Tilt-open Drawer Construction

Abstract

A drawer preferably of molded plastic material slidably mounted in a carrier frame having channel side rails slidably supporting side rails on the drawer, the lower legs of said channels having forward slots receiving selectively projections on the side rails to hold the drawer in closed and full open positions, and the upper channel legs slidably abutting the rear upper edges of the side rails to limit downward tilting of the drawer in open positions.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Certain prior drawer constructions have provided rollers rolling in inclined tracks of a carrier frame for tilting the drawer downwardly as it is pulled out, but these constructions have been expensive from the standpoint of manufacture and installation cost. My prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,439,967 eliminated the rollers and provided cam projections on each side of the drawer, but required two inclined tracks for the projections on each side of the frame with connecting branch tracks for use in opening the drawer.

My copending application Ser. No. 160,735, filed July 8, 1971, disclosed a more simplified construction having only one inclined track on each side of the carrier frame, but molded triangular stops were required at the front ends of the tracks and complementary molded lugs were required in the drawer side rails.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present construction is still further simplified as the tracks are horizontal channels requiring only a slot in the bottom legs for engaging toothed projections on the drawer side rails in closed and full open position, the top channels slidably abutting the top rear edges of the side rails to control the tilting of the drawer.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved molded tilt-open drawer construction which is compact and strong and extremely simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

Another object is to provide an improved tilt-open drawer which slides easily and which is automatically locked in closed and full open position.

A further object is to provide an improved tilt-open drawer which is easily removed from its carrier frame by lifting the front end as it is pulled out from closed position.

These and other objects are accomplished by the improvements comprising the present invention, a preferred embodiment of which is shown in the drawings and described in detail in the following description. Various modifications and changes in details of construction are comprehended within the scope of the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away and in section of a preferred embodiment of the improved drawer in closed position in its carrier frame.

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view on line 2--2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the drawer in partly open position.

FIG. 4 is a partial section on line 4--4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 1, showing the drawer in full open position.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view on line 6--6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view on line 7--7 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The improved drawer indicated generally at 10 is slidably mounted in a supporting frame indicated generally at 11 and has a bottom wall 12, side walls 13, rear wall 14 and a front wall preferably consisting of an upper vertical wall portion 15 and an inclined lower wall portion 16 connecting the front edge of the bottom wall with the vertical wall portion 15. The lower part 15' of wall portion 15 depends below the upper end of the inclined portion 16 to form a handhold for pulling out the drawer. The drawer may be molded out of suitable plastic material.

As shown, the side walls 13 and rear wall 14 depend a short distance below bottom wall 12, and transverse reinforcing ribs 17 and 18 extend between the depending portions of the side walls.

The carrier frame 11 preferably comprises two channel tracks 20 at the sides of the upper portions of the side walls 13 and connected in spaced-apart relation by a transverse plate 21 secured to the top legs of the channels in a well-known manner. The channel tracks 20 and the plate 21 may be formed of suitable plastic material and the plate welded or otherwise secured to the tops of the channels. Preferably, the plate has a depending front transverse flange 22 overhanging the front ends of the channels and the upper portion of the front wall 16 of the drawer abuts flange 22 in the closed position of the drawer, as seen in FIG. 1.

Laterally outwardly extending side rails are formed integrally with the top edges of the side walls 13 of the drawer, and preferably comprise horizontal flange portions 24 terminating in downturned flanges or rails 25. As shown the bottom edges of said rails preferably include front horizontal portions 26 and upwardly inclined portions 27 extending rearwardly therefrom and having tooth-like downward projections 28 at the junctures of the inclined portions 27 with the horizontal front portions 26. At the rear ends of the inclined portions deeper depending tooth-like projections 29 are formed and inclined edges extend rearwardly therefrom and include upwardly inclined portions 30 and downwardly inclined portions 31 terminating at the rear ends of the drawers.

At their rear ends the rails 25 are connected to the side walls 13 by transverse reinforcing ribs 32, and similar reinforcing ribs graduated in depth are spaced longitudinally of the rails 25 as indicated at 32a - 32j, respectively.

The channels 20 preferably include inturned upper legs 34 and inturned lower legs 35 on which the lower edges of side rails 25 are slidably supported. Upturned retainer lip flanges 36 are preferably formed on the inner edges of lower legs 35. Longitudinal slots 37 are preferably formed in lower legs 35 for receiving the teeth 28 when the drawer is in closed position, as shown in FIG. 1, and the top rear edges of the side rail flanges 25 are spaced below the upper legs 34 of the tracks when the drawer is in closed position.

In the closed position engagement of the teeth 28 with the front ends of the slots 37, which act as stops, prevents the drawer from being pulled straight out and normally maintains it in closed position. If it is desired to pull out the drawer the front end is first raised slightly by lifting on the handhold 15' sufficiently to raise the teeth 28 above the front stop ends of slots 37, whereupon the drawer may be pulled out. As it is pulled out the inclined lower edges 27 of the rails are slidably supported on the front edges of lower legs 35, and the upper rear edges of the side rails 25 slidably engage the upper legs 34 to limit the tilting movement of the drawer, as shown in FIG. 3.

When the drawer approaches the full open position of FIG. 5, the teeth 29 enter the slots 37 and then engage the stops provided by the front ends of the slots to limit the opening movement, while the sliding engagement of the top rear edges of side wall rails 25 with upper legs 34 limits the downward tilting of the front of the drawer. On pushing the drawer inwardly, the inclined edges 30 will pass out of slots 37 and the inclined edges 27 will slide over the front ends of lets 35. As the drawer moves inwardly the weight of its rear portion will tilt it to horizontal position and teeth 28 will drop into the slots 37, and immediately thereafter the upper end of front wall 15 of the drawer will abut the overhanging front flange 22 to limit further inward movement.

If it is desired to remove the drawer, it is raised upwardly and continually held upwardly as it is pulled out, so that the upper edges of side rails 25 slide over the lower edges of front flange 22 until the drawer is completely withdrawn.

It will be apparent that an extremely simple and inexpensive tilt-open drawer is provided which is easily molded to provide a strong compact construction which slides easily and is easily locked in closed and full open position during normal operation, but which can be easily removed when desired.

Claims

I claim:

1. Tilt-open drawer construction comprising a carrier frame having side tracks with horizontal upper and lower legs, said lower legs each having a stop slot in its front portion, a drawer having side rails supported in said side tracks, the top rear edges of said side rails being spaced below said side track upper legs in the closed position of said drawer, said side rails having front and rear projections connected by inclined flanges slidably engaging the front ends of the track lower legs as the drawer is pulled out, and said front and rear projections adapted selectively to engage in said slots in the closed and full open positions of said drawer.

2. Tilt-open drawer construction as defined in claim 1, in which the top rear edges of said side rails slidably engage the track upper legs to limit the tilting movement of the drawer as it is pulled out.