CA2053169A1 - Adjustable and alignable lazy susan assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT
An adjustable and alignable lazy susan assembly for use within a cabinet or storage area having a top and a bottom comprises a housing defining a cylindrically shaped cavity having upper and lower substantially flat ends. The upper end is closed by the cabinet top and the lower end is closed by the cabinet bottom. A substantially vertical shaft is centrally positioned within the cylindrically shaped cavity. An upper shaft-engaging bracket is adjustably secured to the upper cabinet top closing the cavity end. A shaft-supporting pivot plate is secured to the cabinet bottom closing the lower cavity end. One or more rotatable supporting surfaces are releasably secured to the vertical shaft. Means are provided for releasably and adjustably securing the shaft and rotatable supporting surfaces at preselected positions within the cavity. Means are provided for positioning the rotatable supporting surfaces at preselected locations along the shaft. Means are provided for elongating and shortening the functional length of the shaft, the rotatable supporting surfaces having means to retain articles supported thereby during rotation. One or more doors are joined to the rotatable supporting surfaces to close and open the cylindrically shaped cavity. A locking mechanism is secured to the shaft operable with the lower shaft-supporting pivot plate to stop the free rotation of the shaft, rotatable supporting surfaces, and joined doors where the doors close the cavity and prevent viewing of the shaft, supporting surfaces, and articles carried thereby.

Description

BAC~GRQUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field oE the Invention. This in~Tention relates to improvements in a rotatable supporting surface assembly. In particular, it relates to a vertically and horizontally adjustable and alignable lazy susan assembly providing for the positioning of the rotatable supporting surfaces at preselected locations on a supporting shaft.

2. Description of Related Art. In an effort to more fully utilize kitchen space, various rotatable shelf units have been produced. There are many different configurations of cnbinets for which rotatable supporting surfaces are practical. ~or example, rotatable supporting surfaces ha~e long been used to provide space in corner kitchen cabinets. Such assemblies are particularly popu]ar because they provide easy access to hard-to-reach areas of acornercabinet. See,forexample, U. S. PatentNos. 4,181,037; 4,738,~95;
4,868,156; and 4,418,9'l~1.

The rotary units described above have become known as l~lRzy susans" and have an established popularity because they al~ow for access to otherwise inaccessible areas oE cabinets . In lazy susan systems, it is desirable to include a rotary catch which holds the rotary unit in a rotary position so that the door panels of the rotary cabinet will be maintained ~lush with the cabinet 2 0 walls when the lazy susan is closed.

One problem that has been encountered with these prior art assemblies is the difficulty of obtaining and maintaining proper vertical and .

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rotational alignment of -the cloors relative to the door frame of the cabinet housing the assembly. It has often been necessary to remove articles stored on the shelves and thereafter remove at least the contents of the lower components of the assembly located near the ~loor of the cabinet in order to make an adjustment necessary to raise or lower -the same into proper alignment with the cabinet and door frame. The problem of vertical alignment of the doors of the assembly often occurs because of long term settl:ing conditions of the housing in which the assembly is used, sometimes accelerated by vibration caused by nearby construction, blasting, traffic conditions, and so on.

Another difficulty encountered in -the prior art has been that encoun-tered in securing and maintaining proper rotational alignment of the at-tached moveable doors rela-tive -to the cabinet con-taining the assembly in the door frame. Some la~y susan assemblies are provided ~ith a means for biasing the attached doors to a preferred position, usually a position closed with respect to the door frame. When a rotational misalignment of this closed door position occurs, it has often been necessary to at least partially disassemble the structure in order to effect realignment. This again usually necessitates removing all or most of the numerous articles which may be stored on one or more shelves and/or removal of one or more shelves.

2 0 All such disassembly requirements are troublesome, time-consuming, laborious and sometimes more complicated than a housewife should undertake . The present invention substan-tially overcomes these problems and other difficulties evidenced by the prior art.

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SUN[MARY OF THE~ INVENTION

The present invention i6 an adjustable and alignable lazy susan assembly which has a housing that defines a cylindricaUy shaped ca~rity, the upper and lower ends of the cylindrical cavity being closed by the top of the cabinet and the internal floor or bottom of the cabinet. A substantially vertical sh~t centrally positioned within the housing supports one or more rotatable supporting surfaces cooperatively secured thereto and carries cooperating means for locking the shaft and surfaces at a predetermined location within the cavity so that doors joined to the supporting surfaces close the cavity and prevent viewing of the shaft, supporting surfaces and articles carried thereby .The rotatable supporting surfaces are selectively positionable vertically with respect to -the shaft, and adjustable means is provided Eor elongating and shortening the functional length of the shaft to provide a proper fit within thecabinet interior. The rotatable supporting surfaces may be pronded with suitable means to retain articles suppor-ted thereon during rotation.

Thus, there has been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed descrip-tion that follows may be better understood, and in order tha-t the present contribution to the art maybe better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the 2 0 invention that will be described hereinafterand which will also form the subject matter of the appended claims. In this respect, before explaining one or more embodiments of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its applicatiorl to the del:ails of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description illus trated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments nnd of being , ,, , ~ ' ~ - .
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practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that thephraseologyand tern~inologye~ployed herein are for thepurpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the concept, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily he utilized as a basis for the design of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the invention. It is important, therefore, that the claL~ns be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart Erom the spirit and scope of the present invention .

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide new improvements for lazy susan assemblies which have all of the advantages of prior art systems and none of the disadvantages.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a lazy susan assembly which is adjus-table and alignable both horizontally and vertically.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a lazy susan assembly in which the rotatable supporting surfaces may be selectively repositioned vertically along a supporting shaft.

It is yet s till another object of the present invention to provide a lazy susan assembly having a unique lower mechanism for aligning the vertical supporting shaft.

It is yet still another further object of the present invention to provide a new and ~mproved la2y susan assembly having means to elongate and ; : . ,: : ~:
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shorten the functional length of the vertical shaft to accommodate varying internal cabinet arld storage area heights.

These objectives, togetherwith other objectives of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the inven-tion, will become more apparent after consideration of the following detailed descrip-~on of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and abjects other than those set forth above will become more apparent when consideration is given to the foUowing detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views and wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the lazy susan assembly comprising the present invention installed in a corner kitchen cabinet;

Fig. 2 is aplan and schematic view of one style of the lazy susan assembly comprising the present invention installed in a corner cabine t utilizing a single L-shaped door attached to the supporting shelves;

Fig. 3 is an exploded and perspective view o:E the lazy susan assembly 2 0 comprising the present invention;

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Fig. 4 is a plan view of the shaft-supporting pivot plate utilized in the lazy susan assembly comprising the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a side elevational view of the pivot plate shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a side elevational and isolated view of the shaEt-receiving tubular extension mounted on the pivot plate in which is positioned at the lowerend of the sh~ft one embodiment of the shaft-elongaffng and shortening means all forming a part of the lazy susan assembly comprising the present invention;

Fig. 7 is an exploded side elevational view of the assembled elements shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a side elevational and sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the shaft-elongating and shorterung means showing the shaft positioned within the shaft-receiving tubular extension and receiving within its interior a threaded member and a thread-receiving member;

Fig. 9 is a side elevational and exploded view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a side elevational view of part oE the shaft used in the lazy susanassemb]ycomprisingthepresentinventionshowingapertures thatpermit positioning the rotatElble supporting surfaces at various shaft locations; and , :,",, ~ .; i -C~ .8 i ~ ~

Fig. 11 is a front elevat:ional view of the lazy susan assembly comprising the present invention positioned in a corner cabinet showing the ro-ta-table supporting surfaces holding a plurality of ar ticles and the assembly's relationship with the interior of the cab;net in which it is housed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A lazy susan assembly comprising the present invention mounted within a corner cabinet 20 is illustrated generally at 20 in Fig. 1. The assembly 21 isadapted to be releasably installed in cabinet 20 which has installation surfacescomprising a top 26 and a bottom 28. However, it is to be appreciated that the use of the assembly 21 is not confined to kitchen cabinets since it can be adapted for use in various storage areas having the requisite installation surfaces .

Assembly 21 includes a housing w.hich defines a cylindrically shaped cavity 30 having upper and lower substantially flat ends, the upper end being closed by the cabinet top 26 and the lower end being closed by the cabine-t bottom 28. A substantially vertical shaft 32 is centrally positioned within the cylindrically shaped cavity 30 with its upper end being cooperatively received by the upper shaft-engaging bracket 34 which can be adjustably secured to cabinet top 26 because of the slotted openings 36 provided therein. The lower 2 0 end of shaft 32 is received by a shaft-supporting pivot plate 38 secured to the cabinet bottom 23. Extension 40 formed on or secured to the surface of pivot plate 38 extends into the end of shaft 32 to prevent its lateral movement with respect to pivot plate 38. A lower shaft-engaging bracket 4~ cooperatively receives the lower end of shaft 32 as shown in Fig. 4.

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Ro latable supporting surfaces, frequently referred to as shelv es 42, are revolvably and releasably secured to shaft 3 2 as shown . These surfaces 42 can be preselective]y positioned vertically along shaft 32 by the provision of a plurality of adjustment apertures 44 (Fig. 10). The rotatable supporting surfaces 42 are secured by locking elements 46 shown with some particularity in Fig. 3. These elements are releasably secured to hokl suplporting surfaces 42 at the desired vertical location along shai`t 32 by the placement of a pin 48 in the selected adjustment aperture 44. With these pins, supporting surfaces 42 cannot mo~e downwardly. Staples 51 or other appropriate securing elements can be utilized to prevent the pin 48 from escaping from aperture 44 and are effecti~re in preventing movement of surface 42 up shaft 32.

Each rotatable supporting surface 42 has a pie shaped wedge 52 formed therein which conforms to -the right angle resulting from the construction of corner cabinet 20. Forms the supporting surface for the door or doors 50.
When the assembly 22 is rotated to a closed door position, the doors affixed to surfaces 42 close the cabinet opening and fashion a smooth and precise right angle of decorati~re cabinets for the corner. ~`

A locking mechanism 54 (Fig. 3) is secured to shaft 32 and is operable with locking module 56 formed with or secured to the surface of pivot plate 38.
2 0 Mechanism 54 has somewhat flexible extending fingers 58 with an opening 60formed by their two outermost points. When the shaft 3Z and supporting surfaces 42 rotate, locking module 56 slides along the outside of fingers 58 andaround the periphery of locking mechanism 54 until it reaches opening 60 at which point it is cauglht within the opening and causes the rotational motion oEthe shaft 34 and surEaces 42 to terminate. At this position, the assembly is in - , ~

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the closedposition and doors 50close cavity 30and prevent viewing of the shaft 32, supporting surfaces 42, and ar-ticles 62 carried thereby.

After extended use, it is not uncommon for a la~y susan assembly sil~ilar to that comprising the prenLise of the present invention to become somewhat misaligned to the extent that in the closed position, the doors will not align precisely with the opening of the cavity. In that event, it is necessary to realign the assembly so that the cavit~ can be precisely closed by the doors as it was before misalignment occurred. In the presen-t invention, this realignment is easily achieved by the slotted openings 36 in the upper shaft-engaging bracket 34 and additional slotted openings 64 in the extending wings 66 of pivot plate 38. The provision of openings 36 and 64 permit horizontal adjus tment and alignment o~ the assembly with respect to the doors when in the closed position . Holes 68 are provided EOI' screws or other securing devices sothat once adjustment is made by utilizing the elongated adjustment slots, the plate can be secured to the cabinet bottom 28.

The assembly 22 of the present invention can be utilized within cabinets or storage areas having diEfering heights because OI -the provision of a shaft-elongating and shortening mechanism shown in one embod.iment in Figs . 6 and 7 . In this embodiment, the shaft-receiving tubular extension receives not only 2 0 shaft 32 but also an insert 70 having a groove 72 at its lower end and an inclined surface 74 at its upper end. Insert 70 slides within the interior of shaft 32 and shaft 32 and insert 71) then extend into the shaft-engaging bracket 41. Slot 72 is provided to cooperatively receive pin 76 which holds bracket 41 as well as its encompassed shaft 32 and insert 70 in a iEixed position with respect to the pivot plate 38 . A shaft-engaging screw 78 extends through shaEt 32 as shown in Fig.

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~. -7 and supports a -threadably mounted engaging element 80. When screw 78 is turned, engaging element 80 moves up or down the inclined surface ( see arrow ) thus urging shaft 32 upwardly or downwardly depending on the direction of rotation of screw 78. By such movement, shaft 32 is either lengthened or shortened depending on whether or not the engaging element moves up or down the inc~ined surface ~4. This movement allows adjustments to the assembly to realign the doors 50 to precisely fit the corner opening and close cavity 3û.

An alternative embodiment of the shaft-elongating and shortening mechanisrn is shown in Figs. 8 and 9 in a cross-sectional view taken along the diameterofshaft32,shaEtreceivingtubularextension81,insert82,thread-receiving member 84, and threaded member 86. ~s in the first embodiment shown in Eiigs. 6 and 7, shaft 32 extends illtO bracket 81 and carries insert ~32 in its interior. Thread-receiving member 84 is revolvably secured by a screw or other appropriate means 88 to insert 82 . Thus, thread-receiving member 84 freely rotates by the use of a tool or with finger pressure when an opening 85 is provided in shaft 32 giving access to member 84 . Threaded memher 86 is kept securelyand centrally positioned along the center line of shaft 32 by an element90 that is contiguous along its-periphery with the interior wall of the shaf t 32 .
When thread-recei~Ting member 8~ is rotated, threaded member 86 moves up or 2 0 down depending on the direction of ro-tation thereby extending or shortening shaft 32 to the ex-tent necessary.

It has been found desirable in many instances to provide a device along the upper periphery of the rotatable supporting surfaces 42 to retain articles supported thereby in the event there is a tendency for them to be displaced during rotation of the surEace. For example, an upwardly extending edge 92 can be formed in or attached to surface 42, and if even greater retentive capability is necessary or desired, a fence or screen 94 (E~ig. 3) is quite satisfactory .

From this detailed description, it can be seen that a la~y susan assembly has been provided that will meet all of the advantages oi the prior art and offer additional advantages not offered by the prior art. Adjustments in every needed direction can be made in positioning the assembly so that it can be precisely aligned in a proper and efficient operating mode to accomplish the desired aesthetic appearance.

With respect to the description set forth abo~7e, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationship for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size 9 materials, shape, form, function, and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed herein.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention and since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is desired not to limit the invention to the exact description and operation of the embodiment shown. All suitable 2 0 modifications and equivalents that fall within the scope of the appended claims are deemed within the present inventive concept.

Claims (18)

1. An adjustable and alignable lazy susan assembly for use within a cabinet or storage area having a top and a bottom comprising: a housing defining a cylindrically shaped cavity having upper and lower substantially flatends, the upper end closed by the cabinet top and the lower end closed by the cabinet bottom; a substantially vertical shaft centrally positioned within the cylindrically shaped cavity; an upper shaft-engaging bracket adjustably secured to the upper cabinet top closing the cavity end; a shaft-supporting pivot plate secured to the cabinet bottom closing the lower cavity end; one or more rotatable supporting surfaces releasably secured to the vertical shaft;
means for releasably and adjustably securing the shaft and rotatable supporting surfaces at preselected positions within the cavity; means for positioning the rotatable supporting surfaces at preselected locations along theshaft; means for elongating and shortening the functional length of the shaft, said rotatable supporting surfaces having means to retain articles supported thereby during rotation; one or more doors joined to the rotatable supporting surfaces to close and open the cylindrically shaped cavity; and a locking mechanism secured to the shaft operable with the lower shaft-supporting pivot plate to stop the free rotation of the shaft, rotatable supporting surfaces and joined doors where the doors close the cavity and prevent viewing of the shaft, supporting surfaces and articles carried thereby.

2. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the upper shaft-engaging bracket is a circular flange member having a hollow tubular shank for receiving the shaft.

3. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lower shaft-supporting pivot plate has means for fixedly receiving the shaft.

4. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lower shaft-supporting pivot plate includes a shaft-receiving tubular extension.

5. The assembly as claimed in claim 3 wherein the pivot plate has a locking module and at least one elongated adjustment slot.

6. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the elongating and shortening means includes an insert in the shaft having an upper inclined surface, a threadably movable upper surface engaging element, the engaging element being threadably mounted on a shaft-engaging screw and moveable against the inclined surface to elongate and shorten the shaft upon rotation of the screw.

7. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the elongating and shortening means includes an insert in the shaft having a threaded member and a thread-receiving member so that turning one member with respect to the other will extend or reduce the length of the shaft.

8 . The assembly as claimed in claim 6 wherein the shaft section has at least one opening to permit manual turning of a threaded member with respect to a thread-receiving member.

9. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lower shaft-supporting pivot plate includes 2 shaft-receiving tubular extension; and the upper shaft-engaging bracket is a circular flange member having a hollow-tubular shank for receiving the shaft.

10. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pivot plate has a locking module and at least one elongated adjustment slot.

11. The assembly as claimed in claim 3 wherein the pivot plate has a locking module and at least one elongated adjustment slot, and the pivot plate shaft receiving means is an extension on the surface of the pivot plate extending into the end of the shaft.

12. The assembly as claimed in claim 6 wherein the pivot plate has a locking module and at least one elongated adjustment slot.

13. The assembly as claimed in claim 5 wherein the upper shaft-engaging bracket is a circular flange member having a hollow tubular shank for receiving the shaft.

14. The assembly as claimed in claim 6 wherein the upper shaft-engaging bracket is a circular flange member having a hollow tubular shank for receiving the shaft.

15. The assembly as claimed in claim 6 wherein the lower shaft-supporting pivot plate has a tubular extension for receiving the shaft.

16. The assembly as claimed in claim 5 wherein the elongating and shortening means includes an insert in the shaft, having an insert with an upper inclined surface, a threadably moveable upper surface engaging element, the engaging element being threadably mounted on a shaft-engaging screw and moveable against the inclined surface to elongate or shorten the shaft upon rotation of the screw.

17. The assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the article retaining means includes a fence engaging the periphery of the table supporting surfaces.

18. The assembly as claimed in claim 2 wherein the lower shaft-supporting pivot plate has means for fixedly receiving the shaft, the lower shaft-supporting pivot plate includes a shaft-receiving tubular extension, the pivot plate has a locking module and at least one elongated adjustment slot, andthe elongating and shortening means includes an insert in the shaft having an upper incline surface, a threadably moveable upper surface engaging element, the engaging element being threadably mounted on a shaft-engaging screw and moveable against the inclined surface to elongate and shorten the shaft upon rotation of the screw.