The field of invention of the present application is that of furniture or shelves for storage or presentation of various and varied objects, such as books—these are book cases-, trinkets—these are display cases or displays—perfume bottles—these are pianos (organs)—etc. More specifically, the furniture in question comprises a plurality of modules.
From Belgian patent 9,400,993, such furniture is known, which may comprise one or more modules.
Considering an elementary module of this furniture of prior art, it comprises two frame-shaped front and back chassis, two right and left side walls and a floor.
The frame-shaped chassis have two right and left uprights and two bottom and top crosspieces, of the same thickness. The floor bears on the bottom crosspieces of both chassis, with two front and rear grooves snap fit onto these crosspieces. At both ends of the grooves, notches are provided which are snap fit onto the bottom part of the two uprights. The side walls also bear on the uprights of the chassis via two front and rear grooves and are clamped between the floor and the top crosspieces of the chassis.
Alternatively, the side walls may not have grooves but notches in the top part which are snap fit onto the top crosspieces of the chassis and be clamped between these top crosspieces and the floor while bearing against the chassis uprights.
Such a module is not fully satisfactory.
It is difficult to press the side walls against the uprights of the chassis to such an extent that they are not always vertical.
The thickness of the component boards of the module, namely the side walls and the floor, is not always precise and it can be difficult to properly clamp these side walls between the top crosspieces of the chassis and the floor, with the risk of splinters occurring.
In addition, the elementary modules of prior art cannot be stacked.
Finally, the pieces of these elementary modules are not locked.
The invention of the present application, in all its embodiments, thus derives its origin from all these difficulties.
Thus, the invention of the present application first relates to an elementary furniture module comprising at least two front and rear chassis-frames, each with two right and left uprights and two top and bottom crosspieces, two right and left side walls inside the frames and a floor inside the frames bearing against the bottom crosspieces of the frames, wherein the floor is arranged to oppose the movement of the bottom portions of the side walls towards each other.
The floor is therefore a member for locking the bottom portions of the side walls inwards.
In the preferred embodiment of the module of the invention, the frame uprights are arranged to oppose the movement of the side walls away from each other.
The frame uprights are then members for locking the side walls outwards, both in their bottom portions and top portions.
Advantageously, the top portions of the side walls and the top crosspieces of the frames are arranged to oppose the movement of the same towards each other, which ensures that the top portions of the side walls are locked inwards.
In this case, the locking of the side walls, their top portion and bottom portion, is respectively provided by different elements, which guarantees that the furniture is firmly in place.
Still in this case, the side portions of the top crosspieces of the frames and the front and rear portions of the top portions of the side walls may have notches that are snap fit into each other.
Still advantageously, the floor can bear on the bottom crosspieces of the chassis by two front and rear grooves, which are provided on the lower face, snap fit onto these crosspieces.
In another embodiment, the inward locking of the top portions of the side walls is also provided by a roof which is snap fit onto the side walls by two side rebates, this roof can be blocked forwards and backwards by two front and rear grooves snap fit onto the top crosspieces of the front and rear frames.
The module of the invention, for its stacking, then comprises chassis whose top and bottom crosspieces respectively comprise bosses and notches of complementary shapes on the outside and the side walls are provided with front and rear legs arranged to bear on the side walls of an adjacent and identical lower module.
This application also concerns a stack of elementary modules of the invention with the above stacking characteristics.
The stack of modules can contain as many modules as desired.
The invention will be better understood by the following description of several embodiments of the elementary module and stacks of a plurality of such modules, with reference to the attached drawing, in which
The elementary furniture module 200 of the invention, used alone or with other identical ones according to a stack of such elementary modules, will first be described.
The module comprises two identical front 1 and rear 2 chassis-frames, two identical right 5 and left 6 side walls (
The chassis-frame 1 (2) comprises a right upright 7, a left upright 8, a bottom crosspiece 9 and a top crosspiece 10, all four elements of equal width and thickness, thus forming a rectangular frame.
The side walls 5, 6 are rectangular boards that may be the same thickness as the frame elements, and whose height is very slightly higher than the distance between the crosspieces of the frames, for a reason that will appear later.
The floor 3 is also a rectangular board, which may be the same thickness as the chassis-frame and side walls, with a depth equal to the width of the side walls 5, 6 and a width equal to the distance between the uprights of the frames minus twice the thickness of the side walls, also for a reason that will appear later.
At the right and left ends of the top crosspieces 10 of the frames, notches 11, 12 for holding the side walls 5, 6 in the frames are cut out inwards and from the right and left uprights 7, 8, that is at the junction of the top crosspieces and the uprights.
Additional notches 19-22, which can be snap fit into one another and snap fit into those of the frames, are cut out inwards from the bottom 13 and top 14 edges of the side walls 5, 6, near the right and left bottom and top corners 15-18 of the side walls, also for holding the side walls in the frames.
The component boards of the module elements can be made of different types of material, for example plastic, such as polyethylene and expanded polystyrene, a composite material, wood and even metal, such as aluminum.
Holding the side walls inside the chassis-frames, and above all locking the same, will be understood by means of the description of the assembly of the module and its description once assembled.
With reference to
The same procedure is used for the other side wall (
Of course, the module may comprise more than two identical chassis-frames and the side walls would be shaped accordingly, with a corresponding appropriate number of notches.
Once the side walls have been assembled inside the chassis-frames, the distance between the notches on the top edges of the side walls determining the distance, or spacing, between the two chassis-frames 1 ,2, the floor 3 (
Two front and rear rectilinear grooves 23, 24, parallel to the front and rear edges 25, 26 of the floor, are provided in the lower face 27 of the floor to snap fit slightly onto the front and rear bottom crosspieces 9 of the frames, the grooves being very slightly thicker than the crosspieces (
The floor 3, its lower face 27 being turned towards the bottom crosspieces 9 of the frames, is slid between the frames to press the floor (
In this way, the floor 3 is arranged to oppose the movement of the bottom portions 28 and the bottom edges 13 of the side walls towards each other.
The floor 3 is therefore a member for locking the bottom portions 28 of the side walls 5, 6 inwards of the frames.
It is also interesting to note that the uprights 7, 8 of the chassis-frames are arranged to oppose the movement of the side walls 5, 6 away from each other. In other words, the uprights of the frames are members for locking the side walls 5, 6 outwards, both from their bottom portion 28 and from their top portion 29.
In addition, it can be said that the bottom portions of the side walls 5, 6 are arranged here by their notches 21, 22 on the one hand and the top crosspieces 10 of the frames by their notches 12 on the other hand are arranged to oppose the movement of the side walls towards each other, which ensures that the top walls 29 of the side walls 5, 6 are locked inwards.
Accordingly, the locking of the side walls 5, 6, their top portion 29 and bottom portion 28 is respectively provided by different elements, which guarantees that the module is firmly in place.
In a particular embodiment of the module of the invention, the side walls 5.6 comprise, on their external face, a groove 61 shaped to snap fit onto the uprights 7.8 of the chassis which thus lock the side walls outwards (
In an alternative embodiment of the module of the invention, the inward locking of the top portions 29 of the side walls 5 (6) is provided by a roof 30 which is snap fit onto the side walls by two right and left rebates 31, the roof 30 can be blocked forwards and backwards by two grooves 32 provided on its upper face 33, in parallel to its front 34 and rear edges, which are snap fit onto the top crosspieces 10 of the front 1 and rear 2 chassis-frames.
Another embodiment of the module of the invention makes it possible, by arranging several modules of the same type, to stack them.
A module, configured to be stacked with other identical modules, comprises the same pieces as the module in
Rectangular, identical chassis-frames 101, 102 always comprise two top and bottom crosspieces 110 and 109 and two left and right uprights 108 and 107 and holding notches 111 and 112 at the two junctions of the top crosspiece 110 with the right 107 and left 108 uprights.
The top crosspiece 110 comprises, outwards and at right angles to the notches 111, 112, two bosses 151, 152, in this case slightly rounded, and the bottom crosspiece 109 comprises, inwards and at right angles to the junctions of the bottom crosspiece 109 with the right 107 and left 108 uprights, two notches 153, 154, in this case also slightly rounded, and with a shape complementary to that of the bosses 151, 152, so that the bosses 151, 152, of the top crosspiece 110 of a first module can snap fit into the notches 153, 154 of the bottom crosspiece 109 of a second module arranged just below the first module.
The side walls 105, 106 are almost identical to the side walls 5, 6, with their top notches 121, 122 corresponding to the notches 21, 22 of the module in
With reference to
As can also be clearly seen in
This application also concerns a stack of modules shaped to be stacked and comprising the characteristics of the modules in
The stack of two modules 201, 202 in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2111298 | Oct 2021 | FR | national |