US20020109441A1

US20020109441A1 - Folding collapsible clothes cabinet

Info

Publication number: US20020109441A1
Application number: US09/781,950
Authority: US
Inventors: Wen-Tsan Wang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2001-02-12
Filing date: 2001-02-14
Publication date: 2002-08-15
Also published as: DE20102412U1

Abstract

A folding collapsible clothes cabinet includes a wheeled folding base unit formed of two symmetrical halves hinged together, two upright supports respectively fastened to the two symmetrical halves of the folding base frame at the top, two links pivoted together and coupled between the upright supports at one side, and a top panel coupled to the upright supports at the top, the top panel having one end pivoted to one of the upright supports and the other end detachably coupled the other of the upright supports.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to clothes cabinet for hanging clothes and, more specifically, to a folding collapsible clothes cabinet.

Regular clothes cabinets for hanging clothes and keeping personal items are commonly made of wooden materials, metal tubes, or plastic materials. These clothes cabinets have a fixed size. When not in use, these clothe cabinets still occupy much storage space. There are also known detachable clothes cabinets. When not in use, the parts of a detachable clothes cabinet can be detached from one another. However, the parts of a detachable clothes cabinet must be well kept in good order when detached. The detached detachable clothes cabinet can no longer be set up again in case either part is lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished to provide a folding collapsible clothes cabinet, which eliminates the aforesaid problem. It is one object of the present invention to provide a simple structure of clothes cabinet, which is folding collapsible. It is another object of the present invention to provide a folding collapsible clothes cabinet, which is practical for hanging clothes as well as keeping other items. To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, the folding collapsible clothes cabinet comprises a wheeled folding base unit formed of two symmetrical halves hinged together, two upright supports respectively fastened to the two symmetrical halves of the folding base frame at the top, two links pivoted together and coupled between the upright supports at one side, and a top panel coupled to the upright supports at the top, the top panel having one end pivoted to one of the upright supports and the other end detachably coupled the other of the upright supports. According to another aspect of the present invention, the links are pivoted to each other, each having a bottom end pivoted to one post of one of the upright supports and a top end pivoted to a pulley in a longitudinal sliding groove in one post of the other of the upright supports.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a folding collapsible clothes cabinet according to the present invention. [0004]
FIG. 1A is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 1. [0005]
FIG. 1B is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 1. [0006]
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a part of the folding collapsible clothes cabinet according to the present invention, showing the relationship between the top panel and the upright supports. [0007]
FIG. 2A is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 2. [0008]
FIG. 3 is a plain view of the present invention showing the folding collapsible clothes cabinet extended out. [0009]
FIG. 4 is a plain view of the present invention showing the folding collapsible clothes cabinet collapsed.[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a folding collapsible clothes cabinet in accordance with the present invention is shown comprised of two [0011] upright supports 1, a top panel 2, a base unit 3, and two links 4. The supports 1 support the load carried in the clothes cabinet, each comprising two parallel posts 11 and a grille 111 connected between the posts 11. At least one, or each of the posts 11 has a longitudinally extended sliding groove 110. The supports 1 each have a top opening 12. One of the supports 1 comprises two pivot pins 14 horizontally aligned at two sides of the top opening 12 thereof. The other of the supports 1 comprises two pivot holes 13 horizontally aligned at two sides of the top opening 12 thereof. The links 4 are pivotally connected together, each having a bottom end pivoted to one post 11 of one of the supports 1 by a pivot 43 and a top end pivoted to the pulley 41 in the longitudinally extended sliding groove 110 of one post 11 of the other of the supports 1 (see FIG. 1A).
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 again, the [0012] top panel 2 is a rectangular open frame comprising two end blocks 20 disposed at two opposite short sides thereof and respectively fitting the top opening 12 of each support 1, the end blocks 20 each having a downwardly protruded locating portion 21, a plurality of transverse slats 23 arranged in parallel between the end blocks 20, and a hanging rod 22 connected between the downwardly protruded locating portions 21 of the end blocks 20. Further, one of the end blocks 20 has two coupling grooves 202 bilaterally disposed at the bottom sidewall thereof corresponding to the pivot pins 14 of one of the support 1. The other of the end blocks 20 comprises two pivot pins 201 respectively coupled to the pivot holes 13 of the other of the supports 1. When assembled, the top panel 2 can be turned about the imaginary axis connected between the pivot holes 13 of one support 1. When turning the top panel 2 to the horizontal, the coupling grooves 202 of the respective end block 20 are forced into engagement with the pivot pins 14 of the respective support 1.
Referring to FIG. 1 again, the [0013] base unit 3 comprises two transverse frame bars 34 respectively fixedly fastened to the bottom ends of the posts 11 of the supports 1, two pairs of wheels 35 respectively bilaterally provided at the transverse frame bars 34 at the bottom side, two first connecting rods 31 respectively pivoted to one transverse frame bar 34 and arranged in parallel, two second connecting rods 32 respectively hinged to the first connecting rods 31 and pivoted to the other transverse frame bar 34, two stop members 311 respectively provided at the first connecting rods 31 and adapted to limit turning angle of the first connecting rods 31 and the second connecting rods 32, and ropes 33 fastened between the first connecting rods 31 as well as between the second connecting rods 32 for carrying things. Sheet members may be used and respectively fastened to the first connecting rods 31 and the second connecting rods 32 instead of the ropes 33.
Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 1 again, when in use, the [0014] supports 1 are pulled apart to extend out the base unit 3, keeping the first connecting rods 31 and the second connecting rods 32 longitudinally aligned. At this time, the stop members 311 are respectively stopped at the second connecting rods 32 at the top side to hold the connecting rods 31 and 32 in the horizontally aligned position, and things can be put on the ropes 33 between the connecting rods 31 and 32. Thereafter, the top panel 2 is turned inwards to the horizontal position to force the coupling grooves 202 of the respective end block 20 into engagement with the pivot pins 14 of the respective support 1. When set up, clothes can be hung on the hanging rod 22 or the transverse slats 23.
Referring to FIG. 4, when not in use, the [0015] top panel 2 is turned outwards to disengage the coupling grooves 202 of the respective end block 20 from the pivot pins 14 of the respective support 1, and then the first connecting rods 31 and the second connecting rods 32 are turned upwards to move the supports I toward each other, and at the same time the pulleys 41 are moved with the respective links 4 upwards along the respective longitudinally extended sliding grooves 110. When folded up, as shown in FIG. 4, the clothes cabinet requires less storage space.
While only one embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be understood that various modifications and changes could be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention disclosed. [0016]

Claims

What the invention claimed is:

1. A folding collapsible clothes cabinet comprising:

a folding base unit, said folding base unit comprising two symmetrical halves hinged together;

two upright supports respectively fastened to the two symmetrical halves of said folding base frame, said upright supports each comprising two parallel posts, said posts each comprising a longitudinal sliding groove;

two pulleys respectively mounted in and moved up and down along the longitudinally extended sliding groove of one of each of said upright supports;

two links pivoted together, said links each having a bottom end pivoted to one post of one of said upright supports and a top end pivoted to the pulley in the longitudinally extended sliding groove of one of the other of said upright supports; and

a top panel detachably coupled to said upright supports at a top side.

2. The folding collapsible clothes cabinet of claim 1 wherein said top panel has a first end pivoted to one of said upright supports, and a second end adapted for supporting on the other of said upright supports.

3. The folding collapsible clothes cabinet of claim 1 wherein said top panel comprises a hanging rod disposed at a bottom side for hanging.

4. The folding collapsible clothes cabinet of claim 2 wherein said upright supports include a first upright support and a second upright support, said first upright support comprising a top opening and two pivot holes aligned at two sides of the top opening of said first upright support, said second upright support comprising a top opening and two pivot pins aligned at two sides of the top opening of said second upright support; said top panel comprises a first end block and a second end block disposed at two distal ends thereof and respectively fitting the top opening of each of said upright supports, said first end block comprising two pivot pins respectively coupled to the pivot holes of said first upright support, said second end block comprising two coupling grooves bilaterally disposed at a bottom side thereof and adapted for coupling to the pivot pins of said second upright support.

5. The folding collapsible clothes cabinet of claim 1 wherein the two symmetrical halves of said folding base unit each comprise a transverse frame bar fixedly fastened to the posts of one upright support and two connecting rods respectively pivoted to said transverse frame bar and arranged in parallel, the connecting rods of one of the two symmetrical haves of said folding base unit being respectively hinged to the connecting rods of the other of the two symmetrical halves of said folding base unit.

6. The folding collapsible clothes cabinet of claim 5 wherein the two symmetrical halves of said folding base unit each further comprise pieces of ropes connected between the respective connecting rods for carrying things.

7. The folding collapsible clothes cabinet of claim 5 wherein the two symmetrical halves of said folding base unit each further comprise a plurality of wheels respectively provided at the respective transverse frame bar at a bottom side.

8. The folding collapsible clothes cabinet of claim 1 wherein said upright supports each further comprise a grille connected between the respective posts.