U.S. patent number 3,722,704 [Application Number 05/164,592] was granted by the patent office on 1973-03-27 for structural components for the composition of disassemblable pieces of furniture.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Anonima Castelli S.A.S.. Invention is credited to Giancarlo Piretti.
United States Patent |
3,722,704 |
Piretti |
March 27, 1973 |
STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS FOR THE COMPOSITION OF DISASSEMBLABLE PIECES
OF FURNITURE
Abstract
Structural components pieces of furniture comprising a plurality
of panels, angle members and closing plates, wherein: The panels
have longitudinal edges including first coupling formation and a
complementary coupling formation extending along said longitudinal
edge, said first coupling formation of each panel being able to be
interfitted with the second coupling formation of another panel
designed to be slidably interlocked with the former panel whereby
two panels can be interlocked at a right angle; The angle members,
designed to stiffen the connection between two panels and to
prevent sliding movements parallelely to their longitudinal edges
and provided with means for its fixing to said panels; and The
closing places are each constituted of a board or sheet provided
with means adapted to be engaged into the holes provided in the
angle members.
Inventors: |
Piretti; Giancarlo (Bologna-via
Corticella, IT) |
Assignee: |
Anonima Castelli S.A.S.
(Bologna, IT)
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Family
ID: |
11276795 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/164,592 |
Filed: |
July 21, 1971 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Jul 23, 1970 [IT] |
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52341 A/70 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
211/183; 52/284;
312/108; 403/384; 52/592.2; 211/188; 403/231 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B
47/047 (20130101); A47B 87/0284 (20130101); F16B
12/02 (20130101); A47B 47/0091 (20130101); A47B
47/0041 (20130101); A47B 87/005 (20130101); Y10T
403/71 (20150115); Y10T 403/4602 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
A47B
87/02 (20060101); A47B 47/00 (20060101); A47B
87/00 (20060101); F16B 12/00 (20060101); F16B
12/02 (20060101); A47f 005/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;211/148,10,177
;312/108,107,111,157R,351 ;52/594,593,284,285,286,604,586
;287/189.36H,2.92D,2.92R ;217/65 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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672,556 |
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Oct 1963 |
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CA |
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349,059 |
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Nov 1960 |
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CH |
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Primary Examiner: Britts; Ramon S.
Claims
I claim:
1. An assembly of structural components for carrying out
disassemblable pieces of furniture comprising a plurality of
panels, angle members and closing plates, wherein:
a. the panels have at least one of their longitudinal edges so
shaped as to form a first coupling formation and a complementary
coupling formation extending along said longitudinal edge and which
are operative respectively in planes set at a right angle to one
other and at an angle of 45.degree. with respect to the
longitudinal center plane of the respective panel, each of said
edge portions comprising two mutually orthogonal surfaces set at an
angle of 45.degree. to the panel walls respectively, one of said
surfaces being provided with an outwardly projecting rib forming
the first coupling formation and the other with a complementary
groove forming the second coupling formation, said first coupling
formation of each panel being able to be interfitted with the
second coupling formation of another panel designed to be slidably
interlocked with the former panel whereby two panels can be
interlocked at a right angle each of said panels having holes
formed in at least one side surface thereof adjacent said
longitudinal edge;
b. the angle members, designed to stiffen the connection between
two panels and to prevent sliding movements parallelely to their
longitudinal edges comprise two mutually orthogonal outer surfaces
from which extend pins designed to be engaged in said holes in the
panel surfaces, said pins having axes set at an angle of 45.degree.
with respect to said walls and turned towards the corner where said
orthogonal surfaces meet, while the axes of all said pins are set
in one or more planes perpendicular to said corner, in said angle
member being further arranged at least one hole having the axis
parallel to the right angled corner of said angle member; and
c. the closing plates are each constituted of a board or sheet
provided near their corners with means adapted to be engaged into
the holes provided in the angle members.
2. An assembling according to claim 1, wherein the longitudinal
edges of the panels comprise two mutually orthogonal surfaces set
an angle of 45.degree. to the panel surfaces, and parallel to the
longitudinal edges of said panel, from one of said orthogonal
surfaces a longitudinal rib outwardly projects provided with side
longitudinal recesses, while into the other of said mutually
orthogonal surfaces is arranged a longitudinal groove of a shape
adapted to mate with the said rib, when a first coupling formation
of one panel has been slidably, interfitted into the second
coupling formation of another panel.
3. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein the structural
components are made of plastics, while the edges of the panels are
constituted of metal profiles shaped by a drawing process or the
like and inserted by suitable means along the longitudinal edges of
the panels.
4. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein the holes arranged in
the angle members and designed to receive the pins projecting from
the closing plates have a central restricted portion and the pins
designed to be inserted in said holes have a double-coned
complementary form with a central annular recess.
Description
The present invention relates to structural components which can
slidably interfitted and fixedly locked together so as to form
pieces of furniture, as wardrobes, bookshelves, writing-desks with
drawers, or the like, which can be assembled without requiring the
use of tools, as well as of screws or the like, pieces of furniture
which after being assembled can be also readily disassembled.
The structural components of this invention comprise, as main
components, a plurality of panels. Each panel along at least one of
its longitudinal edges is provided with a profile comprising a
first coupling formation and a complementary second coupling
formation extending along lines parallel to said edge. Said panels
have in general a standard width, while they can have any length,
since they may be obtained from a strip having a length multiple of
a modular value, from said strip being cut off panels of any
desired length. All the panels are similar to each other and can be
mutually interlocked by slidably interfitting the male element or
rib of one panel and the female element or groove respectively of
another panel and constituting said first and second coupling
formations respectively of the two panels to be interlocked
together. Owing to the particular operative position of said
coupling formations which act in planes set at a right angle one to
the other and at an angle of 45.degree. to the longitudinal center
plane of the panel, two interfitting panels can be interconnected
at an angle of 90.degree. with respect to one other; three panels
can be interconnected together so as to form a T-junction and four
panels can be cross connected to each other. The said panels, so
interengaged to each other, enable to form a plurality of modular
box-like elements defining compartments, rectangular in cross
section, and which can be superposed and/or juxtaposed along at
least one of the three directions, set at right angle to each
other, and parallel to the corners of a panel, said compartments
having at least two closed sides, formed by said panels.
Two interfitting panels are fastened together by removable angle
members provided with means to be engaged into the panel bodies
near the junction corner.
Further the structural components comprise plates provided to close
one of the open ends of one or more adjacent modular elements, said
plates being designed to constitute the roofing, and/or the bottom
and/or the rear wall of one or more compartments, and are provided
with gripping means or the like to be engaged in seats arranged in
said angle members.
By means of the aforesaid structural components pieces of furniture
can be composed including inner compartments which have at least an
open side. Drawers for said pieces of furniture can also be
constructed according to the same principle, the side walls of
which are formed by means of said panels, while their bottom can be
obtained by means of the aforesaid plates, but they could also be
constituted of a crystal sheet or the like which is supported by
locking devices inserted in the same seats provided in the angle
members, or by other known means.
By using the structural components of this invention pieces of
furniture of various designs can be composed, wherein the panels
constitute the carrying structure, while the angle members serve to
stiffen the junctions between two interfitting panels and
concurrently to prevent any sliding movement of a panel relative to
the other in the direction along which extend the first and second
coupling formations. The covering plates act as closing members as
well as bracing means for the carrying structure owing to their
gripping means engaged into the seats provided in the angle
members.
A plurality of modular box-like elements can be arranged in rows
and/or in columns with their open ends positioned as desired. As
said open ends are aligned in a same vertical plane, a wardrobe or
a shelving can be erected. The presence of drawers is optional and
depends on the intended purposes of the pieces of furniture.
Two pluralities of modular elements arranged in columns spaced
apart one from the other and associated with an upper board or
plate form a writing-desk, optionally provided with drawers.
Several modular elements variously connected to each other
according to one or more of directions of three Cartesian
coordinate axes and having their open ends in coplanar alignment
with two of said three direction and arranged in one or more
different levels form a book-case or a shelving. Of course, the
cited pieces of furniture are given merely by way of example of
some of the most common practical embodiments of the invention.
This invention will be hereinafter described in a more detailed
manner with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a panel provided with the first and second
coupling formations along both the longitudinal edges;
FIG. 2 is the cross section taken along line A-A of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a cross section taken perpendicularly to the interfitting
edges of a plurality of panels forming interconnected modular
elements;
FIG. 4 is the detail, in an enlarged scale, of the angle
disposition of the composition shown in FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a partial vertical cross section of a modular element
constituting a drawer, where the panels of this invention form the
four side walls of said drawer, said section being taken along the
plane passing through the axes of the pins projecting downwards
from the bottom plate and designed to be engaged in holes arranged
in the stiffening angle members; in broken lines are indicated the
optional superposed drawers;
FIGS. 6 to 8 show diagrammatic perspective views of some different
compositions.
With reference to the drawings it is to be pointed out that the
main structural components for the compositions of pieces of
furniture according to this invention are panels which are
constituted of rectangular plates 1, the width of which is of a
standard value, while their length depends on that of the modular
prismatic elements to be composed. Said panels 1 are preferably
made of plastics or other suitable lightly resilient material and
have each of the two longitudinal edges shaped as to form a first
coupling formation and a complementary second coupling formation,
acting respectively in two directions set at a right angle to one
other and set at an angle of 45.degree. to the longitudinal center
plane of the respective panel. Said coupling formations are
preferably obtained in an inserted metallic profile 2 shaped by an
extrusion process and fixed to the panel body by suitable means 7
as hereinafter described.
Each profile 2 has two mutually orthogonal flat surfaces forming an
angle of 45.degree. with the longitudinal center plane of the panel
to which the profile 2 is fixed so that the cross section of an
isosceles right-angle triangle where its hypotenuse is in contact
with the edge of the panel 1 which the profile 2 is inserted,
(FIGS. 2,4 and 5). Thus as two panels 1 are interengaged together
the pair of the said flat surfaces are in contact to one other and
are placed in bisecting the plane of the dihedral defined by the
facing surfaces of two interfitted panels, i.e. the plane of the
junction between two interfitted panels coincides with said
bisecting plane and therefore provision is advantageously made that
the coupling formations are able to act in a direction
perpendicular to said plane. Therefore the first coupling formation
or male element projects outwards from one of said flat surfaces of
the profile 2 and the complementary second coupling formation or
female element is arranged into the other flat surface of the same
profile 2. Further said male and female elements having
complementary configurations are so positioned, that the male
element of the profile 2 made integral with one panel 1 mates with
the female element arranged in the profile 2 of the panel 1
designed to be interlocked with the former as they are slidably
interfitted. Said coupling formations are so shaped as to prevent
the disconnection of the interfitted panels 1 under the effect of
stresses substantially perpendicular to the direction along which
the panels 1 are caused to slide in order to attain their
interfitted arrangement. For such a purpose the female element is
constituted by a groove 4 provided with a longitudinal restricted
entrance opening 3 and the male element is constituted by a
complementary longitudinal projecting rib 6 provided with
longitudinal side recesses 5 so as to be able to be slidely
received into the groove 3,4 of the panel 1 associated therewith
and with the restricted portion defined by the recesses 5 inserted
in the restricted orifice 4, this disposition preventing that one
panel 1 can move away from the interfitted panel 1. Thus by
connecting to each other two, three or four panels 1 so as to meet
in a common straight line a corner disposition (FIG. 4), a
T-disposition and a cross disposition (FIG. 3) can be obtained.
Said panels 1 could only slide in the direction of the longitudinal
edges of the interengaged panels, i.e. parallelely to the coupling
formations provided in the profiles 2 fixed thereto, in order to
prevent said movement, removable members are provided designed to
be inserted near the corner where the panels 1 interfit one to the
other, said members being also provided to cooperate in stiffening
the connection between two interfitted panels 1. Each of said
members is constituted of an angle body 8 having two mutually
orthogonal vertical surfaces from which outwardly project
cylindrical pins 9 having axes placed in planes perpendicular to
both the mutually orthogonal surfaces, set at an angle of
45.degree. with respect to the respective surface and turned
towards the corner where said orthogonal surfaces meet
together.
At the zones of the panels 1, where said angle members 8 have to be
secured to the panels 1, similarly inclined holes 10 are arranged
in said panel 1 into which the pins 9 can be inserted with a light
friction, as the angle member 8 is caused to approach the corner,
formed by the two interfitted panels 1, moving in a direction
perpendicular to said corner, while maintaining said angle member 8
equally spaced apart from the facing surfaces of the two
interlocked panels 1 (FIGS. 3 and 4). The angle members 8 are also
provided with at least a hole 11, having the axis parallel to both
the mutually orthogonal surfaces of the member 8 and designed to
receive and resiliently lock a pin 13 outwardly projecting from a
plate 12 designed to close one of the open ends of one or more of
modular elements constituted by two, three or four panels 1. Said
plate 12 near each of its angles has the said projecting pin 13. Of
course, in the case wherein a single plate 12 is designed to close
a plurality of interconnected modular elements, said plate 12 will
have greater length. Further in this case the plate 12 can be
placed only outside of said elements so that it must have longer
pins 13, enabling to reach the holes 11, while as a plate 12 is
used to close a side of a single modular element, it could be also
embedded between the wall of the panels 1 forming this modular
element. The pins 13 are preferably shaped as a double cone having
a central restricted portion and the holes 11 have a substantially
complementary form so that the pins 13 can enter through the holes
11 with a lightly deformation, owing to the fact that the plates
12, as well as the pins 13 are made of plastics. Thus the pins 13
can be fixed into the holes 11 with a light friction (FIG. 5),
afterwards the plates 12 are stably positioned.
As has hereinabove been stated, by the use of panels 1, modular
elements of a rectangular cross section can be constructed which
can in turn be variously combined so as to obtain a plurality of
juxtaposed and/or superposed compartments so as to compose pieces
of furniture, of different designs, as, for instance, a wardrobe or
shelving (FIG. 6), a writing-desk (FIG. 7) and a book-case (FIG.
8). All the open ends of all or of a number of compartments may
face one of the directions of three axes parallel to the corners of
the modular elements. In the case where the modular elements are
formed with four panels 1, they may also constitute independent
units which can be connected to each other by screws inserted in
holes 16 (FIGS. 1 and 2) which could also have different positions,
if staggered or angularly turned dispositions of the modular
elements are desired.
By the use of the structural components of this invention also
drawers 14 can be composed; for such a purpose four interfitting
panels 1a of a same height are used to form the side walls of the
drawer 14, said walls being stiffened by the insertion of lower
angle members 8, on which is placed a plate 12, the pins 13 of
which will be engaged into the holes 11 of said members 8. Of
course, said plate 12 could also be substituted with a sheet of
crystal or any other suitable material, on which pins could be
fixed similar to the pins 13, even if other locking means, if
desired, could be used.
* * * * *