GB2085286A - Furniture unit - Google Patents

Abstract

A furniture unit e.g. for hanging on a wall, has two adjoining spaces (12) each defined by a back wall (14) and four peripheral walls (16, 18, 18a), one of which is common to both spaces. The spaces are square in shape when viewed from their open sides, and the peripheral walls have sidewall grooves (34a), for the insertion of removable shelves and top and bottom grooves 34b for the insertion of partitions, with the shelves and/or partitions being interchangable. The shelves and/or partitions are prevented from sliding out of the grooves by respective frames (44) which are releasably fitted within the openings of the spaces. The frame (44) may carry a door (56). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Furniture unit The present invention relates to furniture units, particularly for hanging on the walls of bathrooms, kitchens and similar locations, and is more particularly concerned with a hanging unit of the type including a parallelepiped-shaped body which defines at least two identical adjoining spaces each having a back wall, four peripheral walls in two opposing pairs, one of the peripheral wails being common to both adjoining spaces, and an open side opposite the back wall, and in which each space is provided with removable shelves.

According to the present invention, there is provided afurniture unit of the type including a parallelpiped-shaped body which defines at least two identical adjoining spaces, each having a back wall, four peripheral walls in two opposing pairs, one of the peripheral walls being common to both adjoining spaces, and an open side opposite the back wall, and in which each space is provided with removable shelves, wherein each space has a square shape when viewed from its open side, the four peripheral walls have respective grooves which, in each pair of opposite peripheral walls, form coplanar pairs in planes parallel to the perpendicular walls of the other pair and extend from the open side to the back wall, the shelves are in the form of boards with two opposite parallel edges insertable selectively in the coplanar grooves from the open side of the space, and a square frame is associated with the edges of the peripheral walls corresponding to the open side of each space, and is fixed by releasable insertion within said edges of the walls to prevent sliding of the shelves inserted in the grooves.

Such a unit may be assembled easily as a vertical unit with one of the spaces above the other or as a horizontal unit with the spaces side-by-side, and may be changed just as easily from one type of unit to the other. In order to change from a vertical unit to a horizontal unit or vice versa, one needs only to remove the frames from the apertures of the spaces, withdraw the shelves and reinsert them in the grooves of the peripheral walls perpendicular to those in the grooves in which the shelves were inserted previously, and finally reattach the frames.

Other ways of assembling and altering a hanging unit according to the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one example of how the invention can be put into practice with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a hanging unit with two spaces disposed vertically; Figure2 is a perspective view of the same hanging unit disposed horizontally; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the hanging unit disposed vertically as in Figure 1, but without one of the frames and its respective door; Figure 4 is a section taken on an enlarged scale in the plane indicated by the line IV-IV in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a broken perspective view of one of the frames;; Figure 6 is a fragmentary section taken on an enlarged scale in the plane indicated by the line VI-VI of Figure 1, Figure 7 is an exploded perspective view which shows a part of one of the peripheral walls, one of the shelves and the respective frame, and Figure 8 is a fragmentary section taken on an enlarged scale, in the plane indicated by the line VIII-VIII of Figure 1.

In Figures 1 and 3 a hanging unit is shown in the form of a cabinet with two spaces closable by doors.

The cabinet comprises a body 10 the structure of which will be described in detail below. The body 10 defines a pair of superimposed spaces 12. Each space 12 is defined by a back wall 14 and four peripheral walls in two opposing pairs. The vertical peripheral walls are indicated by 16 and the horizontal end walls by 18. The other intermediate horizontal wall, which is common to the two spaces 12, is indicated 18a. When viewed from its open side, each space has a square shape.

As illustrated in Figure 4, the body 10 includes an external shell 20 which defines the external layers of the back wall 14, the side walls 16 and the end walls 18 of the two spaces 12. The internal layers of these walls, as well as the intermediate wall 1 8a, are defined by an internal shell 22.

Both the shells 20 and 22 are of plastics material.

Around the open sides of the spaces 12, the shell 22 has a flange or rim 24 which is folded outwardly into a U-shape and fits together with the corresponding edge ofthe external shell 20.

The back walls 14 of the internal shell 22 are formed with pins 26 which are engaged in corresponding holes in the external shell 20 and arse upset so as to prevent the separation of the two shells. The back walls 14 of the internal shell 22 also have apertured bosses 28, one for each space 12, which are engaged in corresponding apertures 30 in the external shell 20. The apertures in the bosses 28 are indicated 32. In each space, the aperture 32 lies on the longitudinal centre line ofthe body 10 adjacent the end wall 18, as shown in Figure 3. The apertures 32 allow the passage of the screws of expansion plugs or similar members for fixing the cabinet to a wall, both in the vertical arrangement of Figures 1 and 3 and in the horizontal arrangement of Figure 2.

Returning to Figure 3, each of the peripheral walls 16,18 and 18a of each space 12 has two grooves which extend from the open side of the space to the back wall 14. The grooves of the walls 16 which are vertical in the arrangement of Figure 3 are indicated 34a, while those of the walls 18, 18a which are horizontal in the same arrangement are indicated 34b. In each pair of opposite peripheral walls 16 or 18 and 1 8a, the respective grooves 34a, 34b form coplanar pairs in planes parallel to the perpendicular walls of the other pair.

Figure 3 shows two shelves 36 the details of which are visible in Figure 7. Each shelf 36 consists of a plastics board with a curved frontal zone 38.

The shelves 36 are rectangular and their length, in the direction of their longer axes, corresponds to the width of the spaces 12, while their width in the smaller dimension corresponds to the depth of the spaces themselves. The two parallel lateral edges 40 (Figure 7) of the shelves 36 are spaced apart by an amount which allows their insertion into the pairs of coplanar grooves 34a (or 34b), like the shelves 36 illustrated in Figure 3. The thickness of the shelves 36 is slightly less than the width of the grooves 34a, 34b so as to facilitate their sliding, but each edge 49 has a rounded projection 42 adjacent the curved zone 38, which serves to achieve a slightforce-fit in the grooves.

It will be understood that, in the illustrated example where there are two pairs of grooves 34a in the side walls 16, each space 14 may receive two shelves 36 when it is arranged as in Figures 1 and 3.

A removable frame 44 of plastics material is associated with the opening of each space 12. The frame 44 has a square shape corresponding to the shape of the spaces 14.

As illustrated in Figures 4 to 7, the frame 44 has a rounded edge zone 46 which projects inwardly of the frame itself. The edge 46 is extended by a thinner peripheral skirt 48 which has a certain degree of elasticity. The skirt 48 is dimensioned so as to fit precisely into the opening of the space 12. In correspondence with the grooves 34a, 34b, the outer surface of the skirt 48 has respective ribs 50 which can be inserted into these grooves. A coupling tooth 52 projects from each rib 50. Adjacent the open side of each space 12, the grooves 34a, 346 have a recess 53 in which the corresponding teeth 52 are snapengageable to keep the frame 44 firmly coupled to the body 10 of the cabinet.

When the frame 44 is retained in this manner, the skirt 48 prevents the shelves 36 from slipping out since it interferes with a shoulder 54 formed on each lateral edge 40 of the shelves.

Each frame 44 is prepared for the hinging of a door 56 which closes the respective space 12. For this purpose (Figures 5 and 8), respective aligned hinge holes 58 are formed in two opposite sides of the frame 44 adjacent the adjoining perpendicular side.

For its part, the door 56 has a pair of oppositely curved edge portions which form respective wings 60 each of which has a pin 62 projecting inwardly from one end. The alignment of the two pins 62 and the dimensions of the door 56 are such that the pins 62 may be inserted in the holes 58, and removed therefrom, by resiliently spreading the two wings 60 apart. Since the opening of a door 56 must occur about a vertical axis, in the arrangement of Figures 1 and 3 the holes 58 of the frames 44 are disposed to the right, with one at the top and the other at the bottom, so as to achieve hinging of the respective door 56 to the right.On the other hand, to achieve pivoting of the door to the left, it suffices to remove the frame and to re-engage it after having rotated it through 1800 so that the hinge holes are on the left with one at the top and the other at the bottom. This operation may be effected without even removing the door from the frame.

A cabinet such as that shown in Figures 1 and 3 may be transformed easily from the vertical arrangement to the horizontal arrangement shown in Figure 2. In Figure 2, the elements which appear in Figure 1 have been indicated by the same reference numerals.

Thus, the body 10 has been disposed with its larger dimension horizontal so that the spaces 12 are side-by-side. The frames 44 have been turned through 900 with respect to Figure 1 and 3 and repositioned so that the righthand frame of Figure 2 has its pivot holes on the right, one at the top and the other at the bottom, so that the righthand door 56 is hinged on the right. The lefthand frame 44 has been rotated by 90" in the opposite sense instead, so that the lefthand door 56 is hinged on the left.

During the rearrangement of the frames 44, the shelves 36 are withdrawn from the grooves 34a and repositioned in the grooves 34b so that they are again horizontal.

One of the two basic transformations possible, that is, changing the cabinet from the vertical position to the horizontal, has been described above by way of example. The reverse transformation is clearly entirely analogous.

In practice, a cabinet such as that illustrated may be sold in a "self-assembly pack", that is, with a body 10, a set of shelves 36, frames 44, and doors 56 which are separate. It would then be forth user to decide which arrangement to adopt for the cabinet, making the vertical arrangement of Figure 1 or the horizontal arrangement of Figure 2 according to his wishes or needs. The user could also choose not to insert some or all of the shelves 36 in the spaces 12, or not to attach the doors 56, in which case the spaces 12 would remain open to form sets of shelves (if shelves are inserted) or compartments (if shelves are not inserted).

The shelves 36, as illustrated, are usable only in a horizontal arrangement due to the presence of the curved zone 38. If, however, similar elements in the form of boards without curved edges were used instead, these boards could also be arranged vertically in the spaces to constitute walls subdividing the spaces themselves into several adjacent compartments which are vertically elongate.

In the case of a hanging unit intended for a bathroom one or more shelves may be provided with suitable seats or apertures for receiving bathroom accessories, such as, for example, a soap dishy a toothbrush beaker, etc.

Claims (6)

1. Afurniture unit of the type including a parallelpiped-shaped body which defines at least two identical adjoining spaces, each having a back wall, four peripheral walls in two opposing pairs, one of the peripheral walls being common to both adjoining spaces, and an open side opposite the backwall, and in which each space is provided with removable shelves, wherein each space has a square shape when viewed from its open side, the four peripheral walls have respective grooves which, in each pair of opposite peripheral walls, form coplanar pairs in planes parallel to the perpendicular walls of the other pair and extend from the open side to the back wall, the shelves are in the form of boards with two opposite parallel edges insertable selectively in the coplanar grooves from the open side of the space, and a square frame is associated with the edges of the peripheral walls corresponding to the open side of each space, and is fixed by releasable insertion within said edges of the walls to prevent sliding of the shelves inserted in the grooves.

2. A furniture unit according to Claim 1, and including a door associated with at least one of the two spaces for closing the open side of the space, the respective frame having in two opposite sides means which are connectible with the corresponding means on the door for hinging the door about an axis extending along one side of the frame between those two opposite sides.

3. Afurniture unit according to claim 2, wherein the hinging means on the frame comprise aligned holes, and wherein the door has, along its upper and lower margins, respectively resilient wings on which are formed aligned pins engageable in the holes of the frame after resiliently spreading the wings.

4. Afurniture unit according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the grooves in the peripheral walls have coupling recesses adjacent the open sides of the spaces, and the frame has a resilient skirt which fits between the peripheral walls and is formed with ribs which are insertable in the grooves and which are provided with a tooth snap engageable in a respective coupling recess to retain the frame in position,.

5. A furniture unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and including means for suspending the unit on a wall with the spaces side-by-side or one above the other.

6. A furniture unit substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.