The present invention relates to furniture with a screen in which various objects can be placed on the upper face of a main body, and in which a screen, when not in use, can be completely stored inside the main body.
In recent years projection screens for projecting images, or simply screens, have come to be used in homes so that larger images may be enjoyed.
Accordingly, a large variety of cabinets, pieces of furniture, and the like provided with such a screen have been proposed.
Typical of these cabinets and pieces of furniture provided with a screen are large, heavy pieces such as those having upper and lower storage portions with doors, those having storage portions with doors on the left and right sides, and so on, and hence a great deal of labor is required during transportation and movement thereof.
Further, in furniture comprising storage portions with doors, a casing or the like in which the screen is rolled and stored is typically provided on the upper end, and since the screen is provided on the upper end, the lower space must be preserved when the screen is in use. Hence the overall size and height of the piece of furniture increases, causing a further increase in weight.
Moreover, the part in which the screen is housed must be caused to protrude forward from the constitutional members of the cabinet (or furniture) so that these constitutional members do not contact the screen when in use. As a result, care must be taken during transportation and installation that the storage part does not contact other objects, which is extremely troublesome in terms of handling.
The present invention has been designed in consideration of the situation described above, and it is an object thereof to provide a piece of furniture with a screen in which a reduction in weight can be achieved and which is favorable in terms of handling.
In the present invention, when a main body and a drawer provided therein which is freely movable between a pulled-out position in which the drawer is pulled-out frontward and a storage position in which the drawer is stored inside the main body are comprised, a screen is rolled up and stored in the interior of the drawer, the screen is constituted to be freely modifiable in attitude between a usage attitude in which the screen stored inside the drawer is raised upward when the drawer is pulled out and a storage attitude in which the screen is rolled up and stored inside the drawer, corner supporting members having a smaller front-back dimension than the front-back dimension of the main body are connected to the respective left and right end portions on the rear side of the main body to support the main body, and support legs comprising a base portion which contacts the ground frontward of the screen in at least the usage attitude thereof are provided on the left/right pair of supporting members, the screen can be set in its usage attitude by pulling the drawer forward using the electric power of an electric motor or the like or using manual power and then raising (pulling) the screen which is rolled up and stored in the drawer upward using the electric power of an electric motor or the like or using manual power. By rolling up the unfurled screen, the screen can be rolled up and stored inside the drawer. Once the screen has been stored, the drawer is pushed into the main body using the electric power of an electric motor or the like or using manual power. By constituting the screen so as to be raised (pulled) upward, a tall main body such as that of a conventional piece of furniture need not be provided, and thus a reduction in weight can be achieved. Further, the main body is supported by corner supporting members with a smaller front-back dimension than that of the main body, and thus a reduction in the weight of the supporting members themselves can be achieved. Although supporting members with a small front-back dimension are used such that when the drawer is pulled forward to place the screen in its usage attitude, the screen is positioned far toward the front side, the main body can be securely prevented from falling forward by the base portions which contact the ground frontward of the screen.
In the present invention, when the supporting member is constituted by a plate-form member formed in a substantially L-shaped form when seen from above which is connected to the main body so as to contact the rear face of the main body on the left and right corner portions and the adjacent side face thereto on either the left or right side, the supporting member can be made thinner and lighter than a member in planar form, and the supporting member can be connected to the main body without the need for gutters.
In the present invention, when the main body is constituted in a box shape with an open front face comprising a single space in which the drawer storing the screen can be stored, and when the height of the upper end of the supporting member is set to be substantially equal to the height of the upper end of the main body, further reductions in the size and weight of the main body can be achieved.
In the present invention, when the main body is constituted in a box shape with an open front face comprising a single space in which the drawer storing the screen can be stored, the upper end of the supporting member is set higher than the upper end of the main body so as to be positioned thereabove, and a fitting portion is provided on the end portion of the respective rear plate portions of the two corner supporting members, a back board can be attached by simply fitting the back board into the fitting portion. The back board may also be used as a board member for attaching a plasma display, liquid crystal display, or similar to the back board. Moreover, since the back board is positioned rearward, the center of gravity of the entire piece of furniture with a screen does not move greatly forward even when a heavy weight such as the plasma display or liquid crystal display described above is attached to the back board.
In the present invention, by forming a protruding portion which protrudes outward or inward to form an interior space over the entirety of the vertical direction of the supporting member, an increase in strength is achieved and the interior space formed in the protruding portion can be used as a space for providing a wiring duct to supply power to audio equipment placed on the main body, or as a space for storing a cord for the audio equipment and so on placed on the main body.
In the present invention, by providing an attachment portion to which a speaker can be attached on the front end portion of the supporting member, a speaker can be attached easily and quickly.
In the present invention, by forming a space into which a movable tray for carrying audio equipment can be inserted and stored in the lower portion of the main body, wiring and maintenance work can be performed easily and quickly on the audio equipment placed on the tray in an open area by pulling the tray out of the main body. Once the wiring or maintenance work is complete, the tray can be pushed quickly back into the space in the lower portion of the main body.
In the present invention, by forming tray spaces into which two movable trays for carrying audio equipment can be inserted and stored and a speaker space in which a center speaker can be disposed between the two trays in the lower portion of the main body, audio equipment can be placed on each of the two trays in an open area by pulling the trays out of the lower portion of the main body, and wiring and maintenance work can be performed thereon easily and quickly. Once the wiring or maintenance work is complete, the trays can be pushed quickly back into the space in the lower portion of the main body. Further, by disposing a center speaker between the trays, no special installation space need be provided, and sound or the like can be output from an optimum position in relation to the screen.
In the present invention, when the tray is constituted by a carrying portion for carrying audio equipment and a left/right pair of vertical wall portions which rise upward from the left and right end portions of the carrying portion, and the tray is provided with a concave portion formed on the rear face of the carrying portion into which a power outlet for the audio equipment carried on the carrying portion is embedded, the front face and rear face of the tray are both open, and thus operations (including remote control operations) from the front face of the tray, maintenance work, or wiring and maintenance work from the rear face of the tray can be performed easily. Further, by inserting a power plug of the audio equipment carried on the tray into the power outlet, trouble which occurs when a power plug attached to the distal end of a power cord of the audio equipment is inserted directly into an outlet attached to a wall, such as the power cord catching on a part of tray and becoming damaged, can be avoided.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIGS. 1(a), (b), 2, and 3 illustrate a piece of furniture with a screen (to be referred to as “piece of furniture” or “furniture” below) in which a screen (the size (magnitude) of which may differ from that shown in the drawing) 1 shown in
The front side base portion 7 and rear side base portion 8 are respectively attached to the support portion 9 by screwing using screws, and by rotating the base portions 7, 8, they can be moved up and down in respect of the support portion 9. This is advantageous in that the height at which the furniture contacts the ground can be adjusted in accordance with irregularities, protrusions, and so on in the ground surface, for example. However, support legs in which ground contact height adjustment is not possible may be provided. If support legs 10 which cannot alter the ground contact height are used, the base portions 7, 8 and the support portion 9 may be constituted integrally. The ground contact positions of the base portions 7, 8 are advantageous in that by disposing the base portions 7, 8 further to the front or rear in the front-back direction, the furniture is less likely to fall over. However, in order to reduce the size of the furniture, the base portions 7, 8 may be set so as not to protrude greatly from the front end and rear end portions of the furniture.
As shown in
As shown in FIGS. 1(a), 2, and 7, a metallic carrying member 11 formed with a smaller front-back dimension than the front-back dimension of the main body 2 in order to carry and support the main body 2 and increase the overall strength of the furniture is connected between the left/right pair of supporting members 6, 6 using screws B3. The carrying member 11 and the main body 2 are connected in a vertical direction by screws B1.
As shown in
As shown in
The reference symbol K in
A curved portion 5A curved outward into arc form is provided on the end portion of the side plate portion 5, and as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The two trays 31, 31 have an identical constitution, and hence one of the trays 31 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 8(a), (b) and 9(a), (b), the tray 31 comprises a plate-form carrying portion 35 made of wood on which audio equipment is placed, and a left/right pair of metallic plate-form vertical wall portions 36 which rise upward from the left and right end portions of the carrying portion 35. The vertical wall portions 36 each have a horizontal portion which is formed by folding the lower ends thereof in a horizontal direction and screwed to the lower face of the carrying portion 35. The reference symbol 36A in the drawings indicates three holes formed in the vertical wall portions 36, but these holes 36A may be omitted.
A concave portion 37 recessed toward the front side is formed on the rear face of the carrying portion 35, and an audio equipment power outlet (in the drawing, two plug holes are provided for the two pieces of audio equipment that can be carried on the trays, but one, three, or more plug holes may be provided) 38 is embedded in the concave portion 37 so that the power cords of the audio equipment are not positioned on the exterior of the trays 31. Substantially rectangular concave portions 39 recessed upward are formed in two locations, on the left and right side, of the front side and rear side respectively on the lower face of the carrying portion 35, and non-direction changing casters 40 (constituted with rollers that are attached so as to be rotatable only along a left/right horizontal axis) are attached to each of the four concave portions 39, thereby making the gap between the floor surface and the carrying portion 35 as small as possible and allowing easy handling of the trays 31 which can only move forward and backward, in contrast to a case in which direction-changing casters are attached such that the trays 31 move unexpectedly. However, direction-changing casters may be attached to the tray 31. A concave portion 41 into which a hand can be inserted is also formed on the lower face of the carrying portion 35 in a substantially central position between the left and right ends of the front side, thereby enabling the tray 31 to be easily moved and manipulated by a hand inserted into the concave portion 41. Alternatively, a handle or the like which protrudes slightly frontward may be attached to the front face of the carrying portion 35.
According to the present invention, the screen is constituted so as to be raised (pulled) upward, and thus a tall main body such as that of a conventional piece of furniture need not be provided, leading to a reduction in weight and convenience from the point of view of handling. Further, the main body is supported by corner supporting members with a smaller front-back dimension than that of the main body, and thus a reduction in the weight of the supporting members themselves can be achieved, thereby further enhancing the weight reduction effect described above. Although supporting members with a small front-back dimension are used such that when the drawer is pulled forward to place the screen in its usage attitude, the screen is positioned far toward the front side, the main body can be securely prevented from falling forward by the base portions which contact the ground frontward of the screen. Hence a piece of furniture with both reduced weight and superior product reliability can be provided.
In the present invention, the supporting member is constituted by a plate-form member in a substantially L-shaped form when seen from above which is connected to the main body so as to contact the rear face of the main body on the left and right corner portions thereof and the adjacent side face thereto on either the left or right side, and thus the supporting member can be made thinner and lighter than a member in planar form. Also, the supporting member can be connected to the main body without the need for gutters, which is advantageous from the point of view of handling and product finishing.
In the present invention, the main body is constituted in a box shape with an open front face comprising a single space in which the drawer storing the screen can be stored. By setting the height of the upper end of the supporting member to be substantially equal to the height of the upper end of the main body, the weight and size of the main body can be reduced even further, which is even more advantageous from the point of view of handling.
In the present invention, the main body is constituted in a box shape with an open front face comprising a single space in which the drawer storing the screen can be stored, the upper end of the supporting member is set higher than the upper end of the main body so as to be positioned thereabove, and a fitting portion is provided on the end portion of the respective rear plate portions of the two corner supporting members. Hence a back board can be attached by simply fitting the back board into the fitting portion, which is advantageous in terms of assembly, and particularly advantageous in that the center of gravity of the entire piece of furniture can be prevented from moving forward when the drawer is pulled forward and the screen is raised. The back board attached in the manner described above may also be used as an attachment member for attaching a plasma display or liquid crystal display, for example, thereto.
In the present invention, the supporting members are formed with a protruding portion which protrudes outward or inward to form an interior space over the entirety of the vertical direction. Thus an increase in strength is achieved and the interior space formed in the protruding portion can be used conveniently as a space for providing a wiring duct to supply power to the audio equipment placed on the main body, or as a space for storing a cord for the audio equipment and so on placed on the shelf boards.
In the present invention, an attachment portion to which a speaker can be attached is provided on the end portion of each side plate portion of the supporting members. Thus a speaker can be attached easily and swiftly such that the system can be set up simply.
In the present invention, a space into which a movable tray for carrying audio equipment can be inserted and stored is formed in the lower portion of the main body. This is convenient and useful in that wiring and maintenance work can be performed easily and quickly on the audio equipment placed on the trays in an open area by pulling the trays out of the main body.
In the present invention, tray spaces into which two movable trays for carrying audio equipment can be inserted and stored and a speaker space in which a center speaker can be disposed between the two trays are formed in the lower portion of the main body. This is convenient and useful in that audio equipment can be placed on the two trays in an open area by pulling the trays out of the lower portion of the main body, and wiring and maintenance work can be performed thereon easily and quickly. Further, by disposing a center speaker between the trays, no special installation space need be provided, and sound can be output from an optimum position in relation to the screen. As a result, the value of the furniture with a screen can be increased.
In the present invention, the tray is constituted by a carrying portion on which audio equipment is carried and a left/right pair of vertical wall portions which rise upward from the left and right end portions of the carrying portion, and a concave portion for inserting a power outlet for the audio equipment placed on the carrying portion is formed on the rear face of the carrying portion. Thus operations (including remote control operations) from the front face of the tray, maintenance work, or wiring and maintenance work from the rear face of the tray can be performed easily, which is advantageous in terms of usability. Further, by inserting a power plug of the audio equipment carried on the tray into the power outlet, trouble which occurs when a power plug attached to the distal end of a power cord of the audio equipment is inserted directly into an outlet attached to a wall, such as the power cord catching on a part of tray and becoming damaged, can be avoided, and thus usage is favorable.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2001-074792 | Mar 2001 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP02/01995 | 3/5/2002 | WO | 3/3/2004 |