The Futon Primer - 2000	by Joe Tatulli
The Futon Frame - A History of Innovation and Tribulation	A Futon Life Exclusive

Introduction Mattresses Cotton Foam How to Choose Frames Wood Mechanisms

Introduction

Frame Terminology

Brouwer’s first frames were made from cherry and maple and they retailed at about $600 for a "Basic Brouwer” in maple and up to $2000 for a model with arms in Bubinga (a very hard red wood from the Camaroons, also known as African Rosewood). When I was in retail, in the early eighties, we could not keep them in stock, if we could get them at all. I distinctly remember pulling into the alley beside the downtown Boston factory next to the steam vents of a commercial laundry that occupied the same building. During one of my excursions to scope out the expanding futon retail market I saw, to my great dismay, a futon in a box (frame & mattress) for $99 at Wal-Mart. If the proliferation of this kind of product continues, without a counterpoint, true legitimacy as a home furnishings category may be unattainable.

A second major development occurred in 1985 with the creation of the T.H.I.S. frame by Ron Massey. Massey developed his frame to hinge along the length of the mattress at the request of a Canadian customer for whom he was making non-converting futon frames. This development was a major advance and probably was the single most important factor in jump starting the growth that has followed. (Massey is still making solid wood frames. Ron’s company is called Horndove.) When I attended my first High Point Market in 1986 the now defunct New Moon was showing the frame in their showroom, behind a screen so no one could see it.
Numerous original frame designs, as well as their knock offs, proliferate the market place and we still can’t seem to get enough. This primer will, hopefully, clarify some of the confusion and define some nomenclature we can all live with.

The Futon Frame
Bi-Fold and Tri-Fold: The New Sofa-beds of The Nineties

Frame Terminology

There are two major differences between the bi-fold and tri-fold frame types. The first difference is the number of times the futon mattress must fold when converting from the sitting to sleeping position. The tri-fold requires the futon mattress to be folded twice while the bi-fold requires that the mattress fold only once. The second major difference between the two frame designs is that the tri-fold utilizes the shorter "width” of the mattress for seating while the bi-fold utilizes the longer "length.” This gives the inherent advantage to the bi-fold because it looks much more like a conventional sofa-bed than does the tri-fold. It also provides a larger seating area for the consumer.

Two basic types of tri-folds exist. The first type includes frames with legs like The Basic Brouwer Bed (which is still being produced by S&J Woodworks), Liforms’ "Firefly, ” Welcome Home’s "Cheapy Sleepy,” and Nikita Grigoriev’s "G-2,”. Look-alikes, usually using the name "A-Frame,” are imported from South America and Maylasia by Opel, Atlantic Frame, Harlee, Elite, At Home, and many others. These frames are nicely finished and are moderately priced.

The other type of tri-fold is the most basic of futon frames. These frames have no legs and sit directly on the floor. Most of these frames are made from pine or poplar and many come to the retailer unfinished. They are a great promotional product and may be shown painted or stained to suit the end user’s needs.

The bi-fold is now the industry standard and the more popular of the two basic styles. These sofa-bed look-alikes also come in two basic categories, those with arms and legs and those that sit directly on the floor. Let’s deal with the higher end frames first (the ones that come with arms and legs). The earliest bi-fold was designed by Ron Massey of Horndove and was produced by Bois Fanc Royale and then by National Woodcraft of Quebec, Canada. Both the early "T.H.I.S.” frame and the later "Dove”, were the catalysts that pushed National’s key marketers, New Moon, to the forefront of the futon industry at the High Point shows in 1985 and 1986. Also of note in early bi-fold technology were the introductions of the patented "ROJO” and "SII” frames by Bob Fireman and Bill and Gary Shaffield of From the Source, as well as the patented AM-PM frame by Gaudry Normand. While the Dove and ROJO (as well as other frames of this type) used a simple one point pivot at the connections of the seat and back rest (with a plug or pin through the back of the arm to hold the back-rest up for the seating position), the SII and AM-PM used a more sophisticated system of sliding rollers and/or pins between the sides of the seat and back-rest, the SII utilizing two curved grooves on the inside of the side arms. The rollers allowed the frame to convert from seating to sleeping smoothly, while also allowing the frame to stop at several other "lounging” positions along the way. This mechanism and its many copies has become known as the "slider” mechanism. Since the introduction of bi-folds in 1984-85 the futon industry has grown more respectable as a viable home furnishings category. The bi-folds (the well manufactured and designed ones, that is) looked and worked much more like the conventional, dual-purpose sofa-beds they hoped to compete with on retail sales floors all across North America.

Another addition to the market arrived in 1987. Nippon, a Danish company, introduced the first all-metal, convertible futon frame with a sturdy all-metal mechanism. Many other companies, including Innovation USA, Tempo Industries, Coaster, Powell, IBC, Amisco and others have developed metal frames with metal mechanisms and solid wood frames with metal mechanisms as well. The Tempo frame is also incorporated into a bunk bed configuration. The bottom bunk is a full sized futon sofa-bed that doubles as a sofa during the day and a full sized bed at night.

On the promotional end, Mitch Wapen’s early L-Frame seems to be the earliest example of this type of frame. Almost every manufacturer and distributor carries at least one or two basic bi-folds. These frames rely on a numerous variety of conversion mechanisms. Some rely on the basic hinge effect and strategic cutting angles of the back-rest and frame base to keep the slat system level when in the sleeping position.

Wall-Hugger vs.
Conventional Pull-Away

An inherent disadvantage of many bi-fold convertibles involves pulling the entire frame away from the wall to make room for the back-rest as it drops down into the sleeping position. Many of these frames were designed with a stationary pivot point for conversion. The wall-hugger design employs a sliding or moving pivot point. This design enables conversion from sofa to bed and back to take place without moving the frame away from the wall, hence the name "wall-hugger.”

Some wall-huggers must sit two to six inches away from a wall to avoid having the back-rest hit the wall when they convert. One wag called this design a "wall-banger.” Others need no clearance at all and can therefore sit right up against the wall. These "zero clearance” wall-huggers are easier to use and are therefore a better buy. You should ask your manufacturer what the clearance of their wall-hugger is to determine its ease of use. Frames with a two inch clearance must sit two inches away from the wall to convert without moving the frame, four inch clearance must sit four inches away, and so on.

Many of these frames also employ the so called "kicker” mechanism. Patented in one form or another by From The Source, Casual Lifestyles, AM-PM, and others, the kicker utilizes a small piece of wood which swings freely from the back of the seat rack. When the seat rack is raised to vertical the kicker falls into a position whereby it wedges itself between the seat rack and the back rest. When the seat rack is pushed down the "kicker” forces the back rest to return to the seating position in one fluid motion. All this happens from the front of the frame, making the conversion easy and usually trouble free.

Issues For Today

Futon frame technology has taken some interesting twists and turns over the years. Metal mechanisms aren’t new or revolutionary but they have become more popular because of their durability. Traditional sofa-beds have always used metal mechanisms without any problem. The futon furniture manufacturer has to deal with two issues the traditional sofa-bed doesn’t have to deal with. One issue is the design aesthetic of an all-wood frame. The fact that most futon frames are made entirely of clear (no knots or bark), finished wood adds some considerable cost and design constraints to the frame. Traditional sofas and sofa-beds can use heavier, unfinished wood that is not clear. Hidden under layers of padding and fabric is usually a glued and screwed frame that is very sturdy, but if left uncovered would probably not draw much of a crowd. The futon frame must pass the muster of an exposed wooden exoskeleton, where the fit and finish is open to public scrutiny. The weight of this clear, dimensioned lumber must be heavy enough to handle the stresses of conversion and yet be light enough to not look out of proportion or break the price barriers the industry is comfortable with.

Some manufacturers have decided that heavier is better and these higher price point pioneers are helping to push open the price envelope.

That being said, the second issue futon frame manufacturers must deal with is the mechanism itself. The traditional sofa-bed manufacturer calls Leggett & Platt and orders item #123XL-3468, your basic sofa-bed scissor mechanism. They screw it into position and off they go. Obviously I’ve used this story to make a point: the traditional manufacturer solves the conversion issue by simply ordering a part. The futon frame manufacturer must consider several options, depending on the design specs and where the price point will be. Most of the time the manufacturer will opt for some variation of the slider mechanism. Two nylon rollers fit in between the slat racks and the arm assemblies, in grooves that allow the frame to convert from sitting to sleeping and back again. Some manufacturers, though, have taken a different route. They have attempted to fit a metal mechanism to a wooden frame. Some of the early attempts ended in disaster. The wood simply couldn’t stand up to the metal. The best designs are now using metal reinforced wooden bases. The metal reinforcement makes up for the lighter weight of the wood and can even add an element of style. FL