US20070151197A1

US20070151197A1 - Strut for closet frame

Info

Publication number: US20070151197A1
Application number: US11/312,706
Authority: US
Inventors: William Home
Original assignee: Grand Hall Enterprise Co Ltd
Current assignee: Grand Hall Enterprise Co Ltd
Priority date: 2005-12-21
Filing date: 2005-12-21
Publication date: 2007-07-05

Abstract

A novel strut for setting up the frame structure of a closet is provided. The strut mainly contains a hollow square prism and a hollow L-shaped prism wrapping around an edge of the hollow square prism. The two outer sides of the L-shaped prism are extended to form blades and parallel troughs along the prisms for the accommodation of the edges of the face boards of the closet. On the two outer sides of the square prism, a number of through holes are configured at appropriate locations and with appropriate spacing therebetween for the installation of the shelves and rails of the closet drawers. As such, there is no tiny gap left between the face boards and shelves of the closet.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to closets, and more particularly to a strut for forming the frame structure of a closet.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
To avoid water erosion and for easy cleaning of grease produced from cooking, modern day kitchen closets are usually made of stainless steel, or are assembled based on a metallic frame using stainless steel. However, the appearance of these closets is compromised by the exposed bolts joining various parts of the closet, or there are tiny gaps between these parts so that the closets cannot maintain a closed, water-tight, and bug-proof interior space.
Conventionally, to cover up these bolts or gaps, decoration strips and adhesives are used. After a period of time of usage, the decoration strips often fall off as the adhesion deteriorates from the moist and high temperature of the kitchen, or they are sometimes peeled off by naughty children.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a novel strut for setting up the frame structure of a closet to obviate the foregoing shortcomings of the prior arts.
The strut according to the present invention mainly contains a hollow square (or other polygonal shape) prism and a hollow L-shaped prism wrapping around an edge of the hollow square prism. The two outer sides of the L-shaped prism are extended to form blades and parallel troughs along the prisms for the accommodation of the edges of the face boards of the closet. On the two outer sides of the square prism, a number of through holes are configured at appropriate locations and with appropriate spacing therebetween for the installation of the shelves and rails of the closet drawers. As such, there is no tiny gap left between the face boards and shelves of the closet. This is a primary objective of the present invention.
On the other hand, on the inner surfaces of the blades, there are a number of parallel ribs so as to provide stronger clamp to the face boards of the closet and, thereby, to form a more air-tight interior space. This is another objective of the present invention.
In addition, along the two sides of the square prism where the through holes are configured, the inner walls of the two sides are thickened to form reinforcing ribs so as to make the through holes more robust. This is yet another objective of the present invention.
Further more, height-adjustable stands or wheels could be installed at the bottom ends of the struts. This is still another objective of the present invention.
The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the strut according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective exploded view showing the details of joining the face boards and the bottom shelf of a closet to the strut of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a closet using the struts of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the cross-section of the strut according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the cross-section of the strut according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the cross-section of the strut according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the cross-section of the strut according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a closet assembly using the struts according to various embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the strut according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated, the strut 1 mainly contains a hollow square prism 10 and a hollow L-shaped prism 20 wrapping around an edge of the hollow square prism 10. The two outer sides of the L-shaped prism 20 (i.e., the two sides farther away from the square prism 10) are extended to form blades 21 and 22. As such, the blades 21 and 22, and the prisms 10 and 20 jointly form two parallel troughs 30 along the prisms 10 and 20 for the accommodation of the edges of the face boards of the closet. On the inner surfaces of the blades 21 and 22 (i.e., the surfaces closer to the square prism 10), there are a number of parallel ribs 21A, 21B, 22A, 22B so as to provide stronger clamp to the boards of the closet and, thereby, to form a more air-tight interior space. On the other hand, on the two outer sides of the square prism 10 (i.e., the two sides farther away from the L-shaped prism 20), a number of through holes 11, 12, 13 are configured at appropriate locations and with appropriate spacing therebetween. Along the two sides of the square prism 10 where the through holes 11, 12, 13 are configured, the inner walls of the two sides are thickened to form reinforcing ribs 14 and 15 so as to make the through holes 11, 12, 13 more robust. The struts 1 are molded and formed by aluminum extrusion.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, four struts 1 constitute the four vertical edges of a cubic closet 60 respectively. The closet 60 has a rectangular bottom shelf 6 whose sides are bended down and whose four corners are recessed to match the lateral dimension of each of the four square prisms 10 of the four struts 1. Then bolts are screwed from the inside of the bottom shelf 6 into the through holes 13 so as to fix the bottom shelf 6 among the four struts 1. For each of the struts 1, a supporting member 51 is installed at the bottom end to support the closet 60. The supporting member 51 contains a plug 50 inserted into the bottom end 10B of the square prism 10 and a height-adjustable stand 52 or a wheel 53 is in turn joined to the plug 50. The top ends 10A of the square prisms 10 are used for the installation of a top shelf (not numbered).
As also shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, face boards 2 and 3 of the closet 60 are installed between two adjacent struts 1 by having their sides slid into the opposing troughs 30 of the struts 1. As such, the edges of the face boards 2 and 3 are hidden and protected by the blades 21 and 22. For the two sides of the closet 60, a number of rails (not numbered) for the drawers of the closet 60 are installed by having their ends 6A, 6B, 7A, 7B, 8A, 8B, bolted to the appropriate through holes 11, 12, and 13.
FIGS. 4˜7 illustrate the cross-sections of a number of alternative embodiments of the strut. As shown in FIG. 4, the two outer sides of the L-shaped prism 20 are joined to form a rounded surface, instead of a sharp edge. As shown in FIG. 5, the included angle a of the two outer sides of the L-shaped prism 20 is greater than 90° while, in FIG. 6, the included angle β is less than 90°. Please note that, depending on the included angle, the prism 10 has different polygonal cross-sections. FIG. 7 shows a rather different embodiment of the strut. As illustrated, two prisms 10C and 10D are bridged together by two polygonal prisms 20C and 20D with reinforcing walls 31 and 32 in the middle. With these embodiments of the struts 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D, a closet assembly 61 as shown in FIG. 8 could be assembled.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.
It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Claims

1. A strut for a vertical edge of a closet, comprising:

a hollow polygonal prism having a plurality of through holes at appropriate locations on two outer sides of said polygonal prism for the installation of the shelves and rails of the closet drawers of said closet, said polygonal prism having a supporting member at the bottom end; and

a hollow L-shaped prism wrapping around an edge of said polygonal prism, two outer sides of said L-shaped prism being extended to form blades; said blades and said polygonal prism and said L-shaped prism forming parallel troughs for the accommodation of the edges of the face boards of said closet.

2. The strut according to claim 1, wherein, on the inner surfaces of said blades, a number of parallel ribs are configured to clamp the face boards of the closet.

3. The strut according to claim 1, wherein, along the two sides of said polygonal prism where said through holes are configured, the inner walls of the two sides are thickened by reinforcing ribs.

4. The strut according to claim 1, wherein said supporting member comprises a plug inserted into the bottom end of said strut; and a wheel joined to said plug.

5. The strut according to claim 1, wherein said supporting member comprises a plug inserted into the bottom end of said strut; and a height-adjustable stand joined to said plug.