GB2285911A - Wall mountable support and storage receptacle - Google Patents

Abstract

A wall mountable support comprises a chassis 10 attachable to a wall; a carrier 30 attachable to an object to be supported (e.g. a wall cupboard), the carrier being linked to the chassis to allow substantially linear movement of the carrier with respect to the chassis; and resilient counterbalance means connected to the chassis and the carrier, the resilient counterbalance means being adjustable to counterbalance the weight of the object to be supported. The carrier may in fact form part of a storage receptacle. <IMAGE>

Description

WALL MOUNTABLE SUPPORT AND STORAGE RECEPTACLE This invention relates to wall mountable supports and storage receptacles.

Wall mounted storage is commonly employed in the home and the workplace. For example, wall mounted storage cupboards are found in many modern domestic kitchens, and allow the efficient use of storage space in relatively small rooms or buildings.

However, accessing wall mounted storage can be a problem for people who are disabled (for example, being confined to a wheelchair) or who are simply of small stature.

This invention provides a wall mountable support comprising: a chassis attachable to a wall; a carrier attachable to an object to be supported, the carrier being linked to the chassis to allow substantially linear movement of the carrier with respect to the chassis; and resilient counterbalance means connected to the chassis and the carrier, the resilient counterbalance means being adjustable to counterbalance the weight of the object to be supported.

The invention addresses the above problems by providing a wall mountable support which allows the object to be supported (e.g. a wall cupboard) to be translated, or moved substantially linearly, with an adjustable counterbalance means arranged to support the object. This means that, for example, a wall cupboard could be mounted in a position on a wall which is too high for the user to reach the contents of the cupboard, and then pulled down when access to that cupboard is required.

If an item is taken from or added to the cupboard by the user, the counterbalance means may be adjusted to counterbalance the new weight of the cupboard.

Preferably, in use, the movement of the carrier with respect to the chassis is substantially in the plane of the wall. In particular, to allow a cupboard to be stored "out of reach", it is preferred that, in use, the movement of the carrier with respect to the chassis is in a substantially vertical direction.

Although the weight of the object to be supported can be counterbalanced by the adjustable counterbalance means, which should mean that the object will remain in a desired position, it is preferred that the support comprises interlock means for preventing relative movement of the chassis and the carrier; and manually operable release means for overriding operation of the interlock means. In this way the default condition of the object is to be locked into a particular desired position, with a manual override of the interlock means being necessary before the object can be moved.

Various types of interlock mechanism are possible: for example, brake pads could be used to prevent relative movement of the chassis and carrier. However, in a preferred embodiment, the interlock means comprises: complementary locking formations on the chassis and the carrier, whereby the chassis and the carrier are engageable at a plurality of relative positions of the chassis and the carrier; and resilient bias means for biasing the complementary locking formations into engagement.

In an advantageously simple embodiment, the chassis comprises a track having a plurality of spaced locking apertures: and the carrier comprises a locking member operable to engage with one of the locking apertures.

Preferably the release means comprises a handle attachable to the object to be supported, the handle being movable between a stowed position and an active position. and the handle being linked to the locking member such that movement of the handle from the stowed position to the active position disengages the locking member from the track. In this way a "dual purpose" handle may be employed, whereby moving the handle from its stowed position into a position in which the handle may be used for moving or lifting the object to be supported also releases the interlock mechanism to allow movement of the object.

A linkage comprising a number of levers could be used; however, it is preferred that the handle is linked to the locking member by a Bowden cable. This allows great flexibility in the size of the object to be supported, in that any extra length of the cable may simply be looped out of the way without inhibiting the operation of the handle.

Preferably the counterbalance means comprises one or more coil springs. However, other resilient means could be used such as resilient belts, leaf springs, or pneumatic springs.

In a preferred embodiment the one or more coil springs are attached to a mounting member connected to the chassis, the counterbalance means comprising means for adjusting the position of the mounting member with respect to the chassis. In this way, a pre-stress applied to the springs can be adjusted, thereby adjusting the counterbalance force provided by the springs.

In order to inhibit unwanted movement of the carrier (e.g. in case the counterbalance setting is dramatically incorrect), it is preferred that the support comprises means for damping relative movement of the chassis and the carrier.

If the support is used by, for example, disabled people, or if it is desired to have the rest position of a wall cupboard out of the user's reach, it is preferred that the support comprises a motor for moving the carrier with respect to the chassis.

Preferably the motor is an electric motor.

Preferably the object to be supported is a storage receptacle.

Viewed from a second aspect this invention provides a wall mountable storage receptacle comprising: a chassis attachable to a wall; a storage receptacle, the storage receptacle being linked to the chassis to allow substantially linear movement of the storage receptacle with respect to the chassis; and resilient counterbalance means connected to the chassis and the storage receptacle, the resilient counterbalance means being adjustable to counterbalance the weight of the storage receptacle.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, throughout which like parts are referred to by like references, and in which: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a wall mountable support; Figures 2, 3 and 4 are schematic front elevations of a wall mountable support; Figure 5 is a schematic side elevation of a wall mountable support; Figure 6 is a schematic front elevation of an interlock mechanism; Figure 7 is a schematic side elevation of an interlock mechanism; Figure 8 illustrates a release handle for the interlock mechanism; Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a wall cupboard supported by a wall mounted support; Figure 10 is a schematic front elevation of a motor-assisted wall mountable support; and Figure 11 is R schematic side elevation of a motor-assisted wall mountable support.

Referring now to Figure 1, a wall mountable support comprises a chassis 10 attachable to a wall by means of screw fixing through four mounting plates 20, and a carrier 30. The carrier 30 may be attached to an object to be supported, for example a cupboard 40, using complementary mounting blocks 50, 60. In particular, the mounting block 50 is attached to the carrier 30; the mounting block 60 is then attached to the roof of the cupboard 40 using screws 70, and then fastened to the mounting block 50 using a screw 80.

A cupboard with a solid back panel may be attached directly to the mounting block 50 by one or more screws passing through the back panel into the mounting block 50.

The carrier 30 is free to move longitudinally along the chassis 10 (i.e. in a vertical direction as illustrated in Figure 1) but is resiliently biased upwards by a spring counterbalance (not shown in Figure 1). The counterbalance force provided by the spring counterbalance is adjustable by means of a control handle 90.

Figures 2 and 3 are schematic front elevations of the wall mountable support. Figure 2 illustrates the support with the carrier in an upper position and Figure 3 illustrates the carrier approximately halfway down the chassis 10. As shown in Figure 2, the counterbalance spring is masked from view by a blanking plate 100.

Figures 4 and 5 schematically illustrate the support of the carrier 30 by the counterbalance spring.

The carrier 30 is attached to a flexible belt 110 shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5. The flexible belt passes in front of the blanking plate 100 and over a roller 120 at the top of the chassis 10. It is attached to two coil springs 130 which are arranged to be under tension. The other ends of the coil springs 130 are attached to an internally threaded traveller 140 which is fitted onto a threaded shaft 150 attached to the control handle 90. The traveller 140 is constrained by guide means (not shown) so that it cannot rotate when the threaded shaft 150 rotates. This means that rotation of the threaded shaft 150 (by rotation of the control handle 90) causes the traveller to move up or down in a vertical direction. This in turn changes the tension applied to the coil springs 130, and so adjusts the counterbalance force provided by the coil springs 130.As mentioned above, the threaded shaft 150, the traveller 140 and the coil springs 130 are all masked from view by the blanking plate 100.

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate an interlock mechanism which prevents undesired movement of the carrier with respect to the chassis. The carrier 30 comprises a pivoted bar 200 having a pin 210 mounted at one end thereof. The pin is able to engage with spaced locking apertures 220 in the side of the chassis 10 and is resiliently biased to engage with the locking apertures by a bias spring 230. This means that as the carrier 30 moves vertically with respect to the chassis 10, the pin 210 will engage with one of the spaced locking apertures 220.

In order to allow the cupboard to be moved when desired, the bias provided by the bias spring 230 can be overcome by a Bowden cable 205 pulling the bar 200 so that the pin 210 no longer engages with a locking aperture 220.

As shown in Figure 8, the Bowden cable is activated by a sprung handle 300 on the bottom of the cupboard. The handle has a rest position 310 in which it is held by a spring 320 to lie along the horizontal lower surface of the cupboard. When the handle is pulled downwards, so that the user can push or pull the cupboard with the handle, the cable is also pulled thus releasing the interlock mechanism. This means that the user is required to have a grip on the handle, therefore on the cupboard, before the interlock mechanism can be released.

Another safety feature which reduces unwanted sudden movement of the carrier is a damping mechanism. This is embodied by a small grub screw 400 (shown in Figure 7) passing through the carrier 30 to provide adjustable friction between the carrier 30 and the chassis 10. If the grub screw 400 is screwed further in, the friction (and hence the damping effect) is increased.

Figure 9 illustrates the wall mountable support in use with a wall cupboard. The wall cupboards shown in Figure 9 have a rest position which is out of the reach of the user in question, and are lowered using the wall mountable support described above when access to the cupboard is required.

In the embodiments described above, the wall mountable support is manufactured as a separate unit which is later attached to an object to be supported (e.g. a cupboard). In another embodiment, the carrier 30 could in fact form part of the back surface of a cupboard or other storage receptacle. In this case, in order to fasten the chassis to the wall, the counterbalance means could be adjusted to provide a minimum counterbalance force, thus allowing the cupboard to slide down the chassis under its own weight. This would provide free access to at least an upper portion of the chassis, to enable the chassis to be fixed in place.

Two or more wall mountable supports may be employed for a particular cupboard or other object.

In another embodiment, illustrated schematically in Figures 10 and 11, a motor drive is included to allow, for example, disabled users to raise and lower the cupboard. An electric motor 500 is conveniently mounted at the top of the chassis 10, with a remote switch being disposed, for example, on the lower surface of the cupboard or on the wall below the cupboard. The motor drives the flexible belt 110, via a drive belt 510 running between drive pulleys 520, 530. Since the weight of the cupboard can be substantially balanced by the adjustable counterbalance means, only a relatively small electric motor is required.

Claims (17)

1. A wall mountable support comprising: a chassis attachable to a wall; a carrier attachable to an object to be supported, the carrier being linked to the chassis to allow substantially linear movement of the carrier with respect to the chassis; and resilient counterbalance means connected to the chassis and the carrier, the resilient counterbalance means being adjustable to counterbalance the weight of the object to be supported.

2. A support according to claim 1, in which, in use, the movement of the carrier with respect to the chassis is substantially in the plane of the wall.

3. A support according to claim 2, in which, in use, the movement of the carrier with respect to the chassis is in a substantially vertical direction.

4. A support according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising: interlock means for preventing relative movement of the chassis and the carrier; and manually operable release means for overriding operation of the interlock means.

5. A support according to claim 4, in which the interlock means comprises: complementary locking formations on the chassis and the carrier, whereby the chassis and the carrier are engageable at a plurality of relative positions of the chassis and the carrier; and resilient bias means for biasing the complementary locking formations into engagement.

6. A support according to claim 5, in which: the chassis comprises a track having a plurality of spaced locking apertures; and the carrier comprises a locking member operable to engage with one of the locking apertures.

7. A support according to claim 6, in which the release means comprises a handle attachable to the object to be supported, the handle being movable between a stowed position and an active position, and the handle being linked to the locking member such that movement of the handle from the stowed position to the active position disengages the locking member from the track.

8. A support according to claim 7, in which the handle is linked to the locking member by a Bowden cable.

9. A support according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the counterbalance means comprises one or more coil springs.

10. A support according to claim 9, in which the one or more coil springs are attached to a mounting member connected to the chassis, the counterbalance means comprising means for adjusting the position of the mounting member with respect to the chassis.

11. A support according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising means for damping relative movement of the chassis and the carrier.

12. A support according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a motor for moving the carrier with respect to the chassis.

13. A support according to claim 12, in which the motor is an electric motor.

14. A support according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the object to be supported is a storage receptacle.

15. A wall mountable storage receptacle comprising: a chassis attachable to a wall; a storage receptacle, the storage receptacle being linked to the chassis to allow substantially linear movement of the storage receptacle with respect to the chassis; and resilient counterbalance means connected to the chassis and the storage receptacle, the resilient counterbalance means being adjustable to counterbalance the weight of the storage receptacle.

16. A wall mountable support substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

17. A wall mountable storage receptacle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.