Chair Fixing Device with Adjustable Spacing to Reduce Machining Cost
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing chair fixing devices require additional machining on chairs, leading to increased manufacturing costs and user inconvenience, and fail to provide a comfortable seating arrangement for individuals of varying sizes due to fixed spacing between chairs.
Innovation Solution
A fixing device with an encircle element, fixing element, and locking plate that allows adjustable spacing between chairs without modifying the chairs themselves, using a pivoting locking plate and wing bolt mechanism to secure the legs of adjacent chairs, enabling flexible arrangement in straight or curved lines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If chairs are arranged with fixed spacing using existing fixing devices, then chair stability and row alignment are improved, but manufacturing cost increases due to additional machining requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a fixing device as an intermediary component that connects adjacent chairs without requiring modification to the chairs themselves. The device includes a connecting element with through holes that receive engagement protrusions from chair legs, and a locking plate with a movable locking element that secures the connection. This mediator approach allows chair rows to be stabilized and aligned while avoiding the need for additional machining on the chairs, thus resolving the contradiction between improved stability and manufacturing cost.
2Ease of operation
If chairs are arranged independently with adjustable spacing, then user comfort is improved, but overall unevenness and misalignment of chair rows occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a movable locking element in the locking plate that can transition between locked and unlocked positions. When unlocked, the locking plate allows the connecting element to be positioned at different spacings to accommodate users of varying sizes, improving comfort. When locked, the locking element secures the connecting element in place, ensuring stable alignment of the chair row. This dynamic mechanism resolves the contradiction between adjustable spacing for comfort and fixed alignment for stability.
3Reliability
If existing fixing devices with through holes are used, then chair connection is achieved, but additional machining on chairs increases manufacturing expense
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of requiring through holes to be machined into the chairs (inverting the conventional approach), the patent places the through holes in the fixing device itself. The connecting element has through holes that receive engagement protrusions from the chair legs, which are factory-formed as integral parts of the legs. This inversion transfers the hole-making operation to the fixing device, eliminating the need for additional costly machining on the chairs while maintaining reliable connection.
Data Source
AI summary
A fixing device includes an encircle element having lateral sides and left and right flap portions located inwardly of the lateral sides and extending transversely and outwardly from the lateral sides to define left and right chambers which are accessible only from the same direction, each of the left and right lateral sides being formed with a through hole; a fixing element installed on the encircle element at one of the through holes; and a locking plate having a first end fastened movably to the encircle element via a fastener such that the locking plate is movable relative to the encircle element between a locked position, where a second end of the locking plate engages the fixing elements, thereby preventing access into the chambers, and an unlocked position, where the locking plate disengages the fixing elements, thereby permitting access into the chambers.