Nesting Banquet Table Frame for Lightweight Stacking Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional banquet tables are cumbersome due to their large size, weight, and storage requirements, and often require additional reinforcing members and fasteners that increase manufacturing costs and pose safety hazards.
Innovation Solution
A table design featuring a lightweight, molded plastic table top with a frame that allows for nesting and stacking, reducing storage space and transportation costs, and utilizing a limited number of parts and fasteners for easier assembly and safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If table tops are constructed from light-weight materials such as plastic, then the weight of the table is decreased, but the table top requires large reinforcing members or other structural parts to strengthen it, which increases the weight again
Solution Approach 1:
The table top is constructed from composite materials - a wooden core structure covered with a plastic laminate layer. This combination provides the strength of wood with the aesthetic and protective properties of plastic, achieving both structural integrity and lightweight characteristics without requiring additional reinforcing members
Solution Approach 2:
A thin plastic laminate film is applied over the wooden table top structure. This thin film provides protection and aesthetic appearance while adding minimal weight, avoiding the need for thick reinforcing members that would counteract the weight reduction benefits
2Strength
If additional reinforcing members, braces, brackets, support members, and fasteners are added to strengthen the table top, then the strength of the table top is increased, but the weight of the table increases and manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The reinforcing members are integrated into the table top structure itself rather than being added as separate components. The wooden framework is designed with internal bracing that provides structural strength while maintaining a clean appearance and minimizing additional weight
Solution Approach 2:
The need for external fasteners and separate reinforcing members is eliminated by designing a monolithic wooden table top structure with built-in structural integrity. The strength is achieved through the table top's own construction rather than through additional attached components
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional fasteners are used to connect the frame to the table top, then the frame can be connected to the table top, but the fasteners may detach or separate from the table top when large loads or forces are applied
Solution Approach 1:
Traditional mechanical fasteners (screws, bolts, nails) are replaced with adhesive bonding. The frame is connected to the table top using strong adhesive bonds that distribute loads across the entire connection surface, eliminating the stress concentration and detachment problems associated with discrete fasteners
Solution Approach 2:
The connection method is changed from discrete mechanical fastening to continuous adhesive bonding. This parameter change in the connection approach provides superior load distribution and reliability while maintaining ease of manufacture through simplified assembly processes
4Ease of operation
If the table legs are made movable between use position and storage position, then the table can be more easily moved or stored, but the required storage area is quite large even with the legs in the collapsed position
Solution Approach 1:
The table legs are designed to nest within the table top structure when in the storage position. The leg mechanisms are compact and fold into recesses or compartments in the table top, minimizing the overall storage footprint while maintaining full functionality when deployed
Solution Approach 2:
The leg storage mechanism utilizes vertical space and three-dimensional arrangement rather than simply extending the horizontal footprint. The legs fold upward and nest within the table top's vertical profile, converting horizontal storage requirements into vertical space utilization
Data Source
AI summary
A table may be sized and configured to nest with one or more adjacent tables to reduce a height of the table in a nested configuration. The table may include a table top constructed from molded plastic and the table top may include a receiving portion sized and configured to receive an engaging portion of a frame of an adjacent table in the nested configuration. The table may also include a metal frame connected to the table top and the frame may include an engaging portion sized and configured to be disposed in a receiving portion of an adjacent table in the nested configuration. If desired, an outer surface of the engaging portion may be visible and exposed in the recess in the lip.