Supports: cabinet structure – With movable components – Horizontally movable
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-09
2001-06-12
Cuomo, Peter M. (Department: 3636)
Supports: cabinet structure
With movable components
Horizontally movable
C312S334440
Reexamination Certificate
active
06244678
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to drawer slides and, more particularly, to drawer slides having anti-rebound mechanisms for preventing a closed drawer from rebounding to a partially open position.
Drawer slides are routinely used to mount drawers within cabinets. The slides enable the drawer to be pulled out from the cabinet so that items in the drawer may be easily accessed. The slide typically includes two three quarter extension or three full extension rails slidably interfitted within one another, with one of the rails attached to the cabinet and one of the rails attached to the drawer. The slide includes a stop mechanism to stop the closing or opening movement of the rails and often also includes an anti-rebound mechanism to prevent the drawer from bouncing to a partially open position.
When included, the typical anti-rebound mechanism is located at the rear of the rail assembly, at the back of the cabinet, where maintenance and replacement are hindered. For example, one anti-rebound device for drawer slides is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,792 issued Jun. 12, 1990 to Baxter and includes an anti-rebound member attached to the rear end of the cabinet rail. As the drawer rail moves to the closed position, the anti-rebound member grasps the drawer rail to resist both closure and reopening. The positioning of the anti-rebound device at the rear portion of the rail assembly makes it difficult to perform maintenance on the anti-rebound mechanism; such positioning also necessitates using a cabinet rail that is of substantial length to spatially accommodate the long anti-rebound mechanism.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The aforementioned problems are overcome by the present invention wherein both the stop function and the anti-rebound function are provided by a common set of pieces located at the front of the drawer slide assembly.
More specifically, a first piece of the stop/anti-rebound mechanism is mounted on the front end of the cabinet rail. A second piece of the stop/anti-rebound mechanism is mounted on the front end of the intermediate rail. The two pieces frictionally interlock to prevent rebound of the intermediate rail from the closed position. The drawer rail includes detents that frictionally interlock with the second piece to prevent rebound of the drawer rail from the closed position. Both pieces can be easily accessed for service or replacement. The pieces also provide the stop functions for the interfitting rails.
In an alternative embodiment, a three quarter extension slide includes only two rails (i.e. no intermediate rail); and only one stop/anti-rebound piece is included. The anti-rebound piece is mounted on the front end of the drawer rail and operates similarly to the second piece of the previously described embodiment.
Thus, in both two and three rail assemblies, the anti-rebound mechanism and a stop feature are combined in one assembly and are mounted at the front end of the slide to be easily accessible for maintenance. Further, because the anti-rebound mechanism is mounted at the front of the rail assembly, the cabinet rail of the present invention can be up to 50% shorter in length than conventional cabinet rails with rear mounted anti-rebound mechanisms.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of the invention will be more readily understood and appreciated by reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4469384 (1984-09-01), Fler et al.
patent: 4537450 (1985-08-01), Baxter
patent: 4932792 (1990-06-01), Baxter
patent: 5181782 (1993-01-01), Wojcik
patent: 5466060 (1995-11-01), Hoffman
Dopp Alex
Smeets Herman T.
Wright Alan R.
Cuomo Peter M.
Hansen James O.
Thomas Regout USA Inc.
Warner & Norcross & Judd LLP
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