EP0582780B1 - Piece of furniture with supporting elements for intermediate floors introducible into the innerspace of the piece of furniture - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a piece of furniture or cooling furniture with shelves arranged in its interior, which are supported on its edges by supporting parts, the supporting sections of which hold the shelves positively in and against their direction of insertion into the interior due to their weight.

Supporting parts of this type are often used to support compartments dividing the interior of a piece of furniture, since on the one hand their attachment to the walls of the interior can be solved in most cases in a simple manner and on the other hand such supporting parts only negligibly reduce the storage space of the interior. However, if the interior is loaded and unloaded with caution, one of the shelves may slide from the supporting parts that support it, predominantly the supporting parts located in the rear area of the interior, and the shelf, along with the refrigerated goods placed on it, will fall onto an underlying shelf. To solve such a problem. For a lattice-shaped shelf, a supporting part was proposed in DE-PS 10 14 391, the shelf-supporting part of which is essentially formed from a hollow cylinder, the area of the wall facing the shelf having a recess running in the direction of its longitudinal axis. About this recess, the front side end portions of the frame-like shelf associated with the supporting parts can be introduced into a shell-like receptacle likewise formed by the remaining wall, with elastic deformation of the remaining wall. Within the shell-like receptacle, the end sections, which are arranged due to such a construction with play to the remaining walls, are kept loose.

Another form of support elements for supporting intermediate floors is known from DE-U-8 535 333. This type of support elements are formed on the one hand by strips arranged vertically in the rear wall area of the interior of a cooling device with grooves lying one above the other and on the other hand by cams projecting from the side walls in the area near the door. While the cams reach under the shelves in the area of their side edges near the door, the grooves provided in the vertically arranged strips take up the rear side edges of the shelf for support. In order to prevent the shelves from slipping in the horizontal direction in their position supported by the supporting elements, the cams on their rear side facing the strips are engaged by catches provided on the lateral edges of the shelves.

Another embodiment of support elements is known from US-A-1 918 457 and is intended for use in cooling devices. The support elements disclosed in this document are designed as angled support hooks, which are arranged to support a grid-shaped shelf on the one hand on the rear wall of the cooling unit interior and on the other hand in the region of the side walls near the door. To support the lattice-shaped shelf, it is then hung with its circumferential wire support frame into the angularly bent support elements, elements to the rattling element being provided to avoid rattling noises, which the lattice-shaped shelf is essentially free of play over its actual support, namely on the horizontal section of the angled shape Hold the support elements.

The invention has for its object to improve the known from the prior art brackets for storage with simple design measures.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the supporting parts are provided on the side walls of the interior and the supporting sections engage positively in recesses arranged on the underside of the shelf and in that means are provided which provide an additional, exert the form-fitting connection to support and secure force.

As a result of the solution according to the invention, the intermediate floor, which is supported on the supporting parts, is repositioned in a stable position both in and against its direction of insertion into the interior of the furniture. At the same time, the arrangement of the supporting parts on the side walls for the intermediate floors results in a particularly safe guide, which it does nevertheless allows the intermediate floors to be easily removed from the interior of the furniture. In addition, the non-positive securing of the positive connection between the supporting parts and the intermediate floors ensures that the positively connected parts are always joined together in a defined manner and are held together without play, the additional force supporting the positive connection being able to be adapted according to the requirements .

A particularly good connection between the supporting part and the tray results if, according to a further preferred embodiment of the object of the invention, it is provided that the means for exerting the additional force is designed as an energy store arranged on the supporting part.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the object of the invention it is provided that the energy accumulator is formed by horizontally spaced, resilient tongues which on a wall facing away from the free section of the supporting section and substantially perpendicular to this away from the supporting section tongue root are also molded.

In addition to its one-piece design, the solution is characterized by a double introduction of force onto the shelf, which means that each individual tongue serving as an energy store can be made weaker based on the required connecting force, depending on the force distribution.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the object of the invention it is provided that the resilient tongues have two zones, of which the longer zone facing its root is directed away from the wall, while the adjoining shorter zone is angled towards the wall.

The advantage of such a solution is that a force accumulator is created in a simple manner, which in addition to different directions of action can also deliver forces of different magnitudes.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the subject matter of the invention, it is provided that the zone bent towards the wall has a greater angle with respect to a vertical than the zone facing the root of the tongue.

The advantage of such a solution is that the tongue fulfills a double function, namely in that its longer section, which is arranged steeper to a vertical, serves as a sliding slope for the placement on the supporting part of the supporting part, while its shorter section serves to hold the placement device takes over the supporting part and at the same time compensates for the width tolerances of shelves or interior space that occur.

In a particularly simple manner, the spring travel for the tongues is created without having to enlarge the dimensions of the supporting part if, according to a further advantageous embodiment of the object of the invention, it is provided that the wall in the area of the tongues is provided with cutouts into which the tongues immerse when loaded.

Shelves are particularly securely guided and nevertheless easy to remove from the interior of a piece of furniture if, according to a further preferred embodiment of the object of the invention, it is provided that the positive connection in and against the insertion direction of the shelf into the interior in the region of the opening of the Interior is arranged on the side walls.

Fig. 1

einen Kühlschrank bei geöffneter Tür, dessen Innenraum mit übereinander angeordneten, einzelne Fächer bildende Ablagen unterteilt ist. deren seitliche Ränder auf an beiden Seitenwänden des Innenraums vorgesehenen, in Aufnahmen eingebrachten, unterschiedlich ausgebildeten Tragteilen ruhen, in raumbildlicher Darstellung von vorne,

Fig. 2

in perspektivischer Ansicht von oben die unterschiedlich ausgebildeten, hier nur an einem seitlichen Rand der Ablage dargestellten Tragteile. von denen das im Vordergrund gezeigte im Bereich der Öffnung des Innenraums angeordnet ist, während das einen seitlichen Randabschnitt der Ablage zwischen sich aufnehmende Tragteil im Bereich der Rückwand des Innenraumes liegt, in etwa in natürlichem Maßstab,

Fig 3

in natürlichem Maßstab das im Bereich der Öffnung des Innenraums angeordnete, in eine Aufnahme an den Seitenwänden eingebrachte Tragteil mit dem ihm zugeordneten seitlichen Randabschnitt der Ablage, gemäß der Schnittlinie III-III und

Fig. 4

in natürlichem Maßstab das im Bereich der Rückwand angeordnete Tragteil den von ihm aufgenommenen Randabschnitt der Ablage gemäß der Schnittlinie IV-IV.

The invention is explained in the following description using the example of a household refrigerator shown in simplified form in the drawing. Show it:

Fig. 1

a refrigerator with the door open, the interior of which is subdivided with shelves that form individual compartments. the side edges of which rest on differently designed support parts provided on both side walls of the interior, inserted in the receptacles, in a spatial representation from the front,

Fig. 2

in a perspective view from above the differently designed, here shown only on a side edge of the shelf support parts. of which the one shown in the foreground is arranged in the area of the opening of the interior, while the one lateral edge section of the shelf between the supporting part which is accommodated lies in the area of the rear wall of the interior, approximately on a natural scale,

Fig 3

on a natural scale in the area of the opening of the interior, in a receptacle on the side walls, with the associated side edge portion of the shelf, according to the section line III-III and

Fig. 4

on a natural scale, the support part arranged in the area of the rear wall, the edge section of the shelf which it has taken up according to the section line IV-IV.

In Fig. 1, a household refrigerator 10 is shown, which has a thermally insulated housing 11, the interior of which is formed by a refrigerated goods container produced by deep-drawing a plastic board and can be closed with a door 12. The interior of the housing 11 is equipped on its side walls 13 with receptacles 14 which are arranged in the area of the opening and in the rear area of the interior in a vertical row at equal distances from one another. The receptacles 14, which, for example, as in the present case, are integrally formed on the side walls 13 in the form of a deep-drawn bowl with an oval cross section, serve to hold differently shaped support parts 20 and 40, which on their side facing the receptacles 14 have one for both Supporting parts are designed identically, fastening elements configured as hollow pins 21 to the oval receptacles 14 are designed with the same contour. The outer contour of the pin 21 is adapted to the inner contour of the receptacles 14 in such a way that the pins 21 are frictionally held in the receptacles 14 on the one hand and, on the other hand, due to the contour adjustment, it is also ensured that the supporting parts 20 and 40 in the receptacles 14 form-fitting against Twist in the plane of the side walls 13 are secured.

Of the differently designed support parts 20 and 40, the support parts provided with the reference numerals 20 are arranged near the opening of the interior, while the support parts 40 are located in the rear area of the interior.

As both Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 shows, the support member 20 is provided on the end facing away from the receptacles 14 of its pin 21 with a substantially T-shaped cross-section support member 22, the T-shaped profile compared to its normal position Is rotated 90 °, so that it is usually arranged vertically Leg runs horizontally. In this position, the horizontally extending leg serves as a support surface 23 for a storage area which is explained in more detail below, while the other leg, which is arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pin 21, is designed as a wall 24 which delimits the pin 21 on the end face and which is designed as a support surface 23 trained, supporting section is divided into two sections 25 and 26 of different heights, the pin 21 being arranged mainly in the region of the higher section 26 of the wall 24. The wall 24 serves on its side facing the free end of the pin 21 as a stop surface delimiting the insertion depth of the pin 21 into the receptacle 14.

Above the wing 23 at the free end of the higher section 26, at its lateral edges, horizontally spaced energy stores are arranged in the form of resilient tongues 27, the roots 28 of which are molded onto the higher section 26. The bodies of the tongues 27 essentially have two zones, which are caused by a curvature 29 lying approximately halfway up the higher section 26, of which a first, longer version is curved away from the section 26 and encloses an acute angle between them . The second zone of the tongues 27, which adjoins the curvature 29 and extends up to its tip 30, which is arranged at a distance above the wing 23. encloses an obtuse angle between itself and the first zone and is angled toward the wall 24, the zone angled toward the wall 24 having a larger intermediate angle than the zone facing the root of the tongue with respect to a vertical extending through the curve 29.

The wall 24 is provided at its higher section 26 in the area around the tongues 27, starting at the root 28 up to the wing 23, with a cutout 31 serving as spring travel for the tongues 27, into which the tongues 27 dip when they are loaded (See in particular Fig. 2).

As already mentioned and can be seen from FIG. 1, the other support parts 40 are arranged in the rear area of the interior at a distance from its rear wall and, as shown in FIG. 2, are equipped with the same pin 21 as the support parts 20. Corresponding to the support part 20 the pin 21 of the support part 40 on its end facing away from the receptacles 14 has a wall 41 arranged perpendicular to its longitudinal axis and parallel with its longitudinal edge to the longer side of the oval, which, like the wall 24 in the support part 20, is one of the insertion depths of the pin 21 serves in the receptacle 14 delimiting stop surface. Vertically from the wall 41 two branches in a top view trapezoidal plates 42 and 43, which are opposite one another at a parallel spacing and form an intermediate space, the base of which is flush with the wall 41 on its connecting side with the pins 21. Both plates 42 and 43 are closed on their side facing away from the supporting part 20 with a cuboid end wall 44 which is connected both to the two plates 42 and 43 and to the wall 41. At a distance from the end wall 41, within the intermediate space formed by the plates 42 and 43, a bead 45 with a semi-circular cross section is provided on the higher lying plate 43, the longitudinal axis of which extends parallel to the end wall 44 and the free end of which projects into the intermediate space. The lower-lying plate 42 is provided on its side opposite the end wall 44 with an extension 46 which projects beyond the length of the wall 41 and the higher-lying plate 43 and which is connected to the lower-lying plate 42 and forms the same height, forming a continuous supporting surface connected is.

As can be seen in particular from FIG. 1, the support parts 20 and 40 serve to support shelves 50 which are introduced into the interior of a cooling device at different heights and which are designated by 20 at their lateral edges in the region of the opening of the interior on the side walls 13 thereof in the rear area, near the rear wall of the support members 40 are supported. If, as in this exemplary embodiment, the shelves 50 are made of glass, the shelves 50 can be equipped with a frame 51 enclosing their edges, on the lateral frame sections formed as legs 52 the supporting surfaces of the supporting parts 20 and 40 engage, the supporting surfaces 23 of the support parts 20 cooperate positively with the legs 52.

As particularly shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the legs 52 are provided for this purpose on their underside with a recess 53, of which the support surfaces 23 of the support parts 20 are almost free of play - the play-free coordination between the support surfaces 23 and the recesses 53 is not a necessity - are received between the edge strips 54, so that the trays 50 are held in a positive manner both in the direction of insertion into the interior and in the opposite direction.

The interlocking engagement of the wings 23 and the recesses 53 is caused on the one hand by the gravity of the shelves, but on the other hand additionally supported by the resilient tongues 27 arranged on the supporting parts 20, of which in particular the shorter zone of the tongues 27 on the one facing them Section of the legs 52 exerts a force component that the positive engagement between the Wings 23 and the recesses 53 non-positively secures. In the same way, the resilient tongues 27 are able to compensate to a certain extent for width tolerances of the interior, so that the tray averages out the width of the interior and is stabilized in this position.

The support parts 40 arranged in the rear area of the interior receive the sections of the legs 52 of the shelves 50 assigned to them in the space formed by the spaced-apart plates 42 and 43. The insertion of the trays 50 into the intermediate space is supported by the extension 46 in such a way that the tray 50 to be assembled is deposited there in a first assembly step and thus automatically in the correct position due to the connection of the extension 46 to the lower-lying plate 42 at the same height Altitude is positioned. The shelf 50 inserted into the intermediate space is additionally held in its end position by the bead 45 arranged on the higher-lying plate 43 by a kind of clamping effect with respect to that in the assigned section of the leg 52.

In addition, the space accommodating the sections of the legs 52 on the support parts 40 provides a form fit vertically to the insertion direction of the trays 50, so that these are secured against tipping around the support formed by the support surface 23 of the support parts 20.

The support parts 20 and 40 are made in one piece from plastic injection molding according to the exemplary embodiment, but a multi-piece embodiment in a different manufacturing method would also be conceivable.

Claims (7)

1. Furniture item or cooling cabinet (10) with storage surfaces (50), which are arranged in its interior chamber and supported at their rims (52) by carrier parts (20), the supporting portions (23) of which retain the storage surfaces (50) shape-lockingly by reason of their weight and against their direction of insertion into the interior chamber, characterised thereby, that the carrier parts (20) are provided at the side walls (13) of the interior chamber and the supporting portions (23) engage shape-lockingly into recesses (53) arranged at the underside of the storage surfaces (50) and that means (27) are provided, which exert an additional force, which enhances the shape-locking connection and secures it force-lockingly, on the storage surfaces (50) in the region of the carrier parts (20).
2. Furniture item according to claim 1, characterised thereby, that the means for the exertion of the additional force are constructed as a force storage device arranged at the carrier part (20).
3. Furniture item according to claim 2, characterised thereby, that the force storage device is constructed as resilient tongues (27), which are spaced horizontally one from the other and also shaped on at a wall (24), which is remote from the free end of the supporting portion (23) and arranged substantially perpendicularly thereto, by a tongue root (28) facing away from the supporting portion (23).
4. Furniture item according to claim 3, characterised thereby, that the resilient tongues (27) display two zones, of which the longer zone facing its root (28) is curved away from the wall (24), whilst the shorter zone adjoining thereat is bent over towards the wall (24).
5. Furniture item according to claim 4, characterised thereby, that the zone, which is bent over towards the wall (24), displays a stronger bending-over with respect to a vertical line than the zone facing the tongue root (28).
6. Furniture item according to one of the claims 3 to 5, characterised thereby, that the wall (24) is equipped with clearance recesses (31), into which the tongues (27) enter when loaded, in the region of the tongues (27).
7. Furniture item according to claim 1, characterised thereby, that the carrier parts (20) are arranged in the region of the opening of the interior chamber.

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