GB1604569A - Drawer fronts - Google Patents

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO DRAWER FRONTS (71) We, LEABANK OFFICE EQUIPMENT LTD., a British Company of Holyhead Road Factory Centre, Western Way, Wednesbury, West Midlands, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a Patent may be granted to us and the method by which it is to be performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention is concerned with improvements relating to drawer fronts, and in particular to the provision of handles on drawer fronts. The invention has particularly been devised in relation to the provision of handles on drawer fronts of filing cabinets, in which context the invention will hereinafter be described. It is to be appreciated that the invention is not restricted to use with filing cabinets, and may be utilised in other drawer fronts where analogous problems arise.

The term "handle" is used herein generically as including means generally facilitating the opening of a drawer.

Conventionally, the drawer front of a filing cabinet is provided with a separatelyformed handle which is secured in position by bolts or rivets. Such handles suffer from the disadvantage that they project from the filing cabinet, and may be knocked and at times broken, particularly when the cabinet is being moved. Additionally, such handles may be regarded as lacking somewhat in aesthetic appeal.

A suggestion has been made to provide a handle on a filing cabinet, by affording in the drawer front an aperture, which is lined by a plastic insert, said insert also affording a lip to be gripped by a user of the filing cabinet, on opening the drawer.

One of the difficulties encountered heretofore in carrying out this suggestion is in securing the insert in position within the aperture, and providing the necessary rigidity to the insert. Conventionally, this is accomplished by the provision on the insert of pillars, adapted to receive, from an interior, screws whereby the insert may be secured on the interior to the drawer head liner.

Additionally, the aperture is conventionally enclosed at the rear by the drawer head liner; this requires that the drawer head liner be finished to a high standard on a side thereof not normally visible, and also limits the freedom of positioning of the handle.

This invention provides a drawer front provided with an aperture defined by rectilinear opposite edges, and an insert member assembled in position within the aperture, wherein the insert member is necessarily subjected to stress during assembly with the drawer front as rectilinear surfaces of the insert member are clipped over corresponding rectilinear edges of the aperture, which stress causes resilient deformation of the member, said stress being at least partly relieved and said deformation being at least partly reversed when assembly is completed so that the member is retained in the aperture, said insert member bounding part at least of a cavity into which a user of the drawer may insert his fingers to open the drawer.

Since the insert member undergoes resilient deformation which is at least partly reversed so that the member is retained in the aperture, it need not be provided with fastners to facilitate the securement thereof to the drawer front or a drawer head liner of the drawer front by screws. However, if desired the insert may be additionally secured to the drawer head liner, albeit more conveniently, as will hereinafter be described.

The insert member preferably bounds the cavity to the rear and on two other surfaces, conveniently the top and bottom of the cavity. Thus, the drawer head liner on the interior thereof need not be visible, and need to not be finished to so high a standard.

Such top and bottom surfaces of the cavity are conveniently bounded, at the sides, by respective separately-formed side members. Advantageously the insert member includes a flange behind which a user can engage his fingers. Preferably respective parts of the insert member which are at opposite boundaries of the aperture and which are disposed at the inside of a wall of the drawer front, overlap said wall to respectively different extents. The flange may be adjacent to the part which overlaps said wall to a greater extent. In the preferred embodiment the part which overlaPs the wall to a lesser extent is a lip which during assembly, passes over an edge of said wall which forms the corresponding respective boundary of the aperture and is necessarily stressed, said stress being relieved when assembly is completed so that the lip overlaps the wall in said manner.The part which overlaps the wall to a greater extent enables the insert member to take the strain of drawer-opening forces applied to the flange.

Respective flanges may be provided adjacent said parts of the insert member, each flange being separated from the respective part by a distance sufficient to accommodate the thickness of the drawer front.

Advantageously the cavity is also bounded, on two other sides, by separately formed side members affording side wall portions.

In this manner the cavity (other than at the front) is completely enclosed, and further, this may be accomplished without encountering undue difficulty in the manufacture or assembly of the insert member and side pieces. Both these parts may be afforded by cutting to appropriate length from extrusions, of metal or plastics material, or by injection moulding of plastics material, or by pressing or rolling metal sheet.

However, the handle may be an injection moulded component which incorporates the side members as an integral part of the handle, i.e. a one-piece moulding.

If desired, an interior part of the insert member may be formed to accommodate an edge margin of a drawer head liner, conventionally secured to the interior of the drawer front on the interior thereof.

There will now be given a detailed description, to be read with reference to the accompanying drawings, of a preferred embodiment of this invention which has been selected to illustrate the invention by way of example.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure I is a front perspective view of a filing cabinet incorporating the present invention; Figure 2 is a sectional view of the filing cabinet, taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2; and Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the cooperation between insert member and one of two side members.

The filing cabinet which is the preferred embodiment of this invention is a fourdrawer cabinet, each drawer of which comprises a drawer front 6 afforded with means, indicated generally by the numeral 8, Figure 1, to facilitate opening of the drawer by a user thereof.

Each drawer front is formed of metal sheet, folded over at top and bottom to provide inner and outer walls 10, 12 (Figure 2). Secured between the terminal portions of the inner walls 10 is a drawer head liner 14.

The front wall 12 is provided, in an upper region thereof, and conveniently to the right-hand side, with an aperture 16 which is conveniently about 14 milimetres deep, and pressed into the aperture 16 is an insert member 18.

The insert member affords an interior, rear wall portion which bounds a rear side of a cavity 28 (and which, in the construction illustrated, abuts against the inner wall 10) and top and bottom wall portions which bound the top and bottom sides of the cavity.

The insert member also comprises, at the front of the upper wall portion thereof, formations provided by parallel flanges 20, 22 which afford therebetween a groove, into which the outer wall 12 adjacent to the upper boundary of the aperture 16, can be located. Extending parallel to the flange 22 and situated adjacent the lower wall portion of the insert member there is a flange 24 and spaced inwardly of the flange 24 is an elongate lip 26. Thus, when the outer wall 12 is located in the groove between the flanges 20 and 22, the lip 26 may be pressed behind the edge of the wall 12 defining the lower boundary of the aperture, said lower edge thus being trapped between the lip 26 of the flange 24.

The cavity 28, bounded at the top, bottom and rear by the insert member, affords an opening into which the fingers of the user of the cabinet may be inserted, in particular, in an upward direction behind a downwardlyextending flange 23, which is parallel to the flange 22, and which extends partly across the front of the cavity 28. In this manner, an opening force may be applied to the flange 23, and hence to the insert member, to effect opening of the drawer. To increase rigidity of the opening means so provided, conveniently the insert member is provided with a flat back wall, which abuts against the inner wall 10 of the drawer front, and advantageously an upwardly-projecting part of said back wall is secured to the inner wall, by for example a blind rivet 30.

In the construction illustrated in the drawings, the insert member is of a shape which particularly lends itself to formation by an extrusion operation. Thus, the insert member may be formed as part of a continuous strip of indefinite length, from which desired lengths are cut off. For this purpose, either plastics material or metal may be used.

In such circumstances, to enclose the side ends of the insert member, two separatelyformed side members (one of which, 36, is shown in Figure 4) are used.

Each side member 36 comprises an interior flange 38, an exterior flange 40 and a lip 42. Thus, each side piece may be inserted into the aperture 16, with the side edge of the wall 12 defining a lateral boundary of the drawer front bounding the aperture being gripped between the flange 40 and lip 42, and with the flange 38 bounding one side of the cavity 28. With both side pieces so located, the insert member 18 may be clipped into the aperture 16, the edge of the drawer front defining the upper boundary of the aperture initially being located between the flanges 20, 22, and the insert member being pressed into the lower part of the aperture 16, causing resilient deformation of the lip 26 as it passes behind the edge of the drawer front which bounds the bottom of the aperture.

If desired, the rear wall portion of the insert member may be displaced slightly (shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 to accommodate the upper margin of a higher drawer head liner.

It will be noted that the flange 20, which is adjacent to the flange 23, overlaps with the wall 12 to a greater extent than does the lip 26.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A drawer front provided with an aperture defined by rectilinear opposite edges, and an insert member assembled in position within the aperture, wherein the insert member is necessarily subjected to stress during assembly with the drawer front as rectilinear surfaces of the insert member are clipped over corresponding rectilinear edges of the aperture, which stress causes resilient deformation of the member, said stress being at least partly relieved and said deformation being at least partly reversed when assembly is completed so that the member is retained in the aperture, said insert member bounding part at least of a cavity into which a user of the drawer may insert his fingers to open the drawer.

2. A drawer front according to claim 1 wherein the insert member includes a flange behind which a user can engage his fingers.

3. A drawer front according to either of the preceding claims wherein respective parts of the insert member which are at opposite boundaries of the aperture and which are disposed at the inside of a wall of the drawer front, overlap said wall to respectively different extents.

4. A drawer front according to claim 3 as appendant to claim 2 wherein the flange is adjacent to the part which overlaps said wall to a greater extent.

5. A drawer front according to claim 3 wherein the part which overlaps the wall to a lesser extent forms a lip, which during assembly, passes over an edge of said wall which forms a corresponding boundary of the aperture, undergoes resiiient deforma- tion, and wherein said deformation is relieved when assembly is completed, so that the lip overlaps the wall in said manner.

6. A drawer front according to any preceding claim wherein the insert member bounds the cavity to the rear and at two other surfaces.

7. A drawer front according to claim 6 wherein said two other surfaces define the top and bottom of the cavity.

8. A drawer front according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the cavity is bounded, at the sides, by respective separately-formed side members.

9. A drawer front according to any one of the preceding claims wherein a rear interior wall of the insert member, extending generally parallel to the plane of the aperture, is secured to an interior wall of the drawer front.

10. A drawer front according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the insert member is formed by a moulding operation from plastics material.

11. A drawer front according to any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein the insert member is formed by an extrusion operation.

12. A drawer front according to claim 11 wherein the insert member is of plastics material.

13. A drawer front according to claim 11, wherein the insert member is of metal.

14. A filing cabinet comprising a plurality of drawers, each of which includes a drawer front according to any one of the preceding claims.

15. A filing cabinet comprising means to facilitate opening of the drawers thereof, constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (16)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. of said back wall is secured to the inner wall, by for example a blind rivet 30. In the construction illustrated in the drawings, the insert member is of a shape which particularly lends itself to formation by an extrusion operation. Thus, the insert member may be formed as part of a continuous strip of indefinite length, from which desired lengths are cut off. For this purpose, either plastics material or metal may be used. In such circumstances, to enclose the side ends of the insert member, two separatelyformed side members (one of which, 36, is shown in Figure 4) are used. Each side member 36 comprises an interior flange 38, an exterior flange 40 and a lip 42. Thus, each side piece may be inserted into the aperture 16, with the side edge of the wall 12 defining a lateral boundary of the drawer front bounding the aperture being gripped between the flange 40 and lip 42, and with the flange 38 bounding one side of the cavity 28. With both side pieces so located, the insert member 18 may be clipped into the aperture 16, the edge of the drawer front defining the upper boundary of the aperture initially being located between the flanges 20, 22, and the insert member being pressed into the lower part of the aperture 16, causing resilient deformation of the lip 26 as it passes behind the edge of the drawer front which bounds the bottom of the aperture. If desired, the rear wall portion of the insert member may be displaced slightly (shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 to accommodate the upper margin of a higher drawer head liner. It will be noted that the flange 20, which is adjacent to the flange 23, overlaps with the wall 12 to a greater extent than does the lip 26. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A drawer front provided with an aperture defined by rectilinear opposite edges, and an insert member assembled in position within the aperture, wherein the insert member is necessarily subjected to stress during assembly with the drawer front as rectilinear surfaces of the insert member are clipped over corresponding rectilinear edges of the aperture, which stress causes resilient deformation of the member, said stress being at least partly relieved and said deformation being at least partly reversed when assembly is completed so that the member is retained in the aperture, said insert member bounding part at least of a cavity into which a user of the drawer may insert his fingers to open the drawer.

2. A drawer front according to claim 1 wherein the insert member includes a flange behind which a user can engage his fingers.

3. A drawer front according to either of the preceding claims wherein respective parts of the insert member which are at opposite boundaries of the aperture and which are disposed at the inside of a wall of the drawer front, overlap said wall to respectively different extents.

4. A drawer front according to claim 3 as appendant to claim 2 wherein the flange is adjacent to the part which overlaps said wall to a greater extent.

5. A drawer front according to claim 3 wherein the part which overlaps the wall to a lesser extent forms a lip, which during assembly, passes over an edge of said wall which forms a corresponding boundary of the aperture, undergoes resiiient deforma- tion, and wherein said deformation is relieved when assembly is completed, so that the lip overlaps the wall in said manner.

6. A drawer front according to any preceding claim wherein the insert member bounds the cavity to the rear and at two other surfaces.

7. A drawer front according to claim 6 wherein said two other surfaces define the top and bottom of the cavity.

8. A drawer front according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the cavity is bounded, at the sides, by respective separately-formed side members.

9. A drawer front according to any one of the preceding claims wherein a rear interior wall of the insert member, extending generally parallel to the plane of the aperture, is secured to an interior wall of the drawer front.

10. A drawer front according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the insert member is formed by a moulding operation from plastics material.

11. A drawer front according to any one of claims 1 to 9 wherein the insert member is formed by an extrusion operation.

12. A drawer front according to claim 11 wherein the insert member is of plastics material.

13. A drawer front according to claim 11, wherein the insert member is of metal.

14. A filing cabinet comprising a plurality of drawers, each of which includes a drawer front according to any one of the preceding claims.

15. A filing cabinet comprising means to facilitate opening of the drawers thereof, constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

16. A drawer front, constructed and

arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.