Furniture hardware device

Details Furniture hardware device Furniture hardware device

1996-04-12

2001-09-11

Mah, Chuck Y. (Department: 3626)

Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,

Hinge

Having means to facilitate assembly and disassembly of hinge...

C016S383000, C016S384000, C016S258000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06286186

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a furniture hardware device having a mounting piece to be applied to a furniture wall, which has a bearing surface from which fasteners for insertion into bores in the furniture wall project substantially at right angles at a distance apart. At least one of the fasteners is a separately made stud which has at its free end at least one circumferential sharp-edged projection and is mounted for displacement between two end positions such that in the one end position the sharpened projection or projections cut into the wall of the bore in the furniture wall, and in the other end position they are withdrawn within the interior of the bore.
A great number of different systems have been developed for installing furniture hardware and parts on doors made of wood material. In addition to those in which a hardware piece once installed can hardly be removed without damage to the wood material, systems have also been developed which allow easy and repeated installation and removal of the hardware. In addition to studs which can be expanded like expansion bolts and be positively locked in a bore in the furniture wall, systems have also been developed which permit a positive locking of pin-like or cup-shaped pieces in bores or mortises in the wall because in the actual installation procedure sharpened or pointed locking projections initially retracted within the wall of the pin-like or cup-shaped mounting means, are forced by external manipulation into the wall of the bore or milled recess in the furniture wall and thus produce a positive lock. By another manipulation in the reverse sense, however, the locking means can be withdrawn again from the wall of the bore, thus permitting easy removal of the hardware piece fastened in this manner. By the above-described manipulations an excentric component rotatably held in the mounting means can be turned by a given angular amount and shifted either indirectly through intermediate members or through locking means provided directly thereon into the positive locking position or out of the locking position. For such manipulation, suitable tools, such as screwdrivers or the like, are then usually necessary in order to apply a sufficient force to cause the locking means to penetrate into the wall of the associated bore or mortise.
In many cases, however, especially in the case of hardware for “do-it-yourself” installation, or knock-down furniture that is assembled by lay people, suitable tools are not available in every case. But proper assembly with inappropriate tools, i.e., tools that do not fit, is not assured.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention, however, is addressed to the problem of constructing furniture hardware of many different kinds such that they can be installed easily and quickly even by inexperienced persons without the use of special tools and without substantial application of force.
Setting out from a piece of furniture hardware of the kind mentioned above, this problem is solved according to the invention in that studs, each provided with at least one knife-edged projection, are slightly tapered towards their free end on about half of their periphery, while the other half of the periphery is somewhat semi-cylindrical, and the sharpened projection or projections protrude from the semi-cylindrical half of the stud; in that the stud or studs provided with the sharpened projections are disposed on a separate flat stud plate; in that the flat stud plate is mounted for pivoting at a given angle on its mounting; in that the semi-cylindrical half of the stud is inclined when in the first end position in the bore in the furniture wall such that the sharpened projection or projections are withdrawn within the bore in the furniture wall receiving the stud, but in the second end position they pierce the wall of the bore, and that a means engaging the stud plate on the one hand and the mounting plate on the other is provided for turning the stud plate from the one to the other position. The locking means formed by the sharpened projections are thus engaged in the surrounding wall of the bore or disengaged from it by pivoting the stud, while a lever is provided on the hardware it self for this pivoting movement.
The configuration is desirably made such that the mounting piece is in the form of an elongated mounting plate from whose bottom surface two studs project at a distance apart, each having a radially extending knife-edged projection.
The studs can then be held on the mounting plate such that their free ends are drawn toward one another in their first end position, while in the second end position they will be further apart; their knife-edged projections are provided on the half of the stud facing away from the other stud.
Alternatively, the studs can be held on the mounting plate such that their free ends have in the first end position a greater distance apart than in the second end position, in which case the knife-edged projections provided on each stud will be on the stud half facing the other stud.
It may be expedient also to provide on the mounting plate a stud-like or cup-like centering means projecting from the bearing surface into a bore in the furniture wall.
Alternatively, the configuration may also be made such that the mounting piece is in the form of an elongated plate on the bottom of which there are fastening studs spaced apart from one another and provided each with at least one knife-edged, radial projection, plus a holding stud rigidly disposed on the plate, the holding stud being likewise made to taper slightly toward its free end on half of its periphery, while the other half of its periphery is somewhat semi-cylindrical in section, and at least one radially extending projection running substantially in the circumferential direction reaches out from the semi-cylindrical half of the stud. When the device thus configured is installed, first the holding stud is introduced into the corresponding bore with the mounting piece held at an angle such that the wall of the bore will not be damaged by the projection. When the holding stud is then fully inserted into the bore and the mounting piece is lowered from its slanting position until its bottom is in contact with the furniture wall, sharpened projections provided on the holding stud penetrate into the wall of the bore. During this lowering operation the fastening stud must be in the appropriate angular end position so that it can be introduced without forcing into the associated mounting bore. After the device reaches the desired position for setting the hardware on the furniture wall, the fastening stud is brought by manipulating the lever to the other angular position and thus fixes the hardware piece on the furniture wall.
Each fastening stud can be provided on a separate, flat plate, in which case a lever engaging this stud plate on the one hand and the mounting plate on the other is provided for the purpose of turning the stud plate from the one end position to the other.
Expediently, the stud plate is biased resiliently to the first end position.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the stud plate is placed on a sloping section on the upper side of the mounting plate and the fastening stud is introduced through an opening in the mounting plate, the lever being held on a portion of the mounting plate at a distance from the stud, and the angle included between the sloping section of the mounting plate and the plane of the furniture wall being substantially equal to the angle between the first and second end positions of the stud. The lever then expediently engages the stud plate in an area thereof at a distance from the mounting area on the mounting plate.
The stud plate ought best to be a substantially flat plate with the studs projecting from its flat bottom.
The stud plate and the fastening stud can be made in one piece of metal. The substantially flat plate can be rectangular in shape and can be joined to the mounting plate near its margin facing the other stud or holding stud, while the lever then

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