EP0579886A1 - Positioning and maintaining system for a furniture top on its support - Google Patents

Abstract

System for positioning and securing immovably in position a horizontal work surface (P) on a horizontal plane such as the upper face of a supporting unit (A), particularly when this work surface and this unit are the elements of a modular furniture system, said system being characterised in that the parts of this system do not include either face of said work surface, so that the work surface is reversible. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a new method of positioning and holding in place a horizontal work plan on a support element, and in particular the tray of an office furniture on top of a block in which are housed drawers or the like, in the case where this tray and this block constitute elements of a modular system, as described for example in European Patent No. 91440021.3 of the Applicant.

In a system of this kind, it is customary to ensure the positioning and the holding in place of a plate on its support by means of nipple / bowl pairs practiced respectively in the plate and the support or vice versa, or by pins completely crossing the plate to come and fit into a housing of the support.

However, one of the advantages of these systems being the possibility of inverting an angular-shaped tray, in order to reverse the orientation and thus create unlimited forms of worktops, this faculty of inversion implies that the tray has means of positioning and / or holding in place on its two faces, which affects the aesthetics of the assembly since those of these means which are not used remain visible on the top of the plates.

The invention relates to a new system effectively ensuring this positioning and this holding in place, and acting laterally on the field of the plate, ie not affecting either of the faces of the work surface that 'it constitutes, whatever its orientation.

For this purpose, in the upper face of the support block, in the vicinity of at least one of its edges, is housed a fixed intermediate piece comprising on two opposite sides horizontal grooves parallel to each other and to said upper face and perpendicular to said edge, a movable intermediate piece in the form of a horizontal fork coming to be inserted in said grooves and comprising a vertical heel, the front face of which is inserted in a notch of corresponding shape and dimension practiced in the field of said plate, its face rear being level with said field.

Preferably, the assembly of the two intermediate parts is made integral by means of a screw passing through the thickness of the fork parallel to the grooves and screwed into the fixed intermediate part. According to a particularly useful improvement, while the screwing of this screw ensures the blocking in place of the assembly and consequently of the plate on the support block, the screw system is of the type which, by unscrewing, with maintenance of the screw immobile in axial direction relative to the movable intermediate piece, ensures the rearward movement of this movable intermediate piece, which would otherwise be difficult to access in the event of disassembly.

The existence of the fixed intermediate piece, with a thickness of the order of 10 to 15 mm, has the consequence that the plate is kept at a corresponding distance from the top of the block. This spacing contributes to the aesthetics of the furniture, but to guarantee the stability of the tray, it is provided, according to the invention, to have on the top of the block a number of shims made of flexible material, the same height as the intermediate piece fixed.

To ensure the immobility in rotation of the fixed intermediate piece, and consequently the maintenance in the direction perpendicular to the edge of the plate of the grooves which it comprises, there is provided under said fixed intermediate piece an auxiliary anchoring element on the face of the block, for example a stud coming to lodge in said face.

Likewise, to prevent faulty positioning of the vertical heel in the notch of the platform field, an auxiliary anchoring element is provided on said heel, for example a stud coming to be housed in the bottom of said notch.

The positioning and holding system according to the invention has many advantages.

First, it has practically no element visible from the outside, the only non-concealed part being the heel of the movable intermediate part which is housed in a notch in the field of the plate. Because we can see from this heel only the rear face which is level with said field, and preferably of the same color, the line of this field appears practically continuous, except of course, if, for purely reasons aesthetic, the colors of the faces of the plate and the heel of the movable intermediate piece are different.

The surface of the plate does not include any element of the system, so that, in accordance with an essential characteristic of the invention, this system makes it possible to use a plate either on one or the other of its two faces, by simple inversion . This reversibility of the tray allows the creation of very varied sets of furniture, as was already suggested in the aforementioned EP-A-91440021.3. No other positioning and holding system allows this reversibility without affecting the appearance of the plates, since all known systems use means affecting the surface of the plates or even their perforation.

Furthermore, the system according to the invention is extremely robust, which complies with the international standards in force.

Finally, it is very simple, both for its installation and for its disassembly, involving only a single screw, moreover not visible from the outside.

• La figure 1 est une coupe verticale schématique du système selon l'invention, en place pour le maintien et le positionnement du plateau d'un ensemble de bureau sur un bloc d'appui.
• La figure 2 est une vue de dessous suivant II-II de la figure 1.
• Les figures 3a et 3b sont des vues en perspective de la pièce intermédiaire mobile en forme de fourche du système selon l'invention, respectivement par dessus et par dessous.
• La figure 4 est une vue en perspective de la pièce intermédiaire fixe ou "sabot".
• Enfin, la figure 5 illustre le mécanisme à vis permettant à la fois le blocage du système en place et l'extraction de la pièce intermédiaire mobile.

We will now describe the invention with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

• Figure 1 is a schematic vertical section of the system according to the invention, in place for the maintenance and positioning of the tray of an office assembly on a support block.
• Figure 2 is a bottom view along II-II of Figure 1.
• Figures 3 a and 3 b are perspective views of the movable intermediate piece bifurcated system according to the invention, respectively from above and below.
• Figure 4 is a perspective view of the fixed intermediate piece or "shoe".
• Finally, FIG. 5 illustrates the screw mechanism allowing both the locking of the system in place and the extraction of the movable intermediate piece.

The system according to the invention is intended for positioning and holding in place the tray P of an office furniture on a support block A.

This system consists of a fixed intermediate piece or "shoe", designated by the general reference (1), and a mobile intermediate piece, designated by the general reference (2), cooperating with each other and with the plate P and the block A, being locked in the assembled position by a screw mechanism, designated by the general reference (3).

Referring more particularly to FIG. 4, it can be seen that the part (1) is formed by a base plate (4), preferably of molded metal such as "ZAMAK", reinforced by ribs (5), bearing on the upper face a support plate (6) also in "ZAMAK", and on its lower face two pins (7) and (8). The support plate (6) is integral with the base plate (4) by a connection zone defining two grooves (9) and (10) parallel to each other and to the axis XX 'joining the axes of the studs (7 ) and (8), and which is, as seen in FIG. 2, perpendicular to the edge B of the plate P. The stud (7) has a diameter substantially greater than that of the stud (8), and has an internal bore (11), smooth and intended to receive a self-tapping screw.

In the area above said stud (7), the base plate (4) has an extra thickness (12) in which a horizontal thread (13) is made for the screw mechanism, as will be described later in detail.

As can be seen in particular in FIG. 1, the shoe (1) is placed on the upper face F1 of the block A, each stud (7) and (8) being inserted in a corresponding housing, a vertical retaining screw (not shown) being screwed through the wall of the block A in the bore (11). The stud (8) serves to prevent any possible rotation of the shoe (1) around the stud (7), which would affect the correct orientation of the grooves (9) and (10) which must remain perpendicular to the edge B of the plate P.

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 3 a and 3 b , it can be seen that the movable intermediate piece (2), also made of a metal such as the "ZAMAK", consists of a fork designated by the general reference (20) and a heel designated by the general reference (21) and perpendicular to the plane of the fork (20).

As shown in particular in Figure 3b , the fork (20) consists of a rear body (22), relatively thick, and pierced in its central part for the passage and adaptation of the screw mechanism used to block this part (2) and extract it for disassembly of the system.

From this body (22) leave two branches (23), (24), of L-section, the horizontal wings (25) of these branches being parallel and spaced by a distance e ₁ slightly greater than the distance e ₂ separating the bottom of the grooves (9) and (10) of the part (1).

Slightly offset backwards with respect to the body (22) the part (2) carries the heel (21) of generally vertical appearance, that is to say perpendicular to the fork (23, 24) and having the in the form of a cylinder portion, the forward-facing surface (26) of which is rounded and the rear face (27) is planar. As will be explained in more detail below, the volume of this heel (21) delimited by the faces (26) and (27) is housed exactly in a corresponding notch (30) in the field of the plate P, the height of the heel being equal to the thickness of said plate P.

To better ensure the establishment of the heel (21) in said notch, an additional stud (28) protrudes towards the front of the face (26) to be placed in a corresponding housing (29) of said notch.

We will now describe the implementation of the system according to the invention, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, as well as to FIG. 5.

In view of the precise positioning of the plate P on the block A, and of maintaining this positioning in place, the part (1) is first fixed on the upper face F1 of the block A, by forcing the nipples (7) , (8) in their housings, and consolidating the whole, possibly by a screw inserted in the bore (11) of the stud (7).

The part (1) then offers two slides (9) and (10), parallel and precisely oriented, at the fork (23, 24) of the part (2) with minimum clearance, thanks to the correspondence of the distances e ₁ and e ₂.

We can therefore insert the part (2) in the part (1) and then set up the plate P which rests on the support plate (6) of the part (1) and in a notch (30) of the field from which the heel (21) is inserted, with the stud (28) coming to be inserted in its housing (29).

The guidance of the fork (23, 24) by the grooves (9) and (10), and the cooperation of the heel (21) and its stud (28) with the corresponding housings (29), (30) ensure positioning precise and foolproof from plate P to block A.

As indicated at the beginning, and as it appears in particular in FIG. 2, the rear face (27) of the heel (21) is exactly in the extension of the vertical field B of the plate P, so that this field does not present any solution to the eye. Because, moreover, the actual surface of the tray P is in no way affected by the system, the implementation of the latter guarantees the maintenance of the aesthetics of the furniture assembly. This aesthetic is reinforced by the space separating the upper face F1 of the block A and the lower face F2 of the plate P, this free space reducing the appearance of the whole of the plate and of the block on which it rests.

In order to ensure the stability of the plate taking into account this space, it is planned to have shims made of flexible material as shown in (31) around each anchoring point, so that at these points the plate rests always on at least four supports, guaranteeing the stability of the whole.

As has already been indicated, an essential advantage of the system according to the invention is to offer the possibility of reversibility to the plate, the notches (30) being formed on each field without prejudging the face of the plate which will be placed on the block. AT.

Finally, although the system is sufficient in itself by its design and construction for positioning and holding the plate in place on the block, there is provided according to the invention a screw mechanism making it possible to block the system as well in the assembled position than extracting the part (2) to dismantle the system. Indeed, the precision of the system is such that, once the heel (21) inserted into the notch (30), the user has little grip to extract it for disassembly.

This mechanism is illustrated in FIG. 5, which is a partial vertical section through the plane of symmetry of the parts (1) and (2), this pair of parts (1) and (2) being assembled by a horizontal screw (40). passing through them in turn by entering through the orifice (44).

The screw head (41) is immobilized axially between the rear of the body (22) and a first unthreaded tab (42), then the screw (40) passes through a second guide tab (43) also unthreaded to reach the thread (13) of the shoe (1).

When by means of a suitable tool of the screwdriver type inserted into a head slot (41), the screw is turned clockwise, the screw (40) is screwed into the thread (13) , bringing the parts (1) and (2) closer to each other, the grooves of (1) guiding the legs (25) of the fork (2), until the whole system is blocked , the rear face (27) of the heel (21) being level with the field B of the plate P.

In this position, it is impossible to disengage the heel (21) from the plate P to dismantle the system. For this disassembly, it suffices to turn the screw (40) in the opposite direction: the head (41) being immobilized between the legs (42), (22) the rotation of the screw causing its axial displacement towards the rear has the consequence that it is the whole part (2) which moves backwards, freeing itself from the plate P.

Of course, the foregoing description is given only by way of illustrative example, and numerous variants may be conceived thereof, in particular as regards the respective shape of the various elements.

In particular, it will be noted that in FIGS. 1, 3 a and 3 b , the rear edge of the body (22) is inclined towards the base so that the opening (44) is not visible from the outside. It is clear that the rear edge could be level with the rear face (27) of the heel (21) without departing from the invention.

Claims (5)

System for positioning and holding motionless in place of a horizontal plate on a horizontal surface such as the upper face of a support block, in particular when this plate and this block constitute the elements of a modular furniture system, characterized in that the parts of this system do not affect either of the faces of said plate, which allows the reversibility of said plate. System according to claim 1, characterized in that it consists of a first intermediate, fixed part, and a second movable intermediate part, said first intermediate part being fixedly mounted in the upper surface of said block and comprising a pair of horizontal grooves, parallel and perpendicular to the edge of the plate, said second intermediate piece comprising, on the one hand a fork intended to cooperate with said grooves and on the other hand a vertical heel whose shape and dimensions are the same as those of a notch made in the field of the platform, the visible face of this heel being flat and level with the surface of said field once in place. System according to claim 2, characterized in that said first fixed intermediate part consists of a pair of horizontal plates joined by a connection zone defining said grooves, the lower plate carrying a stud intended to be force-fitted into a housing the upper face of said block, any accidental rotation of said first part, which could affect the orientation of said grooves being prevented by a second stud also inserted by force into the upper face of the block and / or by a screw tightened in the axis of the first stud after crossing the upper wall of the block. System according to claims 2 and 3, characterized in that the second movable intermediate part consists of a main body, from which two parallel branches leave having horizontal portions whose edges are spaced a distance slightly greater than the distance separating the bottom of the two grooves of the first intermediate part, the rear of this main body carrying a vertical heel having the shape of a portion of cylinder whose rounded surface is directed towards the plate and the rear face is flat, so that this portion of cylinder is housed exactly in a notch in the field of the plate, the surface of which then has no discontinuity, the cooperation between said heel and said notch ensuring the positioning and holding in place of the plate, relative to the second intermediate part. , and, consequently, with respect to the support block. System according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the intermediate parts have at their lower part passages for a mounting screw, aligned and parallel to the axis of the system, the passage of the shoe. being threaded and the passages of the movable intermediate piece being smooth but creating a housing for the head of said screw, said screw being consequently free to rotate but immobile axially relative to said movable piece, so that, in a first direction of rotation, said screw brings the two intermediate parts closer to one another, until the system is blocked, and in the other direction, said screw separates the moving part from the fixed part, for the purpose of dismantling the system.

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