Rotating Table Leg Structure With Hidden Caster Lift Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tables with rotatable top panels face issues of reduced leg space and increased risk of user contact with moving components, particularly due to the need for elongated holes and notches in the leg portions for the up-and-down movement mechanism, which compromises strength and safety.
Innovation Solution
A table design featuring hollow leg portions with a raising/lowering mechanism that couples the top panel and casters through an opening at the top end, eliminating the need for holes or notches and allowing the components to move without contacting the user, thus maintaining strength and preventing entanglement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a rod-like member is moved up and down on the inside of the leg portion to switch between movable and immovable states, then the mechanism can be simplified, but the leg portion requires elongated holes and notches that decrease strength and create safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The rod-like member is extracted from the interior of the leg portion and relocated to the exterior surface. This allows the mechanism to function without requiring elongated holes or notches in the leg portion, thereby maintaining structural strength while eliminating safety hazards associated with users contacting moving components inside the leg portion.
2Device complexity
If the rod-like member is moved up and down on the inside of the leg portion, then the mechanism is simplified, but the space for accommodating user's legs is narrowed
Solution Approach 1:
The rod-like member is taken out from the interior space of the leg portion and positioned on the exterior surface. This extraction eliminates the occupation of interior space by moving components, thereby maximizing the leg accommodation space while maintaining the simplified mechanism design.
3Ease of operation
If elongated holes and notches are formed in the leg portion for the shaft-like member to move, then the up-and-down movement is enabled, but the strength of the leg portion is decreased
Solution Approach 1:
The moving mechanism is extracted from the interior of the leg portion and relocated to the exterior surface. This allows the shaft-like member to move up and down on the outside of the leg portion without requiring any holes or notches, thereby maintaining full structural strength while preserving the desired movement capability for switching between movable and immovable states.
4Volume of moving object
If the rod-like member is positioned inside the leg portion, then the mechanism is compact, but there is a risk that user's body or clothes may get caught
Solution Approach 1:
The rod-like member is extracted from the interior of the leg portion and repositioned on the exterior surface. This relocation eliminates the risk of users' bodies or clothes getting caught in the moving mechanism while maintaining a compact overall design, as the mechanism now operates on the accessible exterior surface rather than being hidden inside the leg portion.
Data Source
AI summary
A table includes a pair of leg portions that has a length in a vertical direction and is hollow in shape with an opening formed at the top end thereof; a top panel that is mounted rotatably; a pair of casters, at least one such casters being provided at each of the front and the rear of a base portion of the leg portion; a contact portion that is provided on the base portion of the leg portion; and a raising/lowering mechanism that couples a movable portion, which is either one or more of the pair of casters and the contact portion, and the top panel, and switches what comes into contact with a floor surface between the pair of casters and the contact portion by raising/lowering the movable portion in accordance with a rotation of the top panel. The raising/lowering mechanism couples the top panel and the movable portion through the opening.