US20190307243A1

US20190307243A1 - Foldable table

Info

Publication number: US20190307243A1
Application number: US16/284,096
Authority: US
Inventors: Chang Soon Lee
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2018-04-04
Filing date: 2019-02-25
Publication date: 2019-10-10
Also published as: KR200488160Y1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a folding table and is intended to improve the ease of use of the table by enabling the folding and unfolding operation of the support legs to be performed more quickly and easily. In order to realize this, the present invention provides a folding table in which the support legs 20 are foldably formed on both side bottom surfaces of the tabletop plate 10, and a support member 30 for supporting the unfolded state is connected to the support legs 20. A guide panel 40 for guiding the movement of the support member 30 is fixed to the bottom surface of the tabletop plate 10 and guide grooves 41 are formed on both side walls of the guide panel 40. A guide rod 31, which is guided along the guide grooves 41, is integrally formed at one end of the support member 30. A rotary plate 50 is rotatably connected to the guide panel 40 by a hinge 52 formed at one end thereof, and the rotary plate 50 has an engaging jaw 51 so that the guide rod 31 can be hooked thereto. The guide panel 40 is provided with an elastic spring 53 for supporting the rotary plate 50 with a certain elastic force.

Description

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 20-2018-0001515 filed on Apr. 4, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a folding table, and more particularly, to a folding table for improving the ease of use of a table by making folding operation of a table leg faster and easier.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, various tables are manufactured in various sizes and shapes to suit their use. In the case of a baby table, the size is small and light, and a home or office table requires a convenience in use, so that the size is large and heavy. In addition, in the case of a table used in a room such as a lecture room or a conference room, it is made light and easy to move and store as compared with a home or office table.
As a conventional example of a technique related to such a table, Korean Utility Model Publication No. 2017-2695 discloses a technique related to a foldable table capable of storing with a folded leg portion. However, the folding structure in the above-described prior art has a problem in that the structure is complicated because a large number of component parts are provided, and the opened leg can accidentally be folded during use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems in the prior art described above, and it is possible to simplify the folding structure of the legs and to rapidly perform the leg opening operation. Further, the present invention aims to improve the usability of the table by allowing the legs to be stably deployed.
In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a foldable table having support legs foldable on both sides of a tabletop plate, wherein the support leg is connected to a support member for supporting the unfolded state. A guide panel for guiding the movement of the support member is fixed to the bottom surface of the tabletop plate, and guiding grooves are formed on both opposite side walls of the guide panel. One end of the support member is integrally formed with a guide rod which is slidably guided along the guide grooves, and a rotary plate is rotatably connected to the guide panel by a hinge so that the guide rod can be hooked at a catching jaw formed at one end of the rotary plate. Wherein the guide panel is formed with an elastic spring for supporting the rotary plate with a predetermined elastic force.
The folding table according to the present invention has the effect of improving the ease of use of the table because the folding table can swiftly perform the operation of unfolding the support legs, stably maintain the unfolded state, and easily fold the support legs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a bottom plan view of a folded table according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of part A of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a detailed perspective view of the guide panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation state diagram of the guide panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the guide panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing operation of the rotary plate in the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing an operational state of the rotary plate in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the table with its support leg folded according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the table with the support legs unfolded according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing the installation state of the table of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a state that the rotary plate is pressed to fold the support leg according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a view showing a state in which the supporting leg is folded according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional structural view of a supporting member according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an enlarged view of portion B in FIG. 13.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
First, the structure of the folding table according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12 as follows.
The folding table in the present embodiment is provided such that the support legs 20 can be folded on both side bottom surfaces of a tabletop plate 10 having a rectangular shape. The support legs 20 are connected to a support member 30 by a hinge 32 for supporting the unfolded state. A guide panel 40 for guiding the movement of the support member 30 is fixed to the bottom surface of the tabletop plate 10.
More specifically, guide grooves 41 are formed on both side walls of the guide panel 40, and guide rods 31, which are guided along the guide grooves 41, are integrally formed at one end of the support rods 30. A rotary or swinging plate 50 is formed on the bottom surface of the guide panel 40 and is rotatably connected to the guide panel by a hinge 52 so that the guide rod 31 can be hooked on a catching jaw 51 at one end thereof. The guide panel 40 is provided with an elastic spring 53 for supporting the rotary plate 50 with a certain elastic force.
One end of the rotary plate 50 is rotatably connected to the bottom surface of the guide panel 40 by a hinge 52.
Further, the guide groove 41 is formed at a position of a predetermined height from the bottom surface of the guide panel 40. The height h of the guide groove 41 is formed to be larger than the thickness of the rotary plate 50 so that the interference of the rotary plate 50 with the guide plate 41 is prevented during the sliding movement of the guide rod 31 along the guide groove 41.
A blocking plate 42 is provided at one end of the guide panel 40 so that the support leg 20 is fixed to the tabletop plate 10 at an angle of exactly 90 degrees. Here, the blocking plate 42 can also prevent the guide rods 31 from coming off.
Reference numeral 11 in the drawings denotes a pressurizing support for pressurizing and supporting the folded state of the support leg 20.
Hereinafter, the effect of the present invention on the use of the folding table will be described.
First, during the normal storage, both side support legs 20 are folded on the bottom surface of the tabletop plate 10 as shown in FIG. 1.
That is, at this time, while the support legs 20 and the support member 30 are in parallel with the tabletop plate 10, the support legs 20 can be held in a folded state by the pressurizing support 11.
When the table is to be installed, the support legs 20 are turned in the unfolding direction, and the support members 30 connected to the support legs 20 are moved together with the support legs to perform sliding movement to one side as shown in FIG. 4.
That is, at this time, the guide rod 31 formed at the distal end of the support member 30 is horizontally moved along the guide grooves 41, and when the support leg 20 is raised at 90 degrees, the guide rod 31 is caught by the engagement jaw 51 of the rotary plate 50 as shown in FIG. 7. At this time, since the elastic pressing force of the elastic spring 53 is applied to the rotary plate 50, the position fixing state of the support member 30 can be maintained.
Particularly, at this time, due to the force of the elastic spring 53, the guide rod 31 is caught by the engaging jaw 51 and a clicking sound is generated. This allows the user to be aware that the support legs 20 of the table are fully unfolded and fixed.
Therefore, it can be seen that the unfolded state of the support legs 20 can be stably maintained.
When the support leg 20 is to be folded again, the rotary plate 50, which is elastically supported by the elastic spring 53, is pushed as shown in FIG. 11. Then, the pressing support force against the support member 30 is released, and guide rod 31 can be moved along the guide grooves 41 so that the guide rod 31 is returned to the original position as shown in FIG. 12, and the folding state of the support leg 20 can be quickly achieved.
At this time, due to the operation effect of the hinge 32, the support leg 20 is brought into close contact with the tabletop plate 10.
Therefore, the folding table of the present invention can perform the spreading and collapsing operation of the support legs more quickly and easily, and exhibits the effect that the unfolded state can be stably maintained.
FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate a structure according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the support member 30, a receiving groove 32 capable of receiving the rotary plate 50 is formed at a predetermined depth. The receiving groove 32 is coated with a protective layer 32 a for preventing breakage and abrasion due to contact with the rotary plate 50. The protective layer 32 a may include 30 to 50% by weight of urethane for improving elasticity, 20 to 40% by weight of glass fiber for improving durability, 10 to 30% by weight of Teflon as a lubricant, 10 to 30% by weight of MMA resin, 1 to 10% by weight of sodium silicate and 1 to 10% by weight of paraffin wax for maintaining a thin film.
With this structure, it is possible to prevent the damage due to the friction with the rotary plate 50 during the sliding movement of the support member 30 due to the folding operation of the support legs 20.
Particularly, since the protective layer 32 a contains sodium silicate as an additive, mutual bonding force between the glass fiber and the urethane particle can be enhanced. The added paraffin wax prevents the aggregation of the Teflon powder, which is a lubricating material, and spreads it uniformly over the entire surface, thereby functioning to uniformly form the thickness of the protective layer 32 a.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be appreciated that the foldable table structure of the present invention can be implemented in various ways by those skilled in the art.
For example, although the tabletop plate 10 has been described and shown as being rectangular in the above embodiment, the shape of the tabletop plate can be formed in various shapes such as a circular shape.
Therefore, it should be understood that such modified embodiments should not be differently understood from the technical idea or scope of the present invention, and such modified embodiments should be included in the appended claims of the present invention.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

- 10: tabletop plate
- 20: support leg
- 30: support member
- 31: guide rod
- 32: hinges
- 40: guide panel
- 41: guide groove
- 42: blocking plate
- 50: rotary plate
- 51: catching (engaging) jaw
- 52: hinge
- 53: elastic spring

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A folding table comprising:

a tabletop plate;

first and second support legs, each support leg configured to be folded on a bottom surface of the tabletop plate;

first and second support members operably coupled to the first and second support legs, respectively, via a hinge; and

a guide panel attached to the bottom surface of the tabletop plate, the guide panel including a pair of side walls with a pair of parallel guide grooves formed therein;

wherein each of the first and second support members having a guide rod disposed at a distal end of the support member, with two opposite ends of the guide rod slidably received in the guide grooves of the guide panel,

wherein the guide panel has first and second rotary plates coupled thereto, each rotary plate including an engaging jaw at one end portion thereof, the engaging jaw configured to catch a respective guide rod therein when the corresponding support leg is moved to an unfolded position.

2. The folding table as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an elastic spring for supporting the rotary plate on the guide panel with an elastic force.

3. The folding table as claimed in claim 1, wherein each rotary plate is rotatably coupled to a bottom surface of the guide panel by a hinge.

4. The folding table as claimed in claim 1, wherein the guide grooves are formed at a predetermined height (h) from a bottom surface of the guide panel, and the height (h) of the guide grooves is formed to be larger than a thickness of the rotary plate to prevent interference between the rotary plate and the support member during a sliding movement of the guide rod along the guide groove.

5. The folding table as claimed in claim 1, wherein each guide panel includes a blocking plate at a terminal end thereof for preventing detachment of the guide rod.

6. The folding table as claimed in claim 1, wherein each support member includes a receiving groove formed therein at a predetermined depth, the receiving groove configured to receive the rotary plate therein.

7. The folding table as claimed in claim 6, wherein the support member includes a protective layer coated in the receiving groove to prevent damage of the receiving groove due to contact with the rotary plate, and wherein the protective layer comprises a composition of urethane, glass fiber, Teflon, MMA resin, sodium silicate, and paraffin wax.