US2809404A - Corner for box or the like - Google Patents

Description

1957 w. F. HINDS 2,809,404

' CORNER FOR BOX OR THE LIKE Filed Nov. 26, 1954 ECKHOFF 8 5L /CK ATTORNEYS A MEMBER OF THE F/PM finite States Patent O CORNER FOR BOX OR THE LIKE William F. Hinds, Palo Alto, Calif.

Application November 26, 1954, Serial No. 471,289

1 Claim. (Cl. 2092) This invention relates to a box or drawer or similar article and particularly relates to a novel method of corner construction for such an article.

The average home mechanic often has dilficulty with the corner construction of a box or drawer since it is ordinarily necessary to make dove-tail or miter corners for such articles. Further, it is desirable in many instances to provide a box construction which can be easily disassembled and shipped fiat. In addition, it is desirable to provide a pre-fabricated corner structure that can be easily altered to fit boxes or drawers of diiferent heights.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a corner structure which can be sold in the form of long strips and easily cut to any desired length by a home mechanic.

Another object of this invention is to provide a corner structure which can be assembled into a box or drawer using only easily available hand tools.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a corner structure easy to assemble and disassemble and yet which provides a strong structure which may be left permanently assembled if desired.

In the drawings forming part of this application;

Figure l is a perspective view of a box or drawer employing my novel corner construction.

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the lines 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a corner of the box shown in Figure 1, partially cut away to show the method of assembling.

Figure 4 is a plan view of the corner of an assembled box, such as that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the strip material which is used to form the corners in accordance with the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings by reference characters, there is shown a box, generally designated 7, having a bottom 9, sides 11 and 13 and ends 15 and 17. The novel corner elements are generally designated 19 and consist of an external member 21 and two internal members designated 23 and 25. The external member 21 has two inturned lips designated 27 and 29 and in addition, has a central member 31 which terminates in the inturned lips designated 33 and 35. The internal member 23 has a 45 angular bend designated 37 at about its mid point, and has two lips, one of which designated 39 forms a 90 angle with the adjacent portion of the wall and the other of which, designated 41, is inturned as shown. The corresponding part 25 has similar lips thereon but is not described separately since it is the mirror image of part 23 and can be cut from the same length of stock.

In assembling a box using my novel corner means, it

2,809,404 Patented Oct. 15, 1957 is first necessary to make shallow saw kerfs near the ends of both sides of the side and end members of the box as is shown. One of these kerfs has been designated 43 in Figure 3. After making the saw kerfs, it is only necessary to slip the external member 21 into the outside kerfs of two adjacent side or end members and then slide the internal members 23 and 25 into the external member as is shown. If a permanent structure is desired, the interlocked lips 33, 35 and 41 can be squeezed together, as with pliers.

If a box is made, such as that shown in Figure 3 Wherein the bottom of the box is set into sides and ends by a rabbet, the internal members 23 and 25 will be correspondingly shorter than the exterial member 21. On the other hand, if the bottom is merely nailed to the outside of the box all three members can be of the same length.

Although my novel corner elements can be pre-cut to various lengths to produce boxes of various heights, it is contemplated that in normal use, corner elements will be sold in long strips, such as is illustrated in Figure 5 and then cut to length for the individual box to be constructed by the user.

As was stated earlier, the member 23 (and, of course, member 25) has a bend of about 45 near its mid point. It is apparent that the position of this bend largely determines the thickness of the board which can be accommodated, so that by merely changing the position of this bend, boards of various thicknesses can be accommodated. Thus, a store could stock a single size of part 21 and several sizes of part 23 to provide corner fittings for a considerable range of board thicknesses.

Various methods of fabrication can be used in making my novel corner elements. For instance, they can be made by bending lengths of sheet metal, can be cast or extruded. Corner elements are particularly advantageous when made of a metal such as soft aluminum which is easily cut with ordinary woodworking tools.

It is believed apparent from the above description that I have provided an inexpensive, novel method of constructing a corner element which enables anyone using only ordinary hand tools to construct a satisfactory box or drawer.

I claim:

A corner construction for a box or the like comprising an external member having two sides at right angles to each other, each of said sides terminating in a first inturned lip making a angle with the adjacent side, an internal central member extending from the point of juncture of said sides, said central member having a second pair of inturned lips thereon, a pair of internal members each having an internal edge slideably engaging one of the second inturned lips of the central member and each having outside edges terminating in inturned lips, the first inturned lips of the external member and the inturned li s of the internal members engaging and holding kerfs of a board placed between them.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 157,399 Holmes Dec. 1, 1874 731,946 Phipps June 23, 1903 1,305,492 Quass June 3, 1919 1,885,330 Cherdron et al Nov. 1, 1932 2,188,090 Young Jan. 23, 1940 2,653,360 Woodworth Sept. 29, 1953

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