FR2733885A1 - Chest of drawers wooden frame - Google Patents

Abstract

The chest of drawers has a parallelepiped wooden frame (1) with four uprights (3) joined together by cross bars (5). One lateral surface of each upright has U-shaped notches (6) which open horizontally. The ends of the cross bars and the ends of L-shaped slides (4) are fixed in the notches. The ends of the cross bars have notches cut half way through them to form a lower tenon (7) whose length is equal to the width of each slide. Each tenon and slide are fixed in one notch of an upright by a screw (8) screwed through the upright and the cross bar.

Description

Storage unit with drawers.

 The invention relates to storage furniture which comprises a rectangular wooden frame and a plurality of superimposed drawers mounted so as to be able to slide in the frame in the same horizontal direction called direction X below.

It relates more particularly, among these pieces of furniture, those whose wooden frame is delimited horizontally by four prismatic uprights of rectangular or similar cross section, joined together by suitable horizontal bracing means so as to form a plurality of open lockers on the front or "front" side of the cabinet, each of these compartments receiving a sliding drawer that can be removed in the direction
X.

 It aims, in particular, to provide for said furniture a particularly economical and robust constitution suitable for easy assembly, easy use after assembly and preferably a delivery before assembly in very small footprint.

To this end, a storage unit of the kind in question according to the invention is essentially characterized in that each of its uprights has a vertical flat lateral face parallel to the direction X, hollowed right through in this direction by a plurality of '' notches having a U-profile with right angles open laterally in the horizontal direction Y perpendicular to the direction X, and in that its bracing means are horizontal frames mounted at their four corners in four notches as defined above and each formed, on the one hand, by two prismatic slides extending in the direction
X and each having a cross section comprising at least one L with thick arms and, on the other hand, by two prismatic crosspieces of rectangular cross section extending in the direction Y, crosspieces whose two ends are notched in half-timber of so as to form a lower terminal tenon whose length is equal to the overall transverse width of each slide, each tenon contiguously supporting the base of one end of the slide, each notch receiving the end of a tenon and the portion of slideway supported by this end of the tenon and each assembly of three mutually nested components in the same notch (notched upright, notched cross member and slide) being consolidated by a screw or similar clamping member passing horizontally, in the direction Y, the portion of the corresponding upright at the bottom of the notch and the end end of the cross member constituting the tenon.

In advantageous embodiments, use is also made of one and / or the other of the following arrangements.
- at least part of the thickness of the vertical wing of each slide protrudes from the vertical face of the corresponding upright, so as to create a clearance between this upright and the drawer opposite,
- the cross section of each slide has the shape of an inverted T, the horizontal width of one of the arms of the T is equal to the horizontal depth of each notch and the sum of the vertical thickness of the said arm and the vertical thickness of each stud is equal to the vertical dimension of each notch,
- in a piece of furniture according to the preceding paragraph, the thickness of at least the other arm of the T is equal to the depth of the notch made in the middle of the wood in each end of the crosspiece to form a tenon,
- in a piece of furniture according to the paragraph preceding the previous one, the thickness of at least the other arm of the T is greater than the depth of the notch made with half-timber in each end of the crosspiece to form a tenon,
- the edges of each slide, which may come into contact with a drawer when it slides, are rounded or chamfered,
- each drawer of the furniture, made of cardboard, is in the form of a parallelepiped box open upwards and comprising on its vertical front face a member making it possible to manually control its horizontal pulls out of the furniture,
- each drawer according to the preceding paragraph is obtained from a sheet of cardboard initially flat by folding and local assemblies of the tab-slot type,
- the frame of the piece of furniture is completed by two crosspieces of the kind of the preceding ones, but not notched at their ends, suitable for cooperating with complementary notches hollowed out at the tops of the uprights so as to open out higher, said crosspieces serving as supports for a tray of top, preferably of wood, fixed on them, in particular by screwing,
- the current portion of the upper horizontal face of at least some of the crosspieces is hollowed out by at least one notch with a rectangular profile of width
L and E depth suitable for receiving the base of an inverted T-shaped slide joint.

 The invention includes, apart from these main provisions, certain other provisions which are preferably used at the same time and which will be more explicitly discussed below.

 In the following, some preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in a non-limiting manner, of course.

 Figure 1 of this drawing shows in perspective view a storage unit established according to the invention.

 Figure 2 shows in enlarged perspective view a portion of the frame of said piece of furniture.

 Figure 3 shows before assembly the three components of a node of said frame.

 Figure 4 shows on a larger scale, in section along IV-IV, Figure 5, such a node with the drawer portion surrounding this node.

Figure 5 shows the same node according to the arrow
V of Figure 4, but without the drawer.

 FIG. 6 similarly shows in FIG. 4 a variant of a storage cabinet frame node also established according to the invention.

 In each case, the considered storage unit comprises a wooden rectangular frame 1 and drawers 2 capable of sliding, during their opening and closing operations, in a horizontal direction X.

 The framework is a kind of cage comprising itself four wooden uprights 3 intended to constitute the four vertical edges of the piece of furniture and horizontally interlaced, on the one hand, by slides 4 extending in the direction X and, on the other hand , by crosspieces 5 extending in the horizontal direction Y perpendicular to X.

 Each upright 3 has the general shape of a prism of rectangular cross section, a vertical lateral face of which is hollowed out by notches 6.

 Each notch 6, open in the direction Y, is defined by a prismatic surface of rectangular cross section, the generatrices of this surface extending in the direction X. Said prismatic surface has a height H and a depth P, counted horizontally according to the direction Y, which is preferably slightly less than half the total thickness of the upright in this direction Y.

In the first embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 to 5, each slide 4 is constituted by a profiled wooden strip having a cross section
T overturned, the vertical thickness E of each wing of this
T being less than the height H above and the width of this wing, counted in the direction Y, being equal to the depth P of each notch 6.

 The widths of the two wings are preferably identical, but they could be different for certain applications.

 We will call L in what follows the total width of each slide 4, counted in the direction Y.

 Each cross member 5 is in the form of a prismatic piece of rectangular cross section extending in the direction Y and each of the two ends of the cross member is notched in the middle of the wood so as to form a tenon 7 extending horizontally the base of said crosses.

 This stud 7, of generally parallelepiped shape, itself has a length in the direction Y substantially equal to L and a vertical thickness equal to H-E.

 Under these conditions, each node of the framework, constituted by mutual interlocking of three parts 3, 4 and 5 extending respectively in three directions of space perpendicular to each other in pairs, namely along the vertical and in the two directions horizontal X and Y, is carried out as follows.

 A slide end 4 is placed on a tenon 7 terminating a cross-member 5, and this set of two superimposed pieces is inserted horizontally in the direction Y in a notch 6 of an upright 3.

 This introduction is carried out jointly because of the dimensions adopted for the various mutually nested parts.

 The assembly of these parts is then consolidated by screwing a screw 8 at the end, in the tenon 7, through the bottom of the notch 6, in the direction Y.

 This screwing has the effect of strongly tightening the end of the slide 4 between the upright 3 and the cross-member 5: for this tightening to be effective, the length of each tenon 7 is preferably given a value slightly less than the width L of each slide 4.

 Each "floor" of furniture equipped with a drawer, or several drawers side by side, as will be explained below, corresponds to a horizontal bracing frame composed of two rails 4 parallel and two crosspieces 5 parallel.

 In the case of the furniture shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1, comprising four stages of drawers, the frame of the furniture comprises four frames of the above type.

 Each of these frames is suitable for receiving a drawer 2 and for guiding its smooth sliding movements along two parallel slides 4.

 It should be noted that the interposition of the souls or "feet" of the overturned T's defining the slides 4 between the drawers 2 and the uprights 3 automatically creates between these latter vertical games J (FIGS. 1 and 4) which make it possible to remove all risk of friction between the vertical side walls of the drawers and the uprights, as well as jamming and wear which could result from such friction.

 The operations of the drawers are in all circumstances particularly easy.

The roles assumed by each inverted 4-T slide are multiple
a wing of this slide (on the right in FIG. 4) is used to support a soft slide 2,
- its other wing ensures the embedding of the slide in the adjacent notch 6 and therefore the solid fixing of this slide on the corresponding upright 3,
the vertical core of the slide serves both to guide the drawer 2 laterally and to create the clearance J which excludes friction and jamming during the sliding of the drawers,
- the inverted T profile gives the slide a good resistance to deformation, in particular by folding, which allows it to be used directly as a component of the rigid frame of the piece of furniture,
- The slides 4 constitute the bars or rungs of two lateral ladders supplemented by the uprights 3 braced by these slides and the ladder structure, particularly ventilated and lightened, of each of the two lateral faces of the piece of furniture which results therefrom, gives this piece of furniture in overall a typical appearance.

 Said structure makes it possible to see, by a simple glance cast on one side of the cabinet, both the different drawers and their respective degrees of horizontal depression in this cabinet.

 This last observation can be taken advantage of by giving the sides of the drawers specific shades or colors and / or by affixing special decorations.

 To clearly understand this visual feature of the invention, there is shown in Figure 1 the second drawer from the bottom in a partially open position while all the other drawers are shown in their closed position.

 The absence of friction indicated above, due to the presence of the sets J, makes it possible to adopt for the constitution of the drawers, a more economical material than wood, namely a cardboard, of a type called wavy or not.

 An advantage of this material is, in addition to its very low cost price, the possibility of its manual folding, which makes possible the manual confection of the drawers from sheets initially flat, marked and precut.

 This characteristic is important because it allows the furniture to be delivered to its buyer with an extremely small footprint: the work required of the buyer to assemble the furniture which is thus delivered to him in a "kit" then requires no special skills from him and the only tool required to complete the assembly is a screwdriver.

Examination of Figure 1 again leads to the following few observations
- The upper part of the cabinet is covered by a solid plate 9, in particular made of wood, which can be very simply mounted on the framework as defined previously as follows: provision is made for the two notches 6 arranged at the upper part of the different uprights 3 open outwards instead of being delimited by an upper wall like the other notches 6 and provision is made, in order to cooperate with these through notches, to sleepers 5 whose ends are not notched in order to reveal tenons 7; it is on these two crosspieces 5, which extend in the same horizontal plane as the upper faces of the uprights 3 and which are still assembled on these uprights by tightening screws at the end of the type of screws 8 above, that the plate 9 is placed, the fixing of this plate on the remainder of the frame being advantageously ensured by means of screws passing vertically through the crosspieces 5 and screwed from bottom to top in the latter,
- We also see, hollowed out in the upper face of the front crossmember defining the fourth stage of the framework, in the middle of the extent of this crossmember, a rectangular notch open upwards and dimensioned so as to join a slide 4 in inverted T of the kind described above: this slide serves to guide, on its two wings respectively, the corresponding corners of two small drawers 2 'each extending over a width substantially equal to half of the drawers 2 of the other floors; it should be noted that, here again, the core of the central slide 4 defines a vertical clearance J ′ between the two small drawers in question, which prevents their mutual lateral friction,
the front face of each drawer is equipped with a member 10 making it possible to pull this drawer horizontally in the direction X outside the cabinet: this member is for example a round button, as illustrated, but it could also consist of any other desirable manner and for example materialized by a notch hollowed out vertically in the upper edge of the front face considered or even by one or two holes hollowed out in the current portion of this wall,
- Finally, we see in Figure 1 that each upright 3 extends horizontally downward relative to the frame defining the base of the lower stage of the frame, which gives the furniture legs 11 to isolate the lower drawer of the ground.

 Many variants can be envisaged without departing from the scope of the present invention.

 In particular, the branch, of each slide 4 in inverted T, other than that embedded in a notch 6 of amount 3, can be thicker than the other branch, which makes it possible to reserve games automatically (as visible in K in Figure 6 described below) between the bases of the sliding drawers 2 and the upper faces of the crosspieces 5 covered by these bases, thereby further reducing the friction created by the sliding of the drawers.

 This same creation of sets K could also be obtained by using slides with symmetrical arms, by simple reduction of the depth of the housings reserved for each slide at the ends of the crosspieces 5, above the studs 7.

 In the second embodiment illustrated in Figure 6, the cross section of each slide 4 has the shape of a single L with thick arms.

 The single horizontal arm of this L plays the same role here as the right horizontal arm of the inverted T in Figure 4.

 This arm can be completely housed in the notch cut in the middle of the wood in the end of the corresponding cross-member 5.

 Or, as illustrated, it projects slightly upwards relative to the upper face of said cross-member 5, which makes it possible to reserve a clearance K between this face and the bottoms of drawers 2.

 As for the vertical arm of each L-shaped slideway 4, it can be joined together and completely in the upper part of the notch 6.

 Or, as illustrated, it projects partially outside said notch 6, its protruding portion then playing the role, previously played by the foot of the inverted T, of creator of the game J between the upright 3 and the drawer 6 opposite .

 To prevent the edges, slides 4, likely to come into contact with the drawers, from creating by biting grooves or ridges in the latter, it may be advantageous to soften these edges by rounded or chamfers, as well as visible in A in Figure 6.

Claims (10)

 1. Storage unit comprising a wooden parallelepiped frame (1) delimited horizontally by four prismatic uprights (3) joined together by suitable bracing means, and a plurality of superimposed drawers (2) mounted so that they can slide in the framework in the same horizontal direction called direction X below, characterized in that each of its uprights (3) has a vertical flat lateral face parallel to direction X, hollowed right through in this direction by a plurality of 'notches (6) having a U-profile with right angles open laterally in the horizontal direction Y perpendicular to the direction X, and in that its bracing means are horizontal frames mounted at their four corners in four notches as defined above and each constituted, on the one hand, by two prismatic slides (4) extending in the direction X and each having a cross section comprising at least one L with thick arms, and, on the other hand, by two prismatic crosspieces (5) of rectangular cross section extending in the direction Y, crosspieces whose two ends are notched in the middle of the wood so forming a lower terminal tenon (7) the length of which is equal to the overall transverse width of each slide, each tenon contiguously supporting the base of one end of the slide, each notch receiving the end of a tenon and the portion of slide supported by this end of tenon and each assembly of three mutually nested components in the same notch (notched upright, notched cross member and slide) being consolidated by a screw or similar clamping member (8) crossing horizontally, in the direction Y, the portion of the amount corresponding to the bottom of the notch and the end end of the cross member constituting the tenon.  2. Furniture according to claim 1, characterized in that at least part of the thickness of the vertical wing of each slide (4) projects from the vertical face of the upright (3) corresponding, so as to create a clearance (J) between this upright and the opposite drawer (2).  3. Furniture according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the cross section of each slide (4) has the shape of an inverted T, in that the horizontal width of one of the arms of the T is equal to the horizontal depth of each notch (6) and in that the sum of the vertical thickness of said arm and the vertical thickness of each stud (7) is equal to the vertical dimension of each notch.  4. Furniture according to claim 3, characterized in that the thickness of at least the other arm of the T is equal to the depth of the notch made in the middle of the wood in each end of the crosspiece (5) to form a tenon (7).  5. Furniture according to claim 3, characterized in that the thickness of at least the other arm of the T is greater than the depth of the notch made with half-timber in each end of the crosspiece (5) to form a tenon ( 7).  6. Furniture according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the edges of each slide (4), capable of coming into contact with a drawer (2) during its sliding, are rounded or chamfered.  7. Furniture according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that each drawer (2), made of cardboard, is in the form of a rectangular box open upwards and comprising on its vertical face before a member ( 10) allowing manual control of its horizontal pulls out of the cabinet.  8. Furniture according to claim 7, characterized in that each drawer is obtained from a sheet of cardboard initially flat by folding and local assemblies of the tab-slot type.  9. Furniture according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that its framework (1) is completed by two crosspieces of the kind of the preceding ones, but not notched at their ends, suitable for cooperating with complementary notches hollowed out at the tops of the uprights (3) so as to open out above, said crosspieces serving as supports for a top plate (9), preferably made of wood, fixed on them, in particular by screwing.  10. Furniture according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the current portion of the upper horizontal face of at least some of the crosspieces (4) is hollowed out by at least one notch with a rectangular profile of width L and depth E suitable for jointing the base of an inverted T slide (4).