Patent Application
20130020920
The present disclosure relates to cabinets. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to cabinets with an enclosure panel mounting system in which the panel is mounted on a concealed, horizontally at full extension rail system to provide full, unobstructed access to the contents of the enclosure. The present disclosure also relates to a system for mounting the panel to the cabinet to provide the user with adjustability of the panel's normal viewing angle.
Prior art surface and recess wall mounted cabinets are available in a few general configurations with regard to the mechanism for mounting the surface panel to the cabinet enclosure. In one configuration, the enclosure surface panel or mirror is mounted to the enclosure with a single long hinge or a plurality of hinges on either the left or the right side of the cabinet enclosure. The door swings towards the user to access the inside of the cabinet. Such hinged type panel mounting systems have limitations when used with large panels or mirrors in small rooms with limited space and in locations where the arc travel of the panel interferes with other fixtures in the space such as tall faucets or hanging lighting fixtures. For example, such a hinged mounting system when used in a bathroom for a mirrored medicine cabinet does not allow for hanging lighting fixtures or for mounting tall plumbing fixtures due to interference with the travel path of the mirrored panel when in the open position. One conventional approach to resolving this issue is the use of a cabinet with a series of similar segmented mirrored panels, each with its own hinge assembly. The drawbacks of this system are a discontinuous reflective surface and incremental cost and complexity associated with the design and fabrication.
In another configuration for prior art cabinets, the enclosure surface panel or mirror is mounted within the enclosure with slotted grooves or slide rails. With these configurations, the surface panel does not extend out beyond the enclosure, and therefore two or more surface panels are needed to completely cover the enclosure. This configuration also suffers in terms of a discontinuous reflective surface as well as limiting the user access to one portion of the enclosure at a given time as opposed to complete enclosure access.
In yet another configuration for prior art cabinets, the enclosure surface panel or mirror is mounted with an integrated slide system for providing complete access to the enclosure. However, such systems suffer from exposed slide or rail assemblies, and also require surface mounting. The bearing units for the slide or rail assemblies are exposed and no channel endcaps are included to obscure the rail ends. The cabinet cannot be recessed into a wall.
These prior art cabinet panel enclosure designs for use in bathroom cabinets also suffer from a design perspective for use by non-ambulatory people. More particularly, they are not specifically designed for disability/wheelchair accessibility, and therefore for the most part do not comply with ADAAG (Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accessibility Guidelines) for mirrors (Section 4.19 & 4.19.6) and controls (Section 4.27). In addition, few of these prior art designs have the ability for the mirror to be tilted by non-ambulatory people. Prior art designs that do incorporate mirror angle adjustability suffer in having mirror tilt adjustment mechanisms that are not easily adjustable by people in wheelchairs. In one prior art angular adjustable mirror design, the mirror pivots about its vertical midpoint to permit improved ease of adjustment. However, this design requires pushing the reflective surface in to achieve a lower reflective angle, which requires more clearance towards the bottom of the mirror to accommodate this travel.
Hence, a need exists for a cabinet with an improved closure panel mounting system that is concealed and fully extends beyond the cavity of the enclosure. and optionally includes an improved system for angular adjustability of the closure panel. Such a cabinet would be particularly beneficial for use by non-ambulatory people.
According to the present disclosure, an advantageous cabinet comprises an enclosure and at least one horizontally slidable closure panel interconnected to the enclosure with a first fully extendible concealed rail slide assembly mounted proximate the top of the enclosure and a second fully extendible concealed rail slide assembly mounted proximate the bottom of the enclosure.
A further aspect of the present disclosure relates to an advantageous cabinet comprising an enclosure, at least one enclosure cover plate, at least one horizontally slidable and vertically angularly adjustable closure panel interconnected to the enclosure with a first fully extendible concealed rail slide assembly mounted proximate the top of the at least one enclosure cover plate and a second fully extendible concealed rail slide assembly mounted proximate the bottom of the enclosure or the at least one enclosure cover plate, and an angular adjustment mechanism for vertically tilting the least one horizontally slidable and vertically angularly adjustable closure panel.
These and other features and attributes of the disclosed cabinet and methods of making and using such a cabinet will be apparent from the detailed description which follows, particularly when read in conjunction with the figures appended hereto.
To assist those of ordinary skill in the relevant art in making and using the subject matter hereof, reference is made to the appended drawings, wherein:
All numerical values within the detailed description and the claims herein are modified by “about” or “approximately” the indicated value, and take into account experimental error and variations that would be expected by a person having ordinary skill in the art.
Provided are improved cabinets, methods of making such cabinets and methods of using such cabinets, and in particular for use by non ambulatory individuals. More particularly, the cabinets disclosed herein provide a means for covering the enclosure cavity of a wall recessed enclosure or a wall mounted enclosure with a horizontally slidable surface panel (i.e. a mirrored surface or decorative print). The cabinets disclosed herein included, horizontally extendable slides or rails, which are integrated into the frame of the enclosure such that the slides are concealed from the view of the user. The cabinets disclosed herein also include support brackets for mounting the panel to the concealed rails. Additionally, the cabinets disclosed herein may optionally include a system for attaching the panel to the mounting rails, such as to allow vertically angular adjustment of the panel for perpendicular panel viewing while in a seated position and to support ADA compliance requirements for wheelchair accessibility.
The cabinets disclosed herein include at least one horizontally slidable closure panel interconnected to the enclosure. In one form, the cabinet disclosed herein includes a single horizontally slidable closure panel in alternative forms, the cabinet disclosed herein may include two, three, four or five horizontally slidable closure panels. The at least one horizontally slidable closure panel interconnected to the enclosure may be chosen from a mirror, a picture, a painting, a poster, a decorative structure, a clock, a plaque, a diploma, a certificate and combinations thereof.
The cabinets disclosed herein include horizontally extendable slides or rails, which are integrated into he frame of the enclosure to allow for the closure panel to be fully extended away from the enclosure cavity to provide complete access to the enclosure cavity contents. These fully horizontally extendable slides or rails are bearing type slides. In one form, these bearing type slides may be bail slides as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,060, herein incorporated by reference, polymer slides as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,418, herein incorporated by reference, or roller slides. The bearing type slides have a travel range to allow the one or more closure panel(s) (i.e. mirror(s)) to completely slide away from the enclosure cavity allowing complete, unobstructed access to the contents of the cavity. The bearing slides and mounts also have sufficient strength to support the cantilevered mirror in the open position.
The cabinets disclosed herein may be wall mounted or recessed mounted to a wall. The cabinet may be mounted using venous mounting devices, including, but not limited to, wall anchors.
To achieve compliance with a vertical mirror for both ambulatory and wheelchair users, (ADAAG A4.19.6), the cabinets disclosed herein may optionally include a large mirror (required min 74 inches top edge height and max 40 inches (34 inches for children) lower edge height). Such a lame continuous mirror is often difficult to integrate into prior art cabinets with standard hinge configurations and typical faucet and lighting fixture clearance requirements. For conventional cabinets the ADAAG stipulates locating the first shelf of a cabinet at 42 inches from the floor. This positioning constraint coupled with the mirror requirements and considerations for faucet fixture clearances puts limitations on cabinet configurations that may be used. The cabinets disclosed herein address these ADAAG considerations by providing a cabinet system that may be placed low, even below the horizontal plane of faucet fixtures thereby maximizing viewing area and cabinet access for wheelchair users. The optional vertically angular adjustability panel(s) of the cabinets disclosed herein also provides a simple system for accessibility accommodating both wheelchair users and ambulatory individuals.
Referencing the drawings, wherein like numerals indicate like elements and referring now to
The upper and lower concealed rail assemblies illustrated in
Referring to
Additionally, the cabinets disclosed herein are designed to allow further compliance with Section 4.27 of the ADAAG As indicated in
Additional embodiments of the cabinet designs previously described include mechanisms for adjusting the panel angular position downward from vertical plane of the enclosure. Such a design when used within ADAAG-compliance guidelines may further facilitate usage by wheelchair users as well as ambulatory persons by allowing the adjustment of the normal reflective viewing plane of the panel surface as depicted in
One advantageous embodiment of a vertically angular adjustment mechanism for the closure panel 13 as depicted in
An alternate embodiment of an angular adjustment mechanism for the closure panel 16 are depicted in
Referring to
One step of the assembly process for the cabinets disclosed herein involves the attachment of the upper and lower fully extendable slide rail mechanisms 4 to the enclosure 2 and the subsequent assembly of the upper and lower S-bracket 11 or bracket 6 between the upper and lower fully extendable slide rail mechanisms 4 and the panel 3 or alternately the enclosure cover plate 18. Proper assembly may provide for smooth horizontal travel of the panels 3, 10, 16 and their respective assemblies. Improper assembly and vertical or horizontal misalignment of the upper and lower components may result in binding of the components during horizontal movement of the assemblies, thereby exceeding the limits of 5 lbf maximum force allowed for control of opening and closure as per ADAAG Section 4.27.4 limits. The allowable misalignment for the mounting of cabinet components may be a function of the deflection of materials, misalignment tolerances allowed between moving components, as well as the overall dimensions of the components. Fixtures should be utilized to ensure alignment of the S-channel 11 or U-channel 6 to the fully extendable slide rail assemblies. These fixtures should align horizontal and vertical datums on the slide rails to horizontal and vertical datums on the S-channels or U-channels prior to fastening these components together. To ensure fully extendable slide rail alignment, a fixture device may be utilized to vertically align like mounting holes located on the upper and lower fully extendable slide rail assemblies and align horizontal datums of each of the upper and lower fully extendable slide rail assemblies to each other and to the horizontal enclosure datums. Next, the panel 3 or alternately the enclosure cover plate 18 may be attached to the upper and lower U-channel or S-channel brackets using fixtures to ensure horizontal and vertical, positioning relative to the enclosure, and brackets. Care should be taken during this process to minimize preloading of the fully extendable slide rail assemblies, further ensuring compliance within ADAAG Section 4.27.4 force limits during final assembly testing.
The Applicant has attempted to disclose all embodiments and applications of the disclosed subject matter that could he reasonably foreseen. However, there may be unforeseeable, insubstantial modifications that remain as equivalents. While the present invention has been described in conjunction with specific, exemplary embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alterations, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the present disclosure is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications, and variations of the above detailed description.
When numerical lower limits and numerical upper limits are fisted herein, ranges from any lower limit to any upper limit are contemplated.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/999,556 filed on Oct. 19, 2007 and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/009,040 filed on Dec. 26, 2007, both of which are here in incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60999556 | Oct 2007 | US | |
| 61009040 | Dec 2007 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12231765 | Sep 2008 | US |
| Child | 13586787 | US |
