Supports: cabinet structure – Having particular cabinet support – Wheel mounting feature
Patent
1997-12-05
2000-05-02
Cuomo, Peter M.
Supports: cabinet structure
Having particular cabinet support
Wheel mounting feature
312 947, 108106, A47B 8800
Patent
active
060563826
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical field
The present invention relates to a structure for a piece of furniture and to a piece of furniture including that structure.
2. Background art
There are known pieces of furniture comprising one or more shelves which can be positioned at different heights on uprights provided with suitable support means.
Basically, the support means must be enough strong such as to bear a shelf, including a reasonable load on the shelf. Besides it is often required that the support means allow easy positioning of the shelves, i.e. both allow a certain choice for the height where to position each shelf and allow unlimited removal and repositioning of the shelf.
In general, where easy positioning is required, shelves are simple rectangular boards, while the support means are variously shaped bodies fixed to the uprights and projecting therefrom.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The object of this invention is to provide a structure for a piece of furniture and hence a piece of furniture which allow easy positioning of the shelves.
Therefore, the invention relates to a structure for a piece of furniture, including at least a vertical board forming an upright, at least an horizontal board forming a shelf, and support means for supporting the shelf on the upright at predetermined heights, characterized in that the upright has at least a wavy surface in which parallel horizontal crests and depressions succeed each other, the support means comprising such crests.
With this structure, each shelf is positioned on the upright by inserting the edge of the shelf in any of the depressions of the surface, with a drawer-like operation. Once inserted, the edge of the shelf rests onto the underlying crest.
The support for each shelf provided by a crest of the wavy surface of the upright is particularly strong, since it is not confined to a number of points but rather it is extended to the whole length of the edge of the shelf. Moreover, the easy positioning of the shelf is ensured by the very simple drawer-like operation for inserting and removing it, as well as by the very high number of positions available for the height of each shelf.
In a piece of furniture, each upright may support shelves on one side only or on both sides. Thus, preferably, both surfaces of the upright are equally wavy, the vertical board being itself wavy as a whole, shaped according to a succession of waves. This allows to use the upright in case support of shelves either on only one side or on both sides is required.
Moreover, shaping a whole board according to a wave is in general simpler than shaping only one surface thereof. In fact, with most materials a wavy board can be obtained by deformation of a flat board, while obtaining only a wavy surface and leaving the other surface flat generally requires machining of the board, by milling or the like.
The shelf can rest directly onto the crest of the upright. Preferably, however, the shelf is provided with a bearing gasket along its edge intended to be supported by the crests of the upright. The gasket can perform several useful tasks, such as to ensure high friction and avoid slipping, or to conform the shelf to the exact shape of the wave without having to shape the edge of the shelf itself, or to smooth the contact between the shelf and the upright, or even to avoid direct contact between the upright and the shelf if such a contact can cause problems.
In a particularly interesting embodiment of the invention, the vertical and horizontal boards are made of glass and the bearing gasket is made of a resilient material--preferably transparent--adhered to the edge of the board. In fact, in case of pieces of furniture integrally made with glass, the invention allows to have effective support means without having to introduce support elements of different material, which would affect the aestetic impact of the whole-glass structure. The resilient gasket (which is practically invisible if made with transparent material such as silicone rubber or the like) avoids possible dama
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Cuomo Peter M.
Fiam Italia S.p.A.
Vu Stephen
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