V-fold drawer with filing extrusion

A drawer for hanging file folders, which is formed from a drawer subassembly including an elongate drawer plank to which is attached, along a longitudinal edge thereof, an elongate plastic or metal support rail from which hanging file folders may be hung. The drawer subassembly is subsequently folded about a plurality of hinge portions therein which are common to the drawer plank and to the support rail, and a base panel is captured within the drawer subassembly as same is folded to define a drawer including a base panel surrounded by a plurality of vertical walls from which hanging file folders may be hung. The attachment of the support rail to the drawer plank prior to forming the hinge portions in the drawer subassembly and folding same to form the drawer obviates the need to separately attach multiple components of a file folder hanging structure to the drawer walls after the drawer is formed.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner. 
 DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG. 1 , drawer subassembly 20 is shown, which is a component of hanging file folder drawer 22 , shown in FIG. 6 . Drawer 22 may hold therewithin a plurality of hanging file folders 24 , as described further below. Drawer subassembly 20 generally includes drawer plank 26 and support rail 28 . Drawer plank 26 may be formed of solid wood, pressed particle board, medium density fiber board, or an extruded plastic material, for example. Drawer plank 26 is elongate in overall shape, and includes opposite first and second ends 30 , 32 ; upper and lower edges 34 , 36 ; and inner and outer side faces 38 , 40 , respectively. A first groove 42 is cut longitudinally along upper edge 34 of drawer plank 26 , and a second groove 44 is cut longitudinally in inner side face 38 of drawer plank 26 adjacent lower edge 36 thereof. Connecting elements are associated with each of first and second ends 30 , 32 of drawer plank 26 , which connecting elements are shown in FIG. 1 as a plurality of dowel rods 46 in first end 30 , which may be fitted within a plurality of corresponding holes 48 ( FIG. 4 ), adjacent second end 32 to secure first and second ends 30 , 32 together, as explained below. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 1 A, support rail 28 is also elongate in overall shape, and includes upper portion 50 and lower portion 52 . Upper portion 50 includes base 54 and a pair of parallel rail members 56 extending therefrom such that, as shown in FIG. 1 A, upper portion 50 defines a U-shaped cross section. Alternatively, base 54 may only include one rail member 56 extending therefrom such that upper portion 50 defines an L-shaped cross section, as shown in FIG. 7 . Lower portion 52 of support rail 28 includes longitudinal connecting tongue 58 having a plurality of barbs 60 extending from opposite sides thereof. Support rail 28 may be an extrusion piece formed of metal, or a single piece of extruded plastic material, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), for example. To attach support rail 28 to drawer plank 26 , tongue 58 of support rail 28 is fitted or pressed within groove 42 of drawer plank 26 as shown in FIG. 1 , such that barbs 60 of tongue 58 are embedded within drawer plank 26 to firmly and securely attach support rail 28 to drawer plank 26 , forming drawer subassembly 20 , as shown in FIG. 2 . Thereafter, a series of hinge portions 62 a - c are formed in drawer subassembly 20 . As shown in FIG. 3 , such hinge portions are defined by a plurality of V-shaped miter cuts 63 a - c made through a portion of the thicknesses of each of drawer plank 26 and support rail 28 of drawer subassembly 20 , wherein miter cuts 63 a - c are cut in a direction perpendicular to the long dimension of drawer subassembly 20 . As shown in FIG. 3 , three such miter cuts 63 a - c may be made in drawer subassembly 20 to define three hinge portions 62 a - c, and also to define four drawer walls 64 a - d, with first drawer wall 64 a defined between first end 30 of drawer subassembly 20 and first hinge portion 62 a , second drawer wall 64 b defined between first and second hinge portions 62 a,b , third drawer wall 64 c defined between second and third hinge portions 62 b,c , and fourth drawer wall 64 d defined between third hinge portion 62 c and second end 32 of drawer subassembly 20 . Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8 , miter cuts 63 a - c in drawer assembly 20 may be made simultaneously by a cutting tool including a plurality of cutting members, one of which is shown in the form of blade 66 . The cutting tool comprises part of an automated assembly line 68 which also includes pushing member 70 . Pushing member 70 pushes a group including a plurality of drawer subassemblies 20 through assembly line 68 in a manner in which drawer subassemblies 20 abut against one another such that the support rails 28 of one drawer subassembly 20 abut against lower edge 36 of drawer plank 26 of an adjacent drawer subassembly 20 . As illustrated in FIG. 7 , if support rails 28 of drawer subassemblies 20 have an L-shaped cross section, as described above, it has been found that overlap between the support rail of one drawer subassembly and the bottom edge of an adjacent drawer subassembly may occur when a group of adjacent drawer subassemblies 20 are pushed through automated assembly line 68 . If the foregoing overlap occurs, blades 66 , rather than making miter cut 63 a - c through only portion of the thickness of drawer subassemblies 20 , may cut entirely through one or more drawer subassemblies 20 . Therefore, support rails 28 which have such an L-shaped cross section may not be preferred in an automated manufacturing process in which a plurality of drawer subassemblies 20 are pushed in a flat manner adjacent to one another through an automated assembly line 68 , as described above. Alternatively, referring to FIG. 8 , if the support rails 28 of the drawer subassemblies 20 have a U-shaped cross section, as described above, the pair of rail members 56 of upper portion 50 thereof ( FIG. 1A ) press against an adjacent lower edge 36 of an adjacent drawer subassembly 20 at two points of contact on lower edge 36 , such that overlap of adjacent drawer subassemblies 20 is prevented. In this manner, a plurality of drawer subassemblies 20 may be pushed through automated assembly line 68 adjacent to one another without overlapping of adjacent drawer subassemblies 20 , such that blades 66 cut through only a portion of the thicknesses of drawer subassemblies 20 to make miter cuts 63 a - c therein. Referring to FIG. 4 , after miter cuts 63 a - c are made in drawer subassembly 20 , drawer subassembly 20 is folded about hinge portions 62 a - c. Additionally, drawer base panel 71 is inserted within grooves 44 of drawer plank 26 . After drawer subassembly 20 is thus folded about base panel 71 and about hinge portions 62 a - c to capture base panel 71 therein, dowel rods 46 of first end 30 of drawer plank 26 are fitted within the corresponding holes 48 in second end 32 of drawer plank 26 , and a suitable adhesive, such as a hot melt glue, for example, is applied therebetween. An adhesive may also be applied if desired between base panel 71 and grooves 44 in drawer plank 26 . Referring to FIG. 5 , after drawer subassembly 20 has been thus folded to define drawer 22 , drawer 22 is fixedly held in a square orientation by a plurality of holding elements 72 of a holding machine or jig until the adhesive cures. After the adhesive cures, drawer 22 may be removed from the holding machine or jig, and suitable drawer hardware such as drawer slide 74 for example, may be attached thereto for slidably attaching drawer 22 to a piece of office furniture. Hanging file folders 24 may be hung within drawer 22 on support rail 28 , such that clips 76 of folders 24 are hung on and supported by support rail 28 with folders 24 disposed within interior space 78 of drawer 22 . As may be appreciated from the foregoing assembly process, the attachment of support rail 28 to drawer plank 26 to form drawer subassembly 20 before hinge portions 62 a - c are formed therein, and also before drawer subassembly 20 is folded to define drawer 22 , obviates the additional manufacturing steps of separately connecting the several components of a file hanging structure to drawer 22 , thereby decreasing the difficulty and cost of assembling drawer 22 . However, various details regarding the construction of drawer 22 may vary from that described above. In particular, the shape of support rail 28 may vary widely from the foregoing L-shaped or U-shaped configurations described above. For example, support rail 28 could have a T-shaped or W-shaped cross section, or any other shape adapted to support clips 76 of hanging file folders 24 . For example, as shown in FIG. 10 , support rail 100 includes upper portion 102 having base 104 and a pair of parallel rail members 106 extending therefrom, and lower portion 108 of support rail 100 includes slot 110 for supporting rod or crossbar 112 from which hanging files 24 may also be hung in an orientation perpendicular to any hanging files which are hung from rail members 106 . Support rail 100 also includes connecting tongue 58 , similar to that of support rail 28 , for connecting support rail 100 to drawer plank 26 . Referring to FIG. 14 , support rail 136 is shown, which is similar to support rail 100 , wherein support rail 136 includes a single rail member 106 . Referring to FIG. 17 , support rail 140 is shown, which is also similar to support rail 100 , and includes arms 142 for attaching support rail 140 to drawer plank 26 . Referring to FIG. 11 , support rail 114 includes central portion 116 and parallel rail members 118 defining an H-shaped cross section from which hanging files 24 may be hung, with drawer plank 26 received between rail members 118 for attaching support rail 114 to drawer plank 26 . Support rail 150 , shown in FIG. 16 , is similar to support rail 114 , and includes a single elongated rail member 118 to define an upper portion of support rail 150 having an L-shaped cross section. Referring to FIG. 12 , support rail 120 includes base portion 122 with U-shaped section 124 attached thereto from which hanging files 24 may be hung. Support rail 120 also includes connecting tongue 58 , similar to that of support rail 28 , for connecting support rail 120 to drawer plank 26 . In FIG. 15 , support rail 160 is shown, having an upper portion with a T-shaped cross section, and further including connecting tongue 58 . Also, barbs 60 of tongue 58 of support rail 28 may be eliminated, in favor of the use of fasteners, an interference fit, or an adhesive, for example, to attach support rail 28 to drawer plank 26 . In view of the foregoing, groove 42 may be eliminated from upper edge 34 of drawer plank 26 . For example, as shown in FIG. 11 , support rail 114 is attached to drawer plank 26 by the engagement between upper edge 34 of drawer plank 26 between parallel rail members 118 of support rail 114 , and parallel rail members 118 may also include internal barbs 144 , shown in FIG. 18 , for engaging side faces 38 , 40 of drawer plank 26 adjacent upper edge 34 thereof. Also, as shown in FIG. 13 , support rail 114 may additionally include a pair of protrusions 126 extending interiorly of the lower ends of parallel rail members 118 , which protrusions 126 engage grooves 128 respectively formed in each side face 38 , 40 of drawer plank 26 adjacent upper edge 34 thereof. Additionally, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 19 , drawer subassembly 130 may only include two hinge portions 62 a , 62 b , such that drawer assembly 130 , when folded about such hinge portions, defines only three walls or sides 132 a - c of drawer 22 , to which a fourth side 132 d may be separately attached, if desired. As shown in FIG. 9 , fourth side 132 d may comprise a drawer front including suitable drawer pull hardware, such as pull knob 134 . Fourth side 132 d may be attached to the front edges of sides 132 a,c as shown in FIG. 9 , or alternatively, as shown in FIG. 19 , fourth side 132 d may be attached to the interior faces of sides 132 a,c adjacent the front edges thereof such that fourth side 132 d is captured between sides 132 a,c. While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.