DEVICE FOR OPENING AND CLOSING FOLDING DOORS OF A FURNITURE CABINET AND FURNITURE CABINET PROVIDED WITH FOLDING DOORS

Abstract

 A device for opening and closing folding doors (2, 3), wherein one side (2a) of a first door (2) is hinged by means of hinges (7) to the shoulder (6) of a cabinet (5), while the opposite side (2b) of the same door (2) is hinged to a second door (3) by means of hinges (31). Said device comprises a shaped guide, formed by a rectilinear section (10) joined, at the opposite ends, to corresponding arched or curvilinear guide sections (11) and (12), respectively. The device of the invention makes it possible to overcome the conventional need to provide tracks inside the cabinet, so as to allow folding doors to slide until the compartment for access to the inside of the cabinet is completely free.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention concerns an improved device for opening and closing folding doors of a furniture cabinet.

[0002] The invention also relates to the furniture cabinet provided with these folding doors.

[0003] The field of the invention relates to systems used to open and close doors with a folding movement, for wardrobes, kitchen cabinets and other cabinets for furnishing in general.

[0004] Conventional doors with a folding movement have a first door hinged to a shoulder of the cabinet, provided with upper trolleys and lower runners that engage in respective sliding tracks positioned inside said cabinet.

[0005] A second door is hinged to this first door, which is also provided with upper trolleys and lower parts sliding on the same tracks used for the trolleys and runners of the first door.

[0006] Prior art folding doors, as described above, have the drawback that, even in their completely open position, they are arranged at around 90° with respect to the inner compartment of the cabinet, causing the formation of an obstruction that prevents the compartment of the cabinet to be fully used.

[0007] The German patent application DE19646199A1 describes a folding door consisting of two panels that can rotate relative to each other. A drive motor is connected to the first panel that has a fixed pin support. The motor is arranged in an external guide close to the upper edge of the first panel, so that it can translate between two limit stops. It is connected to at least one flexible driving element, through an element that slides by means of at least one of its vertical shafts. The driving element is arranged in a horizontal curved guide, fixed to a fixed structure above the upper edge of the first panel, at a level such that it does not limit the movement of the door.

[0008] The Japanese utility model JPS5982186U describes a folding door formed by two panels connected so that they can be folded freely at the adjacent edges on the room side; a panel of the door has its free end fixed in a rotating manner to the upper and lower frames and the end of the other panel is free. The panels are movable along the guide tracks of the upper and lower frames. The guide track of the lower frame is located in the end part of the track in the position of the end part of the pin of the door spring housing. The panel is rotatable towards the outside of the room and the hinged end of the panel is rotated by a drive motor.

[0009] DE19646199A1 and JPS5982186U describe operating mechanisms of the folding movement that are structurally complex and somewhat unreliable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The main object of the present invention is to provide a new device suitable to allow doors with a folding movement to be able to rotate up to an angle of above 90° on the related shoulder of the cabinet, so as to avoid the formation of obstructions in the inner space of the compartment thereof.

[0011] A further object of the present invention is to provide a device that is reliable and long lasting.

[0012] These and other objects are achieved with the device of claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention are specified in the remaining claims.

[0013] In comparison with the embodiments of the prior art, the device of the invention makes it possible to overcome the conventional need to provide tracks inside the cabinet, so as to allow folding doors to slide until the compartment for access to the inside of the cabinet is completely free.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] These and other objects, advantages and features will be apparent from the description below of a preferred embodiment of the device of the invention, illustrated, by way of non-limiting example, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

• Fig. 1 illustrates in an overall perspective view an example of furniture cabinet, provided with folding doors equipped with the device of the invention;
• Figs. 2 and 3 illustrate the detail of the guide arm of the device of the invention constrained to the second door, viewed inside and outside the door, respectively;
• Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate the guide arm of the previous figures, with a view of the respective systems for adjusting and fixing the device of the invention to the door;
• Figs. 6 to 8 illustrate the device of the invention, in the different positions for opening the doors of the cabinet of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 9 illustrates the sliding components and the tracks of the device of the invention;
• Fig. 10 illustrates a variant of the way of attaching the device of the invention to the cabinet;
• Fig. 11 illustrates the detail of the folding door viewed from inside the compartment of the cabinet of Fig. 1;
• Fig. 12 is an exploded view of the guide arm of Figs. 4 and 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] The device of the invention, indicated as a whole with 1 in Fig. 1, is used to guide the opening and closing movements of two folding doors, a first door 2 and a second door 3 respectively, used to close the compartment 4 of a cabinet 5.

[0016] The first door 2 is hinged, on its side 2a, to the shoulder 6 of the cabinet 5 by means of hinges 7, of the type designed to allow the door to open up to 180° with respect to the initial position closing the compartment 4 of the cabinet 5 (Fig. 8).

[0017] Advantageously, the aforesaid hinges 7 are of the type described and illustrated in the patent application IT102016000012259, filed on 5 February 2016 by the same Applicant.

[0018] The side 2b of the door 2, opposite its hinging side 2a, is instead hinged to the corresponding side 3b of the second door 3 by means of central hinges 31, preferably of spring loaded thrust type, suitable to facilitate the folding opening and closing movements of the door 3 on the door 2.

[0019] The side 3a of the door 3, opposite its side 3b, is instead provided, at its upper end 8, with the guide arm 9 of the device 1 illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.

[0020] As illustrated in Fig. 1, the device 1 of the invention is mounted fixed above and on the outside of the top 13 of the cabinet 1 and comprises a central guide 10 extending rectilinearly, at the opposite ends of which respective curvilinear or arched guide sections, 11 and 12 respectively, are mounted.

[0021] In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 9, the device 1 has a separable structure, in which the guides 10, 11 and 12 are not in a single piece but are separate from one another.

[0022] Thanks to this embodiment it is possible to mount, between the curvilinear guide sections 11 and 12, rectilinear central guides 10 having different lengths, chosen as a function of the width of the compartment 4 of the cabinet 1 on which the folding doors 2 and 3 are to be mounted.

[0023] As illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 12, the guide arm 9 of the device of the invention has an L-shaped bracket 14 that, on the vertical side, is fixed to the upper end 8 of the door 3, while on the horizontal side it is hinged, by means of a pin 15 engaged in a respective hole 17a, on a first metal tab 16, bearing the hole 17b for passage of the pin 15. This allows rotation of the door 3 with respect to the door 2 in the direction of the arrows F1 in Fig. 5.

[0024] The same tab 16 is also provided with holes 18, 19 and a slot 20 oriented crosswise with respect to the same axis.

[0025] The guide arm 9 further comprises a second metal tab 21 fixed superimposed on the first tab 16 by means of pins 22, 23 suitable to be inserted sliding in the corresponding slotted holes 24, 25 of the tab 21.

[0026] The same tab 21 also has a hole 26 suitable to receive the stud 27 of an eccentric 28, inserted in the slot 20 of the tab 16.

[0027] The arrangement described allows the tab 21 to translate longitudinally with respect to the tab 16 in the direction of the arrows F2 in Fig. 4.

[0028] In this way, it is possible to adjust the distance of the second door 3 with respect to the cabinet body 5.

[0029] The end of the guide arm 9 facing the guides 10, 11, 12 of the device of the invention is provided with sliding means, which, in the example illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, consist of bearings 29 and 30 that engage sliding inside the aforesaid guides 10, 11 and 12.

[0030] As illustrated in Figs. 6 to 8, in the initial closed position of the compartment 4 of the cabinet 5, the doors 2 and 3 are arranged aligned (Fig. 6).

[0031] Subsequently, with a pulling movement in the direction of the arrow F3 in Fig. 6 exerted on the mutually hinged sides 2b, 3b, both the doors 2 and 3 move away from the cabinet 5 by sliding of the bearings 29, 30 of the guide arm 9, first in the direction of the arrow F4 in Fig. 6, inside the curvilinear guide section 12, and subsequently in the direction of the arrow F5 in Fig. 7, inside the rectilinear central guide section 10.

[0032] Continuing the movement of the doors 2 and 3 away from the cabinet 5, the bearings 29, 30 of the guide arm 9 enter the curvilinear guide section 11, travelling along it in the direction of the arrow F6 in Fig. 8.

[0033] When the aforesaid bearings complete their travel inside the curvilinear guide section 11, the doors 2 and 3 are arranged mutually folded, on the outside of the shoulder 6, leaving access to the compartment 4 of the cabinet 5 completely free (Fig. 8).

[0034] Changes can be made to the invention, as described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in order to provide variants, all falling within the scope of protection of the appended claims.

[0035] Therefore, for example, the guides 10, 11, 12 and the arm 9 of the device of the invention could also be underneath or on the outside of the base 32 of the cabinet 5, as illustrated in Fig. 10.

[0036] The objects of the invention are achieved also arranging the device 1 on the surfaces of the top 13 and of the base 32 facing the inside of the compartment 4 of the cabinet 5, thanks to the presence of the described composition with arched or curvilinear ends of the sliding guide of the bearings 29, 30, at the sides of the rectilinear section of the device 1.

Claims

1. Device for opening and closing folding doors (2, 3), comprising one side (2a) of a first door (2) hinged by means of hinges (7) to the shoulder (6) of a cabinet (5), the opposite side (2b) of the same door (2) being hinged to a second door (3) by means of hinges (31); a shaped guide, formed by a rectilinear section (10) joined, at the opposite ends, to corresponding arched or curvilinear guide sections (11) and (12), respectively; a guide arm (9) hinged, at one end, to the corresponding end (8) of said door (3) and bearing, on the opposite end, sliding elements (29, 30) of said arm (9) inside said shaped guide; said guide arm (9) comprising a tab (16) positioned superimposed and sliding longitudinally with respect to a tab (21); said device being characterized in that said tab (16) has holes (18, 19) which are slotted in the longitudinal direction of said tab (16), a slot (20) also being oriented crosswise with respect to said longitudinal axis.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that said guide arm (9) has an eccentric (28) housed inside a corresponding slot (20) formed on said tab (16), said eccentric (28) also having a stud (27) that is housed inside the hole (26) of the tab (21).

3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that it comprises pins (22, 23) housed in said slotted holes (24 ,25) of the tab (21), and in corresponding holes (18,19) of the tab (16), suitable to produce the coupling between said tabs (16, 21) sliding in the longitudinal direction of said tabs (16, 21).

4. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that said guide arm (9) further comprises a bracket (14) provided with a pin (15) for rotational connection of the second door (3) to said arm (9).

5. Device according to claim 4, characterized in that said hinges (31) are of the type with spring loaded thrust, suitable to facilitate the folding opening and closing movements of the door (3) on the door (2).

6. Cabinet of the type provided with folding doors (2, 3), characterized in that it is equipped with the device according to one or more of the preceding claims.

7. Cabinet according to claim 6, characterized in that said device is positioned on the top (13) or on the base (32) of said cabinet (5).

Drawing