Patent Grant
10190346
Pre-manufactured toe kick plate bracket from ezkick.net or adatoekick.com
In the simplest sense, a cabinet is a six-sided box constructed of durable materials having an opening on one of the six sides to allow access to the cavity within the box. A typical cabinet will also have at least one hinged door which lies flat against, and covers over, the opening in the cabinet. A “base cabinet” is a type of cabinet which would typically be found standing directly on, and supported by, a horizontal surface, such as the floor in a room, and will often have some manner of work-surface or other usable facility positioned above it.
Base cabinets typically have a floor panel fixed inside of them which is elevated several inches above the floor of the surrounding room. Whether used in a household or other type of commercial environment, base cabinets are commonly built with a recessed area called a “toe kick space” along the front, bottom portion thereof. The upper boundary of this space is formed by the forward, underside of the elevated cabinet floor and the vertical surface at the back of this space is faced with a panel called the “toe kick plate”. The toe kick plate may be attached to the forward part of whatever supporting structure is under the cabinet or to the notched-back, lower portion of the cabinet sidewalls if the cabinet has been so constructed. A person's toes can enter this recessed space when they are facing the cabinet thereby permitting them to stand closer to the face of the cabinet and have more complete and more comfortable access to the countertop or other facilities positioned above the cabinet.
Some types of base cabinets do not have a floor panel attached inside of them. Instead, the actual horizontal surface upon which the cabinet stands, also serves as the floor within the cabinet. This type of base cabinet is called a “no-bottom” base cabinet and there are three reasons why a base cabinet may be constructed in this manner.
First, this makes it possible for a person in a wheelchair to have improved access to the area above the cabinet by being able to open the cabinet doors and drive the forward part of their wheelchair into the open space inside the cabinet.
Second, this allows for an article such as a trash bin, recycling bin, or some type of mechanical equipment to be concealed inside the cabinet behind closed doors.
And a third common reason for base cabinets to be built without a fixedly attached floor inside of them is to provide a space where a wheeled cart, such as a food-service cart, may be rolled in and neatly stowed behind the closed cabinet door.
I have found that significant problems arise when attempting to apply toe kick plates to no-bottom base cabinets due to their mutually exclusive nature. A toe kick plate, by definition, is meant to block the bottom, front portion of a base cabinet. But a no-bottom base cabinet, by definition, is meant to have unhindered access through the bottom, front part of it.
This problem is typically addressed in one of three ways:
First, the face of the cabinet may be extended down to the floor thus eliminating the toe kick space entirely along with the aesthetic and ergonomic benefits of having it there.
Second, the cabinet may be left without any toe kick plate at all. However, this will leave an open gap along the toe kick surface which will be unacceptable to many customers.
And finally, the third, and perhaps most commonly used solution, is to fixedly attach a toe kick plate to the backside of the cabinet door. In this case, the toe kick plate is held back in recess toward the interior of the cabinet, and below the cabinet door, by some manner of pre-manufactured or in-house-custom-made bracket.
This third solution may be the most commonly used solution but I have always found it to be costly to manufacture, poorly executed, and difficult to install when custom-made in-house. In addition, such brackets produce a cosmetically objectionable end-result, they are difficult to adjust, and are not readily adaptable to varying applications. But, of primary significance, a toe kick plate assembly protruding from the back of a cabinet door is an obstruction, an inconvenience and possibly even a hazard to the person using the cabinet. The hazardous nature of such being further magnified if the person using the cabinet is elderly or, in some way, struggles with mobility. Additionally, such a bracket-attached toe kick plate is in a position to be damaged by the user of the cabinet since it protrudes into the approach path to the cabinet interior cavity where it could be subjected to unintentional impacts or loads.
One pre-manufactured example of such a toe kick plate bracket is available at adatoekick.com and a .pdf sheet describing this bracket is included here as non-patent literature.
Another undesirable side-effect of these brackets is that they result in the end of the toe kick plate, which is furthest away from the hinge, to circumscribe an arc having a larger radius than the arc circumscribed by the free-swinging edge of the associated cabinet door. In many cases, “no-bottom” cabinets are of the size and type which require a matched pair of doors hinged to the opposing side-walls of the cabinet. The gap between the two meeting edges of the two doors is normally about one-eighth of an inch when the two doors are in the closed position. The circumscribed arcs of the free-swinging edges of the doors are nearest to each other at the point where the doors are in the closed position. The problem is that those ends of the rigidly attached toe kick plates, which are furthest from the cabinet door hinges, will circumscribe arcs that are even larger than the arcs circumscribed by the door edges because those ends of the toe kick plates are even further distant from the hinge axis of the door than are the free-swinging edges of the doors. This can result in the two ends of these toe kick plates striking each other or binding against each other if both cabinet doors are opened at the same time. This conflict can also prohibit one door from being opened singularly. In this case, even if the operator only wishes to open one of the two cabinet doors, the second door may have to be opened at least partially so that the toe kick plate of the first door can swing past the toe kick plate of the second door.
Toe kick plates can be specially fabricated with notched and back-mitered ends so that one door could be opened singularly without moving the second door. However, fabricating toe kick plates in this special fashion requires extra engineering and manufacturing time which equals a loss of profit for the manufacturer. And even still, this extra effort will not prevent the toe kick plates from binding against each other if both cabinet doors are opened simultaneously.
The toe kick plates could also be fabricated to be shorter so that they do not circumscribe arcs which are beyond the arcs circumscribed by the free-swinging edges of the doors. However, this practice also creates problems. If the toe kick plates are intentionally made short, as described, the result will be a gap between the two meeting edges of the toe kick plates when the doors are in the closed position. In some instances, this gap could be as wide as 3 inches.
To some extent, this may negate the purpose of having attached toe kicks in the first place if the purpose thereof was to leave the line of the cabinetry toe kick smooth, unbroken, clean and closed. In addition, if the toe kick plates are always being custom-made in this manner, it will consume additional engineering resources which is a hindrance to profitability.
Yet another problem associated with using a rigid bracket to attach a toe kick plate to the back of a cabinet door has to do with the adjustability of the toe kick plate. Many types of hinges used in contemporary cabinetry and furniture are highly adjustable. This supports the designing of cabinets and furniture with smaller tolerances in the gap distance between doors and drawer fronts. Having highly and easily adjustable hinges allows for each cabinet door to be easily adjusted into the exact correct position relative to the other cabinet doors or cabinet features juxtaposed to it. The problem here is the contradictory nature of pairing a highly adjustable cabinet door with a non- or only slightly-adjustable type of hardware, such as a rigid toe kick plate bracket, which has the effect of either limiting the adjustability of the hinge or causing the toe kick plate to be left out of alignment.
Yet still another problem associated with the bracket-attached toe kick plate stems from the demands placed on the cabinet and furniture industries to produce a variety of custom-made designs. This demand for adaptability, has become a standard which applies to all aspects of these industries even including those variables which uniquely affect the lowly toe kick plate. One such variable is “set-back” distance, that is, how far the face of the toe kick plate is set back behind the back of the cabinet door. Pre-manufactured toe kick plate brackets are typically only available in three inch and four inch set-back distances and in only a limited assortment of lengths.
Additional variables affecting toe kick plates are different types of hinges and hinge placement, and design considerations such as whether the toe kick plate will overlay the front edges of the cabinet side panels or if the toe kick plate will rest between the cabinet side panels. For the cleanest appearance across a row of adjoining base cabinets it would be preferable to have the toe kick plates of a “no-bottom” cabinet fabricated to overlay the fronts of the cabinet side panels. Typically, this would mean that the width of a toe kick plate would be the same as the width of the cabinet door it is attached to. In this scenario, the overall face of the toe kick line across a row of adjoining cabinets would only be broken by narrow vertical “reveal lines” on the left side, the right side, and in the center of a typical two-door, “no-bottom” cabinet. However, there are times when it may be desirable to have the toe kick plate run between the cabinet side panels or even, in some cases, having the toe kick plate overlay the front of the side panel on one side of the cabinet and not on the other side. One such case would be at the exposed and finished end of a row of cabinets where it may be desirable to have the end of the toe kick plate hidden behind the cabinet finished-end panel rather than having the end of the toe kick plate being co-planar with, and exposed at, the finished-end of the row of cabinets.
In conclusion, using rigid brackets to attach toe kick plates to cabinet doors can produce an inconvenient and/or hazardous obstruction in the approach path to cabinet interior cavity. Also, such brackets are often a hindrance to the basic operation of the cabinet doors and can be damaged easily. They produce an end-product with aesthetically objectionable attributes, as well as an end-product which has limited adjustability and adaptability. And finally, these brackets are a drag on a manufacturer's profitability when custom-made in-house. My link assembly for synchronizing a cabinet toe kick plate with a door of the cabinet solves all of these problems and provides additional benefits as well.
Accordingly several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows: moving an attached toe kick plate of a no-bottom base cabinet into a position where it will not protrude into the approach-path to the interior of the cabinet once the cabinet door is opened, incorporating a toe kick plate on the cabinet which consumes less manufacturing engineering and production resources than prior art toe kick plates, allowing that the doors of the base cabinet may be opened singularly or concurrently without the toe kick plates interfering with each other, providing a range of adjustability to the toe kick plate which meets or exceeds the capabilities of any other hardware likely to be used in conjunction with it, providing a resiliently biased behavior urging the doors to remain open until closed intentionally, being equally usable on systems of left-hand hinged panels or right-hand hinged panels, and being designed to sustain accidental loads without a loss of function. Other advantages of one or more aspects will be apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description.
In accordance with one embodiment, my link assembly constitutes a mechanical connection between the door of a cabinet and the toe kick plate of the cabinet with the toe kick plate being hingedly attached to the same cabinet sidewall whereupon is also hingedly attached the door to which the toe kick plate shall be linked. My link assembly causes the toe kick plate to move synchronously with the cabinet door when the door is moved. Additionally, when the cabinet door is opened, my link assembly causes the toe kick plate to move toward a position underneath the door. My link assembly pivots and self-adjusts dimensionally as required throughout the range of movement of the two hinged panels and, in addition, provides a resiliently biased, over-center mechanism to hold the door in the fully opened position. My link assembly can be equally applied to systems of left-hand hinged panels or right-hand hinged panels.
When the opening of a cabinet door is referred to by a matter of “degrees” this is in reference to the angular deflection of the door away from the fully closed position. For example, if the door is said to be 90 degrees open, that would mean it has been rotated through 90 degrees around its hinge axis away from the fully closed position.
Those edges of the door and toe kick plate which are parallel to, and furthest from, the hinged edges are the “free-swinging” edges of these panels.
The base assembly 102 is fixedly attached to the back of the cabinet door 108 at the intersection of the door free-swinging edge 108a and the door bottom edge 108b. The toe kick plate bracket assembly 104 is adjustably attached to the toe kick plate 112 adjacent to the toe kick plate free-swinging edge 112a and contacts both the back of the toe kick plate 112 and the toe kick plate top edge 112b. The bridge assembly 106 is pivotally attached by one of its ends to the base assembly 102 and, also pivotally attached by the other of its ends, to the toe kick plate bracket assembly 104. And finally, the installation of my link assembly is complete when the door hinge edge 108c and the toe kick plate hinge edge 112c are hingedly attached to the same cabinet sidewall 114 by means of a suitable type of cabinetry hinge 116.
Fixedly attached to the top of the toe kick plate bracket 302 and pointing upwards away from the top of the toe kick plate bracket 302 is a threaded machine screw which is called the toe kick plate bracket pivot pin 310.
Additional parts of bridge assembly 106 which will be slidably inserted into the bridge barrel 404 are a metal pin, called the bridge pin 408, a metal tube, called the bridge tube 410, and a compression spring 412. The bridge pin 408 has an enlarged flange at one end much like a head on a nail and is called the head 408a on the bridge pin 408. The outside dimension of the head 408a is less than the inside dimension of the bridge barrel 404 allowing the head 408a to move slidably within the bridge barrel 404 with minimal lateral play. Near the end of the bridge pin 408 opposite from the head 408a is at least one hole drilled laterally and fully through the bridge pin 408. This hole is the eye 414 in the bridge pin 408 and that end of the bridge pin 408 where the eye 414 is located is the eye-end 408b of the bridge pin 408. The eye 414 is of an appropriate size to allow the toe kick plate bracket pivot pin 310 to fit through it with minimal lateral play. In one variation, the bridge pin 408 may be longer and have more than one eye 414 allowing the bridge assembly 106 to span a wider range of set-back distances between the cabinet door 108 and the toe kick plate 112.
The outside dimensions of the bridge tube 410 are less than the inside dimensions of the bridge barrel 404 allowing the bridge tube 410 to move slidably within the bridge barrel 404 with minimal lateral play. Although the bridge tube 410 is technically equal at both ends, for the purposes of description, one end is the entry-end 410a and the opposite end is the exit-end 410b. The inside dimensions of the bridge tube 410 are greater than the outside dimension of the shaft of the bridge pin 408 allowing the shaft to move slidably within the bridge tube 410 with minimal lateral play. In the first embodiment of my link assembly, the bridge tube 410 has a square cross-section and is made of steel but, as with the bridge barrel 404, other cross-sectional shapes and other materials, may provide good results also.
The inside diameter of the compression spring 412 is greater than the outside diameter of the shaft of the bridge pin 408 and less than the outside diameter of the bridge pin head 408a. The compression spring 412 is free to expand and contract with the bridge pin 408 slidably inserted through it and yet not able to escape over the outside diameter of the head 408a. The outside diameter of the compression spring 412 is smaller than the inside diameter of the bridge barrel 404 so that the compression spring 412 will function while inside the bridge barrel 404 without dragging or binding against the inside surfaces of the bridge barrel 404.
The lengthwise dimensions of the bridge pin 408, bridge tube 410, and compression spring 412 are derived from the amount of available compressibility of the compression spring 412, the distance between the cabinet door 108 and toe kick plate 112, and the amount of dimensional self-adjustability that is required from the bridge assembly 106. The length and rate of the compression spring 412 are derived from experimentation to determine the optimum specifications required for optimum performance of my link assembly.
The bridge pin 408 is inserted eye-end 408b first, through the compression spring 412 and then into the entry-end 410a of the bridge tube 410. Then, this sub-assembly consisting of bridge pin 408, bridge tube 410 and compression spring 412 is inserted bridge pin head 408a first into the mouth-end 404a of the bridge barrel 404 on the bridge segment 402 and held in place by tightening the barrel set-screw 406 against the bridge tube 410.
Finally, to complete the bridge assembly 106, a bumper 416 is positioned on the eye-end 408b of the bridge pin 408. The bumper 416 is of a hollow cylindrical shape and made of a resilient material such as rubber, or a soft plastic, or a semi-hard plastic. The inside diameter of the bumper 416 is substantially equal to the outside diameter of the bridge pin 408 and the wall thickness is roughly one-sixth the inside diameter but may vary according to various embodiments. The length of the bumper 416 is roughly equal to the outside diameter of the bumper 416 yet may vary according to different embodiments. The bumper 416 has an additional minor penetration 418 laterally through it. The centerline of this minor penetration 418 passes perpendicularly through the mid-point of the major axis of the bumper 416. The inside diameter of this minor penetration 418 is of a size to accept the toe kick bracket pivot pin 310. The bumper 416 is fitted onto the eye-end 408b of the bridge pin 408 with the minor penetration 418 aligned with the eye 414. The bumper 416 is so situated as to be a buffer where the exit-end 410b of the bridge tube 410 would otherwise strike the toe kick bracket pivot pin 310. The bumper 416 may also act as a buffer at a point where the bridge pin eye-end 408b might strike the back of the cabinet door 108.
The base segment 202 and bridge segment 402 are pivotally connected with two axially aligned pivot pins 210, inserted through the aligned pivot pin apertures 206 of the intermeshed pivot bosses 204 of these two segments. Situated concentrically around each of these two pivot pins 210 are a pair of coiled torsion springs 212 which are mirror images of each other, one right-hand wound and one left-hand wound. Each torsion spring 212 has one long arm 212a and one short arm 212b extending from the coil 90 radial degrees apart from each other. The long arm 212a has a double offset bend allowing it to be insertably attached to the base segment through a torsion spring mounting aperture 214 prepared therein for it. The short arm 212b of each torsion spring 212 applies direct pressure against the bridge segment pivot boss edge 402a thus urging the bridge segment 402 and base segment 202 to lay flat over each other as shown in
Drawings—Reference Numerals
Reference numbers are three digits with the first digit representing the earliest figure number wherein the part is first numbered. Some reference numbers are four digits with the first two digits representing the earliest figure number wherein the part is first numbered.
Operation—
The pivotal attachment points of the bridge assembly 106 are, on one end, at the center-point of the pivot pins 210 and, on the other end, at the center-point of the eye 414 on the bridge pin 408. The resting length of the bridge assembly 106 is defined by the distance between these two pivotal attachment points when there is no mechanical tension acting to draw these points away from each other. As the door 108 and toe kick plate 112 are swung about their distinctly separate axes, the two pivotal attachment points of the bridge assembly 106 circumscribe non-concentric arcs which results in the angular orientation and distance between these two points changing continuously throughout the range of movement of the two panels. The bridge assembly 106 is designed to concurrently pivot and also self-adjust dimensionally as these non-concentric arcs diverge or converge. As observed in a typical application of my link assembly, the bridge assembly 106 will begin to increase in length as the door 108 is opened beyond approximately 50 degrees as a result of the circumscribed arcs of the bridge assembly 106 pivot points diverging. After reaching a point of maximum eccentricity, when the door is roughly 90 degrees opened, these circumscribed arcs begin to converge and the bridge assembly 106 resiliently contracts toward its original length.
Interestingly, the width across the widest point of crescent D cannot exceed the maximum compressibility of the compression spring 412. If it does, the compression spring 412 will reach maximum compression before the door 108 swings past that point and the “bottomed-out” compression spring 412 will prohibit the door 108 from being opened any further. If this condition occurs, it is corrected by increasing the resting length of the bridge assembly 106 by adjusting the bridge tube 410 further out of the bridge barrel 404. This action effectively increases the radius of ARC C and narrows the width of crescent D. Increasing the resting length of the bridge assembly 106 will also push the toe kick plate free-swinging edge 112a out of its correctly adjusted position when the cabinet door 108 is closed. This is re-adjusted by moving the toe kick plate bracket nearer to the toe kick plate free-swinging edge 112a.
It should be noted that it is possible for the toe kick plate bracket 302 and bridge tube 410 to be precisely adjusted to such a point that causes in the widest point of crescent D in
The compression spring 412 within the bridge barrel 404 serves two distinct purposes. Primarily, it urges the bridge assembly 106 to retract to its original length when tension forces across the bridge assembly 106 are reduced. As previously described, when the door 108 is opened beyond point D1 of
The secondary purpose of the compression spring 412 within the bridge barrel 404 is in causing the bridge assembly 106 to behave as an over-center biasing mechanism which produces two desirable effects. First, this mechanism urges the door 108 to remain beyond point D2 of
A very popular type of hinge 116, which I anticipate will often be used in conjunction with my link assembly, opens to 120 degrees. In
The purpose of the twin torsion springs 212 acting between the base segment 202 and the bridge segment 402 is to urge the bridge segment 402 away from a straightened posture and toward a folded posture to prevent my link assembly from becoming locked in a straightened posture and thus preventing the door 108 from being returned to its closed position. As previously described, the bridge segment 402 is pivotally attached to the base segment 202 by means of pivot pins 210 inserted through the aligned pivot pin apertures 206 on the intermeshed pivot bosses 204 of the bridge segment 402 and base segment 202. This resultant joint within my link assembly behaves much like a person's elbow while the person is performing the strengthening exercise known as “push ups”.
For example, when a person doing push-ups is relaxed with their chest resting against the floor, their elbows are bent with the upper and lower segments of their arms meeting at their elbows at acute angles. As the person straightens their arms, their torso rises up from the floor until such point as their elbows become straight with the upper and lower segments of their arms becoming axially aligned. At this point, the person's elbows can be easily held in a straightened and “locked” condition with very little effort as their elbows gain a mechanical advantage permitting them to sustain significant force without collapsing back into a bent configuration. In my link assembly, as stated, the joint between the bridge segment 402 and base segment 202 behaves in much the same way as an elbow of a person engaged in doing a push-up. When the cabinet door 108 is closed, the bridge segment 402 and base segment 202 will typically form a 90 degree angle, or less, relative to each other. As the door 108 is opened, the joint between the bridge segment 402 and the base segment 202 straightens in the same way as a person's elbow straightens toward the top of push-up. I realized during my testing processes that, in certain applications, the joint between the bridge segment 402 and the base segment 202 could become “locked” in a straightened configuration preventing the cabinet door 108 from being closed. Therefore the torsion springs 212 are engaged in such a manner as to prevent this joint from becoming locked in a straightened configuration. The torsion springs 212 reach the maximum torsional stress thereof as the “elbow” is drawn into a straightened posture. When the cabinet door 108 is moved toward the closed position the tension which had drawn the “elbow” into a straightened posture is relieved allowing the torsion springs 212 to concurrently urge the bridge segment 402 and base segment 202 to fold back toward each other thus avoiding the occurrence of the “elbow lock” condition described.
In conclusion, the main, upper portion of the cabinet interior cavity, which is blocked by the door 108 in its closed position, becomes accessible when the door 108 is opened. Concurrently, because of my link assembly which links the toe kick plate 112 to the door 108, the toe kick plate 112 follows the door 108 also swinging away from the closed position leaving the lower portion of the previously blocked cabinet interior cavity accessible and unobstructed. When the door 108 has been swung to a point of approximately 90 degrees open, the toe kick plate 112 will have also swung to a position which is underneath and nearly co-planar with the door 108. Conversely, when the door 108 is being closed, the toe kick plate 112 is concurrently urged toward its original closed position as well.
Description and Operation of Alternative Embodiments—
In a similar way as discussed above, an alternate embodiment of my link assembly could also function without the adjustability that comes from the bridge tube 410 being slidably adjustable within the bridge barrel 404. In other words, such an alternate version could be made to function even if the bridge assembly 106 was replaced with a one-piece, solid, non-adjustable bar which was pivotally attached by one of its ends to the base segment 202 and by the other of its ends to the toe kick plate bracket 302. This would be possible if such an alternate version was manufactured for a very specific application where all the particular attachment points were precisely controlled and did not vary from one installation to the next. Such a non-adjustable link assembly would work if the application was so precisely engineered that no adjustability within the link assembly was needed. Such a link assembly could possibly produce acceptable results in certain environments but would not be practical in general furniture and cabinetry manufacturing where highly adjustable hardware is a welcomed and appreciated commodity.
The c-channel 1606 may be an extruded metal profile or formed from sheet-metal or milled from solid stock or created by a molding process. The block 1602 is made from a material that will readily move slideably within the c-channel 1606 and, preferably, do so without adding a lubricant. Most likely however the block 1602 would be made from a plastic such as nylon or high density poly-ethylene (HDPE).
The slideable mechanism described in
Also slideably captured within the c-channel 1606, between the block 1602 and the end of the c-channel 1606 nearest the the toe kick plate free-swinging edge 112a, is a compression spring 412. This compression spring 412 produces the resiliently biased, over-center, door-hold-open mechanism as shown in the first embodiment and described in
Slidably attached to the top of the hat-shaped mounting bracket 1702 is a slide-bar 1706 also made of a suitable gauge sheet-metal. The slide-bar 1706 also has a slotted penetration 306 running lengthwise down its centerline. One end of the slide-bar 1706 is rolled into a cylindrical shape to form a mounting boss 1708 to receive the toe kick plate bracket pivot pin 310. Passing through the slotted penetration 306 in the slide-bar 1706 and into the top of the mounting bracket 1702 are a pair of truss-head machine screws 1704. These machine screws 1704 are screwed into drilled and tapped penetrations in the top of the mounting bracket 1702 and also have hex-nuts screwed onto them within the void space under the hat-shaped mounting bracket 1702. The hex-nuts provide a locking method so that the truss-head machine screws 1704 passing through the slide-bar 1706 can be tightened to a desired depth and then locked at that depth, keeping them secure, while at the same time allowing the slide-bar 1706 to slide back and forth freely. In this way, the slide-bar 1706 serves the same function as the sliding bridge pin 408 in the first embodiment of my invention.
On the sides of the slide-bar 1706, adjacent to the mounting boss 1708, are two ear-like protrusions which serve as attachment posts 1710 for a pair of extension springs 1712. Affixed to the two sides of the mounting bracket 1702, at the end of the mounting bracket 1702 nearest to the base segment 202, are a pair of flanged studs which serve as an additional pair of attachment posts 1710 for the extension springs 1712. Once in place, these extension springs serve the same function as the compression spring 412 of the first embodiment.
Upon first inspection, this embodiment appears significantly different from the first embodiment but, in fact, possesses most of the same essential parts and functions in virtually the same way as the first embodiment. This is a very excellent alternate embodiment which ran a close second in my deliberations to decide which embodiment I would name as the first embodiment of my link assembly in this patent application.
The base segment 202, bridge tube 410, set screw 406, toe kick plate bracket 302, toe kick plate bracket pivot pin 310, pivot pins 210, hex nuts 218, and screw fasteners 110 of
The dimensions of the modified bridge segment 2102 allow the bridge tube 410 to fit inside of it. The inside dimension of the bridge tube 410 allows the modified bridge pin 1908 to fit slideably within it with minimal lateral play. The modified bridge pin 1908, as first shown in
The base segment 202, modified bridge segment 2102 and bridge tube 410 are pivotally connected by pivot pins 210 passing through pivot pin apertures 206 prepared therein. An extension spring 1712 is rotatably attached by one of its ends to the shaft of the pivot pin 210 which connects the base segment 202 to the modified bridge segment 2102. The other end of the extension spring 1712 is rotatably attached to the bridge tube 410 on the side opposite from where the set screw 406 is located. As shown in
The operation of this embodiment is as follows: As shown in
As the door is opened, the bridge assembly 106 begins to rotate outwards from its resting position as shown in
Ramifications
Additionally, my link assembly may be readily scaled to any size for use on hinged panels of larger or smaller dimensions than those typically occurring in standard cabinetry.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/204,389, filed Aug. 12, 2015 by the present inventor.
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| Entry |
|---|
| Pre-manufactured toe kick plate bracket ezkick.net or adatoekick.com. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170044807 A1 | Feb 2017 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62204389 | Aug 2015 | US |
