Built-in Hideaway Stool with Sliding Tracks and Wall Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing collapsible stools lack a space-saving design that provides rigid extended support from an exterior wall of stationary furniture and requires varying rail lengths and steps for different height offerings, complicating manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
A built-in hideaway stool design featuring slidable inner tracks within outer tracks, pivotally affixed arms, and identical L-shaped steps that can be extended for support against a cabinet front side, allowing for easy height adjustments and compact storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If collapsible stools are designed to be compact and hidden when not in use, then space-saving is achieved, but rigid extended support from exterior walls is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The stool is divided into separate functional segments: collapsible legs for compact storage, and a separate support bracket system that engages with exterior walls. This segmentation allows the stool to achieve both compact storage volume and reliable wall-supported stability when deployed.
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediary support bracket mechanism is introduced between the stool and the exterior wall. This mediator provides the rigid extended support from the wall without requiring the stool itself to be structurally complex, enabling both compact storage and stable support.
2Adaptability or versatility
If different height offerings of the stool are provided, then versatility is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases due to varying rail lengths and steps
Solution Approach 1:
The stool design uses universal, identical steps and rail components that can be configured for multiple height offerings. The same standard parts serve multiple functions across different stool height versions, eliminating the need for custom components for each height and thereby reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of changing the physical dimensions and shapes of components for different heights, the invention changes only the arrangement and configuration parameters of identical standard components. This allows height variation to be achieved through parameter adjustment rather than component redesign, simplifying manufacturing.
3Ease of operation
If the stool is designed for easy extension and retraction, then ease of operation is improved, but structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The stool employs dynamic, movable components including sliding mechanisms and pivot joints that enable easy extension and retraction. These dynamic elements allow the stool to transition smoothly between compact and extended states while maintaining structural integrity, balancing ease of operation with acceptable mechanism complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A built in hideaway stool that provides hidden installation, such as under a cabinet or appliance, and when extended on its track and arms, rests a top step against an exterior wall of a stationary furniture item, such as a cabinet front side, to provide stable in-use step positioning.