GB2078097A - Drawer constructions - Google Patents

Abstract

A drawer for a desk, filing cabinet or the like having a base, two sides, a back and a front, the base being rigid enough to support the contents of the drawer without further support and also carrying the side, back and front. The base may be engaged in a groove in the sidewalls, and may be retained therein by staples or the like. The sidewalls may be of rolled metal (Fig 9) or may be plastics extrusions (Fig 3). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION An improved drawer construction This invention relates to an improved drawer construction suitable for use in desks, filing cabinets, wardrobes and the like.

Traditionally, drawers have been made of wood and have not changed in general construction for very many years. The traditional method of construction is to form the two sides, back and front of the drawer of thick wood and form a groove near to the lower edge of these parts, which groove receives the marginal portions of the base which has been of relatively thin wood. One of the basic disadvantages of drawers constructed in this manner has been that if a heavy load is placed in the drawer during use, then the base tends to bow, with the consequence that the edges of the base of the drawer may spring out of the grooves in the sides, back and front. Also, the base being of thin material may become permanently set in a distorted condition and prevent the free opening and closing of the drawer.

In orderto minimise the riskofthe base of the drawer springing out of the side, back and front grooves, the base has been made of thicker wood but this, of course, adds to the weight of the drawer.

More recently, metal and plastics have been used in the fabrication of drawers. Both metal and plastics drawers are somewhat complicated in construction, the plastics drawers having complicated fastening means for attaching the sides, back, front and base together and the metal drawers tend to be costly to manufacture because various sections of the drawers have to be rolled to fasten them together.

According to the present invention there is provided a drawer having a base, two sides, a back and a front, in which the lower portions of at least the sides are shaped to receive the marginal portions of the base; and fixing means pass through these said lower portions and marginal portions to retain the same in position during use.

The invention also includes a drawer having a base, two sides, a back and a front in which the base is of a rigid construction sufficient to support the load in the drawer; the sides, back and front being carried by the base.

The invention further includes an elongate rolled metal section suitable for the fabrication of the shell of a drawer comprising a web having a U-shaped one longitudinal edge portion, the other longitudinal edge portion having a substantially corresponding U-shaped configuration.

The said other edge portion may also define a lon gitudinally extending recess to receive the base of the drawer. The bottom part ofthe U-shaped other longitudinal edge portion may define part ofthe said recess.

In order to illustrate the invention several embod iments thereof will now be described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompany ing drawings, in which FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic cross-sectional view showing the basic construction of a drawer in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view through a constructional partforforming a drawer in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view through part of a drawer constructed in accordance with the invention mounted in a framework.

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view through a modified drawer in accordance with the invention shown in position in a framework; FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view through a still further modified drawer constructed in accordance with the invention mounted in a framework; FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional view through part of a modified drawer in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 7 is a perspective exploded view showing details of construction of part of a drawer in accordance with the invention; FIGURE 8 is a perspective view showing the parts of Figure 7 assembled; FIGURE 9 is a cross-sectional view through part of a drawer in accordance with the invention mounted in a framework; FIGURE 10 is a plan view of Figure 9; FIGURE 11 is a side elevation of Figure 9; and FIGURE 12 shows six modified sections forfab- ricating drawers in accordance with the invention.

A drawer constructed in accordance with the invention has the normal base, two sides, a back and front. In one basic embodiment, illustrated in Figure 1, a base 1 forms the main structural element of the drawer and is of fairly substantial thickness sufficient to support the weight of the contents of the drawer without distorsion. The base 1 carries the two side walls 2 and 3 and also the back and front (not shown). The drawer will be mounted in a framework having runners 4 and 5 on the horizontal portions of which the base 1 slides. It will thus be seen that as distinct from the traditional construction in which the base is carried by the side walls, in the present invention the side walls are carried and supported by the base.There is no fear in the present construction that the base will distort but, even if it does, then no harm can be done to the efficient sliding operation of the drawer and the retention of the contents of the drawer.

In order to fabricate a drawer in accordance with the invention, various methods may be employed and one constructional part for such fabrication is illustrated in Figure 2. The constructional part is formed in rigid plastics and defines several recesses, one of which will be forth reception of a marginal portion of a base 6, another for the reception of the marginal portion of a side or front or back 7 of the drawer and another 8 for the reception of a handle for moving the drawer. If the constructional part is merely serving the purpose of a side support, then it will move on an L-shaped support 9, runners 10 being formed by two flanges forming part of the constructional part.

In order to retain the base 6 within its groove, a fixing means 11 passes through the constructional part and also through the base to retain the same together during use. This fixing means may be in the form of staples, pins, snap studs, tension pins or the like or any other suitable fixing device. It will be noted from Figure 2 that the two flanges 10 define a recess in which the head of the fixing means, say, the head of the staple 11, remains so that the fixing means does not impede the sliding movement of the drawer.

Referring now to Figure 3 which shows an alternative embodiment, the drawer is built up of a side member 12 which may also be used as the back and front of the drawer. This member 12 includes a web 13 and a U-shaped edge portion 14 and a complementary U-shaped edge portion 15, the bottom of which in part defines a recess 16 which receives the marginal portion of the base 17 of the drawer. Thus the part 12 acts as a beam for the base thus giving strength thereto. The base 17 is fixed to the side member 12 by fixing member 18.

A framework 19, which may be a desk or filling cabinet or the like, is provided with a support member 20 having a lower runner 21 on which the drawer moves and an upper runner 22 which has the effect of minimising tilting of the drawer as it is opened or closed.

The member illustrated in Figure 4 differs in principle from those previously described in that the side member is a box construction reference at 23. This box construction gives further support and strength to the unit.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 5, this differs from before in that a smaller box section 24 is provided and the lower U-shaped configuration 25 is extended to receive a roller 26. The presence of this roller 26 adds to the smoothness of the opening and closing of the drawer. Instead of having an integral box section and lower portion, these may be formed separately as illustrated in Figure 6 with the box section 27 being a snap-on fit to the lower portion 28.

A method of construction is shown quite clearly in Figures 7 and 8 in which a constructional part 29 receives a base 30 which has a series of staples 31 passing through the base and constructional part to retain the same in position. A handle-portion 32 is fitted to the constructional part 29 which also receives a front 33 of the drawer.

It is also contemplated that the drawers may be formed basically of metal and for this purpose an elongate rolled metal section has been designed, six particular types of which are illustrated in Figure 12.

How these are utilised to form a drawer construction are illustrated in Figure 9, 10 and 11.

An elongate rolled metal section suitable for the fabrication of the shell of the drawer comprises a web 34 having a U-shaped one longitudinal edge portion 35 and the other longitudinal edge portion 36 having a substantially corresponding U-shaped configuration. This other U-shaped construction utilises a crush fold 37 so that the bottom part 38 of the other U-shaped portion in part defines a recess 39 for the reception of the marginal portion af the base. The other U-shaped portion will receive a roller and also the head of the fixing means, for example, a staple for fixing the base to the sides.

It will be noted from Figure 12 that various sizes of metal sections are illustrated and this is so that drawers of different depths may be formed. It will also be noted that one or more strengthening rib 40 are provided in each section. In the smallest of these sections there is only one strengthening rib 40 whick runs longitudinally on the section and is formed a distancex from each longitudinal edge of the section. For larger sections there is a pair of strengthening ribs 40, the ribs being positioned at a distancex from their respective longitudinal edge. This means that when the metal is rolled, the tool break line may be standard regardless of the size of the drawer to be formed.

In two of the embodiments illustrated in Figure 12, an additional strengthening rib is provided towards the centre of the section.

To fabricate a drawer from one of the sections of Figure 12, it is simply a question of deciding on the dimensions of the drawer and then cutting the elongate section at appropriate points and bending it to form the corners as indicated in Figure 10 at 41 and 42. The corners may then be infilled with members 43.

As shown in Figures 9 and 11, the other U-shaped edge portions may receive rollers 44 carried by the drawer itself and these rollers may be positioned at the rear of the drawer. Carried by the drawer support at the front of the drawer are further rollers 45. The positioning of these rollers enables the drawer to be opened and closed readily and removed entire from the framework and to do this the rear pair of rollers 44 have to be lifted over the front rollers 45.

Claims (16)

1. A drawer having a base, two sides, a back and a front, in which the base is of a rigid construction sufficient to support the load in the drawer; the sides, back and front being carried by the base.

2. A drawer as claimed in Claim 1, in which fixing means pass through the base and enter at least the sides of the drawer.

3. A drawer as claimed in Claim 2, in which the fixing means is in the form of staples, pins, snap studs, tension pins orthe like.

4. A drawer as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, including a constructional part formed in rigid plastics and defining several recesses, one for the reception of a marginal portion of the base, another for the reception of a side or front or back of the drawer and another for the reception of a handle for moving the drawer.

5. A drawer as claimed in Claim 4, when appendant on Claim 2 or Claim 3, in which a further recess receives the head portions of the fixing means.

6. A drawer as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, in which a side member is provided including a web having a first U-shaped edge portion as the upper edge of the side member and a complementary second U-shaped portion as the lower edge of the side member, the bottom of the second U-shaped edge portion in part defining a recess which receives the marginal portion of the base of the drawer.

7. A drawer as claimed in Claim 6, in which the said web is of box section.

8. A drawer as claimed in Claim 7, in which the box section web is formed separately from the remainder of the side member.

9. A drawer as claimed in any one of Claims 6,7 or 8, in which the second U-shaped edge portion receives the head portions of the fixing means.

10. A drawer as claimed in any one of Claims 6 to 9, in which the second U-shaped edge portion receives one or more rollers for the smooth opening and closing of the drawer.

11. A drawer as claimed in any one of Claims 6 to 10, having the shell thereof formed from an elongate rolled metal section.

12. An elongate rolled metal section suitable for the fabrication of the shell of a drawer comprising a web having a U-shaped one longitudinal edge portion, the other longitudinal edge portion having a substantially corresponding U-shaped configuration.

13. An elongate rolled metal section as claimed in Claim 12, in which one or more longitudinally extending strengthening ribs are provided in the web.

14. An elongate rolled metal section as claimed in Claim 12, in which at least two longitudinally extending strengthening ribs are provided in the web, a pair of said ribs being each a predetermined equal distance from a respective longitudinal edge.

15. A drawer substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in Fig. 1 or Fig. 2 or Fig. 3 or Fig. 4 or Fig. 5 or Fig. 6 or Figs. 7 and 8 or Figs. 9, 10 and 11 of the accompanying drawings.

16. An elongate rolled metal section substantially as herein described and as illustrated in any one of the examples of Fig. 12 of the accompanying drawings.