WO2014060861A1

WO2014060861A1 - Guiding device for extractable drawers from a corner furniture

Info

Publication number: WO2014060861A1
Application number: PCT/IB2013/055582
Authority: WO
Inventors: Franco Bonin
Original assignee: Vibo S.P.A.
Priority date: 2012-10-16
Filing date: 2013-07-08
Publication date: 2014-04-24
Also published as: ITVR20120204A1

Abstract

A device (1) for guiding the extraction/insertion of at least one extractable drawer (2) through an off-centre opening (4) of a corner furniture (3), comprises a first guiding frame (5), capable of being fixedly connectable inside the corner furniture (3), a second guiding frame (6) capable of being fixedly connectable, at the bottom, to the at least one extractable drawer (2), the second guiding frame (6) being slidingly associated above the first guiding frame (5) through first rolling elements (7) and second rolling elements (8) so as to give the extractable drawer (2) an articulated rotary-translational motion during the extraction/insertion step thereof from/into the furniture (3).

Description

"GUIDING DEVICE FOR EXTRACTABLE DRAWERS FROM A CORNER

FURNITURE"

Designated inventors: BONIN Franco

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a device for guiding extractable drawers from a corner furniture and, in particular, to a device that is suitable for giving an articulated motion to at least one drawer during its extraction/insertion from/in a corner furniture.

STATE OF THE ART

With reference to corner pieces of furniture, like for example base corner pieces of furniture of modular kitchens or to similar pieces of furniture, devices are known that allow the extraction of at least one drawer from an off-centre opening of such pieces of furniture. Such devices, comprising articulated guiding means, allow the extraction of a drawer comprising a suitably shaped horizontal board, so as to allow it to be guided from a retracted position, inside the furniture, to an extended position in which it is partially or completely extracted from the furniture itself.

Such guiding devices thus make it possible to exploit the space inside the furniture that normally, due to the presence of an off-centre opening, is difficult to reach . Normally, indeed, if there are no guiding systems only the objects positioned near to the off-centre opening are easy to reach.

The objects positioned laterally with respect to such an off-centre opening, are indeed difficult to reach. Guiding systems of drawers belonging to the prior art, however, have some drawbacks with reference to the dimensions of the extractable drawer or to the manoeuvres necessary for guiding it.

In particular, it is known for there to be devices for guiding at least one drawer through the opening of a corner furniture comprising profiled rails on which the extractable drawer slides.

Such a device, which is easy to manoeuvre, due to the rotation of the drawer along an arc of circumference has a small loading plane with respect to the space that is actually available inside the furniture. The useful loading area available inside the drawer, indeed, has the shape of a circular crown section which is considerably smaller than the area of the inner plan of the furniture, which is rectangular.

Moreover, during the final extraction step, at the end stop position, following the rotation along the arc- shaped guide, the drawer could hit against the side wall of the furniture near the off-centre opening. Moreover, it is known for there to be further systems for guiding drawers or the like through the opening of a corner furniture comprising a horizontal board characterised by a wide loading area with respect to the inner dimensions of the furniture itself. However, in order to allow such a suitably shaped drawer to be extracted, it is necessary to use complex articulated systems that determine a rotary-translational motion of the drawer itself.

PURPOSES OF THE INVENTION

One purpose of the present invention is to improve the state of the art.

Another purpose of the present invention is to propose an optimised guiding device, for allowing at least one drawer, equipped with a wide loading area, to be easily extracted from a corner furniture.

A further purpose of the present invention is to propose a guiding device of at least one extractable drawer, in which the extraction/insertion movement from/into the corner furniture is extremely smooth and without jamming.

Another purpose of the present invention is to propose a guiding device that is suitable for allowing the extractable drawer to be moved easily even in the presence of loads bearing down on the drawer itself. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention a device according to claim 1 is foreseen.

The dependent claims refer to preferred and advantageous embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention shall become clearer from the description of a detail of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of a guiding device of at least one drawer that can be extracted from a furniture illustrated as an indication and not for limiting purposes, in the attached drawing tables in which:

figure 1 is a perspective view of the guiding device of at least one extractable drawer according to the present invention;

figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the guiding device according to figure 1;

figure 3 is a top view of the guiding device of at least one extractable drawer, in a retracted configuration inside a corner furniture;

figure 4 is a top view of the guiding device of at least one extractable drawer in a configuration in which it is extracted from a corner furniture;

figure 5 is a further top view of the guiding device of at least one extractable drawer in a configuration that is retracted inside a corner furniture;

figure 6 is a further top view of the guiding device of at least one extractable drawer in the configuration that is extracted from a corner furniture ;

figure 7 is a perspective schematic view of the guiding device according to the present invention in a configuration that is retracted inside a furniture;

figure 8 is a perspective view of some components of the guiding device according to figure 1;

figure 9 is a perspective view of a detail of the guiding device of at least one extractable drawer according to the present invention.

EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the attached figures, reference numeral 1 wholly indicates a device for guiding at least one extractable drawer 2 from a corner furniture 3, through an off-centre opening 4 of the corner furniture 3 itself.

In particular, the guiding device 1 gives an alternate rotary-translational type motion to the at least one extractable drawer 2, between a starting configuration, in which the at least one extractable drawer 2 is housed inside the corner furniture 3, and an end stop configuration, in which the at least one extractable drawer 2 comes out from the corner furniture 3.

According to one version of the present invention, one or more of said extractable drawer 2 can be positioned inside the corner furniture 3, in succession above one another, so as to form a stack of drawers 2. Each extractable drawer 2 of the stack, can be moved independently with respect to the others.

The guiding device 1 comprises a first guiding frame 5, which can be fixedly connected to at least one inner wall of the furniture 3, and a second guiding frame 6, that can be fixedly connected, at the bottom, to the extractable drawer 2, and positioned at the top with respect to the first guiding frame 5.

The first guiding frame 5 and the second guiding frame 6 are substantially curvilinear shaped, so as to give a rotary-translational advancing movement to the extractable drawer 2, when it is being guided inside/out from the furniture 3 as shall be indicated in greater detail in the rest of the description.

The second guiding frame 6 is slidingly associated above the first guiding frame 5 through first rolling means 7 and second rolling means 8. In particular, the first rolling means 7 and the second rolling means 8 allow the relative sliding of the second guiding frame 6 with respect to the first guiding frame 5.

Therefore, the second guiding frame 6 is mobile with respect to the first guiding frame 5 which, on the other hand, is fixed inside the corner furniture 3. The first guiding frame 5 has a front portion 9 that is positioned at the off-centre opening 4 of the corner furniture 3.

The first guiding frame 5 comprises a first curvilinear profile 10 that can be connected to at least one inner wall of the corner furniture 3 through connection rods 11, and a plate 12 for supporting the first rolling means 7, positioned at the front portion 9.

The connection rods 11, moreover, act as a support and structural reinforcement of the first curvilinear profile 10, preventing it from being able to bend during the movement of the second guiding frame 6 along the first guiding frame 5.

The second guiding frame 6 has a rear end 13 and a front end 14 that are connected to one another by means of a second curvilinear profile 15 and a third curvilinear profile 16.

At the front end 13 a front panel 17 can be installed, through connection brackets or similar elements that are not shown in the figures, for partially or completely closing the off-centre opening 4. In the case in which a single extractable drawer 2 is foreseen, the front panel 17 has a section that is the same size as the off-centre opening 4, otherwise, if a greater number of extractable drawers is foreseen, the section of each front panel 17 is such as to determine, in any case, the complete closure of the off-centre opening 4 itself.

The second curvilinear profile 15 and the third curvilinear profile 16 are fixedly connected apart from one another, in a horizontal position, through shaped plates 18 or shafts or bars or similar connection elements .

The plates 18 are suitably shaped so as to not be an obstacle for the relative sliding of the second guiding frame 6 with respect to the first guiding frame 5.

The first rolling means 7, which are connected to the first guiding frame 5, comprise two supports 19 that swivel around respective vertical axes 20, as shall be made clearer in the rest of the description.

Each of the two swivelling supports 19 is positioned at the opposite ends of the support plate 12.

Each swivelling support 19 comprises a bracket 21 for connecting to the support plate 12, and a plate 22, which is fixedly connected to the bracket 21 in a rotary manner around a corresponding vertical axis 20. One or more wheels 23 with a horizontal axis are arranged on the plate 22, each wheel 23 possibly also having a throat.

Such throats of the wheels 23 act as seats along which the second curvilinear profile 15 and the third curvilinear profile 16 of the second guiding frame 6 respectively slide.

Therefore the wheels 23 support, from below, the second curvilinear profile 15 and the third curvilinear profile 16 during the movement of the extractable drawer 2.

Each swivelling support 19, in the version illustrated in figure 8, has a pair of wheels 23 that are aligned horizontally .

Above such a pair of wheels 23 it is foreseen for there to be corresponding wheels 24 having a horizontal axis, which are equipped with a tapered or cylindrical profile .

Such a tapered or cylindrical profile of the wheels 24 makes it possible for there to be an easier insertion of the profiles 15, 16 inside the two swivelling supports 19, such an insertion can occur with a lateral movement of the profiles 15, 16 in the supports 19.

The wheels 24 act as a safety element that ensures a stable guiding of the extractable drawer 2. Indeed, since the wheels 24 are in a position that is above the second curvilinear profile 15 and the third curvilinear profile 16, they limit their vertical movements .

In such a way it is possible to avoid tipping over of the extractable drawer 2 when it is being guided.

In one version of the present invention, that is not illustrated, the wheels 24 can be replaced by simple anti-friction sliding blocks.

The second rolling means 8 are fixedly connected to the second guiding frame 6, at its rear portion 13.

In one version of the present invention, the second rolling means 8 are fixedly connected to the rear portion 13 of the second guiding frame 6 through a cantilever support 25.

Similarly to what has been described for the first rolling means 7, the second rolling means 8 comprise a swivelling support 26, a bracket 27 for connecting the swivelling support 26 to the cantilever support 25, and a plate 28, which is substantially rectangular.

The plate 28 is fixedly connected to the bracket 27 in a rotary manner around a vertical axis 29.

In one version of the present invention illustrated in the attached figures, the plate 28 comprises four wheels 30 with a horizontal axis, each wheel 30 having a respective throat, which are positioned at the tops of the plate 28 itself.

In this case all the wheels 30 are equipped with throats because the insertion of the first curvilinear profile 10 inside the swivelling support 26 occurs frontally and not laterally and also because there is only one first curvilinear profile 10 and only one swivelling support 26 and it is thus necessary to have a good and safe lateral guiding.

Therefore two wheels 30 are positioned above the first curvilinear profile 10 and two wheels 30 are positioned below the first curvilinear profile 10, actually surrounding it and preventing lateral movements or, even worse, derailing.

The wheels 30 are similar to the wheels 23, having a throat that defines a seat along which the first curvilinear profile 10 slides during the movement of the extractable drawer 2.

As already mentioned above, the first rolling means 7 and the second rolling means 8, respectively comprise two swivelling supports 19 and a swivelling support 26. It should be noted that such supports 19, 26 indeed have the characteristic of being able to swivel around respective vertical axes 20 and 29, so as to be able to copy the shape of the second curvilinear profile 15, of the third curvilinear profile 16 and of the first curvilinear profile 10, respectively.

Indeed such profiles 15, 16 and 10 which can be for example made through calendering, have for each portion a curvature that can vary as a function of the movement that is desired to be given to the extractable drawer 2.

It is thus particularly important for the supports 19, 26 to be able to swivel so as to make it possible to perfectly follow the variable curvature of the profiles 15, 16 and 10; consequently, there is also a movement of the second guiding frame 6 with respect to the first guiding frame 5 that is particularly smooth and without jamming .

Therefore, the extraction/insertion of the extractable drawer 2 from/inside the corner furniture 3 is particularly smooth and easy to carry out.

According to one version of the present invention illustrated in the top view of figure 3, the shelf 31 has a rear portion 32 that is equipped with a profile that is substantially rectilinear and a front portion 33, which follows on from the rear portion 32, which is substantially curvilinear.

Such a shape of the shelf 31 defines a wide resting plane, which makes it possible to optimise the use of the useful loading area of the extractable drawer 2. As known from the state of the art, the shape of the horizontal boards or of the extractable drawers depends on the guiding of such elements with respect to the space inside the corner furniture in which they are housed .

With reference to figures 3-6 these schematically illustrate the extreme positions, initial position and end stop position, which can be reached by the extractable drawer 2 and which are set by the guiding device 1.

In particular, figures 3 and 5 illustrate the initial position, in which the extractable drawer 2 is inside the corner furniture 3, whereas figures 4 and 6 illustrate the end stop position, in which the extractable drawer 2 is extracted from the corner furniture 3.

The guiding device 1 according to the present invention, gives the extractable drawer 2, for a brief initial portion, a rectilinear trajectory, then a curvilinear trajectory followed by a final substantially linear trajectory.

Moreover, the guiding device 1 according to the present invention makes it possible to completely extract the extractable drawer 2 from the corner furniture 3, preventing it, when reaching the end stop, from interfering with the side wall 34 that is adjacent to the drawer.

During the extraction, the drawer 2 initially comes out from the off-centre opening 4 of the furniture 3, for a short substantially rectilinear portion so as to prevent any interference of the front panel 17 with the other parts of the furniture 3, there is then a certain portion with a curvilinear trajectory and, subsequently, it continues along a substantially linear trajectory, actually moving away from the side wall 34. It should be noted that such a composite trajectory of the drawer 2 is made possible by the specific shape of the three curvilinear profiles 13, 23 and 24 which make it possible to achieve different movements for the front and rear part of the drawer itself.

It should also be noted that it is also possible for there to be different trajectories of the drawer 2 by suitably modifying · the shape of the curvilinear profiles 13, 23 and 24.

Moreover, the first guiding frame 5 and the second guiding frame 6 and, in particular the curvilinear profiles 13, 23 and 24 are rigid and strong.

Therefore, the first guiding frame 5 and the second guiding frame 6, during the movement of the at least one extractable drawer 2, do not bend, thus avoiding possible jamming when guiding the extractable drawer 2 itself .

The invention thus conceived can undergo numerous modifications and variants all covered by the inventive concept .

Moreover, all the details can be replaced by other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent dimensions and shapes can be any according to the requirements without for this reason departing from the scope of protection of the following claims.

Claims

Guiding device (1) for the extraction/insertion of at least one extractable drawer (2) through an off-centre opening (4) of a corner furniture (3), said device (1) comprising a first guiding frame (5) , able to be fixedly connected inside said corner furniture (3), a second guiding frame (6), able to be fixedly connected at the bottom to said at least one extractable drawer (2) , said second guiding frame (6) being slidably associated above said first guiding frame (5) through first rolling means (7) and second rolling means (8), characterised in that said first guiding frame (5) comprises a first curvilinear profile (10), slidably associated with said second rolling means (8), and in that said second guiding frame (6) comprises a second and third curvilinear profile (15, 16) , slidably associated with said first rolling means (7) so as to impart a rotating- translating motion on said extractable drawer

(2) during the step of coming out/insertion from/into said furniture (3) .

Guiding device (1) according to claim 1, wherein said first guiding frame (5) is fixedly connected to at least one inner wall of said corner furniture (3) .

3. Guiding device (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said first guiding frame (5) comprises a front portion (9) arranged at said off-centre opening (4) of said corner furniture (3) .

4. Guiding device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said first guiding frame

(5) comprises a support plate (12) of said first rolling means (7), arranged at said front portion (9) -

5. Guiding device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said first rolling means (7) comprise two swivelling supports (19), connected to said support plate (12) .

6. Guiding device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, wherein each of said swivelling supports (19) comprises a connection bracket (21) to said support plate (12) and a plate (22) constrained in a rotating manner to said bracket (21), about a vertical axis (20).

7. Guiding device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said plate (22) comprises at least one wheel (23) having horizontal axis, for slidably supporting said second guiding frame

(6) .

8. Guiding device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said second rolling means (8) comprise a swivelling support (26) connected to a rear end (13) of said second guiding frame (6) through a cantilever support (25) .

9. Guiding device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said swivelling support (26) is constrained to said cantilever support (25) through a bracket (27) and comprises a substantially rectangular plate (28) constrained to said bracket (27) rotating around a vertical axis (29) .

10. Guiding device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said rectangular plate (28) comprises at least one pair of wheels (30) , arranged vertically one above the other, suitable for embracing the top and bottom of said first curvilinear profile (10) of said first guiding frame (5) .

11. Guiding device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said extractable drawer (2) comprises a shelf (31) comprising a substantially linear rear portion (32) and a front portion (33) , continuous with said first rear portion (32), having a substantially curvilinear shape .

Guiding device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said second curvilinear profile (15) and said third curvilinear profile (16) are constrained apart from one another, in horizontal position, through shaped plates (18) or shafts or beams or similar connection elements, suitable for not hindering the sliding of said second guiding frame (6) with respect to said first guiding frame (5) .