Collapsible Free-Standing Bar with Hinged Frames for Compact Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current portable table-top furniture is often bulky, heavy, and difficult to assemble, requiring significant space and labor, limiting its portability and usability in social settings.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible, free-standing bar design featuring pivotally interlocked frames, rare-earth magnets for secure storage, and swivel footings for stability, allowing for easy assembly and disassembly without tools, and compact storage and transport.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If portable table-top furniture is designed to be lightweight and compact, then portability and storage efficiency are improved, but stability and strength may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The bar is divided into multiple separate components including frames, bartop pieces, footings, and connecting elements. These segments can be individually lightweight yet when assembled form a stable structure. The segmentation allows each part to be optimized for weight while the collective assembly achieves structural stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The frames are pre-assembled with hinges and connection mechanisms before final assembly. The footings are pre-attached to frames, and the bartop pieces are pre-configured. This preliminary preparation reduces on-site assembly complexity and allows the structure to achieve stability quickly without requiring heavy tools or multiple people.
2Ease of operation
If the bar is designed for easy assembly without tools, then ease of operation is improved, but manufacturing precision and connection strength may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Traditional mechanical fastening systems requiring tools (screws, bolts, wrenches) are replaced with tool-free connection mechanisms. The patent uses hinge-based pivotal connections, magnetic attachment systems, and interlocking geometries that assemble through simple hand operations while maintaining connection strength through precise manufacturing of the connection interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection mechanisms are designed to be self-aligning and self-securing. The frames have built-in hinge mechanisms that automatically align and lock into place, and the bartop pieces have interlocking features that guide proper positioning. This self-service design ensures manufacturing precision is achieved through the design itself rather than requiring tool-assisted precision fastening.
3Volume of moving object
If the bar uses a collapsible design for compact storage, then volume efficiency is improved, but structural integrity and stability may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The bar employs dynamic hinge connections that allow the frames to pivot between extended (stable) and collapsed (compact) configurations. The hinges are designed with inherent mechanical advantage that provides structural integrity when extended for use, while allowing controlled collapse to a compact volume for storage. The footings can also be folded or repositioned to maintain stability in both states.
4Ease of operation
If the bar is designed with minimal components for portability, then ease of transport is improved, but assembly reliability and stability may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functional components are merged into integrated assemblies. The footings are pre-attached to the frames, creating a unified base unit. The hinges connect frames in pre-configured arrangements. The bartop pieces are designed to attach to multiple frames simultaneously. These merged components reduce the total number of separate parts to manage during transport while ensuring reliable assembly through the integrated design.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design provides a lightweight, stable, and space-efficient portable bar that can be easily set up and stored, enhancing social experiences in various venues with reduced physical exertion and setup time.
Implementation Method 1
Rare-earth magnets, or other connection apparatuses, are used to ensure that the frames of the collapsed bar—which close as an accordion does—remain securely attached during storage.
Data Source
AI summary
“The Portable, Collapsible, Free-Standing Bar” is an improved portable and compact free-standing bar. Its distinctive features include its ease of assembly, stability, well-crafted finished-wood appearance, collapsible design, compact storage, and ease of transport and shipping. It can be assembled easily without tools, and is designed meticulously to minimize weight, maximize stability and portability, and minimize the space that it occupies when collapsed and stored. These user-friendly features make the bar a useful contribution to an improved social experience in many venues, including weddings, tailgate parties, etc. The bar design is comprised of a bartop formed by a plurality of selectively adjoining bartop pieces and a plurality of frames pivotally interlocked by at least one hinge, which allow the bar to be collapsed into a space-efficient unit on wheels for storage, transport, or shipping. The bar can be alternately be assembled in an open position for using the bar and disassembled to a closed position for transporting or storing the bar, wherein in the closed position the bartop pieces are nested within the frames, and wherein said frames are collapsed to a compact folded configuration forming a parallelepiped. Another aspect of the bar's design is a swivel footing rotatably attached to a base support of each frame that adds significant stability to the bar when in the open position without adding to the width, or overall size of the collapsed bar is the closed position.