GB2242350A

GB2242350A - Cupboard and drawer arrangement

Info

Publication number: GB2242350A
Application number: GB9006865A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lothar Kleiber
Original assignee: KLINOTEC GmbH
Current assignee: KLINOTEC GmbH
Priority date: 1988-10-28
Filing date: 1990-03-28
Publication date: 1991-10-02
Anticipated expiration: 2010-03-28
Also published as: EP0365936A2; GB2242350B; EP0365936A3; GB9006865D0; DE58906490D1; EP0365936B1

Abstract

A cupboard arrangement has supporting walls (1) having supporting rails (2) which extend over their depth and are engaged by the supporting edges (15) belonging to drawers (4) which rest on the upper sides of the supporting rails (2). In order to make it additional certain that a drawer (4) will not be unintentionally pulled right out, the supporting rails (2) and the supporting edges (15) of the drawers (4) are to be provided with mutually engaging shaped parts (11, 12, 17a, 30a, 18, 19). <IMAGE>

Description

CUPBOARD AND DRAWER ARRANGEMENT The invention relates to a cupboard arrangement having supporting walls having supporting rails which extend over their depth and between which rails drawers extend the drawers having supporting edges resting on and supported by the upper sides of the supporting rails.

Such cupboard arrangements are known, for example, for accommodating comparatively small objects to be stored, such as medicaments. The supporting walls in such cases can take the form of parts integrated into the side walls of cupboards. They may equally well consist of separate supporting walls connected to side walls of existing cupboards.

With cupboard systems of this kind the problem arises that although the drawers are intended to be completely extractable it often goes unnoticed when the back of one of them slips off its supporting rail, so that if it is not firmly held it may tip over and its contents fall out. Even if the drawer is not completely pulled out it may continue to slide out and then fall onto the floor, e.g. because the user has let go of the drawer and gone away from the cupboard after extracting an item for its contents.

The purpose of the invention is therefore to develop a cupboard system that a person pulling a drawer will notice when it is nearly out.

The invention achieves the aforementioned purpose with a cupboard arrangement of the type concerned in which the supporting rails and the supporting edges of the drawers are provided with inter-engagable formations adapted to engage one another to resist removal of a drawer from the cupboard.

The supporting rails may each be provided with at least one groove extending transversely to its length and the supporting edges of the drawers may each be provided with at least one lug for engaging such a groove. The drawers may be of the box type or of the cage type. In the former case the stops or lugs are shaped into them at the production stage, e.g. by the deep drawing process. In the latter case the beading around the edge of the cage is suitably bent out to form lugs.

In a preferred version the cross sectional contours of the lugs may be adapted to those of the grooves.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the drawer is provided, at least in its rear zone, with downwardly directed lugs, a groove being provided in particular in the supporting rail, at all events in the front zone of its upper side. In this version the person pulling the drawer out notices, when the downwardly directed rear lug of the drawer drops into a front groove of the supporting rail that the drawer cannot be pulled out any further without some additional support. A further development of the invention provides for a groove in the rear zone of the top part of the rail. This construction ensures that the drawer will be secured in a defined inserted or idle position determined by the engagement of the rear lug of the drawer in the rear groove of the supporting rail in question.

In a further version adopted in conjunction with that described above or in place thereof, the lateral edges of the drawers are provided, at least in their rear zone, with an upwardly directed lug or stop, and the lower sides of the supporting rails, in particular, are provided at least in their front zones with a stop face which is directed away from the extraction side and which may be formed1 for example, by the said wall. In this embodiment the person pulling the drawer out is made aware that it should not be pulled any further when the rear upwardly directed lug or stop of the drawer makes contact with the front stop face formed on the lower side of the supporting rail or engages a groove formed in that position.At the same time the resulting drawer arrangement serves to secure the drawer in the extracted position if the user, without pulling it any farther, lets go of it after having extracted an item of the contents. The drawer will be reliably secured in this position and cannot slide farther accidentally, as has been liable to occur in systems known hitherto.

In place of a groove provided on the lower side of each supporting rail and adapted to the cross-sectional contour of the lugs, the lower side of the supporting rails in a further version may possess a groove which extends along the rail by a far greater distance than the lug of the drawers.

In a further preferred version the grooves are formed symmetrically in relation to the vertical median plane of the rail and/or the lugs are formed symmetrically in relation to the vertical median plane of the drawers. This makes it possible, if necessary, to insert the drawers at an angle of 1800. The supporting walls having the supporting rails, moreover, may be provided on both sides without the necessity of providing directionally symmetrical supporting walls for the purpose. The supporting walls may also be provided in cupboards of the push-trough type from which the drawers can be extracted towards both sides.If the distance between the front and the rear grooves formed on the upper side of the supporting rails corresponds to that between the front and the rear lugs formed on the lower side of the edges of the drawers, then both lugs will engage corresponding grooves when the drawer is in the position of rest, so that it will not only occupy a properly defined position but will be kept completely horizontal in the cupboard when in the said position.

Further advantages and characteristics of the invention will emerge from the Claims and from the following description, in which examples of cupboard arrangements in accordance with the invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings in which: Fig. 1 is an illustration of a portion of a supporting wall of one form of cupboard arrangement looking towards two supporting rails and with the drawer completely inserted and sectioned in the zone of its supporting edge; Fig. 2 is a diagram substantially in accordance with that of Fig. 1 but with one modification and with the drawer partly extracted; Fig. 3 is a section through the "trough" part of the drawer; Fig. 4 is an illustration corresponding to that of Fig. 1 but for a drawer of a different design; Fig. 5 is an illustration corresponding to Fig. 2 but with the drawer as shown in Fig. 4 partly extracted;; Fig. 6 is a section through the "trough" zone of the drawer corresponding to Figs. 4 and 5; Fig. 7 is a sectional diagram of a supporting wall of a further version of cupboard arrangement looking towards two supporting rails and with the drawer (shown in section) completely inserted; and Fig. 8 is an illustration of the version shown in Fig. 7 but with the drawer partly extracted.

The cupboard system to which the invention relates has two supporting walls 1 positioned at a certain distance apart in a cupboard compartment and each having supporting rails 2 directed towards each other. The supporting walls are preferably made of plastics, such as ABS material, by the deep-drawing process. The same applies to the drawers 4 of the box-shaped type.

In the example illustrated, the supporting rails 2 each having a front 8 and a rear 9 are provided, on the top 6 and also on the bottom 7, with grooves 11, 12, 13, 14 which extend transversely to the rails 2. The lateral edges 15 of the drawers 4 have lugs 16, 17, 18, 19 shaped to engage the grooves 11 to 14 and directed upwards and downwards. The vertical cross-sections of the lugs correspond, in the longitudinal direction of the edges 15, to the cross sections of the corresponding grooves 11 to 14. The distance between the downwardly directed lugs 16, 19 in the edges 15 of the drawers 4 is exactly equal to the distance between the grooves 11, 12 on the top of the guide rails 2.

When the drawers have been inserted, therefore, the lugs 18, 19 both engage the corresponding grooves 11, 12 so that the drawer 4 thus occupies a defined inserted position.

If the drawer 4 is pulled out of the cupboard compartment, the lugs 18, 19 slide out of the grooves 11, 12 which are preferably semi-circular and along the top 6 of the rail 2, until, provided the drawer 4 is kept substantially horizontal, the rear lug 19 engages the front groove 11 on the top 6 of the rail 2. Anyone pulling the drawer 4 out of its position of rest is thus warned that it should not be pulled any farther without being fully supported by some additional means.If the drawer 4 is not held in a completely horizontal position the upwardly directed rear lug 17 on the edge 15 of the drawer will make contact with the bottom 7 of the guide rail 2 present above it and slide along the lower edge 7, when the drawer is pulled out towards the front, until it engages the front groove 13 on the lower side 7 of the rail 2, so that the user pulling out the drawer is once again warned that it must not be extracted to any greater distance without some additional support. In the example shown, the grooves 14 and the lug 16 are provided for reasons of symmetry. It is thus immaterial whether the drawer is inserted according to the arrow A or according-to the arrow B (Fig. 3), and it can thus equally well be inserted after being turned through an angle of 1800.

Similarly, the correspondingly designed side walls 1 can be inserted from both sides of a cupboard or the system can also be provided, by reason of the symmetrical design, in a cupboard of the push-through type, enabling drawers to be removed both from the left and from the right side.

In the version shown in Fig. 2 the grooves 30 on the lower side of the rails 2 are merely of diEferent construction from those of the version shown in Fig. 1.

In Fig. 2 the crosspiece shown between the grooves 13 and 14 in Fig. 1 is omitted. The grooves 13, 14 are inter-connected and extend for a considerable distance along the rail 2. As may be seen, the groove 30 performs the same locking function as described for the groove 13 and the lug 17 interacting therewith by reference to Fig. 1. The groove 30 is likewise symmetrical to the perpendicular median axis of the rail 2, so that what was stated regarding the symmetrical design of the side walls 1 and the drawers 4 with reference to Fig. 1 likewise applies to the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2.

In the version shown in Figs. 4 to 6 the cupboard walls 1 and their supporting rails 2 are the same as shown in Figs 1 and 2. The corresponding constructions retain the same reference numbers. The side edge 15 of the drawer 4 also has downwardly directed lugs 18, 19 which are adapted to the grooves 11, 12 are positioned the same distance apart as the said grooves, 11, 12 and come to rest in these latter when the drawer 4 has been inserted, thus retaining the said drawer 4 in position.In place of the lugs 16, 17 (Fig.l) extending upwards from the front and rear sides of the drawer 4 the rear and front edges 31, 32 of the drawer 4 are bent obliquely upwards in the version shown in Figs. 4 to 6, so that the rear edge 31, by a slanting side, forms a stop 17a which, on the partial extraction of the drawer 4, if tilted abuts a stop face 30a on the rail, directed away from the extraction side. The stop face 30a in practice forms one side of the wide groove 30. In the case of narrow grooves such as 13 and 14 in the version illustrated in Fig. 1 the stop 17a, can likewise engage the grooves and act on one of their boundary sides.

In this version likewise the drawer 4 is restrained against pulling out when in the inserted position. When the drawet 4 is pulled out and tilted downwards, the stop 17a comes to rest against the stop face 30a, so that it is secured in this position, in addition to which the person extracting it is warned that if the drawer 4 is pulled out any farther it must be firmly held and supported.

In the version shown in Figs. 4 to 6 the "troughs" have slanting walls 41, so that they can be stacked together and nested. In order to ensure that a finite free space will be obtained in the stacking, the corner zones of the drawers 4 have partly cylindrical embossments 42 with base surfaces 43 which are parallel to the base of the drawer 4 and on which the corner zones 44 between the base and the side walls of the drawer 4 come to rest when the drawers are stacked one above the other, thus enabling them to stacked firmly and without any chance of slipping out of position.

In Figs. 7 and 8 each supporting rail 2 is provided in its upper side 6 and also in its lower side 7 with lugs 31, 32, 33, 34 extending transversely to the upper and lower side, respectively, of the rails 2. The side edges 15 of the drawers 4 have lugs 16, 17, 18, 19 directed upwards and downwards and adapted to engage the lugs 31 to 34. The distance between the mutually facing sides of the downwardly directed lugs 16, 19 in the edges 15 of the drawers is in this case exactly equal to the distance of the lugs 11, 12 directed away from each other and provided on the top of the guide rails 2 (Fig. 7).

When the drawers have been inserted, therefore, the lugs 18, 19 extend over the lugs 31, 32 so that the drawer 4 thus assumes a defined inserted position. If the drawer 4 is pulled from the cupboard compartment its lug 19 is lifted above the lug 32 and slides along the top 6 of the rail 2 until, provided the drawer 4 is kept mainly horizontal, the rear lug 19 makes contact with the front lug 31 on the said top 6 of the rail 2. The user pulling the drawer 4 from its position of rest is thus warned that unless it is fully supported by some additional means the drawer must not be pulled out any farther.If the drawer 4 is not kept completely horizontal the upwardly-directed rear lug 17 on the edge 15 of the said drawer will make contact with the lower edge 7 of the guide rail 2 situated above it and slide along the said lower edge 7 when being pulled out towards the front, until it makes contact with the front lug 3 on the said lower edge 7 of the rail 2, thus once again warning the user extracting the drawer that the latter must not be pulled out to any greater distance unless it is additionally supported. In the example illustrated the lugs 34, 16 are provided for reasons of symmetry.

The drawer 4 can also be inserted after being turned through an angle of 1800. In similar fashion the correspondingly designed side walls 1 can be inserted into a cupboard on either side, or the system can also be provided, thanks to the symmetrical design, in a cupboard of the pushthrough type, from which drawers can be extracted both from the left and from the right side.

Preferably a stop rail having at least one groove or lug such as 13, 33 is located above the top supporting rail.

Claims

1. A cupboard arrangement with drawers, the cupboard having supporting walls having supporting rails which extend substantially over their depth and the drawers having supporting edges slidable on and supportable by the upper sides of the supporting rails, and in which the supporting rails and the supporting edges of the drawers are provided with inter-engageable formations adapted to engage one another to resist removal of a drawer from the cupboard.

2. Arrangement in accordance with Claim 1, in which the supporting rails have at least one groove extending transversely to their lengths.

3. Arrangement in accordance with Claim 1, in which the supporting rails are provided with lugs integral therewith.

4. Arrangement in accorance with any of Claims 1 to 3, in which the supporting edges of the drawers are provided with at least one lug for engaging a groove or the space behind a lug of the supporting rails.

5. Arrangement in accordance with any of Claims 1 to 4, in which the edges of the drawers are provided at least in their rear zones with stops directed upwards and the supporting rails are provided in their lower front zones with stop faces for engaging the stops, the stop faces facing away from the side on which the drawers are extractable.

6. Arrangement in accordance with Claim 5, in which the stop faces provided in the lower front zones of the supporting rails are produced by the limiting side of recesses formed in the lower zones of the supporting rails.

7. Arrangement in accordance with Claim 5, in which the stop faces produced in the lower front zones of the supporting rails are formed by those side faces of lugs shaped on the lower sides of the supporting rails which are farther away from the extraction side.

8. Arrangement in accordance with any of the foregoing Claims, in which the formation on a drawer is formed by an upwardly directed rear edge of the drawer.

9. Arrangement in accordance with any of Claims 1 to 7 in which the formation on a drawer is formed by a lug directed upwards.

10. Arrangement in accordance with any of the foregoing Claims, in which the cross sectional contour of the drawer formations is simialr to that of the rail formations.

11. Arrangement in accordance with any of the foregoing Claims in which the drawers are provided, at least in their rear zones, with lugs directed downwards.

12. Arrangement in accordance with Claim 11, in which the supporting rails are provided with grooves at least in the front zones of their top parts.

13. Arrangement in accordance wtih Claim 12, in which the top parts of the rails are provided with grooves in their rear zones.

14. Arrangement in accordance with any of Claims 1 to 13, in which the lower sides of the supporting rails are provided with grooves at least in their front zones.

15. Arrangement in accordance with any of Claims 1 to 13 in which the supporting rails are provided in their lower sides with grooves which extend much farther along the rail than the lugs of the drawers.

16. Arrangement in accordance with any of Claims 1 to 11 in which the supporting rails are provided with lugs at least in the front zones of their upper parts and the drawers are provided, in their rear zones, with lugs directed downwards.

17. Arrangement in accordance with any of Claims 1 to 11 in which the upper parts of the rails have lugs in their rear zones.

18. Arrangement in accordance with any of Claims 1 to 11 in which those sides of two lugs formed on the tops of the rails which face away from each other are the same distance apart as the mutually facing sides of the lower lugs of the drawers or vice versa.

19. Arrangement in accordance with any of the foregoing Claims in which the lugs or grooves on the supporting rails and/or drawers are formed thereon in one piece as embossed parts.

20. Arrangement in accordance with any of the foregoing Claims in which the shaped formations are formed symmetrically to the vertical median plane of the rails and/or drawers.

21. Arrangement in accordance with any of Claims 1 to 20 in which the drawers are stackable.

22. Arrangement according to any of the preceding claims in which the formations are adapted to inter-engage to resist removal of a drawer whether the drawer is horizontal or is tipped forwardly and downwardly.

23. A cupboard and drawer arrangement substantially as described herein with reference to or as illustrated in Figs.

1 to 3, 4 to 6, or 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings.