Expandable/convertible sofa chair

Abstract

An expandable and convertible sofa chair consisting of a base, backrest, two armrests, four small corner cushions, four long edge cushions, centre cushion, two straight connector cushions, two L shaped connector cushions, four feet, four decorative front / back side plates, tabletop plate, centre support board, and four locking mechanisms. The base is a hollowed out square box with a bottom and thick walls that house several cavities symmetrically aligned to mate with the parts that have extruding prongs. When two units are placed side by side the four small corner cushions are removed and replaced with two connector cushions twice the size. The armrests of the touching walls are replaced with long edge cushions and all are locked into place by a locking mechanism at the bottom of the base walls, creating a loveseat. Repeating this procedure creates several different styles, shapes and sizes of furnishings.

Description

[0001]This invention consists of a sofa chair that can be expanded into various seating arrangements and converted into many other household furnishings.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Sofa chairs have been around for centuries and through the years many improvements have come into play to make them more appealing, comfortable and to increase their functionality. Inventors have turned them into beds, added swivels, rockers, slides, changed the way they are assembled and unassembled, reconstructed their frame assembly and even just put some cushions of different shapes together to form a unique style. Improvements of this nature are shown, for example, in the following International patents:[0003]International Patent Number.[0004]PCT / EP2007 / 006184 LORE, Vitantonio[0005]PCT / CN2005 / 000994 GU, Yuewen[0006]PCT / CN2002 / 000135 WU, Tony[0007]PCT / AU2007 / 000328 JEFFARES, James[0008]PCT / IB2004 / 002752 TOFFOLONI, Werther[0009]Even though so many improvements have been made to the sofa chair thro...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]Considered broadly, this invention is a sofa chair consisting of several parts that when mated together with an equal sofa chair can be expanded and converted into several furnishings. The invention when unassembled consists of a base, backrest, armrests, several cushions, feet, tabletop plate, centre support, locking mechanisms, and decorative front / back and side plates. The base is a perfect hollowed out square with very thick walls that house several cavities. The top six cavities are symmetrically aligned on each of the four walls to allow mating with the backrest, armrests and edge cushions which all have extruding prongs with horizontal slits on each side close to each end. The bottom two cavities are also symmetrically aligned but mate with the locking mechanism and the feet of the invention. The centre of each inner wall has a slit running vertically the height of the wall so a support board can be installed in any desired direction. Each inner wall also hosts a thin horizontal lip mat runs the length of each wall to support the centre tabletop plate, adding to the strength of the overall support of the invention. All edge cushions are comprised of three parts, a cushion cover that is kept in place by Velcro, cushion foam, and a tile like plate that matches the tabletop plate in colour and texture. The plate of the cushion extrudes a vertical prong or more, (depending on the cushion size), with minor horizontal slits close to each end. The corner cushions are a perfect square extruding only one prong and each sofa chair comes with two replacements, a set of two cushions that are twice the length of the corner cushions extruding two prongs, and a set of L shaped cushions that are twice the length and twice the depth extruding three prongs. These replacement cushions are the secret to this invention. When two sofa chairs are placed side by side the four corner cushions of the touching walls are removed and replaced with the set of cushions that are twice the length. Each prong of these cushions is mated with the corner cavity of the separate sofa chair; the two armrests mat are side by side are then removed and replaced with the longer edge cushions. The locking mechanism is then engaged to lock everything into place by simply inserting itself into the slits of the prongs and a loveseat is created. By repeating this procedure the loveseat can be expanded into a couch of desired size or shape, without the fear of sitting in the centre of a unit and having each one go its separate way. Removing armrests, replacing them with the longer edge cushions and adding more sofa chair units, the consumer can create a bed. People can convert the chair into an end table or coffee table of desired size simply by removing backrest, armrests and cushions and replacing them with the tile plates from the edge cushions.

[0011]This invention allows people to control the size of their furnishings, mix and match colours and styles limiting all creations only to the imagination and creativity of the consumer.

Problems solved by technology

Even though so many improvements have been made to the sofa chair throughout the years, no one invention has captured the true versatility of a sofa chair and neatly packaged it together with all its styling capabilities.

There are still many problems with living room sets that still need improvement, from arranging sets to fit a room to moving bulky sets from house to house.

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