Abstract:
A pegboard-type tool cabinet can be mounted in a garage wall with the cabinet door flush with garage wall and provide three pegboard tool hanging surfaces in the single surface wall area. The cabinet thus maximizes available pegboard space without intrusion into the available garage space.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to storage cabinets and more particularly concerns cabinets for storing household tools. 
     The primary purpose of pegboard is to convert a wall surface, very often an inside garage wall, into an easily accessible storage area for hanging household tools. The pegboard is typically mounted directly on the front faces of the wall studs or, if wall board is already covering the studs, mounted on spacers on the front face of the wall board. Pegboard mounted in this fashion affords a single surface on which tools can be stored for easy access. Such pegboard systems do not create additional storage space but only make the already available space easier to use. 
     Rolling and floor-mounted cabinets incorporate multiple pairs of front-to-rear upper and lower channels so that multiple pegboards can slide edgewise into the cabinet and free standing posts will support pegboard at any desirable place on a room floor, but they permanently intrude into the garage or other room space defined by the walls. Pegboard ceiling panels swing down and abut the wall below but they render the normally exposed wall and ceiling surfaces both generally unusable. Furthermore, the swinging pegboard panel itself is unusable when a rolling garage door is raised on its tracks and covers the closed pegboard ceiling panel. 
     In sum, while the use of pegboard is long known and many efforts have been made to maximize pegboard storage space, there has heretofore been no success in conceiving a pegboard storage configuration which creates pegboard storage space greater than available wall space without decreasing available floor or room space. 
     It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a tool cabinet which increases tool storage surface area without decreasing available floor or room space. Another object of this invention is to provide a tool cabinet which converts the between-stud space covered by a section of wall board into multiple pegboard-type tool storage surfaces in the same space. 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     In accordance with the invention, a tool cabinet is provided which can be mounted in a wall which consists of a wall cover panel such as plasterboard, pegboard or other type of wall board attached to studs which are spaced apart behind and covered by the wall board. 
     The cabinet includes a box covered by a hinged front door. The box is preferably substantially orthogonal. The maximum outside width of the box is not greater than the width of the space between adjacent spaced-apart studs. The maximum outside depth of the box, taken from the front face of the hinged door to the rear face of the box, is less than the depth from the front face of the wall cover panel to the rear face of the studs supporting the wall panel. This maximum box depth provides a rear cavity behind the box and between the studs when the box is positioned between the studs with the front face of its hinged door flush with the front face of the wall cover panel. The rear panel of the box has a first array of peg holes dispersed through it 
     In one embodiment of the cabinet, preferred when the wall cover panel includes a single sheet of plasterboard, pegboard or other type of wall board, the door has a frame with a front panel with a second array of peg holes dispersed through it. In another embodiment of the cabinet, preferred when the wall cover panel is a laminar arrangement of two boards and spacers, the door is a laminar arrangement of two panels with spacers defining a cavity in the door. In this embodiment, the second array of peg holes is dispersed through one of the laminar panels and a third array of peg holes is dispersed through the other of the laminar panels. Pegs used with the cabinet peg hole arrays are shaped to include tool hangers and mounting shanks, such as those pegs typically used with pegboards. 
     In the first embodiment, pegs can be mounted on either or both of the peg hole arrays. The hangers can extend from the front face of the box rear panel with their shanks through holes of the first array and extending into the rear cavity behind the box. The hangers can extend from the rear face of the door into the box with their shanks through holes of the second array and extending forward of the door. The hangers can also extend from the front face of the door with their shanks through the holes of the second array and extending into the box. Thus tools can be stored against three different wall surfaces, two inside the cabinet and one to the front of the cabinet, on two arrays of peg holes. 
     In the second embodiment, pegs can be mounted on any or all of the three peg hole arrays. The hangers can extend from the front face of the box rear panel with their shanks through holes of the first array and extending into the rear cavity behind the box. The hangers can extend from the rear face of the door with the shanks extending through the peg holes of the second array and forwardly into the door cavity. The hangers can extend from the front face of the door with the shanks extending through the peg holes of the third array and rearwardly into the door cavity. 
     It is preferred that the door has a depth substantially equal to the depth of the wall cover panel and, while each embodiment preferably utilizes a hinged cover configured to match its corresponding wall cover panel, single panel doors can be used with two panel walls and two panel doors with single panel wall. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a typical wall environment in which a tool cabinet can be installed; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the tool cabinet with its door open; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the tool cabinet of  FIG. 1  with the door shut; 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view taken along the line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 2 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the tool cabinet with its door open; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the tool cabinet of  FIG. 5  with the door shut; and 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional view taken along the line  7 - 7  of  FIG. 5  with the door shut. 
     
    
    
     While the invention will be described in connection with one or more preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to those embodiments or to the details of the construction or arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Turning first to  FIG. 1 , a typical garage, attic or storage room wall  100  may be constructed using a frame with studs  101  having front and back faces  103  and  105 . In some cases, an inside wall cover panel  107 , such as plasterboard or other type of wall board, of an adjoining room is fastened against the back faces  105  of the studs  101 . In other cases, an exterior wall, such as brick, extends behind or against the back faces  105  of the studs  101 . In either case, an inside wall cover panel, such as plasterboard  109 , pegboard or other type of wall board, is fastened against the front faces  103  of the studs  101  of the garage, attic or storage room. The studs  101  are typically spaced  111  on 16″ centers. If, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the inside cover wall panel is plasterboard  109 , pegboard  113  may be fastened to the plasterboard  109  and studs  101  with spacers  115  between the boards  109  and  113 . If, as shown, the wall cover panel  109  and the pegboard  113 , if any, are removed or not applied between an adjacent pair of studs  101 , a frontally accessible space results of depth equal to the depth  117  of the studs  101  plus the depth  119  from the front faces  103  of the studs  101  to the front faces of the cover panel  109  or the pegboard  113 , if any. 
     Looking now at  FIGS. 2-4 , there is shown a first embodiment of a cabinet  10  which takes advantage of this space between the studs  101  and its surrounding wall structure to efficiently store household tools, such as the wrench sets W 1 , W 2  and W 3 . The cabinet  10  shown is an open box  11  with a rear panel  13 . Sides  15  and  17 , a bottom  19  and a top  21  (not shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 ) extend forwardly from the perimeter of the rear panel  13 . The box  11  has a maximum outside width  23  which is not greater than the width  109  of the space between adjacent spaced-apart studs  101 . 
     Continuing to look at  FIGS. 2-4 , the interior of the box  11  is accessible through a door  25  including a frame  27  and a front panel  29  fixed to the frame  27 . The frame  27  of the door  25  is secured to a side  15  of the box  11  by hinges  31 . As best seen in  FIG. 4 , the maximum outside depth  33  from the front face  35  of the door  25  to the rear face  37  of the box  11  is less than the distance from the rear face of the back panel  13  to the front face of the wall cover panel  109  or the wall pegboard  113 , if any. Thus, a cavity  39  is formed between the rear panel  13  of the box  11  and the back faces  105  of the studs  101 . 
     Still looking principally at  FIG. 4 , the front panel  29  of the door  25  is made of pegboard or of other material through which an array of peg holes  41  is dispersed. The rear panel  13  of the box  11  is also made of pegboard or of other material through which another array of peg holes  43  is dispersed. The pegs  45  and  47  used with the front and rear panels  29  and  13  of the door  25  and box  13  of the cabinet  10  have front hangers  51  and  53 , respectively, and rear shanks  61  and  63 , respectively. The pegs  45  and  47  can be mounted on the cabinet  10  in three ways. The rear panel pegs  47  can be mounted with their hangers  53  extending from the front face of the rear panel  13  with their shanks  63  extending into the rear cavity  39  behind the box  11 . The front panel pegs  45  can be mounted with their hangers  51  extending from the rear face of the front door panel  29  into the box  13  with their shanks  61  extending forward of the front door panel  29 . The front panel pegs  45  can also be mounted with their hangers  51  extending from the front face  35  of the front door panel  29  with their shanks  61  extending into the box  13 . Thus tools W 1 , W 2  and W 3  can be stored against three different wall surfaces, two inside the cabinet  10  and one to the front of the cabinet  10 . 
     In another embodiment seen in  FIGS. 5-7 , preferred when the wall cover panel is a laminar arrangement of two boards  109  and  113  with spacers  115  as seen in  FIG. 1 , the cabinet  70  is similar in all respects to the already described cabinet  10 . One difference is that the door  71  is a laminar arrangement of front and back panels  73  and  75  with spacers  77  defining a cavity  79  in the door  71 . Another difference is that the hinges  31  are secured to the rear face of the back laminar panel  75  and one of the side walls  15 . In this embodiment, each of the front and back laminar panels  73  and  75  has an array of peg holes  81  and  83 , respectively, dispersed through it. The front panel pegs  45  can be mounted with their hangers  51  extending from the rear face of the rear laminar panel  77  into the box  13  with their shanks  61  extending into the door cavity  79 . The front panel pegs  45  can also be mounted with their hangers  51  extending from the front face  35  of the front laminar panel  75  with their shanks  61  extending into the door cavity  79 . Thus tools W 1 , W 2  and W 3  can, in this embodiment also, be stored against three different wall surfaces, two inside the cabinet  70  and one to the front of the cabinet  70 . 
     The pegs  45  and  47  are typically used with known pegboards  101 . While the cabinets  10  and  70  have been described in reference to preferences related to the structure of the walls in which they are mounted, either cabinet  10  or  70  can be mounted in a wall structure for which the other is preferred. The cabinets  10  and  70  may be left or right hand hinged or may have double doors and folding doors. 
     Thus, it is apparent that there has been provided, in accordance with the invention, a tool cabinet that fully satisfies the objects, aims and advantages set forth above. While the invention has been described in conjunction with one or more specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations as fall within the scope of the appended claims.