U.S. patent number 3,883,202 [Application Number 05/411,693] was granted by the patent office on 1975-05-13 for desk having electrical supply lines which are laid in the table.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Voko-Franz & Co.. Invention is credited to Karl-Heinz Konig.
United States Patent |
3,883,202 |
Konig |
May 13, 1975 |
Desk having electrical supply lines which are laid in the table
Abstract
Desk having internal power supply lines together with adjustable
and/or replaceable working surfaces. A hollow beam is provided
lengthwise of the desk and supported by and between appropriate,
usually hollow, end members. The supply lines are brought up
through, or along, the end members and into said beam which latter
may be open along one side or at the top for appropriate exiting of
said lines. The surface of said beam facing the user of the desk is
stepped. A second beam is positioned parallel with the first beam
likewise supported on the end members and has a stepped surface
facing the first beam. The steps are coplanar. Thus, working
surfaces comprising either hollow boxes or plates may be positioned
as desired on said coplanar, usually upper, stepped surfaces and,
if desired, containers as for files or other working material may
be suspended from other, as lower, coplanar stepped surfaces.
Inventors: |
Konig; Karl-Heinz (Giessen,
DT) |
Assignee: |
Voko-Franz & Co. (Pohlheim
near Giessen, DT)
|
Family
ID: |
23629926 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/411,693 |
Filed: |
November 1, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
312/223.6;
312/195 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B
21/06 (20130101); A47B 17/00 (20130101); A47B
2021/066 (20130101); A47B 2200/0028 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47B
21/00 (20060101); A47B 17/00 (20060101); A47b
051/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;312/223,278,210
;108/102 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Gilliam; Paul R.
Assistant Examiner: Troutman; Doris L.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Woodhams, Blanchard and Flynn
Claims
The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive property or
privilege is claimed are defined as follows:
1. A desk having a front and a back and two sides, comprising:
frame means comprising a pair of horiziontally spaced side members
and first and second horizontally spaced wall means secured to and
extending between said side members;
first stepped surface means on said first wall means facing said
front of said desk and second stepped surface means on said second
wall means facing said back of said desk and opposing said first
stepped surface means, said first and second stepped surface means
each comprising a plurality of horizontally offset, vertically
spaced and upwardly facing surfaces, the lowermost surface of each
of said stepped surface means being spaced closer to each other
than any of the remaining surfaces, each of said upwardly facing
surfaces on one of said stepped surface means being coplanar with
the corresponding upwardly facing surface on the other of said
stepped surface means; and
a plurality of laterally spaced support surface means each
including guide means slidingly mounted on a pair of said coplanar
upwardly facing surfaces and adapted to slide along the length of
said upwardly facing surfaces between said side members, the width
of each of said support surface means being sufficient to occupy
the space between said pairs of coplanar upwardly facing surfaces
but no wider or narrower than the width of the spacing between a
pair of coplanar upwardly facing surfaces on which said support
surface means is supported, one of said support surface means being
vertically spaced from the other of said support surface means to
facilitate a lateral sliding movement of said support surface means
to a position vertically aligned with at least one of the other of
said support surface means.
2. The desk according to claim 1, wherein said first wall means
comprises an elongated hollow beam, one wall of which has said
first upwardly facing surfaces formed therein.
3. The desk according to claim 2, wherein said second wall means
comprises an elongated beam, one wall of which has said second
upwardly facing surfaces formed therein.
4. The desk according to claim 3, wherein the space between said
first and second upwardly facing surfaces is open in a downward
direction to facilitate the support of a downwardly depending
upwardly opening container coverable by at least one of said
support surface means.
5. The desk according to claim 2, wherein said elongated hollow
beam includes means defining an upwardly facing opening therein for
providing communication to the interior thereof and cover means for
covering said upwardly facing opening.
6. The desk according to claim 5, including means defining an
elongated gap between said cover means and said beam.
7. The desk according to claim 6, including electrical means
mounted in said hollow beam, said electrical means comprising
electrical lines which are adapted to extend through said gap
means.
8. The desk according to claim 2, including electrical means
mounted in said hollow beam.
9. The desk according to claim 1, wherein said guide means includes
hanger means which are adapted to be supported on and extend
between said first and second upwardly facing surface.
10. The desk according to claim 1, wherein at least one of said
first and second wall means is located intermediate the front and
back of said desk; and
including storage means mounted on the opposite side of said one of
said first and second wall means from said plurality of support
surface means.
11. The desk according to claim 1, wherein said first and second
upwardly facing surfaces are of a monolithic construction.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a desk having electrical supply lines
which are laid in the table for connecting various items of
apparatus, as for example calculating machines, typewriters,
telephones, picture screens, computers, micro-reading apparatus,
etc., namely a desk having a work surface which can be composed of
several plates.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The number of kinds of apparatus which are associated with a work
place increases constantly so that both the storing of the
apparatus on or in the desk, the provision of power supply lines
and particularly their location in the table, all bring about
considerable difficulty if at the same time the common functions of
the respective desk are not to be adversely affected, as for
example, in the case of a desk, the accessibility of the work
surface and of shelves therein which are provided for receiving of
files, card indices and the like.
In order to store in the case of a desk of the mentioned type
apparatus and supply lines in a space-saving manner, the suggestion
has already been made to construct a desk having side legs and
electrical supply lines laid in the table in such a manner that it
has for receiving the electrical lines an upwardly covered
trough-shaped rail which extends parallel to the front edge and
over the entire length of the table top, the cover of which rail
lies in or approximately in the plane of the table top. The said
trough-shaped rail is thereby connected fixedly to the side legs of
the table. Said side legs are in turn advantageously connected to
one another at their lower ends by a support which extends parallel
to the trough.
The purpose of the invention is a further development of the desk
according to the above-mentioned patent in a manner that the entire
work surface can be composed of individual plates in a manner that
the work surfaces which are formed by the individual plates can be
of differing heights with reference to the floor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention the work table which has been described
above is constructed with a frame which is used for receiving the
work plates, the longitudinal carriers of which frame are so
profiled that they each form at least two support surfaces for the
individual work plates, which support surfaces are offset laterally
to one another and are vertically spaced. The height of the steps
and the height of the work plates is thereby advantageously
selectable so that the plates which in the operating position lie
lower can be moved underneath the ones which are positioned
higher.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
One exemplary embodiment will be described hereinafter in
connection with the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a desk according to the
invention;
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view along the line II--II of FIG.
1;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary oblique view of a portion adjacent the
plane of the line II--II of FIG. 1 in an enlarged scale and showing
support rods for the typewriters;
FIG. 4 is a detail on an enlarged scale of the portion within the
circle A of FIG. 2; and
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary detail showing somewhat schematically one
means by which a file box may be supported.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 identifies a groove-shaped rail or
trough which extends parallel to the front edge of the desk and at
its ends is connected to side legs 2 and 3 of the table. The side
legs which all together are identified with reference numerals 2
and 3 can be constructed as walls or, as is shown in FIG. 2, as a
frame in the form of a H lying on its side. Each framelike side leg
consists of an upper arm 4, a vertically extending support 5 and a
lower arm 6. Arms and supports are advantageously screwed together.
It is therefore possible by exchanging the supports or the arms or
both to manufacture side legs of various widths and heights and by
using various long troughs in connection with various side arms a
large number of different desks.
The sidewalls 7 and 8 of the trough 1 are bent at the front sides
and are fixedly connected with the bent parts to the side legs.
Thus all together a distortion-free frame is created on which the
remaining parts of the desk can be secured. Further, the supports 5
are connected by a rod 9 which contributes considerably to the
solidity of the frame. Feet 10 are secured to the lower arm, which
feet can be adjusted in height.
The side legs consist of hollow profiles. The upper arms 4 have
notches in the sidewalls which are oppositely positioned to the
trough 1. Thus it is possible to introduce supply lines from below
through the arms and supports into the trough 1, however, it is
also possible to guide such supply lines through the coaxial
openings of the upper arms to the desks, which are connected to the
illustrated table.
The front wall 8 of the trough 1 is, as is illustrated in FIGS. 1
and 3, constructed steplike, that is it forms three steps 11, 12
and 12a. Its upper edge 13 is flanged to the inside and lies, as
illustrated in FIG. 2, lower than the also inwardly flanged edge of
the back wall 7 (FIG. 2). The trough 1 is covered by a closure 14,
the edges of which are also flanged twice at 90.degree.. Between
the front edge of the closure and the part 13 of the front wall
remains a gap 15 through which connecting lines which lead to the
various items of apparatus can be pulled out at any desired point
of the trough. Guide rails 17 for receiving electrical apparatus as
for example receptacle outlets 18 are secured on the bottom of the
trough.
At the front ends of both arms 4 parallel to the trough 1 there is
secured in horizontal position a beam 19 which is also constructed
steplike and forms three bearing surfaces 20, 21 and 21a. The
surfaces 11 and 20 or 12 and 21 or 12a and 21a are positioned at
equal height. They serve as supports for individual work plates or
a box-shaped container 25 in any convenient manner, such as by
angles 30 which may be fastened, as by riveting at 31, to an
appropriate portion of said file box. FIG. 1 shows smooth plates 22
and 23 and a box-shaped work plate 24 which is illustrated in a
cross-sectional view in FIG. 2. The work place thus offers work
surfaces of various heights, namely work surfaces at various levels
above the floor. The level of the steps 11, 12 or 20, 21 is chosen
in such a manner that the plates 22, 23 can be moved as desired
below the box plate 24, for example to make accessible the movable
container 25 which can serve to receive a suspended filing system.
The movability of the container 25 permits same to be moved into a
position which is most desirable for each type of work. For
example, it is possible to move the container alongside the work
plate 23 if work is to be done on this plate which requires the
filing cards or the like which are stored in the container 25.
Since the plate 24 also can be shifted, access to the container 25
can also be obtained if same is positioned alongside of the plate
23.
If the desk or the work table is to be used for typewriters, then
it is possible in order to achieve a low support height to replace
the plates 22 by hangers 26, 27 which are illustrated in FIG. 3.
They are bent flat bars having lateral walls 28 to prevent slipping
off of the typewriter.
In the illustrated exemplary embodiment an elongated box 29 which
can be suitably divided belongs to the equipment of the work table.
A three-part division is provided in the exemplary embodiment which
is characterized by lids 30, 31, 32. These boxes may be at least
partly used to store the private articles of the user of the desk.
The trough 1 which receives the electrical supply lines thus
separates the private section from the work section of the
desk.
Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has
been disclosed above for illustrative purposes, it will be
understood that variations or modifications thereof which lie
within the scope of the appended claims are fully contemplated.
* * * * *