1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a desk system and, more particularly, to a desk system having a high degree of freedom of arranging top boards in various layouts according to conditions and purposes for uses as desk systems and capable of being easily assembled and recombined.
2. Description of the Related Art
This conventional built-up work desk needs beams of shapes conforming to a desired layout and, when the layout is changed, needs parts conforming to a new layout. Thus, the parts of the conventional built-up work desk cannot commonly be used for forming work desks of different layouts, and hence the built-up work desk is inevitably costly. Since fastening members, such as bolts, are necessary for fastening the beams b to the legs a and fastening the top boards c to the beams b, assembling the built-up work desk needs much time and labor.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a desk system capable of readily coping with changes in the layout of top boards by commonly using parts for forming desk systems of different layouts, and of easily assembled and recombined.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a desk system facilitating installing screen panels for separating adjacent desk sections and/or opposite desk sections of the desk system, and laying cables for supplying power to office automation equipment through the desk sections.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a desk system capable of being assembled in a desired form comprises: leg panels of a desired thickness; top board support members each having a top support surface and capable of being fastened to the leg panel such that the top support surface extends above the leg panel; top boards respectively having desired shapes and capable of being fastened to the top support surfaces of the top board support members; and longitudinal beams connecting the adjacent leg panels and forming a trough; wherein each of the leg panels is a hollow structure having a cut upper corner, an end part of each longitudinal beam is fastened to the cut upper corner.
Since the top board support members are held on the leg panels and the top boards are attached to the top board support members, the desk system can be formed in a desired form regardless of the plane shape of the top boards, the top boards can be easily rearranged without using any additional parts and using the common parts when the purpose of the desk system is changed. Since the top boards are supported by the top board support members on the leg panels, the height of the top boards from the leg panels can be adjusted simply by adjusting the height of the top board support members from the leg panels, regardless of the construction of the top boards.
Spaces for receiving cables and support rods of screen panels may be formed between the longitudinally adjacent top boards extended between the leg panels and supported on the top board support members and/or between the laterally adjacent top boards.
The desk system may further comprise screen panels provided with support rods to be fixedly inserted in holes formed in top walls of the leg panels. Desk sections for individual persons of the desk system can be separated by the screen panels.
Each of the leg panels has a frame of a metal defining the shape of the leg panel, and a pair of side panels attached to the opposite sides of the frame. Preferably, one of the side panels is detachable from the frame.
The legs of the top plate support members and the support rods of the screen panels attached to the leg panels can be completely concealed for an improved appearance. When the layout of the desk system is changed, the desk system can be disassembled and reassembled simply be removing the side panels.
Preferably, each top board support member is a structure having a shape resembling the inverted letter U in a front elevation and has a pair of legs and a cross beam connecting the upper ends of the pair of legs or a structure having a shape resembling the letter T in a front elevation and has a single leg and a cross beam connected to the upper end of the leg, the upper surface of the cross beam of the top board support member serves as a top board support surface, and the upper wall of the leg panel is provided with openings through which the legs or the leg of the top board support member is inserted in the leg panel and moved for height adjustment.
Preferably, upper end parts of the legs of the top board support member are bent perpendicularly and the cross beam is extended between the free ends of perpendicularly bent upper end parts, the top board is fastened to the upper surface of the cross beam, and a gap for wiring is formed between the adjacent top boards. Even when the top board support members for supporting the adjacent top boards are mounted on the single leg panel, the gap for wiring can be formed between the adjacent top boards.
When the desk system is of a opposed-desk type, leg panel pairs each of the two leg panels joined together with the upper cut parts thereof facing each other so as to form a concave space, the longitudinal beams are attached to the upper cut parts of the leg panels so as to form a trough having a cross section corresponding to that of the concave space to use the trough as a cable trough for wiring. Thus cables can be easily neatly arranged under the top boards in the cable trough, and all the necessary wires and cables can be arranged under the top boards. The longitudinal beams extended between the leg panels and forming the cable trough serve as strengthening members that strengthen the desk system.
Screen panel holding members may be attached to the longitudinal beams having opposite ends fastened to the leg panels, and the support rods of the screen panels may be set upright on the screen panel holding members.
Preferably, the screen panel holding member has an oblique surface of an inclination equal to the inclination of the longitudinal beam attached to the leg panels when the upper truncated part of the leg panel has a bevel surface, a holding projection that engages in an opening formed in the longitudinal beam is formed in an upper end part of the oblique surface, a threaded hole is formed in a lower end part of the oblique surface, and a hole for receiving a support rod for supporting the screen panel is formed in the upper surface of the screen panel holding member.
An upper end part of the support rod for supporting the screen panel may be inserted in a vertical hole formed in the screen panel, and a height adjustment device for adjusting the height of the screen panel may be mounted on the support rod to adjust the height of the screen panel.
The screen panel is formed by forming a fiber panel of regenerated vegetable fibers, such as regenerated bamboo fibers, and a solidifying reclaimed resin, spreading a filler sheet, such as a cotton sheet, over a surface of the fiber panel, covering the filler sheet with a fabric, subjecting the assembly of the fiber panel, the filler sheet and the fabric to hot-pressing to obtain a composite panel, and attaching a frame to the composite panel.
A specific pattern may be formed in the fabric of the screen panel by pressing the fabric with a patterning die.
When the desk system is of an opposed-desk type, the desk system may be provided with double-faced screen panel formed by joining the two composite panels back-to-back with the fabrics facing out to form a build-up panel, and attaching a frame to the built-up panel.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a built-up desk system capable of being formed in a desired form comprises: a plurality of leg panels; top boards of a desired plane shape attached to the upper-surfaces of the leg panels; top board support members combined with the plurality of leg panels to support the top boards fixedly; and beams connecting the plurality of leg panels and forming a trough; wherein the number of the leg panels is three or above, the number of the top boards supported on the leg panels is two or above, at least the two beams connecting the leg panels are straight; and the middle leg panel supports the two adjacent top boards.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to
As shown in
Each leg panel 1 has a predetermined thickness and is formed in a vertically elongate rectangular shape. Opposed upper corners of the pair of leg panels 1 are truncated to form cut corners 1A defined by bevel surfaces 1a inclined at about 45° to a horizontal plane. When the pair of leg panels 1 are installed as shown in
Referring to
Formed in the bevel surface 1a are two pairs of threaded holes 1c formed near the opposite side edges of the bevel surface 1a, respectively, and an opening 1d formed in a lower middle part to receive a support rod for supporting a shelf, a rack for supporting the display of an OA machine or the like.
An I-shaped leg 1 having a horizontal top bar le, a horizontal bottom bar 1f, and a vertical bar 1g having opposite ends joined to middle parts of the top bar le and the bottom bar 1f, respectively as shown in
As shown in
The top board 2 shown in
The top board support member 3 is formed of aluminum by die casting. In the first embodiment, the top board support member 3 has the shape of the inverted letter U in a front elevation as shown in
A plurality of holes 3d, three holes 3d in this embodiment, are formed in a longitudinal arrangement in each of the leg parts 3a. The leg parts 3a are inserted in the openings 8 formed in the top surface 1b of the leg panel 1, a screw is screwed through one of the holes 3d of each leg parts 3a in a threaded hole formed in the frame 6 of the leg panel 1 to support the top board 2 at a desired height.
The cross beam 3c is provided with threaded holes 12. Screws are screwed through openings formed in the top board 2 in the threaded holes 12 to fasten the top board 2 to the cross beam. It is preferable, with a view to reducing time and labor necessary for assembling the desk system, to provided the cross beam 3c with a threaded hole 43 near one end of the cross bar 3c and a hole 12 near the other end of the cross beam 3c, to screw a headed screw in the threaded hole 43, to form a locking hole 13a having a round part that permits the passage of the head of the headed screw in the bottom wall of the top board 2, to engage the head of the headed bolt in the locking hole 13a of the top board 2, and to screw a screw through the hole 12 in a threaded hole formed in the top board 2.
The top boards 2 are fastened to the top board support members 3 such that gaps 13 for extending cables for supplying power to OA machines are formed between the laterally adjacent top boards 2 and between the longitudinally adjacent top boards 2.
A top board support member 3 shown in
The beam 4 is an elongate, rectangular metal plate provided with longitudinally arranged wiring holes 14. The beam 4 has a width corresponding to the length of the bevel surface 1a of the leg panel 1. When the pair of leg panels 1 are installed in a symmetrical arrangement so that the bevel surfaces 1a form a V-shaped groove as shown in
The beam 4 having an L-shaped cross section shown in
The opposite ends of the beam 4 are fastened to the bevel surfaces 1a of the two leg panels 1 with screws, and the screen panel holding members 16 are attached to lower parts near the lower edge of the beam 4.
Referring to
The screen panel holding member 16 is provided in its upper surface with a hole 21 for receiving a support rod 10 for supporting the screen pane 15. A cover plate 22 is attached to the vertical side surface of the screen panel holding member 16 to form a cable trough together with the beam 4, and to conceal the beam 4 and the support rod 10 supporting the screen panel 5.
When the knob 28 is pulled toward the end wall 25a against the resilience of the compression spring 29, the locking bolt 26 is extracted from the height adjusting hole 23 as shown in
The screen panel 5 is lightweight and excellent in shape retention and sound absorption, has a high strength, permits pinning, and facilitates disposal.
The screen panel 5 shown in
When the screen panels 5 are used in the working desk system shown in
A screen panel connector 35 shown in
Assembling procedures for assembling the desk systems in the preferred embodiments will be described.
When the opposed-desk type desk system shown in
The leg parts 3a of the top board support members 3 are inserted in the holes 8 formed in the top surfaces 1b of the horizontal upper members of the frames 6, the top board support members 3 are held at a desired height, and screws are screwed through the holes 3d corresponding to the desired height in the threaded holes formed in the frames 6 to fasten the top board support members to the leg panels 1.
Then, the top boards 2 are fastened to the cross beams 3c of the top board support members 3 with the headed screws and the screws.
Since the cross beam 3c of each top board support member 3 is shifted horizontally by a distance corresponding to the length of the horizontal arm parts 3b from a position corresponding to the leg parts 3a, the wiring gap 13 is formed automatically between the adjacent top boards 2.
If it is desired to set the different top boards 2 at different levels, the top board support members 3 supporting those top boards 2 are set at different heights, respectively.
When the screen panels 5 are used, the support rods 10 are inserted in the holes 9 of the leg panels 1, the screen panel holding members 16 are fastened to the beams 4, the height adjusting devices 17 are positioned properly on the support rods 10 to locate the screen panels 5 at a desired height.
In the single-row working desk system shown in
The top board support members 3 are attached to the leg panels 1, and the top board 2 is attached to the top board support members 3 by the foregoing procedure. When the screen panel 5 is needed, the screen panel holding members 16 are fastened to the beam 4, the support rods 10 are set on the screen panel holding members 16, the height of the height adjusting devices 17 on the support rods 10 is determined, and then the screen panel 5 is put on the support rods 10.
When a shelf is needed, the shelf can be simply supported on the leg panels 1 by inserting support rods for supporting the shelf through the gap 13 between the top boards 2 in holes 1d formed in the bevel surfaces 1a of the leg panels 1, and putting the shelf on the support rods.
When the desk system needs to be disassembled or the layout of the desk system needs to be changed, the steps of the foregoing assembling procedure are reversed.
As apparent from the foregoing description, according to the present invention, the desk system can be constructed in an optional layout regardless of the plane shape of the top boards, and the combination of the top boards can be changed by using the common parts when uses of the desk system requires because the top board support members are attached to the leg panels and the top boards are attached to the top board support members. Since the top boards are held by the top board support members on the leg panels, the height of the top boards from the leg panels can be adjusted simply by changing the vertical positions of the top board support members on the leg panels. Thus, the height of the top boards can be easily adjusted regardless of the construction of the top boards.
Sections of the desk system for persons stationed opposite to each other and those stationed side by side can be separated from each other by fixedly inserting the support rods in the holes formed in the upper ends of the leg panels, and supporting the screen panels on the support rods.
Since the leg parts of the top board support members attached to the leg panels and the support rods supporting the screen panels can be completely concealed by the cover plates 22, the desk system has an improved appearance. Work for changing the layout of the desk system can be performed simply by removing the cover plates.
Since the end parts of the adjacent top boards are supported on the single leg panel, the number of the leg panels necessary for supporting the plurality of top boards is small, the desk system has a simple appearance, the numbers of the necessary parts is small and, hence, the desk system can be fabricated at a low cost.
The gaps between the top boards facilitate the arrangement of cables for supplying power to OA machines to be operated on the desk system, and the installation of the support rods for supporting the screen panels on the leg panels.
The top board support members can be easily attached to the leg panels by inserting the leg parts of the top board support members in the holes formed in the upper end surfaces of the leg panels and fastening the same to the leg panels, and the height of the top boards can be easily adjusted by adjusting the depth of insertion of the leg parts of the top board support members in the holes of the leg panels.
The gap between the adjacent top boards can be easily formed by supporting the adjacent top boards by the top board support members on the single leg panel.
In the opposed-desk type desk system, the two paired leg panels are disposed with the upper cut parts thereof facing each other so as to form the concave space, and the beams are attached to the upper cut parts of the leg panels so as to form the cable trough in the concave space. The cable trough enables efficient work for laying cables, and the beams extended between the leg panels and forming the cable trough serve as strengthening members that strengthen the desk system.
The screen panels can be incorporated into the single-row desk system.
The screen panels are lightweight and strong, have a soft appearance, permit pinning, are satisfactorily capable of sound absorption, and facilitate disposal.
Although the invention has been described in its preferred embodiments with a certain degree of particularity, obviously many changes and variations are possible therein. It is therefore to be understood that the present invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein without departing from the scope and spirit thereof.
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