Patent Publication Number: US-11377878-B1

Title: Safety storage furniture

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0038859 filed on Mar. 25, 2021, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Field 
     The present disclosure relates to a safety storage furniture, and more particularly, to a safety storage furniture, in which a locking guide having a locking groove and a guide rail is conveniently installed on a lateral surface of a drawer, such that drawers of file boxes or other multi-stage storage furnitures may be smoothly extended and locked, and an assembly property and durability of the drawer may be improved by a simple structure and convenient installation of the locking guide. 
     Description of the Related Art 
     In general, a drawer-type storage furniture is widely used at home and office in order to store and accommodate storage objects such as various types of documents or various types of clothes. The drawer-type storage furniture is configured to store various types of objects and clothes in a plurality of drawers which is opened or closed by sliding. 
     A drawer-type storage furniture used in the related art is configured such that a single locking device installed at an upper side of the storage furniture locks all the drawers to prevent the extension of the drawers or release all the drawers to allow the extension of the drawers. For this reason, when a user extends the plurality of drawers at the same time, the entire storage furniture may roll over due to the weights of the objects and clothes accommodated in the drawers, which may threat the user&#39;s safety. 
     In particular, if a child plays while climbing up the drawers in a state in which the plurality of drawers is extended, the child may fall down when the storage furniture rolls over, which may cause a very severe accident. 
     In addition, in order to prevent an accident caused by the simultaneous extension of the drawers, there has been proposed a method of installing locking devices on the respective drawers to control the extension of the respective drawers. However, this method may only prevent the safety accident that may be caused by the children but may not be used as a basic solution because the drawers are extended simultaneously in a state in which a user unlock all the drawers. 
     Of course, there is a storage furniture having a configuration for preventing the simultaneous extension of the drawers, but the storage furniture in the related art configured to prevent the simultaneous extension of the drawers has a complicated structure and a comparatively unstable operational structure. For this reason, the storage furniture is damaged when the drawers are repeatedly extended and retracted. 
     In particular, the configuration in the related art for preventing the simultaneous extension of the drawers cannot be applied to the furniture already produced, and as a result, there are various problems in that it is impossible to prevent the safety accident caused by the furniture that has been produced and sold. 
     SUMMARY 
     An object to be achieved by the present disclosure is to provide a safety storage furniture, in which when one drawer is extended, the other drawer is automatically kept locked, such that it is possible to prevent a rollover of the storage furniture caused when the plurality of drawers is simultaneously extended. 
     Another object to be achieved by the present disclosure is to provide a safety storage furniture, in which a locking unit having a locking groove provided on one side surface of a drawer and a guide unit having an inclined guide and a horizontal guide are integrally connected and installed, such that an assembly property of the storage furniture may be improved and extended and locked states of the drawer may be smoothly maintained. 
     Still another object to be achieved by the present disclosure is to provide a safety storage furniture that has a simple structure and may be easily applied, without a structural change, to furniture already produced and having drawers, thereby improving safety of the storage furniture. 
     According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a safety storage furniture according to the present disclosure includes: a storage furniture main body having an internal space opened in a forward direction; a plurality of drawers installed to be extended from and retracted into the internal space of the storage furniture main body; a locking guide installed on one side surface of the drawer; and a locking support having a plurality of locking members and vertically installed on one side inner surface of the storage furniture main body so as to correspond to the locking guide, in which the locking guide has a guide unit and a locking unit which are integrally configured, the guide unit changes a height of the locking member in an upward/downward direction while moving in a state in which the guide unit is in contact with the locking member of the locking support, and the locking unit is provided at a front end of the guide unit so as to be connected to the guide unit and has a locking groove into which the locking member of the locking support is inserted and coupled. 
     According to the present disclosure, the safety storage furniture has the simple structure in which the locking unit having the locking groove and the locking guide, which has the guide unit having the inclined guide and the horizontal guide integrally connected, are installed on one side surface of the drawer. As a result, the number of components required for the storage furniture may be reduced, the unit price of the product may be reduced in accordance with the reduction in manufacturing costs, and the assembly and installation processes may be easily performed. 
     According to the present disclosure, when one drawer is extended, the other drawer is kept locked by the locking guide. As a result, it is possible to prevent a rollover of the storage furniture and safety accident caused when a user inadvertently extends the drawer. 
     In addition, according to the present disclosure, since the locking unit and the guide unit are integrally provided, durability of the locking guide may be constantly maintained even when the storage furniture is used over a long period of time, and thus operation reliability may be improved. 
     According to the present disclosure, the safety storage furniture may be easily applied, without a structural change, to the furniture already produced. It is possible to prevent a safety accident caused by the furniture that has already been sold, and thus it is possible to improve consumer satisfaction. 
     According to the present disclosure, since the locking member of the locking support has the plurality of grooves, the frictional force caused by the contact between the locking member and the guide unit of the locking guide at the time of extending the drawer is reduced. As a result, the occurrence of noise may be reduced, thereby improving operational performance. 
     According to the present disclosure, since the locking groove has the locking support surface inclined upward in the rearward direction, the locking member is securely coupled into the locking groove by the locking support surface when the drawer is forcibly extended in the locked state of the drawer. As a result, it is possible to assuredly prevent the drawer from being forcibly extended. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other aspects, features and other advantages of the present disclosure will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an exemplified view illustrating a configuration according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is an exemplified view illustrating an internal configuration of a storage furniture according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is an exemplified view illustrating an assembly relationship between a locking guide and a locking support according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4  is an exemplified view illustrating a configuration of a locking member of the locking support according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 5  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which the storage furniture according to the present disclosure is locked; 
         FIG. 6  is an exemplified view illustrating a configuration of the locking guide according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 7  is an exemplified view illustrating detailed configurations of a guide unit and a locking unit according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 8  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which a drawer is coupled to a storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 9  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which one drawer is extended from the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 10  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which one drawer is extended from the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 11  is another exemplified view illustrating a state in which one drawer is extended from the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT 
       FIG. 1  is an exemplified view illustrating a configuration according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 2  is an exemplified view illustrating an internal configuration of a storage furniture according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 3  is an exemplified view illustrating an assembly relationship between a locking guide and a locking support according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 4  is an exemplified view illustrating a configuration of a locking member of the locking support according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 5  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which the storage furniture according to the present disclosure is locked,  FIG. 6  is an exemplified view illustrating a configuration of the locking guide according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 7  is an exemplified view illustrating detailed configurations of a guide unit and a locking unit according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 8  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which a drawer is coupled to a storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 9  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which one drawer is extended from the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 10  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which one drawer is extended from the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure, and  FIG. 11  is another exemplified view illustrating a state in which one drawer is extended from the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure. 
     The present disclosure includes: a storage furniture main body  10  having an internal space  11  opened at a front side thereof; a plurality of drawers  20  installed to be extended from and retracted into the storage furniture main body  10 ; a locking guide  30  installed at one side of each of the drawers  20 ; and a locking support  40  installed vertically on one side inner surface  10   a  of the storage furniture main body so as to correspond to the locking guide  30  and having a plurality of locking members  42 , in which the locking guide  30  has a guide unit  50  and a locking unit  60  which are integrally configured, the guide unit  50  changes a height of the locking member  42  in an upward/downward direction while moving in a state in which the guide unit  50  is in contact with the locking member  42  of the locking support, and the locking unit  60  is provided at a front end of the guide unit  50  so as to be connected to the guide unit  50  and has a locking groove  61  into which the locking member  42  of the locking support is inserted and coupled. 
     A safety storage furniture  100  according to the present disclosure may be not only a typical storage furniture having a storage furniture main body on which a plurality of drawers is installed in multiple stages to accommodate storage objects, but also a drawer unit, a cupboard, a filing cabinet, a clothing cabinet, a desk drawer, a document cabinet, a file box, or a cabinet that has two or more drawers installed to be individually extended. 
     The storage furniture main body  10  has the internal space  11  opened in a forward direction F and may have legs or wheels  13  installed at a lower end thereof. The plurality of drawers  20  is installed in the internal space  11  of the storage furniture main body so as to be retracted into and extended from the internal space  11 . 
     The drawer  20  may be connected to and installed on the storage furniture main body  10  by means of a guide rail or a sliding rail  90 . Because the structure in which the storage furniture main body  10  and the drawer  20  are connected and operated by means of the guide rail or the sliding rail  90  is a well-known technology widely used to extend and retract the drawer, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. 
     The locking support  40  is positioned between the drawer  20  and the storage furniture main body  10  and installed in the internal space  11  so as to be vertically moved in the upward/downward direction. The locking support  40  serves to lock all the drawers  20  installed in the storage furniture main body  10  to prevent all the drawers  20  from being extended. When one drawer  21  is extended, the locking support  40  serves to lock the other drawers  22  to prevent the other drawers  22  from being extended from the storage furniture main body  10 . 
     The locking support  40  includes a vertical support member  41  installed in a height direction of the storage furniture main body  10 , and the plurality of locking members protruding at a predetermined interval from the vertical support member  41 . 
     The vertical support member  41  is connected to and installed on the storage furniture main body  10  by one or more support pieces  43  so as to be movable upward and downward and positioned in the internal space  11 . 
     The support piece  43  serves to support and guide the vertical support member  41  so that the vertical support member  41  is vertically moved in the upward/downward direction, but the shape and the structure of the support piece  43  is not particularly limited. 
     For example, the support piece  43  is provided in the form of a separate bracket to support, guide, fix, and install the vertical support member on one side inner surface  10   a  of the storage furniture main body. Alternatively, the support piece  43  is formed by bending one side of the storage furniture main body in order to support and guide the vertical support member. Alternatively, the support piece  43  is formed integrally with the storage furniture main body by injection molding in order to support and guide the vertical support member. 
     In addition, the vertical support member  41  is inserted into a vertical guide groove  12  formed at predetermined depth in one side inner surface  10   a  of the storage furniture main body and may move along the vertical guide groove  12 . The vertical support member  41  may be installed to be supported by the support piece  43  in the form of a flat plate shape. When the vertical support member  41  is inserted and installed into the vertical guide groove  12  as described above, the vertically upward and downward movements of the locking support  40  may be more stably and smoothly performed. 
     The locking member  42  is inserted and coupled into the locking groove  61  of the locking guide to lock the drawer  20  and prevent the drawer  20  from being extended. The plurality of locking members  42  is connected and installed onto the vertical support member  41  at a predetermined interval so as to be directed toward one side surface  20   a  of the drawer to which the locking guide  30  is connected and installed. The plurality of locking members  42  is installed to correspond to the plurality of drawers  20  installed in the storage furniture main body  10 . 
     In this case, the locking member  42  is connected and installed onto the vertical support member  41  and has a predetermined length so that an end  42   a  of the locking member  42  may be inserted and coupled into the locking groove  61  of the locking unit without being in contact with one side surface  20   a  of the drawer. 
     The locking member  42  has a rod or cylindrical shape. The locking member  42  may be formed and installed integrally with the vertical support member  41  or rotatably connected and installed onto a shaft  41   a  installed on the vertical support member  41 , as illustrated in  FIG. 4 . 
     In this case, the locking member  42  may have a plurality of grooves  42   c  formed in a contact surface  42   b  being rollably in contact with the locking guide  30 , and the plurality of grooves  42   c  is formed in a circumferential direction, that is, a rolling direction. In the case in which the plurality of grooves  42   c  is formed in the contact surface as described above, an area of the locking member  42 , which is rollably in contact with the locking guide  30 , that is, the guide unit  50  of the locking guide, is decreased. As a result, during the operation of extending the drawer  20 , noise caused by contact between the locking guide  30  and the locking member  42  is reduced, and a frictional force is also reduced, thereby improving performance in extending and retracting the drawer  20 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the locking support  40 , configured as described above, may be connected to and installed in the storage furniture main body  10  so as to be operated in conjunction with a manual (key) or digital (electric) key box  80 . Alternatively, as illustrated in FIGS. and  2 , the locking support  40  may be connected to and installed in the storage furniture main body  10  so as to be operated in conjunction with the extension and retraction of the drawer  20 . 
     The key box  80  serves to lock the drawer  20  to prevent the drawer  20  from being opened. Because the configuration in which the locking support  40  is connected to the key box  80  and the vertical support member  40  moves upward and downward as the key box operates is a well-known technology widely used for the storage furnitures, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.  FIG. 5  illustrates a state in which all the drawers of the storage furniture are locked by a manual key box. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 1, 6, and 7 , the locking guide  30  includes: the guide unit  50  configured to change the height of the locking member  42  in the upward/downward direction while moving in the state in which the guide unit  50  is in contact with the locking member  42  of the locking support; and the locking unit  60  provided at the front end of the guide unit  50  so as to be connected to the guide unit  50  and having the locking groove  61  into which the locking member  42  of the locking support is inserted and supported in position. 
     The guide unit  50  is in contact with the locking member of the locking support and serves to move the locking member  42  upward or downward during the operation of extending or retracting the drawer  20 . 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the guide unit  50  includes an inclined guide  51  configured to move the locking member  42  upward and downward, and a horizontal guide  52  extending from the inclined guide  51  and maintain a position of the locking member  42  moved upward. The guide unit  50  is disposed on one side surface  20   a  of the drawer so that based on the forward direction (the extension direction of the drawer) F of the storage furniture, the inclined guide  51  is positioned at a front end, and the horizontal guide  52  is positioned at a rear end. 
     The locking unit  60  is configured to have both the function of preventing the extension and the retraction of the drawer  20  by being coupled to the locking member  42  of the locking support, and the function of guiding the locking member  42  of the locking support so that the locking member  42  stably moves upward or downward along the inclined guide  51 . The locking unit  60  is connected integrally to the inclined guide  51  of the guide unit. 
     As illustrated in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the locking unit  60  is provided to extend from the front end of the guide unit, that is, the inclined guide and includes the locking groove  61  along which the locking member  42  moves in the upward/downward direction, and an inclined guide groove  62  communicating with a lower end of the locking groove  61  and formed along the inclined guide  51 . 
     The locking groove  61  includes a vertical line cross section  61   a  extending from the inclined guide  51  and configured to guide the locking member  42  in the upward/downward direction, a locking support surface  61   b  spaced apart from the vertical line cross section  61   a  at a predetermined distance and configured such that the locking member  42  is caught by the locking support surface  61   b , and a stopper surface  61   c  having both ends connected to the vertical line cross section  61   a  and the locking support surface  61   b  and configured to restrict the movement of the locking member  42  moved upward. A distance L from the vertical line cross section to the locking support surface is larger than a diameter D of the locking member. 
     In this case, the stopper surface  61   c  is formed such that a height H thereof from the horizontal guide of the guide unit is larger than the diameter D of the locking member. In addition, in a case in which the stopper surface  61   c  is formed as a curved surface having a semi-circular shape, a height H 1  from the horizontal guide  52  to an apex T of the stopper surface is larger than the diameter D of the locking member. As a result, when a locking member  42 ′ comes into contact with the horizontal guide  52  of the locking guide installed on one drawer  21  being extended, another locking member  42 ″ is smoothly inserted and coupled into the locking groove  61  of another locking guide installed in the storage furniture. 
     In addition, as illustrated in  FIG. 7B , the locking groove  61  may be formed such that the locking support surface  61   b  is inclined upward in a rearward direction (the retraction direction of the drawer) B toward the stopper surface  61   c . When the locking support surface  61   b  is inclined upward as described above, the locking groove  61  has a shape convex in the rearward direction (the retraction direction of the drawer) B. As a result, when the drawer remaining in the locked state (one drawer in the state in which the locking member is inserted and coupled into the locking groove) is forcibly moved (extended) in the forward direction F by vibration or a force caused by a rollover or an external factor, the locking support surface  61   b  inclined upward comes into contact with the locking member  42  and moves downward in the forward direction, such that the locked state of the drawer  20  is more securely maintained. That is, the drawer is more assuredly prevented from being forcibly extended. 
     The locking guide  30 , configured as described above, may be fixedly installed on one side surface  20   a  of the drawer by screws, bolts, and the like. Alternatively, the locking guide  30  may be fixedly installed by being coupled, by one-touch fitting, to a coupling bracket  20   b  provided on one side surface  20   a  of the drawer so that the inclined guide  51  and the horizontal guide  52  of the guide unit are exposed to the outside of the coupling bracket  20   b . In this case, the guide unit  51  of the locking guide  30  may further have a fixing groove  30   a  to which the coupling bracket  20   b  is fitted and fixed. 
     Hereinafter, an operational relationship of the present disclosure configured as described above will be described with reference to the drawings. 
       FIG. 8  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which the drawer is coupled to the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 9  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which one drawer is extended from the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure,  FIG. 10  is an exemplified view illustrating a state in which one drawer is extended from the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure, and  FIG. 11  is another exemplified view illustrating a state in which one drawer is extended from the storage furniture main body according to the present disclosure. 
     When any one drawer  21 , among the plurality of drawers provided in the storage furniture, is extended in the forward direction F, the locking guide  30  installed on one side surface of the drawer  21  being extended is also moved in the forward direction F. The guide unit  50 , i.e., the inclined guide  51  of the locking support, which is moved in the forward direction F, comes into contact with one side locking member  42 ′ of the locking support, such that the locking member  42 ′ is pushed upward. 
     As one side locking member  42 ′ is pushed upward as described above, the entire locking support  40  is vertically moved upward. When the drawer  21  is continuously extended, one side locking member  42 ′, which moves upward along the inclined guide  51 , comes into contact with the horizontal guide  52  extending from the inclined guide  51 , such that the state in which one side locking member  42 ′ is moved upward (vertically moved) is maintained. That is, the state in which the entire locking support  40  is moved upward is maintained. 
     When the locking support  40  is moved upward as described above, the other locking members  42 ″ provided on the locking support are inserted and coupled into the locking grooves  61  formed in the locking units of the remaining drawers  22 , which are not extended, such that all the remaining drawers  21 , which are not extended, are kept locked as the locking members  42 ″ are coupled to the locking grooves  61 . That is, when one drawer is extended, all the other drawers are kept locked. 
     The present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiment described above, various modifications can be made by any person skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains without departing from the subject matter of the present disclosure as claimed in the claims, and the modifications are within the scope defined by the claims. 
     In addition, the terms used to describe the present disclosure are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one constituent element from another constituent element and assisting in understanding the present disclosure, and the constituent elements of the present disclosure should not be limited by the terms.