EP0174257B1 - System of wooden elements for modular furniture - Google Patents

Abstract

A piece of furniture is formed as a plurality of panels having ends joined together with at least some panels extending perpendicular to and parallel to other panels. Each panel is formed by at least one rectangularly parallepipedal coupling bar having a predetermined length and extending along as respective end of the respective panel. Each such bar has a plurality of like longitudinally extending faces and is formed with a respective longitudinally extending and equispaced succession of like mortises opening perpendicularly at each face. Each panel is also formed by a respective group of like flat slats extending coplanar and parallel to one another and having ends received snugly in the mortises of the respective coupling bar with the slats projecting perpendicularly from the respective bar face. Each end of each slat is cut back to form a tenon complementary to any of the mortises.

Description

The present invention relates to a system of wooden elements for the production of modular furniture.

Modular furniture and in particular modular storage furniture are traditionally formed by uprights in the form of ladders connected together by shelves which are generally placed on metal pins introduced into holes in these uprights, or which are fixed on these uprights using locking keys cooperating with dovetail-shaped notches on these shelves. Different dimensions of ladders, shelves as well as the addition of particular elements and accessories such as intermediate ladders, doors, drawers ... etc., make it possible to compose all kinds of modular furniture and in particular to extend a furniture already made laterally or at height, depending for example on needs. However, storage furniture of this type can generally not be extended in a direction perpendicular to the general plane of the furniture, that is to say so as to form an angle. They also require many elements of different shape as well as stiffeners formed in particular by metal cross bars fixed to the rear of the furniture to ensure good rigidity and stability thereof.

In other pieces of furniture, the basic module is a cubic structure formed by grooved bars, assembled together using assembly cubes and fixing brackets, and capable of receiving thin panels in their grooves.

In yet another type of furniture, the basic structure is formed of two pairs of shelves, two shelves provided on at least one of their longitudinal edge, with a series of slots, and intended to form the uprights of the furniture, and two shelves intended to form the spokes, having at each of their ends, on each edge a complementary slot. The shelves are mounted by interlocking with each other using their respective slots, so as to form a cubic structure. The upright shelves are assembled in the extension of one another using the other shelves, that is to say those forming the shelves, to form the depth of the cabinet. As before, these elements do not allow extension at right angles to the furniture and require a relatively large number of elements.

Document FR-A-2 060 233 describes a piece of furniture or a building forming a shelter comprising solid panels assembled to each other by tenons and mortises.

Document FR-A-914 866 relates to a theater stage, forming a model or toy comprising a framework in the form of frames assembled by tenons and mortises, this framework serving as support for side panels and curtains.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a system of wooden elements for the production of modular furniture, which can be developed at will from a basic module, which is extremely easy to assemble and does not require the use of any tool, which has a very small number of basic elements, which is self-supporting and which can be extended both in height, laterally or at right angles while being simple and inexpensive in design.

• chaque longeron possède une section transversale carrée,
• chaque longeron présente, sur chacune de ses faces, une série de mortaises, dont le nombre est le même sur les quatre faces du longeron ;
• et en ce qu'il comprend des planchettes dont les extrémités présentent chacune un rétrécissement formant tenon, de dimensions complémentaires de celles de chaque mortaise ménagée dans un longeron, permettant un emboîtement dans celle-ci.

To this end, this system, of the type comprising connecting elements formed from parallelepipedic longitudinal members having mortises, is characterized in that:

• each spar has a square cross section,
• each spar has, on each of its faces, a series of mortises, the number of which is the same on the four faces of the spar;
• and in that it comprises boards whose ends each have a narrowing forming a tenon, of dimensions complementary to those of each mortise formed in a spar, allowing an interlocking therein.

The assembly of a piece of furniture using this element system is particularly simple and easy to carry out, since it suffices to fit the boards in the mortise series of each spar, and therefore does not require the use particular tool.

With four beams and four series of boards fitted into the series of mortises on two sides of each beam, we can achieve a cubic structure, particularly stable since it rests on two beams, self-supporting, and forming the basic module of the furniture. As the side members have mortises on each of their faces, the basic module can be developed at will in all directions, both laterally and in height.

The same elements (boards) constitute both the horizontal (shelves) and vertical (uprights) parts of the furniture; two different types of elements are therefore enough to make a piece of furniture.

In addition, this system of wooden elements has simple shapes, easy and quick to produce and therefore inexpensive to manufacture.

In this way, the width of the boards can be chosen to provide a practically continuous surface for the boards mounted side by side, in the mortise series of the same side member, while keeping between the adjacent mortises located on the same side. a spar, an interval of material of length and therefore of sufficient strength.

Advantageously, the respective dimensions of the mortises and the tenons are provided for so as to have a force fit of the tenons in the mortises, which makes it possible to have a structure without play, very stable and resistant, without the use of specific connecting means, such as glue, screws, nails, etc.

In order to facilitate the insertion of the tenons into the mortises, these are provided on their edges, with chamfers.

Advantageously, too, in order to produce pieces of furniture on the "spike", angle return elements are provided, each of these elements being formed by a spar of parallelepipedal shape, able to be introduced by a groove, formed on any the length of one of its faces, on the longitudinal edge of a board, and having on at least the face opposite to that in which the groove is formed, a series of mortises capable of receiving the tenons of the boards.

These elements can be placed by their longitudinal groove along an edge of a board located on the front or rear side of the piece of furniture and, by their mortises located on the face opposite to the groove, again serve as connecting elements. for other boards so as to extend the furniture in a perpendicular direction. Corner furniture can, in this way, be made very simply.

Advantageously, each corner return element has a part, on which the longitudinal groove is formed, of the same section as the connecting beams and of length corresponding to that of a connecting beam reduced by the width of the latter, and a part of length substantially equal to the width of a spar, of thickness greater than the depth of a mortise and able to cover the end end of the connecting spar on which is mounted the board on which is embedded the corner return element.

Advantageously, spars of different lengths can be provided, a determined number of mortises corresponding to each length of spar, so as to be able to vary the depth of the piece of furniture according to the use for which it is intended (storage of books or the like).

Advantageously also, various lengths of boards can also be provided in order to modulate the desired furniture structure at will. The length of each board, measured between the tenons, is then equal to an integer multiple n of a determined base length, equal to that measured between its tenons, of the basic board, added with (n - 1) times the width of a spar.

In this way, the boards are complementary to each other and can be interchanged in the same piece of furniture.

Support elements are provided in the case where boards of different lengths are used on the upper and lower part of the same module, and when for example the junction area of the upper boards does not correspond to that of the lower boards. Each support element is formed by a longitudinal member of rectangular section, of the same width and the same length as a connecting element, of thickness equal to the distance separating the longitudinal edge of the mortises of the same connecting element from the edge longitudinal adjacent of this same element and has on one of its faces a series of mortises similar to those of the connecting elements. These support elements are able to rest by their planar face on the boards and to receive one end of boards arranged vertically embedded by their other end in the mortises of the connecting beam connecting the upper or lower horizontal boards.

Obviously, the angle return and support elements can also be provided in different lengths.

• Figure 1 est une vue en perspective isométrique d'un exemple de meuble pouvant être réalisé à l'aide de ce système d'éléments ;
• Figure 2 est, à échelle agrandie, une vue en perspective isométrique, montrant le mode d'assemblage de ces éléments pour former une structure de meuble ;
• Figure 3 est, à échelle agrandie, une vue en. perspective cavalière avec coupe transversale, d'un assemblage à tenon-mortaise d'éléments selon l'invention ;
• Figure 4 et 7 sont des vues en perspective isométrique montrant les différents types d'éléments du système selon l'invention.

In any case, the invention will be well understood and other characteristics will be highlighted with the aid of the description which follows with reference to the appended schematic drawing, representing, by way of nonlimiting example, a preferred embodiment elements of this furniture construction system:

• Figure 1 is an isometric perspective view of an example of furniture that can be produced using this system of elements;
• Figure 2 is, on an enlarged scale, an isometric perspective view showing the method of assembling these elements to form a furniture structure;
• Figure 3 is, on an enlarged scale, a view in. cavalier perspective with cross section of a mortise and tenon assembly of elements according to the invention;
• Figure 4 and 7 are isometric perspective views showing the different types of elements of the system according to the invention.

Figure 1 shows an example of wooden furniture (1) made using the system of wooden elements according to the invention. This piece of furniture (1) has cubic (2) or parallelepipedic (3) compartments, which can be provided with vertical partitions (4) as well as a "spiky" part (5) extending perpendicularly to the rest of the piece of furniture.

Figures 2 to 7 show the different types of wooden elements, four in number, of the system according to the invention as well as their function and method of assembly.

The basic elements of this system consist of connecting beams (7) (see fig. 4) and boards (8) (see fig. 5). Each beam (7) is formed by a wooden beam of square section, and has on each of its faces a series of mortises (7a) of rectangular shape. The mortises (7a) on each side are arranged one after the other and extend in the longitudinal direction of the spar (7).

Obviously the same number of mortises (7a) is provided on each face of each spar.

In the example of the drawing, each beam (7) has four mortises (7a) on each face. for a total length of 31.5 cm and is therefore more particularly suitable for making shelves for books or the like. Longer beams (for example 39 cm for five mortises on each side) can also be provided for the production of shelves or furniture of greater depth.

The edges (7b) of each beam (7) are rounded as well as those of its end ends (7c) in order to eliminate any risk of injury and improve its appearance.

Each board (8) is formed by a thin rectangular wooden plate and has at each of its ends a tenon (8a) of width equal to the length of a mortise (7a) of a spar. However, the thickness of each tenon is greater, by about 0.5 mm in the example of the drawing, than the width of a mortise (7a), so that each tenon (8a) can be forced into each mortise (7a) and is mounted securely and without play. This interlocking can however be done by hand or for convenience with a mallet, especially since the edges (8b) of each tenon ( 8a) are chamfered so as to facilitate their introduction into a mortise (7a).

The boards (8) can be fitted side by side in the mortises (7a) of the same beam (7) as shown in particular in Figure 2. Their width is preferably provided so that two boards ( 8) adjacent mounted on the same beam (7) are separated from each other by an interval of the order of 1.5 cm, so as to form a substantially continuous planar surface. This interval between two adjacent boards makes it possible to increase the tolerances on the width of the boards and therefore to reduce the manufacturing cost. Obviously, the width of the boards could also be provided so that two neighboring boards are edge to edge, in order to have a completely continuous surface, but the manufacturing tolerances over the width of these boards would then be much tighter.

By assembling small boards (8) in each mortise (7a) of two faces of four beams (7), a cubic structure similar to those (2) of FIG. 1 is obtained, which can be extended both in height (up, down) only laterally (right, left), due to the presence of mortises (7a) on the other faces of each spar (7).

Likewise, by using boards (8) of different lengths to form the horizontal and vertical parts, a parallelepipedal structure similar to those shown in (3) in FIG. 1 is obtained.

In the example shown in the drawing (cf. in particular fig. 2), four boards (8, 9, 10, 11) of different lengths are used. The boards (9, 10, 11) have the same characteristics as the boards (8), namely studs (9a, 10a, 11a) whose edges are also chamfered. The smallest board (8) has, for example, a length (measured between the tenons (8a), that is to say on the part of the board having the same width) of 14.4 cm.

The second board (9) then has a length of 33.5 cm, twice the length of the first board (8), increased by the width (side of the square forming the section) of a spar (7) (i.e. 4.7 cm). Likewise, the third board (10) has a length equal to three times that of the first board (8) increased by twice the width of a beam (7), and the fourth board (11) has a length equal to four. times that of the first board (8) increased by three times the width of a beam (7). Each board (9, 10, 11) can therefore be replaced, for example, by a board of just less length respectively (8, 9, 10) and a base board (8), and the boards (8, 9, 10, 11 ) are therefore completely interchangeable.

Support elements (13) can be used, in particular when the boards (8, 10, 11), used respectively at the upper part and at the lower part of a furniture structure are different, as shown in the figure 2.

Each support element (13) is in fact formed by a spar portion (7), that is to say that it has the shape of an elongated parallelepiped of rectangular section and that it has on a ( 14) of its faces a series of mortises (14a) similar to the mortises (7a) of the side members (7) (four mortises (14a) in the example of FIG. 7). Its other longitudinal face (15), that is to say its face opposite to the face (14), is flat. This element (13) has a thickness, that is to say the distance between its two faces (14) and (15), equal to the distance separating each longitudinal edge (7d) of a mortise (7a) of a spar (7), the edge (7b) of this spar adjacent to this edge (7d).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the boards (8) and the boards (10) are fitted horizontally on either side of the same connecting beam (7) and are connected by other beams (7) to vertical boards (9). Other horizontal boards (11) close the parallelepiped structure. Planks (9) are fitted vertically by one end in the face facing downwards from the beam (7) connecting the upper planks (8) and (10). These boards (9) are fitted by their other ends into the mortises of a support element (13), placed by its flat face (15) on the lower boards (11).

This support element (13) therefore makes it possible both to support the connection between the upper boards (8) and (10), and also to make a vertical separation between the left and right parts of the structure using the vertical boards (9) housed in its mortises.

The herringbone structure (5) shown in Figure 1 can be obtained using angle return elements (17) (see Figure 6). Each corner return element (17) has a longitudinal part (18) of the same square section as a spar (7), extended on its front face by a part (19) of smaller thickness. A longitudi groove nale (20), of width slightly less than the thickness of a board (8, 9, 10, 11), is formed over the entire length of the part (18), on its rear face. Mortises (21) similar to those (7a) formed in the side members (7) are formed on the front face of the part (18) and of the part (19) of this element. Each corner return element (17) has a total length equal to that of a beam (7) (that is to say in the case of example 31.5 cm or 39 cm), and the length of its part (19) is substantially equal to that of the side of the square section of each spar (7).

The angle return element (17) is placed on a board (10) (case of FIG. 2) or on a board (11) (case of FIG. 1), at the end of it ci, by its groove (20), so that its part (19) comes to cover the end (7c) of the beam (7) on which is fitted this board (10, 11).

Planks (8, 9, 10, 11) can then be put in place in the mortises (21) of this element (17), in the same way as in the longitudinal members (7), so as to form the structure on the cob (5).

It is therefore found that with the system of elements according to the invention, a piece of furniture can be built in any direction, which was practically not possible in the furniture known until now.

This system of wooden elements therefore makes it easy to build any type of furniture yourself and can in particular be distributed as a kit.

It should be noted that this system is particularly advantageous since by using only four different types of elements, represented in FIGS. 4 to 7, all kinds of configurations can be imagined.

In particular, with two different lengths for the connecting beams (7), the support elements (13) and the angle return elements (17), that is to say two possible cabinet depths, and four board lengths (8, 9, 10, 11), that is to say only ten different elements in all, any kind of furniture can be made.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the single embodiment shown above by way of non-limiting example, but on the contrary embraces all the embodiments using similar or equivalent means.

Claims (8)

1. A system of wooden units for the production of modular furniture comprising parallelepipedal longitudinal bearers exhibiting mortises, characterized in that :

each longitudinal bearer (7) possesses a square transverse cross-section,

each longitudinal bearer (7) exhibits, on each of its faces, a series of mortises (7a) the number of which is the same on the four faces of the longitudinal bearer;

and in that it comprises short planks (8, 9, 10, 11) each of the ends of which exhibits a contracted portion forming a tenon (8a, 9a, 10a, 11 a), of dimensions complementary to those of each mortise (7a) provided in a longitudinal bearer, permitting enbedding in the latter.

2. A system of units according to Claim 1, characterized in that it comprises angular return units (17), each of these units (17) being formed by a longitudinal bearer of parallelepipedal shape, capable of being introduced, by a groove (20) provided along the whole length of one of its faces, to the longitudinal edge of a short plank (8, 9, 10, 11), and exhibiting, at least on the face opposite to that in which the groove is provided, a series of mortises (21) capable of receiving the tenons of the short planks (8, 9, 10, 11).

3. A system of units according to Claim 2, characterized in that each angular return unit (17) exhibits a portion (18), on which its longitudinal groove is produced, of the same section as that of the connecting longitudinal bearers (7) and of length corresponding to that of a connecting longitudinal bearer (7) less the width of the latter, and a portion (19) of length approximately equal to the width of a longitudinal bearer, of thickness greater than the depth of a mortise (21), and suitable to cover over the end face of the connecting longitudinal bearer (7) on which is mounted the short plank (8, 9, 10, 11) to which the angular return unit (17) is fitted.

4. A system of units according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises support units (13), each support unit (13) being formed by a longitudinal bearer of rectangular section, of the same width and the same length as a connecting unit (7), of thickness equel to the distance separating the longitudinal edge of the mortises (7a) of a single connecting unit (7) from the adjacent longitudinal edge (7b) of the same unit (7), and exhibiting a series of mortises (14a) on one of its faces, similar to those (7a) of the connecting units (7).

5. A system of units according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the dimensions of the mortises (7a. 14a, 21) and tenons (8a, 9a, 10a, 11a) respectively are so selected that the tenons can be embedded into the mortises by force.

6. A system of units according to any one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the tenons (8a, 9a, 10a, 11a) comprise chamfered edges.

7. A system of units according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that each unit (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17) is provided in different lengths.

8. A system of units according to Claim 7, characterized in that the length of each short plank (8, 9, 10, 11), measured between its tenons, is equal to a whole number multiple n, (1, 2, 3, 4 respectively), of a fixed basic length, equal to that of the basic short plank (8) measured between its tenons, to which ist added (n - 1) times, (0, 1, 2, 3 respectively), the width of a longitudinal bearer (7).

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