Patent Application
20130020919
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The present invention relates generally to a wire strike assembly for use with a drawer housing.
The drawers found in desks, filing cabinets, and other storage fixtures or furnishings may become dislodged if the drawer is subject to forces caused by excess vibration, jarring, and other movements. Cabinets and other storage furnishing used on commercial shipping and trucks or on aircraft are especially likely to experience the vibrational effects that may result in the drawer being unintentionally opened during transit. As a result, the contents of files, supplies, and even valuables stored in these drawers used in commercial vehicles are more likely to fall out, be removed without permission, lost or even destroyed with the drawer unintentionally opened by the vibrational effects experienced during transit.
It is understood that prior art wire strikes that are mountable to the top face of a drawer housing are configured to receive a spring-biased latch that may be a component of a locking assembly on the drawer. However, in order to mount the wire strike on the top face such that it is properly positioned to receive the spring-biased latch, it is understood that these prior art devices require the entire wire strike to be remounted onto the top face if its original position is not properly aligned with the spring-biased latch or otherwise requires adjustment. As a result, the proper fitting of the wire strike on the top face of the drawer housing in these prior art devices may be a time consuming process requiring meticulous measurement of the positioning of the wire strike and the spring-biased latch. Accordingly, users of these prior art devices may end up misaligning the wire strike with the spring-biased latch or due to the difficulty involved in their proper installation, they may forgo the use of any wire strike on the top face of the drawer housing. As a result, the contents of drawers in commercial vehicles or airplanes utilizing prior art wire strike devices may end up being removed, lost, or destroyed in the same manner as if no wire strike device were being used. Therefore, short of physically locking the drawer (to the extent there is a lock) on each and every occasion, a drawer may be subject to vibrational forces, the contents of these drawers may not be sufficiently secure with the use of prior art wire strike devices. Even if the user remembers to lock the drawer on each occasion, the key used to open the drawer lock may be easily lost or the combination used to open the lock may be forgotten.
Accordingly, there appears to be a need in the art for a new wire strike assembly that enables the wire strike to be readily adjusted to align with the spring-biased latch in an efficient manner while the wire strike assembly remains mounted to the drawer housing.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wire assembly for use with a drawer housing with the drawer housing having a top face, a drawer with a front face, and a spring-biased latch mountable to the front face. The wire strike assembly may comprise a wire strike having a wire strike first end and an opposing wire strike second end. The wire strike may further have a wire strike first side. The wire strike second end may be sized and configured to receive the spring-biased latch. The wire strike assembly may further include a mounting plate having a first face mountable to the top face of the drawer housing, a first channel, and a second channel. The mounting plate may further have a first wire strike groove sized and configured to receive the wire strike first end side. The wire strike assembly may further include an adjustment screw having an adjustment head and a threaded adjustment stem. The adjustment screw may be disposable through the first channel. The wire strike assembly may further have a locking screw having a locking head and a locking stem. The locking screw may be disposable in the second channel. The locking screw may be operative to lock the axial position of the adjustment screw with the locking head disposed against the adjustment head. The wire strike assembly may further include a wire strike slide having a recess sized and configured to receive the wire strike first end. The wire strike slide may further have a strike opening sized and configured to engage the threaded adjustment stem. The wire strike may be adjustable into a plurality of positions relative to the spring biased latch with the rotation of the threaded adjustment stem through the strike opening translated to the movement of the wire strike slide in a direction parallel to a wire strike longitudinal axis.
The wire strike assembly is innovative in that the adjustment screw and the locking screw enable the adjustment and fixing of the position of the wire strike with the spring-biased latch from the front of the wire strike assembly without needing to remount the wire strike assembly to the top face of the drawer housing. The locking head may be loosened in an amount that enables the adjustment of the locking screw, thereby enabling the modification of the position of the threaded adjustment stem through the strike opening of the wire strike slide. The rotation of the threaded adjustment stem may translate into the movement of the wire strike slide in a direction parallel to a wire strike longitudinal axis. The locking head and the adjustment head may be adjusted using a screwdriver such as a Philips®. Accordingly, the wire strike assembly may be efficiently aligned with the spring-biased latch and fixed into position once the proper alignment is found. Importantly, the wire strike assembly need not be removed and remounted to the top face of the drawer housing for adjustment, as is the case with prior art wire strike devices. As such, the wire strike assembly is more likely to be properly used in preventing the drawer as used in a commercial transport including aviation from inadvertently opening. This feature may uniquely prevent the contents of the drawer from being lost, removed, or destroyed during transit.
In one embodiment of the wire strike assembly, the wire strike may have a wire strike second side opposing the wire strike first side. The wire strike may further have a rectangular shape with the wire strike first end and the wire strike second end being orthogonally disposed between the wire strike first side and the wire strike second side. In this embodiment, the wire strike first side and the wire strike second side may be longer than the wire strike first end and the wire strike second end. However, it is contemplated within the scope of the present invention that the wire strike may be any shape that is suitable to the proper alignment of the wire strike with the spring-biased latch.
In another embodiment of the claimed invention, the mounting plate may have a second wire strike groove opposing the first wire strike groove. The second wire strike groove may be sized and configured to receive the wire strike second side.
The first channel of the mounting plate may be threaded to correspond to the threading pattern on the threaded adjustment stem. In a further embodiment, the mounting plate may further include a first channel notch approximate to the first channel that may be sized and configured to engage the distal end of the threaded adjustment stem. In another embodiment, the locking stem may also be threaded. In this embodiment, the mounting plate may have a second channel that is threaded to correspond to the threading pattern on the locking stem.
In yet a further embodiment, the strike opening on the wire strike slide may be a threaded hole operative to engage the threaded adjustment stem. This feature uniquely enables the rotation of the threaded adjustment stem through the strike opening to translate into the movement of the wire strike slide in a direction parallel to a wire strike longitudinal axis, thereby enabling the convenient adjustment of the wire strike assembly without removing it from the drawer housing. In another embodiment of the claimed invention, the mounting plate may include a top section mounted to the top face and an opposing bottom section. The bottom section may contain the first channel, the second channel, and the first wire strike groove. The top section and the bottom section of the mounting plate may have a coaxial hole through which may be disposed a fitting pin operative to secure the bottom section to the top section. In another embodiment, the top section and the bottom section may each have a plurality of coaxial holes with a separate fitting pin being disposed through each mounting hole to secure the bottom section and top section. In yet a further embodiment, the top section and the bottom section of the mounting plate may each have a coaxial mounting aperture through which may be disposed a mounting pin operative to mount the mounting plate to the top face.
Although the adjustment head and the locking head may have a Philips® screwdriver head configuration in a preferred embodiment of the wire strike assembly, it is also contemplated within the scope of the present invention that the various aspects of the adjustment head and the locking head may have any configuration that may be readily accessed and adjusted from the front of the wire strike assembly without removing the mounting plate from the top shelf.
In another embodiment, the wire strike assembly may further include a washer through which the threaded adjustment stem may be disposed. The washer may be disposed proximate to the adjustment head with the threaded adjustment stem disposed through the strike opening.
The wire strike assembly may include a stopper device coupled to the mounting plate such that the stopper device is adjustable to engage with the drawer when the drawer is closed to mitigate contact between the wire strike and the drawer and to reduce vibration of the drawer as it is closed.
The wire strike assembly may further include a pair of wire strikes to provide additional support and durability.
These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which:
Common reference numerals are used throughout the drawings and detailed description to indicate like elements.
The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, and is not intended to represent the only form in which the present invention may be constructed or utilized. The description sets forth the functions and sequences of steps for constructing and operating the invention. It is to be understood, however, that the same or equivalent functions and sequences may be accomplished by different embodiments and that they are also intended to be encompassed within the scope of the invention.
The wire strike assembly 10 may be for use with a drawer housing 9 (see
In the embodiment depicted in
The wire strike assembly 10 may further have an adjustment member 40 operatively coupled to the first wire strike 18 for moving the first wire strike 18 relative to the mounting body 28. In the exemplary embodiment, the adjustment member 40 is a screw having an adjustment head 42 and a threaded adjustment stem 44 (see
The wire strike assembly 10 may further have a wire strike slide 52 with a recess 54 sized and configured to receive the wire strike first end portion 20 of the wire strike 18 (see
Referring to
A preferred embodiment of the wire strike assembly 10 is shown in
Similarly, the adjustment head 42 of the adjustment screw 40 and the locking head 48 of the locking screw 46 may have a “Phillips”® configuration that are capable of being adjusted by a Phillips® screw driver from the front of the wire strike assembly 10 (see
In another embodiment, the adjustment stem 44 may be disposed through a washer 74. The washer 34 may be disposed proximate to the adjustment head 42 with the adjustment stem 44 threaded through the strike opening 56 (see
Referring now specifically to
The stopper device 80 includes a carriage member 82 and a pair of extension members 84 connected to the carriage member 82. The carriage member 82 includes a pair of internally threaded apertures 86 sized and configured to receive respective ones of the pair of extension members 84. The extension members 84 shown in
Each extension member 84 defines a distal end opposite the threaded portion 88. The distal end of each extension member defines an aperture 90 configured to receive a resilient pad 92. The resilient pad 92 is configured to engage with the inner face of the drawer to mitigate damage to the drawer, and also to reduce vibration of the drawer within the drawer housing as the drawer is closed. Each resilient pad 92 includes a head portion 94 and a stem portion 96 extending from the head portion 94. The stem portion 96 is sized to be inserted within a respective one of the pair of apertures 90 to connect the resilient pad to the extension member 84.
The carriage member 82 is additionally in operative communication with a stopper adjuster 95 to allow for adjustment of the carriage member 80 relative to the mounting plate 28. According to the embodiment shown in
One embodiment of the carriage member 82 includes a cutout or notch 98 to accommodate the wire strike slide 52 which is also located within the mounting plate 28. In this regard, the carriage member 82 may move independent of the wire strike slide 52. In other words, a user may independently adjust the position of the wire strike 18 via the wire strike adjustment member 40, as well as independently adjust the position of the carriage member 82 via the stopper adjuster 95.
A user may adjust the distance which the extension members 84 extend from the mounting plate 28 by rotating the stopper adjuster 95. In this regard, the amount of extension may be adjusted to accommodate the particular size and configuration of the corresponding drawer. The locking mechanism 46 may be configured to lock the stopper adjuster 95 and wire strike adjuster 40.
Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that although the embodiment depicted in
Referring now specifically to
The wire strike assembly 100 includes a mounting plate 106 comprised of a first plate 108 and a second plate 110. The first plate 108 is attached to the second plate 110 via mechanical fasteners, including rivets, screws, adhesives or other fasteners known by those skilled in the art. The wire strikes 102 and 104 are coupled to the mounting plate 106 in a manner wherein a portion of the first wire strike 102 and second wire strike 104 extends from the mounting plate 106 to define respective exposed portion 112, 114, and respective embedded portions 116, 118 (See
In the embodiment depicted in
In the embodiment depicted in
The wire strike assembly 100 additionally includes a locking mechanism 134 which may restrict further adjustment of the first wire strike 102 and second wire strike 104. In the exemplary embodiment, the locking mechanism 134 is a screw which may be tightened to further restrict rotation of the first rotation member 126 and second rotation member 130. More specifically, as the locking mechanism 134 is moved toward a locked configuration, the head of the locking mechanism 134 engages with the first rotation member 126 and second rotation member 130 to restrict further rotation thereof.
It is additionally contemplated that various embodiments of the wire strike assembly 100 may include stop members 80 as described in more detail above. The stop members 80 may be coupled to the mounting plate 106 to mitigate damage to the drawer when the drawer is closed, as well as to reduce vibration of the drawer as it is closed.
The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments.
