WO2023237414A1

WO2023237414A1 - Lifting system for furniture doors as well as support and lifting assembly for furniture doors comprising said lifting system

Info

Publication number: WO2023237414A1
Application number: PCT/EP2023/064717
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sergio SALICE
Original assignee: Arturo Salice S.P.A.
Priority date: 2022-06-08
Filing date: 2023-06-01
Publication date: 2023-12-14

Abstract

The lifting system (14) for furniture doors (13) swinging around at least one horizontal axis comprises a support body (15) connectable to a fixed part (11, 12) of the piece of furniture, an articulated lever system (16) connecting said support body (15) to a furniture door (13), said lever system (16) comprising a first lever (17) and a second lever (19) articulated with each other, and main elastic biasing means (23) connected between said support body (15) and said articulated lever system (16) and operatively connected to said articulated lever system (16) by cam means (24); the cam means (24) are supported by said main elastic biasing means (23) and a pressure member (25) is disposed on said first lever (17) for interacting with the cam means (24), said pressure member (25) being adjustably supported on said first lever (17).

Description

LIFTING SYSTEM FOR FURNITURE DOORS AS WELL AS SUPPORT AND

LIFTING ASSEMBLY FOR FURNITURE DOORS COMPRISING SAID

LIFTING SYSTEM

The invention concerns a lifting system for furniture doors swinging around at least one horizontal axis, as well as a support and lifting assembly for furniture doors comprising said lifting system.

In the furniture sector, the use of furniture with doors that can be lifted upwards by means of a swinging movement around at least one horizontal axis is known. These doors are in particular connected to a fixed body of the piece of furniture by means of hinges conformed to allow the doors the aforementioned swinging movement; for the purpose of lifting the door, suitable lifting systems are provided, which conventionally comprise a support body connectable to the fixed part of the piece of furniture, an articulated lever system connecting said support body to a fixing element connectable to the door, and elastic biasing means operatively connected to a lever of the lever system to generate a rotation torque such as to stress the door towards a lifted opening position.

For example, a lifting system with an articulated lever system is known, comprising a first and a second lever articulated with each other at one end, and rotatably connectable to the other end respectively with the support body and with a fixing element disposed on the furniture door.

This known lifting system also comprises a gas spring swingably connected and disposed between the support body and the first lever of the articulated lever system; however, gas springs have the inconvenience that over time they tend to lose the initial charge, with the consequence that the thrust supplied is progressively reduced, in such a way that they are no longer able to open or keep the door completely open.

In order to overcome this inconvenience, the use of helical springs has been proposed to replace gas springs; for the purpose of the helical springs being operatively connected with the first lever of the articulated system, the use of cam means disposed on the first lever has been envisaged to interact with a pressure roller supported by the helical springs.

Since the elastic characteristic of the helical springs shows a decreasing linear trend between the compressed position and the extended position which causes a noticeable reduction in thrust when the spring extends during the opening of the door, an adjustment of the cam means has been provided on the first lever in such a way as to be able to vary the stress of the helical springs on the same lever according to the weight and/or the characteristics of the door.

However, this type of adjustment has the inconvenience that changing the position of the cam means on the first lever also has an unwanted variation in the behaviour of the system depending on the angular position of the first lever; this is mainly due to the fact that in general the cam means are not symmetrical, therefore the displacement of said cams with respect to the swinging axis of the first lever involves an advance or a delay in the action of the helical springs on the cam means at the same angular position of the first lever.

There is therefore a need to have a lifting system with helical springs and means for adjusting the force exerted by said helical springs on the first lever, that are configured in such a way as to overcome the above inconveniences.

The main purpose of this invention is therefore to provide a lifting system for furniture doors swinging around at least one horizontal axis, which is able to drive the opening of the doors with a homogeneous behaviour when varying the adjustment for the elastic means.

Another purpose of this invention is to provide a lifting system for furniture doors swinging around at least one horizontal axis, which has particularly reduced dimensions and is able to reliably maintain the condition of complete opening, avoiding the danger of accidental or unwanted closings.

This can be achieved by means of a lifting system for furniture doors swinging around at least one horizontal axis between a closing position and a lifted opening position, the lifting system comprising a support body connectable to a fixed part of the furniture, a system of articulated levers connecting said support body to a furniture door, said lever system comprising a first lever having an end rotatably connected with said support body by a rotation axis and a second lever having an end rotatably connectable to a fixing element on said furniture door, said first and said second lever being articulated with each other at the respective other ends, and elastic biasing means connected between said support body and said articulated lever system and operatively connected to said articulated lever system by cam means, characterized in that said cam means are supported by said elastic biasing means and by comprising a pressure member disposed on said first lever for interacting with said cam means on the elastic biasing means, said pressure member being adjustably supported on said first lever.

Further characteristics of the present invention are defined in subsequent claims.

The characteristics and advantages of this invention will be most evident from the subsequent description of a preferential but not limiting embodiment of the lifting system for furniture doors swinging around at least one horizontal axis, with reference to the attached figures, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in longitudinal section of a support and lifting assembly comprising a lifting system for furniture doors swinging around at least one horizontal axis according to a preferential embodiment of the invention, in which the door is in the closed position and in which the pressure member is in a first adjustment position;

Fig. 2 illustrates the assembly of Fig. 1 , in the same view in longitudinal section, with the door in a partial opening position;

Fig. 3 illustrates the assembly of Fig. 1 , in the same view in longitudinal section, with the door in a complete opening position;

Fig. 4 illustrates the assembly of Fig. 1 , in the same view in longitudinal section, with the door in a complete opening position, in which the pressure member is in a second adjustment position; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the assembly of Fig. 1 . Figure 1 shows schematically a piece of furniture, overall indicated with the numerical reference 10, comprising a side wall 11 , an upper wall 12 and a door 13 swingably supported around at least one horizontal axis by appropriate hinge means, as explained below.

In particular, door 13 is movable between a closing position in which it lies in a vertical plane and a lifted opening position in which it lies in a substantially horizontal plane.

In order to drive the opening movement referred to above, a lifting system, overall indicated with the numerical reference 14, is provided, comprising a support body 15 connectable to a fixed furniture part, in particular to the side wall 11 , as well as comprising an articulated lever system 16 disposed between the support body 15 and the furniture door 13 and elastic biasing means operatively connected to the articulated lever system 16 in order to generate a rotation torque for said lever system, as explained below.

The lever system 16 in turn comprises a first lever 17 having an end rotatably connected with the support body 15 by a first rotation axis 18 and a second lever 19 having an end rotatably connected by a second rotation axis 20 with a fixing element 21 applicable on the furniture door 13; the first and the second lever 17, 19 are also articulated with each other at the respective other ends by an intermediate articulation axis 22.

In order to achieve a rotation torque for said lever system 16, main elastic biasing means 23 are provided between the support body 15 and the articulated lever system 16; in particular, the elastic biasing means are connected with the first lever 17 in a point spaced apart from the rotation axis 18 of the same lever 17, in such a way as to define an arm for the strength of the elastic means such as to generate the aforementioned torque and are operatively connected to the articulated lever system 16 by first cam means 24.

According to the present invention, the first cam means 24 are supported by the main elastic biasing means 23 and a pressure member 25 is provided, preferentially conformed as a roller, disposed on the first lever 17 for interacting with the first cam means 24 supported by the elastic biasing means 23; in addition, also according to the present invention, the pressure member 25 is adjustably supported on the first lever 17.

Thanks to this configuration, in which the cam means 24 are fixed and associated with the main elastic means, which perform a limited angular movement, and in which the pressure member 25 is adjustably disposed on the first lever 17, changing the position of the pressure member 25 on the first lever 19 causes a negligible variation in the behaviour of the system depending on the angular position of the first lever 17; this effect is even more evident in the preferential case in which the pressure member is conformed as a roller 25 which is axial-symmetric, ensuring a homogeneous behaviour by varying the adjustment for the elastic means.

Thanks to the first cam means 24, the main elastic biasing means 23 are able to generate an additional amount of torque, which along at least one section of the door swinging at the lifted position of said door 13, is added to the rotation torque for the lever system which would be generated by the elastic means in the absence of such properly configured cam means.

Preferentially the system comprises second 26 cam means connected to one of the first 17 or second lever 19 of the articulated lever system 16, for example on the second lever 19 at the articulation intermediate axis 22, which second cam means 26 interact with second axially deformable elastic means 27 disposed on the other of the first 17 or second lever 19 of the articulated lever system, for example on the first lever 17, and operatively connected to the second cam means 26 by a pressure means 28 slidably supported by the lever 17 provided with the second elastic means 27.

Preferentially, the main elastic means 23 comprise a first housing part 29 rotatably connected to the support body 15 by an axis 30 and a second housing part 31 slidably connected to the first part 29 according to a longitudinal axis; between the first 29 and the second housing part 31 is interposed at least one axially deformable elastic element, preferentially conformed as a helical spring 32. In turn, the second housing part 31 is connected to the first lever 17 of the system 16 in a rotatable and slidable way at a pin 33 integral with the first lever 17 spaced apart from the rotation axis 18 of the same lever 17, said pin being slidably and rotatably engaged in a slot 34 formed at the end of the second housing part 31 facing towards the first level 17.

Thanks to this rotatable and slidable connection between the main elastic means 23 and the first lever 17, a first multiplication and optimization effect of the rotation torque for the lever system 16 is obtained, since the first cam means 24 exerts a thrust on the roller 25 which, depending on the angular position of the first lever 17, is oriented according to variable directions such as to maximise said thrust arm with respect to the axis 18 at least at the lifted position of the door 13 in which the levers the 17, 19, starting from the folded closing position of the door 13 of Fig. 1 , lead to an extended condition of Fig. 3.

Preferentially the first cam means 24 are fixed to the second housing part 31 of the elastic biasing means 23 and preferentially consist of one or more side-by-side arranged plates having a cam shaped portion facing the first lever 17.

An additional multiplication and optimization effect of the rotation torque for the lever system 16 is also achieved with the second cam means 26 that interact with the second elastic means 27.

Preferentially, the second elastic means 27 comprise a first housing part 34 and a second housing part 35 of the elastic means connected to the first lever 17 of system 16, where the second part 35 is slidably connected to the lever 17 according to a longitudinal axis of said lever 17.

Between the first 34 and the second part 35 at least one axially deformable elastic element is interposed, preferably conformed as a helical spring 36.

The pressure means, preferentially conformed as a roller 28, is connected to the second part 35 and conformed and arranged to act on the second cam means 26. Thanks to said second cam means 26 and to the second elastic means 27 interacting with it, it is possible to obtain an additional rotation torque for the lever system 16, in particular a torque acting in the opening direction at the maximum opening position of Fig. 3, but also preferentially a torque acting in the closing direction at the closing position of Fig. 1 to keep the door 13 closed, by suitably conforming the cam means 26 in such a way as to produce a work by releasing the spring 36 at the above positions.

As mentioned above, according to this invention, the pressure member 25 is adjustably supported on the first lever 17 to be moved for example between a first and a second adjustment position illustrated in the figures; thanks to this expedient it is possible to adapt the torque obtainable by the main elastic means 23 for example according to the weight of the door 13.

For the purposes of adjustment, the pressure member 25, which, as indicated above, is conformed as a roller having an axis parallel to the pin 18 of the first lever 17, may be supported by a support element 37, for example conformed as plate 37, movably connected, in particular in a slidable way, to the first lever 17.

Preferentially the support element 37 is movable substantially in the cross direction with respect to the longitudinal extension axis of the same lever 17 and orthogonally to the axis of the pin 18, for example by providing that the support element 37 is connected to the pin 18 by means of a slot 38 that allows the movement of the support element 37 with respect to lever 17; in addition, a drive member is provided, for example in the form of a screw or threaded grain 39, connected between the lever 17 and the support element 37 to move said support element to the desired position.

For the purpose of the swinging support of the door 13, hinge means are provided, which comprise for example at least two hinges 40, each of which in turn preferentially comprises a fixed part 41 connectable to the upper wall 12 or to a side wall 11 of the piece of furniture, a movable part coinciding with the fixing element 21 connectable to the door 13 and connection means having at least one hinge axis. Preferentially the connection means comprise at least a first 42 and a second arm 43 that swingably connect the fixed part 41 with the movable part respectively through respective hinge axes.

The hinges 40 can be separate elements, fixed to the piece of furniture independently on the lifting system 14 or, in a preferential embodiment, can form an integrated assembly with said lifting system 14, providing for example that the fixed part 41 of the hinge 40 consists of a front part or extension of the support body 15 of the lifting system 14 or of a part of the support body 15 movably and adjustably supported with respect to said support body 15.

This integrated assembly has advantages both in terms of overall dimensions and installation with respect to the separate application of the hinges and lifting systems.

In this perspective, more preferentially the support body 15 is fixed so as to adhere to the side wall 11 and to the upper wall 12 near the door 13.

Preferentially the elastic elements consist of one or more helical compression springs, but it is not excluded that elastic means of different type may be used, for example one or more helical traction springs associated with a support structure of the springs such as to provide an extension axial thrust.

In order to allow adjustment of the position of the door 13 with respect to the body 11 , 12 of the piece of furniture, suitable adjustment means are preferentially provided associated with the support hinges or the support and lifting assembly of the door 13.

Preferentially, as best illustrated in figure 5, these adjustment means provide that the support body 15 is formed by a first part 15a fixed to the side wall 11 and/or to the upper wall 12 of the piece of furniture, by a second part 15b movably and adjustably connected to the first 15a according to a first direction, for example in front direction, by means of a first eccentric member 44, by a third part 15c movably and adjustably connected to the first part 15a according to a second direction, for example in lateral direction, by a screw 45, and by a fourth part 15d movably and adjustably connected to the third 15c according to a third direction, for example in a vertical direction, by means of a second eccentric member 46.

In this way, the door 13 can be adjusted frontally, laterally and vertically in a simple way with respect to the furniture body by operating manually or by means of tools the drive members provided, in particular the eccentric members 44, 46 and the screw 45.

Preferably, the lifting system 14 comprises a decelerating device 47, for example in the form of a fluid linear decelerator or a rotary decelerator, to decelerate the closing movement of the door 13 in proximity of the fully closed position.

In the preferred solution illustrated, the decelerating device 47 comprises a linear fluid decelerator disposed on the support body 15, which has a housing

48 in which a cylinder 49 containing a fluid, for example oil, is movably inserted; inside the cylinder 49 a sliding piston is provided having a rod protruding from the cylinder 49 to come into contact with a rear wall of the housing 48.

For the purpose of actuating the linear decelerator, a sliding drive element 50 is preferentially provided to axially drive one front end of the cylinder

49 of the decelerator; the drive element 50 is operatively connected to a lever of the articulated lever system 16, preferentially to the second lever 19, for example, by providing a pin 51 that laterally stretches to the lever 19 to come into contact with the front end of said drive element 50 when closing the door 13 in order to drive the decelerator 47.

From the above it is clear that the lifting system for furniture doors according to this invention is able to drive the opening of the doors with a homogeneous behaviour by varying the adjustment for the elastic means; moreover, even having minimal dimensions, it is able to drive the complete opening of the doors and to reliably maintain this condition of complete opening, avoiding the danger of accidental closings.

The lifting system for furniture doors according to the invention is susceptible to modifications and variations within the scope of the inventive concept; moreover the constructive details are replaceable by technically equivalent elements.

Claims

1. Lifting system (14) for furniture doors (13) swinging around at least one horizontal axis between a closing position and an opening lifted position, the lifting system (14) comprising a support body (15) connectable to a fixed part (11 , 12) of the piece of furniture, an articulated lever system (16) connecting said support body (15) to a furniture door (13), said lever system (16) comprising a first lever (17) having an end rotatably connected with said support body (15) by a rotation axis (18) and a second lever (19) having an end rotatably connectable to a fixing element (21) on said furniture door (13), said first (17) and said second (19) lever being articulated with each other at the respective other ends, and main elastic biasing means (23) connected between said support body (15) and said articulated lever system (16) and operatively connected to said articulated lever system (16) by cam means, characterized in that said cam means (24) are supported by said main elastic biasing means (23) and by comprising a pressure member (25) disposed on said first lever (17) for interacting with said cam means (24) on the elastic biasing means (23), said pressure member (25) being adjustably supported on said first lever (17).

2. Lifting system (14) according to claim 1 , characterized in that said main elastic biasing means (23) are connected with the first lever (17) in a point spaced apart from the rotational axis (18) of the same lever (17).

3. Lifting system (14) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said pressure member (25) is conformed as a roller.

4. Lifting system (14) according to any of the previous claims, characterized by comprising second cam means (26) connected to one of the first (17) or the second (19) lever of the articulated lever system (16), said second cam means (26) interacting with second elastic means (27) axially deformable arranged on the other of the first (17) or second (19) lever of the articulated lever system, said second elastic means (27) being operatively connected to the second cam means (26) by a pressure means (28) slidably supported by the lever (17) provided with the second elastic means (27).

5. Lifting system (14) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that said main elastic biasing means (23) comprise a first housing part (29) rotatably connected to the support body (15) by an axis (30) and a second housing part (31) slidably connected to the first part (29) according to a longitudinal axis, wherein between the first (29) and the second (31) housing part is interposed at least one axially deformable elastic element, preferentially conformed as a helical spring (32).

6. Lifting system (14) according to claim 5, characterized in that the second housing part (31) is connected to the first lever (17) of the system (16) in a rotatable and slidable way at a pin (33) integral with the first lever (17) and spaced apart from the rotational axis (18) of the same lever (17), said pin (33) being slidably and rotatably engaged in a slot (34) formed at the end of the second housing part (31) facing towards the first lever (17).

7. Lifting system (14) according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that said first cam means (24) are fixed to the second housing part (31) of the elastic biasing means (23).

8. Lifting system (14) according to any of the previous claims, characterized in that the pressure member (25) is supported by a support element (37) connected to the first lever (17) in a movable way preferentially in a cross direction with respect to a longitudinal extension axis of the same lever (17), wherein a drive member (39) is provided connected between the lever (17) and the support element (37) for moving the same support element (37).

9. Support and lifting assembly for furniture doors, characterized by comprising:

- a lifting system (14) according to any of the previous claims, and

- hinge means (40) between the support body (15) of said lifting system (14) and a furniture door (13), said hinge means (40) comprising a movable hinge part (21) fixable to the furniture door (13), said movable hinge part (21) being swingably connected to the support body (15) by connecting means comprising at least one hinge axis, wherein said connecting means between said support body (15) and said movable hinge part (21 ) preferentially comprise at least a first and a second swinging arm (42, 43) each having a first and a second hinge axis respectively connected to said support body (15) and said movable hinge part (21).

10. Support and lifting assembly according to claim 9, characterized by comprising adjusting means for said door (13), preferentially providing a support body (15) formed by a plurality of parts (15a, 15b, 15c, 15d) connected with each other in a movable and adjustable way according to at least two reciprocally crossing directions for moving the door (13) vertically, laterally and/or frontally with respect to the fixed furniture part (11 , 12).