Stackable Frame with Inverted Tray and Sloping Legs for Stable Nesting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current furniture stacking solutions, particularly for tables, are inefficient, limiting the number of usable tables in crowded spaces and compromising stability and durability, while existing stackable chairs are not suitable for complex shapes or long-term comfort needs.
Innovation Solution
A robust stackable frame with an inverted square tray structure and sloping vertical pipe members, combined with detachable aggregate tops, allows for stable stacking and versatile configuration into tables, chairs, and platforms, enhancing load-bearing capacity and minimizing wear and tear.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If simple stackable table designs are used, then ease of manufacture is improved, but stacking stability and load-bearing capacity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The table is divided into separate stackable components: a top element and a base element with distinct functions. The base element includes multiple legs with specific geometric features (concave and convex bends) that segment the load-bearing functions across different structural elements, improving overall stacking stability while maintaining manufacturing simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The design enables one table unit to be nested within another through the stacking arrangement where the top element of one table fits onto the base element of another. The geometric features on the legs (concave and convex bends) create interlocking surfaces that stabilize the nested configuration, allowing multiple tables to be stacked vertically without compromising stability.
2Productivity
If more table units are stacked, then space utilization is improved, but structural failure risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The base element is pre-designed with specific geometric features (concave bends near the top, convex bends near the bottom) that prepare the structure to receive and stabilize subsequent table units. The leg feet are pre-configured with flat surfaces that provide stable contact points, preventing toppling before stacking even begins.
Solution Approach 2:
The legs are designed with asymmetric geometric features - concave bends positioned near the top and convex bends near the bottom, creating a non-uniform profile that optimizes stacking mechanics. This asymmetric design allows successive tables to stack in a controlled manner with the center of gravity following a stable path, reducing structural failure risk even when multiple units are stacked.
3Adaptability or versatility
If complex shaped tops with footrests and armrests are used, then comfort and functionality are improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The base element is designed as a universal component that serves multiple functions: it provides structural support, includes integrated footrests through the leg geometry, and offers stacking capability. The same base element can support different top configurations (rectangular, square, or complex shapes), allowing one manufactured component to fulfill multiple functional requirements without increasing cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The design merges previously separate components (legs, footrests, and base structure) into a single integrated base element. The leg members include built-in footrest sections created by the concave and convex bends, eliminating the need for separate footrest components and reducing overall manufacturing complexity despite enhanced functionality.
4Reliability
If materials suitable for desired functionalities are used, then reliability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
Different portions of the table structure utilize materials or material properties appropriate to their specific functional requirements. The base element and legs use materials optimized for load-bearing and stacking stability, while the top surface can use materials optimized for user comfort and aesthetics. This localized material selection ensures reliability where needed without unnecessarily increasing costs across the entire product.
Data Source
AI summary
A stackable frame that may couple to the planar underside of structures and act as support may be formed by vertical downwards and outwards sloping tubular leg members that are connected at their tops by a rigid inverted square tray and at their bent lower parts by outward convex curved pipe members disposed in a plane. In different embodiments, the frame may comprise different member cross-sections and dimensions of the longitudinal members for the support of different embodiments of attachable tops with which different functional objects like tables, chairs and stools may be formed. Aggregate frames may also constitute supports for large platforms or other elevated surfaces. Identical attachable table tops may, in turn, be nested and stacked such that their normally exposed surfaces are protected whilst a stacked configuration.