U.S. patent application number 10/738392 was filed with the patent office on 2005-06-16 for sectional cabinet.
Invention is credited to Chen, Henry.
Application Number | 20050127802 10/738392 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34654222 |
Filed Date | 2005-06-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050127802 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chen, Henry |
June 16, 2005 |
Sectional cabinet
Abstract
A sectional cabinet is easily detachably assembled from a rack,
and a plurality of side panels, back panels, drawers, and door
panels. The rack is formed from a plurality of vertical metal posts
and horizontal shelves that are connected to the vertical posts via
a plurality of connecting structures. The sectional cabinet may be
horizontally and vertically extended as desired. The side panels
and the back panels close two lateral sides and a rear side of the
rack to define an internal space for the rack. And, the door panels
and the drawers are mounted to a front side of the rack to define
closed spaces adapted to store various things therein.
Inventors: |
Chen, Henry; (Taipei,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LAW OFFICE OF LIAUH & ASSOC.
4224 WAIALAE AVE
STE 5-388
HONOLULU
HI
96816
|
Family ID: |
34654222 |
Appl. No.: |
10/738392 |
Filed: |
December 15, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
312/265.4 ;
312/108 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B 88/407 20170101;
A47B 57/40 20130101; A47B 57/36 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
312/265.4 ;
312/108 |
International
Class: |
A47B 087/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A sectional cabinet, comprising a rack, a plurality of wall
panels, a plurality of drawers, and a plurality of door panels;
said rack being formed from a plurality of vertical metal posts,
horizontal shelves, and connecting structures for connecting said
vertical metal posts to said horizontal shelves, and forming a
skeleton of said sectional cabinet; each of said horizontal shelves
being connected at four corners to four said vertical posts via
said connecting structures; said wall panels including a plurality
of side panels and back panels; said side panels being fixed to
said vertical posts at two lateral sides of said rack, and said
back panels being fixed to said vertical posts at a rear side of
said rack; and said door panels and said drawers being selectively
mounted to a front side of said rack to define closed spaces on
said rack.
2. The sectional cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein said
connecting structure includes a portion adapted to hook on said
vertical post, and another portion adapted to support one corner of
said horizontal shelf.
3. The sectional cabinet as claimed in claim 2, wherein said
horizontal shelf includes a flat surface panel.
4. The sectional cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of
said side panels is mounted on said rack between two said vertical
posts located at the same lateral side of said rack, and said side
panel including at least one surface panel and at least one framing
member, said at least one surface panel and said at least one
framing member being provided at respective two lateral ends at
predetermined points with engaging pins adapted to engage with
hooking members hooked on said vertical posts, so as to connect
said side panel to said vertical posts of said rack.
5. The sectional cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of
said back panels is mounted on said rack between two said vertical
posts located at a rear side of said rack, said back panel being
provided on an inner surface near two lateral edges with flathead
pins corresponding to said hooking members on said two rear
vertical posts of said rack, so that said back panel is connected
to said rack through engagement of said flathead pins with said
hooking members.
6. The sectional cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein said door
panel is connected to said vertical post via a door hinge, said
door hinge including a hanger hooked on said vertical post and a
cushion pad compressibly positioned between said hanger and said
vertical post.
7. The sectional cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of
said drawers is slidably mounted on said rack via a pair of rails
connected to said vertical posts, each of said rails being provided
at two ends with two hooking portions which are adapted to extend
into and hook on said hook eyes on said vertical posts to fix said
rail to said vertical posts.
8. The sectional cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rack
is provided at a lower end with a plurality of skirt boards.
9. The sectional cabinet as claimed in claim 8, wherein each of
said vertical posts of said rack is fixedly provided near a lower
end on a side surface facing toward an adjacent vertical post with
an upper and a lower pin, and each said skirt board is fixedly
provided on an inner side near two lateral ends with two C-shaped
resilient brackets, such that two ends of said C-shaped resilient
brackets firmly abut against said upper and said lower pins on said
vertical posts to connect said skirt board to the lower end of said
rack.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a sectional cabinet, and
more particularly to a sectional cabinet that combines a sectional
metal rack and wooden side panels, back panels, door panels, and
drawers normally used on a wooden cabinet, enabling the sectional
cabinet to be horizontally extended as desired and show a high
quality appearance.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Generally, furniture may be divided into wooden furniture
and sectional metal furniture according to the material used to
manufacture the furniture. The wooden furniture normally presents
an appearance more elegant than that of the sectional metal
furniture that is usually in the form of a rack.
[0003] Most people choose wooden furniture for its elegant
appearance and quality touch. The metal rack type sectional
furniture is also incomparable to the wooden furniture in that the
wooden furniture is able to provide many different closed spaces to
better protect things stored therein against dust. Therefore, most
of currently available cabinets are made of wooden material.
[0004] The currently available sectional metal rack includes
vertical posts formed from metal tubular members and horizontal
shelves formed from metal meshes. This type of sectional rack can
be easily assembled and disassembled by a user without using any
tool. Moreover, the sectional rack may be freely horizontally
extended to any desired configuration and dimensions to enable
convenient use in different spaces. However, the shelves of such
sectional rack are open and subject to dust. Moreover, people tend
to position all kinds of things on the open rack to result in a
disorder scene and make the rack less valuable at least from an
appearance thereof. Therefore, the conventional sectional metal
rack can hardly achieve the same function and value as the wooden
cabinets.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] A primary object of the present invention is to provide a
sectional cabinet that combines wooden cabinet and metal rack to
allow horizontal extension of the sectional cabinet and show high
quality and elegant feeling.
[0006] To achieve the above and other objects, the sectional
cabinet of the present invention mainly includes a rack, and a
plurality of wall panels, drawers, and door panels. The rack is
formed from a plurality of vertical metal posts and horizontal
shelves that are connected to the vertical posts via a plurality of
connecting structures. The wall panels include side panels for
mounting to two lateral sides of the rack, and back panels for
closing a rear side of the rack, so as to define an internal space
for the rack. And, the door panels and the drawers are mounted to a
front side of the rack to define closed spaces adapted to store
various things therein.
[0007] In the sectional cabinet of the present invention, the rack
formed from the vertical metal posts and the horizontal shelves
serves as a skeleton of the sectional cabinet. Each of the shelves
includes a flat surface panel to exactly divide the internal space
of the rack into an upper and a lower part.
[0008] The positions of the door panels and the drawers on the
sectional cabinet of the present invention are freely changeable to
create more changes in the appearance of the sectional cabinet.
[0009] In the sectional cabinet of the present invention, all
constitutive elements thereof are assembled together by way of
hooking. Therefore, a user may easily assemble and disassemble the
sectional cabinet according to actual need.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] The structure and the technical means adopted by the present
invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best
understood by referring to the following detailed description of
the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings,
wherein
[0011] FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of a sectional
cabinet according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the sectional
cabinet of FIG. 1;
[0013] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a connecting
structure for the sectional cabinet of the present invention;
[0014] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the assembling of a
horizontal shelf to a vertical post of the sectional cabinet of the
present invention;
[0015] FIG. 5 is an assembled sectional view of FIG. 4;
[0016] FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing the
connection of side panels to vertical posts of the sectional
cabinet of the present invention;
[0017] FIG. 6-1 is an enlarged view of the circled area of FIG.
6;
[0018] FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing the
connection of a back panel to vertical posts of the sectional
cabinet of the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 7-1 is an enlarged view of the circled area of FIG.
7;
[0020] FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the assembling of a
door hinge to a vertical post of the sectional cabinet of the
present invention;
[0021] FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the door hinge of
FIG. 8;
[0022] FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the mounting of a
space-dividing board in the sectional cabinet of the present
invention;
[0023] FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a supporting member for
supporting the space-dividing board of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 12 shows the assembling of drawers to a rack of the
sectional cabinet of the present invention;
[0025] FIG. 13 is a sectional view showing the connection of a rail
for the drawer to a vertical post of the sectional cabinet of the
present invention; and
[0026] FIG. 14 is an assembled perspective view showing the
mounting of skirt boards to the vertical posts of the sectional
cabinet of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0027] Please refer to FIGS. 1 and 2 that are assembled and
exploded perspective views, respectively, of a sectional cabinet
according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the
sectional cabinet of the present invention mainly includes a rack
10 assembled from a plurality of vertical metal posts 11 and a
plurality of horizontal shelves 12, and other constitutive
elements, including a plurality of wall panels, drawers 40, and
door panels 50. The wall panels include a plurality of side panels
20 and back panels 30. The side panels 20 are mounted to two
lateral sides of the rack 10 and are therefore divided into left
and right side panels 20. The back panels 30 are mounted to a rear
side of the rack 10, the door panels 50 are mounted to a front side
of the rack 10, and the drawers 40 are arranged on the rack 10 to
define some closed spaces on the sectional cabinet.
[0028] Referring to FIGS. 3 to 5, the horizontal shelves 12 are
connected to the vertical metal posts 11 of the rack 10 via
connecting structures 13. Each of the connecting structures 13
serves to connect one corner of the horizontal shelf 12 to the
vertical post 11. The connecting structure 13 includes a portion
adapted to hook on the vertical post 11 and another portion adapted
to support the horizontal shelf 12, so as to connect the vertical
post 11 to the horizontal shelf 12.
[0029] More specifically, according to an embodiment of the present
invention, the connecting structure 13 includes a connecting member
14 and a pad 15 attached to the connecting member 14. Each of the
vertical posts 11 is provided at two lateral sides with two rows of
hook eyes 111, on which an upper and a lower hook 141, 142 provided
on the connecting member 14 of the connecting structure 13 may be
hooked to locate the connecting member 14 in place on the vertical
post 11. A portion of the connecting member 14 opposite to the
upper and lower hooks 141, 142 is exposed from the hook eyes 111 of
the vertical post 11 to provide a guide rail 143, to which the
horizontal shelf 12 can be attached. The pad block 15 includes a
flat side for fitly attaching to the vertical post 11, and an
outward and downward inclined side opposite to the flat side. The
pad 15 is provided with an upper and a lower opening 152, 153, via
which the upper and the lower hook 141, 142 of the connecting
member 14 are extended into the hook eyes 111 on the vertical post
11, such that the pad 15 is attached to the connecting member
14.
[0030] An outer cover 16 is provided at each corner of the
horizontal shelf 12. The outer cover 16 includes an open outer side
and an open bottom. A rail-engaging portion 161 is formed in the
outer cover 16. One side of the rail-engaging portion 161 in
contact with the pad 15 is an inclined surface 162 corresponding to
the inclined side 151 of the pad 15. The rail-engaging portion 161
engages with the guide rail 143 of the connecting member 14 to
normally pull the connecting member 14 outward relative to the
vertical post 11, as shown in FIG. 5, so that the outer cover 16,
the connecting member 14, the pad 15, and the vertical post 11 are
firmly connected to one another. When the outer covers 16 at all
four corners of the horizontal shelves 12 are connected to
corresponding connecting members 14, pads 15, and vertical posts
11, the horizontal shelf 12 is assembled to four vertical posts 11
to form the rack 10.
[0031] Each of the horizontal shelves 12 includes a flat surface
panel attached to a top of a metal frame 121. The surface panel of
the shelf 12 is preferably made of a wooden material. In addition
to form part of the rack 10 of the sectional cabinet of the present
invention, the horizontal shelves 12 also serve to divide an
internal space of the rack 10 into an upper and a lower part.
[0032] Referring to FIGS. 6 and 6-1, the side panel 20 includes a
surface panel 21 and an upper framing member 22 connected to an
upper edge of the surface panel 21. In the case the sectional
cabinet is relatively high, the side panel 20 may include an upper
and a lower surface panel 21, an upper framing member 22 connected
to an upper edge of the upper surface panel 21, and an intermediate
framing member 23 located between the upper and the lower surface
panel 21.
[0033] The side panel 20 is mounted to and between two vertical
posts 11 at the same side of the rack 10 preferably by way of
hooking. The upper framing member 22 is provided at a lower surface
with a channel 221 for receiving the upper edge of the upper
surface panel 21 therein. The intermediate framing member 23 is
provided at upper and lower surfaces with two channels 231 (only
the channel 231 at the upper surface is shown in the drawings) for
respectively receiving a lower edge of the upper surface panel 21
and an upper edge of the lower surface panel 21 therein. Two
lateral ends of the upper framing member 22 are adapted to downward
insert into upper ends of the two vertical posts 11 supporting the
side panel 20. The two vertical posts 11 supporting the side panel
20 are provided on respective side surface facing toward the side
panel 20 with a plurality of hook openings 112 for hooking members
24 to separately hook thereat. The intermediate framing member 23
is also provided at two lateral ends with engaging pins 232 that
are adapted to engage with the hooking members 24. The upper and
the lower surface panel 21 are also provided at two lateral edges
with engaging pins 211 adapted to engage with the hooking members
24. Through engagement of the engaging pins 232, 211 with
corresponding hooking members 24, the side panel 20 is fixed to the
rack 10. When the side panel 20 is assembled to two vertical posts
11 that are located between two outmost pairs of vertical posts 11
of the rack 10, the side panel 20 divides the internal space of the
rack 10 into a left and a right smaller space.
[0034] Referring to FIGS. 7 and 7-1, the back panel 30 is assembled
to the rack 10 between two vertical posts 11 at a rear side of the
sectional cabinet preferably by way of hooking. For example, the
two rear vertical posts 11 are provided at respective side surface
facing toward two lateral edges of the back panel 30 with a
plurality of hooking opening 113 for hooking members 31 to
separately hook thereat. Meanwhile, the back panel 30 is provided
on an inner side at two lateral edges with flathead pins 32
corresponding to the hooking openings 113 and the hooking members
31. Through engagement of the flathead pins 32 with corresponding
hooking members 31, the back panel 30 is fixed to the rear vertical
posts 11 of the rack 10.
[0035] Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, the door panel 50 is detachably
connected to the vertical post 11 via a door hinge 60. The door
hinge 60 is hooked on the vertical post 11 without the risk of
becoming worn when it is dismounted from the vertical post 11 and
is therefore more durable for use. The door hinge 60 includes a
fixing member 61 fixed to the door panel 50, a hanger 62 hooked on
the vertical post 11, an adjusting member 63 coupled with the
hanger 62, and a turning member 64 and a spring 65 mounted between
the adjusting member 63 and the fixing member 61. The hanger 62 is
provided at an inner side with an upper and a lower hook 621, and
at a central area with an outward raised portion 622. The raised
portion 322 has a first end pivotally connected to an end of the
adjusting member 63, and a second end opposite to the first end
formed into a recess 623. A screw 625 is threaded through the
adjusting member 63 to engage with the recess 623 and thereby
connects the adjusting member 63 and the hanger 62 to each other.
The hanger 62 is hooked to the vertical post 11 through engagement
of the upper and lower hooks 62 with the hook eyes 111 on the
vertical post 11. A cushion pad 66 is positioned between the hanger
62 and the vertical post 11. A screw 624 is screwed into the hanger
62 to press against the cushion pad 66, so that the upper and lower
hooks 621 of the hanger 62 are caused to tightly hook to the hook
eyes 111 on the vertical post 11 and thereby fix the door panel 50
in place. One or more space-dividing boards 51 may be mounted in a
closed space behind the door panel 50 to horizontally divide the
space into two or more smaller spaces.
[0036] Referring to FIGS. 10 and 11, the space-dividing board 51
has four corners supported on four supporting members 52 hooked on
the vertical posts 11. An end of the supporting member 52 has a
hook 521 adapted to hook on the hook eye 111 of the vertical post
11, and the other end of the supporting member 52 is a laterally
extended supporting arm 522, on which one corner of the
space-dividing board 51 is supported.
[0037] Referring to FIG. 12, each of the drawers 40 is slidably
mounted on the rack 10 via a pair of rails 41, which are preferably
connected to the vertical posts 11 by way of hooking. Each of the
rails 41 is provided at two ends with hooking portions 42 adapted
to hook to the hook eyes 111 of the vertical post 11, such that the
rail 41 can be located at any height on the vertical posts 11 as
desired. The drawer 40 is guided by the pair of rails 41 to slide
into and out of the rack 10. The hooking portion 42 includes an
upper retaining hook 421 and a lower retaining hook 422 adapted to
extend into two hook eyes 111 of the vertical post 11 and be
retained thereto. To prevent the rail 41 from loosening from the
vertical posts 11, a protuberance 423 is provided on each hooking
portion 42, as can be seen in FIG. 13. When the rail 41 is properly
connected to the vertical posts 11, the protuberance 423 at each
hooking portion 42 is protruded into the hook eye 111 receiving the
lower retaining hook 422 to abuts against an upper edge of that
hook eye 111.
[0038] A closed space enclosed in the door panels 50, the
horizontal shelves 12, the side panels 20, and the back panel 30,
and a closed space enclosed in each drawer 40 may be used to store
various things therein. The positions of the drawers 40, the door
panels 50, and the horizontal shelves 12 on the rack 10 may be
freely changed to meet different users' requirements.
[0039] Skirt boards 17 may be fixedly connected to a lower end of
the rack 10, as shown in FIG. 14. To do so, an upper and a lower
pin 18 are fixedly provided near a lower end of each vertical post
11 on a side surface facing toward an adjacent vertical post 11,
and two C-shaped resilient brackets 171 are separately fixed to an
inner side of each skirt board 17 near two ends thereof, such that
two ends of the C-shaped resilient brackets 171 firmly abut against
the upper and the lower pins 18 to connect the skirt board 17 to
the lower end of the rack 10.
[0040] With the above arrangements, the sectional cabinet of the
present invention can be horizontally and vertically extended as
desired. A user may freely divide a large-sized sectional cabinet
into two or more smaller ones, or combine two or more smaller
sectional cabinets into a larger one, depending on an actual
condition of the space available for the sectional cabinet.
Accordingly, in the event it is desired to move the cabinet to a
different position, the cabinet can be re-assembled according to
different sizes and configurations of the new position. Therefore,
the sectional cabinet is very flexible and convenient for use.
* * * * *