AU2010247639A1

AU2010247639A1 - Item of furniture

Info

Publication number: AU2010247639A1
Application number: AU2010247639A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Ralf Mueterthies; Michael Schubert
Original assignee: Hettich Holding GmbH and Co OHG
Current assignee: Hettich Holding GmbH and Co OHG
Priority date: 2009-05-11
Filing date: 2010-04-26
Publication date: 2011-11-17
Also published as: KR20120014208A; WO2010130565A3; WO2010130565A2; CN102421327A; JP2012525945A; EP2429335A2; RU2011149752A; RU2532718C2; DE202009004801U1

Abstract

The invention relates to an item of furniture (1), in particular for offices or kitchens, comprising a front piece (2, 2', 2", 2'") which is displaceably arranged in the body of the item of furniture, said front piece (2, 2', 2", 2'") being operatively connected to at least two horizontal guide rails (7, 7'', 7") which are parallel to each other and perpendicular to the front surface (5) of the item of furniture (1). Said front piece (2, 2', 2", 2'") can be displaced towards the inside of the body of the item of furniture from a position which is parallel and flush to the front surface (5) of the item of furniture (1).

Description

A piece of furniture The present invention relates to a piece of furniture, especially for offices or kitchens, comprising a front piece which is displaceably arranged in the furniture body according to the preamble of claim 1 and claim 15. Pieces of furniture are known from the state-of-the-art in which a front piece of furniture is displaceable parallel to the front surface of the furniture or in which the front piece is arranged as a revolving door which is displaceable into the furniture body in a slot provided for this purpose in a position perpendicular to the front surface of the furniture. It is the object of the present invention to provide a piece of furniture which can change its shape by displaceable and/or pivotable front pieces as required from an idle to a usage position or vice versa. This object is achieved by a piece of furniture with the features of claim 1 and by a piece of furniture with the features of claim 15. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are the subject matter of the sub-claims. In accordance with claim 1, the front piece is displaceable from a position which is flush with the front surface of the furniture into the furniture body parallel to the front surface of the furniture. With a front piece which is displaceable in this manner it is possible to achieve a flush front piece of the furniture for aesthetic or functional reasons, or a useful working volume for additional functions within or in front of/behind the front piece for functional reasons. For example, a working surface is accessible in the piece of furniture without the front piece which is moved for this purpose covering other front areas of the furniture. In accordance with one embodiment, the front piece is arranged at least partly as a transparent plate. With such a front piece arranged in this manner is possible to arrange a screen behind said front piece which can be displaced into the furniture together with the front piece if so required. In accordance with a further embodiment, a carriage is arranged on the rear side of the front piece of the furniture which faces away from the front surface, which carriage can be guided in guide rails. Such a carriage can be used in many ways, e.g. for housing a cooker hood, wherein the front piece is provided with ventilation slits in this case, as a separate storage compartment for housing small parts or seasonings or the like. A further front piece can also be arranged on the rear side of the carriage, so that the piece of furniture can also be used as a room divider. In accordance with a further preferred embodiment, at least one roller is arranged on the front piece and/or on the carriage, which roller is provided on the upper side of a panel arranged horizontally beneath the front piece in the form of a worktop for example, or on the bottom side of a second panel arranged horizontally above the front piece. In the event that the front piece or the carriage is guided at its respectively upper ends of the front by way of two rails which extend vertically to the back and simultaneously in parallel, such a roller provides additional stability to the front piece or the carriage. In a further embodiment, the furniture front is arranged on the carriage to be height-adjustable, laterally adjustable and/or obliquely adjustable. As a result, the front piece can be aligned precisely with respect to its alignment in the plane of the front surface of the piece of furniture. In accordance with a further embodiment, the piece of furniture comprises an electric drive unit with which the front piece is displaceable. The movement and the positioning of the front piece in the furniture body is facilitated considerably by an electrically driven front. The application of the electric drive units can also be considered for other functional furniture elements such as sliding doors. The electric drive units need not necessarily be fixed to the carriage, but can also be fixed directly to the perpendicularly positioned front piece. The invention will be explained below by reference to several embodiments shown in the enclosed drawings, wherein: Figs. I to 4 show perspective views of a piece of furniture in accordance with the invention with differently arranged front pieces; Figs. 5 to 16 show several sectional front views of a furniture body and a front piece with guide rails arranged in different positions on the front piece and/or rollers arranged on the front piece; Figs. 17 to 20 show different views of a first embodiment of an electric toothed belt drive; Fig. 21 shows a schematic sectional side view of a front piece which is arranged to be adjustable in inclination in a carriage; Figs. 22 to 25 show several views of a drive arranged as an electrified cable pull; Figs. 26 to 28 show several sectional side views in different positions of a carriage with a front piece which is upwardly swivelable to the side; Figs. 29 and 32 show sectional side views of a running gear which is displaceable in a furniture body and on which a front piece is arranged with a telescopic arrangement and a locking lever, and Figs. 31 and 32 show further schematic sectional side views of a running gear which is displaceable in a furniture body and on which a front piece is arranged with an articulation arrangement and guide rails arranged in the manner of a bow. The piece of furniture 1 as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 comprises a furniture body with components arranged therein such as drawers, a worktop 4 and a front piece 2 which is displaceable into the furniture body. This front piece 2 is positioned to be flush with the front surface 5 of the piece of furniture when not in use. In the illustrations as shown in Figs. 1 to 4, a carriage 3 with a rear wall 23 and a front wall 24 (detail shown in Fig. 17) connected with each other by webs 25 is arranged behind the front piece 2, to which the front piece 2 is fastened. A configuration as a glass front is shown by way of example for the configuration possibilities of the front piece 2 of the furniture item, behind which a screen can be placed for example. In the embodiment as shown in Fig. 2, the front piece 2' is arranged as a revolving door arranged on the carriage 3. In Fig. 3, the front piece 2" is arranged as an open shelf top protruding into the carriage. Fig. 4 shows the exemplary arrangement of a cooker hood in the carriage 3, with the front piece 2"' having several ventilation slits.

The displacement of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2' from a position which is flush with the front surface 5 of the piece of furniture I parallel to the front surface 5 of the piece of the furniture 1 into the furniture body will be described below in closer detail by reference to Figs. 5 to 16. In a first embodiment shown in Fig. 5, guide rails 7 are incorporated in the walls 4, 10, 6 and 11 which enclose the front piece and the carriage 3, which guide rails are aligned horizontally, parallel with respect to each other and perpendicularly to the front surface 5 of the piece of furniture 1. At least one running wheel 8 is guided in each of the guide rails 7, which running wheel is rotatable on an axle 9, with the axle 9 being rigidly arranged on an edge of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or the carriage 3. In order to improve the running properties of such a front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' into the furniture body, at least two running wheels 8 which are directly or indirectly connected with one another are arranged in each of the guide rails 7. Tilting the furniture front during the insertion process is effectively prevented. Instead of quadruple guidance as shown in Fig. 5, a triple or double guidance of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or the carriage 3 in guide rails 7 is possible. Possible arrangements of these guide rails 7 are shown in Figs. 6 to 12 and 14. In the variant of as shown in Fig. 15, in which the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or the carriage 3 are guided in the region of their upper corners in guide rails 7, additional rollers 12 are arranged on the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or on the carriage 3 in the region of the bottom corners, which rollers rest on the upper side of a worktop 4 arranged beneath the front piece 2 and roll on the worktop 4 during the displacing process. In the embodiments as shown in Figs. 13 and 16, only rollers 12 are arranged via roller axles 13 in the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or the carriage 3. In this case, at least two rollers 12 which are arranged behind one another in the travelling direction are arranged either only in the bottom region of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or the carriage 3 with which the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or the carriage 3 is displaceable on a worktop, or arranged horizontally beneath the front piece 2, or additional rollers 12 are arranged in the upper region of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2' or the carriage 3, thus enabling a support of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or the carriage 3 on a second plate 6 arranged horizontally above the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"'. The surface-shifted displacement of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2' preferably occurs in an electrified manner. For this purpose, the piece of furniture preferably comprises an electric drive unit with which the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' is displaceable. A first embodiment of such an electric drive unit is shown in Figs. 17 to 19. The electric drive unit is arranged in this case as a toothed belt drive. As is shown in Fig. 17, a drive motor 19 is arranged in the carriage 3, which motor drives a drive axle 17 by way of a toothed belt 18. The drive axle 17 penetrates at its respective end regions the plate 22 which is vertically fastened to the carriage 3. A gearwheel 16 with exterior teeth is respectively disposed on the ends of the drive axle 17 behind the plate 22. A toothed belt 15 is placed on said gearwheel 16, which toothed belt is pressed by deflection rollers 14 against the gearwheel 16, which deflection rollers are arranged to the right and left adjacent to the gearwheel 16. The toothed belt 15 is thereby placed in the region of the gearwheel 16 and the deflection rollers 14 in the shape of an omega around the gearwheel 16, thus causing secure clamping of the toothed belt. The toothed belt 15 and the deflection rollers 14 are disposed in a first guideway 20 of the guide rail 7, with the toothed belt 15 being fastened at the end with adjusting elements 28 in the guide rail 7. The toothed belt 15 can be displaced horizontally and fixed by means of the adjusting elements 28. In order to increase the freedom of movement in the guide rail 7, the guide rail 7 comprises a second guideway 21, in which running wheels 8 are guided which are spaced from one another as far as possible and which are each fastened to the right and the left of the deflection rollers 14 to the plate 22. The guideway 21 and respectively the running wheels 8 are arranged in an offset manner with respect to the first guideway 20 and the deflection rollers 14 revolving therein, as is shown especially in Fig. 19. As is clearly shown in Fig. 17 and also Fig. 20, the plate 22 comprises two elongated holes 27 through which screws 26 are placed which allow the plate 22 to be fastened to the carriage 3 in a vertically adjustable manner in a direction z. As is further shown in Fig. 20, such a vertical adjustment of rollers 12 running on a worktop 4 of the furniture body by way of a panel arranged on a carriage 3 in the bottom region of the carriage is possible. As is shown in Fig. 21, the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' is arranged on the carriage 3 to be adjustable in inclination. For this purpose, ball joint shells 33 are preferably incorporated in the rear side of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"', in which an end of a knurled-head screw 29 is arranged, which end is arranged as a ball head 31 and which knurled-head screw 29 is adjustably fixed in the carriage 3 and which is adjustable by way of a thumbwheel 32 and a thread 30 which can be screwed into the wall 24 of the carriage 3. A fine adjustment of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' in relation to the front surface 5 of the piece of furniture 1 and thereby be performed in a simple way. Figs. 22 to 25 show a further embodiment of the drive unit. In this case the drive unit is arranged as an electrified cable pull drive. A holding element 34 which is laterally fixed to the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or to the carriage 3 is moved by an electrically driven cable drum 35, on which a cable pull 39 is wound up for each holding element 34, which cable pull is guided by deflection rollers 37, 38 arranged on the respective ends of the guide rail 7'and is fixed by way of a fastening element 44 to the holding element 34. The cable pull 39 is not fixed continuously but is fixed with its end to different positions on the cable drum 35 in such a way that during operation one end will be wound up, while simultaneously the other end will be wound off. This ensures slippage-free displacement of the carriage 3. The guide rail 7'comprises two webs 36 which extend parallel to the longitudinal axis of the guide rail and which form ducts for the cable pull 39 together with the outside walls of the guide rail 7'which is arranged in the shape of an omega in its cross-section. Two rollers 40 are arranged on the rear side of the holding element 34, which rollers run in a guideway which is formed by mutually facing sides of the webs 36. The width of the holding elements 34 (as seen in the direction of displacement y) corresponds to the width of the front piece 2 to be held or the width of the carriage 3 to be held. In order to enable the adjustment of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' which is horizontal in the plane of the front surface of the piece of furniture, the holding element 34 comprises oblong holes on limbs 41 which protrude perpendicularly from a rear wall of the holding element 34, with which the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or the carriage 3 can be fixed in a horizontally adjustable way. Additional webs 42, 43 of the holding element 34 which protrude perpendicularly or obliquely upwardly from the rear side of the holding element in the direction of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2' or the carriage 3 also ensure a secure vertical fixing of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' or the carriage 3 to the holding element 34. In the embodiment of the piece of furniture 1 as shown in Figs. 26 to 28, the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' is arranged to be pivotable on the undercarriage 3 laterally upwardly in the manner of a parallelogram by way of webs 46. As is shown especially in Fig. 28, a further furniture element 47 which is arranged above the carriage 3 in the piece of furniture I can be lowered with such an arrangement after a displacement of the carriage 3 to the rear by way of a lifting arrangement downwardly into the space that has been vacated in front of the carriage 3. Furthermore, a back element 45 is arranged on the rear side of the carriage 3, which back element corresponds to the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"', so that the rear side of the piece of furniture can also be closed off in a flush manner by the back element 45 in the rearward disposed position of the carriage 3. Figs. 29 to 32 show two different embodiments such as an improved volume utilization of the space in front of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' which is enabled when the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' is completely displaced to the rear. For this purpose, a running gear 51 to which the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' is fastened and which is displaceable in straight guide rails 7 between a front and a rear position is provided with a telescopic arm 50 on which one of two running wheels 8 is arranged which is arranged in the guide rail 7. Furthermore, a locking lever 49 is arranged on a rear wall 48 of the running gear 51, with which the telescopic arm 50 can be held in an extended position. As a result, the rollers 14 which run in the respective guide rails 7 are arranged at the largest possible distance from one another in order to avoid jamming of the running gear 51. If the running gear 51 is displaced in the direction of the position maximally remote from the front surface 5 of the piece of furniture 1, the locking lever 49 makes contact with the rear wall of the piece of furniture I and thereby moves out of the position locking the telescopic arm 50, so that the telescopic arm 50 can be retracted into the running gear 51. In its end position the running gear 51 only has a reduced depth b, by means of which the useful volume in front of the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' is enlarged. In an alternative embodiment shown in Figs. 31 and 32, the guide rails 7" are provided with a bent configuration and the running gear 51 consists of 2 regions which are separated from one another by a joint 52, which regions are pivoted during a displacement of the running gear 51 in the direction of the position which is farthest away from the front surface 5 of the piece of furniture 1 from a position coaxially extending one another to a bent position, with a running wheel 8 which is remote from the front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' following the arc-shaped progression of the guide rail 7". As a result, the initial depth a of the running gear 51 (shown in Fig. 31) can be extended to a depth b of the running gear 51 (shown in Fig. 32).

List of reference numerals Piece of furniture I Front piece 2, 2', 2", 2"' Carriage 3 Worktop 4 Front surface 5 Top panel 6 Guide rail 7, 7', 7" Roller 8 Axle 9 Wall 10 Wall 11 Roller 12 Roller axle 13 Deflection roller 14 Toothed belt 15 Gearwheel 16 Drive axle 17 Toothed belt 18 Drive motor 19 Guideway 20 Guideway 21 Plate 22 Wall 23 Wall 24 Web 25 Screws 26 Oblong hole 27 Adjusting element 28 Knurled-head screw 29 Thread 30 Ball head 31 Thumbwheel 32 Ball joint shell 33 Holding element 34 Cable drum 35 Web 36 Deflection roller 37 Deflection roller 38 Cable pull 39 Running wheel 40 Limb 41 Web 42 Web 43 Fastening element 44 Back element 45 Web 46 Furniture element 47 Rear wall 48 Locking lever 49 Telescopic arm 50 Running gear 51 Joint 52 a b y z

Claims

1. A piece of furniture (1), especially for offices of kitchens, comprising a front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') which is displaceably arranged in the furniture body, with the front piece (2, 2', 2",2"') being operatively connected to at least two horizontal guide rails (7, 7', 7") which are parallel with respect to each other and aligned perpendicularly to the front surface (5) of the piece of furniture (1), characterized in that the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2') can be displaced towards the inside of the furniture body from a position which is parallel to and flush with the front surface (5) of the piece of furniture (1).

2. A piece of furniture according to claim 1, characterized in that a carriage (3) is arranged on the rear side of the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') which faces away from the front surface (5), which carriage is guidable in the guide rails (7, 7', 7").

3. A piece of furniture according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least one roller (12) is arranged on the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2') and/or the carriage (3), which roller is disposed on the upper side of a panel (4) arranged horizontally beneath the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') or on the bottom side of a second panel (6) arranged horizontally above the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"').

4. A piece of furniture (1), especially for offices of kitchens, comprising at least one horizontally arranged panel (4) and a front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') which is displaceably arranged in the furniture body, characterized in that a running gear (51) with at least two rollers (12) which are arranged on each side of the running gear (51), disposed on an upper side of the panel (4) and aligned perpendicularly to the rear side of the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') is arranged on the rear side of the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') facing away from the front surface (5), with which the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') can be displaced towards the inside of the furniture body from a position which is parallel to and flush with the front surface (5) of the piece of furniture (1).

5. A piece of furniture according to claim 4, characterized in that at least one roller (12) which is disposed on the bottom side of a second panel (6) of the furniture body is arranged on the running gear (51).

6. A piece of furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the piece of furniture comprises an electric drive unit with which the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') is displaceable.

7. A piece of furniture according to claim 6, characterized in that the electric drive unit is arranged as a toothed belt drive.

8. A piece of furniture according to claim 6, characterized in that the electric drive unit is arranged as a rack and pinion drive.

9. A piece of furniture according to claim 6, characterized in that the electric drive unit is arranged as a cable pull drive.

10. A piece of furniture according to claim 6, characterized in that the electric drive unit is arranged as a shearing drive.

11. A piece of furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') is arranged as a revolving door.

12. A piece of furniture according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the front piece (2, 2', 2", 2"') is arranged as a laterally or vertically displaceable opening.

13. A piece of furniture according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the running gear (51) comprises adjusting devices with which the running gear (51) is adjustable in depth.

14. A piece of furniture according to claim 13, characterized in that the adjusting device is arranged as a telescopic arm (50).

15. A piece of furniture according to claim 13, characterized in that the adjusting device is arranged as a joint arrangement (52).