US3558204A - Desk assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

A DESK ASSEMBLY OF THE KIND HAVING A TYPEWRITER SUPPORTING SHELF SLIDABLE FROM AN INNER STORAGE POSITION OUTWARDLY TO A USE POSITION AND IN WHICH THE TYPEWRITER SUPPORTING SHELF IS HINGED TO A CARRIER WHICH LATTER IS SLIDABLY ATTACHED TO THE DESK FRAME ITSELY BY TELESCOPING SLIDE OR TRACKWAY MEANS.

Description

Jan. 26,

v. s. ELLIOT DESK ASSEMBLY F 7G. I

'; Filed Aug.' 16,'- 1968 United States Patent O 3,558,204 DESK ASSEMBLY Verna Sue Elliot, 1925 S. 40th St., Omaha, Nebr. 68105 Filed Aug. 16, 1968, Ser. No. 753,092 Int. Cl. A47b 21/00 US. Cl. 312-208 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A desk assembly of the kind having a typewriter supporting shelf slidable from an inner storage position outwardly to a use position and in which the typewriter supporting shelf is hinged to a carrier which latter is slidably attached to the desk frame itself by telescoping slide or trackway means.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The field of the invention is the field in which it is desirable to support a typewriter on a support which extends horizontally from the operators side of a desk and in which the support can be stored inside a cavity in the desk. Such desks are used in offices, but are also useful in apartments or in any area in which it is desirable to store a typewriter and its supporting shelf during periods of non-use in order to conserve space where space is at a premium, or for reasons of appearance. Such desks are important in apartments because they can be converted so as to adapt to a living room atmosphere at times when they are not used for typing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In the prior art, by far the most common type of desk in this field has been the ofiice desk in which the typewriter supporting shelf has been secured to the desk by means of brackets with the weight of the shelf and typewriter counterbalanced by springs. Such a desk permits the storage of the typewriter in a horizontal position without removing the typewriter from its shelf, but it has two serious disadvantages. A major disadvantage is the well-known danger involved when the force of the springs causes an unwary user to have a serious accident as the shelf moves under the force of the springs, sometimes trapping an operators hand or finger.

A second serious disadvantage of this most common type of desk is that at times when the typewriter shelf is in use position, the various spring and bracket supporting elements tend often to occupy a full upper one-half of the storage cavity in the desk, whereby persons at times wishing to use this cavity are limited in their freedom to do so.

Desks of this general type have been proposed in which the typewriter shelf is supported from a hinged door fixed to the desk. This type has never reached popularity, in my opinion, because a hinged door is less prevented from its swinging or hinging movement than is possible with full extension slides or trackways, such as I propose, and which latter could not be mounted on a hinged door.

Another prior art proposal involved hinging a typewriter support shelf to the upper edge of a drawer slidably mounted on a desk. However, I count it important that the area directly beneath the typewriter shelf be sufliciently free of obstruction that the operators knees can extend under the shelf for achieving a normal typing position.

An attempt in the prior art to propose a desk having a support shelf to which a typewriter can be bolted, the shelf sliding on a trackway mounted on the desk frame, did not reach general popularity, in my opinion, because the ice single track must be large and thick to be strong enough, and, being thick, is, therefore, unsightly.

Trackways are undesirably visible from the end of a sliding typewriter support shelf, and also are visible from the top thereof as is also not desired since trackways are of shiny metal, dont match wooden or colored desk tops, and are often greasy. This, in my opinion, has caused such desks to be much less attractive when open because a thick, bulky, visible metallic track is an eyesore.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A desk assembly of the kind having a typewriter supporting shelf slidable from an inner storage position outwardly to a use position and in which the typewriter supporting shelf is hinged to a carrier which latter is slidably attached to the desk frame itself by telescoping slide or trackway means.

It is another important feature of the invention that the carrier be supported by at least two horizontally extending widely spaced telescoping slide or trackway means so as to give the carrier a much more firm anchoring to the desk itself than is possible when a typewriter shelf is attached instead to a hinged door, the carrier being of considerable vertical length so as to bridge between the widely spaced horizontal slide or trackway means.

Because two trackway means are used instead of one, the trackways can be thinner and less visible and still have a greater strength than the single trackway used to support the typewriter shelf of the prior art, thereby making a desk which is more marketable and more beautiful.

A further object is in the provision of having the slide or trackway means of the full extension type, whereby substantially all of the carrier can be pulled out of the desk cavity and yet to be supported adequately by the slide means which do not interfere with the complete reception in the desk cavity of the entire carrier and entire typewriter shelf.

A further object is a construction in which a hinged door can be closed to cover the cavity when the other parts are in storage position.

A further object is to provide releasable prop means engaging the typewriter support shelf and the carrier so as to prop up the support shelf for use without the necessity of expensive support means fixed to the desk frame itself.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a desk of this invention shown with the typewriter support shelf in operating position, a typewriter being shown thereon in full line, but with parts broken away and the outline thereof shown in dotted lines.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1 and showing in dotted lines two folded positions of the shelf, at times when it is folded outside of the desk, and also at times when it is folded inside the desk.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the desk as seen in FIG. 1, but with a top open to a vertical position and with the lefthand end of the top broken away to show a top supporting block which extends beneath the open position of the top.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 55 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a detail showing a portion of the lower lefthand corner of the desk of FIG. 1 with parts of the desk and of a carrier being broken away and other parts shown in section.

The desk assembly of this invention is generally indicated at 10 in FIG. 1 and comprises a frame 20 having a cavity therein opening toward the forward side 32 of the frame.

The cavity 30 is bounded by a rearward wall of the desk shown at 40, an end wall of the desk, best seen at in FIG. 2, and a knee-hole sidewall of the desk, best seen at 50 in FIG. 1. A carrier is disposed in the cavity 30 and is preferably in the form of a rectangular piece of stiff material having parallel fiat sides and 72, which latter are parallel to a rectangular vertical end wall 44 of the desk.

The carrier 60 is to be distinguished from a door which is adapted to cover the forward or open side of the cavity 40. The door 80 is hinged to the end wall 44 by a vertical hinge 90, best seen in FIG. 4, for the hinging of the door about a vertical axis.

At least two trackway means or slide assemblies are generally indicated at 100.

The slide assemblies each have a first portion 102 secured to the desk frame 20 and specifically to the end wall 44 which forms a part of the desk frame 20, one such securing being shown in FIG. 6 as accomplished by counter-sunk screws 130. Each carrier assembly has a second portion 134 which is slidable lengthwise in the elongated first portions 102 in a telescoping manner. Suitable means is provided for connecting the second telescoping members 134 of the trackway assemblies to the outer side 70 of the carrier 60 and such means is generally indicated at and at best such means 140 comprises a third trackway portion 144 which is telescopically disposed within and longitudinally slidable with respect to the second trackway member 134 respectively, all members of the trackway, 102, 134, and 144, being horizontally elongated and freely slidable within each other.

The third trackway member 144 is secured to the outer side 70 of the carrier 60 by screws 170, best seen in FIG. 6, and a spacer supports a central portion of the C- shaped third member 14-4 of each slide away from the carrier 160, as best seen in FIG. 6.

It will be seen that the trackway means 100 or slide assemblies 100 attach the carrier 60 to the end wall 44 of the frame 20 is a manner permitting the carrier to slide horizontally from a storage position inside the compartment or cavity 30, such storage position being shown in dotted lines at in FIG. 2, outwardly to a use position such as shown in full lines in FIG. 2.

The second section of each trackway member 100 is shown at 134 and is best seen in FIGS. 2, 3, and 6 to have a longitudinal slot extending transversely therethrough and seen at 180. The slot 180 does not extend completely to the ends of the second section 134, but it does extend nearly to the ends and it is for the purpose of receiving a pair of motion-arresting stops 186 which extend through the slot 180, one stop extending into the end wall 44 by extending through the first slide assembly portion 100 so that it is anchored. The other stop 186 extends through the third trackway section 144, the spacer 172, and into the carrier 60 in which it is anchored, with the terminal end of the stop 186 extending over to the second trackway section 134 and into the slot 180 thereof.

The stops 186 prevent the second trackway section 134 from coming out from between the first and third trackway sections 102 and 144 respectively.

As thus described, the slide assemblies or trackway assemblies 100 can be called of the full extension type and it is to be understood that the particular construction is not important to the breadth of this invention, as many other types can be used that are also of the full extension nature.

The typewriter support shelf 300 has a normally horizontal upper surface 310 and its underside is attached by an elongated hinge 320 to the side 72 of the carrier 60 for hinging about a horizontal axis to permit the support 300 to be swung from a downwardly extending storage position in parallelism with the carrier 60 to a used position in which it extends horizontally and upheld by a movable prop means generally indicated at 330.

As best seen in FIG. 4, the typewriter support 300 has a notch 334 therein at that corner thereof which is disposed farthest from the carrier 60 and the closest to the top 340 of the desk. The notch 334 is adapted to receive the inner wall 32 of the cavity 30 so as to permit the innermost edge 350 of the typewriter support 300 to extend beyond the wall 32 for extra length, and is best seen in FIG. 4.

Expressed in another way, the presence of the notch 334 allows that edge 354 of the typewriter support 300 which is adjacent the desk top 340 to extend in under the top 340 of the desk and into the cavity 30 sufficiently to preserve a much better appearance than a gap at this place would cause to be if the notch 334 were not conceived.

The additional benefit of having the edge 354 extending under the top 340 is that it allows further typewriter support shelf surface on which to receive erasers, pencils, and the like, which would otherwise more readily fall off of the edge of a shelf of less width.

The prop 330' can also be called a holder bracket 330 and has an upper end attached to the underside of the typewriter support 300 in a pivotal manner by means of brackets 400 having pivot pin 410 extending horizontally therethrough, as best seen in FIG. 1.

The elongated holder bracket 330 extends downwardly and toward the adjacent side of the carrier 60 to which its lower end is attached by means of a bracket 430 receiving a pin 432 therethrough which extends horizontally to form an axis of pivoting. The bracket has an upper section 436 and a lower section 438 which are secured together by a pivot pin 440 and it is to be understood that the bracket 330 is one of a type which can fold by moving its pivot pin 440 downwardly, but that if an operators leg should bump the bracket on its underside, it would not fold by being bumped upwardly because the lower edges of the adjacent ends of sections 436 and 438 abut each other.

Referring to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the desk has its top 340 disposed horizontal and above the horizontal upper surface 520 of a sub-top 530 of the desk, which latter is attached to the frame and is of the same area as the top 340. The top 340 is attached to the sub-top 530 by means of an elongated hinge 534 which extends completely from end of the desk to the other and is disposed along the rearward edge of the top 340 and sub-top 530 so that the forward end of the top 340 can be swung upward, whereby if desired, a sewing machine, not shown, can be mounted in a manner adapted to fold upward through the sub-top 530 from a storage position therebeneath, as is a way of using and storing sewing machines that has been in practice in the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 2, an open position of top 340 is shown in dotted lines in which the top is substantially vertical but is opened away from the top 530 slightly farther than an exact vertical position so that the top 340 will be maintained by gravity from falling forward against the top and will be maintained by a block 600 from falling against a wall which might be behind the desk.

The block 600 is attached to the outside of the rearward wall 40 and preferably extends from one end of the desk to the other. The value of the block 600 can be best understood when it is seen that it avoids the use of unsightly space-consuming brackets and yet prevents the top 340 from damaging a wall behind the desk.

The typewriter 302 is understood to be fastened to the typewriter support shelf 300 by suitable brackets 650, which latter are secured to the support 300 and to the base of the typewriter. Such brackets are not shown in detail because they can be any one of many types and in their preferred form are the conventional brackets of a portable typewriter fastened to the bottom of its housing.

I claim:

1. A desk assembly comprising a frame having a cavity therein opening toward the forward side of the frame, a carrier means in said compartment, trackway means attaching said carrier means to saidframe in a manner permitting said carrier means to slide horizontally outwardly from said compartment, a typewriter support having a normally horizontal upper side, ,hinge means attaching said typewriter support to the carrier means for the hinging of one edge of said typewritensupport on said carrier means for permitting said support to be swung from a storage position with its upper sidqextending downwardly from said hinge means to a use position extending substantially horizontally, releasable ineans for propping up said support into horizontal position at times, said trackway means comprising two separate substantially horizontalelongated trackway slide assemblies disposed at a substantially vertical spacing with respect to each other and each attached to and supporting said carrier means with stability in its outer position. j

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said carrier means is a solid panel of such size as to extend outward from said desk when in an outer position substantially as far as said support extends out from said desk.

3. The combination of claim *1 in which said prop means comprises a holder bracket, said holder bracket having one end attached to the underside of said typewriter support and said bracket normally extending downwardly and toward an adjacent side of said carrier means to which it is attached, said bracket hinging between its ends in a manner permitting said bracket, to fold for allowing said typewriter carrier to swing downwardly for storage, said bracket being of a type which is adapted to resist forces pulling or pushing at its ends without bending the bracket provided such forces extend longitudinally of the elongated bracket. :3

; 4. The combination of claim 1 in which a typewriter is mounted on the upper side of saidcarrier.

5. The combination of claim 1 in which said compartment is of a size for receiving said typewriter support at a time when said typewriter support is extending downwardly.

6. The combination of claim 1 further comprising a door hinged to said frame and openably covering the forward side of said cavity when said support and carrier are therein.

7. The combination of claim 1 in which said atrackway means has first, second, and third main portionsflfsaid first main portion being attached to said frame, the third main portion being attached to said carrier, and said second main portion being telescopically secured to saidi first and third portions for connecting them together, said first, second and third portions forming a full extension slide assembly, allowing said carrier to be extended substantially completely outwardly of said cavity.

8. The: combination of claim 1 in which said desk assembly has a top having normally horizontal upper and lower surfaces disposed between and connecting? said top to said trame for the hinging of said top about an axis disposedg' along that side of said desk which is, opposite from the use position of said typewriter support;

9. The combination of claim 8 in further coiitbination with means secured to said frame and disposed in position for engaging that edge of said top which is downward at times when said top is in a vertical position so as to hold said top in an upwardly extending substantially vertical position'at desired times.

References Cited 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,133,807

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