GB2137481A - A waste bin for mounting within a cupboard - Google Patents

Abstract

A waste bin (10), mounted within a cupboard, having a lid (30) which is automatically raised or lowered when the cupboard door is opened or closed respectively is secured to a lateral wall (41) of the cupboard by securing means (14), a bearing pin (21), and retaining means (12) pivotable about a vertical axis. The lid (30) is hingedly connected to a bearing member (32) provided with a bearing sleeve (45). This bearing member (32) is non-rotatably supported on a lateral wall (41) of the cupboard by a supporting member (33). Bearing pin (21) having a head portion (22) is inserted into the bearing sleeve (45). A tie rod (25) connects the lid (30) to an attachment member provided on head portion (22), such that pivotal movement of the bearing pin (21) causes displacement of the tie rod (25) to open or close the lid (see Figures 1 and 3, not shown). By thus establishing connections between the lid (30) and the pin (21) and between the bin (10) and the pin (21), it is no longer necessary to provide separate mountings for the lid (30) and the bin (10). Such a mounting arrangement can be utilised irrespective of whether the cupboard door (40) opens in a right-handed or a left-handed manner. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A cupboard incorporating a waste bin The invention relates to a cupboard, more particularly but not essentially a kitchen cupboard, incorporating a waste bin.

A cupboard of this general type is known which has retaining means supporting a waste bin attached to a lateral wall thereof by securing members and by bearing pins, the securing means being so mounted as to be pivotable about a vertical axis, a lid or cover for the waste bin being mounted on the cupboard wall so as to be pivotable about a horizontal axis, whereby the lid normally covers the open upper end of the bin and is automatically raised when the cupboard door is opened and lowered to cover the opening of the waste bin when the cupboard door is closed.

There are already known a large number of mechanisms which control the movement of the lid in dependence on either the pivotal movement of the waste bin or of the cupboard door. These mechanisms ensure that the lid is automatically raised when the waste bin is pivoted out of the cupboard and is automatically lowered again onto the open upper end of the bin when the bin is pivoted back into the cupboard.

In all of these known mechanisms, the lid is secured to the lateral wall of the cupboard panel by securing members which are separate from the means which retain or support the bin. During the installation of the various component parts of the cupboard, it is particularly important to ensure that the securing members for the lid are correctly located relative to the means for retaining or supporting the bin or, more accurately, to the points of attachment of these latter to the cupboard wall. This, naturally, makes the accurate installation of the component parts more difficult.

The present invention seeks to provide a cupboard which is generally of the above-described type but which has a lid control mechanism which does not require its own, separate, securing members for connecting it to the lateral wall of the cupboard.

Such an arrangement would, of course, considerably facilitate the installation of the bin and lid in the cupboard. The present invention further seeks to provide such a cupboard in which automatic displacement of the lid in dependence upon the pivotal movement of the retaining means for the waste bin still occurs.

According to the present invention, there is provided a cupboard having retaining means supporting a waste bin attached to a lateral wall thereof by securing members and by bearing pins, the securing means being so mounted as to be pivotable about a vertical axis, a lid or cover for the waste bin being mounted on the cupboard wall so as to be pivotable about a horizontal axis, whereby the lid normally covers the open upper end of the bin and is automatically raised when the cupboard door is opened and lowered to cover the opening of the waste bin when the cupboard door is closed, wherein the lid is hingedly connected to a bearing member provided with a bearing sleeve, a bearing pin having a head portion being disposed in the region of the open upper end of the waste bin being inserted into the bearing sleeve, the bearing member provided with the bearing sleeve being nonrotatably supported on the lateral wall of the cupboard by means of a supporting member, the retaining means being non-rotatably connected to the bearing pin, the head of the bearing pin having, on its upper surface, two pin-shaped, diametrically opposed, attachment members which extend parallel to the pivotal axis of the lid when the retaining means is in its inwardly-pivoted end position in which the lid is covering the bin, a tie-rod being attached to either of the attachment members at one of its ends and to the lid at its other end, the point of attachment of the tie-rod to the lid lying on a line which extends at right angles to the pivotal axis of the lid and which passes through the pivotal axis of the bearing pin.

In such an arrangement, the bearing pin disposed in the region of the open upper end of the waste bin is responsible for securing the lid, whilst the supporting member effects non-rotatable securement in the cupboard without the necessity for any additional securing means. Since the bearing pin is displaced in synchronism with the pivotal movement of the retaining means, the displacement movement for the tie-rod mounted on the lid can be derived therefrom. In a simple manner, the two attachment members provided on the head portion of the bearing pin permit the displacement of the lid to be controlled during pivotal movement of the waste bin in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. The significance of this is that the retaining means for retaining the waste bin may be mounted on either the left-hand or on the right-hand lateral wall of the cupboard as desired.

In a preferred embodiment, it is possible to reduce the number of component parts by integrally connecting the lid to the bearing member through the intermediary of a bearing flange and a film hinge.

So that the supporting member non-rotatably supports the lid irrespective of which lateral wall of the cupboard the retaining means are secured to, it is desirable if the supporting member is attachable to the bearing member at two plug-in connection regions which lie at right angles to one another.

In a desirable embodiment, at its end nearer the bearing pin, the tie-rod extends into an attachment eyelet and is selectively attachable to either of the attachment members; the other end of the tie-rod being bent downwardly and being located in a mounting bore formed in the upper surface of the lid; and a locking washer or securing disc being mounted on the tip of such end portion which protrudes through the bore.

In a preferred arrangement, the waste bin is circular in cross-section and the line on which the tie-rod is attached to the lid extends to the angle of the cupboard formed by the lateral wall and the cupboard door, the plug-in connection regions for the supporting member on the bearing member extending parallel to the lateral wall and parallel to the cupboard door in its closed position. The space in the cupboard is thereby utilised in an optimum manner, since the waste bin can be fitted close to both the lateral wall and to the cupboard door.

So that the pivotal mounting is not impaired by the waste bin once it has been inserted into the retaining means, an advantageous arrangement provides that the bearing sleeve of the bearing member is disposed externally of the configuration of the waste bin, a bearing eyelet in the retaining means, which accommodates the bearing pin, also being disposed externally of the configuration of the waste bin.

The lid control means utilised in the present invention could be used with any desired type of retaining means. If the retaining means itself is in the form of a container, then the container must also be pivotably mounted again in the region of the base means of a securing member and a bearing pin, as is disclosed, for example, in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 1 917 685. Separate pivotal mounting of the lid is also required, and this serves to make the installation of such a known retaining means considerably more difficult and more expensive.

As disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2 807 688, retaining means for the waste bin in the form of a carrier or supporting plate are also known.

The supporting plate is secured to the lateral wall of the cupboard by a bearing pin having two securing brackets. Such known retaining means also suffer from the disadvantage that separate securing members are required for the pivotal mounting of the lid on the lateral wall of the cupboard.

The lid control means utilised in the present invention, however, permits the retaining means and its mounting to be considerably simplified.

Accordingly, in a particularly desirable embodiment the retaining means is in the form of a frame which is adapted substantially to the external configuration of the waste bin and is located immediately beneath an outwardly protruding support edge or rim thereof, the frame being securely connected to a plate-like bearing eyelet and the bearing pin when located in the bearing eyelet being non-rotatably retained on the frame. In such an arrangement case, the mounting may be further improved if the bearing pin, when located into the bearing sleeve of the bearing member and in the bearing eyelet of the frame, is rotatably mounted in bearing bushes formed in two horizontally-extending bearing portions of a single securing member which is in the form of a clamp.

Accordingly, for the installation of the retaining means in the cupboard, only a single securing member is required which, cbviously, does not need aligning with other securing members.

In orderto prevent the bearing pin from accidentally being pushed out of the clamp, a preferred arrangement provides the securing member has three parallel, horizontally extending arms, one of the exterior arms forming a first bearing portion for the bearing pin whilst the central arm forms a second bearing portion for the bearing pin, the central arm being stamped or punched out of the portion of the clamp member connecting the two exterior arms. The other external arm of the clamp, in such an arrangement, covers the lower end of the bearing pin.

The securement of the clamp to the lateral wall is made possible because the end of each of the external arms with oppositely directed securing flanges which are screw-connected to the lateral wall of the cupboard.

To ensure that the retaining means pivot with the cupboard door, a further preferred embodiment provides that slides or gates are attached to the frame and are symmetrically disposed about the line on which the tie-rod is connected to the lid, the gates or slides having guide slots formed therein which accommodate a catch secured to the internal surface of the cupboard door, whereby each guide slot for the catch extends from the quadrant bisected by the line on which the point of attachment of the tie-rod to the lid lies into the adjacent quadrant thereto.

Thus, two gates permit a connection to be made between the cupboard door and the retaining means, irrespective of whether the retaining means is secured to the left-hand or right-hand lateral wall of the cupboard.

In one arrangement, the catch is caused to engage in the gate or slide by the attachment of the gates to the underside of the frame, the catch being introduced into the guide slot, from below, in a vertical direction. The catch may be attached to a carrier which is secured, preferably screw-connected, to the internal surface of the cupboard door by means of a securing plate.

One embodiment of the present invention will be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a cupboard incorporating a waste bin and lid, the lid being in its pivoted-in position in which it covers the open upper end of the bin.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ll-ll of Figure 1, partially broken away; Figure 3 is a plan view of the cupboard, waste bin and lid similar to Figure 1 but showing the bin in its pivoted-out end position and the lid raised; and Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of Figure 3, partially broken away.

In the drawings, there is shown a waste bin 10 which has a substantially circular cross-section and has an open upper end. The upper rim 11 of the bin 10 is bent over, outwardly, to form an inverted channel. Retaining means for maintaining the bin in position are provided, such means comprising a frame 12 which is formed from atubularsection.

The frame 12 surrounds the rim 11 oversubstan- tiallythree-quarters of its circumference. Such frame is located immediately beneath the rim 11, as is clearly illustrated in Figure 1. In the remaining portion, which is approximately a quadrant, the frame 12 extends substantially tangentially to the bin 10 and the ends of the frame are connected to a bearing eyelet 13 in the form of a plate, best seen in the sectional view of Figure 2. The bearing eyelet 13 has a bore formed therein which obviously lies externally of the circular configuration of the waste bin 10 and also lies on the bisector 48 of the angle between the two tangential portions of the frame 12.

The retaining means is pivotably mounted on a lateral wall 41 of a cupboard panel by means of a bearing pin 21 and a single securing member 14. The securing member 14, which is in the form of a clamp, has lateral arm members 18 and 42 which extend substantially parallel to one another. The ends of these two arms 18 and 42 are bent outwardly, that is to say, away from one another to form securing flanges 15 and 16 by means of which the securing member 14 is securely screwed to the lateral wall 41.

As can be seen in Figures 2 and 4, the arm 18 is located above the arm 42. A bearing bush 19 is inserted into the upper lateral arm 18 and acts as a first bearing portion. A second bearing bush 20 is disposed in a bearing flange 17 which is stamped out of a central arm 43 of the securing member 14. This central arm 43 extends parallel to the arms 18 and 42. This acts as a second bearing portion. The two bearing bushes 19 and 20 are aligned with one another and each have an outwardly extending collar. The bushes are inserted, from above, into receiver bores formed in the bearing portions and are retained therein by means of their collars. A bearing pin 21 is then inserted into the bushes 19 and 20. It will be seen that the lower lateral arm 42 of the member covers the lower end of the bearing pin 21. Accordingly, the bearing pin 21 cannot be accidentally displaced upwardly.

If the waste bin 10 does not have a lid associated therewith, the bearing pin 21 is inserted until a head portion 22 thereof abuts against the bearing eyelet 13.

In most cases, however, a lid 30 is associated with the waste bin 10. The lid 30 is also mounted by means of the bearing pin 21. To this end, a bearing flange 46 is integrally moulded with the lid 30 and extends, as one piece, into a bearing member 32 through the intermediary of a film hinge 31. A bearing sleeve 45 is moulded integrally with the bearing member 32 and accommodates the bearing pin 21 prior to the insertion of the latter into the bearing eyelet 13 and the bearing bushes 19 and 20.

The bearing member 32 has two plug-in connection regions which are provided for a supporting member 33, which regions extend at right angles to one another. Accordingly the supporting member 33 can be supported either on the left-hand and on the right-hand lateral wall of the cupboard. It is advantageous if the supporting member 33 is simply mounted on the bearing member 32.The lid 30 can thus be non-rotatably mounted on the wall of the cupboard. ine lid 30 may be pivoted upwardly and downwardly about the film hinge 31. However, for this to occur, the frame 12 must be non-rotatably connected to the bearing pin 21. This is indicated by the reference numeral 44. There are, however, various structurai possibilities for achieving this which still permit the bearing pin 21 to be removed.

Atie-rod 25 is mounted, on the angle bisector 45, on the upper surface of the lid 30 and has a bent-over end portion 27. The portion is inserted, from above, into a bore or recess 28 formed on the upper surface of the lid 30. A securing disc 47 is mounted on the tip of the end portion 27 which protrudes through the bore 28 so that the tie-rod 25 is non-detachably retained on the lid 30. The upper surface of the head 22 of the bearing pin 21 has two pin-like attachment members 23 and 24 integrally moulded thereon. The end of the tie-rod 25 remote from the end portion 27 is formed as an attachment eyelet 26 and is selectively attachable to either of the attachment members 23 and 24.The attachment members 23 and 24 are disposed on a diameter of the head 22, which diameter lies parallel to the film hinge 31 and, therefore, perpendicular to the angle bisector 48 whilst the waste bin 10 and the frame 12 are in their pivoted-in position in which they are disposed beneath the lid 30. The tie-rod 25 allows free movement of the lid 30 to a sufficient extent that the lid 30 can seal the upper open end of the waste bin 10, as shown in Figure 2.

A catch 37 is secured to the internal surface of a door 40 of the cupboard by means of a securing plate 38, screws 39 and a carrier member 36. The catch 37 is guided in a guide slot 35 in a gate 34 which is secured to the frame 12. In the embodiment shown, the cupboard door 40 is attached to the right-hand lateral wall 41 of the cupboard. The gate 34 extends from the quadrant which is divided by the angle bisector 48 into the adjacent quadrant in a clockwise direction. When the cupboard door 40 is opened, the catch 37 entrains the frame 12 and hence the waste bin 10. In such a case, the catch 37 is displaced in the guide slot 35.

When the cupboard door 40 is opened, substantially the entire open upper end of the waste bin 10 is exposed, as is shown in Figure 3. When this occurs, the bearing pin 21 is rotated through 90" in an anti-clockwise direction. As shown, the tie rod 25 is connected to the attachment member 23. Opening the door 40 causes the member 23 to move away from the lid 30 and the tie-rod 25 therefore raises the lid 30 into its open position shown in Figure 4. In this position of the bearing pin 21, both the attachment members 23 and 24 lie on the angle bisector 48. If the cupboard door 40 is then closed, the bearing pin 21 rotates back through 90" in a clockwise direction. The tie-rod 25 will then permit free movement of the lid 30 to such an extent it again closes the open upper end of the waste bin 10.

If the frame 12 is pivotably mounted on the left-hand lateral wall of a cupboard the supporting member 33 is attached to the bearing member 32, staggered through 90 , and the tie-rod 25 is attached to the attachment member 24. The cupboard door is then attached to the left-hand cupboard wall and similarly entrains the frame 12. For this purpose, the frame 12 is provided with an additional gate 34 symmetrically disposed with respect to the angle bisector 48, with the first gate 34. When the cupboard door 40 is opened, in such an arrangement, the frame 12 is pivoted in a clockwise direction and the bearing pin 21 is so displaced that the attachment member 24 is moved away or distanced from the lid 30. The lid 30 is thus opened when the cupboard door 40 is opened and closed when the cupboard door 40 is closed.

By extracting the bearing pin 21, it is possible to remove the frame 12 together with the waste bin 10, the lid 30 and the bearing member 32 together with the supporting member 33, from the securing member 14 and hence from the cupboard wall. Re attachment of these members to the cupboard wall is simply effected by mounting the lid 30 and the frame 12 on the bearing pin 21 before the bearing pin 21 is inserted into the bearing bushes 19 and 20 of the securing member 14.

Claims (14)

1. Acupboard having retaining means supporting a waste bin attached to a lateral wall thereof by securing members and by bearing pins, the securing means being so mounted as to be pivotable about a vertical axis, a lid or cover for the waste bin being mounted on the cupboard wall so as to be pivotable about a horizontal axis, whereby the lid normally covers the open upper end of the bin and is automatically raised when the cupboard door is opened and lowered to cover the opening of the waste bin when the cupboard door is closed, wherein the lid is hingedly connected to the bearing member provided with a bearing sleeve, a bearing pin having a head portion being disposed in the region of the open upper end of the waste bin being inserted into the bearing sleeve, the bearing member provided with the bearing sleeve being nonrotatably supported on the lateral wall of the cupboard by means of a supporting member, the retaining means being non-rotatably connected to the bearing pin, the head of the bearing pin having on its upper surface, two pin-shaped, diametrically opposed, attachment members which extend parallel to the pivotal axis of the lid when the retaining means is in its inwardly-pivoted end position in which the lid is covering the bin, a tie-rod being attached to either of the attachment members at one of its ends and to the lid at its other end, the point of attachment of the tie-rod to the lid lying on a line which extends at right angles to the pivotal axis of the lid and which passes through the pivotal axis of the bearing pin.

2. A cupboard as claimed in claim 1, in which the lid is integrally connected to the bearing member through the intermediary of a bearing flange and a film hinge.

3. A cupboard as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the supporting member is attachable to the bearing member at two plug-in connection regions which lie at right angles to one another.

4. A cupboard as claimed in one of claims 1 to 3, in which, at its end nearer the bearing pin, the tie-rod extends into an attachment eyelet and is selectively attachable to either of the attachment members; the other end of the tie-rod being bent downwardly and being located in a mounting bore formed in the upper surface of the lid and a locking washer or securing disc being mounted on the tip of such end portion which protrudes through the bore.

5. A cupboard as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the waste bin is circular in crosssection and the line on which the tie-rod is attached to the lid extends to the angle of the cupboard formed by the lateral wall and the cupboard door, the plug-in connection regions for the supporting member on the bearing member extending parallel to the lateral wall and parallel to the cupboard door in its closed position.

6. A cupboard as claimed in any preceding claim in which the bearing sleeve of the bearing member is disposed externally of the configuration of the waste bin, a bearing eyelet in the retaining means, which accommodates the bearing pin, also being disposed externally of the configuration of the waste bin.

7. A cupboard as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the retaining means is in the form of a frame which is adapted substantially to the external configuration of the waste bin and is located immediately beneath an outwardly protruding support edge or rim thereof, the frame being securely connected to a plate-like bearing eyelet and the bearing pin when located in the bearing eyelet being non-rotatably retained on the frame.

8. A cupboard as claimed in claim 7, in which the bearing pin, when located into the bearing sleeve of the bearing member and in the bearing eyelet of the frame is rotatably mounted in bearing bushes formed in two horizontally-extending bearing portions of a single securing member which is in the form of a clamp.

9. A cupboard as claimed in claim 8, in which the securing member has three parallel, horizontally extending arms, one of the exterior arms forming a first bearing portion for the bearing pin whilst the central arm forms a second bearing portion for the bearing pin, the central arm being stamped or punched out of the portion of the clamp member connecting the two exterior arms.

10. A cupboard as claimed in claim 8 or 9, in which the free ends of the external arms are provided with oppositely-directed securing flanges which are screw-connected to the lateral wall of the cupboard.

11. A cupboard as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10, in which slides or gates are attached to the frame and are symmetrically disposed about the line on which the tie-rod is connected to the lid, the gates or slides having guide slots formed therein which accommodate a catch secured to the internal surface of the cupboard door, whereby each guide slot for the catch extends from the quadrant bisected by the line on which the point of attachment of the tie-rod to the lid lies into the adjacent quadrant thereto.

12. A cupboard as claimed in claim 11, in which the gates or slides are attached to the underside of the frame and the catch is introduced into the guide slot, from below, in a vertical direction.

13. A cupboard as claimed in claim 11 or 12, in which the catch is attached to a carrier member which is secured to the internal surface of the cupboard door by means of a securing plate.

14. A cupboard as claimed in claim 1 constructed and arranged to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.