Patent Publication Number: US-6666533-B1

Title: Drawer organizer

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a drawer organizer for organizing, in rows, boxes of different brands of a product. Each row has boxes of one brand of product. The boxes are thin elongate boxes, such as, for example, a box for a bottle of perfume, and the boxes all having generally the same shape. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Heretofore various draw organizers have been proposed. Examples of two such drawer organizers are disclosed in the following U.S. patents: 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                   
               
               
                 U.S. Pat. No. 
                 Patentee 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 4,436,355 
                 Fortune 
               
               
                 5,853,239 
                 Laib et al. 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Over the years, many different types of drawer organizers have been proposed for organizing different items. 
     As described hereinafter in greater detail, the present invention is directed to a drawer organizer for storage of boxes of products of different sizes in rows, one row for each size or brand, so that one can pick out a box having a particular product therein without having to pick up several boxes to find a particular box for a particular product that one is looking for. 
     The drawer organizer can be used to organize boxes containing small products, such as perfume, cosmetics or hospital supplies wherein the boxes are substantially the same size but contain different products. 
     As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the present invention includes an assembly of parts for organizing boxes in rows such that each row will contain a specific product and whereby the boxes will be maintained in the row in an upright position. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to the present invention, there is provided a drawer organizer assembly comprising two, first rectangular divider plates each having two long edges and two short edges and a plurality of spaced apart slots extending part way into the first divider plate from one long edge thereof; at least three, second rectangular divider plates each having two long edges and two short edges and at least two slots extending part way into each second divider plate from one long edge thereof; the divider plates being assembled with the first divider plates being arranged, respectively, in a front area of a drawer and a rear area of a drawer, the second divider plates being received in one of the slots in the first divider plate to form at least one elongate product receiving trough; and at least one elongate biasing assembly being received in the trough for urging boxes of a product in the trough toward the front area of the drawer. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view with portions broken away of a prior art drawer used to store boxes of product of different brands and shows a disarray or mixing of the boxes of different brands of product that can come about over a period of time. 
     FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the drawer organizer of the present invention where, three alternate rows of boxes are shown in spaced apart troughs and it is to be understood that all of the rows can have rows of boxes therein biased to an upright position biased toward the front of the drawer as shown. 
     FIG. 3 is a plan view of divider plates which are used to form the troughs shown in FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a pusher assembly which is positioned in each one of the troughs shown in FIG. 2 established by a plurality of the dividers shown in FIG.  3 . 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S) 
     Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 a conventional prior art drawer  4  having a plurality of boxes  6  of different brands of product loosely mixed in the drawer  4 . 
     This loose mixing of the boxes  6  in the drawer requires a sales person to pick up several boxes  6  before he or she finds a desired box of a particular brand of product. This is time consuming and frustrating. 
     In FIG. 2, there is shown a top plan view of a drawer  8  having a drawer organizer  10  constructed according to the teachings of the present invention releasably mounted therein. The drawer organizer  10  includes at least two short plate shaped, slotted dividers  12  and a plurality of long plate shaped, slotted dividers  14 . The shapes of the short dividers  12  and the long dividers  14  are shown in FIG.  3 . These dividers  12  and  14  are positioned in the drawer  8  in the manner shown in FIG. 2 to create elongate troughs  16 . 
     The divider  12  has a plurality of spaced apart slots  18  extending into the divider  12  from an elongate edge  20  thereof approximately halfway across the width W of the divider  12 . 
     In like manner, the divider  14  has a plurality of spaced apart slots  22  which extend into the divider  14  from one elongate edge  24  approximately halfway across the width W′ of the divider  14 . 
     The dividers  12  and  14  have more slots than necessary so that the dividers  12  and  14  can be cut to any desired length for being received and assembled in different size drawers. 
     As shown in FIG. 2, the dividers  12  and  14  are assembled in a conventional manner by aligning certain slots  18  in dividers  12  with certain slots  22  in the dividers  14  and then pushing the dividers  12  and  14  toward each other to create the troughs  16 . 
     For the sake of clarity, only alternate troughs  16  are partially filled with different product boxes  26 ,  28  and  30 , it being understood that each trough  16  will have boxes of a particular brand of product therein. Then, in each trough  16  is positioned a pusher assembly  32  which is best shown in FIG.  4 . 
     Each pusher assembly  32  includes a rail  34  slidably mounting a pusher car  36  having a head plate  37 . A spring band is mounted in the pusher car  36  in a coiled condition with an outer end  39  releasably attached to one end  40  or  42  of the rail  34 . The spring band  38  is in a quiescent state when the band  38  is in a fully coiled state. This creates a pulling force toward the one end  40  or  42  of the rail  34  to which the outer end  39  of the spring band  38  is attached. 
     From the foregoing description, it will be understood that the drawer organizer  10  of the present invention has a number of advantages, some of which have been described above and others of which are inherent in the invention. 
     For example, the divider plates can be easily cut to different lengths to fit into different size drawers. 
     Also, the head plate  37  can be modified (made wider) to fit across a wider trough  16 . 
     Further, a different type of biasing assembly can be utilized, although the pusher assembly  32  is preferred. 
     The drawer organizer is particularly useful in organizing boxes of cosmetics. 
     It will also be understood that modifications can be made to the drawer organizer  10  without departing from the teachings of the invention and the scope of the invention is only to be limited as necessitated by the accompanying claims.