Steelcase Inc.

Nancy A Funk

Robert J Battey

Kurt R Heidmann

Michael J Kemen

James J Betcher

David J Battey

Jeffrey A Hall

Theodore M Haan

John L Hendricks

John L McCrackin

John Hanna J Hasbany

Bruce W DuVall, Jr

Paul L Tupper

Peter J Battey

Marcus J Cole

Angela Simon

A pedestal system includes a cabinet having a bottom wall, a top wall, a pair of sidewalls, and a rear wall that cooperate to define a forwardly-opening aperture that slidably receives a plurality of drawer assemblies therein. The pedestal system further includes interchangeable face plates for covering the drawer assemblies, an attachment system for attaching a drawer lock/interlock assembly that locks the drawer assemblies in a closed position and prevents multiple drawer assemblies from being simultaneously opened, and a drawer divider for segmenting an interior space of each drawer assembly. The drawer lock/interlock system includes a cam assembly that allows a constant force to be applied to each drawer assembly while opening each drawer and activating the lock/interlock assembly. The pedestal system further includes an attachment system for attaching the pedestal system to a free-standing partition system.

Pedestal system

A method of manufacturing a furniture component includes steps of molding a panel component of a flexible compliant plastic, the panel component having a continuous perimeter flange and further having flexible strips extending between portions of the perimeter flange that are shaped to flex to comfortably support a human body part. The method further includes molding a tubular perimeter frame of a reinforced structural plastic different than the flexible compliant plastic onto the panel component, the step of molding the perimeter frame including integrally bonded the perimeter frame to the perimeter flange to stiffen the perimeter flange and support the panel component and further including a gas assist process.

Method of manufacturing furniture article

A pivoting armrest assembly for a seating unit includes an armrest support having first and second outer flanges and a center rib, wherein the flanges and the rib define a pair of laterally spaced channels. An arm is pivotally attached to the arm support and has first and second outer ribs that are spaced apart from one another. The pivot attachment is designed to eliminate looseness and bias the arm to one side. When the arm rotates from a vertical to a horizontal position, the first and second outer ribs substantially fill the pair of channels and the center rib intermeshes with the outer ribs, thus eliminating voids and creating a no-pinch condition. The arm and arm support have curved interfacing surfaces that create a self-clearing effect to prevent pinching between a bottom surface of the arm and a front surface of the arm support during rotation of the arm.

Pivoting armrest

A furniture component, such as a chair back or seat, includes a panel component made of a flexible compliant plastic, and a rigid tubular perimeter frame integrally molded onto and hence bonded to a perimeter flange of the panel component to structurally support the panel component. The panel component includes horizontally extending flexible strips shaped to provide comfortable support for a seated user. The perimeter frame extends continuously around the enlarged show area and is made by gas assist processes, which cause the perimeter frame to be tubular and hollow for increased strength-to-weight ratio. Methods related to the above are also disclosed.

Furniture article having panel and integral perimeter frame

A chair base includes a tapered tubular center hub defining a longitudinal centerline and a plurality of radially extending tubular legs. Each leg has top, bottom, and opposing sidewalls defining a rectangular cross section that decreases as the leg extends from the hub. The top and bottom walls each have an arcuately shaped end that is welded to the center hub by top and bottom ring welds. The sidewalls of each leg have enlarged wall sections that are flat and parallel and further have bent flanges adjacent the hub that are angled inwardly from the enlarged wall sections toward the longitudinal centerline. The bent flanges are oriented approximately radially from the centerline to provide optimal structure and to provide clearance between adjacent legs. The clearance prevents interference between adjacent legs despite dimensional variation in the legs from manufacturing and tolerance considerations, thus facilitating assembly. The hub is formed from a constant-thickness wall to define a tapered one-piece tubular shape, with the constant-thickness wall having an inner surface defining a larger upper diameter and a smaller lower diameter for mateably receiving and stably supporting a tapered chair-supporting post.

Chair base

Growing community of inventors

Grand Rapids, MI, United States of America

Nancy A Funk