Casual furniture for indoor and outdoor use is often fabricated of bent metal members welded or otherwise secured together to provide both the supporting framework and a table top edge ring surrounding a flat table top panel, such as of glass. Commonly, the table top supporting framework or pedestal is fabricated of bent metal tubing providing, at the lower end, three or more spaced legs and, at the upper end, a like number of radially-outwardly-extending, horizontal support arms upon which the table top rests and the outer ends of which are secured to the table top ring at the inside to retain the table top panel, its surrounding ring and the base framework in interassembled relation. Heretofore, the tubular support arms were secured to the table top ring by sheet metal or machine screws extending through the ring from the outside and into formed openings or the like provided for this purpose at the outer ends of the support arms. With such construction, the table top panel is loosely constrained between an inwardly directed flange at the upper end of the table top ring, or is placed directly upon the top of the ring to be supported by its own weight.
It is, accordingly, the principal object of this invention to provide a novel and improved clip for assembling the base to the top ring of metal framework tables of the character above described that eliminates the necessity for drilling through the table top ring for the installation of assembly screws visible from the outside, and which besides serving to secure the top supporting framework or pedestal to the table top ring, also operates to clamp a glass table top panel or the like between the ring flange and the support arms of the table top framework.
A more particular object of the invention is to provide a spring clip of the character described which is of serpentine leaf spring configuration, and formed with arcuate recesses at each end, one recessed end of which is adapted to contact, in abutting relation, an outer end portion at the underneath of the radially-extending support arm portion of the table top base framework, and the other recessed end of which extends radially outwardly of the outer end thereof so that when a screw extending through an opening in the spring clip flexes an arcuate portion thereof against its adjacent tubular member, the outwardly-extending end will be urged outwardly and slightly downwardly to frictionally engage inner wall portions of the flanged ring for clamping the table assembly together.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when read with reference to the accompanying drawings.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds