Drawer Guide

Abstract

A drawer guide constituting the stationary element of a two element slide facilitating arrangement for furniture pieces such as dressers, desks, etc. The guide being anchored to the furniture piece frame and including uniquely contoured openings for the positive positioning of the guide by wood screws extending into the front and rear parting rails.

Parent Case Text

This Application is a Continuation-In-Part of my U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,717.

Description

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF INVENTION

This invention is related to my prior U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,328,107 and 3,365,261. In the earlier patents I was concerned with providing drawer slides or guides, i.e., the element fixed to the drawer with cooperated with a second member secured to the dresser, desk, or the like. In changing from the relatively ponderous wooden pieces of the prior art to metal pieces, I have found that a uniquely contoured opening in the guide bottom wall facilitates exact positioning of the same while permitting of minor adjustments so that a bind-free drawer sliding action is achieved.

According to the invention, an opening is provided adjacent each end of the drawer guide for the receipt of the wood screw which goes into the front and rear parting rail which is characterized by being relatively elongated in the direction of guide length. Further, the opening is of modified keyhole construction so as to provide for shifting incident to final installation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

The invention is described in conjunction with an illustrative embodiment in the accompanying drawing, in which

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a fragment of a furniture piece showing mounting of the inventive guide;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view such as would be seen along the line 2--2 applied to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perpsective view, on enlarged scale, of the guide seen in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the front end portion of the guide seen in the initial stage of installation; and

FIGS. 5-7 are views similar to FIG. 4 but showing subsequent stages of installation.

The numeral 10 designates generally a portion of the dresser and the numeral 11 generally the guide of the instant invention. The guide is seen to be installed between a front parting rail 12 and a rear parting rail 13. These rails, or equivalent structure, are provided in dressers, desks, etc. for separation of the various drawers, one above the other, and for mounting the back panel -- in the case of the rear parting rail 13.

In general, the guide 11 includes a modified channel shape for the receipt of a slide element (not shown) which is secured to the underside of a drawer (also not shown). The basic channel shape, as can be seen from FIG. 3, includes a flat, horizontally disposed bottom wall 14 and upstanding side walls 15 and 16. The upstanding side walls 15 and 16 are further equipped with channel like flange portions 17 and 18 respectively.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the bottom wall 14 adjacent the front end of the guide 11 is equipped with a relatively elongated opening generally designated 19 and the rear portion of the guide equipped with an identical opening generally designated 20.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the opening 19 is generally in the nature of a keyhole slot or alternatively a distorted dumbbell or "dogbone." The opening 19, for example, includes adjacent the rear end thereof a circular portion 21 and a generally arcuate portion 22 adjacent the forward end thereof. Intermediate the portions 21 and 22 is a constricted portion 23 defined by parallel side edges 24 and 25.

It is believed that a brief description of the operation of the guide 11 in connection with the openings 19 and 20 will further reveal the advantages and features of the invention. For this purpose, reference is made to FIG. 4 where the numeral 26 designates generally a wood screw having a head 27 and a shank 28. In the operation of the invention, a pair of wood screws 26 and 26' (the latter only being seen in FIG. 1) are installed in the front and rear parting rails 12 and 13, respectively. These are spaced apart a distance generally corresponding to the longitudinal spacing of corresponding portions of the openings 19 and 20. Thereafter the guide 11 is moved downwardly over the wood screws to the position generally seen in FIG. 1. At this stage, the wood screws are not completely threaded into the parting rails but have the underside of the respective heads thereof spaced about one-eighth inch above the finished top surfaces of the parting rails. It will be appreciated that the showings in FIGS. 4 and 5 are exaggerated relative to this spacing to insure comprehension of the practice of the invention.

In FIG. 5 the guide 11 is seen to have been moved towards the rear of the furniture piece 10 so as to position the shank 28 of the screw 26 in the smaller arcuate or partially circular portion 22. In this movement, the position of the guide 11 is controlled through the provision of the constricted portion 23 -- the parallel sides 24 and 25, in effect directing the guide 11 into proper position within the slightly larger end portion 22.

Referring to FIG. 6, it is seen that the wood screw generally designated 26 has not been screwed into the parting rail so as to substantially firmly clamp the guide 11 against the front parting rail 12. In FIG. 7, a tool 29 is seen bearing against the outside of the upstanding side wall 15 so as to shift the forward end of the guide 11 slightly and thereby accommodate the guide 11 to a particular drawer configuration (not shown).

Such final adjustment can be advantageous where the slide portion of a drawer is not precisely centered so that a slight accommodation of the guide is advantageous in avoiding any binding in actual sliding of the drawer.

It is believed that the invention can be further appreciated and understood from a consideration of a specific preferred embodiment. In a guide having a length of 14-1/2 inch and a bottom wall 15 width of 1/2 inch the transverse diameter in the portion 21 was 0.315 inch. By contrast the transverse diameter in the portion 22 was 0.280 inch. Still further, the distance between the edges 24 and 25 was 0.182 inch. Measurements longitudinally of the opening 19 (or, for that matter, of the opening 20) are 0.125 for the length of the intermediate portion 23 and 0.155 for the arcuate smaller end portion 22. I have found that optimum results are obtained where the length of the intermediate portion 23 is at least 60 percent of the width dimension thereof. This insures a substantial guiding function by the intermediate portion 23 to insure that the guide 11 is properly seated within the smaller end portion 22 while at the same time permitting fast and efficient installation of drawer guides.

Claims

I claim:

1. A drawer guide adapted to be mounted on a furniture piece to guide the movement of a drawer positioned over front and rear parting rails in said furniture piece comprising an elongated unitary member having a general channel shape in cross section, said channel shape including a bottom wall and side walls extending upwardly therefrom, said bottom wall having a pair of openings therein spaced longitudinally thereof to be generally aligned with said front and rear parting rails, each opening being relatively elongated longitudinally of said guide and at corresponding opening ends being transversely enlarged so as to pass the head of a wood screw while at the other corresponding ends having a contour to receive with slight relative movement the shank of said wood screw but not to pass the head thereof, each opening intermediate the ends thereof having a slot portion defined by generally parallel sides spaced apart sufficiently only to pass said shank, each opening including arcuate portions at each end with the arcuate diameter measured transversely of the guide being larger at one end than at the other, the intermediate portion of said opening being of a width less than the smaller of said diameters, the length of said intermediate portion being at least 60 percent of the width thereof whereby when screws are inserted into said parting rails, said guide must be moved longitudinally before said guide is laterally adjusted.