IE921216A1

IE921216A1 - Assembly process for the construction of modular furniture¹and the furniture thus made

Info

Publication number: IE921216A1
Application number: IE121692A
Authority: IE
Inventors: Jacques Hazan
Original assignee: Victor S A R L
Priority date: 1991-04-19
Filing date: 1992-04-16
Publication date: 1992-10-21
Also published as: EP0535206B1; ATE155854T1; EP0535206A1; FR2675549B1; CA2080763A1; HK1001098A1; DE69221056D1; FR2675549A1; WO1992018779A1; DE69221056T2; ES2109354T3

Abstract

The present invention relates to furnishings, and specifically to office furniture. In particular, a method for assembling modular furniture is provided which essentially comprises mainly using hollow metal tubes which are open at both ends and have permanently inserted therein an outwardly-ribbed screw socket which is also open at both ends and interacts with a flat head screw whose screw thread is engageable with the screw-threaded portion of a centrally-threaded cylindrical connecting element comprising other screw-threaded openings around its circumference to which are permanently fixed other metal tubes that are fastened on by a flat head screw of which the threaded portion passes through a spherical tip having an egg-shaped end surface which gaplessly abuts the surface of the connecting element. The invention further relates to office furniture, particularly desks, shelves, book-cases, and storage and filing cabinets, which are produced according to said modular element assembly method.

Description

ASSEMBLY PROCESS F0R THE CONSTRUCTION OF MODULAR FURNITURE AND THE FURNITURE THUS MADE The present invention relates to the domain of mechanics and more particularly to the construction of office furniture.

A more particular subject of the invention is an assembly means for permitting the construction of elements of modular furniture for forming structures, shapes and arrangements of various colours.

Today, in interior design and especially in the composition of office furniture, modular furniture is very important both on a functional level and an aesthetic level. be highly machinery, the rooms Office furniture should allow space to be saved, functional and adaptable to any type of office have an aesthetic quality which harmonizes with where it is installed and above all allow assemblies of different pieces of furniture having different shapes, sizes and functions. Thus units are made arranged either in the same longitudinal plane or in one or more perpendicular planes, the sizes of which can change, the composition of which can vary as a function of the development of office machinery and the constitutive elements of can be in height or in length, according to vertical or axes. In this way modular furniture is obtained having aligned or recessed elements for desks or elements arranged at different levels. assembled, horizontal In this way bookcases, display cabinets, writing desks can be formed which can be assembled or juxtaposed so as to obtain an even presentation method, a stable and solid implementation which is adapted to all situations.

Therefore a subject of the invention is an assembly process permitting the construction of modular furniture elements characterized in that it mainly uses hollow metal tubes open - 3 s t at both ends, inside which a threaded socket ribbed on the outside is inserted in a permanent fashion, itself open at both ends, on which a flat head bolt engages, the thread of which is inserted in the threaded part of a threaded cylindrical junction piece in its centre and containing on its circumference other threaded holes on which other projecting metal tubes are fixed in a permanent fashion by means of a flat head bolt the threaded part of which passes through a spherical-shaped end-piece the final oval-shaped surface of which fits over the surface of the junction piece without gaps.

The invention also relates to an assembly process for scaffolding which can be dismantled and is built using straight tubes and allowing a tubular device to be fixed to another tubular device without noticeable connecting joints, characterized in that it is essentially formed by hollow tubes open at both ends, inside which a threaded socket is permanently fixed, itself open at both ends, with which the thread of a threaded flat head bolt engages towards the inside and with which a second threaded bolt engages towards the outside, which engages with the thread of an outer collar, an intermediate ring turning freely around the outer cylindrical part of the hollow tube and carrying in its middle a threaded hole permitting the fixing of a threaded bolt, ensuring the rotation of the whole unit and of an outer collar resting on the ring by means of an edge· with a slightly greater diameter than the ring and having a threaded hole in the centre of the said piece.

Once this unit is assembled, it has no bumps, no bulges, no spherical fixing balls. The tubular mountings thus produced have no projecting surface. The intermediate ring can be rotationally locked when the threaded bolt which it carries presses on the head of the threaded bolt of the outer part.

This unit therefore produces an assembly device on which a second vertical tubular element can be fixed by means of the - 4 ' J hollow flat head bolt. On the intermediate cylindrical segment, the threaded bolt introduced into the threaded hole permits the rotational locking of this intermediate portion and also permits, due to the outer thread of this bolt, the securing of a second assembly element forming an angle of 45, 60 or 90° which allows the fixing of at least one perpendicularly-arranged cylindrical tubular element by means of a hollow flat head bolt.

Thus, step by step, it is possible to erect a tubular scaffold, of square, rectangular or polyhedric shape, which constitutes the starting point of the successive assembly of superposed or interlocking modular elements.

The great advantage of this assembly system is therefore, in the absence of assembly joints, to present a completely smooth surface and a perfectly homogeneous arrangement. This system also allows the assembly in any direction of a group of tubular elements and allows the rotation of mobile panels.

In this way, it is possible to make office furniture by modular elements and especially to produce display cabinets by allowing doors to be fixed by means of flaps, brackets or glass partitions fixed on the said tubular elements.

Between the tubular parts, panels are arranged having profiled areas in order to be inserted astride the; tubular part. Thus, the panel is perfectly fixed and can only leave the groove by pressure or by extraction following a movement exerted from the inside to the outside.

The invention is described in more detail in what follows with reference to the attached drawings.

The detachable assembly devices represented each contain a cylindrical assembly device arranged between the tubes to be assembled and fitted with a hole which can be oriented towards each end of the tube. - 5 ' J In an embodiment of the invention preferred at present, the end-piece according to the invention fits into a hollow part in one of the metal edges fitting into the work surface either longitudinally or transversally and projecting slightly such that the said end-piece is engaged tightly along a length corresponding to the space comprised between the outer edge and the circumference of the piece. Thus, the end-piece is solidly fixed to the work surface without presenting bumps and allowing the solid mounting of a vertical or horizontal tubular structure.

The tubular structure constitutes the starting point of the construction of modular elements furnished with rigid partitions inserted between the tubes with areas in the form of a groove. In this way the formation of storage or filing elements is determined, such as elements for hanging files or cupboards, bookcases or display cases. The partitions can be made of opaque rigid material such as wood or metal. They can be made of transparent or translucent material such as glass, a polycarbonate polymer. Opaque elements and transparent elements can be assembled together to form elements which are transparent on one side and opaque on the other sides.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the flat head bolt functioning as the means of interlocking is illustrated in Figure I, representing the flat head bolt in a side-face view. The flat head (1) of the threaded bolt, the groove (2), the locking collar (3) and the end of the bolt (4) can be seen.

The flat head (1) has a diameter of the order of 8 mm and a height 6 mm, the groove (2) forms an obtuse angle of about 225° and the locking collar (3) is constituted by a polygon, in particular a hexagon mounted in a fixed fashion on the body of the threaded bolt. The end (4) of the bolt has a threaded end part which positions itself for example in a threaded hole of the oblong end-piece. - 6 The flat head bolt providing the interlocking of the pieces can also comprise a much shorter threaded part. The total length, which is about 37 mm in a long bolt, is only about 22 mm, all the other dimensions remaining unchanged.

Figure 2 is a schematic representation of a flat head bolt with a short shank.

Figure 3 provides an illustration of a type of threaded insert constituted by a ribbed socket mounted tightly inside the metal tubes. On this drawing, the ribs are shown at (9). They are intended to provide the locking inside the tube which is not shown.

The flat head bolt engages in one or other of the holes (10) and (10').

Figure 4 shows an exploded view of the structure of a corner base frame of a piece of office furniture according to the invention. It comprises an oblong end-piece (10) or (10') intended to be inserted into the longitudinal side frame (11) of one edge of the work surface by means of two flat head bolts (12) and (12') which are assembled by means of the piece (10) or (10') to the metal tube using a hollow sleeve (14) with an oval-shaped surface which fits exactly over the surface of the assembly piece (15) which has threaded holes which are not shown on this drawing.

Figure 5 shown the details of this mounting on a larger scale, revealing the two threaded holes of each of the oblong end-pieces (10) and (101) intended to provide the assembly of the tube (13) and the two sleeves (11).

Figure 6 shows the arrangement at two levels of the assembly devices according to the invention. It comprises firstly the metal tube (11) which have threaded holes (14) and (14*) at the top on which a cylindrical assembly piece (15) is arranged which also has threaded holes, over which two endIE 921216 pieces (16) and (16') having an oval-shaped surface fit, cooperating tightly with the surface of the assembly piece (15).

The assembly of the horizontal metal tubes (17) and (17*) shown on this drawing is carried out by means of the flat head bolts (12) and (12') the threaded part of which passes through the central penetrates into the assembly piece. hole of the piece (16) or (16') and threaded hole (15) of the central The flat head bolt (12) or (12') is inserted into the threaded socket situated inside the tube (17).

The vertical fixing with the metal tube takes place by means of a short flat head bolt (19) the flat head of which is inserted into the threaded socket situated inside the tube (18). A threaded hole (20) permits the arrangement of a locking screw which grips the head of the bolt at the level of its groove.

A cylindrical metal end-piece (21) which has threaded holes (22) is inserted at the upper end of the tube (18), on which one or more metal tubes (23) and (23') will be permanently fixed by means of a piece (16) and (16') using a flat head bolt (24) and (24').

In this way, it is possible to make a two-level supporting frame and the panels will be inserted by a circular-shaped groove between the vertical axis and the lateral tubes 23'(17') and 23(17).

According to the requirements, the frame will comprise one level, two levels, three or more levels. The two constant elements . are constituted by the circular foot (24) shown in Figure 4, which screws into the base of the metal tube (13) and the terminal end-piece (21) which provides both the upper assembly of the tubes of the frame and a very important - 8 f attractive finishing element.

Figure 7 shows the mounting of these two stages of construction resting on the circular foot (24), the fixing piece (25) constituted by a cylindrical threaded tube and several threaded holes (26) and (26’) over which the two oblong end-pieces (10) and (101) fit without gaps and are inserted at the end of the sleeves (11) and (11 1 ) and permanently fixed by two flat head bolts (12) and (12'). The metal tube (13) is fixed on the piece (25) by means of a flat head bolt with a short shank which is gripped inside the tube by a locking screw which is not shown which is inserted in the threaded hole (26) and grips on the groove of the flat head bolt.

The tube (13) is permanently fixed to the tube (18) by means of the cylindrical assembly piece (15), by means of the flat head bolt (19). This same piece (15) receives the two tubes (17) and (171) fixed by means of the junction piece (16) or (16') which fits exactly over the piece (15) and which allows the threaded part of the flat head bolt (12) or (12') to pass through, which engages with the thread of the threaded holes (24) and (24' ) .

Such a mounting as represented provides the assembly of two horizontal tubes, the piece (15) can also contain three threaded holes and provides under these conditions the fixing of three horizontal tubes if this proves to be necessary.

The metal tube (18) receives another joint (21) on which two other horizontal metal tubes (23) and (23') fit, thus defining the frame of rigid panels.

Claims

Claims The subject of the invention is:

1.) An assembly process permitting the construction of modular furniture elements characterized in that it mainly uses hollow metal tubes open at both ends, inside which a threaded socket ribbed on the outside is inserted in a permanent fashion, itself open at both ends, on which a flat head bolt engages, the thread of which is inserted in the threaded part of a threaded cylindrical junction piece in its centre and containing on its circumference other threaded holes on which other projecting metal tubes are fixed in a permanent fashion by means of a flat head bolt the threaded part of which passes through a spherical-shaped end-piece the final oval-shaped surface of which fits over the surface of the junction piece without gaps.

2. ) An assembly process according to claim 1 in which two or more metal tubes are rigidly assembled in a vertical plane.

3. ) An assembly process according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the lower tube is fixed to the circular-shaped foot, by means of the threaded part of the foot which passes through a cylindrical junction piece which has threaded holes on its circumference and engages with the ribbed sleeve arranged at the end of the tube.

4. ) An assembly process according to claim 3 in which the cylindrical junction piece engages with one or more oblong end-pieces containing two threaded holes which are each inserted in the oval-shaped end of a junction rod and to which they are permanently fixed by a flat head bolt.

5. ) An assembly process according to claim 4 in which the oblong end-piece has a spherical-shaped longitudinal groove which, after tightening, fits exactly over the junction piece. - 10 ' t

6. ) An assembly process according to one of claims 1 to 3 in which the internal threaded socket engages with a second threaded bolt inserted in the thread of an outer collar on which a smooth cylindrical ring is interposed, which has a perpendicular shank terminated by a thread, turning freely around the metal shank and containing an outer collar resting on said ring via an edge of slightly greater diameter than said ring and having a threaded hole in its centre.

7. ) An assembly process according to claim 4 or claim 5 in which the oblong end-piece is inserted in the longitudinal oval-shaped sleeve fixed on the edge of the work surface of a piece of office furniture.

8. ) An assembly process according to one of claims 1 to 3 in which the upper tube comprises a metal end-piece containing optionally a central threaded hole which engages in the upper end of the metal tube and is permanently fixed to said tube.

9. ) An assembly process according to one of claims 1 to 8 in which the metal mountings and two horizontal mountings determine a space in which a panel of rigid material is permanently inserted, which has rounded grooves fitting exactly over the surface of the metal tubes.

10. ) A process substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

11. ) Office furniture, in particular desks, shelves, bookcases, storage or filing units obtained by the assembly process for modular elements according to claims 1 to 10.