AU634902B2 - Movable furniture - Google Patents

Description

634902 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

e .9 *9 9 9. 99 9 9 9.* 9 Name of Applicant: Actual Inventors: Address for Service: Invention title: ADELAIDE SHELVING SUPPLIES PTY LTD MICHAEL NELSON TAPPING and JAMES DAVID LINDSEY R K MADDERN ASSOCIATES, 345 King William Street, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia "MOVABLE FURNITURE" Details of Associated Provisional Application No: Application No PK 1873 dated 22nd August, 1990.

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us.

1 This invention relates to movable furniture of the so called mobile storage system type, wherein a number of furniture modules are carried on a single pair of tracks and can be movable to abut one another but leave one, or at least one opening for access purposes.

Furniture of this type is described and claimed in our Australian Patent Application No 613537 (44676/89) which has been commercially acceptable and in many cases pr' arable to prior art type furniture known. However, a problem which is common to prior art furniture and also to furniture of the type described in that said patent application is that the modules are usually quite narrow and excessive lateral force S applied at a high level can cause the modules to topple, and although this is an extremely unusual situation which has not S yet arisen in the case of furniture made in accordance with our said patent application, nevertheless it is desirable that provisions be made to limit the danger of such an accident occurring.

In an embodiment of this invention, at least one of the tracks which supports a cabinet has surfaces which define a longitudinal slot which extends laterally into that track S" from a side, and at least one of the runners has a stabiliser with the flange which enters the slot and moves within it se during the normal movement of the runner along its track, S without engaging the slot surfaces.

With this invention however, if there is a tendency for the cabinet to topple, the flange will move into engagement *It* seem with a slot surface and inhibit such toppling movement, thus S: greatly improving the protection against possible accident.

An embodiment of the invention is described hereunder with some detail with reference to, and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig 1 is a perspective view of a plurality of storage cabinets which are carried on runners which roll along tracks; Fig 2 is a section taken on plane 2-2-2-2 of Fig 1 and drawn to a larger scale to illustrate the invention; 2 Fig 3 is a side elevation of Fig 2, but showing only a very small portion of the track; and Fig 4 is a section similar to Fig 2 but illustrating an alternative stabiliser depending from the runner.

In this embodiment, flexible mobile storage furniture comprises two end cabinets 11, each being a shelving assembly (which may be fixed or mobile) and a single intermediate cabinet 12 which is movable between the two end cabinets 11 and provide an access space either at the locality A or the locality B between the intermediate cabinet 12 and the respective end cabinets II.

Each end cabinet comprises an open box-like structur which has an end wall 13, a front wall 14, and rear and top S walls which are not herein illustrated. Supported by these S walls are a plurality of shelves 15. The intermediate cabinet S12 is movable by means of a handle 16, which can be locked by a swinging arm lock 17, or some mechanical equivalent thereto.

Reference is now made more specifically to Figs 2 and 3, which show in further detail an extruded rail 24 of a track which has two sloping side walls 26 and three downwardly directed ribs 27 which are spaced from one another, the S" central rib being immediately under the load applied by 5555 roller 28, but the ribs 27 have the effect of spreading the load over a wider area, stiffening the rails and assisting to Se S inhibit accidental dislodgement of the rail from its support surface.

*In order to prevent excessive wear, retaining beads 29 in the rail 24 retain hard steel strips 30 which, because of

S.

3 their hardness, are unlikely to warp and are usually easily slid from the end of the rail 24. However, there are provided a pair of underlying slots 31 which enable withdrawal of the strips from the rail 24 even if they become firmly engaged.

The frame 32 which supports the shelving assembly of cabinet 12 is also an extrusion, and is provided with an upstanding stiffening web 33 and a horizontal stiffening web 34. The upstanding web 33 has bolted to it a vertical structural panel 14 to which is secured a facing panel 3 and the flange 33 also has bolted to it a shelf 15 with at least two bolts 36. A tie bar 37 is secu:ed by bolts 38 to the stiffening web 34.

As seen best in Fig 2, the frame 32 has a pair of depending flanges 39 which are spaced from one another and depend from a web 40, to define a downwardly facing channel.

A pin 41 between the flanges supports the roller 28 for rotation along the strips The above description is substantially similar to that in the aforesaid patent 613537.

To inhibit the possibility of toppling of the modules of furniture 10 towards or away from one another, there is provided a slot 45 defined by slot surfaces 46 which extend o e S. laterally into the track 25 from a side of the track, and the .15 runner which comprises the frame 32 and roller 28 has a ooo depending metal stabiliser plate 47 secured by bolts 48 to .9.

the flanges 39, the lower end of the plate 47 having an inwardly directed flange 49 which, as shown in Fig 2, does not encounter the surfaces 46 on normal operation of the runner along its track, but is so close to the surfaces 46 that any tendency to topple is immediately resisted once the flange engages one of the surfaces 46.

The above has all been illustrated in Figs i, 2 and 3, but Fig 4 shows an alternative arrangement wherein the similar components bear similar designation numerals, but in lieu of the metal plate 47, there is provided a plastics moulding 51 (which needs only to be a PVC) and this is secured again to the flanges 39 and also abuts the undersurface of the web 34 to facilitate rotation. The flange 34 49 however at the bottom of the moulding 51 functions in a manner identical to that described with respect to Fig 2.

A brief consideration of the above embodiment will indicate that the invention is very simple but nevertheless has been found to effectively reduce the possibility of toppling of the cabinets towards or away from one another.

4

Claims (6)

1. Improve nts in mobile furniture of the type having tracks of generally constant cross-sectioi.al shape, and at least one storage cabinet carried on a plurality of runners each with rollers which engage and are guided by the tracks for movement of the runners along the tracks, wherein at least one of the tracks has surfaces which define a longitudinal slot which extends laterally into that said track from a side thereof, and at least one of said runners has a depending stabiliser with a flange which enters the slot and moves within it during nexmal movement of that said runner along its track, without engaging a said slot surface.

Improvements in mobilp furniture according to claim 1 wherein the cross-sectional shape of said runner o includes a pair of depending flanges spaced from one another to define a downwardly facing channel, and said depending si e e is secured to an outer surface of a said '4 depending flange by bolts.

3. Improvements in mobile furniture according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the lower end of said depending stabiliser is hook-shaped, with said stabiliser flange extending laterally.

4. Improvements in mobile furniture according to any preceding claim wherein said stabiliser comprises a metal plate.

Improvements in mobile furniture according any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein said stabiliser comprises a plastics plate.

6. Improvements in mobile furniture substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. DATED this 20th day of August 1991 ADELAIDE SHELVING SUPPLIES PTY LTD By its Patent Attorneys R K MAnDDRN R ASSOCTATES 5 ABSTRACT Movable furniture of the type wherein a number of furniture modules are carried on a single pair of tracks and are subject to the hazard of tilting, wherein at least one of the tracks (25) has a longitudinal slot (45) which contains an inwardly directed flange (49) carried on the lower end of a module stabilizer plate (42) secured to a frame (32) of a cabinet (12) and which inhibits tilting of the cabinet with respect to the track e* *S S So S