A bracket

Abstract

 A bracket for securing the stile to a panel of cupboard door or similar. The bracket comprises a body portion (10) on to which a runner or the like is fitted in use. A back panel (12) of the body portion (10) lies against the panel juxtaposed to the stile. Flanges (20) extend from the side of the body portion (10) which are arranged to extend between the panel and inwardly-turned flanges of the stile. Two clips (22) project sidewardly from the top end of the body portion. The clips (22) are arranged to resiliently engage on the end of the stile. A rail flange (25) extends from the top of the body portion (10) over the end of the panel to which it is fixed when installed.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a bracket for fixing a panel onto the stile of a door normally in the corner formed by the stile and the rail.

[0002] The bracket is used on panels which form door/closed surfaces of a wardrobe or cupboard. The bracket will usually hold the stile and the rail firmly in place on the panel and will also have a runner mounted on the bracket. Thus the bracket must be very stably fixed on the panel.

[0003] The stile will take the form of a beam having inward-turned flanges for clipping on to the panel. If a rail is also used in a particular installation, this tends to take the form of a U-shaped beam sized to clip about the panel edge.

[0004] One type of known bracket used in these circumstances is made from pressed steel. The bracket comprises a body portion on which the runner can be mounted. The body portion has a rectangular back face which is designed to lie flat against the panel when fitted thereto. A wall portion extends outwardly from one side edge of the back face away from the panel. A flange portion extends away from the body portion from the outermost edge of the wall portion. The flange portion is arranged to extend along an outer surface of the stile. At an intermediate distance between the back face and the flange portion a tongue extends away from the body portion from the wall portion. The tongue is arranged to engage a slot in the inwardly-turned flange of the stile. The tongue prevents movement of the bracket outwardly from the panel and movement along the panel. The slot must therefore be precisely sized to correspond to the size of the tongue. A clip extends from a top end of the wall section. The clip is arranged to engage in the end of the stile to thus prevent movement of the bracket away from the stile. A rail-catch extends inwardly from the top end of the back face. The rail catch includes a lip which extends parallel to, but inwardly-spaced from, the back face. The rail catch is designed to clip onto the rail or top edge of the panel. Normally, the bracket also has similar second wall portion/flange portion/tongue extending from the opposite side edge of the back face so that the bracket can be used on either side of the panel.

[0005] This above-described known bracket provides an excellent mounting for the runner. However, the known bracket is quite complex to fit. First the rail-catch clipped over the rail and then the clip is engaged in the end of the stile. The bracket is then rotated about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the panel until the tongue engages the slot in the stile.

[0006] Furthermore, because the slot must be at precisely the right distance from the end of the stile further difficulties arise when the bracket is used on non-standard sized panels. With standard installations, the stile can be formed with the slot preformed the correct distance from the end of the stile. However, with non-standard size installation, as slots have to be made at both ends of the stile, the slot has to be made on site which is a time consuming and difficult task.

[0007] Also, the tooling costs for manufacturing the bracket are relatively high because it has many flanges, clips etc. The present invention seeks to provide a bracket which is simpler to manufacture and/or install.

[0008] According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a bracket for fixing a panel between opposed inwardly-turned flanges of a beam e.g. a stile, comprising a body portion arranged to carry a guide member e.g. a runner and having a clip portion arranged to clip onto a top end of the beam and a flange portion arranged to extend juxtaposed between the panel and one of said inwardly-turned flanges.

[0009] According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided an assembly for fixing onto a panel, comprising:

(i) a beam e.g. a stile, having inwardly turned flanges arranged to fit onto a side edge of the panel; and

(ii) a bracket including a body portion with a back face which lies against the panel, the body portion having a flange portion extending therefrom arranged to extend between the panel and one of said inwardly-turned flanges, and a clip portion arranged to clip onto the end of the beam, and a plate portion arranged to be fixed to a top edge of the panel.

[0010] According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of securing a bracket on to a panel comprising the steps of:

(a) providing the panel with inwardly-turned flanges of a beam e.g. a stile, fitted along a side edge thereof;

(b) clipping a clip portion of the bracket onto the end of the beam;

(c) inserting a flange portion of the bracket between the panel and one of said inwardly-turned flanges;

(d) fixing a plate portion extending inwardly from the top of the bracket onto the top edge of the panel.

[0011] The present invention thus provides that the fixing of the bracket onto the panel is much simpler to install as the flange portion need only to be inserted between the inwardly-turned flange and the panel. The beam is less costly to manufacture because there is no slot required in the beam, and also there is no problem fitting the bracket to non-standard installations. The tooling costs is also lower for the bracket according to the present invention.

[0012] Preferably, the bracket is made from a plastics material, for example nylon. The bracket may then be made by moulding the material.

[0013] The flange portion may extend in the same plane as the back face. Normally wall portions will extend from the edges of the back face to define a housing in which the runner is mounted.

[0014] The bracket will normally include a second flange portion and second clip extending from the opposite side of the body portion.

[0015] The guide member will normally comprise a wheeled member so that the panel can roll, or may form a member which engages in a guide track/rail. Alternatively, the guide member may form a pivot or even be left out of some installations.

[0016] For the avoidance of doubt, it is pointed out that the bracket may be fitted to the panel in any orientation. References to top, side, inward and outward do not define the orientation of the panel but merely set out the relative positions of the various parts and edges. Thus, the top edge of the panel on to which the bracket is fixed may actually form a top, bottom or side edge in a particular installation.

[0017] The preferred embodiment provides a bracket for securing the stile to a mirror panel of cupboard door or similar. The bracket comprises a body portion on to which a runner or the like is fitted in use. A back panel of the body portion lies against the panel juxtaposed to the stile. Flanges extend from the side of the body portion which are arranged to extend between the panel and inwardly-turned flanges of the stile. Two clips project sidewardly from the top end of the body portion. The clips are arranged to resiliently engage on the end of the stile. A rail flange extends from the top of the body portion over the end of the panel to which it is fixed when installed. The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1

is a plan view of a bracket according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2

is a cross-sectional view along the line B-B of Figure 1;

Figure 3

is a cross-sectional view along the line C-C of Figure 1.

[0018] Figure 1 shows a plan view of a bracket according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figures 2 and 3 show cross-sections taken along the lines, respectively, B-B and C-C of Figure 1.

[0019] As best seen from Figure 2, the body portion 10 comprises back face 12 and side wall portions 13 which define a rectangular section (U-shaped) channel. The outward edge of the wall portions 13 having lips 14 extending towards the opposite wall 13 to partially close the open face of the channel. One end of the channel being closed by a bottom wall member 16 extending between the side walls 13. The back face 12 includes a catch 17 extending from the outward face thereof. The catch 17 acts as a stop to prevent accidental removal of a runner when a runner is fixed in the channel. The top end of the channel being open.

[0020] Flange portions 20 extend from the edges of the body portion 10 with the inward side of the flange portions being coplanar with the inward side of the back face 12. The edges of each flange portion 20 furthest from the body portion 10 are tapered inwardly to allow, in use, easy insertion between the inwardly-turned flange of a stile and the panel.

[0021] A wedge-shaped clip 22 extends from the top edge of each of the wall portions 13 towards the bottom wall 16. The join between the clip 22 and the body portion 10 is designed to allow a limited movement of the clip 22 away from the wall portion 13 against the resilience of the material from which the bracket is made.

[0022] A rail-flange 25 extends inwardly from the top edge of the back face 12 of the body portion 10. The rail-flanges extends inwardly through the plane of the inward side of the back face 12 so that the rail-flange extends in use along the edge of the panel or rail of the installation.

[0023] To further reduce material usage, the side walls 13 have hollows formed therein, and the back face 12 has cut-out portions. These cut out portions correspond to the lips 14 formed from the side walls 13.

[0024] The illustrated embodiment is normally made from a plastics material such as nylon or other plastic such as an acetyl. In this case the material can be injection moulded. The embodiment illustrated is particularly easy and so cost-effective to manufacture.

[0025] Of course, there is no reason why the back face 12 must extend abutting the panel, but this does provide a particularly simple design. Further or other modification could be made to the bracket without departing from the present invention.

Claims

1. A bracket for fixing a panel between opposed inwardly-turned flanges of a beam, comprising a body portion arranged to carry a guide member, a clip portion extending from a top side of the body portion arranged to clip onto a top end of the beam and a flange portion arranged to extend juxtaposed between the panel and one of said inwardly-turned flanges.

2. The bracket according to claim 1, wherein the flange portion extends from one side of the body portion and is arranged to have an inward face, in use, abutting the panel.

3. The bracket according to claim 1 or 2, further including a rail flange extending inwardly from the top edge of the body portion and being arranged to be, in use, fixed to the top edge of the panel.

4. The bracket according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the body portion comprises a back face with a side wall portion extending from a side edge of the back face.

5. The bracket according to claim to claim 4, wherein the bracket is displays mirror symmetry along a line extending along the centre line of the back face from top to bottom thereof.

6. The bracket according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the bracket is made from a plastics material, for example nylon or other plastics material.

7. An assembly for fixing onto a panel, comprising:

(i) a beam e.g. a stile, having inwardly-turned flanges arranged to fit onto a side edge of the panel; and

(ii) a bracket including a body portion with a back face which lies against the panel, the body portion having a flange portion extending therefrom arranged to extend between the panel and one of said inwardly-turned flanges, and a clip portion arranged to clip onto the end of the beam, and a plate portion arranged to be fixed to a top edge of the panel.

8. A method of securing a bracket on to a panel comprising the steps of:

(a) providing the panel with inwardly-turned flanges of a beam e.g. a stile, fitted along a side edge thereof;

(b) clipping a clip portion of the bracket onto the end of the beam;

(c) inserting a flange portion of the bracket between the panel and one of said inwardly-turned flanges;

(d) fixing a plate portion extending inwardly from the top of the bracket onto the top edge of the panel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method only comprises said steps (a) to (d), and optionally the steps are carried out sequentially.

10. An assembly according to claim 7 where the bracket comprises the bracket of anyone of claims 1 to 6, or the method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the bracket is according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or the bracket and beam is according to the assembly of claim 7.

Drawing