Nestable Table Top Design to Reduce Storage Height and Weight
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional banquet tables are cumbersome due to heavy materials, require extensive storage space, and have structural issues with frame detachment and deformation under load, necessitating additional reinforcing members and increased manufacturing costs.
Innovation Solution
A table design featuring a molded plastic table top with a hollow interior and integrated frame, allowing for nesting with adjacent tables to reduce storage height, using a unitary construction with load-bearing surfaces and engaging portions for stable stacking and reduced weight, facilitating easier transportation and assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If table tops are constructed from heavy materials like wood or metal, then structural strength is improved, but weight increases making tables difficult to move
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite construction combining a plastic table top with an integrated aluminum frame, creating a lightweight yet strong structure. The aluminum frame provides structural reinforcement while the plastic top reduces weight compared to traditional wood or metal tops.
Solution Approach 2:
The frame and table top are merged into a single integrated component rather than separate parts. The aluminum frame is formed with built-in support structures that directly support the table top, eliminating the need for additional reinforcing members and reducing overall weight.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional tables are constructed with separate frame and table top components, then manufacturing flexibility is improved, but assembly complexity and manufacturing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The frame and table top are manufactured as a single integrated piece using die-casting or extrusion processes. The aluminum frame includes built-in support structures and attachment features that are formed during the primary manufacturing process, eliminating the need for separate assembly steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The frame is pre-formed with integrated support structures, attachment points, and structural reinforcements built into the design before the table top is attached. This preliminary integration of structural elements simplifies the final assembly process.
3Strength
If additional reinforcing members and fasteners are added to plastic table tops, then structural strength is improved, but manufacturing cost and assembly time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The reinforcing members are merged with the aluminum frame to create an integrated support structure. The frame itself serves as the reinforcement, with built-in cross-bracing and support elements that are part of the single frame component rather than separate attachments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent eliminates the need for separate fasteners and reinforcing members by integrating these functions into the aluminum frame structure. The frame's design inherently provides the structural reinforcement that would otherwise require additional components.
4Area of stationary object
If conventional tables are stacked for storage, then storage space utilization is improved, but storage height remains large reducing stacking efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The tables are designed to nest within each other during storage, with the aluminum frame structure allowing one table to be placed inside another. The integrated frame design creates a compact nested configuration that reduces the overall height of stacked tables compared to conventional separate-frame designs.
Data Source
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AI summary
A table may be sized and configured to nest with an adjacent table to reduce a height of a plurality of stacked tables in a nested configuration. The table may include a molded plastic table top that has a receiving portion disposed proximate an outer perimeter of the table top. The receiving portion is sized and configured to receive an engaging portion of an adjacent, nested table. The table may also include a frame with a first load bearing surface sized and configured to contact a generally planar upper surface of another adjacent, nested table. The table may further include an engaging portion sized and configured to be disposed in a receiving portion of the adjacent, nested table. The nested tables are preferably substantially identical and aligned in the stacked configuration.