The present invention relates to the field of cabinet mounted hardware.
It is often difficult to properly align a cabinet face with respect to the cabinet body. Due to the positioning of interiorly located slide assemblies within a cabinet, alignment of the cabinet face may be skewed. It is therefore an object of the present invention to properly align a cabinet face with respect to a cabinet body by minimal adjustments.
One proposed solution for adjusting a cabinet mounted frame on a bottom mount system is provided in my co-pending application Ser. No. 14/015,773, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The present invention generally relates to a container assembly for recyclable materials mounted within a cabinet for movement between an extended position in which the open tops of the bins or containers are exposed for receiving recyclable materials and a retracted position in which the bins are concealed. The container assembly is supported for movement between its extended and retracted positions by a pair of drawer slide assemblies with supporting cross-member brackets being connected to the slide assemblies.
The slide assemblies are mounted adjacent to a top of the cabinet. The slide assemblies interengage with brackets on which a door can be mounted for adjustment to accurately fit the opening in the front wall to form a closure for the cabinet in which the container assembly is mounted. The container assembly is constructed to enable easy removal of the bins or containers, easy mounting and assembly and quick and effective adjustment with all adjustments being securely locked when all components of the assembly are oriented in an optimum adjusted position.
An object of the present invention is to provide an extendable and retractable pre-hung container assembly for recyclable materials which includes a pair of drawer slide structures that are interconnected by a rear cross-member bracket and a front cross-member bracket to draw slide structures in spaced parallel relation with the rear ends of the slide structures being independently adjustably supported by two brackets having adjusting screws.
Another object of the invention is to provide a container assembly for recyclable material in which the movable components of the drawer slide assemblies support at least one bin or receptacle for receiving recyclable materials with the upper ends of the bin or container being exposed and accessible when moved to an extended position to provide access thereto in order to enable categorized recyclable materials to be placed in the bin. By including two independent adjusting structures at a rear mounting bracket located at the rear of the slide assemblies, the adjusting structures raise and lower or maintain a position of at least one of the slide assemblies independently of each other. This all occurs at the rear mounting bracket.
However, in the front of the cabinet, where a front cross-member bracket supports and is secured to the slide assemblies, the slide assemblies are caused to move independently of each other and adjust the position of the cabinet door by the torsional twist or flexure of the front cross-member bracket. The front cross-member bracket is centrally secured in place, allowing its lateral sides, connected to the slide assemblies, to twist or turn.
This aids in moving the cabinet face so that the cabinet face lies flush against the cabinet in a vertical plane. A three-dimensional adjustment of the cabinet face is provided so as to secure an aesthetically pleasing proper alignment of the cabinet face.
Depending upon the independent adjustment of the rear cross-member bracket at the rear of the slide assemblies, the slide assemblies are caused to change relative positioning about the front cross-member bracket and thereby vary the alignment of the cabinet face. It is understood as being within the scope of the present invention that rotation of the independent adjustment assemblies in opposite directions, or in the same direction to different degrees, will cause the adjustment of the cabinet face to tip or toe in the alignment of the cabinet face.
The adjusting assembly is formed by the use of the rear cross-member bracket interengaging with two independently adjustable jog bend brackets. The two jog bend brackets supports the rear cross-member bracket for adjustment of a front door panel. The adjustment is made by independently raising or lowering the rear cross-member bracket from side to side. This is done by a screw adjustment. The tip end of the screw engages the rear cross-member bracket for its adjustment.
The rear bracket, being U-shaped, engages and holds a rear end of the side slide rail assemblies as an extension of the side slide rail assemblies. Therefore, the independent movement of the rear cross-member bracket supported by the jog bend brackets causes a relative shifting of each of the side slide assemblies. A front cross-member bracket is anchored, once the assembly is in position, such that the relative movement of the rear cross-member bracket in the jog bend brackets causes a torsional twist of front cross-member bracket, and, due to the connection of the front cross-member bracket to the side slide assemblies, adjustment of the front panel door.
These and other objects of the invention, as well as many of the intended advantages thereof, will become more readily apparent when reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The following drawings illustrate examples of various components of the invention disclosed herein, and are for illustrative purposes only. Other embodiments that are substantially similar can use other components that have a different appearance.
In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.
With respect to the drawings, and with reference to
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Secured to the rear wall 42 of the cabinet opening are two jog bend brackets 52. These brackets are shown in more detail in
In
In
Rear mounting bracket 50 is U-shaped, having crosspiece 70 and two perpendicular extending legs 72 and 74. A bottom edge of the crosspiece 70 and legs 72 and 74 has a perpendicular extending flange 76 having a width greater than a top edge perpendicular extending flange 78. This is best shown in
In
In
The horizontally extending portion 92 includes a keyhole 96 for anchoring of the front mounting bracket to a front cross rail or cabinet rail located at a top of an opening in cabinet box 22. This keyhole 96 helps in the center positioning of the top mount adjustable cabinet mounted frame assembly in the cabinet.
As shown in
The crosspiece 92 is located above the rear cross-member bracket 70 to aid in providing torisional twist of the front cross-member bracket when the position of the rear cross-member bracket is changed. The crosspiece 92 includes lateral notches in the ends of the crosspiece to assist in the twist of front cross-member bracket.
In the positioning of the invention in the opening of a cabinet, the flange 76 of the rear mounting bracket 70 is positioned and held in the gap formed between the portions 58 and the rear wall 42 to which the brackets 52 have been secured. Some play is allowed between the width of the flange 76 and the width of the gap formed between the portions 58 and the rear wall 42.
With the rear mounting bracket hung by and loosely held by the brackets 52, and the front mounting bracket 90 secured between the rails of the slide assemblies 28, 30, a screw 100 is driven into the front cross rail or cabinet rail of the upper wall of the cabinet box opening at a centered position and at a predetermined height above and distance from the rear mounting bracket. The front mounting bracket 90 is then raised so that screw head 102 passes through the round opening 104 of the keyhole 96. The front mounting bracket is then pushed rearwardly towards the rear mounting bracket with the shaft 104 of the screw 100 passing through restricted opening 106 of the keyhole 96. Shaft 104 is then located in obround slot 108 of the keyhole 96. The front mounting bracket 90 is then laterally shifted until the front mounting bracket is properly centered in the cabinet. Screw 100 is then tightened in place.
Rear mounting bracket is now mounted in the jog bend brackets 52. With the door panel 26 mounted to the plates 34, drawer member frame 32 is moved into place within the respective corresponding portions of the slide rail assemblies of the cabinet member frame. When the door panel is in contact with the cabinet front face, a determination can be made of the necessary adjustments so that the door panel lies flush on the cabinet front face.
These adjustments are accomplished by the rotation of the screws 60 in the jog bend brackets 52. Each of the screws 60 is independently adjusted with each screw being rotated in the same direction or in opposite directions or with one screw stationary to provide a torsional twist of the front cross-member bracket of the cabinet mounting assembly. This moves the positioning of the front door panel with respect to the front face of the cabinet through multiple planes.
In an instruction sheet, assembling the adjustable cabinet mounting frame in a cabinet is performed as follows:
Step 1—Separate drawer member frame (DMF) from cabinet member frame (CMF) by depressing lever disconnects on drawer slides.
Step 2—Drive #8×⅝ screw ⅜″ in and centered under front rail. (Do not drive screw in completely.)
Step 3—Mount rear adjust brackets to back of cabinet by transferring front rail height to rear of base cabinet by transferring front rail height to rear of base cabinet less 4.5″.
Step 4—Install CMF in base cabinet by hooking rear of CMF bracket over rear adjust brackets. Then position front bracket of CMF to receive #8×⅝ screw through key hole at front rail and push back in place.
Step 5—Center CMF, hand tighten screw; drive #10×¾″ screws in obround holes of front bracket. Level at rear adjust bracket and drive #8×⅝ screws in obround holes. Hand tighten.
Step 6—Set DMF door mount adjust brackets to desired width for door style. Place door face down. Center DMF left to right and position 19/32 plus door overlap down from top of door. Drive #10×⅝″ screws in obround holes. Hand tighten.
Step 7—Move ball retainers to the front of cabinet member slides. Insert DMF into CMF by placing drawer members between ball bearings and pushing the door carefully closed.
Step 8—Open door and perform final adjustments. Set door toe in, toe out by raising or lowering rear of CMF with rear adjust brackets. Set door height with obround holes on DMF. Set door width with obround holes on CMF. Drive and fasten remaining screws.
The foregoing description should be considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and, accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
This application is a non-provisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 61/843,619, filed Jul. 8, 2013, and hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61843619 | Jul 2013 | US |