Patent Publication Number: US-2011074262-A1

Title: Tool box

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a tool box to stow tools or spare parts and particularly to a tool box that also serves as a portable tool kit. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Making right kinds of tools ready for use is essential to improve work efficiency, either for professionals or people who like to fix things by themselves. Having a great number of tools or spare parts scattering around working environments could make selecting and fetching the right kind of tools or spare parts baffling. Hence most professionals and DIY fans often carry a tool box or tool kit to hold and organize the tools and spare parts and other miscellaneous elements to make operation easier and more efficient. A conventional tool box generally contains several drawers which are partitioned to hold tools and spare parts in a desirable manner according to their different types so that they can be readily fetched and stowed without creating confusion. 
     While the conventional tool box makes organizing of the tools or spare parts easier, it is inconvenient to carry to different work sites. Hence most workers have to prepare a separated portable tool kit to hold necessary tools and spare parts for a specific task. This means that the workers have to select and fetch the needed tools and spare parts from the tool box, and put them into another tool kit. After the task is finished, the tools and spare parts have to be placed back into the tool box again. It is not an efficient way of time management or using the tools. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, the primary object of the present invention is to overcome the aforesaid disadvantages of the conventional tool box or tool kit that requires more time and efforts to arrange tools or spare parts before and after doing works. The invention provides a tool box that can hold tools or spare parts, and also can serve as a portable tool kit to improve usability and convenience. 
     To achieve the foregoing object, the tool box according to the present invention includes a cabinet and a plurality of drawers. The cabinet has an upper board, a lower board, a left board and a right board that correspond to each other and a rear board. The cabinet is partitioned inside to form a plurality of housing compartments to hold the drawers. The rear board has an attraction element corresponding to each drawer. Each drawer is located in each housing compartment of the cabinet. Each drawer has a trough and a lid. The trough has a holding space inside and a front plate with a drawing means located thereon. The drawing means has a handle located in a recess formed on the front plate and two corresponding anchor bars coupled respectively with an elastic element on an outer side. The front plate has an indented portion on the top end with through holes formed thereon communicating to the recess. The through holes correspond to distal ends of turning ends of the handle to hold the anchor bars. Each anchor bar has a jutting wall at one end butting one distal end of the turning end of the handle. By turning the distal end of the handle, the anchor bar is pushed upwards to latch the lid. Incorporating with a latch means located at two sides of the indented portion, the lid can be latched in a fixing state. Returning the handle, the elastic element provides a returning force to lower the anchor bar so that the lid does not latch the trough. The trough further has a sliding track on each of two opposite side plates to allow the drawer to slide freely forwards and rearwards in the housing compartment, and a wedge portion located above the sliding track. The lid has a protrusive portion at a front end with an anchor hole mating the through hole of the trough and notches at two ends corresponding to the latch means so that a latched condition can be formed by turning the latch means. The lid further has a grip portion at a rear end and a magnetic element located at the rear edge. The lid also has an L-shaped wedge flute formed at each of two lateral sides extended downwards and the rear edge corresponding to the wedge portion so that it can slide on the trough to cover thereof. In the covered condition, the protrusive portion of the lid is latched on the indented portion of the trough. 
     The tool box thus constructed provides many benefits, notably: 
     1. It can be served as a portable tool kit:
         The cabinet of the present invention can hold a number of drawers to facilitate centralized management. Each drawer can slide freely in the cabinet through the sliding tracks, and can be fully drawn out and separated from the cabinet. By turning the handle, the anchor bars can latch on the lid, and by turning the latch means, the lid can be securely and closely latched on the trough so that the drawer can also be served as a portable tool kit to be carried around easily.       

     2. The tool box can stow and hold tools and spare parts:
         After use is finished, the drawer can be reloaded into the cabinet. By turning and leveling the handle at the recess and drawing the trough, the magnetic element at the rear edge of the lid is attracted by the attraction element of the cabinet so that the lid remains in the cabinet and the drawer can hold the tools and spare parts as an ordinary tool box does.       

     The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded view of the present invention with the tool box and a drawer separated. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the drawer according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the drawer with the lid in a closing condition. 
         FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the drawer with the lid in a closed condition. 
         FIG. 5A  is a schematic view of the drawer with the handle turned in operating condition- 1 . 
         FIG. 5B  is a schematic view of the drawer with the handle turned in operating condition- 2 . 
         FIG. 5C  is a schematic view of the drawer with the handle turned in operating condition- 3 . 
         FIG. 5D  is a schematic view of the drawer with the handle turned in operating condition- 4 . 
         FIG. 6  is a sectional view of the drawer drawn without turning the handle. 
         FIG. 7  is a sectional view of the present invention showing the attraction element and magnetic element in an attracting condition. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1 ,  2 ,  3 ,  5 A and  6 , the present invention provides a tool box  10  which includes a cabinet  20  and a plurality of drawers  30 . 
     The cabinet  20  consists of an upper board  21 , a lower board  22 , a left board  23  and a right board  24  that correspond to each other, and a rear board  25 . Its interior is partitioned into a number of housing compartments  26  to hold the drawers  30 . The rear board  25  has a plurality of attraction elements  27  located thereon corresponding to the drawers  30 . The attraction elements  27  are iron pins. 
     Each of the drawers  30  is held in each housing compartment  26 , and has a trough  31  and a lid  32 . The trough  31  has a holding space  311  inside and a front plate  312  with a drawing means  310  located thereon to move the drawer  30  and latch the lid  32  in an integrated manner. The drawing means  310  has a handle  313  located on a recess  3121  formed on the front plate  312  and two corresponding anchor bars  315  each coupled with an elastic element  316  on an outer side. The handle  313  can be positioned and leveled at the recess  3121 . The front plate  312  has an indented portion  3122  on a top end with through holes  3123  formed thereon communicating to the recess  3121  to hold the anchor bars  315 . The through holes  3123  correspond to distal ends  3131  of turning ends of the handle  313 . Each anchor bar  315  has the elastic element  316 , such as a spring, at the outer side. Each anchor bar  315  has a jutting wall  3151  at one end to butt the distal end  3131  of the turning end of the handle  313 . By turning the handle  313 , the distal end  3131  also turns to push the anchor bar  315  upwards to latch on the lid  32  in an integrated manner. Incorporating with a latch means  317  located at two sides of the indented portion  3122 , the lid  32  can be latched in a fixing state. The handle  313  can be moved back and returned, and the elastic element  316  provides a returning force to lower the anchor bar  315  so that the lid  32  is unlatched from the trough  31 . The trough  31  further has a sliding track  318  on each of two corresponding side plates to allow the drawer  30  to slide freely forwards and rearwards in the housing compartments  26 . The trough  31  also has a wedge portion  319  located above the sliding track  318  to facilitate sliding of the lid  32 . The lid  32  has a protrusive portion  321  at a front end with anchor holes  322  formed thereon mating the through holes  3123  of the trough  31 . The protrusive portion  321  further has notches  323  at two opposite ends corresponding to the latch means  317 . The latch means  317  can be turned to latch the notches  323 . The lid  32  also has a grip portion  3231  at a rear end formed like an opening and a magnetic element  325  located at the rear edge thereof. The magnetic element  325  is a magnet. The lid  32  further has an L-shaped wedge flute  324  formed at each of two corresponding lateral sides extended downwards and the rear edge corresponding to the wedge portion  319  so that the lid  32  can slide on the trough  31  and close thereon. When the lid  32  is closed, the protrusive portion  321  is latched in the indented portion  3122  of the trough  31  with the wedge flute  324  at the rear edge butting the rear end of the trough  31 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 3 , the cabinet  20  can hold the drawers  30  inside to provide centralized management. Each drawer  30  can be freely slid in the cabinet  20  through the sliding track  318 , and also be fully drawn out and separated from the cabinet  20 . The holding space  311  of the drawer  30  can hold various tools or spare parts. After the drawer  30  is be drawn out and separated from the cabinet  20  by gripping the handle  313 , the handle  313  also is turned (referring to  FIG. 5A ); the distal ends  3131  of the turning ends of the handle  313  are turned to move the anchor bars  315  forwards to latch the anchor holes  322  of the protrusive portion  321  of the lid  32  (referring to  FIGS. 5B ,  5 C and  5 D); then the latch means  317  can be turned to latch the lid  32  securely on the trough  31 . Thereby the drawer  30  with the trough  31  and the lid  32  latched together can be carried around like an ordinary portable tool kit (referring to  FIG. 4 ). To fetch the tools or spare parts in the drawer  30 , turn the latch means  317  to unlatch the lid  32 ; next, turn the handle  313  to be leveled at the recess  3121 , the anchor bars  315  are moved back and returned to their original positions by turning the distal ends  3131  of the turning ends of the handle  313  so that the anchor bars  315  no longer latch with the anchor holes  322  of the protrusive portion  321  of the lid  32 , and the lid  32  can be slid and moved rearwards through the grip portion  3231  to open the drawer  30 . After use is finished, the drawer  30  can be reloaded into the cabinet  20 . Thus time for organizing and managing the tools or spare parts can be saved. Also referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , after the drawer  30  is held in the cabinet  20 , turn and level the handle  313  at the recess  3121 , draw the trough  31 , the magnetic element  325  at the rear edge of the lid  32  is attracted to the attraction element  27  to keep the lid  32  in the cabinet  20 . The drawer  30  can be served as an ordinary tool box to hold the tools and spare parts.