Technical Drawing, 10/e
	Case Study 3: The Leveler Base

The Leveler Base Does this always happen to you? You go to a restaurant. You and your potential client sit down to discuss business. You are explaining the merits of your company as you place your arms down on the table. THE TABLE ROCKS BACK AND FORTH... you spill your tea, and the momentum of the conversation is interrupted.... What do you do?

If you are like millions of restaurant patrons, you grab a matchbook, sugar packet or napkin and very elegantly stuff it under the table base at the point where the base is not touching the floor. Not all is lost, but it is annoying and bound to happen to each of us three or four times a year.

With the Leveler base, you can stabilize the table by simply adjusting the knobs integrated into the top of each foot. Clockwise to extend the glide and counterclockwise to retract the glide into the base. This approach allows the user to remedy an annoying problem with little effort.

The Leveler table base is a break from traditional thinking. It provides a solution at the point at which the problem is most obvious. For years, specifiers have endured this problem because contractors can't make totally level floors in public spaces and clients put their resources into the areas with the most visual design impact or personal statement.

Let's face it, table bases are one of the least-seen products in a restaurant. They get noticed only when they are in the way or out of level. Since they are standard products and typically only sculptural, the budget for them is minimal at best.

Using the Leveler base, the restaurant owner will find fewer sugar packets and napkins on the floor. Therefore, extra cleaning and health code violations can be avoided. The savings on material and labor resources justifies the minimal added cost to the bases.

In approaching the design solution, the first issue was to solve the problem of unstable tables at the user level; that is, allow the person with the problem to fix it. Also, the tables must be leveled without lifting the "loaded" table top.

The second issue was to examine other problems associated with table bases. I found that they get in the way. The "arc" form of the Leveler cast-iron base gives the patron more foot room under the casting and allows the attendant to clean under the base.

Stability is also a key liability factor in determining the size and weight of a table base. In general, a low center of gravity and extended footprint equal a large heavy base and greater stability. In most cases, cast iron is the material of choice for table bases. It is heavy enough to keep the size of the object to a minimum while providing enough structural support and weight to maintain a low center of gravity.

The Leveler base uses a centuries-old sand-cast process. Falcon's clean melting, high-frequency induction furnaces melt down recycled engine blocks. New furnaces enable Falcon to use more scrap steel as cast-iron products become scarce. Once cast, the bases are polished, deburred and then electrostatic powder coated. The process and materials have the appropriate economy considering inexpensive tooling investments, ecological management and product performance. Plus, there is something poetic about recycling old cars into affordable architectural products for public use.

The adjustment knobs are injection-molded ABS. They have proven durable and impervious to most cleaning fluids. The plastic knobs and the gray iron castings both have drainage holes in each foot to allow liquids to clear for cleaning. The glide portion engaging the floor surface, made of non-abrasive polyethylene plastic, has a metal cap and a threaded stem that pierces the casting. Each assembly contains a conical compression spring that stabilizes the floor glide. This minimizes any spinning of the glide as the table slides across the floor.

The Leveler has "zero" technical advancements. Simplicity is the key! There is minimal change from standard production procedures. Threads are tapped through the sand-cast base, the standard glide screws through the casting, the adjustable knob screws onto the glide and Cyanoacrylate adhesive secures it all. Because the glide and the turn knob are secured to each other through the base, glides are not lost.

This base solves the problem of unstable tables on unlevel commercial floors. It is a design that expresses the function of the product, eliminating the need for instructions. It's a simple solution to an age-old problem.

Designed by L. Dorsey Cox, IDSA, and Steven Hill, IDSA, of Falcon Products Inc. and Robert Lotufo, IDSA, of Lookout Industries.

Client: Falcon Products Inc.