Furniture stools of the type used to support seated individuals engaged in work of one type or another, or to give seated support to individuals involved in a variety of other activities, find widespread use in today's work place, homes, and elsewhere. The usual form of construction of such stools comprises a rigid platform, commonly termed a "seat pan", mounted on a pedestal, legs, or other support. Very often, the seat pan is covered with upholstering, commonly a foamed material, in order to make the stool more comfortable, particularly, when it is to be used for long periods. In such instances, the seat pan-foam laminate is covered with material to give the stool a pleasing appearance. While such construction is both attractive and comfortable, it has been found that the edge of the seat pan constitutes an area of high wear. Furthermore, the edge of the interface between the upholstering material and the seat pan is often discernible through the seat covering material, resulting in a relatively unattractive appearance. Usually in the past, such outlines and the damage to stool seat covers caused by impact of objects with the cover in the vicinity of the hard, abrasive seat pan have been accepted as the price of the stool construction described. There have, however, been some attempts to avoid the problem, for example, by forming a laminate comprising a welt on the outside of the seat cover adjacent to the lower edge of the seat pan, and a strip of foam on the inside of the seat cover adjacent the seat pan's edge. While such an approach helps the impact damage problem, it does not avoid the objectionable outline of the interface between the seat pan and the upholstery cushion. In addition, such an approach requires fastening the protective strips, i.e., the welt and the foam strip, opposite each other on both sides of the seat cover, a demanding process.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds