The technical field of this invention is related to furniture either used at home or at office with the purpose to keep things and objects in general, like, jewels, gold bars, cash, medicines, small-sized guns like pistols and revolvers and other suitable things, to maintain said things and objects safely and away from the reach of children and unauthorized persons.
Said furniture are alternatively a chest of drawers, a dresser, a cabinet, a wall shelf, or any other similar furniture.
Several types and designs of chest of drawers, dressers, cabinets, and the like are available in the market. Mostly what differs one from another is the ornamental shape claimed in design patents or some change in the mechanisms that make drawers slide on through tracks and in locking means in utility patents.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,747 an illuminating device is disclosed for use with a drawer. Such a device utilizes a housing having a pair of components. A lamp is used to provide illumination in the lamp's compartment. Another compartment holds a battery and a closed switch. A bar pivotably secured to the housing prevents the drawers from being opened and from causing the lamp to energize, thus avoiding danger to small children. But no other utilities are available except lighting.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,347 a locking system used in a cabinet drawer is disclosed. The system permits a user to lock the cabinet drawers by placing it in a locked position after closing the drawer or placing the system in a locked position and then closing the drawers. Other auxiliary mechanisms, like a shaft and a lever, are provided in helping the locking operation. However, no device other than mechanical system is employed.
This present invention is directed to furniture; particularly, it is directed to furniture used either at home or at office. And more particularly, it is related to chest of drawers, dressers, wall shelves, cabinets and the like.
Chest of drawers is generally made with a set of two, three, four drawers that have locking mechanisms and moving means wherein said drawers are engaged to be displaced in operations to open and close drawers.
The invention now claimed combines a traditional chest of drawers with a novel practical chest of drawers in the meaning that three of its drawers are open manually, by pulling out knobs, while four of its drawers are open only by safety mechanisms. The invention is not solely directed to operations of opening said drawers but combines other utilities that make the invention now claimed practical and useful as described throughout the patent specification.
A first embodiment of this present invention refers to an improved chest of drawers; a second embodiment refers to a wall shelf having the same improvements added to said chest of drawers.
In the hidden and secret drawers of this claimed invention the usual manual operation of opening drawers is replaced with an automatic opening operation at distance, including addition of several utilities like an application software, a voice command and other items as fully described hereinafter.
The expressions “owner” and “user” are alternatively used throughout the patent application, namely, the patent specification, set of claims and abstract, having the same meaning for both words.
The objective of this invention is to provide safe furniture commonly used either at home or at office. Said furniture now claimed as invention are intended to be unique furniture to contain things and objects of owner's possession that he or she would like to safely keep away or hidden from children, in case of hazardous things, or from unauthorized individuals who are not allowed to handle such things or objects.
Said things or objects at home or at office are, for instance, jewels, gold bars, medicines, small-sized guns like pistols and revolvers, coins and cash, business papers or such any other items that the owner would like to keep away or unknown from the reach of children or third parties.
Furniture like chest of drawers, shelves, dressers, cabinets, and others are usually found in stores, magazines, big shopping centers and commercial shops dealing with furniture and the like.
Said furniture are generally square-shaped or rectangular-shaped provided with two, three or four drawers although not limited to such numbers. Drawers are provided with knobs fastened to a drawer's face by means of screws, bolts, or any other means so that one can grab a knob and displace the drawer frontally to open it free, thus having access to the contents inside.
Like the usual furniture found at stores, the claimed invention is also provided with three drawers 2b 2c and 2d that have functional knobs 4a 4b and 4c as those well-known in the prior art in which one must grab a hand and pull it out to open drawers. Said three drawers 2b 2c and 2d having knobs, as depicted in
The furniture in this instant invention is made with novelty and are described in the following embodiments.
A first embodiment of the invention refers to a chest of drawers 10, as illustrated in
The chest of drawers 10 as shown in
In the other hand existing knobs 4a 4b and 4c secured to mid drawers 2b 2c 2d will give an observer an appearance of just seeing three drawers instead of seven drawers in said chest of drawers 10. This imparts novelty to the present invention.
The main body 1 of said chest of drawer 10 is manufactured with MDF (medium density fiberboard) or MDP (medium density particleboards) panels having a thickness of between 15 mm to 18 mm. The parts that make up said chest of drawers 10, namely the five centrally located drawers 2a 2b 2c 2d and 2e, the two laterally located drawers 2f and 2g, the sidewalls 3a 3b, the upper wall 3c and the bottom wall 3d of said main body 1 are made with varied dimensions depending upon the role they play on the structure of said chest of drawers 10 either as base portion or side portion of each drawer 2a 2b 2c 2d 2e 2f and 2g and of said main body 1.
As depicted in
Said set of locker and control mechanisms 5, also referred to as system, are electrical and electronic devices that make part of the claimed invention, imparting novelty, safety, ease of use and utility to said invention.
The invention is intended to avoid access to the contents inside the hidden drawers 2a 2e 2f and 2g by permanently keeping drawers locked up by way of said control mechanisms 5. This avoids, for instance, children having access to pistols and revolvers or even to ammunition, avoids access to hazardous substances like chemicals, also avoids access to cash or to any documents that must be kept away from reach.
The access to internal contents of drawers 2a 2e 2f and 2g is only allowed by pressing down a key in the hand control 6 that prepares opening of the drawers 2a 2e 2f and 2g. Soon after having pressed down a key in said hand control 6 said drawers will open automatically and light will illuminate the interior of said drawers.
The opening operation of drawers 2a 2e 2f and 2g takes up to 2 seconds from pressing down said key in the hand control 6 in front of said chest of drawers 10. Then one touches said drawers 2a 2e 2f and 2g and they become open and illuminated.
This opening mode of this claimed invention is operable within 10 meters away from said chest of drawers 10 using said hand control 6.
Additionally, said drawers 2a 2e 2f and 2g might also be open at any distance by means of an application software specifically created and used in this claimed invention. This is far more practical and may be used through a mobile phone, a computer or any such tool when a hand control 6 is not available at once.
Locker and control mechanisms 5 are built-in electrical and electronic parts that are incorporated into the main body 1 of said chest of drawers 10. Their function and features are planned specifically to work with this claimed invention. Control mechanisms 5 are described as follows.
An AC110V 240V module (a motherboard) 5h as shown in
A DC3V-40V converter 5g device, as shown in
A DC12V locker device 5a, as shown in
A ZBX module device 5i, as shown in
A latch device 5d, as shown in
A LED device DC12V 5c, as also shown in
A 12V/SAH portable battery 5j, as also shown in
An electric module 5e, as also shown in
A door switch 5b, as shown in
A DC12V transmitter device 5f, as shown in
The system, as a set of electrical and electronic parts as previously described, provides a series of convenient utilities to facilitate the use of the chest of drawers 10.
Such utilities may translate into four useful sensor devices that are incorporated into said chest of drawers 10.
A first sensor device is a temperature sensor to advise owner of a fall or increase in the temperature when it occurs and may cause any damage to the contents inside.
A second sensor device is a shortage of electric power sensor when power from public supply is interrupted.
In the other hand, a third sensor device will measure humidity and accordingly report the user in case of a fall or increase in humidity data.
Finally, a fourth sensor device will control movements of said chest of drawers 10 and accordingly will report to the owner any such movements that might occur in said chest of drawer 10.
Additional utilities available in this present invention is an automatic lighting system that will automatically illuminate said chest of drawers 10 at the opening of said drawers 2a 2e 2f and 2g and assist the owner to find a determined object or thing; yet a voice command will greatly assist in cases that the hand-operated control 6 is lost or hidden in an unknown place.
In a second embodiment the invention now claimed refers to a wall shelf 20, as illustrated in
Said wall shelf 20 comprehends two portions, namely, the upper portion 20a and the lower portion 20b as shown in
Said upper portion 20a encloses said lower portion 20b when said wall shelf 20 is in closed position. Thereafter upper portion 20a is a main first body, working as lid, and lower portion 20b is a main second body, working as bed in forming said wall shelf 20. Wall shelf 20 is secured to a wall by metal or steel supporting pieces (not shown), or similar types of bars, by means of screws (not shown).
At opposite distal ends of the wall shelf 20 a pair of damper gas springs 20e and 20f is fastened internally to both upper 20a and lower 20b portions, as shown in
A pair of solenoid locks 20g and 20h is provided also at both distal ends of said lower portion 20b in the wall shelf 20, as shown in
A cabinet light 20k and a door light switch 201, as part of said system or said set of electro-electronic devices, are installed internally in the upper portion 20a with the purpose to provide internal lighting to said wall shelf 20 as shown in
Said wall shelf 20 has the same functional principles and mechanisms 5 of the first embodiment as described.
As for opening operation said wall shelf 20 requires no touch after pressing down a key on said hand command 6 or on said software application. In this second embodiment the upper portion 20a and lower portion 20b will become automatically open by simply pressing down said key and will become illuminated as well. The opening operation is automatic.
The raw material employed to manufacture the parts of said wall shelf 20 is the same as that of the first embodiment, namely MDF or MDP panels having a thickness from 15 mm to 18 mm Depending upon the size of said wall shelf 20 a thicker raw MDF or MDP material may be employed to be adequate to the weight of objects or things inside.
Yet, said second embodiment 20 refers to an automatic wall shelf 20 having the same command given by a hand-operated control 6 in which a key thereof is pressed down by the owner to send operational command Thereafter said lower portion 20b moves down and automatically turns open to allow access to the objects inside.
Likewise, the first embodiment, the hand-operated control 6 is activated from 10 meters away from the owner.
Second embodiment 20 also allows opening of the door 20b (namely said lower portion 20b) by means of a software application at any distance. This operation by means of a software application may be executed from any source like a mobile phone, a computer, or any other means able to have such software installed for use.
The invention and its particularities as detailed above is now disclosed.
It should be understood the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed in the patent specification since modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The principles of the invention can be applied to several furniture that, for those skilled in the art, will be understood as being part of this present invention.