[0001] This invention relates to sliding drawers of the type usually held in relative vertical
registration to one another in desks, bureaus and the like, and particularly to drawers
which can be operably joined to one another to create one deep drawer from two or
more shallow drawers.
[0002] Drawers are a well-travelled art. Typically in the form of sliding, rectangular,
box-like structures, they are slidably held in desks, bureaus, credenzas, chests of
drawers, and the like in relative vertical registered alignment. One common characteristic
drawers generally share is that once they are made, their overall dimensions, particularly
their capacity for holding objects, is not easily alterable. This characteristic is
unfortunate, for often, with the passage of time, requirements or needs change. For
example, when one purchases a desk, the purchaser may have, at that time, required
only one deep drawer and one or more shallow drawers. Susequent to the desk's purchase,
the requirement may have changed to more deeper drawers and fewer shallow drawers.
The approach to this problem has heretofore generally been threefold: (1) Make do
with the desk as is, (2) modify the desk's structure, or (3) buy a new desk that meets
these new requirements.
[0003] Similarly, the converse of the above problem can be encountered. A chest of drawers,
for example, containing a small number of vertically registered, high-capacity (i.e.,
deep) drawers may have been purchased with specific requirements or a particular use
in mind. Yet, as time goes by, it is often found that new requirements or additional
uses call for a greater number of lower- capacity (i.e., shallow) drawers. In such
a case, one is once again left with the three above-stated approaches.
[0004] The present invention provides a fourth approach to these long-endured problems,
an approach that is inexpensive, practical and easy to implement. The invention provides
structure that allows two or more separate, registered drawers to be joined in vertical
alignment so that they operate as a single, large drawer.
[0005] According to the present invention, at least two drawers, one superposed over the
other, are slidably held in a support structure - a desk, for example. Each drawer
includes an article-receiving enclosure formed from a surrounding sidewall structure
having front, side and back panels. A bottom panel of'at least the superposed one
of two drawers is removably supported within the sidewall structure, proximate one
periphery thereof, by a sill that is attached to each side panel.
[0006] In one embodiment of the invention the apparatus for attaching one drawer to an immediately
underlying drawer is as Eollows: Affixed to at least each rear corner of the lower
drawer, and adjacent the upper periphery, is a corner block having formed therein
a vertically oriented aperture therethrough. The rear portion of each sill of the
lower drawer is provided with a vertical aperture situated so that the aperture can
be placed coaxial with that of the corresponding corner block of the underlying 3rawer
when the two drawers are placed in vertically registered relation. An attachment pin
is provided, configured and of a length to be easily received by and extend between
the two coaxially aligned apertures formed in the sills and corner blocks of two vertically
registered drawers, to join the drawers together.
[0007] In use, two or more drawers of the present invention are conventionally mounted in
such support structure as desks, credenzas, bureaus or the like. The bottom panel
can then be removed from the upper of the two drawers and the attachment pins inserted
through the sill apertures of the upper drawer and into the underlying apertures in
the corner blocks of the underlying drawer. With the pins so inserted, and the bottom
panel removed from the upper drawer, the two drawers are operatively joined to form
a single drawer having a combined holding capacity of the two drawers. If desired,
three or more drawers can be joined to form a single drawer of even greater holding
capacity.
[0008] An object of the invention is to provide a vertically registered grouping of drawers
the ability to have two or more drawers combined into one deeper drawer or be used
as separate, relatively shallow drawers. This provides the owner with the ability
to tailor the size of the drawers to meet changing needs and requirements. If a deep
file drawer is no longer needed, the drawers may be separated, the bottoms reinserted,
and the owner quickly has the needed shallow drawers. Likewise, a chest of drawers
for clothes may be converted from shallow drawers for baby clothes to deeper drawers
for sweaters and other bulky clothin Another advantage accrues from the reduced costs
which result. The manufacturer needs to make fewer different-sized drawers and the
wholesaler and retailer need to stock fewer types of units.
[0009] Additional objects and features of the invention will appear from the following description
in which the preferred embodiment has been set forth in detail in conjunction with
the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a support structure that holds two vertically
aligned drawers of the present invention and illustrates combination of the drawers
to form one deep drawer;
Fig. 2 is a detailed sectional view of the back and side panels of two separated but
vertically aligned drawers showing one embodiment of the attachment apparatus;
Figs. 3-5 illustrate alternative attachment apparatus.
[0010] Turning now to the drawings, there are illustrated drawers A and B, constructed in
accordance with the present invention and, as illustrated in Fig. 1, slidably held
in a support structure C (e.g., a desk). The drawers A and B are identically structured
and, therefore, only drawer A will be described. It will be understood, however, that
the description of the parts and numbering of drawer A will apply equally to the structure
and parts of the drawer B. As seen in Fig. 1, drawer A includes a front or face panel
4, a back panel 6 and two spaced, parallel side panels 8 extending between the front
and back panels 4 and 6, respectively, forming the familiar rectangular drawer sidewall
structure. A planar bottom panel 10 is configured to be removably received and held
within the drawer A, supported therein by a pair of spaced, parallel sills 12 that
are attached to and run along the bottom peripheries of the side panels 8. As can
be more particularly seen in Fig. 2, the sills 12 present an upper surface 13 for
supporting the bottom panel 1
0 when inserted in the drawer A.
[0011] Near the upper corner peripheries formed by the junctions of back panel 6 and side
panels 8 and 8, there is fixedly attached a triangularly shaped corner block 18. Formed
in each corner block 18 is a vertically oriented through-hole 20. A similarly dimensioned
through-hole 22 is formed in each sill 12. The through hole 22 is located so as to
be substantially coaxial with the overlying through-hole 20 in the corner block 18
when the two drawers A and B are situated in vertically registered alignment as illustrated
in Fig. 1.
[0012] A lock pin 24 is provided having an elongate, cylindrically shaped shaft 26, a disc-like
head 28 affixed at one end of the shaft 26. The opposing end 30 is provided with a
frustoconical shape for purposes which will become evident as explained below. The
shaft 26 of the pin 24 is dimensioned to be freely and easily received by the apertures
20 and 22 formed in the corner block 18 and sill 12, respectively. Further, the length
of the shaft 24, as will be more particularly described below, is of a dimension that
will allow the pin 24 to be inserted in the hole 22 formed in a sill 12 of drawer
A, for example, and extend therethrough into the hole 20 of an underlying corner block
18 of drawer
B.
[0013] The Figures illustrate the drawer A to be constructed of wood. However, it should
be evident to those skilled in the art that a variety of other suitable materials,
such as metal, plastic or the like, can also be used to construct the drawers of the
present invention.
[0014] The practical aspects of the drawers of the present invention are .realized when
at least two of the drawers are slidably held in appropriately formed support structure
C in vertically registered relation such as, for example, found in bureaus, chests
of drawers and desks. At least two overlying, vertically registered drawers constructed
in accordance with the present invention are needed. Further, any type of support
structure can be used to support and allow the drawer to be slidably withdrawn from
the support structure C. The support structure C preferably holds the drawers for
slidable movement in a horizontal plane so that each drawer held therein can individually
be withdrawn from the support structure C when one pulls on the knob 32 affixed to
the outer facing of the front panels 4.
[0015] While the support structure C can be provided with any appropriate holding apparatus
for slidably holding the drawers A and B therein, it is preferred that the holding
apparatus used be of a type that minimizes the spacing 34 (Fig. 1) between two vertically
registered drawers when so held. Thus, it is suggested that the drawers A and B be
mounted within the support structure C using conventional side rail mounting. One
such method of mounting drawers A and B is illustrated in Fig. 1 in which runners
3'6 are affixed to the outer surface of the outside panels 8 of drawers A and B. Side
rails 37 are attached to the support structure C for receiving and supporting the
drawers A and function to cooperatively engage the runners 36 to allow slidable movement
of the drawers within the support structure C.
[0016] With drawers A and B slidably held in an appropriately constructed support structure
C, use of the invention can now be described. The drawers A and B can first be used
individually. In this respect, both drawers A and B would have their respective removable
bottom panels 10 inserted therein and supported by the sills 12. However, when the
need arises to combine the drawers A and B to form one single, deeper drawer of greater
holding capacity, the bottom panel 10 of the overlying or upper drawer A is removed.
The drawers A and B are then aligned to make coaxial the apertures 22, formed in the
sills 12 of drawer A, with the underlying aperture 20, formed in the corner blocks
18 of drawer B. (It will be appreciated that drawers A and B should be withdrawn a
sufficient distance from the support structure C to allow the bottom panel 10 to be
removed from drawer A and provide access to apertures in which pin 24 is to be inserted.)
So aligned, the fastening pin 24 can then be inserted into and through the aperture
22 formed in each sill 12 of the drawer A and into the underlying aperture 20 of the
drawer B. Thereby, the drawers A and
B are joined so that sliding movement of one of the drawers in the support structure,
drawer A for example, will effect like movement of the underlying drawer, drawer B.
By operatively combining the two drawers A and B, a single drawer is obtained with
a holding capacity of the combination.
[0017] The tapered or frustoconical-shaped end 30 of the shaft 26.of the fastening pin 24
acts to compensate for slight misalignments of the apertures 22 and 20. In this respect,
also, it may be desired to counterbore the top portion of the underlying hole 20,
formed in the corner block 18, to accommodate the disc-like head 28 of the fastening
pin. This allows a convenient receptacle for the fastening pin when the combining
aspects of the invention are not in use (i.e., when the drawers are each provided
with their respective bottom panels 10 and used individually).
[0018] It should be noted that the invention, thus described, is illustrated and described
as using only two corner blocks 18 (with apertures 20 formed therein) and two apertures
22 formed in each sill 12. It will be readily evident to those skilled in the art,
however, that corner blocks 18, each having formed therein apertures 20, could be
alternately placed at the intersection of side panels 8 and front panel 4. Further,
a corner block 18 could be placed at each one of the four intersections of side panels
8 with front and rear panels 4 and 6, provided that drawer A is of sufficient depth
to angularly provide sufficient clearance for the bottom panel 10 to bypass corner
blocks 18 and insertion or removal of the bottom panel 10.
[0019] An alternate method of joining drawers A and B together, similar to that described
above, is illustrated in Fig. 3. In iplace of sill 12 there is provided, at the two
rear corners of the drawer A, proximate the junction of the side panels 8 and rear
panel 6, a bracket 38. Bracket 38 is provided with wing- like flanges 39 and is fastened
to the interior surface of side panels 8 via any appropriate fastening apparatus such
as, for example, screws 40 which extend through appropriately formed apertures in
the wing sections 39 of the bracket 38. The bracket 38 is provided with a planar support
surface 42 and a vertically oriented, cylindrical throughbore 44. The support surface
42 has formed therein detent slots 46 and 48. The bracket 38 functions to provide
a four-point support for the bottom panel 10 (there being a bracket 38 proximate each
corner formed by the junction of side panels 8 and rear panel 6 of drawer A). The
remaining support, a front sill (not shown) similar in structure to sill 12, extends
along the lower periphery of front panel 4 to provide an upper surface defining, with
the support surface 4
2, a support plane that can be used to support the bottom panel 10.
[0020] Affixed to the side panels 8 proximate the upper periphery of the junctions between
the rear panel 6 and the side panels 8 is another bracket 50. Bracket 50 is essentially
identical in structure to bracket 38 with the exception of the absence of detent slots
46 and 48 affixed via fastening apparatus. Bracket 50 is located on the drawer so
that a vertically disposed throughbore 52 formed therein can be placed in coaxial
relation with the aperture 44 of an overlying bracket 38 when two drawers constructed
in accordance with this disclosure are placed in vertically registered relation. A
fastening pin 56 is shaped and configured to be inserted into and through the throughbores
4
4 and 52 of the brackets 38 and 50, respectively. The fastening pin 56 has a cylindrically
shaped body portion 58 and a finger element extending radially therefrom and located
at one of the opposing ends of the shaft 58. The opposing end of the shaft may be
provided with a frustoconical configuration, such as that provided the fastening pin
24 o Fig. 2, or alternatively, with a somewhat hemispherical shape as illustrated
in Fig. 3. The purpose of so configuring the end of the shaft 56 is for the reasons
stated above with respect to the fastening pin 24: To allow the fastening pin 56 to
be inserted into the throughbores 44 and 52 notwithstanding minor misalignments between
them.
[0021] In use as individual drawers, the fastening pin 56 is held within the throughbore
44,. the arm 60 being situated in the retaining slot 46. The depth of retaining slot
46, relative to the location of arm 60, allows the head surface 62 of the fastening
pin 56 to be situated flush or perhaps a little below the support surface 42 of bracket
38. In this way, the fastening pin does not interfere with the support function of
the bracket 38 when the bottom panel 10 is supported by the bracket 38 in the drawer.
When the upper drawer A is to be combined with a lower drawer
B, the lower panel 10 is removed from the upper drawer A. As de
s- cribed above, both drawers are partially withdrawn from the support structure (not
shown) to allow one access to the fastening pin contained in the bracket 38 of the
upper drawer A. The drawers A and B are vertically registered so that the apertures
44 formed in the brackets 38 of the overlying drawer A are made substantially coaxial
with the throughbores 52 formed in the brackets 50 of the underlying drawer B. The
fastening pin may then be grasped by its arm 60, raised from the retaining slot 46,
turned 90 degrees and allowed to drop into the deeper locking slot 48. This allows
the shaft 58 of the fastening pin to be inserted in and received by the underlying
throughbore 52 of bracket 50, fastened to the underlying drawer B. In this way, the
two drawers now are joined together to function as a single, higher capacity drawer.
[0022] Fig. 4 illustrates yet another alternate embodiment of the attachment apparatus of
the present invention. As shown, a dovetail channel 70 is formed in one or more of
the vertical, outer surfaces of the drawers A and B. Here, the channel 70 is shown
formed in a side panel 8 of the drawers. When the two drawers A and B are to be combined,
they are registered, as illustrated in Fig. q, so that the dovetail channels 70 formed
in the side panels 8 of the respective drawers are longitudinally aligned. It should
be apparent that the dovetail channels 70 are formed in the side panels 8 so that
when drawers A and B are vertically registered, the respective dovetail channels 70
are likewise aligned.
[0023] With the dovetail channels 70 so aligned as described and illustrated, a slat 72,
formed and configured to be slidably received by the dovetail channel 70, is inserted
in one of the dovetail channels. The slat 72 is positioned within the dovetail channels
70 of both drawers A and B, thereby joining the two drawers. The bottom panel 10 (not
shown in Fig. 4) can then be removed from drawer A and the combination of the two
drawers A, B used as one single drawer.
[0024] The drawers A and B shown in Fig. 5 illustrate a method of joining the two drawers
using grooves 74 and 76 respectively formed in the top and bottom peripheries of front
panels 4. The grooves 74 and 76 are situated so as to be placed in confronting relation
(i.e., the groove 74 of drawer B confronts groove 76 of drawer A) when the drawers
A and B are vertically registered. So situated, a rib 78, configured to be slidably
received by the hollow formed by the confronting grooves 74 and 76 of drawers B and
A, respectively, is inserted in the grooves. The rib 78 is dimensioned to extend substantially
the entire length of the grooves 74 and 76 (which themselves extend the full longitudinal
length of the side panels 4), yet not protrude from the hollow when appropriately
located therein - as illustrated in Fig. 5.
[0025] Of course, it should be evident that the invention need not be limited to the use
of only two vertically registered drawers constructed as described above. To the contrary,
a plurality of drawers can be held in an appropriately constructed support st
ruc- ture and used as desired to form one or more deeper drawers from a greater number
of shallower drawers.
[0026] While the above provides a full and complete disclosure of the preferred and alternate
embodiments of the invention, various modifications, alternate constructions and equivalents
may be employed without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.
For example, the bottom panel 10 need not be removable, but could be structured to
form the device used to combine the two drawers, as follows: The bottom panel 10 would
be split along a line running down the center of the panel, parallel to the side panels
8, from the front panel 4 to the back panel 6, forming two substantially equally-dimensioned
half-panels. Each half-panel would be hingedly attached to its respective side panel
8 so that the half-panels of a superposed drawer (i.e., drawer A) could swing into
and be received by the underlying drawer (i.e., drawer B). Thereby, the bottom panel
of the overlying drawer is, in effect, removed and the two drawers are joined as one.
When the two drawers are to be separably operable, a releasable hook-type latch or
hooking apparatus can be used to attach and hold the two half-panels in a planar relation
to each other, forming the bottom panel 10 of the overlying drawer.
1. At least two individual drawers adapted to be held by a support structure in vertically
registered relation and to be joined together to effectively form a combined drawer
having a holding capacity substantially equal to the sum of the holding capacities
of the individual drawers which are individually and slidably mounted in said support
structure, each of said individual drawers comprising:
a generally rectangular sidewall structure including a front panel, a back panel and
a pair of side panels, said front, back and side panels having substantially identical
transverse dimensions;
a bottom panel configured and dimensioned to be situated to extend between opposing
surfaces of the sidewall structure with the front, back and side panels extending
vertically upward from the bottom panel when the drawer is held by the support structure,
at least the upper one of the first drawers including means for allowing the bottom
panel to be removable; and
means for releasably joining said individual drawers to one another in vertically
registered alignment so that slidable movement of one of the drawers will effect like
movement in the other of the drawers.
2. Drawers according to Claim 1, wherein the upper one of said drawers includes an
elongate sill member mounted to each opposing surface of the side panels and proximate
a longitudinal periphery thereof, the bottom panel being dimensioned and configured
to be placed in said sidewall structure and removably supported by said sill members.
3. Drawers according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the joining means includes a first
portion formed in the upper drawer having an aperture formed therein, a second portion
of the lower drawer having an aperture formed therein, the first and second portions
being relatively situated to make coaxial their respective apertures when the individual
drawers are in vertically registered alignment, and a connecting pin configured to
be received by said apertures and dimensioned to be retained by and extend through
the aperture of the first portion and be received by the aperture of the second portion
when said apertures are coaxial.
4. Drawers according to Claim 1, wherein the upper drawer includes a pair of parallel
sill elements affixed to opposing surfaces of the sidewall structure for removably
supporting the bottom panel therein, at least one of the sills having formed therein
a first aperture, the lower drawer including a portion having formed therein a second
aperture adapted to be situated in coaxial relation with the first aperture when the
drawers are in relative, vertically registered alignment, and an elongate connecting
pin being configured, dimensioned, and adapted to be inserted in, retained by, and
extend through the first aperture and into the second aperture when the first and
second apertures are placed in coaxial relation.
5. Drawers according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the joining means includes a channel
transversely formed in the outer surface of the sidewall structure of each drawer
and situated to be longitudinally aligned when the drawers are placed in superposed
relation, and a slat element formed and configured to be removable received by said
channel, said slat being dimensioned and adapted to extend between the longitudinal
channels of said drawers.
6. Drawers according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the joining means includes a first
groove formed in the upper one of said drawers, a second groove formed in the underlying
one of said drawers, the first and second groove being relatively located to be placed
in confronting relation to form a hollow when said drawers are vertically registered,
and a rib element formed and configured to be received by said hollow and engage and
join said drawers.
7. Drawers according to Claim 6, wherein said first and second grooves are formed
in end peripheries of said front panels and said drawers.
8. Drawers according to Claim 6, wherein said first and second grooves are rectangular
in section.
9. Drawers according to Claim 1, wherein the joining means includes drawer structure
affixed to said drawers, said drawer structure each having an aperture formed therein,
said drawer structure being situated on the corresponding drawers to place said apertures
in relative coaxial relation when said drawers are vertically registered; and a holding
pin adapted to be inserted in and held by said coaxially aligned apertures.
10. Combinable drawer apparatus, comprising:
a support structure;
at least first and second drawer structures, each drawer structure including a bottom
panel and a sidewall panel coupled to and surrounding the bottom panel forming an
article-receiving recess, at least the first drawer structure including means for
allowing the bottom panel to be removable therefrom-
: means for mounting the first and second drawer structures to the support structure
in vertically registered, adjacent relation with the first drawer structure overlying
the second drawer structure, the mounting means including means for allowing the first
and second drawer structures to be movable relative to the support structure; and
means affixed to the first and second drawer structures for releasably joining the
first drawer structure to the second drawer structure in superposed, registered relation,
the support structure being configured to allow joint movement of said joined first
and second drawer structures so that when joined the bottom panel of the first drawer
structure can be removed and the joined first and second drawer structures form, and
operate as, a single drawer having an article-receiving cavity equal to the'combination
of the article-receiving recess of the first and second drawer structures.