US3744868A

US3744868A - Furniture construction

Info

Publication number: US3744868A
Application number: US00242092A
Authority: US
Inventors: J Reiter
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-04-07
Filing date: 1972-04-07
Publication date: 1973-07-10
Anticipated expiration: 1990-07-10

Abstract

A cabinet or a piece of furniture, preferably cabinets in a wall system, wherein the side and top walls are made of laminated square elongated members and the joints of these wall members are curved and made up of short curved laminated members having cross section similar to the cross section of the elongated wall laminated members with the grain in the wall laminated members and in the curved joint members running longitudinally and substantially parallel.

Description

O Umted States Patent 1 [1 1 3,744,868 Reiter July 10, 1973 FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION 3,188,693 6/1965 Troyano 297 445 x Inventor: Joseph Refit", H255 Suzor Cote, 3,178,244 4/1965 Relss et al 312/245 X Mammal Quebec Canada 356 Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg [22] Filed: Apr. 7, 1972 Attorney-Alan Swabey [21] Appl. No.: 242,092

[57] ABSTRACT 52] vs. C] 312/263, 312/7 R, 312/198,, A cabinet or a pieee of furniture, Preferably cabinets in 312 245 237 2092 H a wall system, wherein the side and top walls are made [51] Int. Cl. A47t 5/08, A47b 47/04 of laminated square o ga bers and the joints [58] Field of Search 312/7, 198, 263, of these Wall members are fl/ed and made "P short 312 2 4; 297 440, 445; 217 5; 237 3 curved laminated members having cross section similar 1 2092 w 2092 220 73 74 to the cross section of the elongated wall laminated members with the grain in the wall laminated members 5 R f n Cited and in the curved joint members running longitudinally UNITED STATES PATENTS and bsmnuauy Parallell95,87l 10/1877 Zuenkeler 217/65 5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1 FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 1. Field of Invention The present invention relates to furniture and more particularly to wood furniture construction.

2. Description of Prior Art In the construction of furniture, especially office and domestic furniture, it is as important to provide varied styles as it is to provide a functional construction. In the quest to find distinctive styles, it has been found difficult to construct wood furniture with rounded joints. Normally, wood furniture is constructed having relatively squared joints. Itis practically impossible to provide a joint at an edge of a cabinet or desk which is substantially rounded, that is, in the order of 2 inches and in which the grain matches with the adjacent wood panels. In order to provide such a joint, it is required that a single elongated piece which has been properly curved be located at the joint and attached to the adjacent panels. The grain in such a piece runs normally transversely of the grain of the adjacent panels and does not match with the panels.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION It is an aim of the present invention to provide a wood furniture construction with rounded joints which is economical to manufacture and in which the grain of the wood of the rounded joint runs substantially in the same direction as the grain in the adjacent walls.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a system of cabinets in a wall mounted system.

In a furniture construction in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a furniture module having at least a pair of wall panels merging with a joint member, each wall panel having a grain running substantially perpendicular to the joint. The joint member includes a plurality of laminated curved members extending perpendicular to the joint and the grain in the laminated curved member runs substantially parallel to the grain in the wall members.

In a preferred construction of the present invention, the wall panels are made up of a plurality of elongated laminated members corresponding in cross section to the curved laminated members of the joint.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Having thus generally described the nature of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, showing by way of illustration, a pre ferred embodiment thereof, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a typical wall system of cabinets;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cabinet of the wall system;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the cabinet;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the cabinet shown in FIG. 3, partly in cross section; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a detail of the cabinet.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a wall system, including rails mounted to a wall 8. A plurality of cabinets, such as an open cabinet 12, liquor cabinet 14, a sliding-door cabinet and cabinet 18 for mounting knick-knacks in which a plurality of elongated cabinets have been fastened side to side and mounted on the rails. Book shelves 16 could also be provided on the rails 10. It is noted that all of the cabinets on the wall system have rounded joints which gives the cabinet a distinctive appearance.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, a typical cabinet 12 is shown having a top wall 22, a bottom wall 24 and

side walls

26 and 28. The curved edges or joints are formed by joint members 30. In the open cabinet 12, shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, there is provided a shelf 32 mounted on shelf bracket 34.

The cabinet 12 is mounted to the rails 10 by means of rail bracket 36 fastened to the

inside side walls

26 and 28 of the cabinet including a downwardly facing open slot adapted to engage a pin 38 which is seated in an aperture on the side edge of the rail 10. The rails 10 are fastened to the wall 8 by means of screws 40.

Each of the top wall 22, bottom wall 24,

side walls

26 and 28 are made up of laminated members 42a, 42b, 42c, 42dwhich are generally of square cross section in the order of seven-eighths of an inch. The elongated laminated

wall members

42a, 42b, 42c and 42d are cut with the grain extending longitudinally thereof so that the general pattern of the grain, in a so-constructed wall panel, is in the longitudinal direction thereof. Each joint 30 is made up of curved laminated

members

44a, 44b, 44c, 44dof similar cross section to the wall members 42 and are cut such that the grain runs longitudinally or substantially in the same direction as the grain of the wall members.

Such a construction is economical to manufacture in view of the relatively small sections of each piece which is laminated and the curved sections can easily be cut with the grain in the longitudinal direction because the thickness from a piece from which the curved member can be made is not normally more than an inch and one-half. The grain from the side of the member appears to run diagonally, such that the grain in the edge of adjacent wall panels appears to merge.

The appearance of a cabinet or desk constructed with these laminated pieces, both in the wall panels and in the joint is also quite unique.

I claim:

1. A furniture construction comprising at least a pair of panel members merging with a corner joint member, the corner joint member being exteriorly curved and having a longitudinal axis of curvature, the corner joint member including a plurality of narrow laminated members, each extending in planes at right angles to the axis of curvature, the wood grain in the panel members and in the narrow laminated members running substantially in the same direction at right angles to the center of curvature.

2. A furniture construction as defined in claim 1 wherein the width of the narrow laminated members does not exceed one and one-half inches.

3. A furniture construction as defined in claim I wherein the panel members are made up of a plurality of elongated laminated members each extending in planes at right angles to the axis of curvature of the corner joint member and the width of the panel laminated members does not exceed the width of the joint laminated members, the grain in each individual laminated member running longitudinally thereof substantially parallel to the grain in the longitudinal corresponding curved joint Iaminatedmember.

wherein the cabinet is of the type which can be suspended from rails mounted to a vertical wall and include a bracket adapted to engage fastening means on the rails mounted to the walls.

Claims

3. A furniture construction as defined in claim 1 wherein the panel members are made up of a plurality of elongated laminated members each extending in planes at right angles to the axis of curvature of the corner joint member and the width of the panel laminated members does not exceed the width of the joint laminated members, the grain in each individual laminated member running longitudinally thereof substantially parallel to the grain in the longitudinal corresponding curved joint laminated member.

4. A furniture construction as defined in claim 1, wherein there are four flat wall members and corner joint members joining each wall member, forming a cabinet.

5. A furniture construction as defined in claim 4, wherein the cabinet is of the type which can be suspended from rails mounted to a vertical wall and include a bracket adapted to engage fastening means on the rails mounted to the walls.