Drawer Made of Plastic

The subject invention relates to a drawer made of plastic with a front plate alignable parallel with the front face and with side walls forming downwardly open hollow chambers in their cross section, whereby in the front area hasps are provided with tightening cams and holding elements are mounted on the front plate engaging with the hasps.

In the known drawers of the aforementioned type the hasps are formed like an excenter lock as it is generally known in the furniture branch. As holding elements undercut bolts are used which have a head and which must at first be introduced with their heads into an introduction opening of the hasp and with a subsequent twisting the tightening cams of the hasps engage the heads of the bolts, so that a certain mounting of the front plate is assured. After the aligning of the front plate the hasps are finally tightened.

Therefore, it is required to execute two operating steps for mounting the front plate, namely at first to introduce the bolts into the hasps and subsequently to turn the two hasps into a certain tightening position.

It is therefore an object of the invention to construct a drawer of the aforementioned type in such a manner that the front plate can be fixed in a preassembled position to the drawer in a single operating step.

The solution of this object of the invention consists in accordance with the invention that each hasp is provided with a transverse bolt on which a fork is mounted and tip-stretched on the front end of a bracket and which can snap open being engaged at the rear on the outside by at least one tightening cam of the hasp, whereby the bracket is supported on the front plate and is moveable transversely to its longitudinal axis which is positioned vertical to the front plate.

Due to the inventive structure it is possible to mount the front plate in a single operating step in a preassembled position on the drawer body, because only the snapping open of the forks onto the transverse bolts of the hasps is required. By this snap connection the front plate is fixed to such an extent that it cannot detach itself from the drawer body, so that the drawer with the provisional fixed front plate can be transported to another operating station at which the final mounting and adjusting of the front plate should take place, for example.

The novel features which are considered characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 a perspective illustration of a drawer made of plastic with a front plate to be mounted thereon,

FIG. 2 a partial section in accordance with line II--II of FIG. 1 after the mounting of the front plate,

FIG. 3 a section along line III--III of FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 a section alone line IV--IV of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 a view of the essential connecting elements with which the front plate is fixed on the drawer,

FIG. 6 the detail of VI shown in FIG. 1 in an enlarged illustration and

FIG. 7 a partial section in accordance with line VII of FIG. 6.

FIG. 1 shows a drawer made of plastic on which a front plate 2 is mounted on the front side thereof.

The moving direction of the drawer 1 is characterized by the double arrow A illustrated in FIG. 1.

The side walls 3 of the drawer 1 are structured in such a manner in that they form downwardly directed open hollow chambers 4 which is shown in particular in FIGS. 2 and 6.

The hollow chambers 4 are closed in the front area up to the upper side by a wall 5.

Insert parts 6 are inserted into the hollow chambers 4 and are provided with a fork like guide portion 7 which is open toward the rear side of drawer 1. A hasp 8 is inserted into these guiding portions 7. The hasps 8 are provided with a transverse bolt 9 and with a support pin 10, whereby the transverse bolt 9 protrudes to that side of the hasp 8 at which the hasp 8 is provided with a tightening cam 11 which is mounted excentrically with respect to the rotating axis of the transverse bolt 9 and support pin 10. The support pin 10 whose diameter is larger than the diameter of the transverse bolt 9 extends beyond the hasp 8 on the other side. The hasp 8 can be snapped into the fork like guiding portion 7, so that the hasp 8 can be turned around the axis of the transverse bolt 9 and support pin 10, but a displacement of the hasp 8 transversely to the mentioned longitudinal axis of the transverse bolt 9 and support pin 10 is not possible any more.

The hasps 8 are provided with two grooves 12 mounted circumferentially and offset with respect to each other at an angle of 180.degree. and an engagement shoulder 13 is tip stretched on insert part 6 which engages into one of grooves 12. By this measure the hasp 8 can be fixed into two different rotating positions, that is, into its operating position shown in FIG. 3, on the one hand, so that the introduction opening 14, which is limited by the tightening cam, points to the front face of drawer 1.

A support plate 15 is mounted on front plate 2 which is made of plastic in the illustrated exemplified embodiment and is provided with two mounting dowels 16. In addition to the mounting dowels 16 the support plate 15 may be provided with through bores, so that a selective mounting of the front plate 15 on a front plate 2 is made possible by means of the dowels 16 and/or mounting screws.

A bracket 17 is unitarily tip stretched on the support plate 15 whose longitudinal axis is positioned normal to the front plate 2 when the support plate 15 is mounted on the front plate 2. A fork 18 is tip stretched on the free end of the bracket 17 and can be snapped onto the transverse bolt 9 of the hasp 8. For this purpose the fork 18 is provided with two opposite engagement shoulders 19 in its opening range, whose clearance with respect to each other is smaller than the outer diameter of transverse bolt 9.

The bracket 17 of support plate 15 is provided with a relative small diameter, so that the possibility exists to move the bracket 17 transversely to its longitudinal axis due to its flexibility. Naturally, the movement of bracket 17 is possible in all directions with respect to its longitudinal axis.

The mounting of the front plate 2 on drawer 1 is performed in the following manner: After inserting the insert parts 6 into the hollow chambers 4 of the side walls 3 the hasps 8 are at first snapped into the fork like guiding portions 7. The hasps 8 are turned in such a manner that their introduction openings 14 point to the front side of drawer 1. This position is fixed by one of the notches 12 and the engagement shoulder 13 of the insert part 6.

Two support plates 15 with brackets 17 and the associated tip stretched fork 18 are mounted on front plate 2. The brackets 17 with the tip stretched forks 18 can be inserted through insert openings 20 of the walls 5 which close the hollow chambers 4 and the forks 18 can be snapped onto the transverse bolts 9 of hasps 8. Due to this simple manipulation the front plate 2 is at first prefixed on drawer 1 without any further operating steps, i.e., the front plate 2 cannot detach itself. By turning the hasps 8, which are provided with a transverse slot 21 in the area of its support pins 10 for this purpose and into which a screw driver can be inserted, the tightening cams of the hasps 8 can be turned into a position in which they engage the forks 18 at the rear of the front ends of brackets 17. Due to the excentric arrangement of the tightening cams 11 with respect to the longitudinal axis of transverse bolts 9 and support pins 10 a tightening torque is generated by which the support plates 15 and thereby the front plate 2 are tightened to the front face of drawer 1. The front plate 2 is fixed stationary on the front face of drawer 1 in the final tightening position.

Since the brackets 17 of the support plates 15 are moveable transversely to its longitudinal axis, an alignment of the same can be performed before the final fixing of the front plate 2 in all directions parallel to the front face of drawer 1.

As can be seen in particular from FIGS. 5 and 6 a cross like structure 22 is mounted on each support plate 15 as well as on the front sides of walls 5. Due to this structure 22 a positive locking is obtained after the final tightening of the hasps 8 between the opposite faces of the support plates 15 and walls 5 which additionally secures the adjusted position of the front plate 2.

As can be seen from FIGS. 6 and 7 each wall 5 are provided with two yielding cover plates 23 whose surface protrudes somewhat with respect to the remainder of the surface of walls 5. Thereby, a slight tightening of the hasps 8 results in a certain fixing of the front plate 2 within the adjustment plane, but a displacement of the front plate 2 for alignment purposes is still possible, since the yielding cover plates 23 can yield rearwardly within the alignment plane when displacing the front plate 2.

In the illustrated exemplified embodiment the hasps 8 are provided with one tightening cam 11 and engage the rear of the forks 18 at one side only. Thus, a particularly space saving structure is obtained which assures a reliable fixing, in particular when the brackets 17 are provided with a recess 24 in the area at which the tightening cam 11 of the hasps 8 engages the fork 18. Thereby, the tightening cam 11 of each hasp 8 can be moved very close to the longitudinal axis of brackets 17, so that the power output between the hasp 8 and fork 18 takes place in the area of the longitudinal axis of bracket 17.

Naturally, it is also possible to shape the hasps 8 in such a manner that they can be provided with two tightening cams 11 which engage the rear of the fork 18 of one bracket 17 at two sides. However, as already mentioned before this would enlarge the total structure.

The insert part 6 which is provided with a catch hook 26 engaging an opening 25 of the wall 5 and a supporting rib 27 which supports the upper transverse rib 28 of the hollow chamber type side wall 3 may be a structural part which is merely defined to receive a hasp 8. However, it is also possible to shape the insert part 6 in such a manner that it extends over the total length of the drawer and is designed in its lower end area as a guide bar for the drawer 1.

Preferably, the insert part 6 as well as the drawer 1 and the support plate 15 with the tip stretched parts are made of plastic.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a drawer, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention.