EP0075362B1

EP0075362B1 - Operating device for folding doors, particularly for furniture

Info

Publication number: EP0075362B1
Application number: EP19820201138
Authority: EP
Inventors: Massimo Bonetti; Giuseppe Manente; Abramo Mion
Original assignee: Kairos SNC Di Mbonetti Gmanente E Amion Ing & Arch
Current assignee: KAIROS S.N.C. DI M.BONETTI, G.MANENTE E A.MION ING
Priority date: 1981-09-17
Filing date: 1982-09-15
Publication date: 1988-03-23
Also published as: EP0075362A2; EP0075362A3; DE3278269D1

Description

The invention relates to an operating device for folding doors, particularly for furniture. Well-known is furniture provided with folding doors. Such doors slide on horizontal guides applied to the frame of the furniture and are provided near the adjacent vertical edges with articulated hinges. Due to these hinges the doors can pass from a position in which they are placed coplanar and close the furniture, to a position in which, completely folded at one of the two ends of the furniture, they result parallely facing and orthogonal to their sliding plane.
A drawback of such doors consists in that their opening is only possible starting from one end, purposely foreseen when they are realized or in assemblying the furniture; this creates the necessity of opening all the preceding doors in the case that one has to open a door of the furniture different from that at the free end.
Also the rotation of the doors and the consequent displacement of them is felt by all the doors and that is a drawback both for the high stress necessary for such a displacement and for the formation of openings where the dust can enter the furniture.
GB-A-1.168.723 relates to a folding panel partition for movement across a wall opening, comprising a plurality of generally rigid panels having butt edges joined to adjacent panels by a flexible strip hinge and providing movement of the panels from an extended position with each of the panels lying in a generally common plane to a folded position with the panels in a side-by-side relationship. The hinge forms the exclusive hinge support for the panels and has a pair of back portions and each of the back portions has a projection formed along the length thereof for the reception within a prepared slot of uniform width formed in the butt edge of the adjacent panels.
A drawback of this partition consists in that it does not allow the coplanarity of the panels when in a closed condition.
EP-A1-0 032 218 relates to a folding wall with doors, formed by a pair of doors connected between themselves along their vertical edge and to posts sliding along an upper guide runner. The pairs of doors are kept coplanar by a wire horizontally strained, through a spring, from an end to the other of the wall and which can be slackened, during the opening phase, to allow the folding of the pairs of doors and their approaching near the prefixed end.
Drawbacks of this folding wall consists in that:

- it allows the opening of the doors only starting from one end,
- it has all the doors connected through only a wire and therefore the slackening of the first pair of doors causes the slackening of all the others.

The aim of the invention is to realize a device for operating folding doors, particularly for furniture, which allows to open the doors on both sides.
Another aim of the invention is to realize a device which allows opening of the doors, one pair after the other subsequently.
Another aim of the invention is to realize a device which allows easy and simple displacement of the doors.
Such aims are achieved according to the invention with an operating device for folding doors, particularly for furniture, comprising:

- posts sliding along horizontal guide runners applied to furniture,
- pairs of doors articulated between themselves along their vertical adjacent edges and articulated to said posts along their opposite vertical edges,
- at least one elastic closing means connected to each post, excluding the end ones, and biasing each pair of doors to a closed position,
- flexible and substantially inextensible elements fixed to said elastic closing means and connected to the doors articulated to that post,
- articulation hinges realized in flexible plastics material, running along the complete height of the doors and causing the partial opening of each pair of doors when said elastic closing means are inactive,

The invention is hereinafter further clarified with reference to the enclosed drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows in horizontal sectional view a wardrobe with folding doors moved by a device according to the invention,
Figure 2 shows it in vertical sectional view,
Figure 3 to 5 in plan view and in greater scale the particular of the doors in three consecutive folding steps,
Figure 6 shows in enlarged vertical partial sectional view the particular of the ends of the intermediate posts to which the doors are articulated,
Figure 7 shows the same particular in partial frontal rear view.

As can be seen from the drawings, the device according to the invention can be used for example in wardrobes with folding doors. In the illustrated embodiment the pair of doors are indicated by 1,1' (doors of end pairs and doors of intermediate pairs respectively) and are articulated two by two, along their vertical edges, to posts 2,2' by traditional hinges 3 realized, for example, in rigid flexible co-extruded PVC, running along the complete height of the door itself. These are formed by two elements 3' insertable in the contacting edges of the doors and/or posts and connected each to other along an area of minimum thickness, which keeps elastically the elements 3' substantially coplanar when there is no outside stress.
To the upper part of the posts 2,2' a metal plate 4 is applied, supporting a horizontal axis roller 5 engaged in a guide runner 6, externally applied to the upper horizontal edge of the wardrobe 7. The plate 4 of the intermediate posts 2' is also provided with a projection 8 supporting vertical axis rollers 9 engaged in the lateral wings of the same guide runner 6.
To the plate 4 of the intermediate posts 2' a horizontal axis hollow cylindrical element 10 is connected, internally housing a solenoidal spring 11 and a vertical pin 12, whose ends emerge out of the cylindrical element 10. At said ends, rings 13 are mounted to which small metal wires 14 are fixed, having the other end connected near the medium place of the adjacent doors 1,1'. A further small wire 15 connects the small wires 14 at a short distance from the place of connection to the intermediate doors 1'.
The connecting small wire 14 between the post 2' and the articulated door 1 is provided with a solenoidal spring 20 having elastic constant higher than that of the spring 11. Such a spring 20 is shown only in Figure 3 for clarity reasons.
The length of the small wires 14 and 15 is such that, when the wardrobe is closed, that is the doors 1,1' are placed coplanar, they are kept taut by the action of the springs 11.
Also each post 2' is provided at the bottom with a plate 16 supporting a vertical axis roller 17 sliding in a guide channel 18 applied near the lower edge of the wardrobe 7.
In order to avoid undesired rotating phenomena of the end posts 2, which on the upper part are without the guide rollers 9, they are provided at the bottom with a pair of rollers 17.
The device according to the invention operates as follows:
when all the doors 1,1' are closed, they are coplanar and completely close the wardrobe 7. This position is kept stable as the elastic movement of the springs 11 prevails against the elastic reaction of the hinges 3.
To open the wardrobe from the left, the corresponding handle 19 applied to the end door 1 is gripped and the rotation of this with its articulated door is caused: such movement is made easier by the elastic reaction of the hinges 3.
The rotation of the two doors 1 follows by simple push in the direction indicated by the arrow 21 in Figure 4.
During this rotation the door 1 articulated to the post 2' exerts a traction on the small wire 14 which compresses the spring 11 and brings the pin 12 near to the post 2'. During such step the spring 20, having an elastic constant higher than that of the spring 11, does not allow the lengthening of the small wire 14.
As a consequence of the compression of the spring 11, the small cables 14, 15 are no longer kept in tension and, therefore, the elastic reaction of the hinges 3 of the doors 1 which open partially prevails.
The rotation of the doors 1 continuing, the pin 12 nears the posts 2' and the doors 1' reach the subsequent configuration of equilibrium allowed by the opposite action of the hinges 3 and the springs 11. When the pin 12 is completely near to the post 2' (cfr. Fig. 4), the traction exerted on the small wire 14 connecting the post 2' to the articulated door 1 will cause the lengthening of the spring 20, which allows doors 1 to be placed parallely facing, leaving the position of doors 1' unchanged.
The further push, always in the direction of the arrow 21 will cause rotation of the doors 1', and the repetition of the previously described movements on each subsequent pair of doors 1'.
It's clear that, due to the symmetry of the system, the opening of the wardrobe can come about with the same working use starting from the pair of doors 1 foreseen at the right end of this.
From the above it clearly results that the operating device according to the invention allows obtaining many advantages, and in particular:

- it allows opening of furniture, indifferently starting from the right or left side doors,
- it allows opening of pairs of doors one after the other subsequently,
- it allows an easy and simple working movement.

Claims

1. An operating device for folding doors, particularly for furniture, comprising:

- posts (2,2') sliding along horizontal guide runners (6,18) applied to furniture (7),

- pairs of doors (1,1') articulated between themselves along their vertical adjacent edges and articulated to said posts (2,2') along their opposite vertical edges,

- at least one elastic closing means (11) connected to each post (2,2'), excluding the end ones (2), and biasing each pair of doors (1,1') to a closed position,

- flexible and substantially inextensible elements (14) fixed to said elastic closing means (11) and connected to the doors (1,1') articulated to that post (2,2'),

- articulation hinges (3) realized in flexible plastics material, running along the complete height of the doors (1,1') and causing the partial opening of each pair of doors (1,1') when said elastic closing means (11) are inactive,

characterized in that the elastic closing means (11) consists of a helical spring housed in a cylindrical casing (10) perpendicularly applied to the corresponding post (2).

2. Device according to claim 1 characterized in that the door (1) of the end pairs articulated to an intermediate post (2') is connected to the respective elastic closing means (11), by a flexible and elastically extensible element (14,20) having an elastic constant higher then that of the elastic closing means (11) to which said flexible element (14,20) is connected.