WO2007125560A1

WO2007125560A1 - Pull-out basket for furniture cabinets used for exact support of removable containers

Info

Publication number: WO2007125560A1
Application number: PCT/IT2007/000302
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rossano Compagnucci
Original assignee: Compagnucci Holding S.P.A.
Priority date: 2006-04-28
Filing date: 2007-04-24
Publication date: 2007-11-08
Also published as: ITMC20060047A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a pull-out basket with wire structure for furniture cabinets, characterised in that it is provided with one or more cradle compartments that guarantee the automatic centring and exact placement of corresponding containers that can be freely removed in vertical direction, provided with a rectangular or square bottom wall and upward-diverging lateral sides.

Description

Pull-out basket for furniture cabinets used for exact support of removable containers.

The present patent application relates to a pull-out basket for furniture cabinets used for exact support of removable containers, preferably with wire structure.

The article of the invention is designed to be preferably housed inside bathroom cabinets to contain laundry.

Pull-out drawers or baskets with the same function have been available on the market for some time; however, none of them has shown excellent functionality.

In fact, some of these similar drawers or containers simply slide horizontally from inside outwards in the furniture cabinet, without having the possibility of being removed from the cabinet itself.

This means that the laundry stored in similar drawers or containers must be taken out by the user and transferred in baskets or other "manual" containers made of plastics, to be definitely transferred to the place where the washing machine is installed.

Some kitchen or bathroom cabinets contain removable containers associated with corresponding horizontal sliding guides that allow to extract them from the internal compartment of the cabinet.

When the containers are full of laundry, they can be removed from the cabinet and transferred to the place where the washing machine is installed, together with their contents.

Nevertheless, neither one of the two aforementioned solutions can be defined as perfectly satisfactory from the technical-functional viewpoint.

In the case of the drawers that cannot be removed from the cabinet, the main inconvenience consists in the need to transfer the laundry from the drawers to the "manual" basket in order to take it to the washing machine.

In the case of the aforementioned removable containers, the main inconvenience consists in the complexity of the operations required to release the containers and attach them again to the support means used to make them slide horizontally inside the cabinet structure.

The specific purpose of the present invention is to devise a system that simultaneously provides a solution to the aforementioned problems.

More precisely, the idea protected by the present invention is a wire basket capable of sliding horizontally with respect to the cabinet by means of suitable telescopic guides.

The peculiarity of the said sliding basket is that it can exactly house a pair of containers, preferably with wire structure, which can be easily removed and replaced inside the cabinet.

According to this general description, it appears evident that, in order to store the laundry, the user will horizontally extract the entire sliding basket from the cabinet, together with the aforementioned wire containers placed inside suitable housings.

Then, the user will place the laundry in one of the two removable containers.

At the end of this operation, the user will reinsert the sliding basket together with the removable containers inside the cabinet, with a sliding movement in reverse direction.

When the containers are full of laundry, the user will easily remove them from the basket - after extracting the basket itself from the cabinet - and use them to transfer the laundry to the place where the washing machine is installed. In particular, the removal of the said containers is simple and quick, since the containers are simply lifted from down upwards. This is made possible by the fact that no mutual fixing means are provided between the sliding basket and the removable containers and therefore no release is necessary. As soon as they are emptied, the containers can be easily and firmly replaced inside the sliding basket by gravity, that is to say without special means for mutual fixing. As it is clearly explained in the second part of this description, the correct and immediate placement of the removable containers in the sliding basket, as well as the maintenance of the correct position of the containers in their housings, are guaranteed by the special realisation modes of the sliding basket.

The wire structure of the sliding basket has been carefully studied in order to guarantee the automatic centring of the removable containers that are placed in their specific housings inside the wire structure from up donwards. Moreover, the structure is capable of laterally holding the removable containers, thus preventing uncontrolled movements or decentred positions with respect to their compartments, even in case of frequent horizontal sliding movements imposed to the sliding basket.

For purposes of clarity the description of the invention continues with reference to the enclosed drawings, which are intended for purposes of illustration only and not in a limiting sense, whereby:

- figure 1 is a general axonometric view of the basket of the invention with removable containers in extracted position;

- figure 2 is a cross-section view of a pair of containers housed in the corresponding basket with a longitudinal plane;

- figure 3 is an enlarged cross-section side view of one container housed in the corresponding basket shown with a transversal plane.

With reference to the said figures, the removable basket (1 ) of the invention with wire structure has two cradle compartments (V) in adjacent position, capable of exactly housing removable containers (10).

In particular, each removable container (10), which is entirely made of thin metal wire, has a rectangular bottom wall (10a) and upward-diverging lateral sides (10b).

As bearing elements, the removable basket (1) is provided with two "frame" sides (2) fixed above the external box-shaped elements of two telescopic guides (3) traditionally mounted on the internal walls of the cabinet.

Two opposite pairs of cross-pieces (4, 5) made of thin metal wire are fixed at different height between the two sides (2), being capable of transversally supporting sections (6, 7) made of the same metal wire and basically shaped in a U-shape to generate the aforementioned cradle compartments (V). In particular, each compartment (V) is composed of a first pair of U- shaped sections (6) and a second external pair of U-shaped sections (7); it being provided that the first pair of sections (6) is hung to the two cross- pieces (4) at the heigher height with respect to the lateral bearing structures (2), and the second pair of sections (7) is hung to the two cross-pieces (5) at the lower heigth with respect to the same lateral bearing structures (2).

As shown in the enclosed figures, each U-shaped section (6) is provided with two lower sections with 45° inward inclination (6a) that act as coupling between the two opposite uprights (6b) and the connection crossbar (6c). As shown in the enclosed figures, the total height of each U-shaped section (6) is such that the lower cross-bar (6c) is placed at a lower height than the pair of cross-pieces (5) fixed towards the bottom of the bearing sides (2).

This allows the uprights (6b) of the first U-shaped sections (6) to be welded immediately above the corresponding inclined sections (6a), in internal position on the pair of cross-pieces (5) fixed at a lower heigth between the bearing sides (2).

Each U-shaped section (7) is provided with ordinary 90° connection between the opposite uprights (7b) and the bottom cross-bar (7c); it being also provided that in the basket of the invention (1) the bottom cross-bar (7c) of the U-shaped sections (7) is placed at a higher height than the bottom cross-bar (6c) of the U-shaped sections (6).

In view of the above, as shown in the aforementioned figure, it can be said that the bottom cross-bars (6c) of the first pair of U-shaped sections (6) provided in each compartment (V) of the basket of the invention (1) generate the wire bottom of the compartment (V) that supports the removable container (10). Following to the illustration of the structure of each compartment (V) of the removable basket of the invention (1), the advantageous use of the said basket in combination with the removable containers (10) can be easily understood. In order to place one of the containers (10) inside the compartment

(V), the user will simply ensure that the lower wall (10a) is directed towards the bottom of the compartment (V); then the user will use gravity to place the container (10) in its correct support position, in collaboration with the inclined sections (6a) that converge inwards, provided on the bottom of each U- shaped section (6).

Once the inclined sections (6a) receive interference from the lower wall (10a) of the container (10), the said inclined sections (6a) can act as centring slides and guide the bottom wall (10a) exactly above the bottom wall of the compartment (V). Moreover, the inclined sections (6a) of the U-shaped sections (6) are also entrusted with another important function after the removable container (10) has been exactly placed in the compartment (V).

In particular, they interfere with the front and rear face of the container (10) to prevent the container (10) from uncontrollably sliding forward and backwards inside the compartment (V).

As mentioned earlier, the pull-out basket of the invention (1) avoids the undesired lateral sliding movements of the removable containers (10) placed in the compartments (V).

In particular, the function to laterally hold the removable container (10) that rests on the bottom wall of the compartment (V) is entrusted to the second pair of U-shaped sections (7), and more precisely to the bottom cross-bars (7c) that, because of their external position, interfere on opposite sides with the sides of the container (10) at a slightly higher height than the bottom wall (10a) of the container (10). Finally, it must be noted that, regardless of the enclosed figure, the removable containers (10) can have a different structure, possibly obtained by moulding thermoplastic materials.

Moreover, regardless of the preferred embodiment with two containers shown in the enclosed figures, the basket of the invention can be realised in a version capable of exactly containing a different number of removable containers (10).

Claims

1) Pull-out basket with wire structure for furniture cabinets, characterised in that it is provided with one or more cradle compartments (V) that guarantee the automatic centring and exact placement of containers (10) that can be freely removed in vertical direction, provided with a rectangular or square bottom wall (10a) and upward-diverging lateral sides (10b).

2) Pull-out basket as claimed in claim 1 , characterised in that the removable containers (10) have a wire metal structure.

3) Pull-out basket as claimed in claim 1 or in both claims, characterised in that it is provided with two frame sides (2) fixed above the external box- shaped elements of two telescopic guides for furniture cabinets (3), with two opposite pairs of cross-sections (4, 5) fixed in intermediate position at different heights to support one or more cradle compartments (V).

4) Pull-out basket as claimed in claim 3, characterised in that each cradle compartment (V) is composed of a first pair of U-shaped sections (6) and a second external pair of U-shaped sections (7); it being provided that the height of the first pair of U-shaped sections (6) is such that the cross-bar (6c) is placed at a lower height compared to the height of the corresponding lower cross-bar (7c) of the second pair of U-shaped sections (7).

5) Pull-out basket as claimed in claim 4, characterised in that each U-shaped section (6) is provided with two lower sections with 45° inward inclination (6a) that act as coupling between the two opposite uprights (6b) and the connection cross-bars (6c).