the invention a kit is preferred, consisting of at least two bearing trestles.

According to the invention it is especially preferred that the bearing struts have two or more folding marks. Here it is especially advantageous that the bearing struts have at least one folding mark in the transverse direction.

In particular, a kit is preferred, wherein at least two bearing struts can be jointly inserted into one slot of the bearing trestle.

Furthermore, in particular preferred is a kit, wherein the folded bearing strut is formed 2-layered, 3-layered or 4-layered. Here it is additionally preferred that the bearing strut is designed as a letter fold, double gate fold, concertina fold, zigzag fold, double parallel fold, or cross fold.

According to the invention a kit is further preferred, wherein the bearing strut has locking slots on the narrow side inserted into the bearing trestle, wherein the locking slots of the bearing strut can be received in the slots of the bearing trestle.

A kit is further preferred, wherein the bearing trestle has at least two folding marks in the transverse direction to form a U-shaped arrangement.

Here it is especially preferred that the bearing trestle has two components in U-shaped arrangement, which can be joined adjacent into one another, and the slots can be arranged to overlap one another.

Furthermore, it is especially preferred that the bearing trestle comprises two components arranged in U-shape, and furthermore at least two non-folded components and/or folded components the arrangement of which forming a rectangularly arranged bearing trestle, and the slots can be arranged to overlap one another.

According to the invention a kit is further preferred, wherein the bearing trestle is configured in form of a triangular prism, the one side edge of which being the bearing area.

Furthermore preferred according to the invention is a kit that has at least one connecting element, which engages in the outer bearing struts and locks the before built items of furniture to one another. The connecting element according to the invention has fold edges. The connecting element is then set up in a U-shape and is locked next to the bearing struts.

In particular advantageously, the connecting element can be used to expand, in particular to broaden, an item of furniture, for example a bed or a pedestal, in any desired size. According to the invention the extension of the items of furniture is possible by the multiple provision of a plurality of bearing trestles and bearing struts. It is therefore possible to create arbitrarily large items of furniture from the components.

It is particularly preferred according to the invention that the at least one bearing trestle and/or the at least two bearing struts of the kit are formed from double wall corrugated cardboard, in particular from a corrugated cardboard in BC flute form.

In addition, the object of the invention is achieved by providing an item of furniture which is fabricated from a kit according to the invention and is in the form of a bed, a table, a stool, a pedestal, a seat bench, a seat surface or a lying surface.

According to the present invention it is possible to expand the items of furniture in length and width. If the items of furniture are expanded in length, further bearing trestles are added which are then locked by means of the added bearing struts. In this way for example a table can be expanded as desired. If the item of furniture is to be broadened, connecting elements are inserted into the previous objects, like for example a bed or pedestal, and locked.

In the sense of the invention the kit consists of at least one bearing trestle and at least two bearing struts, wherein the bearing struts are insertable in at least one slot in the upper area of the bearing trestle.

The components used according to the present invention are formed from laminar foldable materials. These materials can consist of cardboard, corrugated cardboard, carton, plastic, metal, textile fabric or of composite materials of said materials. Especially preferred are materials wherein the components have a protective layer, selected from water-repellant and/or fire-retardant materials and/or a have a decorative layer, selected from paints, films, varnishes, textiles and/or flockings.

Advantageous according to the invention are the laminar foldable materials made of corrugated cardboard, which have double flutes. These double flutes, also called duplex or corrugated cardboards with combined flutes, have an outer layer, a below arranged flute with a small distance to the adjacent flute and relatively little height, there below an intermediate ceiling, then a below arranged wide flute with a greater distance and greater height than the above arranged flute, as well as the inner ceiling arranged at the lower side. The herewith described double flute corrugated cardboard, also called BC-flute is especially advantageous, since the bearing struts that need to be fabricated for the 180° folding do not destroy or tear the outer layer when the fold edge during the folding is formed in direction of the outer ceiling of the corrugated card board. A smooth surface is formed which can be used as bearing surface for further components.

The laminar components namely the bearing trestles and the bearing struts have a length and a width and thus have a longitudinal direction and a transverse direction. Folding marks which are arranged in the longitudinal direction, i.e. along the length of the components or in the transverse direction, i.e. along the width of the components, can be positioned on these components. Thus, folding marks can be arranged on the bearing trestles and on the bearing struts in any desired manner and in any number in the longitudinal direction and/or in the transverse direction. During the assembly of the items of furniture that can be fabricated, the components are then folded along the respective folding marks and inserted into one another accordingly.

The bearing trestle is the component according to the present invention, which can be placed on the floor, for example. The bearing trestle has an upper region and a lower region. The lower region is the region resting on the floor. The term “upper region” in the bearing trestle is defined in such a way that the bearing trestle, for securing the components to be placed, can be erected on a flat surface and thus the upper region is spaced apart from the lower region. The upper region of the bearing trestles is furthermore defined as bearing area. In the upper region, what means in the bearing area, of the bearing trestle slots for receiving the bearing struts are arranged in any number. The slots are advantageously arranged at equal distances from one another in order to optimize the possibility of introducing the bearing struts.

The bearing trestle can have any desired geometric shapes. Preferably bearing trestles are described that are in the form of a cuboid or a triangular prism.

According to the invention, however, other bearing trestles can also be used as components of the kit according to the invention. What is decisive here is that in the bearing area slots for receiving and optionally for locking of the bearing struts are provided.

Here it is preferred that the cuboid bearing trestle can be assembled from a plurality of components. The individual laminar components have, for example, folding marks in the transverse direction, so that the components can be folded in a U-shape in order to form a bearing trestle, wherein the components are then each folded at 90°.

These U-shaped components, namely the bearing trestles, have particular advantages. Because of the parallel arrangement of the two side parts for receiving the bearing struts it is provided according to the invention to arrange the bearing struts only halfway between the parallel side parts. In this way the items of furniture can be erected in extended form. It is therefore possible to use any number of U-shaped bearing trestles as desired. This is very advantageous, for example, for tables, bench seats or pedestals.

It is furthermore intended according to the invention to increase the width of the U-shaped bearing trestles. To this end advantageously at least one bearing trestle is used that can be folded longitudinally. The two previously erected U-shaped, transversely folded bearing trestles are then displaced from one another and then the longitudinally foldable bearing trestle or else the non-folded bearing trestles are arranged in such a way that the slots of the bearing trestles arranged one behind the other are locked with the bearing struts. These arrangements described herein are to be seen in the accompanying figures and are described herein accordingly.

The bearing struts according to the invention disclosed herein have at least one folding mark arranged in the longitudinal direction. This folding mark serves to fold the bearing strut into a 2-layered, 3-layered, 4-layered or multilayered embodiment. In this case, it is provided that the fold has a bend of almost 180°. The folded bearing strut is then inserted into the slots of the bearing trestles. The advantage here is that the folded surfaces of the bearing struts do not have to be fastened or even glued to one another or to other components.

The insertion into the slots of the bearing trestles ensures a fixing in the slots, since a pressure is produced along the folding and thus counteracts a restoring force of the folding. A further advantage of the bearing struts according to the invention is that a smooth folding edge is formed. This smooth folding edge on the upper side is the bearing surface of the assembled kit and therefore does not damage the components that can be placed or are placed like mattresses, cover plates, cushions and the like. Furthermore, according to the invention it is provided that on the lower side of the bearing struts locking slots are arranged that can be locked in the bearing trestles. This ensures that the bearing struts cannot be moved in the longitudinal direction without them being removed from the slots, because this would lead to a problem concerning stability of the assembled kit.

The components assembled in such a way cause a high stability and advantageously also a simple assembly of the items of furniture. The subsequent disassembly of the items of furniture is also simple since no tools are required. For example, defective components can also be replaced or exchanged in a simple manner.

In summary, it can be noticed that the kits of the present invention allow intermediate spaces to be bridged in a preferred manner, for example, with corrugated cardboard, without further stabilizations being required. For this purpose, the bearing struts according to the invention are provided, which are discussed in more detail below.

The combination of the components according to the invention allows to provide items of furniture which are variable in length, height and width. In respect of their design, that means the optical impression and the functionality, the fabricated items of furniture are comparable with furniture that is known culturally. Furthermore, it is an essential factor that, although the items of furniture are made of materials that are sustainable, they are nevertheless suitable for long-lasting use.

The surprising stability, steadiness and durability of the items of furniture according to the invention were acknowledged to the applicant by an accredited test center for positively passing the assessments according to the standards DIN EN 12521:2015, DIN EN 1730:2012, DIN EN 1725:2018 and DIN EN 10 1022:2019.

The following examples illustrate the invention in more detail without limiting the scope of the invention. The present invention is explained in more detail below with reference toto.

shows several views of the bearing strutaccording to the invention.is a cross-sectional view of the bearing strut. The bearing strutconsists of a laminar material which preferably has at least one folding mark, along which the laminar material is folded by up to 180° and thereby forms the bearing strut. The fold edgethus formed has a curved surface, which is advantageous, since no edges are formed on the side of the bearing area of the assembled kit. Inthe bearing strutis shown in a perspective view and inas side view. In thesethe locking slotsare shown, which can be latched into the slotsof the bearing trestles,,,,,. The arrangement of the locking slotsin the bearing strutsis advantageously selected in such a way, that the locking slotscan be latched into the U-shaped bearing trestles,, in order to fix the U-shaped profile thereof. The spacing of the locking slotsis therefore selected in such a way that their distance corresponds to the distance of the side parts of the U-shaped profile during assembly of the bearing trestle. Only one locking slotis introduced on the opposite side of the bearing strut, since, for example, when several bearing trestles,,,are used, the bearing strutmust only be insertable in one side part of the U-shaped profile,. However, it is clear that when only two bearing trestles,are used, at least four locking slotsare introduced in a corresponding arrangement on the underside of the bearing strut. This is shown, for example, infor the bearing strutshown there with four locking slots. Four locking slotsare required when the bearing struts are to be arranged only on two bearing trestles. However, it is also possible to arrange in each case four locking slotsin the respective bearing struts, even if these bearing struts are to be arranged in several bearing trestles.

is a cross-sectional view of bearing strut, which is formed of corrugated cardboard. The fold markformed in longitudinal direction of bearing strutis formed opposite to fold edge. Then, along fold markthe bearing strut is folded. Fold edgeforms the bearing area of bearing strut.

It is shown that the fold edge is formed in an arc-shaped manner, whereby a smooth surface is formed. This smooth surface has the advantage that objects that are deposited thereon, such as mattresses or cover plates, are easily displaceable and whereby the surfaces of the displaceable objects are not damaged.

It is particularly advantageous (not shown) if the corrugated cardboard has two different sides. The side oriented at the fold edgeis formed with finer flutes, while the side opposite the fold edgeis formed with wider flutes. This leads to the fold edgeadvantageously not being torn open during folding.

Incross-sectional views of different embodiments of the folded bearing struts,are illustrated.shows a simple V-fold and thus forms a two-layer bearing strut, wherein the bend along the fold mark is approximately 180°.shows the parallel arrangement of two 2-layer bearing struts, wherein the fold edges are each aligned to the upper side.shows a concertina-like fold, wherein a 3-layer bearing strutis configured. Ina 4-layer bearing strutis shown, which is configured in form of a double gate fold, which can be also designated as eight-sided window fold.shows a 4-layer bearing strutin form of a double parallel fold. The variant of bearing strut ofis characterized in that the upper edge of the bearing strutdoes not have a gap.shows a 4-layer bearing strut, which is designed in the form of a variant of the concertina fold, which is referred to as Swiss-fold.shows a further concertina fold, which forms a 4-layer bearing strut. The variants of the bearing struts,,shown inrepresent fold variants known per se. It is clear that apart from the 2-, 3-, and 4-layer bearing struts,,also bearing struts with any number of layers can be formed.

Ina perspective view of the cross folded bearing strutis shown.shows the laminar arrangement of the not yet folded bearing strut. This bearing struthas a fold markbeing arranged centrally in longitudinal direction and a fold markbeing centrally arranged in transverse direction.shows that the rear part of bearing strutis folded along the transversely arranged folding mark. Inthe folding along fold markto almost 180° is shown.now shows the further folding of bearing strutalong fold markarranged in longitudinal direction, wherein the fold edgesalong bearing strutare shown. It is clear that because of the cross-foldlike arrangement of the bearing strutin the area of the folding markno open surfaces are formed at the fold edges. This has the advantage that smooth and curved surfaces are thus formed on the end sides of the bearing struts. This is particularly advantageous with the kit shown inbut can also be used for all further kits according to the present invention.

Ina perspective view of the arrangement of two bearing trestlesis shown.shows the components of the 2-layer bearing strutand of the bearing trestlesin an arrangement where they are separate from one another.shows the arrangement of the bearing trestlesin an arrangement displaced into one another. This arrangement can be designed as desired. The U-shaped configuration of the bearing trestlesmakes it possible to arrange a componentin the inner sides of the other component, or in each case to arrange one side of the componenton the outside of the other component. Infinally the insertion of the supporting strutinto the slotsof the assembled bearing trestlesis shown. The bearing strutshown in thisis 2-layered and the fold edgeis oriented towards the bearing surface.

Ina perspective view of the arrangement of the bearing trestles,and of the bearing strut, as well as a detailed view of the connection of these components is shown. This view substantially corresponds to the example of. The U-shaped bearing trestlehas furthermore a cover flap. This cover flapadvantageously fixes the U-shaped arrangement of the bearing trestle. Componentsare inserted into the inner sides of the U-shaped profile of the bearing trestle, which are designed to be laminar. By inserting the bearing strutinto the slotsof the bearing trestles,, the bearing trestles,are interconnected, whereby the bearing struts, however, are still moveable in the longitudinal direction. Finally, the bearing strutfixes the bearing trestles,to one another by means of the locking slots, which can be locked in the slots. A movement of the bearing strutsin longitudinal direction is thus avoided. Init can be furthermore derived that two bearing strutstogether are inserted into the slots. The two bearing strutsare arranged in such a way that both fold edgesare aligned with respect to the bearing surface. However, according to the invention, it is also provided that one of the bearing struts, in a shape turned by 180°, can be inserted into slot. As already mentioned, it can be considered to be a particular advantage of the arrangement of the components,of the bearing trestles that the width of the bearing trestles can be chosen as desired. Only sufficiently large laminar components have to be used.

Inan assembled kit in form of a bed is shown in perspective. The assembled kit comprises three bearing trestles, each assembled fromand, andbearing struts, which are inserted into the slotsof the assembled bearing trestles,. The bearing struts each have a fold edge, which are aligned in respect of the bearing surface. The bearing trestles, which are each folded, further have a cover flap, in order to close the open upper sides of the bearing trestles. The bearing strutsthat are inserted side by side then form the bearing surface in the area of the fold edges. On the bearing surface in the area of the fold edgesany object (not shown) can be placed, like for example a mattress on a bed.

is an exploded view of the object of. The exploded view shows the bearing strutsand the components,of the bearing trestles. It is shown that each of the bearing trestles,consists of four laminar components,. The componentsare folded in U-shape and therefore can be set up. The respective componentsare arranged beside the inner sides of the elongated side parts of the U-shaped components. An essential advantage of the respective bearing trestles,is that the length of the bearing trestle formed by the components,can be arranged as desired. Thereby, it is possible to prepare any width of the bed. Only the number of the bearing strutsthat are to be inserted into the slotsmust be selected. Thus, the width of the bed can be for example 70 cm, 80 cm, 100 cm, 120 cm, 140 cm, 160 cm, 180 cm, 200 cm and 250 cm. The same also applies to the length of the bed. The bearing strutshave a length that guarantees a high stability. The length can be up to 150 cm or more, depending on the kind of the laminar material and of the kind of the folding of the bearing strut. In the present example the length of the bearing strut is about 100 cm. Thus, by apposition of the bearing strutsa bed length of about 200 cm is formed. In the present example ofanda bed with the common standard dimensions ofcm in width andcm in length is shown. In this case,bearing trestlesare now used. Each bearing trestleis produced from two bearing trestlesfolded in U-shape and from two not folded bearing trestles, as this is partially shown in. The respective bearing strutshave locking slotson the lower edge, that is the edge opposing the fold edge. With the respective locking slotsof the bearing strutsthe bearing strutsare fixed in the respective slotsof the bearing trestles,. This causes that the bearing strutscannot be moved, neither in longitudinal direction nor in transverse direction. Thus, the bearing strutscan only be removed in the direction of the bearing surface, that is to say upwards.

In thea perspective view of two bearing trestles in form of a triangular prismis shown.shows the individual components andthe assembled components, which show the completed item of furniture.shows the slotsthat are arranged correspondingly on the upper side of the triangular prism. The bearing strutscan be inserted into these slotsand are fixed by the locking slotsarranged at the lower side of the bearing struts. When all bearing strutsare inserted into the slotsof the triangular prism, then, on the upper side of the bearing strutsfor example a cover plateis placed. The shown triangular prismis a bearing trestle, which has special advantages. The prism-like configuration achieves a stable bearing on a floor surface. The bearing strutscan be inserted into the slotsarranged in the upper region of the prism. The upper side of the bearing strutscan then be equipped with any cover plate. It is clear that the height of the triangular prism can be formed in any desired way. This is dependent on the height on which the usable surface shall be provided on the upper side. Thus, the kit can be configured as table, as pedestal, or as couch or bed.