Components for furniture

Abstract: A new concept of assembly furniture comprises frame components (34,38,43) and panels which fit in grooves (8) in the frame components together with fixing means (4) for fixing frame components (38) to each other at their ends, for example, parallelepedic furniture units. The frame components (43) furthermore have formations in them, for example, a set of holes (5) of standardised pitch into which elongate members (6) which have matching formations (7) at their ends can fit when the frame components (38) are assembled. These elongate members (6) with formations (7) at their ends allow for the mounting of hinges, drawer runners and shelf supports and the like without the necessity for drilling, screwing or any other fastening approach. The key feature of the assembly furniture is that it is capable of being disassembled and reassembled into different kinds of furniture by the owner thereof. For example, in a child's bedroom as the child grows up the style in aesthetic respects and functional aspects of the furniture can be changed using the original components purchased.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention lies in the field of furniture in a broad sense being applicable in domestic or personal applications, in office or business applications, hotels and in general any other applications. For many years already "do-it-yourself" furniture has been available the concept being the manufacture and supply of components for furniture which are assembled by the purchaser after purchase. This allows some reduction of the price of the furniture since the manufacturer and supplier does not have to provide the assembly thereof and some advantage in storage and transport of the furniture in a collapsed state since it is usually more compact in that stage than when assembled. Components for such furniture are known from AT-A-266 382 and EP-A-0 344 120. They disclose components for furniture comprising a plurality of frame components of elongate form and at least one panel, the frame components having longitudinally extending grooves of a standard width and position in the frame components, the grooves capable of receiving edge(s) of the panel(s), the frame components having fixing means near their ends adapted for fixing the frame components to each other, the frame components further comprising formations for receiving the fixing of components selected from hinges, drawer runners, shelf supports and the like components. Frame components are predominantly made from wood. The panels are usually manufactured from chipboard, i. e. also from wood. Both components may shrink. Grooves in the frame components and the thickness of the panels have certain tolerances. The problem underlying the invention is to accommodate tolerances occurring or developing in the manufacturing process or thereafter. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The solution of this problem are components for furniture which comprise a plurality of frame components of elongate form and at least one panel, the frame components having longitudinally extending grooves of a standard width and position in them, the grooves capable of receiving edges of the panel(s), the frame components having fixing means near their ends adapted for fixing the frame components to each other, and formations for receiving the fixing components selected from hinges, drawer runners, shelf supports and like components, the panels having, in accordance with this invention, a peripheral groove in their edges that runs all around the edges of the panel making the edges compressible. The important feature of the invention is that the edges of the panel have a peripheral groove running all around the panel; this makes the edges of the panel compressible, i.e. the edge thickness of the panel can be compressed. By giving the grooves in the frame components a width which is within a tolerance range less than the panel thickness the groove in the panel edges then allows the panel edges to be pressed into the groove of the frame components with a snug fit, even when the panel thickness varies. Thus panels of differing thicknesses can all be fitted into the grooves of the frame components snugly without rattling or being too tight to go in. The width of the grooves is standardised; if a panel is to be fitted which is narrower than the groove a groove insert is provided to reduce its effective width. This has the advantage that should a change later be made to thicker panels the grooves are still entirely suitable simply by removing the inserts. The components may be provided in combination with elongate elements having end formations at or attachable at their ends, having lengths including the formations matching the lengths of frame components, the formations at the ends of the elongate elements adapted to engage into the formations in the elongate frame components which are fixed orthogonally to the frame components of equal length to the elongate elements. Preferred frame components for receiving end formations carrying components selected from one or more of hinges, drawer runners, shelf supports and/or the like have a plurality of holes provided along the length of the frame components at a standardised pitch, as it is common practice. The advantageous results of this arrangement are that components such as hinges, drawer runners and shelf supports are in the first place not supplied as part of or attached to the frame components, nor do they have to be attached to the frame components, for example, by drilling and screwing or any analogous manner, they automatically become mounted in the frame components when these are brought together with the fixing means at the ends of the frame components being actuated to fix the frame components together. As they are brought together the end formations at the ends of the elongate elements engage with matching formations in the frame components, for example, pins fitting into the holes of standardised pitch. The result of this is that the frame components are not damaged or defaced by the attachments of hinges, drawer runners, shelf supports or the like and once again the components of furniture can be disassembled and reutilised in a different way without any residual detraction from them. Thus the hinges, drawer runners, shelf supports, etc. can be selected as required and then fitted to the ends of the elongate components. A further preferred feature of the invention is that it includes fixing means adapted to unitarily fix together not only frame components of one unit of furniture but also simultaneously frame components of adjacent units of furniture. The furniture which can be made thus can be based on a modular system, for example, base units of a standardised dimension which can be stacked adjacent each other and on top of each other as required to make up a total unit. The invention will be more fully described by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings in which : BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a perspective view of an assembly frame and other components according to the invention, Figure 2 is an isometric view of a three-drawer unit in accordance with the invention, Figure 3 is a plan view on part of another unit, Figure 4 shows two units fixed together by special fixing means for this purpose, Figure 5 is an elevation of the view of figure 4, Figure 5 shows a corner joint, Figure 7 shows two units fixed together by the fixing means shown in figures 4 and 5, Figures 8 and 9 show enlarged views of the adjoining frame components and of a corner of the frame components respectively, and Figure 10 shows the fixing means for joining together units. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in figure 1 components for furniture in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention comprise twelve frame components into which at least one panel (not shown) is inserted into the longitudinally extending grooves 8. The grooves are of a standard width and as a result groove inserts 10 are provided for panels of thinner dimension. All of the grooves in the frame components are located in the centre of a side of the component; some components have grooves on two sides, others only on one side. The frame components have fixing means 4 in the form of bolts which will be explained more fully below near the ends of the frame component. These bolts fix the frame components to each other and the frame components further comprise formations in the form of a set of equally spaced holes 5. The holes 5 are for resealing the fixing of components selected from hinges, drawer runners, shelf supports and like components which also will be described below. These components are supported by means of elongate members 6 to the opposite ends of which are fixed formations 7 which have pins to fit into the holes 5. Because the lengths of elongate members with the attached formations 7 matches the lengths of the frame components, when all twelve frame components are assembled the elongate members 6 and formation 7 become locked in position, a position which is selected according to the level required for a drawer, a shelf, a hinge or other components. At the same time, if the frame components are disassembled by releasing the fixing means in the forms of the bolts 4 then the elongate members and the formations can be reassembled into new positions. This allows the unit of furniture made with these components to be changed at a later date when it is desired to do so. Not only that, but the frame components could be reassembled with different frame components, for example of different lengths. These possibilities will be described further below. For example, as shown in figure 2 twelve components 11 are assembled into a cubed outline, for example, 600 mm in dimension, panels 12 are fitted in five of the six sides of the cube and on the front side three drawers 13 are provided with a pencil tray 14 above. Figure 3 is a cross sectional plan view on a part of a furniture unit. It shows two upright frame components 89, a side panel 90, a rear panel 91 and a front roller shutter 92. It then also shows pins 93 pushed into selected holes of the standardised set of holes in the frame components 89 at the levels required to support a shelf 94. Obviously several shelves can be supported in the unit in this way. As the requirements for the furniture may change over time it can be modified to suit. Once again there is no defacement of any of the frame components or panels nor is any drilling and screwing or any similar actions necessary. Figure 3 shows grooves 138 in the edges of the panels 90 and 91. These grooves give elasticity to the edges of the panels which can be pushed into the grooves 139 with a tight fit. Thus, merely as an example, the grooves 139 could have a width of 5 mm ± 0,5 mm and the panels thicknesses could be 6,5 mm ± 1 mm with a 3 mm groove in the panel edges : these dimensions and tolerance ranges will ensure a sung fit in all possible combinations of panels and frame components. Figure 4 shows corners of two adjacent furniture units which are fixed together by double fixing means. The view is a plan view and shows the upper horizontal frame components 105 and 106 and an upright frame component 107 at a corner of one unit and the adjacent horizontal frame components 108 and 109 with the upright corner component 110. The double connector (which can be seen in isometric view in figure 8) comprises two bolts 111 and 112 which both screw into a transversely oriented ferrule 113 which has screw threaded holes for this purpose and which is inserted into holes drilled into the frame components 106 and 108. Figure 5 is a front elevation of this connection of two units and the same reference numerals are used. Figure 6 shows a fixing means which is conventionally used to assemble a single unit of furniture. This means is shown in perspective view in figure 6A as well. In figure 6 which is a plan view two horizontal frame components 113 and 114 are joined at a corner to an upright frame component 115 by means of a bolt 116 which screws into a transversely oriented ferrule 117 which is located in a hole in the component 113. In figure 6A the same reference numerals are used. The view also shows a ferrule 118 which is used for glue jointing the frame components 115 and 114 as part of a pre-manufactured rigid four component frame. Figure 7 shows two furniture units 119 and 120 which are joined together by the double connectors of the kind shown in figure 10 at their adjacent corners, the front top adjacent corners at 121 and bottom adjacent corners at 122 being visible. The view also shows the routine connectors or standard connectors as shown in figure 6A and the front top corners 123 and 124 and front bottom corners 125 and 126. In Figures 8, 9 and 10, the double connector and the standard or single connector are shown in enlarged view. In these figures the same reference numerals are used.

Claims: Components for furniture which comprise a plurality of frame components (11, 89) of elongate form and at least one panel (12; 90, 91), the frame components having longitudinally extending grooves (8, 139) of a standard width and position in them, the grooves capable of receiving edges of the panel(s) (12; 90, 91), the frame components (11, 89) further having fixing means (4) at their ends adapted for fixing the frame components (11, 89) to each other and formations (5) for receiving fixing components selected from hinges, drawer runners, shelf supports and like components, characterized in that the panel(s) (90, 91) has/have a peripheral groove(s) (138) in its/their edges that runs all around the edges of the panel(s) making the edges compressible. Components for furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein groove inserts (10) are provided in the grooves (8, 139) of the elongate frame components (11, 89) that reduce the standard effective width of these grooves (8, 139). Components for furniture as claimed in claims 1 or 2, provided in combination with elongate members (6) having end formations (7) at or attachable at their ends, having lengths including the formations matching the lengths of the frame components (11), the formations (7) at the ends of the elongate members (6) adapted to engage into the formations (5) in the elongate frame components (11, 89) which are fixed orthogonally to the frame components (11, 89) of equal length to the elongate members (6). Components for furniture as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, which further include fixing means (111, 112, 113) adapted to unitarily fix together not only frame components (106, 107) of a unit (119) of furniture but also simultaneously frame components (108, 110) of adjacent units (120) of furniture.

Inventors: FICHTNER GERD RAINER, SCHNEIDER FRANZ ALOIS, FICHTNER, GERD RAINER, SCHNEIDER, FRANZ ALOIS
Applicants: BAVARIAN DESIGN CONCEPT CC
Application year: 1997
Main classification: A47B47
IPC codes: A47B87, A47B47, A47B57, A47B88