Supports: cabinet structure – Knockdown or setup type
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-18
2001-09-11
Cuomo, Peter M. (Department: 3636)
Supports: cabinet structure
Knockdown or setup type
C312S324000, C312S326000, C049S501000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06286917
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates to cabinetry and in particular to the vertical stile between adjacent cabinet doors and its removal to permit full use of a wide cabinet.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
At the present time nearly all conventional furniture, including cabinets, is manufactured in a central factory and shipped to various wholesalers and retailers when ordered. To be competitive the furniture factories must find cost saving shortcuts that will not deleteriously affect the quality of their product.
One of the cost saving shortcuts is in the joining of adjacent cabinet doors. When abutting adjacent doors are hinged to the vertical frame stiles of the cabinet, the abutting edges opposite the hinges must be very precisely spaced. A sixteenth of an inch variation in the spacing between the top and bottom of the cabinet doors is very obvious and can easily be avoided. But avoiding that type of defect takes time and a skilled cabinetmaker which the furniture factories cannot afford.
The center cabinet stile was developed to hide variations in the spacing between the doors of a two-door cabinet. With each door of a two-door cabinet closing against a center stile, a quarter of an inch variation in spacing would be barely obvious and the installation of the stile is much less costly than the cost of precision alignment of the cabinet doors. So practically all factory made cabinets are supplied with an attached center stile.
Center stiles in cabinets are a nuisance to the home owner who needs to put a large item such as a platter, in the cabinet. Or often, one wants to install a wide pull-out shelf on extension tracks in a cabinet and is prevented from doing so by a center stile in the cabinet. The center stile has no function other than to hide carelessly installed cabinet doors; it doesn't help strengthen and brace the shelves as may be claimed by a salesperson for the factory. It is only ornamental and may be removed without damage to the intergrity of the cabinet.
This invention is for a rigid metal bracket for attaching a vertical center cabinet stile, that has been removed from the cabinet, to an edge of one of the cabinet doors. Merely nailing the stile to the door edge is not appropriate because there is insufficient material on the door edge to place a nail without splitting the door material. A pair of brackets attached to both the door and the detached stile will adequately support a stile for a three foot cabinet. An additional bracket may be added for longer doors.
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Cuomo Peter M.
Strong Ronald Dennis
Tran Hanh V.
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