Patent Description:
Different cabinets for technical and hobby use currently exist on the market.

A similar cabinet is known from document <CIT>.

Generally, each cabinet has a parallelepiped shape of variable height, width and depth, and has an opening on one side to permit an access area for picking up or unloading the objects or the materials contained therein.

The open side is generally provided with a closing element that in some cases can be defined by a gate wall, or a pair of sliding wings or also a pair of hinged wings.

The closing element is provided for protecting the content stowed inside the cabinet from dust, sunlight, humidity or preventing the access of unauthorized persons.

Owing to the great flexibility of these cabinets, over the life cycle of the cabinets, the intended use of these cabinets may change from the original use, just as the type of material stowed inside the cabinets may change.

Both in professional and in hobby use, a cabinet may be originally purchased to contain work tools and over time may be intended to contain bags of paint or another fluid material that is always used in daily work or hobbies.

Considering these frequent changes in use of the cabinets and the possibility that the cabinets are intended to contain liquids, laws have been passed to protect the environment and health at work and in particular aimed at containing spills of liquids in the environment surrounding the area in which the cabinets are located (e.g. legislative decree No. <CIT>).

In order to prevent liquids exiting from the cabinets being able to contaminate the support area surrounding the cabinet, it is necessary for the cabinet manufacturer to provide systems for containing the leaks.

In this context, the manufacturer can thus intervene on the newly manufactured cabinets designed for this purpose, but he cannot intervene on those already sold that are not provided internally with containing tanks or shelves.

For all the cabinets already present in the market, the owners are often ignorant of the standards because in some cases they impose changing the criteria for storing objects inside the cabinet, which are often in conflict with their own operating needs or because in other cases they impose the replacement of the preceding containers with new ones complying with the regulations.

To cite one example, a user who has purchased, even recently, a cabinet provided with suitable openings to enable an electric supply wire to be connected inside the cabinet in order to take electric energy to tools stowed inside the cabinet cannot, unless he decides to ignore the aforesaid standards, change the intended use of the cabinet and store therein paint containers (after duly removing the wired tools). In fact, in the case of accidental spillage of the paints outside the cabinet, for example because of accidental damage to a container, the paints, not remaining inside the cabinet, would tend to exit therefrom with heavy consequences of pollution for the environment surrounding the cabinet or hazard to the safety of the persons operating near the affected area.

In the cited embodiment, the user has two possibilities: either storing the paints in another place that protects the environment from possible risks of contamination or changing the preceding cabinet for a new one that can avoid or limit this hazard.

It must also be added that cabinets for general use on the market are structural steel cabinets or cabinets originating from plastic moulding processes that by the nature of the manufacturing process and the use thereof do not require manufacturing tolerances that are able to define a liquid-tight chamber inside the cabinet.

Accordingly, even if the user had purchased a cabinet recommended for receiving liquids inside the containers, as the cabinet does not guarantee a liquid tightness it is not able to ensure in the event of damage to a container for liquids that the escaping liquids are not spilt into the surrounding environment.

The technical task of the present invention is thus to make available a tank for containing liquids and a cabinet provided with said tank that are able to overcome the prior-art drawbacks which have emerged.

One object of the present invention is thus to provide a tank and relative cabinet that in the event of an accidental exit of liquids can prevent the spread of the liquids by containing the liquids inside the volume subtended by the tank.

Moreover, a further object of the present invention is to provide a tank that can be adaptable to pre-existing cabinets and permits coupling with pre-existing cabinets, avoiding the need to have to replace the cabinet.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tank and corresponding cabinet that, in the event of containing liquids that have accidentally leaked from the cabinet, is easy to empty and/or to maintain.

The specified technical task and specified objects are substantially achieved by a liquids tank and cabinet coupled with said tank comprising the technical features disclosed in one or more of the appended claims.

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the indicative and thus non-limiting description of an embodiment of a tank for containing liquids and of a cabinet coupled with said tank.

Such a description will be set out below with reference to the appended drawings, which are provided solely for illustrative and therefore non-limiting purposes, in which:.

With reference to the appended <FIG> indicates overall a tank for containing liquids and <NUM> indicates a cabinet that is couplable with said tank <NUM>.

The cabinet <NUM> is preferably made of metal or alternatively of plastics.

The cabinet <NUM> is defined by a pair of flanks <NUM>, each preferably sheet-like and of rectangular shape, which are parallel to one another and define the width of the cabinet <NUM>. Behind the pair of flanks <NUM> it is connected to a back <NUM>, which is also preferably sheet-like and of rectangular shape, defining the capacity depth of the cabinet <NUM>. The pair of flanks <NUM> is then connected above to a top <NUM> and to a bottom <NUM>, which together with the back <NUM> and with the flanks <NUM> define a box structure <NUM> of the cabinet <NUM>, in the form of a parallelepiped open on one side <NUM>.

The open side <NUM> is inspectable, to access the inside of the cabinet <NUM>, through a pair of wings <NUM> that promote opening and closing of the open side <NUM>. The pair of wings <NUM> is coupled with the pair of flanks <NUM>, preferably by hinge coupling, thus making what is defined in the industry as a hinged door.

It remains understood that without departing the field of protection of the present invention, the open side <NUM> of the cabinet <NUM> can be opened and closed with any alternative means to the hinged door like, for example, a gate wall or a pair of sliding wings.

Before illustrating the type of coupling of the cabinet <NUM> with the tank <NUM>, the tank is disclosed below.

The tank <NUM> is defined by a box body <NUM>. Said box body defines a containment volume V for containing possible liquids that could accidentally escape from the cabinet <NUM>.

The box body <NUM> is in turn defined by a base <NUM> from which a plurality of peripheral walls defining a closed boundary extend.

More precisely, a pair of lateral walls <NUM> that are parallel to one another extend away from the base <NUM>. The pair of lateral walls <NUM> is joined on a front side to a front wall <NUM> and on a rear side to a rear wall <NUM>. The front wall <NUM>, rear wall <NUM> and the pair of lateral walls <NUM> define in plan a rectangular contour, most cabinets having a preferably rectangular shape in plan.

It remains understood that without departing the field of protection of the present invention, the tank <NUM> can have in plan any geometric shape provided that the condition is respected according to which the vertical walls define a closed boundary.

The front wall <NUM> ends with a fold <NUM>. The fold <NUM> defines an acute angle α preferably comprised between <NUM> and <NUM> degrees with respect to the front wall <NUM> from which it extends. In substance, the fold <NUM> is angled relative to the front wall <NUM>.

The fold <NUM> faces the rear wall <NUM> and when the tank <NUM> is coupled with the cabinet <NUM> it faces the pair of wings <NUM>.

The direction of extension of the fold <NUM> is substantially oblique and extends from the front wall <NUM> to the base <NUM>.

The fold <NUM> acts as a conveying slide for conveying liquids that exit from the cabinet <NUM> so that in the event of an accidental escape (for example below the pair of wings <NUM>), the liquids are conveyed inside the tank <NUM>.

Again with reference to the spatial location of the fold <NUM>, the latter subtends a plane K-K that is substantially oblique to a plane X-X, which is substantially horizontal, and subtended by the base <NUM>. The extension of the aforesaid oblique plane K-K is incident on the plane X-X.

In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the fold <NUM> has a planar shape without interruptions of the continuity. It is understood that, without departing from the scope of protection of the present invention, the fold <NUM> can have a comb conformation or be defined by shelf portions that are tilted and interrupted with empty portions.

The fold <NUM> ends with an end edge <NUM> that in association with the pair of wings <NUM> and with the structure of the cabinet <NUM>, when the tank <NUM> is associated with cabinet <NUM>, defines a slit <NUM> for the passage of liquids exiting from the cabinet <NUM>.

At the fold <NUM>, there is at least one hole <NUM>, preferably two, for accessing the inside of the tank.

Said at least one hole <NUM> has a triple function: it can act as an "overflow" alert if the cabinet was left unattended for a long time; it can enable the inside of the tank <NUM> to be inspected and if it is suitably coupled with suitable vacuum means it enables the liquids accumulated in the tank <NUM> to be emptied from the containment volume V.

Each lateral wall <NUM> has an edge of the fold <NUM> that is folded inside the containment volume V. In other words, a first edge of the fold <NUM> is folded inside the tank <NUM> and faces reciprocally. The pair of edges subtends an inner distance defining a spacing for centring the cabinet <NUM> inside the tank <NUM>.

In other words, when the cabinet <NUM> is coupled with the tank <NUM>, each fold <NUM> can abut against a respective flank <NUM> that the fold <NUM> faces.

Each fold <NUM>, in the extension thereof along the lateral wall <NUM> that goes from the rear wall <NUM> to the front wall <NUM>, has an interruption of the continuity that defines a window <NUM> that also has the function of facilitating the construction of the tank <NUM>.

Said interruption of the continuity generating the window <NUM> is located near the end edge <NUM>.

At a wall <NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM> of the tank <NUM>, a hole can be present, which is not illustrated in the attached figures, which is closable by a discharge cap for facilitating the operations of emptying the tank <NUM>.

The tank <NUM> further comprises a spacing body <NUM> placed on the base <NUM>.

Said spacing body <NUM> can be solidly constrained to and integrated with the base <NUM> or removable from the latter.

Said spacing body <NUM> is preferably defined by a parallelepiped located with an orientation that is parallel to one of the lateral walls <NUM>.

Still more preferably, the tank <NUM> can contain two spacing bodies <NUM>, each located near a respective lateral wall <NUM>.

Said spacing body <NUM>, when the cabinet <NUM> is coupled with the tank <NUM>, enables the cabinet <NUM>, and more precisely, the bottom wall <NUM>, to be maintained raised from the base <NUM> of the tank <NUM> so that the cabinet <NUM> does not occupy a good part of the containment volume V inside the tank <NUM>.

In this manner, locating the cabinet <NUM> inside the tank <NUM> does not completely penalize the capacity to contain the liquids that could be collected inside the tank <NUM>.

Returning to the cabinet <NUM>, the cabinet <NUM> has a passage hole <NUM> at the back <NUM>.

The passage hole <NUM> can be used to place inside the cabinet <NUM> an electric wire connected outside to an electric network to supply if necessary electronic devices stowed, at rest inside the cabinet.

The box structure <NUM>, defined by the coupling of the walls of the cabinet <NUM>, is not liquid-tight. In particular, the pair of wings <NUM> defines below a lower slit <NUM> located above the bottom wall <NUM> and at the lower region of the pair of wings <NUM>.

In the same manner, due to the nature of the type of cabinet <NUM> and in particular of the hinge wings, the pair of wings <NUM> defines a lateral slit <NUM> with the respective flank <NUM> with which the wing <NUM> is coupled. In other words, the pair of wings <NUM> defines at opposite ends a pair of lateral slits <NUM> that are each contiguous with a respective flank <NUM>.

If liquids are spilt outside the cabinet <NUM>, the aforesaid slits perform the (undesired) function of exit routes for the liquids from the cabinet.

Regarding the lower slit <NUM>, the liquids exiting from the aforesaid slit can overflow frontally from the cabinet <NUM> and knocking the fold <NUM>, be conveyed, passing through the slit <NUM> inside the tank <NUM>.

For this reason, the fold <NUM> faces the pair of wings <NUM> when the cabinet <NUM> is coupled with the tank <NUM>. The pair of wings <NUM> defines one side of the slit <NUM> and the end edge <NUM> of the fold <NUM> defines the other side of the slit <NUM>.

Regarding the lateral slits <NUM>, the liquids exiting from the aforesaid slits can overflow laterally from the cabinet <NUM> and be conveyed inside the tank <NUM>, through the pair of windows <NUM> obtained from the respective interruptions to the fold edges <NUM> and between the cabinet and the edge of the fold <NUM>.

Lastly, the rear wall <NUM> is a protection against a possible accidental escape of liquid from the passage hole <NUM>.

In order for this to occur, the rear wall <NUM> has a height extension, that is away from the base <NUM> of the tank <NUM>, so as to cover the passage hole <NUM> entirely.

In this manner, if liquid accumulates inside the cabinet <NUM> and the aforesaid accumulation reaches the passage hole <NUM>, the rear wall <NUM> hinders a potential escape of the liquid, forcing the liquid to exit to the slits <NUM>, <NUM> in which the suitable conveying means, the fold <NUM> and the pair of windows <NUM> of the liquid inside the tank <NUM> are present.

Even if the liquid flowed directly to the back <NUM>, the wall <NUM> would convey the liquid by channelling the liquid between the wall <NUM> and back <NUM>, inside the tank <NUM>.

Advantageously, the present invention is able to overcome the drawbacks which have emerged from the prior art.

Advantageously, the tank <NUM> enables the liquids to be collected that may accidentally exit from the cabinet <NUM> and the environment to be thus safeguarded from possible environmental contaminations and the workplace to be kept safe (for example by preventing slips on oil spilt on the floor).

Claim 1:
A tank (<NUM>) for containing fluids exiting accidentally from a cabinet (<NUM>) provided with a pair of flanks (<NUM>) that are connected behind to a back (<NUM>) and connected above and below respectively to a top (<NUM>) and to a bottom (<NUM>) to define a parallelepiped-shaped box structure (<NUM>) open on one side (<NUM>); said side (<NUM>) being closable by a pair of wings (<NUM>) each hinged on a respective flank (<NUM>); the tank (<NUM>) comprises:
- a box body (<NUM>), defining a containment volume (V) and comprising a base (<NUM>) from which a pair of lateral walls (<NUM>) that are parallel to one another, a front wall (<NUM>), joining on one side the pair of lateral walls (<NUM>), and a rear wall (<NUM>), joining on the opposite side the pair of lateral walls (<NUM>) extend;
characterized in that said front wall (<NUM>) ends with a fold (<NUM>), angled with respect to the front wall (<NUM>) and facing the pair of wings (<NUM>) in a use configuration in which said tank (<NUM>) is coupled with said cabinet (<NUM>), extending along an oblique direction from the front wall (<NUM>) to the base (<NUM>) so as to define a conveying slide for conveying the liquids exiting from the cabinet (<NUM>) to inside the tank (<NUM>).