LATERAL SPACER FOR DRAWERS

Abstract

 A lateral spacer (50) for slidable drawers (12) is disclosed.
The spacer is couplable to a wall (10) of a piece of furniture to which the drawer belongs and to a linear translation guide (14) for the drawer.
The simplify the spacer it comprises a hollow tubular shell (52) which extends along a longitudinal axis (X), has a constant cross-section on each plane orthogonal to the axis (X), and is in one piece.

Description

[0001] The invention refers to a lateral spacer for sliding drawers, such as for a drawer of a piece of furniture or a cabinet.

[0002] Known spacers (or stand-offs) are used e.g. with internal extractable drawers to compensate for the protrusion or depression of the leaf, which depends on the hinge used. The spacer thus allows keeping a slightly smaller drawer in the center of his compartment, for unhindered extraction.

[0003] Among the various models there are spacers composed of two pieces, which get assembled together prior to their installation on the sides of the drawer, attached to the linear-slide guide. This structure, however, lengthens the assembly times for the piece of furniture, and the tolerances in the two pieces can make the assembled piece asymmetrical, so much that installation is complicated or prevented.

[0004] Improving this state of the art is the main object of the invention, which is defined in the attached claims, wherein the dependent ones define advantageous variants.

[0005] Another object is to obtain a spacer which is simple to produce and to assemble.

[0006] Another object is to obtain a spacer fast to be produced and assembled.

[0007] An aspect of the invention is a lateral spacer for drawers which can be coupled to a wall of the furniture to which the drawer belongs and to a linear translation guide for the drawer, wherein
the spacer consists of or comprises a hollow tubular shell which extends along a longitudinal axis (parallel to the translation axis of the drawer),

has a constant cross-section on each plane orthogonal to the axis, and

is in one-piece.

[0008] According to a preferred embodiment the spacer is made out of aluminium, to be durable and light.

[0009] According to a preferred embodiment, the spacer is a section bar, e.g. obtained by extrusion, to be easily producible.

[0010] According to a preferred embodiment, said cross-section is closed, i.e. said cross-section comprises a continuous ring and without radial interruptions, for maximum strength.

[0011] According to a preferred embodiment, said cross-section has substantially polygonal shape, for example of a quadrilateral as a square or a rectangle. This shape facilitates the assembly with other components.

[0012] To facilitate coupling to the guide, according to a preferred embodiment, said cross-section defines an indentation or a recess or a pocket, e.g. in the shape of - or with cross-section of - a U or C or V. It follows that such shell comprises a linear cavity, which is bounded laterally by two walls of the shell and which extends along said axis. Advantageously, the cavity can be exploited for fixing thereinto a small guiding tab for a drawer, thereby facilitating a fast and simple assembly. The fixing can be made in the cavity e.g.. by sled- or bayonet-fitting, which makes the application simple and immediate.

[0013] According to a more preferred embodiment, said indentation or recess or pocket is present on one side of the shell.

[0014] According to an even more preferred embodiment, said indentation or recess or pocket is delimited by an outer-wall portion of the shell and by a wall that extends cantilevered from the outer surface of the shell. This results in that the shell comprises a linear cavity, which is axially flanked to the axial cavity delimited by the shell.

[0015] According to an even more preferred embodiment, said outer-wall portion of the shell is substantially flat and said wall extending cantilevered is substantially flat. In particular, said flat outer-wall portion may coincide with the wall belonging to a substantially straight side of the cross-section of the shell when it has polygonal shape. As a result, the linear cavity, placed side by side with the axial cavity delimited by the shell, is delimited by two substantially flat walls which lay on planes being parallel and slightly spaced apart.

[0016] According to a preferred embodiment, the spacer comprises a cap, for example made of zama, which closes the axial cavity of the shell at an end of the shell.

[0017] To simplify the coupling to the wall of the furniture or cabinet, according to a preferred embodiment the spacer and the guide comprise elements that can be connected to each other through male-female coupling. The position of the male-female elements can be exchanged. E.g. on one side the shell comprises one or more pass-through openings, in which a respective hook element, fixed on the wall, can be inserted. In particular, a or each pass-through opening is the union of two pass-through openings having a different radial width. It is thus possible to bayonet-insert a said hook element into the opening, if it is for example the head of a screw protruding from the wall (the head of the screw is of such dimensions that it can enter the greater opening but such as to remain held by the edge of the smaller opening).

[0018] Another aspect of the invention is a piece of furniture or cabinet comprising the aforementioned spacer for drawers, in one or each of the listed variants.

[0019] According to a preferred embodiment, the piece of furniture or cabinet comprises
a drawer,
two linear guides mounted on the sides of the drawer to linearly translate the drawer with respect to the piece of furniture or cabinet,
two aforementioned spacers, in one or each of the listed variants, which are

coupled with a respective guide of the aforementioned two guides, and

fixed respectively to two internal facing walls of the piece of furniture or cabinet.

[0020] Another aspect of the invention is a mounting method between a linear guide mounted on a drawer to linearly translate the drawer with respect to a piece of furniture or cabinet to which it belongs, and
a spacer, fixed or fixable to an inner facing wall of the cabinet or piece of furniture.

[0021] The method involves the step of integrally connecting the spacer and the guide by connecting a male part and a female part to each other with a shape-coupling, wherein a part belongs to the spacer and the other part belongs to the guide.

[0022] In the method the guide and the spacer share one or each of the variants defined here.

[0023] The advantages of the invention will be even clearer from the following description of a preferred example of spacer, reference being made to the attached drawing in which

• Fig. 1 shows a three-dimensional view of a sliding drawer;
• Fig. 2 shows a spacer for drawers and a guide for drawers, separated from each other,
• Fig. 3 shows the spacer and the guide of fig. 2 when assembled together;
• Fig. 4 shows the parts of fig. 3 from a different angle.

[0024] In the figures, same numbers indicate identical or conceptually similar parts, and the elements are described as in use. In order not to crowd the figures some numerical references are omitted.

[0025] Fig. 1 partially shows the side walls 10 of a piece of furniture or cabinet on which two spacers 50 for a drawer 12 are applied.

[0026] The sides of the drawer 12 are mounted respectively on two linear guides 14 fixed respectively, as we will explain better below, to the two spacers 50, which are fixed respectively to the two walls 10. The two spacers 50 are therefore located between a wall 10 and the drawer 12.

[0027] Each linear guide 14 comprises two parts 20, 22 which are movable relative to each other. The part 20 is connectable to the spacer 50, while the part 22 is connectable to the bottom and/or to the frame of the drawer 12. The part 20 comprises a cantilevered flap 18, vertical in use, with which to fasten it to a spacer 50.

[0028] Each spacer 50 comprises a hollow tubular shell 52 which extends along a longitudinal axis X, parallel to the translation axis of the drawer 12.

[0029] The shell 52 has a substantially constant cross-section on each plane orthogonal to the X axis, is a one-piece and can be easily produced by extrusion, e.g. from aluminium.

[0030] To facilitate interlocking with the piece of furniture, the cross-section of the shell 52 is preferably rectangular or square, defined by four flat walls 54a, 54b, 54c, 54d located two by two at 90 degrees angles.

[0031] In general, the guide 14 and the shell 52 comprise elements connectable to each other by shape-coupling.

[0032] A side of the shell 52 corresponding to the wall 54d ends up facing the guide 14 and opposite to the wall 10. Such side comprises an indentation or recess or pocket 60 delimited by the wall 54d and by a wall 56 which extends cantilevered projecting from the outer surface of the shell 52. The wall 56 is substantially flat and substantially parallel to the wall 54d.

[0033] Overall, then, on said side of the shell 52 there is a linear cavity extending along the X axis and which can accommodate the fin 18 so as to fix to each other, e.g. with screws, a spacer 50 and a guide 14.

[0034] It should be noted that advantageously the spacer 50 can comprise means for biasing or flexing or moving the wall 56 against the wall 54d, so as to tighten the wall 56 within a clamp.

[0035] The spacer 50 also comprises two plugs 70, e.g. made out of zama, that can be fitted at each end of the shell 52, front and rear, for closing the axial cavity.

[0036] Fig. 4 illustrates a preferred but optional connection system between the spacer 50 and the wall 10.

[0037] In the wall 10 there are applied, e.g. horizontally aligned, screws 86, e.g. metric screws, which have a head wider than their stem and protruding from the surface of wall 10. The spacer 50 on the wall 54c, the one making contact with the wall 10, comprises pass-through openings 80. The pass-through openings 80 are as spaced apart from each other as two screws 86 are, and comprise a wider portion 82 and a narrower portion 84. The portion 82 is substantially complementary to the head of the screws 86, while the portion 84 is smaller than such head.

[0038] To fix the spacer 50 to the wall 10, the portions 82 are aligned with the screws 86, the screws 86 are inserted into the portions 82 and then the spacer 50 is moved laterally to slide the screws 86 into the portions 84, where they remain trapped. Between the spacer 50 and the wall 10 there can also optionally be added a further fixing means, such as a screw, to avoid an accidental detachment.

[0039] The wall 56 is preferably of complementary shape with respect to said indentation or recess or pocket 60.

[0040] It is also possible to make a protruding fin on the shell 52 and fix it inside a cavity of the guide, or directly to a flat surface of the guide.

Claims

1. Lateral spacer (50) for drawers (12) couplable to a wall (10) of a piece of furniture to which the drawer belongs and to a linear translation guide (14) for the drawer, wherein
the spacer consists of or comprises a hollow tubular shell (52) which

extends along a longitudinal axis (X),

has a constant cross-section on each plane orthogonal to the axis (X), and

is in one piece.

2. Spacer (50) according to claim 1, characterized by being a section bar.

3. Spacer according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said cross-section is closed.

4. Spacer (50) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said section has substantially a polygonal shape, for example a square or rectangle.

5. Spacer according to any one of the previous claims, wherein said cross-section defines in the shell (52) a recess or pocket (60) adapted to fix inside it a fin (66) of a - or of said - linear guide for the drawer.

6. Spacer (50) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein said recess or pocket is provided on a side of the shell.

7. Spacer (50) according to claim 5 or 6, wherein said recess or pocket is delimited by a portion of outer wall (54d) of the shell (52) and by a wall (56) which extends cantilevered from the external surface of the shell.

8. Spacer (50) according to claim 7, wherein said portion of external wall (54d) is substantially flat and said cantilevered wall (56) is substantially flat.

9. Spacer (50) according to claim 7 or 8, wherein said portion of external wall (54d) coincides with the wall belonging to a substantially straight side of the shell's cross-section (52).

10. Furniture item or cabinet comprising:

a drawer (12),

two linear guides (14) mounted at the sides of the drawer to linearly move the drawer with respect to the piece of furniture or cabinet,

two spacers according to any one of the preceding claims, which are coupled to one respective guide of the aforementioned two guides, and
fixed respectively to two inner facing walls of the piece of furniture or cabinet.

Drawing