EP0577551A1 - Shelving device for stocking articles, in particular in furniture - Google Patents

Abstract

The shelving device comprises a frame (2) and one or more pivoting units (3) with shelves (14) for holding a large number of small articles (1) such as books, records and audio or video tapes, occupying as little total space as possible but offering great ease of access to all the articles on the shelves. The frame (2) comprises an upper board (6) and a lower board (5) which are preferably connected by a back wall (7) and a middle wall situated between two non-circular pivoting units (3). Each of these units is guided by one or two pivots (18) which are each engaged in a guiding recess (21) in the corresponding board (5, 6) or in the pivoting unit. In a retracted position, each unit (3) stands against the frame and cannot rotate. When pulled out so that it emerges from the frame towards the front and side, it can rotate in such a way that the shelves are accessible from any side of the unit. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a shelving device for storing articles, in particular in a piece of furniture, comprising a stationary frame and at least one pivoting storage element provided with horizontal shelves and having at least two vertical front faces through which the articles can be introduced into or removed from the spokes, the pivoting element being supported by the frame so as to be able to be moved horizontally relative to the frame between at least one retracted position and at least one extended position and pivot about an axis vertical, the frame comprising an upper plate and a lower plate between which the pivoting element is located, the vertical axis of rotation of the pivoting element being defined by one or two substantially cylindrical pivots, interposed respectively between an upper wall of the the pivoting element and the upper plate of the frame, and / or between a lower wall of the pivoting element and the bottom shelf of the frame.

The invention applies particularly, but not exclusively, to shelving furniture intended for the storage of a large number of similar articles placed side by side or on racks, for example books, compact discs, audio cassettes or video, floppy disks for computers etc. These pieces of furniture are generally leaning against a wall. A typical problem posed by this type of article is that it can practically be placed in only one row on a shelf if one wants to be able to find them and easily take them from this shelf. This does not make it possible to have small items in two rows placed one behind the other, in order to better use the depth of standard furniture. Consequently, the storage devices usually used for such articles have an insufficient density and occupy too large a vertical surface.

A known solution consists in installing in a piece of furniture a pivoting storage element, having shelves which are accessible to from two opposite sides of the element. US Pat. No. 4,610,492 describes a piece of furniture of this kind for the storage of files, with a central element with a square horizontal section which pivots in a cabinet, two opposite faces of which are open opposite the pivoting element. However, to allow the central element to pivot, the cabinet must be longer than the diagonal of the square and therefore has excessive bulk.

A less bulky solution is proposed by the publication FR-A-2 589 699 and consists of a rotating movable element supported only at its base by a mechanism comprising a carriage with horizontal displacement, which makes it possible to remove the rotating element from the frame before you rotate it. Publication DE-A-4 014 375 describes a similar solution for shelving swiveling in a re-entrant angle of a kitchen arrangement but, in this case, the shelving must move back inside the cabinet to be able to swivel. Such devices require fairly complex and bulky mechanisms which must be particularly rigid to support and guide the pivoting element in cantilever from its base. In addition, it is necessary to hide these mechanisms by additional panels at the front of the cabinet.

In US patent 4,124,262, a kitchen cabinet with a reversible element by pivoting of the kind indicated in the preamble is described. The relatively wide and shallow pivoting movable member has a pair of support pivots at its center and a pair of guide pivots located near a side end of the member. These four pivots are guided by means of metal parts fixed to the two plates of the frame and provided with grooves, the outline of which has the shape of a T, the bar of which would be curved downwards. In addition, the lower central pivot is mounted in a sliding part which supports the entire weight of the element while advancing and retreating along the pole of the T. This guidance system imposes on the mobile element a rather complex kinematics, made of 'a combination of translations and rotation, so that the user must use both hands to turn the element. In the intermediate half-extended position, access to the articles on the shelves are inconvenient and the element cannot be rotated freely. Furthermore, the mechanical members required to support and guide the movable element represent an additional weight, size and cost of the furniture and require periodic maintenance.

Another mechanism ensuring both the support and the positive guiding of a reversible pivoting element of a piece of furniture is described in US Pat. No. 3,436,768. An upper pivot and a lower pivot, located near a lateral end of the 'pivoting element, are engaged in transverse grooves of the frame. Each pivot is associated with a toothed sector engaged in a fixed rack, which forces the pivot to pass through the groove when the pivoting element is rotated. This device has drawbacks similar to those of the previous reference.

The object of the present invention is to create a shelving device with a pivoting element, in particular for the storage of a series of small articles, which is capable of having a minimum bulk when the pivoting element is in the retracted position and cannot pivot. , and to offer easy access to all the articles when the pivoting element is in the extended position (s). A particular object of the invention consists in guiding the pivoting element by a simple and space-saving construction, making it possible to produce inexpensive furniture, and nevertheless offering an advantageous aesthetic.

To this end, the invention relates to a shelving device as specified in the preamble, characterized in that each of the pivots is engaged in a guide recess which is formed in said plate or said wall, so as to allow relative horizontal displacement between the pivot and the guide recess, in that a lower face of the pivoting element is in sliding contact on an upper surface of the lower plate, and in that the pivoting element is free to pivot 360 ° in its extended position.

Thus, the support and guidance functions are separated and there an extremely simple and inexpensive construction results. In addition, the guide members are completely hidden in the thickness of the walls or plates and require no additional space. A user can very easily maneuver the pivoting element since the different movements can take place successively, namely first a translation to bring the element to its extended position, then any rotation to orient it in any direction wanted. The return to the retracted position is carried out in reverse. You can also leave the swivel element in different extended or intermediate positions to give the furniture a whimsical and variable configuration.

Different variants of the arrangement of each pivot are possible. In a first variant, the pivot is fixed to the pivoting element, the guide recess being formed in the corresponding plate of the frame. In a second variant, the pivot is fixed to the plate of the frame, the guide recess being formed in the corresponding wall of the pivoting element. In a third variant, the pivot is engaged in two guide recesses formed respectively in said wall of the pivoting element and in the corresponding plate of the frame, the pivot being movable horizontally in each of these recesses.

Said recess may be a groove whose width is substantially equal to the diameter of the pivot and one end of which defines said position taken out of the pivoting element. This groove can be oriented substantially at 45 ° relative to the frame.

Preferably, the frame has at least one vertical wall against which a vertical face of the pivoting element is applied in the retracted position of the pivoting element, which prevents the latter from pivoting, and the pivoting element is arranged in an angle of the frame. The pivoting element may have a square or rectangular shape in plan and have two mutually opposite open faces and an inner wall parallel to said open faces, and the frame may have at least two vertical perpendicular walls against which the pivoting element is applied in its retracted position, so that at least one of its open faces is closed by one of said walls. The frame can be provided with a door mounted by hinges on a free edge of one of said walls to close the opposite open face of the pivoting element in the retracted position.

In its preferred form, the device comprises at least two pivoting elements juxtaposed between the upper plate and the lower plate of a common frame.

• la figure 1 est une vue en élévation frontale d'un meuble selon l'invention, destiné au rangement de disques compacts,
• la figure 2 représente le meuble de la figure 1 en plan et illustre son fonctionnement,
• la figure 3 est une vue en coupe verticale du meuble, suivant la ligne III-III de la figure 2,
• la figure 4 est une vue de détail en coupe suivant la ligne IV-IV de la figure 2,
• la figure 5 est une vue schématique partielle en plan d'une variante des moyens de guidage représentés à la figure 2,
• les figures 6 et 7 sont des vues schématiques partielles du dessus d'un élément pivotant du meuble selon l'invention et représentent deux autres variantes des moyens de guidage, et
• la figure 8 est une vue de détail analogue à la figure 4, illustrant la variante de la figure 7.

The present invention will be better understood with the aid of the following description of a preferred embodiment and of various variants of a storage unit according to the invention, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

• FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a piece of furniture according to the invention, intended for the storage of compact discs,
• FIG. 2 represents the cabinet of FIG. 1 in plan and illustrates its operation,
• FIG. 3 is a view in vertical section of the cabinet, along the line III-III of FIG. 2,
• FIG. 4 is a detail view in section along the line IV-IV of FIG. 2,
• FIG. 5 is a partial schematic plan view of a variant of the guide means shown in FIG. 2,
• FIGS. 6 and 7 are partial schematic views from above of a pivoting element of the cabinet according to the invention and represent two other variants of the guide means, and
• FIG. 8 is a detail view similar to FIG. 4, illustrating the variant of FIG. 7.

The furniture shown in Figures 1 to 4, for storage articles of generally the same size, such as compact discs 1, consists of a stationary frame 2 and two identical pivoting elements 3 mounted on the frame 2 so as to be able to pivot each around their vertical central axis 4. The frame 2 consists simply of four flat panels fixed to each other and forming a lower plate 5, an upper plate 6, a vertical rear wall 7 and a vertical median wall 8 which divides the interior of the frame into two parallelepipedic housings with square base, in which the pivoting elements 3 can be housed in a so-called retracted position where they are pressed against the walls 7 and 8, which prevents them from pivoting.

Each pivoting element 3 is a magazine formed by a shelving unit with a square base, open on two opposite front faces. It has a lower wall 10 and an upper wall 11 which are connected by two vertical side walls 12 and a central wall 13 dividing the element 3 into two equal parts. Each of these contains two intermediate radii 14 which define three equal compartments 15 whose vertical section has dimensions slightly greater than those of the discs 1. The cabinet has a total of twelve compartments 15, capable of receiving twenty discs, for example . Each element 3 is mounted in the frame 2 with a small clearance between the lower plate 5 and the upper plate 6. In this example, its lower face 16 (FIG. 4) rests directly on the upper surface 17 of the lower plate 5 and can slide thereon, for example by a coating of synthetic material on the two opposite surfaces or by interposing a sheet of an anti-friction material such as PTFE. The pivot axis 4 is defined by a pair of cylindrical pivots 18 projecting from the lower face 16 and the upper face 19 of the element. Each pivot 18 can be formed by a cylindrical block of synthetic material with a low coefficient of friction, fixed by means of a screw 20. It is engaged in a guide groove 21 formed in the corresponding panel 5, 6, the two grooves 21 having the same outline in plan and a width which corresponds to the diameter of the pivots 18. As shown in FIG. 2, each groove 21 has a rectilinear outline oriented approximately at 45 ° with respect to the perpendicular walls 7 and 8 of the frame. In this way, each element 3 can slide in the frame in a horizontal translation along the grooves 21, from its retracted position, to an extended position 3 'shown in Figure 2, where its axis 4 occupies a position 4 'defined by the stop of its two pivots 18 at the end of the grooves 21. In this position, the element 3 is sufficiently distant from the walls 7 and 8 of the frame to be able to pivot freely without touching them. Its vertical stability is ensured by its sliding support on the lower plate 5. The grooves 21 could also have a curved outline, for example to bring out the element 3 first forwards, or be flared or forked to define several positions taken out of the element 3. On the other hand, one or the other of the two pivots 18 could be eliminated because the stability of the element 3 remains ensured by sliding between the two plates 5 and 6 of the frame.

Thanks to the construction described above, articles such as compact discs 1 can be stored in the compartments 15 on both sides of each pivoting element 3, that is to say they can occupy almost all of the interior volume of the elements 3, which corresponds to the size of the frame 2, minus the volumes of the various panels constituting the piece of furniture. Thus, the size of the furniture is minimal compared to the volume of the articles which it can contain. In the retracted position illustrated in particular in FIG. 1, a user has direct access to half of the compartments 15. This is also the case if one of the pivoting elements 3 has been rotated by 90 ° so that one of its open front sides are on the side of one end of the cabinet. If the user wants to access the other open face of the magazine, he pulls it horizontally to put it in the extended position and it rotates it around the axis in position 4 ', in one direction or the other . In addition, nothing prevents the elements 3 from being left in the extended position, so that the cabinet permanently offers easier access to all of the disks 1. At the same time, the cabinet has an original and variable configuration which does not is not without interest from the point of view of esthetics, in spite of an extremely simple construction. The frame 2 and the pivoting elements 3 can be made of any material usual in the field, in particular in wood or in wood-based panels, in metal, in molded synthetic material, in cardboard, etc.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, but it extends to any modification or variant of embodiment and application within the scope of the claims. In Figure 2, there is shown in broken lines a variant for completely closing the compartments 15 to protect the items 1 from view and / or dust. To this end, a door 22 can be provided at each end of the frame 2 to cover the entire corresponding face of the element 3 in the retracted position. If the face covered by the door 22 is an open face of the element 3, it will have one of its side walls 12 on the front face of the cabinet, so that all of its compartments 15 will be closed. Each door 22 is mounted by hinges 23 on the rear wall 7 of the frame. It can be made of a single leaf or, as in the case of FIG. 2, be divided into two panels 24 connected by a hinge 25, in order to reduce its size when opened. This door can be glazed. In another embodiment, it could be provided on the front face of the cabinet and mounted on the middle wall 8. It can also be provided that some of the compartments 15 themselves have a door, in particular if the walls 7 and 8 of the frame are perforated or replaced by separate pillars.

FIG. 5 illustrates a variant in which each groove 21 is replaced by a recess 31 having a square plan shape, the corners of which define four different positions of the pivoting element 3 and of its pivots 18. The positions 18a and 18b of the pivots 18 correspond respectively to the retracted and extended positions of the element 3, as defined by the groove 21 (see FIG. 2). In addition, in a position 18c of the pivots, the element 3 is extended laterally from the end of the frame, which lengthens the piece of furniture, but it remains pressed against the rear wall 7 which prevents it from turning. In another position 18d of the pivots, the element 3 is extended forward and it is the middle wall 8 which hinders its rotation. Such positions allow the user to vary the configuration of the furniture to give it an original appearance.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 6, the arrangement of the pivot 18 is reversed with respect to the case of FIG. 5, that is to say that the pivot 18 is fixed to the frame 2, more particularly to the upper plate 6 (a part of which has been cut to clarify the drawing), and is engaged in a square recess 32 formed in the upper wall 11 of the pivoting element 3. In this case, the pivot 18 defines an axis of rotation 4 which is fixed , but far enough away from the walls 7 and 8 of the frame so that the element 3 can pivot when it is in the extended position. As in the previous examples, such a pivot arrangement can be provided at one end or at both ends of the element 3. The recess 32 can also have the shape of a groove or any other suitable shape.

In the example of FIGS. 7 and 8, instead of the pivots 18 fixed either to the pivoting element 3 or to the frame 2, there is provided a movable independent pivot 33, constituted by a cylindrical part with a vertical axis which is engaged both in a recess 34 in the upper wall 11 of the element 3 and in a recess 35 in the upper plate 6 of the frame 2. The pivot 33 is free to move in each of the recesses 34 and 35, but it can be blocked in two opposite angles of these recesses when these have a position such as that of FIG. 7. This is how the pivot can define an extended position of the pivoting element 3, allowing this element to rotate freely by relative to the frame 2, as in the case of FIG. 2.

A particularly advantageous aspect of a device according to the invention lies in the fact that its total size can be limited to the sum of the volumes of the pivoting elements and the volumes of the horizontal and vertical walls of the frame. No additional internal volume is required by guiding mechanisms or by clearances intended to allow the rotation of the storage elements.

A device according to the invention can constitute in itself a piece of furniture or be integrated into a larger piece of furniture such as a bookcase, a piece of furniture for stereophonic or video installation, a wall wall arrangement, etc. Furthermore, the invention is applicable outside the field of furniture, for example for making portable boxes, mobile displays, cigar or medicine boxes. The shelves can be completed or replaced by racks suitable for the items to be received. In all cases, maximum storage volume is obtained thanks to the non-circular shape of the pivoting elements.

Claims (10)

Shelving device for storing articles, in particular in a piece of furniture, comprising a stationary frame (2) and at least one pivoting storage element (3) provided with horizontal shelves and having at least two vertical front faces through which the articles can be inserted into or removed from the shelves, the pivoting element being supported by the frame so that it can be moved horizontally relative to the frame between at least one retracted position and at least one extended position and pivot around a vertical axis (4), the frame (2) comprising an upper plate (6) and a lower plate (5) between which the pivoting element (3) is located, the vertical axis (4) of rotation of the element pivoting being defined by one or two substantially cylindrical pivots (18, 33), interposed respectively between an upper wall (11) of the pivoting element and the upper plate (6) of the frame, and / or between a lower wall (10) from summer pivoting element and the lower plate (5) of the frame, characterized in that each of the pivots (18, 33) is engaged in a guide recess (21, 31, 32, 34, 35) which is formed in said plate or said wall, so as to allow relative horizontal displacement between the pivot and the guide recess, in that a lower face (16) of the pivoting element (3) is in sliding contact on an upper surface (17) of the lower plate (5), and in that the pivoting element (3) is capable of pivoting 360 ° in its extended position. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the pivots (18) is fixed to the pivoting element (3), the guide recess (21, 31) being formed in the corresponding plate (5 , 6) of the frame. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the pivots (18) is fixed to the plate (5, 6) of the frame, the guide recess (32) being formed in the corresponding wall (10, 11) of the pivoting element. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the pivots (33) is engaged in two guide recesses (34, 35) formed respectively in said wall (10, 11) of the pivoting element and in the corresponding plate (5, 6) of the frame, the pivot being movable horizontally in each of these recesses. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that said recess is a groove (21) whose width is substantially equal to the diameter of the pivot (18) and one end of which defines said extended position (3 ') of the pivoting element. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that said recess (31, 32, 34, 35) has a polygonal shape, an angle of which defines said extended position (3 ') of the pivoting element. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the frame (2) comprises at least one vertical wall (7, 8) against which a vertical face of the pivoting element (3) is applied in the retracted position of said element , which prevents it from pivoting, and in that the pivoting element is arranged in a corner of the frame. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the pivoting element (3), having a square or rectangular shape in plan, has two mutually opposite open faces and an inner wall (13) parallel to said open faces, and in that the frame has at least two perpendicular vertical walls (7, 8) against which the pivoting element (3) is applied in its retracted position, so that at least one of its open faces is closed by one of said walls . Device according to claim 8, characterized in that the frame is provided with a door (22) mounted by hinges (23) on a free edge of one of said walls (7, 8) to close the opposite open face of the 'pivoting element (3) in the retracted position. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises at least two pivoting elements (3) juxtaposed between the upper plate (6) and the lower plate (5) of a common frame (2).

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