Children's Furniture Research Articles

An abbreviated alternatives assessment process for product designers: a children’s furniture manufacturing case study

Alternatives assessment is becoming increasingly popular to evaluate the potential environmental and human health hazards of materials. A three step process was used to identify and evaluate alternative products for a children's furniture manufacturer. An alternatives assessment framework was developed to analyze alternative mattresses. The framework specifically addresses those environmental and safety attributes applicable to the product and the product components in accordance with the product’s intended use. The result of the assessment allowed the manufacturer to select the most environmentally friendly alternative and eliminate polyvinyl chloride from their product.

Designing Children's Furniture and Computers for School and Home

Designers who make products to fit children face challenges, especially lack of current anthropometric data.

Current activites in the field of child safety within CEN aand ISO

Many countries have implemented safety and performance requirements for children's products. There is, however, a need to harmonize existing legislation and standards to facilitate a uniform flow of trade. At the same time, it is essential to extend existing requirements to restrict certain hazards which have not been covered in the past. In CEN, the European Committee for standardization, several technical committees are developing European Standards for products to be used by or for children. On a global level as well, within ISO, there are standardization projects covering such products. Child safety is the main objective for the standardization work on: •Safety of toys (CENATC 52, ISO/TC 181) • Child use and care articles (CEN/TC 252) •Playground equipment for children LCEN/TC 136/SC 1) • Children's furniture (CEN/TC 207, ISO/TC 136( •Child-resistant packaging (CEN/TC 261/SC 2, ISO/TC 122) Children's products constitute a group of consumer products with large variations between the different products. Nevertheless, since they all come in contact with children (and their parents), several hazards associated with these products are similar for the various products. This is reflected in the work of CEN/TC 252, Child use and care articles, established in 1990. To establish a horizontal framework for the hazard-based approach, CEN/ TC 252 created a working group with the task to specify general and common safety requirements (WG 6). Five working groups started the elaboration of product standards in parallel. The traditional concept of a standardization project was found inadequate and other solutions were sought. Finally, it was decided to combine the results from working group 6 into one guidance document, to be published as a CEN Report.

English vernacular furniture, 1750-1900

Traditional crafts and native timbers country joiners provincial price books farmhouses and cottages urban working class homes regional chairmaking traditions regional beds alehouses, inns and tavens schools back-stairs country house furniture workhouses houses of correction, bridwells and prisons lunatic asylums and hospitals almshouses Quaker meeting houses Nonconformist chapels factories and workshops offices shops corn exchanges railway buildings army barracks bothies and chaumiers mine shops staw furniture wicker furniture children's furniture ships caravans, narrow boats and living vans ducking stools cricket and tennis soup kitchens auction rooms undergraduates' rooms.

Statistical Researches into the History of Popular Furniture in Hungary

The Ethnographic Museum in Budapest has systematically collected dated objects of Hungarian popular culture. The present article is based on the statistical analysis of 746 dated pieces of furniture, a random sample of dated furniture in Hungary. Having the date and the name of the owner carved into furniture became popular with the nobility and upper bourgeoisie in Hungary in the 16th and 17th centuries. While in these classes this fashion faded away in the 18th century, it was then taken up by the petit bourgeoisie of the provincial towns and by the peasantry, the craftsmen functioning as intermediators. The article discusses the chronological development of dated furniture belonging to the dowry, to the 'sacred corner', to the kitchen, and children's furniture (Fig. I); the producers of dated furniture: cabinet-makers, joiners, home-workers, and amateur craftsmen (Fig. 2); the production and use of dated furniture in the town and in the village (Fig. 3 and 4); a case study of the example of a provincial town (Fig. 5 and 6) and a village (Fig. 7). The findings of the statistical analysis are interpreted within the framework of the Theory of Cultural Fixation and in comparison with similar studies in France and Northwest Germany. In the late 18th century, rural wealth in Hungary (Fig. 8: Wheat prices in Hungary) gave a strong impulse to innovation. The adoption of elements of furniture from higher (urban) classes is observable in certain periods (e.g. the late 19th century), whereas at times of economic recession or stagnation the processes of tradition prevailed. The findings indicate, however, that cultural processes that are already under way may continue to develop even in these less favorable times.

Children's Furniture

Children's Furniture

RECENT TRENDS IN ACCIDENT PREVENTION

ALTHOUGH pediatricians have always been concerned, as individuals, with the problem of child safety, the intense interest of the American Academy of Pediatrics in accident prevention dates back only to 1950. At that time, the spectacular conquest of the common childhood diseases during the previous three decades had forced a remarkable drop in the mortality rate from disease, whereas, in sharp contrast, decrease in the accident death rate had remained alarmingly slow—in fact, almost static (Figs. 1 and 2). This has focused attention and renewed emphasis on the still formidable problem of accidents, aptly described by Dietrich as childhood's greatest killer. Then, as now, accidents were the leading cause of death among children 1 to 14 years of age, accounting for fully one-third of all deaths at the elementary-school ages, and causing untold crippling, suffering and disability (Table I). NEW NATIONAL COMMITTEE SETS ITS OBJECTIVES When these facts were demonstrated to the Executive Board of the American Academy of Pediatrics, it established for the first time, in 1950, a Committee on Accident Prevention with Dr. George M. Wheatley serving ably as chairman. The Committee adopted three broad approaches in its attack on accidents of childhood: education, engineering, and legislation. Physicians caring for children were to be alerted to the magnitude of the accident problem and encouraged to educate parents by pointing out specific hazards and initiating safety training of children. The Committee was to work with strategic groups, such as the American Standards Association, toward developing manufacturing standards for minimizing accidents involving such products as children's toys, clothing and furniture.

Children's Furniture

Children's Furniture