Molded Plastic Table Top Structure for Low-Height Nesting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional banquet tables are cumbersome and costly due to heavy wooden or metal table tops, requiring large storage spaces and increased shipping costs, and often necessitate additional reinforcing members that complicate manufacturing and assembly, while also posing safety hazards.
Innovation Solution
A table top constructed from molded plastic with a nested configuration that reduces storage height by integrating strengthening members and a receiving portion for adjacent tables, allowing for efficient stacking and reduced weight, along with lightweight legs that can be easily assembled and transported.
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 and store
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from traditional heavy materials (wood, metal) to molded plastic, achieving a significant weight reduction while maintaining structural strength through the integral strengthening members designed within the plastic structure
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses molded plastic as a composite material solution that combines lightweight properties with structural reinforcement elements (integrally formed strengthening members) to achieve both weight reduction and maintained strength
2Strength
If additional reinforcing members are added to plastic table tops, then structural strength is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the table top structure with strengthening members into a single integral molded plastic component, eliminating the need for separate reinforcing parts and their associated fasteners, thereby reducing assembly complexity while maintaining strength
Solution Approach 2:
The molded plastic table top serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides the basic table surface, incorporates integral strengthening members for structural support, and includes nesting features for storage, all in a single manufactured component
3Area of stationary object
If conventional tables are stacked for storage, then storage space is utilized, but storage height remains large reducing stacking efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements nesting features that allow one table to be placed inside another, with the table top of an upper table nesting within the frame structure of a lower table, significantly reducing the vertical height required for stacking multiple tables
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 top may include an upper surface, a sidewall and a receiving portion at least partially disposed in the upper surface and the sidewall. The receiving portion may be sized and configured to receive an engaging portion of an adjacent table when the tables are disposed in a nested configuration. The table top may also include a plurality of strengthen members disposed in the lower portion of the table top that are sized and configured to support the receiving portion. For example, the strengthening members may include an inner surface sized and configured to support an inner surface of the receiving portion.