Patent Publication Number: US-2019167000-A1

Title: Drawer Rack for a Cabinet

Description:
The invention relates to a drawer rack for a cabinet, in particular for a kitchen cabinet, with upright sidewalls that are oriented parallel to each other, a rear wall extending between these sidewalls, which delimit a cabinet interior laterally and to the rear, with a rack frame that is transferable via telescopic rails from a closed position located inside the cabinet interior into an open position moved out of the cabinet interior, wherein at least one tray or similar piece of equipment is supportable at least at one vertical support column of the rack frame. 
     Drawer racks for cabinets, for example, for tall kitchen cabinets, are generally known and have usually a rack frame to which the trays are fastened, for example, via a rearward vertical support column of the rack frame. The rack frame, in turn, is fastened to telescopic rails which are connected to a cabinet bottom. When the trays are fastened to a vertical rear support column, usually a front element in the manner of a door of the cabinet is fastened to a front vertical support column so that such a drawer rack can is designed in the manner of a pull-out pantry. In the pulled-out open position of the drawer rack, the trays are accessible from the side. This is disadvantageous in practical use because in the open position of the drawer rack the latter is not accessible from the front. 
     Drawer racks are already known in which in the open position the rack frame can be pivoted such that it is accessible from the front, i.e., from the operating side. The constructive expenditure required for this is however considerable. 
     It is therefore object of the present invention to provide a drawer rack for cabinets that in the pulled-out state of the drawer rack is configured to be pivotable such that it is accessible from the operating side and therefore from the front; however, this is to be realized in a constructively simple way. 
     As a solution to this object, the drawer rack of the aforementioned kind is characterized in that the rack frame is connected via a pivot lever pivotably with a translatorily movable telescopic rail and in that the rack frame is connected to the pivot lever so as to be pivotably moveable relative thereto, wherein the telescopic rail has correlated therewith a guide structure, along which the rack frame in its open position is embodied to be moveable for a pivot movement of the rack frame. 
     Accordingly, a drawer rack for a cabinet is made available in which the rack frame can be pivoted at the translatorily movable telescopic rail in its open position via a simply constructed pivot lever and via a simply constructed guide structure. The components required for this are significantly reduced in comparison to conventional configurations. The pivot point of the pivot lever is located in the forward region of the telescopic rail so that an optimal pivot travel in the open position of the drawer rack is made available for the pivot movement of the rack frame and of the trays or other pieces of equipment fastened thereto. The pull-out length of the drawer rack in comparison to known racks is shortened because the pull-out travel must no longer be greater than the installation length. Instead, the drawer rack according to the invention can be designed as a complete pull-out device in which the pull-out length is somewhat smaller than the installation depth. The guide structure can also block or lock the rack frame in its pivoted position. When the pull-out device is pivoted, the pull-out device is blocked and cannot be returned. The pivoting action can also be realized via links in the manner of a four-bar linkage. 
     Preferably, a bottom frame support of the rack frame has two guide bodies that interact with the guide structure for a pivot movement of the rack frame. Preferably, the guide structure has two guide structure members, one for a pivot movement in clockwise direction and one for a pivot movement in counterclockwise direction, wherein a guide path is provided on an outer defect surface of the respective guide structure part. In addition, parallel to and substantially congruent to the pull-out telescopic rail, a central rectilinear guide path extends between the two guide structure members. A guide body of the rack frame can engage this central guide path, wherein a further guide body of the rack frame can run along the outer bandel [sic] surface of the respective guide structure member as a secondary guide path so that in this way a movement path for the pivot movement of the rack frame is provided. The guide bodies can be designed as guide rollers. 
     At the hinge location between the pivot lever and the rack frame, a further guide body can be provided that ensures that the rack frame together with the pivot lever can be pushed into the telescopic rail, wherein, in the pushed-in state, the guide body at the hinge location between the pivot lever and the bottom frame support of the rack frame is also positioned in the rectilinear guide path of the guide structure so that in this state the rack frame, positioned in the guide path of the guide structure, is prevented from carrying out a pivot movement. This has the result that the rack frame can be safely transferred into its closed position in the cabinet interior. 
    
    
     
       Further advantageous embodiments of the invention result from the additional dependent claims, the following description, and the drawing. The drawing shows in: 
         FIG. 1 : an embodiment of a drawer rack according to the invention, illustrated in a perspective illustration at a tall kitchen cabinet in the pulled-out state of the drawer rack or of the rack frame with tablets arranged thereat; 
         FIG. 2 : also in a perspective illustration the embodiment according to  FIG. 1  in the pivoted state of the rack frame with the trays; 
         FIG. 3 : the embodiment according to  FIG. 2  in a plan view; 
         FIG. 4 : the embodiment according to  FIG. 2  in an analogous illustration in a position of the drawer rack shown pivoted oppositely relative to the illustration of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 5 : a plan view of the embodiment according to  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 6 : a plan view of the bottom telescopic rail with guide structure and bottom frame support of the rack frame in a plan view in pushed-in-state; 
         FIG. 7 : the embodiment according to  FIG. 6  in a perspective illustration; 
         FIG. 8 : an illustration in analogy to  FIG. 6  with illustration of the bottom frame support in a state pulled out a little; 
         FIG. 9 : the embodiment according to  FIG. 8  in a perspective illustration; 
         FIG. 10 : the embodiment according to  FIGS. 6 to 9  in a state pulled out farther; 
         FIG. 11 : the embodiment according to  FIG. 10  in a perspective illustration; 
         FIG. 12 : the embodiment according to  FIGS. 6 to 11  in the pulled-out state of the rack frame with a rack frame pivoted in clockwise direction in plan view; 
         FIG. 13 : the embodiment according to  FIG. 12  in a perspective illustration; 
         FIG. 14 : an illustration in analogy to  FIG. 12  in which the rack frame is pivoted counterclockwise in the open position; and 
         FIG. 15 : the embodiment according to  FIG. 14  in a perspective illustration. 
     
    
    
     In the drawing, identical parts are referred to with identical reference characters. In general, a tall kitchen cabinet which comprises sidewalls  2 , a top  3  as well as a bottom  4  is identified by  1 . Moreover, a front cover  5  is provided that is fastened to a rack frame, generally referred to by  6 , at a forward vertical support column  7  ( FIG. 2 ). At the rearward support column  8 , trays  9  are attached. The rack frame  6  is part of a drawer rack, generally referred to by  10 , that comprises telescopic rails  11  and a bottom frame support  12  of the rack frame  6  that is connected by a pivot lever  13  with the telescopic rail  11  ( FIG. 9 ). 
     A guide structure  14  is provided at the telescopic rail  11 . Between the two guide structure members  14 . 1  and  14 . 2 , a rectilinear groove-shaped guide path  14 . 3  is embodied into which, in the pushed-in state of the rack frame  6  with its bottom frame support  12 , the guide body  15 , the guide body  16 , and the guide body  17  can be accommodated, as is illustrated in  FIGS. 6 to 11 . 
     A second guide path  14 . 4  is embodied at the first guide structure member  14 . 1 , and namely at the forward outer wall surface and a second guide path  14 . 4  is also embodied at the second guide structure member  14 . 2 . These outer guide paths  14 . 4  serve to allow for the guide bodies  16 , located in the forward region or in a central region of the bottom frame support  12 , to glide along thereat while the guide body  15  is still located within the rectilinear guide path  14 . 3 . This is illustrated in particular also in  FIGS. 14 and 15  relative to the  FIGS. 12 and 13 , wherein the position of the guide bodies configured as guide rollers  15  and  16  are shown for different pivot movements in clockwise direction ( FIGS. 12 and 13 ) and counterclockwise direction ( FIGS. 14 and 15 ).