Furniture manufacturing process and corresponding furniture

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a piece of furniture (20) from at least one flush building door leaf having a solid core (12) made of wood or natural plant fibers and covered on both sides with a facing (10), which comprises the following steps: - cutting several structural elements (21a-21k) intended to each form a component of the furniture from at least one solid core of said at least one door leaf; - arranging the cut structural elements side by side and parallel to each other so that the edges (24a-24k) of their cores and facings together form at least one support or bearing surface for the furniture; and - assembling the structural elements. Figure for the abstract: Figure 4

Description

Title of the invention: Method for manufacturing a piece of furniture and corresponding furniture TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to the reuse of interior door leaves recovered from deconstruction and stripping sites of building renovation or layout change projects, and more particularly of office buildings.

[0002] More specifically, this refers to the leaves (also called sashes) of solid core flush doors and more particularly to removable partition doors, which are installed in office buildings. STATE OF THE ART

[0003] To date, this type of door is reused when it is suitable for restoration. When it is not suitable, it is at best reused for energy by combustion, but unfortunately very often simply buried in landfills.

[0004] However, at the 10th International Wood Construction Forum which took place at the Grand Palais Ephémère in Paris from 15 to 17 July 2021, tables made from doors of the former Saint-Vincent-de-Paul hospital in Paris were provided to exhibitors.

[0005] Such a table 1 (see [Fig.1]) has a horizontal tabletop 2 resting on legs 3. Two wooden bars 4 also resting on these legs 3 have been added to give rigidity to the portion of the door forming the horizontal tabletop 2.

[0006] All of these parts were cut from one or more doors using a circular saw.

[0007] The cutting and arrangement of the pieces thus implemented to form the table 1 require the implementation of stiffening elements (the bars 4) which increase its weight, and are difficult to transpose to the production of other furniture. Description of the invention

[0008] The present invention aims to overcome all or part of the problems mentioned above.

[0009] To this end, the invention proposes a method for manufacturing a piece of furniture from at least one flush building door leaf having a solid core made of wood or natural plant fibers and covered on both sides with a facing, which comprises the following steps: - cut several structural elements, each intended to form a component part of the furniture, at least in the solid core of said furniture, at least one door

[0010]

[0011]

[0012]

[0013]

[0014] door; - arrange the cut structural elements side by side and parallel to each other so that the edges of their cores and facings together form at least one support or bearing surface for the furniture; and - assemble the structural elements. By arranging laminates side by side to form one or more surfaces of the furniture, it is possible to create all kinds of furniture with the required rigidity, without needing additional reinforcing pieces. Furthermore, those structural elements arranged vertically, where applicable, also provide a "beam" effect. This process also allows for the creation of low-carbon furniture, particularly for offices, such as tables, shelves, and chairs, and more generally, furniture for living spaces, through the reuse of existing wood panels. This reuse also reduces the cost of raw materials used in furniture manufacturing. In this context, a support surface is understood to mean a support surface for an object, such as, for example, a surface formed by a vertical or horizontal panel of a shelf and serving respectively as a support for one or more books, or as a support for a person, such as the seat or back of a chair. Such an approach also meets the demand of companies within the framework of the French AGEC law (Anti-Waste Laws for a Circular Economy). Depending on other possible characteristics, which can be considered individually or in combination with each other: - the assembly step is carried out in a direction transverse to the facing faces formed by the facings of the structural elements, preferably by means of at least one threaded rod and furniture nuts; - the cutting step is carried out using a digital cutting table, preferably a digital milling table; - the finishing stage by applying a pore-filling coating to the core of the structural elements and a possible finishing layer, preferably obtained by varnishing; - the coating is based on polymer material, such as a resin, or a wood smoothing compound; - the solid core consists of a panel of chipboard or flax fibers, sandwiched between two facing plates; - the cutting stage is carried out only in the core of the door leaf; - the slices are arranged side by side to form said at least one surface.

[0015] The invention also proposes a piece of furniture, in particular a table, seat or shelf, comprising an assembly of several structural elements, each having a core made of wood or natural plant fibers and covered on both sides with a facing, the edges of their cores and facings being arranged side by side and parallel to each other so that they jointly form at least one support or bearing surface of the furniture, the edges preferably being arranged contiguously to form said surface.

[0016] According to a characteristic of one embodiment of this furniture, the edges of the cores are covered with a coating for sealing the pores of the core. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0017] Other advantages, purposes and particular features of the present invention will become apparent from the following non-limiting description of at least one particular embodiment of the process that is the subject of the present invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0018] [Fig.1] is a schematic view of a table according to the prior art;

[0019] Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of an isoplane door with a changes in matter;

[0020] [Fig.3] represents in perspective a piece of the door of [Fig.1];

[0021] [Fig. 4] is a perspective view of a table according to one embodiment of the invention;

[0022] [Fig. 5] is a perspective view of a table according to another embodiment of the invention;

[0023] Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a shelf according to yet another method of realization implementation of the invention; and

[0024] [Fig.7] is a perspective view of a seat according to a further embodiment of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0025] The present description is given as a non-limiting example of an embodiment.

[0026] As can be seen in Figures 2 and 3, a door leaf (the moving part of the door) used in the process according to the invention for making one or more structural elements of a piece of furniture, comes from a flat door with a solid core, that is to say from a door having two smooth faces on either side of a solid core.

[0027] This is an interior door having two flat facings 10 fixed on either side of a solid wood frame 11. Alternatively, it may be a wood fiber frame, such as MDF (medium density fibers).

[0028] The facings 10 are generally thin panels or sheets of plywood, wood fiber, melamine wood or laminated wood, forming the two smooth faces on either side of the frame 11.

[0029] In the case of [Fig.3], these are melamine-faced wood panels having a decorative paper sheet as an outer layer.

[0030] The solid core 12 implemented in the manufacturing process according to the invention is made of wood or natural plant fibers. For example, it consists of one or more solid panels of solid wood, particleboard, glued laminated wood or flax fibers.

[0031] In the case of the door leaf in Figures 2 and 3, it is a door leaf whose core 12 is made of particleboard, that is to say, a panel made from wood particles (generally wood chips and sawdust) pressed under heat and mixed with a synthetic binder. Such a panel practically has two main parallel faces joined by an edge, each forming an extension plane of the core 12.

[0032] It will also be observed that a finishing strip 13 is used here to furnish the frame 11, but this is not the case for all flush doors on the market.

[0033] The method according to the invention for making at least one structural element for a piece of furniture, first of all comprises an operation consisting of cutting at least in this core 12, one or more structural elements intended to each form a constituent part of the furniture after assembly.

[0034] In other words, depending on the dimensions of the elements to be cut to make the furniture, the cut is made in one or more door leaves, which may be identical or different.

[0035] The structural element(s) are cut at least in the web 12 but may also extend into the frame 11 of the door leaf. Preferably, for reasons of material homogeneity of the constituent parts of the furniture, the structural elements are cut only in the web, for example by first removing the frame 11 of the door leaf by a preliminary cutting operation.

[0036] Alternatively, the frame can nevertheless be retained, for example to form ends of furniture feet that come into contact with the floor.

[0037] For reasons of industrializing furniture manufacturing, the cutting operation is preferably carried out using a digital cutting table, and even more preferably a digital milling table. A cutting table makes it possible to limit waste in the cuts and to create all types of shapes, and in particular curved shapes.

[0038] In a second step of the process according to the invention, the cut structural elements are arranged side by side and parallel to each other so that The slices of their cores and facings together form at least one support or bearing surface for the furniture; then in a third step the structural elements are assembled.

[0039] More specifically, in the case of table 20 shown in [Fig. 4], the various structural elements 21a-21k were assembled using threaded rods and furniture nuts (only the latter are visible in this figure). These are M6 type threaded rods and rivet nuts 22a-22e.

[0040] Other assembly methods from the furniture sector can of course be used: dowels, claw nuts, inserts, gluing,...

[0041] These structural elements 21a-21k are further arranged here vertically next to each other and in a contiguous manner, so that the slices 24a-24k of the cores 12 and the facings 10 of the structural elements 21a-21k jointly form in particular the tabletop 20, extending here in the same horizontal plane.

[0042] Thanks to this vertical arrangement of the structural elements 21a-21k (the "beam" effect of these elements) and the rigidity resulting from the use of laminated elements with a core and facings on either side of the core, the resulting table 20 proves to be particularly strong, even though it was made with relatively lightweight structural elements 21a-21k (particleboard core and thin facings). Furthermore, this arrangement allows for the use of relatively lightweight structural elements and, consequently, for the maximum number of structural elements to be recovered from a single door leaf.

[0043] As can still be seen on [Fig.4], the table 20 has here been preserved with a raw wood finish corresponding to the agglomerate of the cores 12 at the level of the edges 24a-24k of the structural elements 21a-21k.

[0044] In the case of table 30 in [Fig. 5], the edges of the structural elements with a general U- or L-shaped cross-section have, on the other hand, been treated by a finishing operation, in order to obtain, in particular, a tabletop 31 with an impeccable and resilient finish. The facings from the leaf(s) from which the structural elements originate complete this finish (see, for example, facings 32 and 33, facing 32 being the outer facing of an end structural element 34 of table 30, which is generally U-shaped to form part of the tabletop 31 and two legs 35, 36 of table 30).

[0045] In practice, for example, a finishing operation is implemented by applying a pore-filling coating to the structural element(s) and a possible finishing layer.

[0046] It can be implemented before or after assembly.

[0047] It has here been applied to the pores of the wood chipboard slices of the different panels making up table 30 (see for example slices 37 and 38).

[0048] The coating is for example based on polymer material, such as a resin (for example an epoxy resin), or a wood smoothing compound.

[0049] The finishing layer is preferably a protective coating varnish but can alternatively consist of a layer of paint, which can also be applied alone to the structural elements and in particular their pores.

[0050] Such a finishing operation not only ensures the quality of the finish by masking imperfections before varnishing or painting, but also gives a certain rigidity to the structural elements.

[0051] It will also be observed from tables 20 and 30 of figures 4 and 5 that the structural elements arranged parallel to each other can have different sections (generally in the shape of a U, an L or a trapezoid), thus offering a wide variety of possibilities for furniture design.

[0052] Figures 6 and 7 illustrate in this respect a shelf 40, in which the contiguous edges form support surfaces for the shelves of the shelf (see for example the shelves 41 and 42 of [Fig.6]) or lateral support, and a seat 50, in which these contiguous edges form in particular the seat 51 and the backrest 52 of the seat 50.

[0053] Here, the slices extend in the same vertical or horizontal plane (shelf 40) or are at the same level (seat 50).

[0054] Many other variants are possible depending on the circumstances and it is recalled in this regard that the present invention is not limited to the examples represented and described.

[0055] In particular, other types of furniture can be manufactured using the process of the present invention, in particular without the aforementioned slices being contiguous, extending in the same plane or being at the same level.

Claims

Claims

1. Method for manufacturing a piece of furniture (20, 30, 40, 50) from at least one isoplanar building door leaf comprising a solid core (12) made from wood or natural plant fibers and covered on either side with a facing (10), which comprises the following steps: - cutting out several structural elements (21a-21k) each intended to form a constituent part of the piece of furniture at least in the solid core (12) of said at least one door leaf; - arranging the cut structural elements side by side and parallel to each other so that the edges (24a-24k) of their cores and facings jointly form at least one support or bearing surface of the piece of furniture; and - assembling the structural elements.

2. Method according to claim 1, in which the assembly step is carried out in a direction transverse to the facing faces formed by the facings of the structural elements, preferably by means of at least one threaded rod and furniture nuts (22a-22e).

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the cutting step is performed by means of a digital cutting table, preferably a digital milling table.

4. Method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, comprising a finishing step by applying a coating to fill the pores of the core of the structural elements and an optional finishing layer, preferably obtained by varnishing.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the coating is based on a polymer material, such as a resin, or a wood smoothing coating.

6. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the solid core comprises a panel of chipboard or flax fibers, sandwiched between two facing plates.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the cutting step is performed only in the core of the door leaf.

8. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the slices are arranged contiguously side by side to form said at least one surface.

9. Furniture, in particular a table, seat or shelf, comprising an assembly of several structural elements (21a-21k) each having a core made from wood or natural plant fibers and covered on either side with a facing, the slices (24a-24k) of their cores and facings being arranged side by side and parallel to each other so that they jointly form at least one support or bearing surface of the furniture, the slices preferably being arranged jointly to form said surface.

10. Furniture according to claim 9, in which the edges of the cores are covered with a coating for filling the pores of the core.

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