U.S. patent application number 11/293241 was filed with the patent office on 2007-06-07 for collapsible clothes closet.
This patent application is currently assigned to FORTUNE STANDARD LIMITED. Invention is credited to Chun-Wei Liu.
Application Number | 20070126317 11/293241 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38117992 |
Filed Date | 2007-06-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070126317 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Liu; Chun-Wei |
June 7, 2007 |
Collapsible clothes closet
Abstract
A clothes closet mainly contains a cubic frame formed by a
number of tubes arranged along the width, the depth, and the height
respectively, and joined together by coupling members at the
corners of the cubic frame. Each of the edges of the cubic frame
along the depth and the height contains two tubes connected
therebetween with a flexible cable. The holes on the coupling
members for the insertion of the tubes along the depth and the
height are configured with appropriate slits and openings. As such,
when disassembling the clothes closet, the tubes in these holes
could be bended 90 degrees toward the inside of the cubic frame.
Together with the flexible cables, the cubic frame is collapsed
completely into a thin and flat object that is very easy to carry
and store.
Inventors: |
Liu; Chun-Wei; (Chung Li
City, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LEONG C LEI
PMB # 1008
1867 YGNACIO VALLEY ROAD
WALNUT CREEK
CA
94598
US
|
Assignee: |
FORTUNE STANDARD LIMITED
|
Family ID: |
38117992 |
Appl. No.: |
11/293241 |
Filed: |
December 5, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
312/6 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B 43/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
312/006 |
International
Class: |
E04H 1/12 20060101
E04H001/12 |
Claims
1. A collapsible clothes closet comprising a cubic frame enclosed
in a cover, said cubic frame comprising: a plurality of coupling
members at the corners of said cubic frame, each of which has a
first hole, a second hole, and a third hole orthogonal to each
other; a plurality of first tubes, each of which makes up an edge
of said cubic frame along the width by having its ends inserted
into said first holes of two opposing coupling members; a plurality
of second tubes, at least two of which make up an edge of said
cubic frame along the depth by having their ends connected by a
flexible cable therebetween and the outmost two ends inserted into
said second holes of two opposing coupling members; a plurality of
third tubes, at least two of which make up an edge of said cubic
frame along the height by having their ends connected by a flexible
cable therebetween and the outmost two ends inserted into said
third holes of two opposing coupling members; wherein said second
and third holes of each coupling member have a slit and an opening
configured respectively on said coupling member to allow an
inserted second tube and an inserted third tube to rotate toward a
connected third tube so as to collapse said cubic frame.
2. The collapsible clothes closet according to claim 1, wherein
each of said third tubes has a plug installed at the end inserted
into said third hole of a coupling member so that said third tube
is tightly joined to said coupling member.
3. The collapsible clothes closet according to claim 1, wherein
each of said flexible cables has its two ends inserted into two
plugs installed at the opposing ends of the connected tubes; each
of said plugs are split into two opposing halves having saw teeth
to tightly clip said flexible cable.
4. The collapsible clothes closet according to claim 1, wherein
each of said edges formed by connected second and third tubes is
threaded through at least a movable sleeve; said sleeve is slid
over to cover said flexible cable to prevent said edge from
collapse.
5. The collapsible clothes closet according to claim 4, wherein
each of said second and third tubes has at least a locking
mechanism configured on the surface to fixedly lock said sleeve
when said sleeve is slid over to cover said flexible cable.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] (a) Technical Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention generally relates to clothes closets,
and more particularly to a collapsible clothes closet that is easy
to assemble and disassemble.
[0003] (b) Description of the Prior Art
[0004] Currently there are quite a few clothes closets on the
market that allow people to assemble by themselves. However, these
collapsible clothes closets usually contain quite some parts and
are structured rather complicated. Most of the time, a user would
spend significant amount of effort and time to get the closet
assembled. In addition, when the closet is not used, it is
difficult to disassemble and, if it is indeed disassembled, the
parts are bulky to carry and store, and some loosed parts are very
easy to get misplaced and lost. As a result, these closets, once
disassembled, usually can never be re-assembled and used again.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a
collapsible clothes closet that is very easy to assemble and
disassemble and, after it is disassembled, it is very easy to carry
and store with very few loosed parts.
[0006] The clothes closet of the present invention mainly contains
a cubic frame formed by a number of tubes arranged along the width,
the depth, and the height respectively, and joined together by
coupling members at the corners of the cubic frame.
[0007] Each of the edges of the cubic frame along the depth and the
height contains two tubes connected therebetween with a flexible
cable. The two ends of the flexible cable are fixedly locked to the
two tubes respectively by the saw teeth of the plugs installed at
the opposing ends of the two tubes. The two tubes are threaded
through a sleeve which, when assembling the cubic frame, could be
slid to wrap around the flexible cable and the two opposing ends of
the tubes so as to prevent the edge they form from collapse.
[0008] The holes on the coupling members for the insertion of the
tubes along the depth and the height are configured with
appropriate slits and openings. As such, when disassembling the
clothes closet, the tubes in these holes could be bended 90 degrees
toward the inside of the cubic frame. In addition, by revealing the
flexible cables of the edges and thereby allowing the edges to
bend, the cubic frame is collapsed completely into a thin and flat
object that is very easy to carry and store. After the collapse of
the cubic frame, all components of the cubic frame are still
attached together with no loosed parts, and the cubic frame is
therefore immediately ready for re-assembly.
[0009] The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief
introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these
and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention
itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the
art, the following detailed description of the invention and the
claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical
reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
[0010] Many other advantages and features of the present invention
will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making
reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets
of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment
incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by
way of illustrative example.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the cubic frame of a
clothes closet according to an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the joining of the
tubes and the coupling member in the cubic frame of FIG. 1.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the connection of two
tubes by the flexible cable in the cubic frame of FIG. 1.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the sleeve is slid over
the two connected tubes in the cubic frame of FIG. 1.
[0015] FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the joining of the
tubes and the coupling member in the cubic frame of FIG. 1.
[0016] FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the clothes closet
after its assembly.
[0017] FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the cubic frame of FIG.
1 being disassembled.
[0018] FIGS. 8.about.10 are perspective views showing consecutive
stages of collapsing the cubic frame of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0019] The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments
only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or
configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following
description provides a convenient illustration for implementing
exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the
described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement
of the elements described without departing from the scope of the
invention as set forth in the appended claims.
[0020] As shown in FIG. 1, the closet according to an embodiment of
the present invention mainly contains a cubic frame (not numbered)
formed by a number of tubes 1, 2, and 3, which are arranged along
the width, the depth, and the height of the cubic frame
respectively. At the eight corners of the cubic frame, the tubes 1,
2, and 3 are joined with each other by coupling members 4, whose
details are depicted in FIG. 2. The coupling member 4 is a solid
flat object having three mutually orthogonal holes 41, 42, and 43,
for the insertion of the tubes 2, 3, and 1, respectively. The hole
43 is into a flat surface of the coupling member 4 that is facing
toward the inside of the cubic frame (hereinafter, the inner
surface). The holes 41 and 42, on the other hand, are into two
narrow sides of the coupling member 4. The holes 41 and 42 have
slits 411 and 421 that open the holes 41 and 42 to the inner
surface. On the other flat surface (i.e., the outer surface), there
are semi-circle-like openings 412 and 422 that go into the holes 41
and 42 respectively. To join a tube 3 into a coupling member 4, a
plug 5 having a slit 51 at one end is first inserted into an end of
the tube 3, where the slit 51 provides the flexibility allowing the
plug 5 to go into the tube 3. The end of tube 3 having the plug 5
installed is then inserted into the hole 42 of the coupling member
4 so that the tube 3 is tightly joined to the coupling member 4 by
the plug 5. For the tubes 1 and 2, they are inserted into the holes
43 and 41 directly.
[0021] For the edges along the depth of the cubic frame, each of
them is formed by joining two tubes 2 together. Similarly, for the
edges along the height of the cubic frame, each of them is formed
by joining two tubes 3 together. For the tubes 2 and 3, they all
have one of their ends inserted into a coupling member 4. To join
the other ends of two tubes 2 or the two tubes 3 together, as shown
in FIG. 3, a flexible cable 7 is connected between the two opposing
ends of the two tubes 2 or the two tubes 3. The flexible cable 7
has its two ends inserted into two plugs 6 respectively. The plug 6
is split from one end to form a slit 61 between two opposing halves
whose inner surfaces have saw teeth 611. The plugs 6 are then
inserted into the opposing ends of the two tubes 2 or the two tubes
3. As such, the flexible cable 7 is tightly clipped by the squeezed
saw teeth 611. To assemble the cubic frame, as shown in FIG. 4, the
two connected tubes 2 or 3 are threaded through a sleeve 8 and the
sleeve 8 could be slid to wrap around the flexible cable 7 and the
two opposing ends of the tubes 2 or 3. There are wedges (not
numbered) on the surfaces of the tubes 2 and 3 respectively to
fixedly lock the sleeve 8 at its position. As such, the two tubes 2
or 3 are joined into a solid edge for the cubic frame.
[0022] As shown in FIG. 5, each of the tubes 2 and 3 has one of its
ends inserted into the hole 41 and the hole 42 of a coupling member
4. Because of the configuration of the slits 411 and 412 and the
openings 412 and 422 on the coupling member 4, when disassembling
the cubic frame, both the tubes 2 and 3 could be rotated for 90
degrees toward the inner surface of the coupling member 4 so as to
collapse the cubic frame.
[0023] As shown in FIG. 6, as the cubic frame according to the
present embodiment is assembled and erected, reinforcing rods 10
could be installed between the pairs of tubes 1 on the top and at
the bottom of the cubic frame, to make the cubic frame more robust
and rigid. In addition, handles 20 could be installed in the middle
of the top edges along the depth, where a rod 30 could be placed
therebetween for hanging the clothes hangers. The cubic frame could
be clad in a cover 40 and the assembly of the clothes closet 100 is
completed.
[0024] As shown in FIG. 7, to disassemble the cubic frame when it
is not used, the sleeves 8 are first slid away to reveal the
flexible cables 7 between the tubes 2 and 3 so that the edges
formed by them are now collapsible.
[0025] As shown in FIGS. 8, 9, and 10, with the flexible cables 7
as pivot points, the tubes 2 and 3 at the two sides are bended
toward each other. As such, the cubic frame is collapsed from top
to bottom and from back to front to become a flat and narrow
object, which is very convenient to carry and store. Please note
that, after the collapse of the cubic frame, all components of the
cubic frame are still attached together with no loosed parts, and
the cubic frame is therefore immediately ready for re-assembly.
[0026] It will be understood that each of the elements described
above, or two or more together may also find a useful application
in other types of methods differing from the type described
above.
[0027] While certain novel features of this invention have been
shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is
not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be
understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and
changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in
its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without
departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.
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