Abstract:
An actuator, for moving a flap of a furniture item, has a pivotally mounted actuating arm for moving the flap, a spring device for acting on the actuating arm and having a pivoting moment in an opening direction, an adjustment device for adjusting the actuator, wherein the adjustment device comprises a gear mechanism having a first pinion and a crown gear, the crown gear axis of which forms an angle, preferably a right angle, with the pinion axis, wherein the gear mechanism comprises a second pinion, which engages with the same crown gear as the first pinion.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention concerns an actuator drive for moving a flap of an article of furniture having the features of a classifying portion and an article of furniture comprising a flap and two such actuator drives. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     An actuator drive of the general kind set forth for moving a flap of an article of furniture is known, for example, from WO 2012/112997, or WO 2006/005086 which discloses a similar such actuator drive. 
     As such actuator drives are fixed to flaps, which are of different sizes and thus of different weights, in order to pivot them, it is necessary for the actuator drives to be capable of adjustment both with respect to their pivoting force and also with respect to the torque to be transmitted. For that purpose, those actuator drives always have, on the one hand, a spring device for urging the actuator arm with a pivotal moment in the opening direction, wherein the spring packs of the spring device can be adjusted with respect to their force by way of an adjusting device, and, on the other hand, the actuator drives have an adjusting device in order to adjust the operative pivotal moment of the spring device acting on the actuator arm of the actuator drive. 
     In the state of the art, adjustment of those adjusting devices is often found to be quite problematic because those actuator drives are fixed both to left sides of the furniture carcass and also to right sides of the furniture carcass and therefore adjustment of the actuator drives at a right-hand side wall of the furniture carcass takes place differently from adjustment of the actuator drive at a left-hand side wall of the furniture carcass. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The object of the invention is to provide a more convenient actuator drive for moving a flap of an article of furniture, which is adjustable to different flaps in an easier fashion for the assembly workers. 
     That object is attained by an actuator drive having the features described below and an article of furniture having the features described below. 
     Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are defined in the appendant claims. 
     The fact that the gear transmission of the adjusting device has a second pinion which is in engagement with the same crown gear as the first pinion makes it possible for a specific pinion to be available for adjustment for fitting the actuator drive at the left-hand side wall of the furniture carcass and also a specific pinion to be available for fitting at the right-hand side wall of the furniture carcass. Thus, the person performing the adjustment of the actuator drive can conveniently perform adjustment with a specific pinion dedicated for each side wall of the furniture carcass. 
     Protection is also claimed for an article of furniture comprising a furniture flap and two actuator drives in accordance with at least one of the described embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Further details and advantages of the present invention will be described more fully hereinafter by means of the specific description with reference to the embodiments, by way of example, illustrated in the drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of an article of furniture with two actuator drives on a furniture flap, 
         FIG. 2  shows a cutaway perspective view of an article of furniture with an actuator drive, 
         FIG. 3  shows a side view of an actuator drive, 
         FIG. 4  shows the actuator drive of  FIG. 3  with a changed position of the engagement point of the spring pack on the actuator lever, 
         FIG. 5  shows a side view of an actuator drive with actuator arms pivoted out, 
         FIG. 6  shows the actuator drive of  FIG. 5  with a changed engagement point of the spring pack on the pivotal lever, 
         FIG. 7  shows a perspective view of the pivotal lever with an adjusting device, 
         FIG. 8  shows an exploded perspective view of the actuator lever with an adjusting device, 
         FIG. 9  shows a perspective view of the adjusting device, 
         FIG. 10  shows a perspective view of the bevel gear transmission, 
         FIG. 11  shows a perspective view of a variant of an actuator drive, 
         FIG. 12  shows a perspective detail of  FIG. 11  with an adjusting device for adjusting the position of the engagement point of a spring pack on the actuator lever, and 
         FIG. 13  shows a section through the actuator drive of  FIG. 11  with two adjusting devices for adjusting the actuator drive, wherein the position of an engagement point of the spring pack on the actuator lever is altered by way of the first adjusting device and the second adjusting device adjusts the spring prestressing of the spring pack of the spring device. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of an article of furniture  110  having a furniture carcass  102  and a furniture flap  101 . To pivot the furniture flap  101 , two actuator drives  100  are mounted in the furniture carcass  102  at the side walls  103  and  104  thereof, with the furniture flap  101  being fixed to the actuator drives  100 . 
       FIG. 2  shows a cutaway view of the furniture carcass  102  with a view directed to the left-hand side wall  103  thereof. The actuator drive  100  is fixed to the left side wall  103  in the upper region thereof. In this case, the actuator drive  100  has a housing  60  which has a left-hand housing side  61  and a right-hand housing side  62 . The two housing sides  61  and  62  are substantially flat so that they can bear well against the side wall of the furniture carcass. The adjusting device  20  is accessible from the left-hand housing side  61  when the actuator drive  100  is fixed to a left-hand side wall  103 . 
     If the actuator drive  100  is fixed to a right-hand carcass side wall  104  (not shown), the adjusting device  20  is accessible from the right-hand housing side  62  of the housing  60  of the actuator drive  100 . 
       FIGS. 3 through 6  each show a side view of an actuator drive  100 . In  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the actuator arm  50  is pivoted in, while in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the actuator arm is pivoted out. 
     The difference between  FIGS. 3 and 4  and between  FIGS. 5 and 6  is that, in each case, the engagement point  32  of the spring pack  31  of the spring device  30  has been adjusted by the adjusting device  20  and thus the engagement point  32  is in a lower position in  FIGS. 3 and 5  and in an upper position in  FIGS. 4 and 6 . As a result, the operative pivotal moment of the spring device  30  acting on the actuator arm  50  is altered by way of the pivotable actuator lever  6 . 
     In the embodiment of  FIGS. 3 through 6 , the adjusting device  20  serves to adjust the position of an engagement point  32  of a spring pack and  31  of the spring device  30  on the pivotable actuator lever  6 . 
     For that purpose, the adjusting device  20  has an adjusting screw  7  which has a main body  8  with a thread provided thereon, wherein the pivotal moment of the spring device  30  acting on the actuator arm  50  is adjustable by way of the screw nut  9  which is mounted displaceably along the main body  8  by a rotary movement of the adjusting screw  7 . 
     The rotary movement of the adjusting screw  7  is produced by rotation of one of the two pinions  1  and  2 , depending on the side of the furniture carcass to which the actuator drive  100  is fixed. 
       FIG. 7  shows a perspective view of the adjusting device  20 , showing how it is mounted to the actuator lever  6 . The adjusting device  20  has an adjusting screw  7 . That adjusting screw  7 , in turn, has a thread on its main body  8 . The screw nut  9  is displaced by way of that thread. Once again, the two engagement points  32  at which the spring device  30  (not shown) engages are provided on the screw nut  9 . 
     Rotation of the actuator lever  6  is effected about the axis of rotation  43  of the actuator lever  6 . Displacement of the screw nut  9  along the main body  8  of the adjusting screw  7  results in a change in transmission of the engagement point  32  relative to the axis of rotation  43  of the actuator lever  6 . 
     The adjusting screw  7  is displaced by way of the gear transmission  4  (see, for example,  FIGS. 9 and 10  and the description thereof). 
       FIG. 8  shows an exploded view of the actuator lever  6  of  FIG. 7 . The essential components of the actuator lever  6  in this case are the two pinions  1  and  2  which are in engagement with the crown gear  3  and thus form a gear transmission  4  (not shown, see  FIGS. 9 and 10 ). The crown gear  3  is in the form of a screw head of the adjusting screw  7 . Disposed on the adjusting screw  7  is the screw nut  9 , with the two attachment points  32  thereof (for the spring pack  31  not shown here). In this arrangement, the screw nut  9  is displaced by way of a thread of the main body  8  of the adjusting screw  7 . 
     The actuator lever  6  further has the actuator lever base  44 . Provided to the left and the right of the actuator lever base  44  are the two actuator lever halves  45  and  46  which receive the adjusting device  20  (see  FIGS. 9 and 10 ) in them. 
       FIG. 9  shows a perspective view of the adjusting device  20  for adjusting the actuator drive  100  (not shown here). The adjusting device  20  has a gear transmission  4  comprising a pinion  1 , a pinion  2  and a crown gear  3 , wherein, in this preferred embodiment, the crown gear axis  13  forms a right angle with respect to the pinion axis  11 . Both pinions  1  and  2  of the gear transmission  4  are in engagement with the same crown gear  3 . 
     It will be appreciated that the angle between the pinion axis  11  and the crown gear axis  13  does not have to be a right angle. It is also possible to envisage that angle differing from a right angle. Thus, in another embodiment, for example, it would be provided that the angle is of any value between 30° and 150°. 
     In this preferred embodiment, the gear transmission  4  is in the form of a bevel gear transmission  5  and both pinions  1  and  2  are disposed on a common notional axis of rotation  12  identical to the pinion axis  11 . 
     The two pinions  1  and  2  each have a force-transmitting shaft  14  and  24 , respectively, the two shafts  14  and  24  being spaced from each other. 
     To displace the two pinions  1  and  2 , they each have a respective tool receiving means  15  and  25  for rotating the pinions  1  and  2 . 
     In this preferred embodiment, the two tool receiving means  15  and  25  are in the form of crossed slot receiving means, it would naturally equally be possible for the two receiving means  15  and  25  to be in the form of a slot, a hexagonal socket or hexalobular socket or the like. 
     If, for example, the pinion  1  is rotated in the clockwise direction about the pinion axis  11 , then the crown gear  3  also rotates, and therewith, the adjusting screw  7  in the clockwise direction. 
     If the pinion  2  is rotated in the clockwise direction, the crown gear  3  of the adjusting screw  7  is also rotated in the clockwise direction. 
     That is the great advantage over the state of the art. The situation in the state of the art is that, depending on the side from which the actuator drive  100  is displaced by way of the adjusting device  20 , different directions of rotation have to be used to arrive at the same result. In other words, in the case of an actuator drive  100  mounted to a right-hand carcass side wall, the fitters have to rotate an actuating screw in the other direction from that in the case of an actuator drive  100  fixed to a left-hand carcass side wall in order to produce the same displacement. In other words, the fitters always have to take the mounting side into account in order to know the direction in which the actuating element has to be displaced. 
     That is not the case with the actuator drive  100  here. Both rotation from the right-hand side and also rotation from the left-hand side lead to the same displacement of the adjusting device  20 . 
       FIG. 10  shows a detailed view of the gear transmission  4  which, in this preferred embodiment, is in the form of a bevel gear transmission  5 . 
     The teeth of the gear transmission  4  are here in the form of rounded knobs  41 , and in that case, engage into the corresponding recesses  42 . 
       FIG. 10  is a rotated detailed view of  FIG. 9 . Otherwise, the foregoing description of  FIG. 9  also applies here. 
       FIGS. 11 through 13  show a variant of an actuator drive  100 . 
     That actuator drive  100  has not just one adjusting device  20  but two. 
     In this case, one adjusting device  20  serves to adjust the position of the engagement point  32  of the spring pack  31  on the pivotable actuator lever  6 . The other adjusting device  20  serves to adjust the spring prestressing of the spring pack  31  of the spring device  30 . 
     The two adjusting devices  20  are of substantially identical structure, and displacement and adjustment of the adjusting screw  7  are again effected by way of the two pinions  1  and  2 . Otherwise, the description in relation to the preceding embodiment correspondingly applies. 
     In both the embodiments referred to, it is preferably provided that the crown gear  3  and also the two pinions  1  and  2  are made of plastic. Naturally, they could also be made from any other material. 
     LIST OF REFERENCES 
     
         
           1  first pinion 
           2  second pinion 
           3  crown gear 
           4  gear transmission 
           5  bevel gear transmission 
           6  actuator lever 
           7  adjusting screw 
           8  main body of the adjusting screw 
           9  screw nut 
           11  pinion axis 
           12  common notional axis of rotation of the pinions  1  and  2   
           14  shaft of the pinion  1   
           15  tool receiving means of the pinion  1   
           20  adjusting device 
           24  shaft of the pinion  2   
           25  tool receiving means of the pinion  2   
           30  spring device 
           31  spring pack of the spring device  30   
           32  engagement point of the spring pack  31   
           41  rounded knobs of the gear transmission  4   
           42  rounded recesses of the gear transmission  4   
           43  axis of rotation of the actuator lever  6   
           44  actuator lever base 
           45  left actuator lever half 
           46  right actuator lever half 
           50  actuator arm 
           60  housing of the actuator drive  100   
           61  left housing side of the actuator drive  100   
           62  right housing side of the actuator drive  100   
           100  actuator drive 
           101  furniture flap 
           102  furniture carcass 
           103  left carcass side wall 
           104  right carcass side wall 
           110  article of furniture