WO2008035366A2

WO2008035366A2 - An assembled drawer, a method of assembling a drawer and a drawer assembly

Info

Publication number: WO2008035366A2
Application number: PCT/IN2007/000254
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jagdish Nanavati Shachin
Original assignee: Jagdish Nanavati Shachin
Priority date: 2006-06-22
Filing date: 2007-06-22
Publication date: 2008-03-27
Also published as: WO2008035366A3

Abstract

A drawer assembly (100) or unassembled components for forming a drawer, the drawer assembly (100) comprises of a rear panel, a bottom panel (102) having grooves (112) extending upwardly on either side of one of pair of opposed sides of the bottom panel (102) Further, at least two opposed sidewalls (116) each of which having a sliding portion (126) extending inwardly from a lower edge, a sliding support (128) extending inwardly from a rear end and a fixing means (130) wherein said grooves (112) of bottom panel (102) slidabaly receive said opposed sidewalls (116) and sliding support slidabaly receive the rear anel 134 for forming a drawer.

Description

TITLE

AN ASSEMBLED DRAWER, A METHOD OF ASSEMBLING A DRAWER AND A DRAWER ASSEMBLY. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to drawers, and particularly to assembled drawer, a drawer assembly and a method of assembling a drawer. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various types of conventional drawers are well known in the field of art. Drawers of various profiles had being continued to be manufactured till now to cater various needs of community.

The drawer that is known in the field of art and most commonly used is the slidable drawer. Till now various modifications and changes have been made in the profile and constructional features of the conventional drawers to make them utilized in furnitures, offices, homes, industry, institutions and in other applications.

One of the types of drawers available is Carcass types like chest of drawers, drawer box, cupboard drawers, cabinet drawers, desk drawers etc. The aforementioned type of drawers are joined by screws, rivets, nails, glue, fasteners, dovetail joints, folded, cam and dowel joinery, welded etc. This drawer had a bottom panel, a front panel, a pair of opposite sidewalls, and a rear side joined together by various means to form an enclosed case. Under the current scenario various types of drawers are available which could be arranged to be packed so as to accommodate lesser space and can be easily transported from one desired place to another. One such type of drawer available is the drawer, which is assembled by the use of cam and dowel fastening means. The cam and the dowel means of fastening requires a lot of time to assemble a drawer since each of the constituting parts of the drawer are joined with each other by cam and dowel.

Another kind of drawer serving the same purpose is drawer that is made up of metal sheet and having fine punctures on those parts of the surface of the metal sheet through which it needs to be folded on order to form a drawer. Such kind of drawer when desired could be unfolded to form a flat sheet and can be transported. But this kind of drawer may get cracked on the punches when the flat metal sheet is folded and unfolded for several times.

Among available knockdown flat pack drawers available, there is the necessity of the use of better fastening means. It may be cam and dowel, or drawer sidewalls holding the wooden bottom of the drawer or any other kinds of external joinery provided to make a drawer box.

The aforediscussed drawers suffered from the drawback that their size cannot be altered easily enough according to the desirable needs and also in some cases in order to change the size of the drawer the whole drawer needs to be replaced.

This is of course a cumbersome task and quite time consuming.

Space occupied and packaging during transportation is a big issue with the above mentioned drawers.

This situation is of course objectionable and accordingly demands improvement. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Disclosed herewith is an assembled drawer, a method of assembling a drawer and a drawer assembly, wherein the drawer assembly comprises an optional front panel, a bottom panel, a plurality of grooves extending longitudinally through the bottom panel from a rear side to the front side, a pair of opposite sidewalls slidabaly removable to the bottom panel through said grooves, wherein the pair of opposite sidewalls is slidabaly inserted into the bottom panel, and the rear panel is slide transversely and fastened to the pair of opposite sidewalls. According to an embodiment of the present invention a drawer assembly or unassembled components for forming a drawer, the drawer assembly comprises of a rear panel, a bottom panel that has grooves extending longitudinally and upwardly on either side of one of pairs of opposed sides of the bottom and atleast two opposite sidewalls. Each sidewall comprises of a sliding portion extending inwardly from a lower edge, a sliding support extending inwardly from a rear end and a fixing means for fixing a front panel to the front of the sidewalls. The opposed sidewalls have length substantially more than the bottom panel, wherein said grooves of bottom panel, slidabaly receive said opposed sidewalls and the sliding support slidabaly receive the rear panel for forming an assembled drawer.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the bottom panel has a bend extending upwardly at the rear end and the rear panel has a bend extending inwardly at the lower end that lockingly engages with each other thereof to tightly and lockingly secure the drawer.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the rear panel as an unassembled component slide removably over the sliding support of the opposed sidewalls thereby forming a firm contact with the opposed sidewalls. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the bottom panel has grooves that extends upwardly on either side of one of the pair of opposed sides of the bottom panel and the bottom panel has a bend that extends upwardly from a rear end and another bend that extends upwardly from the front end. Further, atleast two opposite sidewalls, each sidewall comprises of a sliding portion extending inwardly from a lower edge, a sliding support extending inwardly from a rear end and a fixing means. A rear panel having grooves on either side, slide over the sliding support and a rear bend lockingly engaged with the bend of the bottom panel, and a front panel engaged to combination of an adjustable bracket holder and a mounting bracket.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a drawer assembly comprises of, providing a groove that extends vertically on either side of a bottom panel and extending upwardly at the rear end of the bottom panel. A sliding means that extends inwardly from a lower edge is adapted alongwith a sliding support that extends from rear end, and a fixing means is also adapted on each opposed sides of the drawer. Also provided are grooves on the sides and a rear bend that extends inwardly of the lower edge of the rear panel of the drawer.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method for assembling a drawer from the drawer assembly of the present invention comprises the steps of sliding opposed sides through the grooves of bottom panel, sliding rear panel between the opposed sides by inserting in the grooves of rear panel over the sliding support provided on the opposed sides, fixing a front panel with fixing means provided over the opposed sides to form a drawer. Further, the bottom panel is interlocked with the rear panel before fixing the front panel The drawer assembly as described above in the drawer assembly embodiment is being used as a method for assembling a drawer embodiment. Further the drawer assembly as described in the previous embodiment is manufactured by the method as described in the embodiment pertaining to method for manufacturing a drawer assembly.

Objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawings, and from the detailed description that follows below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will be made to embodiments of the invention, examples of which may be illustrated in the accompanying figures. These figures are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Although the invention is generally described in the context of these embodiments, it should be understood that it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to these particular embodiments.

Fig 1 shows the perspective view of the bottom panel having longitudinal grove extending upwardly according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig 2 shows the perspective view of a pair of opposite sidewalls.

Fig 3 shows the front view of the opposite sidewall according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig 4 shows the side view of the bottom panel showing the bends on the front end and the rear end according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig 5a and 5b shows the perspective and detailed view of the rear panel having grooves on the top and the bottom edge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 shows the perspective view of the bottom panel and the opposite sidewalls in an unassembled position.

Figure 7 shows the perspective view of the assembled bottom panel and the opposite sidewalls.

Figure 8 illustrates the rear panel in unassembled position over the assembled bottom panel and the opposite sidewalls as shown in figure 7, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 shows the assembly of the bottom panel, opposite sidewalls and the rear panel according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 10 shows the perspective view of the assemble drawer having a front panel according to embodiment of the present invention. Figure 11 illustrates the perspective view of an assembled drawer having a gallery fitting rod and the stopper pad mounting holes according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

An assembled drawer, a method of assembling a drawer and a drawer assembly is described herewith in the foregoing description. Several components of the drawer assembly are selectively engaged with each other to form an assembled drawer. In the following description, for purpose of explanation, specific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without these details. Reference in the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, characteristic, or function described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a drawer assembly or unassembled components for forming a drawer, the drawer assembly comprises of a bottom panel having grooves longitudinally extending upwardly on either side of one of pair of opposed sides of the bottom panel. Atleast two opposed sidewalls arranged to be slidabaly received into the bottom panel, wherein each of the opposed sidewalls have a sliding portion extending inwardly from a lower edge, a sliding support extending inwardly from a rear end and a fixing means. A rear panel is slidabaly received into the sliding portion of the opposed sidewalls. Figure 1 illustrates the perspective view of the bottom panel (102) of the drawer assembly (100). The bottom panel (102) has a top surface (104) and a bottom surface (106), and two pairs of opposed sides wherein three sides of the bottom panel (102) are bend (121) upwardly while the fourth side is bend downwardly, as shown in figure 4. Alternatively, a rear end (108) of the bottom panel (102) has a bend (121) upwardly while the front end (110) of the bottom panel (102) has a bent downwardly (not shown). It would be quite apparent to a person skilled in the art to understand that the bend imparts additional strength and support to the drawer assembly (100). As referred in figure 1 , a longitudinally extending groove (112) through each of the pair of opposed sides of the bottom panel (102) is provided in such a way that the grooves has open space upwardly and throughout the length thereof. The technique adopted herein in providing the grooves to the bottom panel (102) is that a pair of orthogonal metallic or non- metallic sheet (114), whose one side is fixed to the bottom surface (106) of one of the side of the bottom panel (102) in such a way that the other side of the orthogonal sheet (114) leaves some space with the side bend upwardly thereby forming an upwardly open space in the groove (112). Similarly other of the orthogonal sheet (114) is fixed to the side opposite to the one having the orthogonal sheet (114). Intermittent grooves may also be provided as an alternative to the above- described technique of providing grooves.

Alternatively, the sheets for providing grooves (112) may be adapted to the opposite sides of the bottom panel (102) to give a shape of 'J', ¹L', and/ or 'U' to the grooves (112) formed therein in the bottom panel (102). Figure 2 shows a pair of opposed sidewalls (116) that are slidabaly received into the bottom panel (102) (shown in figure 6 and 7). Constructional features of the sidewalls (116) are such that each of them has a front end (118), a rear end (120), an inner surface (122), an outer surface (124), a sliding portion (126), a sliding support (128), fixing means (130), and a guiding wheel (131) (shown in figure 3). The guiding wheel (131) enables the sidewalls (116) to be slidabaly fixed into various articles such as furnitures, cupboard drawers, cabinet drawers, desk drawers etc. The sliding portion (126) protrudes perpendicularly from the inner surface (122) of each of the sidewall (116) wherein the sliding portion (126) slides into the longitudinal grooves (112) of the bottom panel (102). The sliding support (128) is basically integral with the sidewall (116) and bend inwardly to form the sliding support (128). Alternatively, an external support may be fixed to the rear end of the sidewall to function like the sliding support (128). The fixing means (130) as shown in figure 2, is fixed to the front end of each of the sidewall (116) for receiving a facia (shown in figure 10), facia hereinafter in the foregoing description referred to as front panel (132) as shown in figure 10. Examples of fixing means (130) may be riveting, screwing via nuts and bolts, usage of cam and dowel or related means. Preferably, a combination of an adjustment bracket older and a mounting bracket (130) for adjusting and for holding the front panel (132). The opposed sidewalls (116) have length substantially more than the length of the opposed sides of the bottom panel (102) having grooves (112) therein to positively accommodate the bottom panel (102). Now referring to figure 5a and 5b, illustrated is the rear panel (134) having a top edge (136), a bottom edge (138), an inner surface (not shown), an outer surface (140) and a pair of opposite sides, wherein the rear panel (134) slides into the sliding support (128) (shown in figure 8). Further, the rear panel (134) has two bends integral thereof, wherein one of the bends (142) extends outwardly from a top edge and the other bend (not shown) extends inwardly from bottom edge of the rear panel (134). Interestingly, the bottom edge bend of the rear panel (134) and the rear end (120) bend of the bottom panel (102) lockingly engage with each other to form a tightly secured assembled drawer (100). Further, as shown in figure 5a and 5b, the two opposite sides of the rear panel (134) has grooves (144) made in similar fashion as the grooves (112) of the bottom panel (102) (shown in figure 5b), and as shown in figure 8 and figure 9 the grooves (144) slide removably on the sliding support (128) of the pair of opposite sidewalls (116) to form a drawer ready to adapt a front panel (132). Alternatively, the sheets for providing grooves (112) may be adapted to the opposite sides of the rear panel (134) to give a shape of 'J', 'L', and/ or 'U' to the grooves (144) formed therein in the rear panel (134). The front panel (132) is adapted on the front end (118) of the opposite sidewalls (116) that has combination of the adjustment bracket holder and the mounting bracket (130)(shown in figure 10). A slight external force is required to the rear panel (134) push slidingly over the sliding support (128) of each of the pair of opposite sidewalls (116), and thereafter as a result of sliding of the rear panel (134) over the sidewalls (116) the rear end (120) bend of the bottom panel (102) lockingly engages with the bend at the bottom edge (138) of rear panel (134).

According to another embodiment of the present invention and as illustrated in figure 10, a front panel (132) is provided to a drawer assembly (100), the drawer assembly (100) as described above in the drawer assembly (100) embodiment. The assembled drawer (100) herein the assembled drawer (100) with the front panel (132) embodiment comprises of a bottom panel (102) having grooves (112) longitudinally extending upwardly on either side of one of the pair of opposed sides of the bottom panel (102). The bottom panel (102) has a bend (121) that extends inwardly from rear end (108) thereof and atleast two opposed sidewalls (116), each of the sidewalls (116) having a sliding portion (126) extending inwardly from the lower edge, a sliding support (128) extending from rear end (120) and a fixing means (130). The sidewalls (116) slide in the grooves (112) of the bottom panel (102). The rear panel (134) having grooves (144) on either side slides over the sliding support (128) and a bottom edge (138) bend lockingly engaged with the bend (121) of the bottom panel (102), and a front panel (132) engaged to said fixing means (130) that is the combination of the adjustment bracket holder and the mounting bracket (130). Alternatively, the front panel (132) may be provided by a third party or by a customer according to the needs thereof.

The bottom panel (102), the pair of opposite sidewalls (116) and the rear panel (134) is made up of non-metallic material like wood, plastic etc. or metallic material. Similarly, the front panel (132) is also made up of non-metallic material like wood, plastic etc. or metallic material.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a method for manufacturing a drawer assembly (100) is disclosed that comprises the steps of providing groove (112) extending vertically on either side of the bottom panel (102) and the rear bend (121) extending upwardly at the rear end (108) of the bottom panel (102). Thereafter the portion (126) that extends inwardly from the inner surface (122) thereof is made to selectively engaged with the grooves (112) of the bottom panel (102). The sliding support (128) is also made to extend from the rear end (120) and a fixing means (130) on the front end (118) of the opposed sides of the drawer is attached.

Grooves (112) are provided on each of the pair of opposite sides of the bottom panel (102) in a similar fashion as described above in the drawer assembly (100) embodiment by employing an orthogonal metallic or non-metallic sheet (114). The front-end bend (not shown) is also provided on the third side of the bottom panel (102).

A sliding portion (126), a sliding support (128), and fixing means (130) are provided in each of the pair of opposite sidewalls (116). A guiding wheel (131) may also attached to the rear outer end of each of the pair of opposite sidewalls (116). The sliding portion (126) is then made to selectively slide into the longitudinal grooves of the bottom panel (102) (shown in figure 6).

The fixing means (130) is fixed to the front end (118) of each of the sidewall for receiving the front panel (132). Herein also the fixing means (130) a combination of an adjustment bracket older and a mounting bracket (130) for adjusting and for holding the front panel (132).

A pair of grooves (144) is formed on one of the pair of opposite sides of the rear panel (134) in the same way as provided to the bottom panel (102) with by fixing an orthogonal metallic or non-metallic sheet (144). The other two opposite sides of the rear panel (134) i.e., the top edge (136) and the bottom edge (138) thereof also a bend. As shown in figure 8, the grooves (144) of the rear panel (134) are made to slide over the sliding support (128) of the sidewalls (116) by the application of an external force, as a result of which the rear end bend (121) of the bottom panel (102) and the bend at the bottom edge (138) of the rear panel (134) lockingly engages with each other.

It is to be noted that the shape of the grooves (112) of the bottom panel (102) and the rear panel (134) may be of 'J', 'L' and/or 'U' shape. Alternatively, the grooves (112) in the bottom panel (102) or grooves (144) of the rear panel (134) are prepared by bending the sides and/or welding 'L', 'J' or 'U¹ shaped sheet on underneath surface. Alternatively, the fixing may be provided by using th eknow methods available.

Further, the assembled drawer (100) is designed to accommodate different sections within the drawer. For this several grooves (112) may be provided on the bottom panel (102) and accordingly sidewalls (116) is slidabaly inserted into the grooves (112).

Thus it would be quite apparent to a person skilled in the art that the assembled drawer (100) may be assembled and dissembled easily and also the size of the assembled drawers (100) may be altered according to the need. It is also possible to adjust the height of the front panel.

Such assembling and dissembling of drawers also avoid the hassles of packaging and occupying large space while transportation. According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method of assembling the drawer assembly (100) as described above in the drawer assembly (100) embodiment is manufactured by the process as described in the above embodiment of manufacturing the drawer assembly (100), wherein the drawer assembly (100) is assembled by a method that comprises the steps of, sliding opposed sidewalls (116) through the grooves (112) of bottom panel (102) as shown in figure 6, sliding rear panel (134) between the opposed sidewalls (112) by inserting in the grooves (144) of rear panel (134) over the sliding support (128) provided on the opposed sides (shown in figure 8), fixing a front panel (132) with fixing means (130) provided over the opposed sides to form a drawer (shown in figure 10).

Further, before fixing the front panel (132) that actually may be done by the third party or by the customer, the bottom panel (102) and the rear panel (134) are lockingly engaged with each other. As illustrated in figure 10, the drawer assembly (100) as described in the above drawer assembly (100) is suitably designed and constructed to accommodate file fittings or gallery fittings, which is achieved by fixing one end of a fitting rod preferably a gallery-fitting rod to the front panel (132) and the other end to the rear panel (134) of the assembled drawer (100). Design of the gallery-fitting rod (146) is such that it accommodates a large number of files in various groups.

Further, atleast one stopper pad mounting holes (148) (as shown in figure 10) can also be provided on each of the side of the opposite sidewalls (116). A locking mechanism is attached with these stopper pad-mounting holes of the assembled drawer (100) and similarly into various other drawer assemblies. When these drawer assemblies are incorporated into chests of furnitures for example, each of the stopper pads selectively allows or restricts the assembled drawers (100) to slide outside of the chest. It is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrative of the present invention rather than limiting of the present invention. It is intended that various modifications and similar arrangements be included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.

Claims

CLAIM

1. A drawer assembly or unassembled components for forming a drawer, the drawer assembly comprising: a rear panel; a bottom panel having grooves extending upwardly on either side of one of pair of opposed sides of the bottom panel; and atleast two opposed sidewalls, each having a sliding portion extending inwardly from a lower edge, a sliding support extending inwardly from a rear end and a fixing means, wherein said grooves of bottom panel slidabaly receive said opposed sidewalls and sliding support slidabaly receive the rear panel for forming a drawer.

2. The drawer assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the opposed sidewalls have length substantially more than the bottom panel.

3. The drawer assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said bottom panel and said rear panel have a rear bend that lockingly engage with each other.

4. The drawer assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rear panel has grooves on either side of the edge to slide removably over the sliding support of the opposed panels.

5. The drawer assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the grooves of the rear panel extend inwardly to form a firm contact with the opposed sidewalls.

6. The drawer assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the grooves of the bottom panel are 'J', ¹U', 'L' shaped.

7. The drawer assembly as claimed in claim 4 or 5, wherein the grooves of the rear panel are 'J', 'U', 'L' shaped

8. The drawer assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the bottom panel, rear panel and opposed sidewalls are of wooden, plastic and preferably of metal.

9. The drawer assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fixing means is an adjustable bracket holder for adjusting the front panel.

10. An assembled drawer, comprising: a bottom panel having grooves extending upwardly on either side of one of the pair of opposed sides of the bottom panel, the bottom panel has a bend extending inwardly from rear end; atleast two opposed sidewalls, each having a sliding portion extending inwardly from a lower edge, a sliding support extending from rear end and a fixing means for a front panel, said sidewalls slide in the grooves of the bottom panel; a rear panel having grooves on either side slide over the sliding support and a rear bend lockingly engaged with the bend of the bottom panel; and a front panel engaged to said fixing means.

11. A method for manufacturing a drawer assembly comprising steps of: providing groove extending vertically on either side of a bottom paηel and a rear bend extending upwardly at the rear end of the bottom panel; providing sliding means extending inwardly from lower edge, a sliding support extending from rear end and a fixing means on each opposed sides of the drawer.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11 further comprises step of providing grooves on the sides and a rear bend extending inwardly of lower edge of rear panel of the drawer.

13. The method as claimed in claim 11 or 12 wherein said grooves are 'J', 'U',

'or 'L' shaped.

14. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein grooves in the metal bottom panel or metal rear panel are prepared by bending the sides and welding 'L', 'J' and/or 'U' shaped plate on underneath surface.

15. A method as claimed in claim 11 or 12 wherein assembly of the drawer is manufactured from wooden, plastic or metal or in combination thereof.

16. A method for assembling a drawer from the drawer assembly as claimed in claims 1 to 9, wherein said assembly is being manufactured by a method as claimed in claims 12 - 15, said method comprises steps of: sliding opposed sides through the grooves of bottom panel; sliding rear panel between the opposed sides by inserting in the grooves of rear panel over the sliding support provided on the opposed sides; fixing a front panel with fixing means provided over the opposed sides to form a drawer.

17. A method for assembling a drawer as claimed in claim 16 further comprises a step of interlocking bottom panel with the rear panel before fixing the front panel.

18. The drawer assembly as described in the description with the accompanying drawings.

19. The assembled drawer as described in the description with the accompanying drawings.