EP4085796B1 - Furniture cabinet with a drawer and a drawer locking device - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a furniture compartment with a drawer and a drawer locking device according to the preamble of claim 1.

A generic furniture compartment with a drawer and a drawer locking device is known from practice. For example, on boats, in mobile homes and the like, it is desirable to hold drawers particularly reliably in their closed position, even if the vehicle in question in which the drawer is located is in an inclined position and the drawer is trying to move out of a furniture body and into it to drive in the open position. Therefore, drawer locking devices are known for such applications, which secure the drawer particularly reliably in its closed position, with higher holding forces than are known, for example, from magnetic holding means or from the so-called "self-closing" furniture fittings of furniture used in the household.

In this locking device, a wedge is arranged under the bottom of the drawer which tapers towards the rear, i.e. in the direction from the front or cover of the drawer to the back. When the opened drawer is in its If the closed position is moved, this wedge comes into contact with the upwardly projecting rear end of a rocker, which forms the latch for the drawer. The rocker is adjusted so that in its rest position the rear end protrudes upwards, for example due to gravity due to sections of the rocker of different sizes or weights on both sides of its pivot axis, or due to magnetic holding forces, spring force or the like. This rest position, which the latch tries to assume automatically, also represents its latch position in which the drawer can be locked. When closing the drawer, the rocker can be pivoted against the restoring force acting in this way, so that the bolt is moved from its rest or locking position into a release position and the wedge can be moved over the downwardly yielding rocker.

When the drawer is closed, the wedge engages behind the rocker with its wider - i.e. deeper downward - end, which, due to the restoring force, automatically returns to its rest or locking position after the wedge no longer acts on the rear end of the rocker. In its closed position, the drawer is now positively secured against unwanted opening. The wedge is therefore called a holder because it works together with the latch to hold the drawer in its closed position.

To open the drawer, it is raised so far that the lower edge of the wedge is higher than the upper edge of the latch, i.e. than the rear edge of the rocker. The drawer can now be moved forward into its open position. At the earliest, during this opening movement, the front edge of the wedge that projects furthest downwards is above the rear edge of the rocker that projects furthest upwards can the drawer be lowered again so that the wedge now moves against its restoring force from the rest or locked position into its position Release position is moved and the drawer can be moved further until it is fully open.

In the case of the generic furniture compartment, the drawer locking device has proven to be excellent in practice due to its functional reliability. Depending on what the drawer is loaded with, lifting the drawer when the opening movement begins can make handling the drawer more difficult due to the high weight of the drawer. In addition, a free space is required in the furniture front above the drawer front to enable the drawer to be lifted when the opening movement begins. For aesthetic reasons, it may be desirable to allow the narrowest possible joints between the individual panels of doors, drawers and the like in the furniture front.

In practice, a furniture compartment of a different type is also known from the area of boat interior fittings, in which the drawer locking device behind the drawer panel has a spring-loaded locking hook which engages behind the furniture body above the drawer. Through a hole in the drawer panel, the locking hook can be moved against the spring action into a release position so that the drawer can be opened. Because of the hole, the drawer is not protected against the ingress of dirt, moisture or insects. In addition, the locking hook is visible when the drawer is open, which can be aesthetically undesirable, and so the locking hook and its spring mechanism are exposed to mechanical influences or the ingress of foreign bodies or dirt, which can endanger the mobility and thus the functional reliability of the locking hook.

From the DE 196 590 C a locking device for drawers is known. A drawer is arranged in a furniture compartment, which has a front panel on which there is a button in the middle on the outside. This shutter button can be rotated about its central axis. Two flat irons, known as bands, connect to the shutter button on opposite circumferential sections and are in an operative connection with it, similar to racks with a gear. Depending on the direction of rotation, a rotary movement of the loading button results in the two belts being moved apart or pulled together synchronously. From both sides, movable locking tongues engage in recesses that are provided in the side boards of the drawer, so that the drawer position is secured against being pulled out of the furniture compartment. The bands act on the locking tongues - either directly or via deflection levers. By turning the drawer knob, the straps can be moved apart to move the locking tongues out of the recesses, so that the drawer can now be opened and pulled out of the furniture compartment past the locking tongues.

The invention is based on the object of improving a generic furniture compartment including a drawer locking device in such a way that the locking device enables the drawer to be opened without having to lift the drawer.

This task is achieved by a furniture compartment with a drawer locking device with the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are described in the subclaims.

In other words, the invention proposes using a lifter with which the downwardly hanging front part of the rocker can be lifted. The lifter is therefore designed and arranged so that it can be moved upwards when the drawer is in its closed position and that it grips the front part of the rocker when the drawer is in its closed position. In the simplest case, the jack can be located under the front, lower edge of the rocker extend. However, an opening can also be provided in the front part of the rocker, or an eyelet or a bracket, a hook or the like can be arranged on this front part, so that in any case the lifter can act on the front part of the rocker in the manner that when the lifter is raised, the front part of the rocker is also raised and accordingly the rear part of the rocker is lowered to such an extent that when the drawer is opened, the holder, for example the wedge mentioned, can pass through the rear part of the rocker.

The lifter extends so far back that when the drawer is opened it acts on the latch and keeps the front part of the rocker raised until the holder is above the rear end of the rocker during this opening movement, so that the automatic The latch is prevented from returning to its locking position and the drawer can be opened further without any problems, even if the lifter no longer acts on the latch.

In order to be able to lift the lifter and in this way move the bolt into its release position, an actuating element is arranged on the panel above the lifter, which in the simplest case can be operated manually, but if necessary also by a motor can. Transmission means run from this actuating element to the jack, for example in the form of a cable, a linkage or the like, so that in any case the movement of the actuating element is transmitted to the jack and the jack can be raised by means of the actuating element.

The actuation of the actuating element requires a comparatively small amount of force, even if the drawer is loaded with a heavy weight, so that handling the drawer when opening is simplified and made easier. In addition, no vertical mobility of the drawer is required, so that the cover of the drawer can connect with a minimal joint or seamlessly to adjacent sections of a furniture front, or to a worktop or the like.

The transmission means between the actuating element and the lifter can advantageously be designed as a tension element, so that in the sense of a structural simplification, the lifter can be raised from its rest position into its working position without additional deflection elements or the like and the lifter can therefore be pulled upwards by means of the transmission means.

The actuating element can advantageously be designed as a rotating fitting. In this case, the transmission means connect eccentrically to the rotary fitting, so that a downwardly acting compressive force or an upwardly acting tensile force can be generated by a pivoting movement of the rotary fitting, which can be transmitted to the lifter via appropriate transmission means.

If the actuating element is moved by a motor, it can be moved by means of the motor between a starting position and a working position, and accordingly also by a motor be moved back to its original position. However, if manual actuation of the actuating element is provided, it may be advantageous to hold the actuating element in its starting position by means of spring force. If several drawers are arranged in a furniture front and accordingly several actuating elements are visible on this furniture front, an aesthetically advantageous appearance is achieved in that all of the actuating elements are aligned in the same way and are not at an angle to one another or are arranged irregularly in any other way. In addition, the spring causes the actuating element to be automatically returned to its starting position, so that this movement does not have to be carried out manually and so that in this way the operation of the drawer locking device is simplified.

An advantageous, space-saving and, in particular, flat design of the spring used for this purpose can consist in designing the spring as a coil spring which runs around the pivot point of the rotating fitting. In this way, a fitting can be created that can be accommodated in a pocket in the drawer front, i.e. in a cutout that is made into the back of the front.

The transmission means can advantageously run in the cover of the drawer. In this way, the transmission means are optimally protected from external influences and, for example, unwanted deformations, so that the functional reliability of the drawer locking device is guaranteed over a long period of time.

The drawer can advantageously have, firstly, a front wall as a structural element of the drawer itself, and secondly, the mentioned cover of the drawer, which is mounted as a decorative element in front of the front wall and forms a visible part of the furniture front. Accordingly, the drawers can are manufactured in large numbers as identical parts, and using different decorative elements, namely different panels, the drawers can be adapted to the desired external appearance of the entire piece of furniture. In addition, this creates the possibility of arranging fittings and possibly also transmission means, which are provided for actuating the lifter, in the panel in an open manner, namely in recesses in the panel that are open to the rear. If the panel is mounted on the front wall of the drawer, such functional elements are protected all around, which is advantageous for their functional safety and also for aesthetic reasons.

If manual actuation of the actuating element is provided, a movable handle is arranged on the panel, accessible to a user, which can be operated manually by the user and which is assigned to the actuating element, so that the movement of the handle causes a movement of the actuating element. The handle can be designed, for example, in the form of a slider, a lever or the like. In an advantageous embodiment, the handle can be mounted so that it can pivot and can be designed, for example, as a rotary knob. In particular, if such a rotary knob is elongated, for example oval, easy handling of the drawer locking device is supported due to the leverage around the pivot point.

A damper can advantageously be assigned to the actuating element, so that a movement of the actuating element is correspondingly dampened. In this way, a hard stop at the end of the movement path is avoided. Otherwise there could be a risk that the two components that abut against each other will work into one another, so that, for example, the alignment of the handle visible on the furniture front, as already mentioned above, in the The starting position would change and differ from how it would be handled by others. This can be avoided by the dampened movement.

Single- and double-acting dampers are commercially available. When resetting the actuating element is supported by spring force, the use of a one-way damper can be provided, so that the actuating element can be moved from the starting position into the working position without the need to overcome a damping resistance. If the handle acting on the actuating element is later released, the return movement of the actuating element to its starting position is, however, dampened, so that the above-mentioned hard stop is avoided, which, as described, could be functionally disadvantageous and could also be perceived as acoustically disturbing.

The damper can advantageously be designed as a rotation damper, since it has small dimensions and is economically available.

Fig. 1

einen Vertikalschnitt durch einen vorderen, unteren Bereich eines Möbelfachs samt darin befindlichem Schubkasten,

Fig. 2

eine Ansicht von vorn auf ein Betätigungselement und einen darunter angeordneten, aus illustrativen Gründen um 90° gedrehten Heber, und die

Fig. 3 und 4

vergleichende Darstellungen des Betätigungselements von Fig. 2 in dessen Ausgangs- und Arbeitsstellung, wobei jeweils eine in dem Betätigungselement angeordnete Feder oberhalb des Betätigungselements separat dargestellt ist.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail using the purely schematic illustrations. This shows

Fig. 1

a vertical section through a front, lower area of a furniture compartment including the drawer located therein,

Fig. 2

a view from the front of an actuating element and a lifter arranged underneath, rotated by 90 ° for illustrative reasons, and the

3 and 4

Comparative representations of the actuating element from Fig. 2 in its initial and working position, with a spring arranged in the actuating element above the actuating element being shown separately.

In Fig. 1 a furniture compartment 1 is indicated, with a shelf 2 delimiting the furniture compartment 1 at the bottom. Inside the furniture compartment 1 there is a drawer 3 in its closed position, in which it is moved into the furniture compartment 1 as far as possible. A panel 4 of the drawer 3 lies against the front edge of the shelf 2. The panel 4 represents part of the furniture front and is attached to the front of a front wall 5 of the drawer 3. From this front wall 5, a base 6 and side walls 7 of the drawer 3 extend backwards to a rear wall, not shown, of the drawer 3.

A holder 8 is mounted under the base 6 of the drawer 3, which is at least partially wedge-shaped, namely in its rear area, which is on the right in the drawing. When the drawer 3 is in its closed position shown, the holder 8 engages behind a latch 9, which is designed as a rocker that is movably mounted about a pivot axis 10 and is accordingly divided by the pivot axis 10 into a front part 11 and a rear part 12. In the situation shown, the latch 9 is in its rest position, which it strives to assume automatically and which is also referred to as the control position. The rear edge of the rear part 12 protrudes so far upwards that it collides with the holder 8 if the drawer 3 is to be opened from its closed position shown. In this way, the drawer 3 is secured in its closed position by means of the latch 9.

The latch 9 has a stop so that the rear part 12 cannot be moved further upwards and accordingly the lower edge of the front part 11 is held at a distance above the shelf 2. This distance allows an L-shaped lifter 14 to reach under the front part 11 of the latch 9 when the drawer 3 is closed becomes. From the lifter 14, transmission means 15 run upwards within the aperture 4. For this purpose, the panel 4 has a recess 16 that is open to the rear and is covered or closed by the front wall 5 of the drawer 3.

Fig. 2 shows the lifter 14 and the transmission means 15, shown interrupted, which run upwards from the lifter 14 to an actuating element 17, which is also arranged in the correspondingly enlarged recess 16 of the cover 4. While the lifter 14 is in the same orientation as in Fig. 1 is shown, the actuating element 17 is shown pivoted by 90 ° to it. The actuating element 17 has a housing 18 in which a slide 19 is mounted so that it can move in height.

In Fig. 2 the slide 19 - and thus the entire actuating element 17 - is in its starting position or rest position, with the slide 19 assuming a lower position. Accordingly, the lifter 14 is also in a lower position, which can also be referred to as the rest position of the lifter 14 and off Fig. 1 is visible. The actuating element 17 is automatically held in this rest position by means of a spring 20, which is designed as a coil spring. The spring 20 is supported on the one hand on a housing pin 21, which is arranged in a stationary manner on the housing 18, and on the other hand on an eccentric pin 22, which is arranged on a pivotally mounted eccentric 23.

Fig. 3 shows the actuating element 17 in its starting position. For better clarity, the spring 20 is shown separately and above the housing 18. It is also in the same arrangement as in Fig. 2 . The slide 19 is in its lower position and rests with sections of an inner contour of the housing 18 corresponding to lower peripheral sections. The slide 19 is designed like a frame and surrounds an inner free space 24 in which the eccentric 23 is arranged. The eccentric 23 also surrounds a free space, which is referred to as an axle opening 25 and serves to accommodate an axle, which in the exemplary embodiment shown can be designed as a square rod. There is a handle on this axis in front of the panel 4, so that the eccentric 23 can be pivoted about the axis by means of a corresponding pivoting movement of the handle.

By turning the handle and the eccentric 23 to the right, the actuating element 17 can be moved out of the in Fig. 3 apparent starting position must be moved into a working position that is in Fig. 4 is shown. Here too, the spring 20 is shown separately and above the housing 18, and the arrows added to the springs 20 show comparatively in the 3 and 4 , how the configuration of the spring 20 changes. While the end of the spring 20 resting against the housing pin 21 always remains stationary, the spring 20 is tensioned when its other end is moved clockwise together with the eccentric pin 22. Below the spring 20 is in Fig. 4 It can be seen that the eccentric 23 has raised the slide 19 due to the pivoting movement mentioned.

Accordingly, the transmission means 15 and consequently also the lifter 14 have been raised, so that in comparison to the representation of Fig. 1 the front part 11 of the bolt 9 is raised and the bolt 9 is pivoted about the pivot axis 10. As a result, the rear part 12 of the latch 9 is moved downwards, so that the drawer 3 can now be pulled forward, i.e. opened. The holder 8 comes over the rear part 12 of the bolt 9, while the lifter 14 is lifting the lower part 11 of the bolt 9. If the lifter 14 comes out of engagement with the latch 9, the latch 9 cannot return to its latch position, but only rests against the underside of the holder 8, so that the drawer 3 can be fully opened without any problems.

During a later closing process, the wedge-shaped section of the holder 8 first comes into contact with the rear part 12 of the bolt 9, so that this rear part 12 is lowered and the front part 11 of the bolt 9 is raised. While the holder 8 is still acting on the latch 9, the lifter 14 moves under the front part 11 of the latch 9 during the closing movement of the drawer 3. If the holder 8 then comes out of engagement with the latch 9, the latch 9 tends to automatically to assume its locking position and the front part 11 lowers until the lock 9 reaches its stop or the front part 11 lies on the lifter 14, as in Fig. 1 shown.

Reference symbol:

1

Furniture compartment

2

Fold bottom

3

drawer

4

cover

5

front wall

6

Floor

7

Side wall

8th

holder

9

bars

10

Pivot axis

11

Front part

12

Back part

14

Heber

15

means of transmission

16

recess

17

Actuator

18

Housing

19

Slider

20

Feather

21

Housing pin

22

Eccentric pin

23

eccentric

24

free space

25

Axle opening

Claims (12)

1. Furniture compartment with a drawer and a drawer locking device,

   • having a latch (9) designed as a rocker, which is mounted below the drawer (3) in the interior of the furniture compartment (1), and which is pivotably mounted around a pivot axis (10) between a locking position and a release position, and where the pivot axis (10) divides the latch (9) into a front part (11) and a rear part (12),

   • where the latch (9) in its locked position towards a front, open end of the furniture compartment (1) has its front part (11) which slopes downward forwards and its rear part (12) which rises to the rear and where in its release position the front end of the front part (11) is arranged higher than in the locking position,

   • and where the latch (9) strives to assume its locking position,

   • and having a holder (8),
   which is mounted under a bottom (6) of the drawer (3), and which projects so far downward that the holder (8) presses the rear part (12) of the latch (9) down into the release position when the drawer (3) is pushed into the furniture compartment (1), and which is arranged so far back that it engages behind the latch (9) when the drawer (3) is pushed into the furniture compartment (1) and closed,

   • and where the drawer (3) has a front cover (4),
   characterised in

   • that the cover (4) protrudes downwards beyond the bottom (6) of the drawer (3),

   • that in the lower area of the cover (4) a vertically movable lifter (14) is arranged, which extends to the front part (11) of the latch (9) when the drawer (3) is pushed into the furniture compartment (1) and closed,

   • that a movable actuating element (17) is arranged on the cover (4) above the lifter (14),

   • and that the lifter (14) is connected to the actuating element (17) via transmission means (15) in such a way
   that the lifter (14) can be moved from a lower rest position into a raised working position by means of a movement of the actuating element (17), in which, when the drawer (3) is pushed into the furniture compartment (1) and closed, the front part (11) of the latch (9) is raised and the latch (9) assumes its release position.
2. Furniture compartment in accordance with claim 1, characterised in that the transmission means (15) are designed as a tension element.
3. Furniture compartment in accordance with claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the actuating element (17) is designed as a rotating fitting to which the transmission means (15) are connected eccentrically,
   such that, when the actuating element (17) rotates, the transmission means (15) are moved from a first to another, second height.
4. Furniture compartment in accordance with claim 3, characterised in

   that the actuating element (17) is held by spring force in a starting position in which the lifter (14) assumes its rest position,

   and that the actuating element (17) can be moved against the spring action from the starting position into an actuating position in which the lifter (14) assumes its working position.
5. Furniture compartment in accordance with claim 4, characterised in
   that the spring (20) is designed as a coil spring which runs around the pivot point of the rotating fitting.
6. Furniture compartment according to any one of the preceding claims,
   characterised in
   that the transmission means (15) are contained in the cover (4).
7. Furniture compartment in accordance with claim 6, characterised in
   that the drawer (3) has a face (5), and the cover (4) is designed as an additional decorative cover mounted in front of the face (5), which has a recess (16) open to the face (5) of the drawer (3) in which the transmission means (15) are contained.
8. Furniture compartment in accordance with claim 7, characterised in
   that the actuating element (17) is also arranged in the recess (16) of the cover (4).
9. Furniture compartment in accordance with claim 8, characterised in
   that a pivotally mounted handle is arranged in front of the cover (4) and is connected to the actuating element (17).
10. Furniture compartment according to any one of the preceding claims,
    characterised in
    that a damper is assigned to the actuating element (17), such that a movement of the actuating element (17) takes place in a damped manner.
11. Furniture compartment in accordance with claims 4 and 10, characterised in
    that the damper is designed to act on one side, such that the actuating element (17) can be moved undamped from the starting position into an actuating position and can be automatically moved back to its starting position by spring force and in a damped manner.
12. Furniture compartment in accordance with claim 10 or 11, characterised in that the damper is designed as a rotation damper.

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