Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6202867
-
Patent Number
6,202,867
-
Date Filed
Wednesday, June 16, 199925 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, March 20, 200123 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Stodola; Daniel P.
- Novosad; Jennifer E.
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 211 186
- 211 190
- 211 187
- 312 111
- 312 128
- 312 2571
- 312 263
- 108 64
- 108 65
- 108 106
- 108 138
- 108 139
- 108 180
- 108 192
- 108 14411
- 108 14711
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A modular shelving system has modular members in which upper and lower links along corresponding sides of the rectangle are joined by uprights in the form of pairs of columns whose pins engage in holes of the links. The holes are provided in pairs at each corner so that four equivalent holes are disposed in a row when two modular members lie in the same plane and adjoin at the respective corners. The columns can interconnect the modular members.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a novel modular shelving and cabinet structure which is particularly easy to install and use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present shelving and cabinet modular structures, which are applied to walls, have the drawback of being dimensionally rigid and therefore difficult to be subsequently expanded. The conventional structures also have the drawback of being composed of a considerable number of component parts which make these structures difficult to assemble and more expensive.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a novel modular structure with modular component parts, for making shelvings and cabinets, which, contrary to the conventional structures, is dimensionally flexible and allows to subsequently add further shelving and cabinets to the former ones.
A further aim of the invention is to provide a novel modular structure with modular component parts for making shelves and cabinets, which is extremely simple to assemble both vertically and horizontally, as well as stable and with a great capacity.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The above and other aims are achieved by a modular structure with modular component parts for making shelves and cabinets as claimed in the characterizing part of claim
1
.
Further preferred embodiments of the invention are claimed in the dependent claims.
With respect of the conventional modular shelving and cabinet structures, the structure according to the present invention offers the advantage of allowing to lay the cabinet members and/or the shelf members one upon the other and/or to lay them side by side, also at different times thus maintaining the initial investment.
The structure according to the invention also allows to expand the system both horizontally and vertically by means of rapid and simple operations, requiring a minimum number of component parts thus optimizing the storing capability and providing a high stability and capacity for this type of structures
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will be more apparent by the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the structure according to the invention illustrated, by way of indicative but not exclusive example in the enclosed drawings wherein:
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a composition of shelvings and cabinets made by the structure according to the invention;
FIG. 2
is a top plan view of the structure of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 3
is an exploded view of the shelving member of the composition of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 4
is an exploded view of the cabinet member of the composition of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 5
is a perspective view of the links that by being inserted in adapted seats in the doors of the cabinet, allow to provide a member which is twice the high of the base member.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
In the embodiment shown in
FIG. 1
, the modular structure according to the invention has been used to provide a piece of furniture
1
formed by a composition of cabinets and shelvings composed by the base member
2
defining a shelf
22
, a base
20
and a cover
21
, supported by uprights
3
.
Preferably, all the component parts of the illustrated structure are made of plastics even though the use of other materials is not precluded.
As shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
, the intermediate shelves
22
, the bottoms
20
and the covers
21
are constituted by the same modular member
2
having a substantially rectangular shape and provided with twin holes, respectively
5
-
6
,
7
-
8
,
9
-
10
,
11
-
12
, at its corners. The lower ends
13
and
14
of uprights
3
are inserted inside the twin holes and are constituted by pillars
15
and
16
which are joined by rigid cross links
17
in order to be parallel and spaced apart by a distance equal to the distance between each twin hole. The same pillars are provided with upper ends
18
,
19
inserted in corresponding holes in the upper shelf.
The uprights are assembled by inserting the ends inside the shelf twin holes
5
-
6
,
7
-
8
,
9
-
10
,
11
-
12
.
According to an important feature of the present invention, the pillars
15
,
16
and twin holes
5
-
12
on the modular members
2
allow to rapidly and stably superimpose and/or lay side by side different shelf members
20
,
21
,
22
as shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3
.
To this end, the modular members
2
may be coupled, on the horizontal plane, by inserting the uprights
3
across the connecting lines between the same members
2
. In this case, the pillar
15
of an upright is inserted in the outermost hole of the twin holes of a first modular member
2
, while the pillar
16
of the same upright is inserted in the outermost hole of the corresponding twin holes of the adjacent modular member. In this case, for example, the lower ends
13
,
14
of an upright
3
are inserted in holes
11
,
5
respectively, of two adjacent modular members
20
, while the upper ends
18
,
19
of the same upright
3
are inserted in the corresponding holes
11
,
5
of the upper shelves
22
(FIG.
3
)
A mutual connecting bridge is thus provided, on the horizontal plane, between adjacent modular members
2
, by using to this end the same uprights
3
that serve for expanding the piece of furniture
1
vertically.
In order to provide greater stability to the piece of furniture, the above described twin holes in the corners of the modular members
2
also allow the insertion of two pillars
3
at a same corner on the mutual connection section between two adjacent members
2
(FIG.
3
). In this manner, each modular member is anchored at eight points and is therefore extremely stable and adapted to carry a considerable weight.
The two shorter sides of the modular members
2
are laterally closed by a stiffening profile
23
which is slidingly inserted inside the members
2
and is provided with holes in the same position of the holes
5
-
12
described above. Caps
24
are provided for closing the holes that are not used for the connections between the modular members
2
. The ends of the uprights
3
are provided with a circular shoulder
25
which, once the structure is assembled, rests on the surface of the members
2
which is arranged around the holes
5
-
12
.
The modular members
2
, together with the side members
23
used for providing the above described shelving, may be used for constructing cabinets
4
of
FIGS. 1 and 4
. In this case, the mutual connection, on the horizontal plane, between adjacent modular members
2
, is provided by means of twin pins
26
having a construction similar to the above described construction of the uprights
3
with the difference that the pins are considerably shorter.
For the above reason, the twin pins
26
allow to expand the structure horizontally, according to a system similar to the system described above for the uprights
3
. These pins
26
are in fact arranged with their ends across adjacent modular members
2
and inserted in respective holes at the corners.
The vertical expansion of the cabinet
4
which is based on said pins
26
is instead achieved by means of wings
27
,
28
and
33
of the cabinet. More particularly, adjacent rear wings
28
are joined together and fastened to respective bottom modular member
20
and cover modular member
21
, at their junction line, by means of a twin pin
26
inserted on one hand into holes
29
,
30
provided on the corresponding longitudinal side of the same modular member
20
and
21
, and, on the other hand, in respective holes (not illustrated) provided at the ends of the same wings.
The āLā shaped mutual connection between the rear fixed wings
28
and the respective side fixed wing
27
is provided by engaging a peg
31
of the twin pin
26
into the rear wing and the remaining peg
32
into the side wing. The other end of these pegs is instead arranged into holes
5
,
6
and
11
,
12
of the modular members
2
, in the manner already described with reference to
FIGS. 1 and 3
.
The side wing
27
is fastened to the member
2
also by a single pin
37
arranged, on one hand, in the hole provided on the remaining end of wing
27
and, on the other hand, into the innermost hole
7
,
10
of the respective modular member
2
.
The twin pins
26
and the single pin
37
are also provided with peripheral annular shoulder
38
having the same height of ridges
39
that function for centering the position of the fixed wings on the modular member
2
.
The mobile wings
33
are provided with closure end caps
34
that are in turn provided, on the inner side, with pegs
35
insertable in the wing. A pin
36
is provided on the outer side of caps
34
, i.e. on the side opposite to that of pegs
35
. Pin
36
is arranged in the respective outer hole
8
,
9
of modular member
20
or
21
of the cabinet thus defining a hinge for the wing acting as a door.
The pegs
35
are further locked in this wing by an elastic tang
40
projecting from their side surface and snapping inside a slot
41
formed in the wing. The wing caps
34
are also provided with hollow cylinders
42
adapted to lock on the body of the wing at corresponding cylindrical seats
43
.
A projecting tang
44
is provided on the ends of caps
34
opposite to the ends provided with the outer pegs
34
. The projecting tang
44
is adapted to snap on the closure of wing
33
in corresponding seats
45
provided on the sides of the modular members
20
and
21
where the wing closes.
Racks
46
are also provided for supporting shelves
47
of the cabinet
4
. In the embodiment shown in
FIG. 5
, pins
26
and
37
are made integral with a connecting strip
48
provided with cylinders
49
and functioning in a manner similar to that of cap
34
described above.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, the shelves of FIG.
3
and the cabinets of
FIG. 4
may be combined together to form a composition wherein the modular members
2
form the intermediate shelves
22
as well as the bottom
20
and the cover
21
of both the cabinets and of the shelving. In this embodiment, the combined engagement of the uprights
3
and of the single and twin pins
26
,
37
inside holes
5
-
12
of the modular elements
2
allow to superimpose and/or to lay side by side several cabinets
4
and shelving
22
thus obtaining a composite structure as the one shown in FIG.
1
.
The above described composite structure allows to expand the shelving both horizontally and vertically, also at different times, and by using modular components that make the assembling easy and reduce the overall production costs.
The modular structure according to the invention may be modified within the scope of the following claims. In fact, as said above, the materials may be different from plastics. Also the shape of modular members may be different from the shape illustrated and the structure mutual connecting means may be substituted with functionally equivalent connecting means.
Claims
- 1. A modular shelving system composed of a plurality of rectangular modular members each having a pair of upper links and a pair of lower links along corresponding sides of the rectangular members and uprights extending between the upper and lower links at each of said sides, said upper and lower links being formed at each end with a pair of spaced-apart holes whereby pairs of holes are provided at each of the corners of each said modular member and, upon coplanar alignment of two of said rectangular modular members, four of said holes of the two rectangular modular members are aligned at adjacent corners of the rectangular modular members, said uprights each including at least two interconnected columns defined by pins and fitted into holes of the two of said rectangular modular members at adjacent corners to hold said rectangular modular members together.
- 2. The modular shelving system defined in claim 1 wherein at least some of said rectangular modular members are formed with upper and lower shelves separated by said uprights.
- 3. The modular shelving system defined in claim 2 wherein at least some of said uprights include four interconnected columns defined by pins which are fitted into holes of at least three of said rectangular modular members adjoined at respective corners of said three modular members.
- 4. The modular shelving system defined in claim 2 wherein each said modular member comprises an inner shelf in the shelving system fastened at 8 points to respective ones of said columns.
- 5. The modular shelving system defined in claim 2 wherein each of said pins is formed with a circular shoulder at an end of each of said pins, each of said shoulders resting on a surface of the respective modular member and lying around a hole which receives the respective pin.
- 6. The modular shelving system defined in claim 2, further comprising twin pins shorter than said uprights to thereby lock to fixed wings of cabinets formed by respective said rectangular modular members of the shelving system.
- 7. The modular shelving system defined in claim 6 wherein said twin pins are engageable in said holes of said modular members which form a bottom and top of one of the cabinets and in holes provided at the ends of said fixed wing.
- 8. The modular shelving system defined in claim 7 wherein racks are provided for supporting shelves inside the cabinet.
- 9. The modular shelving system defined in claim 6 wherein each of said twin pins is provided with a pair of spaced apart pegs for locking to rear fixed wings of one of the cabinets.
- 10. The modular shelving system defined in claim 9 wherein one of said pairs of pegs is locked on the rear fixed wing while the other of said pairs of pegs is engaged in a side fixed wing adjacent the rear fixed wing.
- 11. The modular shelving system defined in claim 10 wherein a surface of one of said modular members on which said rear fixed wings rest is provided with centering ridges for said wings, said twin pins being provided with peripheral annular shoulders having the same height as said ridges.
- 12. The modular shelving system defined in claim 11, further comprising a pair of movable wings pivotally connected by said twin pins to said modular members, each of said movable wings being formed with a pair of end caps having pegs provided with elastic tongs for snap locking inside a respective slot of a respective one of said movable wings.
- 13. The modular shelving system defined in claim 1 wherein said pins each are formed with a circular shoulder.
- 14. The modular shelving system defined in claim 1, further comprising caps for closing holes of said modular members which are unused in the shelving system.
- 15. The modular shelving system defined in claim 1 being entirely made of plastic.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
MI99U0004 |
Feb 1999 |
IT |
|
US Referenced Citations (24)