EP0179179B1

EP0179179B1 - Sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe

Info

Publication number: EP0179179B1
Application number: EP84830287A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Bruno Pillinini
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1984-10-23
Filing date: 1984-10-23
Publication date: 1988-10-05
Also published as: EP0179179A1; DE3474465D1; ATE37737T1

Abstract

A sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe, characterised in that without side panels wardrobe of a components kit is provided particularly for floor-to-ceiling building wardrobes also for built-in wardrobes, comprinsing: - a guide floor frame (2) with peripheral radiused upward sliding shutter door track-way (17); - a guide ceiling frame (3) with peripheral radiused downward sliding shutter door track-way (17); - guide frame supporting means (16,25) to connect and support rigidly fixed in opposed condition said guide floor and ceiling frames (2,3); - at least one but preferably two opposed, sliding shutter doors (1) comprising a plurality of rolling hinged lath means, being said sliding door/s (1) placeable between said opposed guide floor and ceiling frames (2,3) in sliding condition, to close the composite wardrobe at least frontally and laterally.

Description

The present invention relates to a sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe in kit form.
The invention is particularly suitable for wardrobes as separate pieces of furniture and preferably as built-in wardrobes or cupboards.
Atthe present state of the artsliding shutter door sectional wardrobes are well known. Reference is made to the Italian Patent n.884754, filed on September 19, 1969 in the name of the same Inventor, and to the Italian Registered Design n.140948 filed on September 26,1969 in the name of the same Inventor, concerning:

"A sliding shutter door for closet furniture, realized by strips of wood or laths connected by two opposed glued connecting cloths", and
"Eleven pieces of furniture for bedrooms with closetfurniture sliding shutter door", respectively.
In these solutions a normal structure of a wooden closet furniture is provided comprising a traditional box construction with closing ground panel, closing ceiling panel closing back panel, closing side panels and said frontal sliding shutter doors, sliding in opposed pathways realized inside said closing ground and ceiling panels, being said sliding shutter doors realized in rolling hinging by a plurality of exterior laths and corresponding opposed glued interior counterlaths enclosing between the opposed glued surfaces a connecting cloth with hinging function further being glued a second covering cloth in the counterlaths interior surfaces.

This solution is restrictive since the utilization of said wooden strips and counterstrips cannot allow the realization of floor to ceiling wardrobes because said sliding shutter door becomes heavy and not straight. Furthermore, use of covering cloth increases the respective production costs. But the main drawbacks concern:

- the restriction on fitness of the furniture to the various furnishing requirements;
- nonsectional furniture, which do not allow to realize different constructions and dimensions in length and height;
- very high noncompetitive production costs.

Realization offloorto ceiling wardrobes are well known, reference is made to the disclosure DE-A-2064538 (BAUMGARTEN). In this solution sliding floor-to-ceiling door elements are provided sliding from closed position to open position and vice versa inside the respective wardrobe. This solution is very expensive requesting complicated sliding and guide means. Further this solution reduces the "volume" inside the wardrobe.
A sliding shutter door office cupboard is known from CH-A-322578 (HERTEL), these cupboards being stackable to obtain a desired height.
Sliding shutter door wardrobe is further disclosed in DE-C-866725 (WEHNER) in which rolling means for the respective sliding shutter door are provided in order to convey the respective sliding shutter door in the back side of the wardrobe.
This solution requires specifically complicated and bulky rolling conveying means placed in the opposite side inside the respective wardrobe. Further the respective sides of the wardrobe must be conceived in round configuration.
Slatted Sliding Closures are disclosed in GB-A-883322 (LEBUS). These Sliding Closures are constituted with a number of parallel wooden slats that are stuck to a wooden veneer and the veneer has been stuck to a sheet of 8 ounce cotton duck which is a suitable flexible inelastic material. There are small gaps between adjacent slats. The other side of the duck is covered with a walnut veneer which forms the exposed face of the closure.
As this Slatted Sliding Closure is made of wooden slats, and as the wood is deformable, it is impossible to realize Slatted Sliding Closures from floor to ceiling. Even if it is possible very heavy Sliding Closure will be the result. The respective weight makes very difficult the opening and closing operation. Further important thickness is required that cannot be accepted in utilization.
Furniture sliding closures are disclosed in DE-A-1779226 (PITTERI) that utilizes hinged plastic slats, this solution being provided for vertical sliding movement.
The important disadvantage of this sliding closure is that it cannot be utilized in horizontal sliding movement because the hinging means are sliding longitudinally and cause increasing friction in the respective horizontal flooring guide. Further, each hinged plastic slat needs clearance hinging that causes absence of rigidity in the respective door. This absence of rigidity is an important drawback hindering the utilization in floor to ceiling sliding furniture closures.
Metallic cylindrical rotating wardrobe structure is disclosed in US-A-1736007 (JOHNSTON) placed inside a wall corner closed by a traditional two opposed sliding doors.
This solution makes the respective structure impossible to be placed far from the respective walls, otherwise a covering box is required.
The invention as claimed is intended to provide a remedy to the above mentioned disadvantages. It solves the problem by providing a sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe without side panels in kit form, preferablyforfloorto ceiling wardrobes and built in wardrobes, comprising:

- a guide floor frame with peripheral radiused upwardly directed sliding shutter door track way,
- an upper guide or guide ceiling frame with peripheral raduised downwardly directed sliding shutter door track way,
- guide frame supporting means to connect and support rigidly fixed in opposed condition said guide floor and ceiling frames,
- at least one, but preferably two opposed, sliding shutter doors comprising a plurality of hinged lath means placeable between said opposed guide floor and ceiling frames in sliding condition to close the wardrobe at least frontally and laterally, said sliding shutter door being constituted by a plurality of exterior laths and corresponding opposed beveled interior counterlaths glued thereto and enclosing between the opposed glued surfaces a connecting cloth or flexible net with hinging function, and each interior counterlath comprising a respective reinforcing straightening profile.

In a preferred embodiment said reinforcing straightening profile is made of metallic light aluminium alloy.
The advantages offered by this invention are mainly that with this solution it is possible to realize different wardrobe compositions and in different sizes depending on the various furnishing requirements wherein the wardrobe can be built in situ utilizing the respective kit, adapting the composition also in different geometrical plants and at very competitive production and assembling costs, the components being adaptable in length particularly for the respective mountable elements of said guide floor and ceiling frame and said sliding shutter doors packed in rolls, said sliding shutter doors being inde- formable, strong and very light.
One way of carrying out the invention is described in detail below with reference to drawings which illustrate some preferred embodiments in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic frontal view of a parallelepiped wardrobe.
Figure 2 is a side view of the wardrobe of Fig. 1.
Figure 3 is a plan view of the wardrobe of Figure 1.
Figure 4 is an enlarged transversal section of a sliding shutter door.
Figure 5 is an enlarged side section (A A) view of the parallelepiped wardrobe mounted between floor and ceiling.
Figure 6 is a further enlarged vertical section view of the mounted sliding shutter door slidably placed between the respective guide floor frame and guide ceiling frame.
Figure 7 is a perspective view of the connection system between the sectional guide frame elements.
Figure 8 is a perspective view of a sliding track way guide head insert upward insertable in said reinforcing profile of said sliding shutter door.
Figure 9 is a perspective view of a rolling track way guide head insert downward insertable in said reinforcing profile of said sliding shutter door in alternate insertion with same of said slide guide heading inserts.
Figure 10 is an exploded perspective view of the parallelepiped wardrobe as shown in the preceding Figures.
Figure 11 is an exploded perspective view of the parallelepiped wardrobe in a corner placement construction.
Figure 12 is an exploded cylindrical composition.
Figure 13 is a perspective view of a parallelepiped wardrobe with sliding shutter doors closed.
Figure 14 shows the same parallelepiped wardrobe with the respective doors open.
Figure 15 is a perspective view of a parallelepiped wardrobe in corner construction with a sliding shutter door partially open.
Figure 16 is a perspective view of the cylindrical wardrobe with a sliding shutter door partially open.

According to the above figures the wardrobe consists of:

a guide floor frame (2) with peripheral radiused upwardly directed sliding shutter door track way (17);
an upper guide or guide ceiling frame (3) with peripheral radiused downwardly directed sliding shutter door track way (17),
supporting means (15, 25) to connect and support rigidly fixed in opposed condition said guide floor and ceiling frames (2, 3),
at least one but preferably two opposed sliding shutter doors (1) comprising a plurality of hinged lath means, said sliding door(s) being placeable between said opposed guide floor and ceiling frames (2, 3) in sliding condition to close the composite wardrobe by means of end handles at east frontally and laterally.

Conveniently between said guide ceiling frame (3) and the ceiling a covering lath (6) is placed fixed by clamping means (19), sealing means (20, 18) being provided for sealing against the ceiling and the floor respectively.
In the parallelepiped embodiment said supporting means (15) constitute intermediate panel means to be connected with upper and lower guide frame transoms means (5, 13) fixable into the respective guide frames (2, 3). The structure thus composed can be fixed between the floor and the ceiling by upper and lower screw means (16, 14).
The respective guide frames (2, 3) are disconnectable as shown in Figure 7 utilizing non- illustrated but well known head connecting screw means.
Conveniently between at least two supporting intermediate panels means (15) a drawer means (21) and placeable shelf means (22) are placed.
Both said guide ceiling frame (3) and the support intermediate panel means (15) can support clothing hang-up means (24).
At least one back panel (23) is provided backward to cover the back between two support intermediate panel means (15) placing said drawer means (21) and shelf means (22), the back panel not being necessary in the other lateral back surfaces that will be covered by opening the respective sliding shutter door (1).
Preferably to realize a sealing between said sliding shutter doors (1) and the back wall, conveniently a vertical sealing or brush sealing is placed to avoid dust entering into the wardrobe.
The hinging sliding shutter doors (1) are realized by a plurality of exterior wood laths (7) and corresponding juxtaposed (8) opposed glued beveled interior light wood counterlaths (9) enclosing between the opposed glued surfaces a connecting cloth or flexible plastic net (11) with hinging function, a reinforcing straightening metallic light aluminium alloy profile (10) being mounted on each counterlath.
The respective open ends of each reinforcing profile (10) are closed upwardly by a sliding track way guide head insert (12) and downwardly with similar rolling track-way guide insert (12') in alternate placement with some of the first ones to facilitate the sliding of the respective sliding doors on its opposed track ways (17).
The track ways (17) are realized in plastic material and are inserted in the guide frame (2, 3).
The parallelelepiped embodiment can be realized also in a corner as shown in Figure 11 with different lengths.
The wardrobe can be realized also in cylindrical form as shown in Figure 12 utilizing respective circular guide frames with radius (2, 3) being the supporting structure constituted by a vertical central shaft (25). The clothes hangers can be realized in the same form (26) and fixed on the central shaft (25). A single sliding shutter door (1) can be provided with a plurality of semicylindrical spaced apart back panels (27).

Claims

1. Sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe without side panels in kit form, comprising

a guide floor frame (2) with peripheral radiused upwardly directed sliding shutter door track way (17),

an upper guide or guide ceiling frame (3) with peripheral radiused downwardly directed sliding shutter door track way (17),

guide frame supporting means (16, 25) to connect and support rigidly fixed in opposed condition said guide floor and ceiling frames (2, 3),

at least one, but preferably two opposed sliding shutter doors (1) comprising a plurality of hinged lath means placeable between said opposed guide floor and ceiling frames (2, 3) in sliding condition to close the wardrobe at least frontally and laterally, said sliding shutter door (1) being constituted by a plurality of exterior laths (7) and corresponding opposed beveled interior counterlaths (9) glued thereto and enclosing between the opposed glued surfaces a connecting cloth or flexible net (11) with hinging function, and each interior counterlath (9) comprising a respective reinforcing straightening profile (10).

2. A sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe kit as claimed in claim 1 characterised in that the kit is completed by at least one partial back panel (23, 27).

3. A sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe kit as claimed in either of the preceding claims characterised in that said reinforcing straightening profile (10) is made of metallic light aluminium alloy.

4. A sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe kit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims characterised in that the wardrobe has a parallelepiped construction and said supporting means (15) constitute intermediate panel means to be connected with upper and lower guide frame transoms means (5, 13) fixable into the respective guide frames (2, 3), the structure thus composed being fixed between the floor and the ceiling by upper and lower screw means (16, 14).

5. A sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe kit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims characterised in that said guide frames are com- posable by mountable elements of different shapes and lengths.

6. A sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe as claimed in any one of the preceding claims characterised in that between at least two supporting intermediate panel means (15) a drawer means (21) and placeable shelf means (22) are placed and wherein at least one back panel (23) is provided to cover the back between two support intermediate panel means (15) placing said drawer means (21) and shelf means (22), the back panel not being necessary in the other lateral back surfaces that will be covered by opening the respective sliding shutter door (1).

7. A sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe as claimed in any one of the preceding claims characterised in that said guide frames are circular (3) with radial connections and said connecting means consist in a vertical central shaft (25).

8. A sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe kit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims characterised in that said. exterior laths (7) have tongues and grooves permitting relative pivot- ting.

9. A sliding shutter door sectional wardrobe kit as claimed in any one of the preceding claims characterised in that said reinforcing straightening profiles (10) of said sliding shutter doors (1) are tubular with open ends, the upper end being closed by a sliding track-way guide head insert (12) and the lower end with similar rolling track-way guide insert (12') to facilitate the sliding of the respective sliding doors on its opposed track- ways (17).