Piece of furniture comprising a retractable worktop, particularly for kitchens or other furnishings

Abstract

 A piece of furniture comprising a retractable worktop (4) arranged at a region which lies below a fixed horizontal surface (1) of the piece of furniture. The retractable worktop comprises, on one side, a wheeled support (6) and, on the other side, means for sliding and anchoring to the piece of furniture or to a wall.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a piece of furniture comprising a retractable worktop particularly for kitchens or other furnishings.

[0002] Currently, as the comforts and the applications available to a person in the most disparate disciplines increase, the spaces that a piece of furniture must offer are gradually increasing.

[0003] The furniture industry has therefore increasingly refined already-known solutions which use for example drawers, shelves or compartments, in an attempt to utilize in the best possible way the greatest number of spaces present in a given room.

[0004] In particular, in the field of kitchen furniture, it can be noted that the entire space has been utilized, from the floor to the ceiling, with a whole range of solutions which are suitable to provide the user with greater space availability.

[0005] As regards space usable for work, it is noted that the spaces and surfaces that are commonly added are mostly suitable to store and collect material, while the so-called working surface has remained mostly unchanged and is substantially constituted by a table and by the fixed worktop of the cooking-range.

[0006] The present situation is a great limitation, especially in view of the increasingly frequent use of recent technologies and electric household appliances, such as for example in the field of cooking: microwave ovens, food processors, coffee machines, juice extractors and others, in addition to conventional cooking implements. By analyzing the typical preparation of a meal, it can be seen that several pans and pots, at least one for each course, are necessary; that objects at different temperatures must be spaced from each other; and that some surfaces, for example the table, are assigned to other uses (eating the meal, if a dining room is not present) at the very time when they are most needed.

[0007] The aim of the present invention is to solve the cited problems, eliminating the drawbacks of the prior art, by providing a piece of furniture which allows to increase at will the available working surface without thereby permanently occupying spaces which are otherwise required.

[0008] Within the scope of this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a piece of furniture which allows the user to use this additional supporting surface where it is needed most, of course in the room in which the piece of furniture has been placed.

[0009] Another object of the invention is to relieve the user of part of the burden of manual work required by his duties by utilizing the piece of furniture to move heavy or otherwise delicate material from one place to another of the room being considered.

[0010] Another object of the present invention is to provide a piece of furniture which is structurally simple and has low manufacturing costs.

[0011] These and other objects which will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a piece of furniture comprising a retractable worktop at a region which lies below a fixed horizontal surface of said piece of furniture, characterized in that it comprises, on one side, a wheeled support and, on the other side, means for sliding on a guide rigidly coupled to said piece of furniture.

[0012] Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become better apparent from the following detailed description of a particular embodiment thereof, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a perspective view and a top view of the retractable worktop and of the fixed horizontal surface of the piece of furniture according to the present invention;

Figure 3 is a front view of the retractable worktop and of the piece of furniture along which it slides;

Figures 4 and 5 are respectively a side view and a front view of the retractable worktop;

Figure 6 is a sectional view, taken along a transverse plane, of the system for the sliding and anchoring of the retractable worktop along the horizontal guide which is rigidly coupled to the piece of furniture;

Figure 7 is a transverse sectional view of the sliding and anchoring system of the retractable worktop, according to a second embodiment.

[0013] With reference to Figure 1, the reference numeral 1 designates a fixed horizontal surface which protrudes at right angles with respect to a piece of furniture 2.

[0014] The fixed horizontal surface rests on the ground at one end by means of a lateral panel 3 and is rigidly coupled to the piece of furniture 2 at the opposite end.

[0015] The reference numeral 4 designates a retractable worktop whose height from the ground is lower than the height of the fixed horizontal surface 1; the worktop is associated with a sliding and anchoring mechanism 20 (see Figure 6) so that it can slide parallel to, and below, the fixed horizontal surface thanks to the presence of a horizontal guide 5 which is rigidly coupled inside the piece of furniture 2, below the fixed horizontal surface 1, and has a substantially C-shaped cross-section.

[0016] The retractable worktop 4 rests on the ground, on the opposite side with respect to the guide 5, by means of a support, designated by the reference numeral 6, which is substantially shaped like a parallelepiped and is provided with fixed wheels 7 in its lower part.

[0017] Figure 6 is a sectional view of the sliding and anchoring mechanism 20 by means of which the retractable worktop 4 is rigidly coupled to the piece of furniture 2.

[0018] It can be noted that the guide 5, which is part of the mechanism, lies within the peripheral edge 8 of the piece of furniture 2, the edge being rigidly coupled below the horizontal supporting surface 9 of the piece of furniture 2.

[0019] Two or more pairs of wheels 11 slide inside the guide 5, which is rigidly coupled, in an upward region, to a suitable spacer 10 which is in turn rigidly coupled below the horizontal supporting surface 9.

[0020] The two wheels 11 are fixed, at their corresponding hub 21 provided with a threaded radial stem 22, to an underlying wing of a substantially S-shaped metallic profiled element 12 by means of a connection which is advantageously obtained by means of one or more bolts 13.

[0021] At its other end, the metallic profiled element 12 is rigidly coupled to the retractable worktop 4 laterally and in a downward region.

[0022] Operation is as follows: the retractable worktop 4 can slide in both directions along the axis of the horizontal guide 5, thus moving along one side of the piece of furniture 2.

[0023] The possibility to perform a translatory motion is allowed by the combined presence of the wheels 7, which are fixed below the support 6, and of the pairs of wheels 11, which slide within the guide 5 on the opposite side of said retractable worktop.

[0024] This allows multiple use of the retractable worktop 4, depending on the requirements of the user: said retractable worktop can be stored below the fixed horizontal surface 1 if, for example, there is the need for more space in the room or there is the need for a room which is as uncluttered as possible for cleaning purpose; it can also be moved to any chosen point along the piece of furniture 2 in order to obtain an additional supporting surface wherever it seems or becomes more useful.

[0025] It can also be noted that the guide 5 is furthermore effectively protected against impacts and dirt with respect to the peripheral edge 8, which also has an advantageous aesthetic function.

[0026] It has thus been found that the intended aim and objects have been achieved, an invention having been provided which is capable of advantageously increasing the working surface of a kitchen or of another type of furnishing without permanently occupying considerable spaces of the room being considered.

[0027] Figure 7 illustrates an embodiment in which the reference numeral 101 designates a fixed horizontal surface which protrudes at right angles to a piece of furniture and again rests on the ground at one end by virtue of a lateral panel and is rigidly coupled to said piece of furniture at the opposite end.

[0028] The reference numeral 104 designates a retractable worktop whose height from the ground is lower than the height of the fixed horizontal surface 101; the worktop is associated with a sliding and anchoring mechanism 120 so that it can slide parallel to, and below, the fixed horizontal surface thanks to the presence of a horizontal guide 105, which is rigidly coupled inside said piece of furniture below the supporting surface 109 of the piece of furniture 2; the horizontal guide has an essentially inverted C-shaped cross-section, from the base of which a first S-shaped wing 130 protrudes for better anchoring to the remaining part of the piece of furniture, which can comprise a base module 131 provided with an openable door 132, shown schematically in the open position in Figure 7.

[0029] A second T-shaped wing 133, with its stem 134 directed toward the supporting surface 109, protrudes from the base of the horizontal guide, on the opposite side with respect to said first wing 130.

[0030] A third wing 135 protrudes from the wing of the horizontal guide that is directed toward the retractable worktop 104, on the same plane and on the opposite side with respect to said second wing 133, and arranges itself laterally to said supporting surface 109; the second and third wings form, together with the adjacent lateral wing of the flat guide 105, the peripheral edge of the piece of furniture.

[0031] Two or more pairs of wheels 111 slide inside the guide 105 and are slidingly associated, at the corresponding hub, to a metallic profiled element 112, which is substantially L-shaped and one end 136 of which is in turn L-shaped, so as to lie laterally adjacent to, and below, the adjacent end of the retractable worktop 104 associated therewith.

[0032] The materials used and the dimensions that constitute the individual components of the invention may of course be the most pertinent according to specific requirements.

[0033] The disclosures in Italian Utility Model Application No. TV99U000041 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

[0034] Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.

Claims

1. A piece of furniture comprising a retractable worktop located at a region which lies below a fixed horizontal surface of said piece of furniture, characterized in that said retractable worktop comprises, on one side, a wheeled support and, on the other side, means for sliding and anchoring to said piece of furniture or to a wall.

2. The piece of furniture according to claim 1, characterized in that said fixed horizontal surface is arranged at right angles to a horizontal supporting surface which is also fixed.

3. The piece of furniture according to claim 1, characterized in that said sliding and anchoring means are constituted by a guide which has a C-shaped cross-section and is arranged inside the peripheral edge of said resting surface of said piece of furniture.

4. The piece of furniture according to claim 3, characterized in that said guide is advantageously rigidly coupled, in an upward region, to a spacer which is in turn rigidly coupled below said horizontal supporting surface of said piece of furniture.

5. The piece of furniture according to claim 4, characterized in that at least two pairs of wheels are associated with said retractable worktop, each wheel being fitted on a hub, said wheels sliding within said guide.

6. The piece of furniture according to claim 5, characterized in that said hub has a threaded radial stem passing through an underlying first wing of a metallic profiled element which is S-shaped so as to allow mutual fixing of the at least two pairs of wheels and said metallic profiled element by means of a connection which is advantageously obtained by means of a complementarily threaded nut.

7. The piece of furniture according to claim 6, characterized in that said metallic profiled element is rigidly coupled at a second wing, laterally and in a downward region, with respect to said retractable worktop.

8. The piece of furniture according to claim 1, characterized in that said means for sliding and anchoring comprise a horizontal guide which is rigidly coupled inside said piece of furniture below said horizontal supporting surface; said horizontal guide having an inverted C-shaped cross-section, from the base of which a first S-shaped wing protrudes for anchoring to the remaining part of said piece of furniture, which is provided with a base module with an openable door.

9. The piece of furniture according to claim 8, characterized in that a second T-shaped wing protrudes from the base of said horizontal guide in the opposite direction with respect to said first wing and has a stem which is directed toward said resting surface, a third wing protruding, on the same plane and on the opposite side with respect to said second wing, from the wing of said horizontal guide that is directed toward said retractable worktop, said third wing arranging itself laterally to said horizontal supporting surface, said second and third wings forming, together with said adjacent lateral wing of said horizontal guide, the peripheral edge of said piece of furniture.

10. The piece of furniture according to claim 9, characterized in that said two or more pairs of wheels are slidingly associated, at the corresponding hub, with a metallic profiled element which is L-shaped, one end of which is in turn L-shaped so as to be laterally adjacent to, and lie below, the adjacent end of said retractable worktop associated therewith.

Drawing