U.S. patent number RE28,994 [Application Number 05/631,267] was granted by the patent office on 1976-10-05 for over the cabinet door assembly.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Invention is credited to Milo Aylworth.
United States Patent |
RE28,994 |
Aylworth |
October 5, 1976 |
Over the cabinet door assembly
Abstract
A wall mounted, backless, cabinet with an over-the-cabinet door
assembly feature wherein the front door of the cabinet slides to an
open and stored position overlying the cabinet top.
Inventors: |
Aylworth; Milo (Alto, MI) |
Assignee: |
Westinghouse Electric
Corporation (Pittsburgh, PA)
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Family
ID: |
26910993 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/631,267 |
Filed: |
November 12, 1975 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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Reissue of: |
216415 |
Jan 10, 1972 |
03771847 |
Nov 13, 1973 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
312/245;
312/139.2; 312/323 |
Current CPC
Class: |
E06B
3/5045 (20130101); E05D 15/582 (20130101); E05Y
2900/20 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
E06B
3/50 (20060101); E06B 3/32 (20060101); E05D
15/58 (20060101); E05D 15/00 (20060101); A47B
067/02 (); A47F 003/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;312/138,245-248,282,298,322,323,348 ;248/243,318 ;108/108
;49/197,199,202 ;308/3.6,3.8 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Nunberg; Casmir A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Studebaker; B. R.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A backless, wall mounted, cabinet including side walls, a bottom
wall and a top wall defining a front opening;
a door normally closing off said front opening defined by said side
walls, said bottom wall and said top wall;
a pair of spaced hinge members secured to the front edge of said
top wall, said hinge members including a hinge, a plate secured to
said top wall on one side of said hinge and an inner stationary
track member on the other side of said hinge;
a pair of outer movable track members secured to the back side of
said door colinearly with said stationary track members on said
hinge members; and
a movable ball bearing carrying carriage interconnecting each of
said inner stationary track members with its adjacent movable track
member on said door, said door thereby being slidably movable from
a position closing off said front opening to a position overlying
said top wall.
2. The wall mounted cabinet according to claim 1 wherein means are
associated with each of said side walls to facilitate the mounting
of said cabinet to a support wall.
3. A wall mounted cabinet according to claim 2 wherein said means
associated with each of said sidewalls to facilitate mounting is a
mounting bracket secured to the rearward edge of each of said side
walls and include a plurality of T-shaped hook members. .Iadd. 4.
The wall mounted cabinet according to claim 1 wherein the length of
each of said ball bearing carrying carriages is significantly
greater than the length of its associated inner stationary track
member. .Iaddend..Iadd. 5. The wall mounted cabinet according to
claim 1 wherein the inner stationary track members are shorter in
length than either of their interconnected ball bearing carrying
carriages or movable track members. .Iaddend..Iadd. 6. The wall
mounted cabinet according to claim 5 wherein the movable track
members extend for substantially the full height of said door.
.Iaddend.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to wall mounted cabinets of the type
employed in offices, medical examination rooms and the like and is
particularly adapted for modern modular office partitioning schemes
of the so-called "office landscaping" type. In prior art wall
cabinets with a stored door feature the door generally slides to a
stored position within the cabinet itself. These kinds of cabinets
have two significant drawbacks. Since the cabinet door goes to a
stored position within the cabinet the full height of the interior
of the cabinet cannot be used for large books which will fit in the
cabinet but extend into the space filled by the door when the door
is in the stored position. Additionally, the guide systems employed
in these kinds of cabinets invariably result in a binding action
between the side walls of the cabinet and the edges of the door
making it difficult to raise the door unless it is lifted from the
exact center of the door itself. In other situations, the hardware
employed to provide for the raising and storage of the door is
visible when the door is in an open position thus distracting from
the aesthetics of the cabinet.
In modern space dividing office systems such as that disclosed in
the copending application Ser. No. 159,360 filed July 2, 1971 by
William C. Anderson and Raymond A. Bleeker for "Space Divider
System and Connector Assembly Therefore" it has become desirable
for all of the office furniture or at least the majority thereof to
be mountable to the space dividing wall system. The wall mounted,
backless, cabinet with an over-the-cabinet door assembly feature of
this invention is particularly suited for use in a modern office
space dividing system of that type.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The over-the-cabinet door assembly of this invention is
significantly superior to prior art wall mounted cabinets in that
the door of the cabinet is stored in a position overlying the top
wall of the cabinet, the door can be raised and moved to a stored
position by employing only little effort at any point along the
length of the cabinet door and except for one plate of a simple
hinge the entire slide mechanism is hidden from view even in the
stored position.
The foregoing is accomplished in accordance with the present
invention by providing a backless wall mounted cabinet including
side walls, a bottom wall, a top wall, and a door with slide means
secured to the back surface of the door and hinge means secured to
the front edge of the top wall and to said slide means thereby
permitting the door to slide to a stored position overlying the top
wall. The slide means includes a first track secured to the door, a
second track secured to the hinge and a roller bearing carriage
coacting with the first and second tracks to provide relative
movement therebetween.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
Many of the attendant advantages of the present invention will
become more readily apparent and better understood as the following
detailed description is considered in connection with the
accompanying drawing, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the cabinet of this invention with
the door in a closed position;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cabinet of this invention with
the door in a partially open position;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cabinet of this invention with
the door in an open and stored position;
FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the door guide mechanism employed
in this invention;
FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V--V of FIG. 4;
and
FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI--VI of FIG.
4.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring now in detail to the drawing, wherein like reference
characters represent like parts throughout the several views there
is illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 the novel backless, wall
mounted, cabinet of this invention, generally designated 10, with
the door 12 in the closed, partially open and a fully open and
stored position, respectively. The backless cabinet includes a pair
of side walls 14 and 16 to which a top wall 18 and a bottom wall 20
are firmly secured in any convenient well known fashion such as
screws, bolts, dowels, etc. The pair of side walls 14 and 16 and
the top and bottom walls 18 and 20 form a rectangular cabinet to
which the door 12 is fixed and serves as a closure. Means are
provided at the rearward edge of each of the side walls 14 and 16
to mount the cabinet of this invention to a wall or space dividing
panel. Although any conventional mounting means may be employed
with the cabinet of this invention there is illustrated mounted to
the rearward edge of said walls 14 and 16 mounting brackets 22
which include a plurality of T-shaped hooks which are compatible
with the conventional slotted standards employed in many of the
modern modular space dividing systems and is particularly suitable
to be employed with the space dividing system disclosed in the
copending application Ser. No. 159,360, filed July 2, 1971 by
William C. Anderson and Raymond A. Bleeker for "Space Divider
System and Connector Assembly Therefor." Since the cabinet 10 is
designed to be mounted directly to the wall by mounting brackets 22
the wall serves as a back for the cabinet and it is therefore
unnecessary that the cabinet be provided with its own rear wall or
back.
The door member or closure 12 is affixed to the remainder of the
cabinet by means of a pair of combination hinge and slide
mechanisms 25. Each of the hinge and slide mechanisms 25 include a
hinge member 26 that includes one plate 28 secured to the front
edge of the top wall 18 and a second plate 30 that is secured to a
stationary inner track member 32 which carries an inner ball
bearing race 34. An outer movable track member 36 is recessed into
the backside of the door 12 and extends for substantially the full
height of the door as is best seen in hidden lines in FIG. 1. The
outer movable rack member 36 includes an outer ball bearing race
38. A plurality of ball bearings 40 are carried on a moving ball
carriage 42 which locates the balls 40 between the inner race 34
and the outer race 38. This multi-track feature allows the door
member 12 to move in almost frictionless fashion from the closed
position of FIG. 1 to the fully open and stored position of FIG. 3
with little effort on the part of the person opening the cabinet.
The pair of spaced hinge and slide mechanisms 25 allow the cabinet
door to be raised and moved to a stored position from any point
along the door bottom from one end to the other even over lengths
as great as a door span of 6 feet. The double track system provides
for almost frictionless relative movement between the stationary
track and the moving track through the multiple speed effect
provided by the movable ball carriage. The movable ball carriage
moves with respect to the fixed track at a first speed and the
rotation of the balls doubles that speed in imparting movement to
the movable track and hence the door 12. A pair of stop flanges 44
are formed in the underside of the inner stationary track member 32
which coacts with a pair of raised stop members 46 on the upper
side of the ball carriage 42 to prevent the stationary track member
from being overrun by the ends of the ball carriage 42. At each end
of the fixed outer track member 36 is a raised stop or end 48 which
has on its inner surface a felt or similar bumper 50 which serves
to reduce the impact when either the end of the inner track member
or the ball carriage reaches the end of its travel against the stop
48.
As will be apparent from the foregoing the backless wall mounted
cabinet with over-the-cabinet door storage of this invention
provides a simple and efficient mechanism for providing a closed
cabinet with out-of-the-way storage for the door member.
Additionally, the door member moves rapidly and with little force
through almost frictionless guide mechanisms to its stored position
overlying the top wall of the cabinet.
* * * * *