Washer cap and rotating stool

Abstract

A stool includes a collapsible frame, a triangular seat and a back. The frame includes a bottom hub with three telescopingly adjustable legs and enlarged feet. A top hub is rotatably coupled to the bottom hub for 360 degree rotation, and includes three seat-supporting arms that extend from the top hub, and a pair of uprights that extend from two of the arms. The seat hook-attaches to loops on ends of the arms, and the back extends between the uprights. The legs and arms are pivoted to their respective hubs, but the pivots are slightly frictional so that the arms and legs remain in adjusted positions, with stops on the hubs stopping the legs and arms in their upwardly-pivoted use positions. The frictional pivots include lubricious plastic that facilitates quiet unfolding of the stool, which is important when hunting.

1 . A collapsible article for hunting and outdoor use, comprising:
 a frame including a tubular frame member and a second frame member shaped to receive an end of the tubular frame member;   a washer cap attached to the end of the tubular member; the washer cap including a sleeve portion for closely engaging an end of the tubular frame member and opposing standoffs on the sleeve portion having a flat outer surface and aligned holes; and   a pivot pin extending through transverse holes in the tubular frame member and through the aligned holes in the standoffs and through mating holes in the second frame member to thus pivotally interconnect the tubular frame member to the second frame member.   
   
   
       2 . The article defined in  claim 1 , wherein the tubular frame member has a round cross section, and the sleeve portion includes a cylindrically shaped recess shaped to longitudinally receive the round cross section. 
   
   
       3 . The article defined in  claim 1 , wherein the washer cap is formed from a plastic material. 
   
   
       4 . The article defined in  claim 1 , wherein the second frame member comprises a hub and includes opposing flanges with the mating holes therein. 
   
   
       5 . The article defined in  claim 4 , wherein the second frame member includes a stop flange extending between the opposing flanges that limits a rotation of the tubular frame member on the second frame member. 
   
   
       6 . A collapsible article for hunting and outdoor use, comprising:
 a frame including a tubular frame member, a U-shaped shackle, and a second frame member with a connector for connecting to the U-shaped shackle, the U-shaped shackle having protruding free ends defining opposing first holes;   a connector plug including a plug portion closely engaging an end of the tubular frame member and including an extension extending from the plug portion, the extension including a stem and a pivot-forming portion with a transverse hole therein; and   a pivot pin extending through the first holes and through the transverse hole to thus pivotally interconnect the tubular frame member to the connector of the second frame member.   
   
   
       7 . The collapsible article defined in  claim 6 , wherein the pivot-forming portion is barrel-shaped and includes opposing flat end surfaces. 
   
   
       8 . The collapsible article defined in  claim 7 , wherein the connector includes a hook adapted to releasably engage the shackle. 
   
   
       9 . A collapsible article for hunting and outdoor use, comprising:
 a frame including first and second tubular frame members;   first and second connector plugs each including a plug portion closely engaging an end of the respective first and second tubular frame members and each further including an extension extending from the plug portion, the extensions each including a longitudinally-extending stem and a pivot-forming portion with a transverse hole and a flat surface perpendicular to the transverse hole; the pivot-forming portions of the first and second connector plugs being shaped to mate with the flat surfaces abutting and the transverse holes aligned and the plug portions extending in different directions; and   a pivot pin extending through the transverse holes to pivotally interconnect first and second connector plugs and hence pivotally interconnect the first and second tubular frame members.   
   
   
       10 . The collapsible article defined in  claim 9 , including a U-shaped shackle with protruding ends engaging opposing outer surfaces of the pivot-forming portions of the first and second connector plugs, the pivot pin extending through holes in the protruding ends to pivotally connect the shackle to the first and second tubular frame members. 
   
   
       11 . The collapsible article defined in  claim 10 , wherein the pivot-forming portions are barrel-shaped. 
   
   
       12 . The collapsible article defined in  claim 9 , including a quick-connect hook-shaped connector releasably engaging the shackle. 
   
   
       13 . The collapsible article defined in  claim 12 , including another frame member attached to the shackle. 
   
   
       14 . The collapsible article defined in  claim 13 , wherein the another frame member includes a seat. 
   
   
       15 . The collapsible article defined in  claim 9 , wherein the first and second connector plugs are mirror images of each other. 
   
   
       16 . The collapsible article defined in  claim 9 , wherein at least one of the first and second connector plugs includes a stop surface for limiting an outward rotation of the first connector plug on the second connector plug, and hence for limiting a relative rotation of the first and second tubular frame members. 
   
   
       17 . A collapsible stool that can be collapsed very quietly, comprising:
 a frame including multiple metal frame members forming a collapsible framework for a seat and a back, the metal frame members being joined together at joints by pivot-forming connectors made of lubricious plastic material; each of the pivot-forming connectors including holes defining pivots but including flat surfaces forming lubricious bearing surfaces to support quite rotation and also including plastic material spacing the metal frame members of each joint from each other.   
   
   
       18 . A collapsible stool comprising:
 a collapsible leg framework including a lower hub;   a collapsible seat-supporting framework including an upper hub pivotally connected to the lower hub for 360 degrees of rotation;   a collapsible back-supporting framework pivoted to the seat-supporting framework for movement between a collapsed position and an upright use position.