7 CONSIDERATIONS IN THE DESIGN OF FURNITURE By Carl A, Eckelman, Assoc. Prof. of Wood Science. ‘This article is listed as Journal Paper No. 5194 of the Agricultural Experiment Station of Purdue Uni Tm addition to bending, shear, and axial forces, the joints and members of a furniture frame must also be able to resist torsional forces which tend to rotate a member about its longitudinal axis. AS a general rule, wooden parts are not loaded in torsion, but in fur- niture frame construction the esthetic design of the Furniture itself often re- ‘quires that members be loaded inthis ‘way. When an arm stump is attached to the side rail of a chair or sofa, for ‘example, any side force applied to the top of the stump by the arm will be transmitted tothe side ral as torsional force. Other, more practical reasons a also exist. The seat springs used in upholstered furniture, for example, {impose torsional forces upon the rails used in the seat frame, This is particu- larly true when sinusoidal loop-type springs are used which are stretched in place and thereby exert considera- ble end forces on the tops of the front and back rail, Figure 1. Several mem- bers in a furniture frame may also be inadvertently loaded in torsion if the piece of furniture is set on an uneven surface. If all four legs of a chai, for example, do not rest evenly upon the floor, torsional forces will be induced in several members of the frame. SINGLE STRAND OF SINUSOIDAL TYPE SEAT SPRING BACK RAIL Figure 1. lon of sinusoidal type springs the system Here, the seat spring exerts horizontal front-o-baok foro, Fy ‘hich acts on the top ofthe front ral ‘This force is resisted on the lower ‘2498 of the ralby the stretohor which ‘exerts 2 counter fore, F. These (wo forces constitute «couple whieh acts fon the ral Io & clockwise dvection ‘This couple i n tur resisted by the foreional force, T, and Ta, acting on teach end ofthe cut section In order to deen fate agit Grand rows mato fermels mat frst be evalable wich eccrine ne pep nenteripiye in| thom by thre Tres Once these Sates ind deletion an be elo pelea ap nliipnetoalot na Pepe aed te {Re clowable dengn ses andthe feniity charactentir ods of rigidity) of the material are known. See sere et ak proses 20 tat the inherent front of th tori wl et be ox Seeded and. deflections can be Sevtited to sociable its — exact eprssins to determine the pecorino bec eters pron ee plot andthe cnuation ar sccordngly saab i piadmaisinad iar ely ts Shey aie seas stich gv spronnat, bt reso: Tie eats, One soch commonly eed ee ee (150+ 90) oT seb (1) where 'S,= the maximum torsional shear stress induced in the member, psi Tethe torsional twisting force ‘acting on the member, pound- inches nthe length of long side of the ross section, inches b= the length of short side of the cross section, inches. Although this formula, as applied to ‘wood, has no real basis in theoretical mechanics, it can be used for design TABLE 1 Coeticients, k, to be used in equation (2). Ratio (af) Coefficient ona 0196 0.229 0249 0.263 o.2e1 0.209 0312 0.333 FURNITURE DESIGN & MANUFACTURING MARCH, 1974 (p>hen a {tched tothe output shaft ofthe speed reaucer Unt which ie Shown at the right hand sid0‘of the picture, As the operator {rmed the erank atached to tha Input shel ofthis Un ore sonal forces were then exerted by the output shelt of the Specimen, The other end of the specimen was attached 1o'8 fank arm which was aached to's shalt whose longitudinal rls wes paral Yo tat of in. As the specimen was twisted, the arm ofthe crank pressed down on a ring-shaped toad cell which can'bo soon atthe taf ade of the pote. Foraee meagured by the cell were recorded by he strib-chart Figure 3. wating forces acting ona specimen were measured by means. of the spparetue shown hore. The arm of the crank pressed ‘down on the steel ball as th specimen was loaded which In {ur pressed down on the ring-shaped load eal The Gitano trom the longitudinal axis ofthe erankahatt othe vertical ais fhe load call wae twelve Inches eo thatthe wating force act. tng on e specimen wes ecual To 12 times the force Togatred by the load cal Figure 4. : ‘Tuiting ofthe specimen was mesaured by means ofthe cia Qeges snd extension arma shown inthis protolype setup, AS the specimen was twisted. two cs reagings, dnd Gy, wor® taken The unl otaon ofthe specimen was then determined recorder shown inthe uppe lel portion of the picture inthis 8s ae Dhotograpn a specimen has been Daced in the machine andl o- ak feaay for tasting el Figure 26 where @ = the distance from the longtuaina ‘At this point the specimen ha boon rather heavily loaded in to'the points of contact ofthe extension arms wih torsion Note the large amount of task the stems of te dal gage US etenoe between extension arms, TABLE 2 With Yn ere ee Cee Total Number Speci Number of Specimens in Each Class ‘al Widths Yellow Poplar + SS 7 Sweetgum 7/8” Ol se ey oe 18 Black Walnut 1” OY 1 oo 2 Sugar Maple 1" 0 0 oto 5 Red Oak 1178" O00 i oo} 2 4 Note: Each specimen was 24 2/4 inches long,TABLE 3 Ultimate torsional shear stress results for the specimens tasted. , Standard Standard Deviation (pal) Av.Shear! Deviation (psi) No.of Av.Uitimate of Ultimate —-Streas of Shear Wood Species 1) _StressValues Ratios —_StressRation =| Yellow Poplar 2015 1748 0202 Sweetgum 620.2 v934 0335 Black Walnut 1812 204 0.170 Red Oak 174 1.25 042 Sugar Maple 5205 11890 0182 All hardwoods tested 41 32955 1.825 0.294 ‘Shear Stress Ratios are defined as the calculated ultimate torsional'shear stress divided by the value for shear 110 the grain given in the Wood Handbook corrected to current moisture content. TABLE 4 ‘Mesn Modul Stender Mean No.of of Rigidit Devietion Average Ratio” Standard 1 Wood Species M.C.% Samples pat e/a Deviation Yellow Poplar 50 17: 88.193x10 25.488 10" 1876 446 ‘Sweetgum 55 18 142.260 26.387 13.15 252 Black Walnut 42° 2 168.041 14.688 14.40 427 Red Oak 76 2 127.724 8946 15.05 092 Sugar Maple 505152834 24.718 13.64 220 A hardwoods tested 41 126.246 33.988 15.55" 431 *Modulus of elasticity values, E, were based on values given In the Wood Handbook adjusted to current ‘moisture content conditions. “Average values for all hardwoods are based on individual test results. ‘Trouonce so tnenanions TABLES purposes provided that a) it gives con- = Sistont results for members of all eeetnen Ses different sizes of rectangular cross see- “20 25 3035 40 45 tion and, b) that a consistent relation- Species ‘Shear Stross Ratios'-Average Se ere reyes Yellow Poplar — 174 1.77 190 1.69 162 fd published values for shear stress | Sweetgum = 189 182 198 = 221 Parallel to the grain, Black Walnut ee er = ‘Similarly, the torsional stiffaess of «| Red Oak = = = 125 - - ‘wooden member, which isreferred to | Sugar May 100 gee 1.84 as its modulus of rigidity, may be ap- ‘Shear Stress Ratios are defined as the calculated ultimate torsional proximated by means of the expression ane : defined as the calculated ultimate torsional shear stress divided by the value for shear stress parallel to the grain ce LT! siven in the Wood Handbook corrected to current moisture content, abe @ where ‘@= total twist of the member in radians G= torsional stiffness (mean modulus of rigidity of the on member), ps a k-coeffcient whore values are srw given in Table 1 for various ratios of a athe length of the long side of the cross section of the mem- ber, inches ‘Sido frame of an upholstered chair or sola. Any outward foc ‘applied to the arm ortop of stump wil cause storsional force vce, @ veagt i all wreoot eds‘be the length of the short side of the cross section, inches L= the length of the member, in- ches. ‘Again, it should be noted that the tor sional stiffness. values predicted by this expression, when applied to wood, are relative rather than exact, but the formula can still be used for design purposes provided that it gives consis- tent results for members of various rectangular eross sections. Since frame members in conven tional structures are seldom loaded in torsion, the torsional strength and ri- sidity of most woods have not been ex- tensively investigated. The results that are availble (Markwardt and Wilso 1935), however, indicate that torsional shear strengths of wood, as calculated by the commonly used engineering formulas, are about 1/3 greater than the values quoted for shear parallel to the grain in the Wood Handbook (Anon, 1955). Because of such con- siderations, the Wood Handbook states that for solid wood members, the allowable ultimate torsional shear (ae) pet Tee Uy Pe Ree eer ees Vie VETOES FUNCTIONAL CUSET wih CUNDH NUT, TOP, BOFTOM er WMH SLOT ONY Re? Bena ane =n Goi RD specs TE 1 No suasrtre i ket Caro ee SUPPLY COMPANY For Information Circle FOM No. 180 48 stress may be taken as equal to the ultimate shear stress parallel to grain for each species. The question that arises here is whether oF not this, same specification can be used to determine allowable torsional shear stresses for wood used in furniture se the considerations on which allowable stresses for wood used in ‘conventional structures are based are somewhat diferent than those used in imniture construction, differences in allowable stress design specifications for these two types of structures must be expected. The Wood Handbook also states that the torsional stiffness of a species (mean modulus of rigidity) of wood may be taken as 1/16 of its bending stifiness (modulus of elasticity parallel to the grain). This would be a desira- ble convention to use if it holds suff ciently well for furniture woods in the sizes commonly used in furniture con- struction. Published values (Wood Handbook, 1955) indicate the follow- {ng ratios forthe species listed: Ratio of Species Torsional Stiffness Bending Stiffness Ash 104 Yellow Birch wis Yellow Poplar M39 Sweetgum iss. Walnut 1136 These ratios obviously differ some what from the suggested value of 1/16, but, except for ash, the results are conservative. The question that exists here, however, is how much variation from this convention may be expected from piece to piece both within a wood species and among wood species. ‘An exploratory study was carried out to obtain estimates of these charae- testis for woods widely used in fur- niture construction and to evaluate torsional strength and rigidity require ‘ments in a typical furniture construc Description of Test Equipment All ests were carried out onthe tor sion testing machine which can be seen in Figures 2 through 4, Torsional forces were applied to each specimen by means of crank which was at tached to the output shaft of @ speed reducer unit, Clamping plates were first attached to the end of each spect- ‘men, and the specimen was in turn bolted to the torque producing crank attached to the output shaft of the speed reducer. The input shaft of the For Information Cirle FOM No. 145 =e STunsonas comsoenarions this crank which extended tothe side two dial indicators and two extension ron Pt a8 of the machine where tt bore down arms which were attached to the Speed reducer was tuned manually upon the top of an electrical load specimen, Figure 4. The total twist of by means ofa hand erank twas ound measuring device, Figure 3. When a the beam between these two extension that with a title practice, torsional torsional force was applied to the top arms could then be determined asthe forcescould be applied tothe endofa of a specimen, the arm pressed down diference between the readings of specimen relatively smoothly and at a on the top of the load all, and the the two gages divided by the extension tniform rate force was then monitored by an arm length Clamping plats were also attached electrical readout device. The’ ma- tothe other end ofthe specimen, and chine operator cauld observe the Test Procedure nce clamped, that end of the speci- force Indicated on the readout instruc general description of the spec- tmen was attached to.a crank at the ment as he manually cranked the ma- mens sed inthe tests is given in Table other end of the machine. This crank chine and could thereby control both 3. For the most part specimens were wwasattached toa shaft which was free the rate of loading and the load ap- wed whose erst sections were com- to both rotate and slide in a set of plied parable to those used in furniture con- pillow blocks-An arm was attached to Joint rotations were measured with Strucion, "The. dimensions ven are nominal rather than exact so that any ‘one specimen might difer afew thou Sandth of an inch from the values sven, All calculations were based on fexact values, however. In each cae, the length of the specimen was ap: proximately. 24" 3/4 inches. Yellow popular and sweetgum were the two bape oak eke your Wor! 7 eae the samples averaged 5.3. percent Only straight-grained samples, as determined by observation, were used og in the tests No attempt was made to 1a control the orientation of the sides of the specimens with respect tothe radial and tangential diretions ofthe rain, but the specimens tended more inAeeounts Receivable? |) (Ask your bookkeeper to run up a total for you.) Tabulated suunmaries of the tests a given in Tables 3 and 4. The mean Interesting, isn’t it? ear stress ratio, Table 3, for all of (Did you know First National Bank in Dallas may be the hardwoods tested was 1.825 with a. able to advance you up to 80% of the figure. . . standard deviation of 0.204. For the able fa i ‘ipa pe eo Very intresting! fee eee te ae FOR DETAILS CALL: Se er HUGH SCHEURER grain given in the Wood Handbook (214) 748-0411 after being corrected for moisture content. Yellow poplar, sweetgum, ack alt andar maple were i. all found to have shear ratios which tare rather lovely with the average Calo, but the hear uo for ed ok NATIONAL BANK. deviated considerably. Since only. a limited number of red oak samples IN DALLAS were tested, iis reasonable to a tion whether the results obtained are ing & Commercial Fit visi typical forthe species. Further testing Factoring & sneccial) Finance, Disslon is needed to resolve this question since inclusion of the data for red ak in Tor htoraton Cre Pt he 37 ee 50 FURNITURE DESIGN & MANUFACTURING/MARCH, 1974~ sauount constoenArions poplar, calculated stress ratios de- tributed to the natural variability of FROM PAGE SO crease slightly as the width of the the wood, the results of these tests in- eneral design specification neces- specimen is increased. In the case of dicate that the most representative sarily imposes a severe penalty on sweetgum the results are just the op- modulus ratio is 1 to 16. other species. On the other hand, the posite, Froma practical point of view, Summarizing briefly, the results of results obtained for a red oak may, in acoordingly, there does not appear to these tests indicate that the practices fact, be representative for the species, be a well-defined trend in the data suggested in the Wood Handbook for and other species which have similar which would indicate that equation (1) designing against torsion in conven- stress ratios may also exist Is sensitive to specimen geometry. tional structures ean also be used for If we now calculate one-sided ‘The average madulus of rigidity of designing against torsion in furniture. tolerance limits, TL, (Ostle, 1963) for all of the hardwood specimens tested Specifically, it appears that the allow- the results of the tests we find that was 126,244 psiwitha standard devia- able ultimate torsional shear stress for tion of $3,988 psi, Table 4. For design a particular wood may be taken as the TL~1525~2126%0294-120 poses it is generally assumed, as shear stress parallel to the grain for i.e. we can be 95 percent confident was previously stated, that modulus of that species, Furthermore, the that at least 95 percent of all such rigidity may be taken as 1/16th the modulus of rigidity of a species may be material would have stressratios equal modulus of elasticity (Anon, 1951) for taken as equal to 1/16 ofits modulus of to or greater than 1.20, This result the material, In these tests the aver- elasticity Tends support to the practice recom- age modulus of rigidity was 1/15.55 Torsional Requirements in Furniture mended by the Wood Handbook: witha standard deviation of 4.31. This It is useful at this point to calculate namely, that the values given by the result agrees well with the suggested the torsional strength and rigidity re- Wood Handbook for shear parallel to value, but the large standard deviation quirements of wood used in a repre the grain be used as allowable design suggests that considerable differences _ sentative furniture application. As was values for torsional stresses must be expected. As an example, the previously mentioned, one ofthe most In Table 5 the stress ratios have ratio for yellow poplar is 1 in 18.76 — commonexamples of a member londed been categorized according to speci- whereas the ratio for sweetgum is only in torsion is the side rail on a chalr oF ‘men width as well as wood species in 1 in 13.15, Individual values, of course, sofa which has an arm stump attached ‘order to determine if any trends exist may differ by even larger amounts, to it at some point between the front which indicate that the stress values The lowest ratio noted, for instance, and back rails. Any outward (or in- calculated by equation (1) are related was 1 in 28.5, whereas the highest ward) force applied to the arm will be to the cross sectional geometry of the ratio observed was I in 93, In spite of transmitted to the side rail as a tor specimens. In the ease of the yellow these differences, which may be at- FURNITURE ENAWEERING A FULLY AUTOMATIC V-GROOVER WITH EDGE FOLDER AND GLUER CAN DOUBLE YOUR PRODUCTION! Consider our system: [MEF SINGLE EDGE FOLDER & GLUER coupled th WG-25 BASIC GROOVER has a peak output of 80 fp ILVG-2SF VAROOVER can waroove on both sides or verao¥e and dado on oter sie. If spiting saw is adéed founder tele bean, production canbe doubles. AUTOMATIC EDGE FOLDER AND ‘LUER sf by special ratbercovered conveyer belt fram vgrover ‘or by han. Operational sequence: material 1s cleaned by rotary brush snd blown clean by compressed ait; PYM lu Is slid and oove spatially closed Hot elt ve i then injected od is ese completly and compressed for 3 sex, AB material emerges it has handling bond and ean be cross ‘rooted inmeitely. iVarsble sped ave ssures pe fuck syrctronatin. 70 FURNITURE DESIGN & MANUFACTURING/MARGH, 1974Take a short cut through the woods. plug COUNTER. CUTTERS "SINKS Tools to make any Kind of hole through any kind of wood. See your distributor or write for Catalog No, 36M, Greentee Tool Co, Rockford, iit 61101. GREENLEE TOOL CO ‘A Unit of Ex-Cell-0 Corporation SELBY » or Itermation Chole OM No. 128 16 hen Pras tiem’ daa | Greenlee pieces are offering convertible “fip- machine bits. moe oe In summary both of the January ASR BEEI- a eS | acta PEE Ba paca dn a | realy manufacturing industries. a (MACHINE BIT. | Sm Ene take aa eas REA fasteners straight and prevent spin. Every bit “i Z-Boy has plans for switching the best. over completely to the new system at Monroe, according to David B. Whit Greenlee makes quality executive vice president. He may also | machine bits that can han- recommend the system for other La- | dle every boring job imagin- Z-Boy plants around the comtry. Q | — able—with very interesting onsionat covsioenaions | _ results. Our complete line Tnowpaae 70 is available in a wide range “ional force. Av an example,Tet ussay | of sizes. It includes bits for that a manufacturer has such a design | rough and smooth boring, in which the effective length of the | for use in a variety of appr stump, ¢, © 12 inches, Figure 5, and | cations from furniture and that he wants to design the side ral so fine cabinet work to ship- that it can resist an outward pushing | puilding. Greenlee bits are force of 100 pounds applied tothe top | built. strong to cut clean fof the stump. Furthermore, let us | and last long. sssume that the manufacturer wishes ‘See your distributor or to construct the side ral of sweetgum | write for Catalog No. 36-M, which has a shear strength parallel to | Greenlee ToolCo, Rockford, the grain of 1600 psi at 12 percent | [I], 61101. ‘The twisting oF torsional force, T. acting onthe side rl wil be GREENLEE T= 100 pounds X12 neher = 1200 TOOL CO ‘pound-inches. Take a short cut Since the stump is located 6 inches through the woods. Ibohind the front ral and 24 inches in front of the back rail, that portion of | the side rail Between the ump and | 4 Uv f E-Cal-0 Corporation Sa front rail must carry 24/30 of this | Far nfarmation Cele FDM No-t27 FURNITURE DESIGN & MANUFACTURING/MARCH, 1974(isting free, oF, ‘The stress acting on the front portion In this case, the torsional stress acting “ of the ral, which will obviously be tne on the side rail would be essentially rear cen oem 1 wee LY reed fogica will oc aca tls aeabis ee cea whereas that portion of the side rail cordingly be that we can conclude that a sweetgum between the stump and the back rail side rail with a cross section of will carry only 6/30 X 1200, or, 240 Beas X 000 10 ae 15/16X21/2 inches would satisfy the pound-inches. Since the allowable design stress in stipulated design conditions. In designing the side rail, let wstry a this case is 1600 pst, the member is It is also. useful to calculate the ‘ross section that measures 15/16X3 somewhat overdesigned. Let us, deflection ofthe top ofthe stump in an Inches as a first approximation, therefore, ty ral wth a cro sec! outward dveetion under the leading Substituting these valves ito equation ton of uy 19/1621 inches Aside shown. Assuming small deflection (1) wefindthe toronl tener acting ralwith this eros section wou have theory, te tp a the stamp il be on tis member to be "orstnalsteseS; imposed onto fore wutward a ditane which : can be determined from the relation. gyn 529+ 9x (510) US X24 49% 10) ogy Sp ae 5 (3)? x (15/16)* 8 AX (24)? X Oe)® = 1.35 1h? =1608 ps d-0-6 ® where ¢ isthe height of the stump as previously defined and O, the angle of twist, i found by rearranging equation (2) as follows: o- Lt tab? G. « For a rail with a eros seetion of 15/16 X2.1/2 inches, the ratio of the long to the short side is 2 1/2 divided by 15)16, or, 267. The coefficient, , cor responding to this ratio i obtained from Table 1 and is equal to approxi- rately 0.249 (use the ration the table which is nearest to the calculated value). Substituting. the appropriate e ee oes Se oxi wivels a ae FOR STABILITY, mmol fd wea othe DEPENDABILITY Cap ees itis and SMOOTH RIDE wewtwrecomre et {G= 1,640,000 ps = 102500 ps Engineered for rugged performance i eeuien es POLY-RACE (Pat ening) by the World's Largest Specialized, The tp of the stump would be ex Manufacturer of swivels. pected, according to deflect ont. Easy go-round without wobble or ‘ard 86310/102,500,o, 0.54 inches stutter. For products that deserve The ation sre opt ot inewt ruction, that wood i relatively exible when Laaeeaeamemnemae loaded in torsion and for this reason, Welllbo heppy to fil your order, large constructions which derive ther rgd ity from members loaded in torsion (or smal! from our complete line of swivels. eit paren peerny CALL US FOR PROMPT SERVICE 312/ 762-3300 : Tae Wes fo ae TRENDLER :£ METAL PRODUCTS, INC. : 4750 80. Kilbourn, Chicago, 1, 60623 low 1a tae * Stentor a hoetn re oh. 17 13 FURNITURE DESIGN & MANUFACTURING/MARCH, 1974 1