EP3155930B1

EP3155930B1 - Dampened opening guide for sliding parts of furniture, such as drawers or the like

Info

Publication number: EP3155930B1
Application number: EP16192836.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Angelo Muzzin
Original assignee: Muzzin SpA
Current assignee: Muzzin SpA
Priority date: 2015-10-12
Filing date: 2016-10-07
Publication date: 2018-12-12
Anticipated expiration: 2036-10-07
Also published as: ES2714159T3; EP3155930A1; ITUB20154601A1

Description

The present invention relates to a dampened opening guide for sliding parts of furniture, such as drawers or the like.
In recent years, there has been a continuous request for guides in metal furniture which, in addition to functioning well, minimize any problem relating to noise or any further impact generated in the opening and closing phases of the element on which they are installed, such as, for example, a drawer.
An example of these accessories so far developed consists of a device to be applied to a guide, composed of a fixed part and a movable part, which allows the drawer to be opened with a simple push.
In this way, by pressing the front of the drawer, the guide provided with this accessory should open the drawer at least partly automatically.
Furthermore, again in the furniture field, guides composed of a fixed part and a movable part, equipped with deceleration devices, are known and used. These devices are provided for dampening the velocity of the parts of furniture in reciprocal movement a moment before the complete closure of the movable part of the same. This is to avoid both noise and impact and also to prevent the latter from rapidly causing breakage of the guides or elements connected thereto.
A further problem currently present in the guides used is that, when in the opening phase, a drawer reaches the end-stop where a specific mechanical end-stop is provided, generating noise. This noise is generally due to impact between the elements involved in this type of coupling.
DE 20 2007 014389 U1 discloses a guide for drawers composed of three sliding sections and provided with mechanical end-stops of insertable ends.
In particular the document DE 20 2007 014389 U1 discloses a pull-out guide for drawers having:

a guide rail (2) secured to a furniture structure,
a displaceable pull-out rail (4) secured to the drawer,
a central rail (3) between said guide rail (2) and said displaceable pull-out rail (4),

WO 2014/056764 simply discloses a guide for sliding parts that provides three sliding sections equipped with end-stops formed integrally.
In particular, whereas it has previously been mentioned how elements have been created and introduced that slow down any possible impact when a drawer is being closed, thus making this coupling extremely silent, elements that eliminate this drawback also when a drawer is being opened, are not yet present on the market.
There is consequently a continuous request from the market for an improved technology that can make furniture manageable, in particular drawers, possibly by introducing new solutions.
In this respect, many attempts have been made in recent years for finding a correct and appropriate solution to the above problems.
The general objective of the present invention is therefore to solve the drawbacks of the known art indicated above in an extremely simple, economical and particularly functional manner.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide an opening guide that is noiseless and free of violent impact, for sliding parts of furniture, such a drawer or the like, that can propose a device suitable for the purpose without introducing particular and costly modifications.
Another objective of the present invention is rather to find a particular solution that can be introduced without incurring significant costs and complex modifications on the guides.
In view of the above objectives, according to the present invention, a dampened opening guide for sliding parts of furniture such as drawers or the like has been conceived, having the features specified in the enclosed claims.
The structural and functional characteristics of the present invention and its advantages with respect to the known art will appear even more evident from the following description, referring to the enclosed drawings, which, inter alia, show a scheme of an embodiment of a dampened opening guide for sliding parts of furniture, such as drawers or the like, produced according to the same invention. In the drawings:

figures 1 to 4 show four sectional views of a side of a dampened opening guide according to the present invention in four subsequent phases starting from the drawer in a closed position up to a drawer in a fully open and extracted position;
figure 4a is a transversal section of the guide according to the invention;
figure 5 is a particular enlarged sectional view of what is shown in figure 1 with the drawer in a closed position;
figure 6 is a particular enlarged sectional view of what is shown in figure 4 with the drawer in a completely open and extracted position;
figures 7 to 9 show perspective views of an end area of the movable part of the guide alone in which a damper is positioned according to subsequent phases illustrated;
figure 10 is a perspective view of part of the guide according to the present invention showing the interaction between the damper, cage-like sliding element, movable and fixed guide.

With reference to the figures, these illustrate, at least partially, a dampened opening guide for sliding portions of furniture, such as drawers or the like, according to the present invention.
Said guide can be produced, for example, by coupling two metal section parts, between which rolling elements are interposed, such as spheres or rolls or hinged wheels, positioned in two spaced cage-like elements that facilitate the sliding of the two parts.
A guide of this type comprises a first fixed part 12 of the guide, constrained to a piece of furniture, schematized in 14, and a second movable part 13 of the guide, constrained to a drawer, schematized in 15.
Furthermore, a cage-like sliding element 16 is provided, interposed between the two parts, fixed 12 and movable 13, of the metal guide, produced in two pairs and positioned in opposite parts of the drawer 15 at its long sides. Said cage-like sliding element 16 is double, made for example of plastic material, and is conceived for facilitating the sliding and reciprocal translation of the movable part 13 on the other fixed part 12 of each side guide.
In the example shown, the fixed part 12 of the guide consists of a U-shaped section, of which a vertical side is constrained to the furniture 14 by means of a series of holes 17 in which screws or similar fixing elements (not shown) are positioned. The other vertical side of the U-shaped section is shorter and is folded outwardly in a longitudinal edge 18.
Rolling elements 19 forming part of the cage-like sliding element 16 made of plastic material, slide on said folded longitudinal edge 18.
The movable part 13 of the guide is composed of a square-shaped section, of which one of the lower horizontal sides 30 is interrupted by a longitudinal slot 20 in which the shorter side of the U-shaped section of the fixed guide 12 is inserted, together with the longitudinal edge folded outwardly. This movable part 13 of the guide has, at one of its ends, positioned inside an enlarged seat 21, a shaped rear stop 22, for example metallic, which forms an end-stop with maximum opening of the drawer 15 with respect to the furniture 14.
Furthermore, a damper 23 is inserted inside the enlarged seat 21 of the movable part 13, close to the rear stop with the maximum opening 22, situated therein. Said damper 23 is made, for example, of plastic material and is conceived for acting on a rear stop 24 of the cage-like sliding element 16.
Said damper 23 thus interposed is capable of avoiding the noise created by the drawer 15 when it reaches the end-stop during the opening phase.
In the example, the damper 23 comprises a central body 25 from which a hook-end 26 protrudes, which is abutted on a flap 27 protruding upwardly from said enlarged seat 21 close to the rear stop 22. A leg 28 with an enlarged end 29 also extends radially from the central body 25 of the damper 23. The enlarged end 29 of the leg 28 is abutted below an upper horizontal side 31 of the square-shaped section of the movable part 13 of the guide, so as to provide a stable positioning of the damper 23.
Figures 7 to 9 show how this stable positioning of the damper 23 is obtained in the enlarged seat 21 close to the rear stop 22 of the movable part 13 of the guide.
The damper 23 is in fact snap-inserted in the enlarged seat 21 so that its hook-end 26 is abutted on the flap 27 protruding upwardly from the enlarged seat 21 of the movable part 13 of the guide. The enlarged end 29 of the leg 28, which extends radially from the central body 25 of said damper 23, is contemporaneously abutted below the upper horizontal side 31 of the square-shaped section of the movable part of the guide 13.
Finally, it should be pointed out that a second further leg 32, that protrudes freely in front of the damper 23 towards the interior of the square-shaped section of the movable part 13 of the guide, extends radially from the central body 25 of the damper 23.
This second leg 32 is tapered with respect to the remaining body in a part facing said stop 24 of the cage-like sliding element 16. In this way, the second leg 32 is yielding and one of its enlarged ends 33 acts almost as a bumper. This enlarged end 33 of the second leg 32 of the damper 23 is, in fact, abutted against the rear stop 24 of the cage-like sliding element 16.
In this way, when the drawer 15 is about to be completely extracted, and, in the state of the art, would make a noise as it bumps against the end-stop, the present invention ensures that this does not occur.
The damper 23, in fact, carried by the movable part 13 of the guide, is abutted against the rear stop 24 of the cage-like sliding element 16, avoiding any kind of noise and also softening the contact. This damper 23 inserted between these two elements is thus capable of attenuating or even annulling noise. The damper 23 therefore has the form of a plastic "spring" which allows the stop of the guide to be dampened at the end-stop, in the opening phase. Said damper 23, for example, is an extended plastic spring which is compressed.
In the practice of common guides for drawers, this plastic damper has a span of about 2-3 mm, eliminating the noise made by the cage-like sliding element 16 (rigid element) as it bumps against the rear stop (also a rigid element). The functioning of a guide according to the present invention is clear from what has been previously illustrated relating to the structure of the guide itself.
Very briefly, the dampened opening guide for sliding parts of furniture, such as drawers or the like, of the present invention, thanks to its new and original provision, allows the speed of the drawer being opened to be dampened, a moment before its complete opening. This avoids any bumping or impact between the parts, which currently occur in the opening phase.
Devices that collaborate with the closing of the drawer and also devices capable of dampening the closing of the drawer can evidently be combined with this new invention.
It can thus be seen how, according to the present invention, a new provision in a guide has been created, consisting of a fixed part and a movable part, which allows the drawer to be opened without any bumps, noise or impact, which currently occur.
The objective mentioned in the preamble has therefore been achieved.
The forms of the structure for producing an active dampened guide of the invention, as also the materials and assembly modes can naturally differ from those shown for purely non-limiting purposes in the drawings.
The protection scope of the present invention is therefore defined by the enclosed claims.

Claims

A dampened opening guide for sliding parts of pieces of furniture, such as drawers or the like, which comprises a fixed part (12) of the guide, constrainable to a piece of furniture (14), and a movable part (13) of the guide, constrainable to a drawer (15), said fixed part (12) of the guide and said movable part (13) of the guide being produced as two pairs positionable on opposite sliding parts of the drawer (15), a cage-like sliding element (16) being interposed between each fixed part (12) and each movable part (13), wherein said movable part (13) of the guide provides a shaped rear stop (22) which forms an end-stop with maximum opening of the drawer (15) with respect to the furniture (14) wherein close to said shaped rear stop (22) the guide provides a damper (23) which is yielding, is positioned on said movable part (13) of the guide and, when the drawer is being opened, acts on a rear stop (24) of said cage-like sliding element (16), wherein said damper (23) is inserted in a seat (21) produced close to said shaped rear stop (22) provided on the movable part of the guide (13), characterized in that said damper (23) comprises a central body (25) from which a hook-end (26) extends, which is abutted on a flap (27) protruding upwards from said seat (21) formed close to said shaped rear stop (22) of the drawer (15).
The guide according to claim 1, characterized in that said damper (23) is made of plastic material.
The guide according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said damper (23) is a spring.
The guide according to claim 1, characterized in that said damper (23) is snap-inserted in said seat (21) .
The guide according to one or more of the previous claims, characterized in that said damper (23) has a tapered part (32) facing said rear stop (24) of said cage-like sliding element (16) so as to be yielding.
The guide according to claim 1, characterized in that said central body (25) of the damper (23) extends into a tapered leg (32) which protrudes freely in front of the damper (23) towards the interior of the movable part (13) of the guide.
The guide according to claim 1 or 6, characterized in that an enlarged end (29) of a further leg (28) is abutted beneath an upper horizontal side (31) of said movable part (13) of the guide.
The guide according to one or more of the previous claims, characterized in that said movable part (13) of the guide is a square-shaped section, whereas said fixed part (12) of the guide is a U-shaped section, of which a vertical side is constrainable to the piece of furniture (14) whereas another vertical side of the U-shaped section is shorter and is folded into a longitudinal edge (18), rolling elements (19) of said cage-like sliding element (16) sliding on said folded longitudinal edge (18).