EP0328570B1 - Furniture - Google Patents

Abstract

A process for manufacturing furniture made from aluminium alloys, for apartments, offices, schools, etc., is described. Said furniture is made exclusively from aluminium alloys and is composed of panels (1) which are assembled together. The panels consist of at least two aluminium alloy sheets (A, B) at least one of which is anodized on one surface. The sheets are maintained essentially parallel to each other by spacers (3) and are arranged so as to form a common rim, a frame (2) of aluminium alloy profiles being fixed along this common rim.

Description

The present patent application relates to furniture in aluminum alloys for apartments, offices, schools, etc. Aluminum alloys will hereinafter be referred to as aluminum.

Aluminum as a basic material for the construction of furniture has so far not been used so far. However, it suffices to see an anodized aluminum plate to realize that this is unfortunate, because anodization gives the aluminum plate both an aesthetic appearance and a possibility of color variations capable of easily maintaining the compete with the materials generally used in the construction of furniture, such as wood, metals, plastics, etc.

Patent DE-A-2046599 describes an aluminum panel made up of two aluminum plates and intended for the manufacture of furniture. However, this patent does not suggest the use of anodization as a means of aesthetic surface treatment of aluminum plates. In addition, the plates used are folded in the edges. These folded edges, if one wishes to subject the plates to anodization, would pose problems. Indeed, if the edges are folded before anodizing, it is not possible to have recourse to the very advantageous use of anodization by strip unrolled from a roll and rewound or cut directly after anodization; on the other hand, if the edges are folded after anodizing, at the place of folding there are inadmissible phenomena of cracks, cracks, change in gloss and color, etc.

It is therefore the aim of the present patent application to carry out a process for the manufacture of furniture which is made entirely of aluminum, which is economically, aesthetically and qualitatively competitive with other furniture of the prior art.

This object is achieved thanks to the manufacturing method according to claim 1. The present application also relates to furniture manufactured according to this method as defined in claims 2 to 4, as well as panels intended for this manufacturing as defined in claim 5.

• la figure 1 représente un panneau destiné à la fabrication de tels meubles en aluminium,
• la figure 2 représente une vue en coupe selon la ligne x-x de la figure 1, la vue en coupe étant agrandie de 2,5 fois par rapport à la figure 1,
• la figure 3 représente un meuble après assemblage de divers panneaux, et
• la figure 4 représente les manières dont deux panneaux adjacents perpendiculaires l'un à l'autre sont reliés

An exemplary embodiment is now described in relation to the drawings in which:

• FIG. 1 represents a panel intended for the manufacture of such aluminum furniture,
• FIG. 2 represents a sectional view along the line xx of FIG. 1, the sectional view being enlarged by 2.5 times compared with FIG. 1,
• FIG. 3 represents a piece of furniture after assembly of various panels, and
• Figure 4 shows the ways in which two adjacent panels perpendicular to each other are connected

• la dimension du panneau est donnée par la dimension du cadre constitué de profilés en U et non par celle des plaques d'aluminium; ce qui est un avantage certain car cela évite de devoir respecter des cotes de coupe trop précises lors de la découpe des plaques, ce qui augmenterait les coûts de fabrication;
• le profilé rend invisible les sections de découpe non anodisées des plaques;
• la plaque d'aluminium est déjà anodisée avant la découpe, autrement dit l'anodisation a déjà été effectuée sur des toles d'aluminium en bande. Il est certain qu'il est presque impossible d'envisager d'anodiser les plaques d'aluminium après montage des panneaux car une anodisation dans de telles conditions exigerait des coûts exhorbitants. C'est d'ailleurs certainement pour cette raison que les plaques d'aluminium anodisées n'ont pas été jusqu'à ce jour utilisées dans la construction de meubles car personne n'a eu l'idée de concevoir un procédé dans lequel les plaques d'aluminium sont anodisées antérieurement à la fabrication du meuble lui-même.

Dans la figure 3, il est représenté un meuble en aluminium constitué de plusieurs panneaux 5 à 9 tels que décrits ci-dessus. Il est à remarquer que les panneaux ont différentes grandeurs comme cela a lieu dans n'importe quel meuble en bois par exemple; autrement dit, il est possible de fabriquer en grande série des panneaux de différentes dimension et ensuite de concevoir des meubles qui diffèrent essentiellement par le nombre, la forme et les dimensions des panneaux associés. L'homme du métier voit ici aisément l'analogie de fabrication avec les panneaux en bois sans devoir donner des détails supplémentaires. Il en va de même en ce qui concerne le mode d'assemblage des différents panneaux, c'est-à-dire que les pièces de liaison, en principe en aluminium aussi, entre panneaux adjacents sont à peu près du même genre que ceux déjà utilisés dans l'art antérieur des panneaux en bois ou autres.
Il faut remarquer de plus qu'un même panneau peut être constitué de plusieurs compartiments séparés par des profilés en aluminium comme cela est représenté à la figure 4, ceci en vue par exemple d'augmenter la rigidité du panneau ou éviter l'utilisation de trop grandes plaques d'aluminium susceptibles d'instabilité ou de vibrations indésirables.In FIG. 1, a panel 1 intended for the manufacture of aluminum furniture consists of two rectangular aluminum plates A and B, at least one of which is anodized on one side, a side which in principle will be located on the visible external face of the furniture as an end product. The two plates are on the one hand held essentially parallel to each other by means of aluminum spacers 3, arranged between them, and on the other hand arranged so as to form a common rectangular periphery. A frame 2 made of aluminum U profiles is fixed on the common periphery formed by the two plates. As shown in FIG. 2, the edges of the two plates penetrate inside the U-shaped profile and come to be glued against an inner face of the wings of the U-shaped profile. The edges of the two plates also abut against the inside of the base of the U. Regarding the panel described above, it is interesting to make the following remarks:

• the size of the panel is given by the size of the frame made of U-shaped profiles and not by that of the aluminum plates; which is a definite advantage because it avoids having to respect excessively precise cutting dimensions when cutting the plates, which would increase manufacturing costs;
• the profile makes invisible the non-anodized cutting sections of the plates;
• the aluminum plate is already anodized before cutting, in other words the anodization has already been carried out on strip aluminum sheets. It is certain that it is almost impossible to envisage anodizing the aluminum plates after assembly of the panels because anodization in such conditions would require exorbitant costs. It is certainly for this reason that anodized aluminum plates have not been used to date in the construction of furniture because no one had the idea to design a process in which the plates of aluminum are anodized prior to the manufacture of the furniture itself.

In Figure 3, there is shown an aluminum cabinet consisting of several panels 5 to 9 as described above. It should be noted that the panels have different sizes as it takes place in any wooden furniture for example; in other words, it is possible to mass produce panels of different dimensions and then to design pieces of furniture which differ essentially in the number, shape and dimensions of the associated panels. Those skilled in the art can easily see the analogy of manufacture with wooden panels without having to give additional details. The same applies with regard to the method of assembling the various panels, that is to say that the connecting pieces, in principle also made of aluminum, between adjacent panels are about the same kind as those already used in the prior art of panels wooden or other.
It should also be noted that the same panel can be made up of several compartments separated by aluminum profiles as shown in FIG. 4, this in order for example to increase the rigidity of the panel or avoid the use of too much large aluminum plates susceptible to instability or unwanted vibrations.

It is obvious that other methods than gluing can be used to fix the plates to the profiled frame which surrounds it. Indeed, it is easy to conceive that welding, riveting, screwing ... etc can be used here in certain cases. However, bonding has the advantage of not destroying the external appearance of the aluminum elements used at any time and also of leaving no visible trace. The adhesives used can be for example Agomet R GKL3; Agomet F300 MMA, GKL3; Brigatex KPlus; ...
The same goes for aluminum profiles, the shape and type of these can vary depending on the design and also the type of furniture manufactured.

• une apparence inédite jusqu'à ce jour, riche de variations multiples quant aux couleurs, teintes et degrés de brillance, ceci grâce à l'utilisation de la technique de l'anodisation;
• la possibilité d'envisager que les meubles soient entièrement et très facilement recyclables après leur utilisation, puisque totalement constitué d'aluminium, ce qui permet à son propriétaire de le récupérer en tout temps au moins la valeur en poids du meuble au prix du kilo sur le marché de l'aluminium ce qui n'est pas négligeable étant donné le prix de l'aluminium;
• diminution du poids des meubles pouvant atteindre jusqu'à 50 % par rapport aux meubles de l'art antérieur;
• transport facilité par la légèreté et le faible encombrement des panneaux démontables; et
• possibilité de gravages sur les panneaux d'aluminium.

From the above description, it is possible to deduce that a piece of furniture according to the present invention also provides the following advantages:

• an appearance hitherto unseen, rich in multiple variations in colors, shades and degrees of gloss, this thanks to the use of the anodization technique;
• the possibility of considering that the furniture is fully and very easily recyclable after use, since it is completely made of aluminum, which allows its owner to recover it at any time at least the weight value of the furniture at the price of kilo on the aluminum market which is not negligible given the price of aluminum;
• reduction in the weight of the furniture up to 50% compared to the furniture of the prior art;
• transport facilitated by the lightness and compactness of the removable panels; and
• possibility of engravings on aluminum panels.

Claims (5)

1. Process for manufacturing furniture comprising the following steps:

   a) anodizing at least one side of a band of aluminium alloy;

   b) cutting out of the band two sheets A and B of essentially identical form;

   c) maintaining both sheets essentially parallel to one another by means of spacers and arranged so as to form a common rim, the anodized face being at the exterior;

   d) fixing to the sheets a profile made from aluminium alloy, along this common rim so as to form a frame;

   e) repeating steps b-d to obtain sufficient additional panels to manufacture furniture; and

   f) assembling said panels to manufacture furniture.
2. Furniture for apartments, offices, schools, etc..., comprising panels including at least two sheets in aluminium alloy maintained essentially parallel to one another by means of spacers and arranged so as to form a common rim, characterized in that they are entirely made from aluminium alloy and constituted of such panels fit together, at least one of said sheets in aluminium alloy of the panels being anodized on one side, a frame constituted from profiles made in aluminium alloy being fixed along this common rim.
3. Furniture according to claim 2, characterized in that the profile is a U-profile and that the rim of each aluminium alloy sheet is fixed against the interior face of a wing of the U-profile, the rim of each sheet coming abut against the interior face of the bottom of the U-profile.
4. Furniture according to claim 2, characterized in that the frame constituted from profiles made from aluminium alloy is fixed by gluing along the rim of the sheets made from aluminium alloy.
5. Panels intended for the manufacture of furniture for apartments, houses, schools, etc., comprising at least two sheets in aluminium alloy maintained essentially parallel to one another by means of spacers and arranged so as to form a common rim, characterized in that at least one of said sheets in aluminium alloy is anodized on one face, a frame constituted from profiles made from aluminium alloy being fixed along said common rim.

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