Drawer panel with track insert

A drawer wall panel comprises a main panel member of extruded plastics material having an elongated recess extending longitudinally of the face of the panel member which will be outermost in use, and an elongated molded plastics insert defining a runner track located in the recess in the panel member and retained against lateral withdrawal by longitudinal lips formed at the edges of the recess in the panel member which project across the mouth of the recess into engagement with longitudinal grooves in the insert. The insert incorporates integrally formed projections extending inwardly thereof for engagement during use with components of a pre-determined type of drawer runner.

This invention relates to drawers and components for use in constructing 
drawers. 
Furniture manufacturers make extensive use of drawers constructed in 
component parts which are supplied by drawer manufacturers in 
"knocked-down" or disassembled condition and are then assembled by the 
furniture manufacturer and incorporated in his articles of furniture. In 
general such drawers are produced in a standard range of heights or depths 
but vary in width and length. Variation also occurs in the nature of the 
runners on which the drawers are mounted in use. Problems therefore arise 
in manufacturing such drawers to suit these different requirements without 
incurring unacceptable expense in producing separate tooling for each 
different variation of drawer required. 
The side walls of many such drawers are commonly manufactured by extrusion 
from plastics material in continuous lengths which are then cut to the 
desired sizes to meet customer's requirements This avoids the need to 
produce separate tools for different widths and lengths of drawer but the 
extrusion process requires that the drawer wall panel be of constant 
cross-section throughout its length and this introduces limitations, 
particularly as regards incorporation of stop members and other components 
for co-operation with drawer runners on which the assembled drawer will be 
mounted in use. 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a drawer construction 
in which some of these disadvantages may be obviated or mitigated. 
The invention provides a drawer wall panel comprising a main panel member 
provided with an elongated recess extending longitudinally thereof on the 
face which will be outermost in use, and an elongated insert located 
within the recess in the panel member and retained against lateral 
withdrawal therefrom, said panel member being of hollow section formed by 
extrusion from synthetic plastics material and said insert being a 
pre-formed component of moulded plastics construction defining a runner 
track and incorporating integral formations projecting inwardly thereof 
for engagement during use with components of a drawer runner assembly. 
The insert may be retained by retaining means comprising longitudinal lips 
formed at the edges of said recess in the panel member and projecting 
across the mouth of the recess into engagement with longitudinal grooves 
in the insert. 
Further retaining means may advantageously be provided to retain the insert 
against longitudinal displacement relative to the recess in the panel 
member. 
The panel member preferably incorporates a longitudinal slot in the face 
thereof opposite to that in which said recess is formed, said slot serving 
in use to receive on edge of a drawer bottom. 
Preferably the panel member is adapted to be connected to other drawer wall 
panels to form an assembled drawer by means of connecting pieces having 
projecting spigots which engage in hollow ends of the panel member and are 
retained therein. For example, the spigots may be retained by means of 
detents projecting therefrom and engaging in holes formed adjacent the 
ends of the panel members.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 5 a main body 
portion of a drawer wall panel comprising a panel member 5 in the form of 
a hollow section profile extruded from plastics material and having upper 
and lower sections 6a and 6b interconnected by a hollow web 7 which 
defines, together with the upper and lower sections, a recess 8 extending 
longitudinally of the panel member and formed on the face thereof which 
will be outermost when the panel member is assembled with other panel 
members to form a drawer as shown in FIG. 4. For this purpose front and 
rear connecting pieces 9 and 10 (FIG. 4) are provided. The front 
connecting piece comprises a face plate 11 adapted to be secured by screws 
or the like to a drawer front (not shown) and having rearwardly projecting 
spigots 12 each of which carries a projecting detent 13. The spigots are 
adapted to form a close push fit within the hollow end of the panel member 
5 and the detents 13 engage in holes 14 formed adjacent the ends of panel 
member. The rear connecting piece 10 is provided with similar spigots and 
detents but is in the nature of a corner piece having spigots projecting 
in two directions at right angles so as to be engageable in the ends of 
two adjacent panel members to connect them at right angles to one another 
as shown in FIG. 4. A longitudinal slot 6c is provided in the face of the 
panel member which is innermost in use to receive the edge of a drawer 
bottom. 
The recess 8 is adapted to receive and retain a separate insert 15 defining 
a runner track, the insert being of plastics construction examples of 
which are shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 5. Each insert is of generally U-shaped 
cross-section so as to be received within the recess 8 in the panel member 
5 and comprises a back wall 16 and upper and lower walls 17a, 17b which 
define a track 18 adapted in use to receive a runner assembly on which the 
drawer is mounted. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the outer edges of 
the upper and lower walls 17a, 17b have upwardly and downwardly directed 
flanges 19 and 20 respectively behind which longitudinal grooves 21a and 
21b respectively are formed. These grooves are adapted to engage with 
longitudinal lips 22a, 22b respectively, which project from the upper and 
lower edges of the recess 8. Because of the inherent resilience of the 
plastics material from which the insert is moulded, the insert may be 
pressed into the recess 8 until the grooves 21a, 21b are aligned with the 
lips 22a, 22b, whereupon the walls 17a and 17b of the track spring 
outwardly and retain the insert against lateral withdrawal from the recess 
8. The lips 22a, 22b are slightly chamfered to facilitate entry of the 
insert. 
In the form of insert shown in FIG. 2, a guide and stop formation 23 
projects into the track 18 at its rear end. This serves to support and 
guide the assembled drawer on a particular form of runner incorporating 
stop means to prevent withdrawal of the drawer from its supporting housing 
during normal use and enabling tilting movement to permit withdrawal when 
this is desired. The arrangements shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 differ from that 
of FIG. 2 in that the lips 19 and 20 are omitted although the grooves 21a 
and 21b are retained and co-operate with the lips 22a and 22b of the panel 
member in the same manner as in the FIG. 2 embodiment. The FIG. 3 
arrangement incorporates a modified form of rear stop 24 and a front stop 
member 25. The precise function of these elements is not relevant to the 
invention save in so far as they illustrate that it is possible to 
incorporate these and other similar forms of projection in a moulded 
runner track insert while still retaining the facility for producing the 
main body portion of the wall panel itself by a continuous extrusion 
technique. The insert shown in FIG. 5 is of uniform cross-section 
throughout its length. It incorporates a longitudinal rib 28 projecting 
into the channel 18 from the rear wall 16 which prevents face-to-face 
contact between the drawer runner and the wall 16 and hence substantially 
reduces friction and improves the sliding action of the drawer. 
As will be seen from FIGS. 4 and 6 of the drawings, when the wall panel is 
assembled with other components to form a drawer, the front connector 9 
and rear corner connector 10 project at least partially across the ends of 
the recess 8 and thereby prevent longitudinal movement of the runner track 
insert in the recess 8. However in many instances the components will be 
despatched from the factory in a partly assembled condition with only the 
rear connector 10 fitted to the side wall panel member. In this condition 
it would be possible for the insert to slide longitudinally of the recess 
8 and thereby become detached from the panel member. In order to prevent 
this, a projection 26 (FIG. 2) may be provided on the rear wall 16 of the 
runner track for engagement with a notch 27 (FIG. 1) formed in the rear 
wall of the recess 8. The notch 27 may be formed by a separate cutting 
operation after the panel member has been extruded and cut to the desired 
length. The holes 14 are also produced at this stage by a separate 
operation or simultaneously with the notch 27. In will be appreciated that 
a similar projection and notch could be provided at the forward end of the 
insert and of the panel member to prevent relative sliding movement in 
either direction or this could be achieved by a projection similar to the 
projection 26 displaced from one end of the insert and engaged in a hole 
formed a corresponding distance from the end of the panel member. 
As shown in FIG. 6 a recess 30 incorporating a ramp 31 may be formed in the 
upper wall 17a of the insert. The recess and ramp serve in co-operation 
with a roller or other component of the runner assembly to effect 
self-closing of the drawer over the last part of its closing movement. 
By virtue of the arrangements described the main body portion of the drawer 
wall panel may be cut from a continuous extruded length thereby avoiding 
the need to provide special tools for manufacturing different lengths or 
widths of drawer, but the panel may be adapted to different mounting 
arrangements by incorporation of a suitable runner track in the form of a 
separately manufactured insert which can be produced by a moulding 
technique and thereby incorporate integral stops or other formations which 
could not be produced by extrusion. Different lengths of runner track 
would, of course, require to be produced for different lengths of drawer, 
but this reduces the separate tooling to that required to produce the 
inserts only and enables the main panel body to be manufactured in 
continuous lengths. The arrangements described also have the advantage 
that the strength of the wall panel is increased compared with a panel 
formed entirely by extrusion since the separate insert serves to increase 
the wall thickness at that area and rigidify the panel as a whole. The 
load carrying capacity is also increased due to the increased wall 
thickness and rigidity and in addition it is possible to provide a 
smoother running drawer since moulding techniques enable the production of 
a more accurate running face than can be produced by extrusion. A further 
advantage arises from the fact that the same inserts can be fitted to 
panel bodies of different depth or height provided they have recesses of 
similar dimensions, thereby further reducing tooling costs. 
Various modifications may be made without departing from the invention. For 
example the nature of the projections or other formations formed in the 
runner tracks may be varied as desired and different means may be provided 
for retaining the inserts in the panel members. For example the inserts 
could be retained in position by adhesive or other suitable means.