US20140190640A1

US20140190640A1 - Partition

Info

Publication number: US20140190640A1
Application number: US13/422,058
Authority: US
Inventors: Yvan MALTAIS
Original assignee: Ebenisterie Yvan Maltais Inc
Current assignee: Ebenisterie Yvan Maltais Inc
Priority date: 2009-10-21
Filing date: 2013-11-11
Publication date: 2014-07-10
Also published as: EP2490571A1; WO2011048573A1; CA2775300A1; US20140202644A1; EP2490571A4

Abstract

The partitions can be mad e of an elongated and flat body of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation, have two lengthwisely opposite ends and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures extending therebetween, and protrusions extending outwardly at each one of the ends, each protrusion being lengthwisely aligned with a corresponding one of the rows and being shaped to matingly engage the keeper apertures.

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of international application no. PCT/IB2010/054783, filed Oct. 21, 2010, which claims priority of U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/253,652, filed Oct. 21, 2009.

FIELD

The instant specification discloses a partition which can be used in combination with a number of other same or different length partitions to form a compartment storage system for a drawer or the like.

BACKGROUND

Although there existed many types of partitions, there remained room for improvement. In particular, the known partitions were somewhat awkward to assemble, or their assembly was found too complex or too time-consuming. Further, an suitable way to disassemble them after initial assembly was sometimes not even provided. There was a need for a partition which was easier to assemble and disassemble. This need was particularly felt in the medical industry for instance, where standards typically require to periodically disassemble the partitions for a complete wash and sterilisation. Moreover, there was a need for a partition, or partitioning system made therewith, which could be easily adapted for use with various, typically non-standardized, sizes of drawers without substantial modification to the drawers themselves.

SUMMARY

A solution is to provide a system including partitions which have protrusions at the ends and which are made of a rigid yet manually elastically deformable material in a manner that the partition can be assembled by flexing it transversally, positioning it in position relative to other partitions having keeper apertures, and releasing the flexion in a manner that the protrusions become engaged with corresponding ones of the keeper apertures. The keeper apertures can be provided at regular intervals, or interspacing distance, and the partitions can be provided in a length corresponding to an integer multiple of the interspacing distance. At least some of the partitions can have simply a 3D projection design from a 2D shape along a given thickness, or otherwise said a 2D shape cut from a sheet material, which can be relatively simple and thereby less costly to produce.
A number of such partitions of different lengths can be provided and assembled to form a compartment storage system by flexing partitions to fit perpendicularly between two parallel and interspaced other partitions, align the protrusions with a selected transverse position corresponding to a set of keeper apertures in the other partitions, and releasing the flex to thereby engage the protrusions with the keeper apertures of the selected set. Some of the partitions can be made non flexible, such as pieces designed as a frame for internal partitions or a main divider for instance, and can optionally have more complex shapes, to provide a system which can be easily adapted to drawers having dimensions which do not exactly correspond to an integer multiple of the interspacing distance.
In accordance with one aspect a partition made of an elongated and flat body of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation, having two lengthwisely opposite ends and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures extending therebetween, and protrusions extending outwardly at each one of the ends, each protrusion being lengthwisely aligned with a corresponding one of the rows and being shaped to matingly engage the keeper apertures.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a partition formed of a flat and elongated body made of a sheet-like material, the sheet-like material being rigid, yet being manually laterally flexible, and having at least two superposed and lengthwisely extending rows of keeper apertures, the keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows and being perpendicularly aligned with keeper apertures of other rows, the flat and elongated body further comprising two longitudinally-opposite ends, and protrusions to the ends, the protrusions being aligned with each one of the rows, instead of a keeper aperture in the equally interspaced sequence of keeper apertures in the row, and the protrusions having a shape complementary to the shape of the keeper apertures for engagement therewith, wherein the partition can be engaged between two other parallel, vertically standing, and fixedly spaced-apart partitions by flexing manually laterally, sliding the partition downwardly between the two other partitions, aligning the protrusions of the partition with corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, and releasing the elastic flexion of the partition so as to engage the protrusions thereof into the corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, thereby locking the partition in place between the two other partitions.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of assembling a first partition between two parallel, vertically standing, and fixedly spaced-apart other partitions, all three partitions being made of an elongated and flat body of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation, having two lengthwisely opposite ends and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures extending between the ends, and protrusions extending outwardly at each one of the ends, each protrusion being lengthwisely aligned with a corresponding one of the rows and being shaped to matingly engage the keeper apertures, the method comprising flexing the first partition manually laterally, sliding the partition downwardly between the two other partitions, aligning the protrusions of the partition with corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, and releasing the elastic flexion of the partition so as to engage the protrusions thereof into the corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, thereby locking the partition in place between the two other partitions.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of assembling a first partition between two parallel, vertically standing, and fixedly spaced-apart other partitions each having two lengthwisely opposite ends and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures extending between the ends, the first partition being made of an elongated and flat body of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation, and having protrusions extending outwardly at each one of the ends at a height selected for alignment with corresponding ones of the rows, and shaped to matingly engage the keeper apertures, the method comprising: flexing the first partition manually laterally, sliding the partition downwardly between the two other partitions, aligning the protrusions of the partition with corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, and releasing the elastic flexion of the partition so as to engage the protrusions thereof into the corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, thereby locking the partition in place between the two other partitions.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a drawer partition kit comprising a plurality of partitions, each partition being made of an elongated and flat body of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation, having two lengthwisely opposite ends and at least one lengthwisely oriented row of interspaced keeper apertures extending therebetween, and protrusions extending outwardly at each one of the ends in lengthwise alignment with the row of interspaced keeper apertures, the protrusions having a complementary shape to matingly engage the keeper apertures of another one of the plurality of partitions.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a drawer partition kit comprising: at least one drawer front end piece each having a common drawer front end thickness, two lengthwisely opposite ends and two faces, and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows by an interspacing distance, the rows being provided at respective row heights, and each drawer front end piece having a length corresponding to an integer multiple of the interspacing distance; at least one drawer rear end piece each having a common drawer rear end thickness, a length corresponding to the length of a corresponding drawer front end piece, two lengthwisely opposite ends and two faces, and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows by the interspacing distance, the rows being provided at the respective row heights, two side pieces each having lengthwisely opposite ends engageable with corresponding ends of a drawer rear end piece and a drawer front end pieces, and two faces, and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows by the interspacing distance, the rows being provided at the respective row heights, each having a common length corresponding to an integer multiple of the interspacing distance, and a plurality of partitions, each partition having an elongated and flat body made of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation having a length corresponding to an integer multiple of the interspacing distance, a thickness, two lengthwisely opposite ends, and protrusions extending outwardly at both of the ends at the respective row heights, the protrusions having a complementary shape to matingly engage the keeper apertures.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of providing a partition kit including determining a width dimension and depth dimension of a drawer, determining a width excess dimension by subtracting the dimension of the largest integer multiple of the interspacing distances fitting in the width dimension from the width dimension, providing the divider width corresponding to the width excess dimension; determining a depth excess dimension by subtracting the dimension of the largest integer multiple of the interspacing distances fitting in the depth dimension from the depth dimension, and providing the two drawer rear end pieces in a common rear end piece thickness corresponding to the depth excess dimension.
In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method of installing a partition kit comprising: positioning one of the two front end pieces and the two rear end pieces at the corresponding end of a drawer, with a spacing therebetween corresponding to the divider width; engaging one end of the divider with the positioned end pieces; positioning the other one of the two front end pieces and the two rear end pieces at the other end of the drawer, in engagement with a corresponding end of the divider; positioning the two side pieces on respective sides of the drawer, each in engagement with a corresponding front end piece and rear end piece, and engaging the protrusions of the plurality of partitions with corresponding keeper apertures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the appended figures,

FIG. 1 is an oblique view of a partition, fragmented;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a partition in an elastically flexed state prior to engagement between two parallel interspaced other partitions;

FIG. 3 is an example of a compartment storage system formed of a number of assembled partitions inside the drawer;

FIG. 4 is another example of a compartment storage system;

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are oblique views of components of the compartment storage system of FIG. 4; and

FIGS. 8, 9, 10 and 11 are top plan views showing steps of installation of the compartment storage system of FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows an example of a partition 10. The partition 10 can be seen to be formed of a flat and elongated body 12 of a sheet-like material 12 a. The selected material 12 a is rigid, yet can be selected to be manually flexible in a lateral orientation (i.e. perpendicular to the faces; also referred to as a transverse orientation), as will be detailed below. The partition 10 is provided as a one-piece design. More particularly, the body 12, which can be generally rectangular as shown in the figure for example, has two superposed rows 14 a, 14 b of keeper apertures 16 which are defined therethrough. In alternate embodiments, it will be noted that there can be three of more superposed rows for instance. The rows 14 a, 14 b are positioned at respective heights which can be referred to as row heights 70, 72. The keeper apertures 16 in each row 14 a, 14 b are lengthwisely aligned relative to one another and they are equally interspaced along the row, by a distance which can be referred to as an interspacing distance 74, thereby forming a number of discrete assembly locations along the length of the partition 10 where another partition can be perpendicularly assembled. It will be noted here that the keeper apertures can be omitted in some of the partitions which are not designed to be subdivided. The generally rectangular shape of the body 12 has two lengthwisely opposite ends 18, 20 or edges. The ends 18, 20 in this example are generally flat, except for protrusions which project from the generally flat surface. Each one of the protrusions 22 a, 22 b, 24 a, 24 b is aligned with a corresponding row 14 a, 14 b of equally interspaced keeper apertures 16—i.e. is provided at a given one of the row heights 70, 72.
For the sake of clarity, different orientations relative to the body 12 of the partition 10 in its unflexed state can be defined. A lengthwise orientation 60 can be defined herein to be the orientation along the length of the partition 10; a transverse, or lateral orientation 62, normal to the lengthwise orientation 60, can be defined as the orientation across the thickness of the partition 10; and a superposition orientation 64, or vertical orientation can be defined as the orientation which is normal to the plane formed by the lateral orientation 62 and the lengthwise orientation 60. Each of the lengthwise orientation 60, the lateral orientation 62 and the superposition orientation 64 are normal to each other.
In this example, the protrusions 22 a, 22 b, 24 a, 24 b are also equally interspaced in the sense that they are interspaced in the lengthwise orientation from an adjacent keeper aperture by the same distance than the distance by which the keeper apertures 16 are interspaced from each other along the rows 14 a, 14 b. In other words, the protrusions 22 a, 22 b, 24 a, 24 b occupy the position which would occupy a keeper aperture in the equally interspaced sequence along the rows 14 a, 14 b. It can also be noted here that the keeper apertures 16 are vertically aligned, or superposed, with the keeper apertures of the other row.
It will also be noted that the protrusions 22 a, 22 b, 24 a, 24 b, in this particular embodiment, form part of the material of the body itself and are projections of it, and that the partition is thus formed of a single component which has a two dimensional design of a given thickness and which includes both the keeper apertures 16 and the protrusions 22 a, 22 b, 24 a, 24 b. For illustrative purposes, and to give an idea of scale, in this particular example, the particular distance between adjacent keeper apertures in the rows was selected to be of 32 mm, though it will readily be understood that other distances, such as one inch (25.4 mm) for instance can be used as well. The fragmentation used in FIG. 1 is intended to illustrate the fact that the partitions can be provided in a variety of different incremental lengths corresponding to integer multiples of the interspacing distance 74.
Turning now to FIG. 2, it will be better understood how the partitions 110 such as shown in FIG. 1 can be assembled between two perpendicularly oriented and interspaced partitions 130, 132, having the same or a different length, and which are fixedly positioned. This can be achieved by flexing the partition laterally (i.e. across its thickness) by exerting manually forces 134 a, 134 b, 134 c such as shown by the arrows. This has the effect to bend or flex the partition 110 (exaggerated in the figure) and thereby reduce its overall length, allowing it to fit between the two other partitions 130, 132. The partition in the flexed position is then slid downwardly between the two other partitions and the protrusions 136, 138 at each end thereof are aligned with a selected set of keeper apertures 140, 142 in the two other partitions 130, 132. Releasing the forces which are flexing the partition 110 allows the partition 110 to return to its original flat state and this elastic action of the partition 110 drives the protrusions 136, 138 into the corresponding keeper apertures 140, 142.
The selected material for the partition 110 should thus be selected in a manner that it allows its flexion manually, i.e. by hand by an average user, sufficiently to allow a convenient assembly. The material should be sufficiently elastic so that it can be flexed manually and thereafter resiliently return to its original shape many times without being significantly adversely affected. Suitable materials can include plastics or metals of an appropriately selected thickness, for example. More particularly, it is believed that a transparent material such as Lexan™, a polycarbonate resin thermoplastic, can be particularly well adapted for medical applications and for the visibility is offers. Aluminium can also be well adapted for some applications, for example. The choice of the particular thickness and the length of the partitions then influences the flexibility of the partitions.
Turning now to FIG. 3, an exemplary compartment storage system 200 made of an assembly of a number of partitions 210, 212, 214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, each such as described above, and having various lengths is shown. It is likely that the various available sizes of the partitions will not precisely fit the particular drawer 232, because the size of existing drawers can vary. For convenience, the gaps 234, 236 remaining in the drawer, outside the compartment storage system can be filled with one or more resilient member 238, 240. In the illustration, a number of spacers 242 a, 242 b, 242 c, 242 d, 242 e, 242 f each made of compressible foam material similar to that used in ear plugs are used. Alternate resilient members 238, 240 which can be used can include resilient members of the leaf spring type, for instance. To minimize the gaps 234, 236, contour partitions 210, 212, having an available length which is as close as possible to the length of the drawer 232 are selected, and a contour partitions 214, 216 having an available length which is as close as possible to the width of the drawer 232, are also selected. The partitions can typically be made available in length increments corresponding to the regular spacing between adjacent keeper apertures as will be understood from the discussion above. These partitions 210, 212, 214, 216 can be assembled to form four contour faces of the compartment storage system 200. It will be noted here that to form the corners 244, 246, 248, 250 of the compartment storage system 200, the protrusions of some of the partitions (such as partitions 214 and 216 for instance) have been removed to prevent interference with the protrusions of the other partitions (210 and 212 in such a case) in the corners 244, 246, 248, 250 and maintain the dimensions within the predefined increments. This can be achieved relatively easily at the time of the first assembly by mechanically removing the protrusion with an appropriate tool, such as a file or snips for instance. Once the contour partitions 210, 212, 214, 216 are placed into position, intermediate partitions 218; 220 and 222; 224 and 226; and 228 and 230 can be sequentially positioned as illustrated in FIG. 2 to define smaller compartments inside the drawer 232. The things in the drawer can then conveniently classified in sets of things.
It will be understood that the particular design configuration shown in FIG. 3 is provided for the sole purpose of illustration and that many desired configurations can be arranged to suit the user's particular needs. This can be achieved using a number of partitions in the variety of different lengths which can be provided as detailed above.
Another example of a compartment storage system including a number of other types of partitions is shown in FIG. 11. For the purpose of clarity, the partition type described in reference to FIG. 1 will be referred below as a partition, and the other partition types will be given other names to avoid confusion. Although all of these can be interpreted as being partitions. For instance, in the example depicted in FIG. 11, the compartment storage system 300 includes two front end pieces 310, two rear end pieces 312, a divider 314, and a number of partitions 316, 318, 320, 322, 324, 326, having a construction similar as that shown in FIG. 1, and two of which serve as side pieces 316. A front end piece 310 is shown in FIG. 5, a rear end piece 312 is shown in FIG. 6, and the divider 314 is shown in FIG. 7. The front end piece 310 has the general shape of a partition such as 318, except that it has keeper apertures 330 instead of protrusions. The rear end piece 312 has a portion 332 similar to the front end piece 310, but further has two flanges 334, 336, thereby forming a C shaped cross-section. The divider 314 has two portions 340, 338 corresponding to a partition such as 316, but further has a top portion 342 bridging the two portions 340, 338, thereby forming an inversed-U cross-section shape. All of these partitions have lengths which correspond to an integer multiple of the common interspacing distance between keeper apertures.
The relative complexity of the compartment storage system 300 is rewarded by its ability to adapt in a clean-looking way to drawer sizes which do not precisely match an integer multiple of the common interspacing distance. A partition kit for making this compartment storage system 300 can be provided as follows:
First, a drawer width dimension and a drawer depth dimension are obtained. A width excess dimension is obtained by subtracting the dimension of the largest integer multiple of the interspacing distances fitting in the width dimension from the width dimension. A depth excess dimension is also obtained by subtracting the dimension of the largest integer multiple of the interspacing distances fitting in the depth dimension from the depth dimension.
Two of the types of partitions, that is the rear end piece 312 (FIG. 6) and the divider 314 (FIG. 7), can be provided in various thicknesses to adapt to the excess dimensions. In this particular embodiment 300, the rear end piece thickness 350 can be precisely selected to correspond to the depth excess dimension, simply by precisely cutting the flanges 334, 336 to that given length, for instance. The divider thickness 352, or divider width, can be selected to correspond to the width excess dimension. In the particular embodiment described here, it is proposed to achieve this by providing the dividers in a plurality of width increments in addition to length increments. The width increments should be sufficiently small so that the partitions do not easily become disengaged from one another. For instance, the width increments can be in the order of the thickness of the partitions 310, 316. In this example, the thickness of the partitions 310, 316 is of ⅛″ (3.2 mm) and the increment can be of 3 mm. That is dividers of 6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm, 15 mm, 18 mm, etc. width can be provided. This allows the compartment storage system to snugly fit into the given drawer. Partitions 316, 318, 320, 322, 324, 326 of various integer multiple of the interspacing distance between keeper apertures in length are also obtained as desired.
To install the compartment storage system, one example method is to begin by positioning the front end pieces 310 as shown in FIG. 8, to then position the divider 314 in engagement therewith and therebetween as shown in FIG. 9, to then position the rear end pieces 312 into engagement with the divider 314 as shown in FIG. 10, to then position the side pieces 316 in engagement with corresponding ends of the front end pieces 310 and rear end pieces 312 as shown in FIG. 11, and then position the internal partitions 318, 320, 322, 324, 326 using a method as described earlier in reference to FIG. 2.
In the embodiment described immediately above, the engagement between the divider, end pieces, and side pieces are obtained by engagement of protrusions provided at the ends of the divider and side pieces with keeper apertures provided at the ends of the end pieces. In alternate embodiments, these latter keeper apertures and protrusions can be inversed for instance, or other engagement means can be provided. It will be noted that the front end pieces 310 can be used as rear end pieces 312 and vice-versa, if desired. Furthermore, in an alternate embodiment, the divider 314 can be used directly on a side of the drawer, and there can therefore be only one front end piece, one rear end piece, and one side partition (316) as can be understood by persons of skill in the art. Also, a C-shaped piece can be used on a side and a inversed-U shaped piece can be used transversally, for instance, instead of what is shown and described above. Various other alternate designs can also be used.
In some embodiments, some of the partitions can omit having keeper apertures, such as partitions 310, 324 and 326 in the example shown in FIG. 4 for instance.
It will be understood that the embodiments described above and illustrated are provided for the sole purpose of example and illustration. Many various alternatives can be realized using the teachings of the present disclosure. For instance, in alternate embodiments, the shape of the protrusions can be different and the shape of the keeper apertures can also be different. For example, the keeper apertures can be square, oval or even have an open shape instead of a closed shape, such as being open to an upper or lower edge of the body of the partition for example. The exact shape of the partition itself can also quite vary, although a generally rectangular shape can be preferred in many applications to neatly prevent movement of the things in the compartments from passing through apertures which could be left around the partitions. The partitions can be provided in various widths to adapt to different depths of drawers, and the number of rows of keeper apertures can vary, i.e. there can be more than two rows, such as three rows or four rows for instance, in partitions of the same, or of different widths. If the keeper apertures are rectangular and oriented upwardly and the protrusions shaped accordingly, using a single row of keeper apertures can be sufficient in achieving a lock which prevents the partitions from rotating about a longitudinal axis once assembled. The length of the various partitions can vary as well as the value of the regular interspacing between the keeper apertures of each rows. Further in alternate embodiments, the keeper apertures in each rows can be irregularly interspaced if desired. It will be noted here that the particular embodiment disclosed and illustrated is particularly suitable for medical applications because it can be easily disassembled once assembled, in order to be cleaned and disinfected, and reassembled. Some adaptation and variants can be readily devised to adapt the specific embodiments to other applications such as industrial applications or household applications for instance.
The scope is thus indicated by the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A partition formed of a flat and elongated body made of a sheet-like material, the sheet-like material being rigid, yet being manually laterally elastically flexible, and having at least two superposed and lengthwisely extending rows of keeper apertures, the keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows and being perpendicularly aligned with keeper apertures of other rows, the flat and elongated body further comprising two longitudinally-opposite ends, and protrusions to the ends, the protrusions being aligned with each one of the rows, instead of a keeper aperture in the equally interspaced sequence of keeper apertures in the row, and the protrusions having a shape complementary to the shape of the keeper apertures for engagement therewith, wherein the partition can be engaged between two other parallel, vertically standing, and fixedly spaced-apart partitions by flexing manually laterally, sliding the partition downwardly between the two other partitions, aligning the protrusions of the partition with corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, and releasing the elastic flexion of the partition so as to engage the protrusions thereof into the corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, thereby locking the partition in place between the two other partitions.

2. A partition comprising an elongated and flat body made of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation, having two lengthwisely opposite ends with a lengthwisely oriented row of interspaced keeper apertures extending therebetween, and protrusions extending outwardly at each one of the ends, each protrusion being lengthwisely aligned with aligned keeper apertures and having a complementary shape to matingly engage corresponding keeper apertures of another partition.

3. The partition of claim 2 wherein there are at least two superposed rows of interspaced keeper apertures, the keeper apertures of each given row being vertically aligned with the keeper apertures of an other row.

4. The partition of claim 2 or 3 wherein the keeper apertures in a row are regularly interspaced by an interspacing distance.

5. The partition of claim 4 wherein the protrusions are spaced from an adjacent keeper aperture by an end distance corresponding to the interspacing distance.

6. The partition of any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the body is rectangular.

7. The partition of any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the keeper apertures are of a closed-shape.

8. The partition of claim 7 wherein the keeper apertures are circular.

9. The partition of any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the material is one of a polycarbonate resin thermoplastic and aluminum.

10. The partition of any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein the material is transparent.

11. The partition of any one of claims 1 to 10 wherein the keeper apertures extend through the partition.

12. A method of assembling a first partition between two parallel, vertically standing, and fixedly spaced-apart other partitions each having two lengthwisely opposite ends and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures extending between the ends, the first partition being made of an elongated and flat body of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation, and having protrusions extending outwardly at each one of the ends at a height selected for alignment with corresponding ones of the rows, and shaped to matingly engage the keeper apertures, the method comprising: flexing the first partition manually laterally, sliding the partition downwardly between the two other partitions, aligning the protrusions of the partition with corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, and releasing the elastic flexion of the partition so as to engage the protrusions thereof into the corresponding keeper apertures of the two other partitions, thereby locking the partition in place between the two other partitions.

13. A drawer partition kit comprising a plurality of partitions, each partition being made of an elongated and flat body of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation, having two lengthwisely opposite ends and at least one lengthwisely oriented row of interspaced keeper apertures extending therebetween, and protrusions extending outwardly at each one of the ends in lengthwise alignment with the row of interspaced keeper apertures, the protrusions having a complementary shape to matingly engage the keeper apertures of another one of the plurality of partitions.

14. The drawer partition kit of claim 13 further comprising a divider having two lengthwisely opposite ends, and two sides, each side comprising at least one lengthwisely oriented row of interspaced keeper apertures aligned with the protrusions for engagement therewith upon installation.

15. The drawer partition kit of claim 14 wherein the divider has an inverted-U cross-sectional shape.

16. The drawer partition kit of claim 14 or 15 wherein the divider has a width lesser than a regular interspacing distance between interspaced keeper apertures.

17. The drawer partition kit of any one of claims 14 to 16 further comprising two drawer end pieces, each having two lengthwisely opposite ends and two sides, one of the sides having at least one lengthwisely oriented row of interspaced keeper apertures aligned with the protrusions for engagement therewith upon installation.

18. The drawer partition kit of claim 17 wherein the end pieces each have a C cross-sectional shape.

19. The drawer partition kit of claim 17 or 18 wherein the end pieces have a width lesser than a regular interspacing distance between interspaced keeper apertures.

20. A drawer partition kit comprising

at least one drawer front end piece each having a common drawer front end thickness, two lengthwisely opposite ends and two faces, and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows by an interspacing distance, the rows being provided at respective row heights, and each drawer front end piece having a length corresponding to an integer multiple of the interspacing distance;

at least one drawer rear end piece each having a common drawer rear end thickness, a length corresponding to the length of a corresponding drawer front end piece, two lengthwisely opposite ends and two faces, and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows by the interspacing distance, the rows being provided at the respective row heights,

two side pieces each having lengthwisely opposite ends engageable with corresponding ends of a drawer rear end piece and a drawer front end pieces, and two faces, and at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows by the interspacing distance, the rows being provided at the respective row heights, each having a common length corresponding to an integer multiple of the interspacing distance,

a plurality of partitions, each partition having an elongated and flat body made of a material being manually flexible in an elastic manner in a transverse orientation having a length corresponding to an integer multiple of the interspacing distance, a thickness, two lengthwisely opposite ends, and protrusions extending outwardly at both of the ends at the respective row heights, the protrusions having a complementary shape to matingly engage the keeper apertures.

21. The drawer partition kit of claim 20 wherein each partition has at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows by the interspacing distance, the rows being provided at the respective row heights.

22. The drawer partition kit of claim 20 or 21 comprising two drawer front end pieces, two drawer rear end pieces, and a divider having two lengthwisely opposite ends engageable with corresponding ends of the drawer rear end pieces and drawer front end pieces, a divider width and two faces, each face comprising at least two superposed lengthwisely oriented rows of keeper apertures being equally interspaced from one another along the rows by the interspacing distance, the rows being provided at the respective row heights.

23. The drawer partition kit of claim 22 wherein the divider also has protrusions at both ends at the respective row heights, and the front and rear end pieces have keeper apertures at each end at the respective row heights, for engagement with the protrusions.

24. A method of providing a partition kit as claimed in claim 22 including determining a width dimension and depth dimension of a drawer, determining a width excess dimension by subtracting the dimension of the largest integer multiple of the interspacing distances fitting in the width dimension from the width dimension, providing the divider width corresponding to the width excess dimension; determining a depth excess dimension by subtracting the dimension of the largest integer multiple of the interspacing distances fitting in the depth dimension from the depth dimension, and providing the two drawer rear end pieces in a common rear end piece thickness corresponding to the depth excess dimension.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising selecting the divider width as an integer multiple of the partition thickness.

26. A method of installing a partition kit as claimed in claim 22 comprising : positioning one of the two front end pieces and the two rear end pieces at the corresponding end of a drawer, with a spacing therebetween corresponding to the divider width; engaging one end of the divider with the positioned end pieces; positioning the other one of the two front end pieces and the two rear end pieces at the other end of the drawer, in engagement with a corresponding end of the divider; positioning the two side pieces on respective sides of the drawer, each in engagement with a corresponding front end piece and rear end piece, and engaging the protrusions of the plurality of partitions with corresponding keeper apertures.