EP0022837B1

EP0022837B1 - A filing cabinet with drawers sliding on telescoping rails

Info

Publication number: EP0022837B1
Application number: EP80900256A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Per-Olof Landgren
Original assignee: Gustavsberg AB
Current assignee: Gustavsberg AB
Priority date: 1979-01-23
Filing date: 1980-07-29
Publication date: 1984-04-11
Also published as: DE3067402D1; WO1980001449A1; JPS56500160A; SE7900612L; FI68351C; SE429096B; EP0022837A1; FI800152A7; BE881313A; FI68351B

Abstract

Filing cabinet having drawers (10) arranged between two of its vertical walls (12), it being possible to pull out said drawers completely in a horizontal direction using telescoping rails (14, 16) being movable relative to the drawer as well as the walls. These rails interact with guide faces formed in one piece with the drawer (10), said guide faces being formed by two horizontal flanges (22, 24) protruding from the side edges of the drawer so that said side edge (18, 20) is U-shaped in cross section. The guide faces in the walls of the cabinet are formed by separate skid rails (50, 52) being fitted into spaces formed by lists (40-48) protruding from said walls (12) and being shorter than the telescoping rails (14, 16). The design of the side edges of the drawer makes it possible to move the drawer, sliding in two grooves formed in each skid rail without the use of intermediate telescoping rails.

Description

The invention relates to an improvement in filing cabinets as specified in the pre-characterising part of claim 1.
Existing types of telescoping rails interact with guides in the form of separate elements attached to the two sides of the drawer that are parallel to the direction of movement and with similar guides in the walls of the cabinet. Two such guides are thus required for each side of the drawer, not including the telescoping rail. This makes the construction relatively complicated and expensive. An example of such a construction is disclosed in US-A-2,277,703.
The pre-characterising part of claim 1 is known from DE-A-2,447,215. Thus it is known to form one of the guides in one piece with the drawer. The telescoping rail is according to this specification held in place in the guide by detachable clamps. One drawback with this construction is that loose details such as small clamps must be safely stored so that they are available when the cabinet is to be assembled.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a construction of the character mentioned above, that is simple and can be assembled in a few working moments.
The above and other objects of the invention are attained by the filing cabinet being characterised as set out in the characterising part of claim 1. In this way no separate elements for guiding the telescoping rail are required. The necessary guides are formed directly on the drawer. This can be done with particular advantage if the drawer is made of a mouldable material such as plastic. The corresponding advantage is also attained if the remaining parts of the cabinet and the drawers are made of plastic. Further features of the invention are set forth in the appended dependent claim.
The invention will be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:-

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a drawer including a telescoping rail mounted along one side edge of the drawer and a skid rail interacting with said telescoping rail,
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the parts included for guiding a drawer, said parts being brought apart from each other.

The drawer 10 illustrated in the drawings is to be mounted between two walls 12 of a filing cabinet, one of which is shown in Fig. 2. A telescoping rail 14 resp. 16 is provided in each of the side edges 18, 20 parallel to the moving direction of the drawer, said walls being provided with horizontally protruding, upper and lower edge flanges 22, 24 preferably made in one piece with the side edges 18, 20 of the drawer. Each of the telescoping rails consists of two strips, the one 26 facing the side edge of the drawer having a greater width than the other 28. The strips 26, 28 are connected by a web 30 having a smaller width than the narrower strip 28. The wide strip 26 fits between the two flanges 22, 24 thus guiding said flanges vertically. The two flanges are provided with projections 32 at such a distance from the side edge 18 resp. 20 that the strip 26 fits in behind the projections thereby guiding the drawer laterally when the latter is moved relative to the telescoping rails 14, 16. Each side edge 18, 20 of the drawer is provided with a projection 34 somewhat behind the middle thereof, said projection interacting with a resilient tongue 36 on the telescoping rail thus forming a stop for the drawer in the pull out direction. The projection 34 fits into a longitudinal groove 38 in the telescoping rail. Being passed by the projection 34 when the drawer is mounted, the tongue 36 is bent away, but it will then act as a stop when the drawer is completely pulled out.
The two side walls 12 of the cabinet, only the left one of which is shown in Fig. 2, are formed with a frame work of vertical lists or flanges 40, 42 and 44 and horizontal lists 46, 48. A rectangular space is limited by the inner vertical list 42 and the forward vertical list 40 together with the horizontal lists 46, 48 interposed between said vertical lists, said space being adapted to the shape of a skid rail 50 resp. 52. These skid rails carry and guide the telescoping rails 14, 16 and are retained with their rear ends in the mounting position by having a tongue 56 on its rear edge resiliently fitting into a notch 54 in the inner vertical list 42. The two skid rails are provided with a centrally positioned, T-shaped groove 58 fitting with the narrower strip 28 and the web 30 of the telescoping rails 14, 16. The skid rail 50 resp. 52 is also provided with upper and lower flanges 60, 62 serving as guides for the upper and lower flanges 22, 24 of the drawer 10. The telescoping rail 14, 16 is thus movably guided relative to the skid rail 50, 52 and to the side edges of the drawer. Whereas the skid rail 50 resp. 52 only reaches somewhat behind the middle of the depth of the cabinet, i.e. to the vertical middle list 42, the telescoping rail is of about the same length as the depth of the cabinet, therefore reaching the rear vertical wall list 44, when the drawer is completely pushed in. When the drawer is pushed into the cabinet, the two flanges 22, 24 of the drawer pass between the flanges 60, 62 of the skid rails 50, 52 then carrying the drawer and contributing to its guiding. When the drawer is pulled out, the telescoping rails are brought with it until being stopped by a projection 64 on the rear end of the small list 28 hitting a nib 66 protruding in the interior of the T-shaped groove on the middle of the skid rails.
The telescoping rails as well as the skid rails and the side edges of the drawer resp. the walls of the cabinet can preferably be made of a mouldable material, preferably plastic, thus making the parts for guiding the drawer inexpensive and simple in their functioning. Instead of using separate fittings on the sides edges of the drawer, it rests with its flanges 22, 24 on the telescoping rails 14, 16 that slide on and are guided by the skid rails 50, 52 being attached to the walls of the cabinet without separate fastening means.
The invention is not confined to the example shown and described hereinbefore, but can be varied in many ways within the scope of the claims. With respect to the skid rails the mode of invention shown has, however, the advantage that the skid rails can be made of a relatively expensive plastics having particularly good sliding properties. A number of drawers can be mounted above each other, each being carried by guides according to the invention.

Claims

1. A filing cabinet having drawers (10) arranged between two of its vertical walls (12), it being possible to pull out said drawers completely in a horizontal direction by means of telescoping rails (14, 16) that are movable relative to the drawer as well as the walls, said rails interacting firstly with guide faces (20) formed in one piece with the side edges of the drawer, said side edges being U-shaped in cross section and having a respective stop element (34) interacting with the respective rail for limiting the pull out distance of the drawer (10), and secondly with guide faces (58) in the walls (12), characterized in that at least one of the flanges (22, 24) forming each said U-shaped cross section has a fixed projection (32) which is shorter than the drawer (10) and interacts with the respective telescoping rail (14, 16) for guiding the drawer (10) laterally, that the guide faces (58) in the walls (12) are formed in skid rails (50, 52), each of which is retained in a space formed by lists (40, 42, 46, 48) protruding from said walls (12) by means of a resilient tongue (56) which is fitted into a notch (54) in one (42) of the lists, said skid rails (50, 52) preferably being shorter than the telescoping rails (14, 16), that each of the telescoping rails is formed by two parallel strips (26, 28), one of which (26) is wider than the other (28), said strips being joined by a longitudinal web (30) which is narrower than the narrower of said strips (28), the respective wider strip (26) sliding with slip fit between the respective flanges of the drawer, the respective narrower strip (28) and the respective web sliding in a T-shaped groove (58) in the respective rail (50, 52), and that a resilient tongue (36) is provided on each rail for interacting with the stop element (34) on the drawer side edge.

2. A filing cabinet as set forth in claim 1, characterised in that the flanges of the drawer (10) are guided between flanges (60, 62) formed in one piece with the skid rails (50, 52).