CA3101785A1 - Hanging stack & rolling rack - Google Patents

Abstract

A roller supported cabinet which may be moved upon the rollers along the wall behind it. One end of the cabinet normally rests in a corner of the room.

When the cabinet is moved away from the corner, complete and ready access is had to the shelves and drawers of the end portion which was in the corner behind an adjoining cabinet along the adjacent wall. With the cabinet extended from the corner the usually wasted corner cabinet space may be fully utilized. When the cabinet is returned to the corner location, it takes up a minimum of space in the room.
This patent has no overlap with claims #2 or #3. The overlap question arises with regard to claim #1. Both inventions perform the action of moving a stack of drawers sideways but the two inventions perform that action on different entities to different destinations with different mechanisms.

Description

Invention Title "Hanging Stack & Rolling Rack" is a descriptive title for this invention. It is a method for attaching a set of drawers stacked, one above the other, in a frame hung from a rack that rolls.
Technical Field This invention does not involve any advanced technology, only carpentry, specifically cabinet carpentry. The only components not used in standard cabinet assembly can be obtained in any big-box home improvement outlet.
The modest amount of carpentry required can be performed by a person with ordinary skills in the field.
Invention Description The Requirement In kitchens, the space under the counter-top in corners is difficult to access.
If both adjacent cabinets were to have full sets of drawers the space would be completely inaccessible. This has led to the term "Blind Corner". The least cost method to provide some access is to install shelves in one of the adjacent cabinets and extend them sideways throughout the blind corner.
These shelves are so deep that getting to items in the back corner requires unpacking most of the items in front before attempting an uncomfortable stretch. Then, one by one, the unpacked items must be returned.
Some cabinet designs use Lazy Susan's, which alleviate the deep shelf problem by rotating the back corner items to the front. But accessing the Lazy Susan requires space in the adjacent cabinet, the larger the items, the bigger the adjacent space needed. This space usually sits empty and idle most of the time. In practice, that space does not always remain empty.
Large objects can appear there that the user must be shuffled out to fully access the Lazy Susan.
Page 2 of 9 Date Recue/Date Received 2020-12-07 Invention Overview This invention uses, but does not dedicate, space in one of the adjacent cabinets. A stack of drawers is installed in the blind corner space. The frame containing the drawers is suspended from a system of tracks and little wheel-cars. When access is needed the stack of drawers is rolled sideways into a temporarily borrowed space in the adjacent cabinet. Whatever was in that space first had to be moved out. While the stack of drawers is in this OUT
position the individual drawers can be opened just like any other drawers.
Items that were stored in the lowest, deepest part of the blind corner are presented for top-down access. When the drawers are closed the stack is rolled back into the IN position in the corner and whatever was in the space can be moved back in. The temporarily borrowed space is called the shuffle-space. Whatever is moved out and later moved back is called the shuffle-partner.
Hanging the stack from a system of wheel-cars in tracks has advantages.
1. Gravity ensures that the wheels remain properly positioned in their tracks, free of dirt or clutter so that the stack can be reliably rolled in and out within close tolerances.

2. The tracks are the only mechanism permanently installed in the shuffle space and occupy less than the top 3".

3. A modest amount of space under the tracks is available on a part-time basis for a shuffle-partner. The flooring of this space is a smooth continuation of the regular kitchen floor.

4. It is inexpensive. The sets of tracks and wheels are designed to suspend folding doors and are available at any home improvement outlet. The drawers and drawer slides are also standard and widely available . The carpentry needed is modest.
The essential feature of this design is that it does NOT permanently dedicate the shuffle-space to a single purpose. It makes available a general-purpose space. Whatever is done to exploit the shuffle space is not part of this design. Descriptions of various possibilities are included as an appendix to show the value of exploiting this space.
Page 3 of 9 Date Recue/Date Received 2020-12-07

Claims (4)

Claims The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
5. Rolling a standalone stack of drawers out of the blind corner with minimal effort. The concept of rolling a stack of drawers out of the blind corner is already patented and is not being claimed here.
However, that patent is based on the notion that the shelves are part of a cabinet so large it may require an electric motor assist. This invention moves just an unencumbered stack of drawers by hand.
6. Establishing a space under the counter that the stack borrows when needed and leaves empty for other use the rest of the time.
7. Employing a rolling mechanism that:
a) ensures the stack remains aligned as it rolls back and forth within tight clearances.
b) provides stability when heavily loaded drawers are extended.
c) permanently occupies a minimum of that time-shared space. It requires only the track be permanently installed. Wheel-cars, drawer-frame and drawers can be removed and replaced by hand.
Prior Art There is a great variety of solutions to the blind corner problem and many aspects of them are patented. However, most of these patents do not overlap this invention for one or more of the following reasons:

1. Rather than ordinary wooden shelves they move circular (3600, 270 or 1800) shelves, trays or baskets.

2. Rather than ordinary drawer slides with linear motion they use rotary or complex combinations of rotary and linear motions.

3. Their drawers are unusual shapes and operate at unusual angles

4. Rather than off-the-shelf hardware such as drawer slides and folding-door track systems they use complex, special purpose mechanisms.
Page 4 of 9 Date Recue/Date Received 2020-12-07