Article of Furniture With a Door Slidable Into Door Compartment

The present invention relates to a furniture article and a door therefor, which can be moved from an upward use position down into a door compartment having at least one side wall. The assembly of the type under consideration includes a door carrying vertical bar, to which the door is connected, and a scissors assembly. The door carrying bar is guided at its upper end on an upper rail fixed to the side wall and also on a lower rail at its lower end. The beams of the scissors assembly are connected to the one side wall of the door compartment and to the door-carrying bar in each case by two respective anchor arrangements, one of which is fixed and the other is vertically displaceable.

Such a piece of furniture is known from U.S. Pat. No. 972,412. Experience has shown that in the case of the lowerable or slidable doors as described in the aforementioned specification, particularly when the door is subsequently fitted, as is nowadays conventionally the case, even when great care is taken during the fitting of the door, problems occur linked with minor changes in the geometry of the retaining or holding device, such as result from loading by various forces and moments applied to the door.

EP-A1-254041 discloses another furniture article of the foregoing type. This very practical solution offers the possibility of subsequently adjusting various parameters of the article of furniture. In particular, it is possible to laterally displace the guide rails, which are fitted to the top and bottom of the door compartment in this known arrangement, which permits an adjustment reliably preventing any jamming of the scissors-type connection. However, the adjustment can only take place following the assembly of the door compartment and requires manipulations in the interior thereof.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a furniture door, which can be flexibly used and is robust and, if necessary, can be adapted to given requirements with limited expenditure. In particular, the guidance of the door-carrying bar must be reliable and satisfy the requirement for a construction facilitating subsequent adjustment. According to the invention, the lower rail as well as the upper rail are fixed to one and the same side wall of the door compartment. This is particularly significant, because only one side wall of the door compartment with the retaining mechanism anchored thereto can be supplied and the actual fitting of the door into the furniture article can take place at a later date.

The advantages obtained from the invention are in particular that the furniture article according to the invention is very suitable for later assembly with subsequent adjustment. The one side wall with the retaining mechanism can be easily connected to the parts, which are possibly supplied by other manufacturers, such as the top, bottom and the other side wall of the door compartment, as well as the actual door and so as to permit the necessary adaptations. The retaining device including two guide rails can be mounted in a ready-to- install manner in the factory which ensures a more accurate installation than in the case of subsequent fitting of the guide rail during the assembly of the article of furniture. This provides a great robustness of the retaining device.

Additionally, it is possible to construct the guide rails in an adjustable manner. Due to the invention and its easy adaptation to use conditions, jamming of the scissors assembly is reliably prevented.

Due to the present invention, hanging of the door outwardly of the door compartment, which can easily occur, especially when the door is fastened subsequently, can be corrected, without tiresome and annoying dismantling and manipulations in the door compartment which are typically necessary.

The aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the invention will, in part, be pointed out with particularity, and will, in part, become obvious from the following more detailed description of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, which form an integral part thereof.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a door panel according to the invention, with only one of two side walls shown;

FIG. 2a is an enlarged front view of an upper anchor arrangement of a scissors-assembly on the first side wall in the left-hand upper corner of FIG. 1, with one scissors-assembly beam omitted;

FIG. 2b is a sectional view taken along line A--A and in part along line B--B of FIG. 2a;

FIG. 2c is a plan view of a detail of FIG. 2b taken in the direction indicated by arrows;

FIG 2d is a front view of a further embodiment of the upper anchor arrangement of the scissors-assembly on the first side wall, corresponding to FIG. 2a;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A--A in FIG. 1, on enlarged scale;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line B--B in FIG. 1, on enlarged scale;

FIG. 5 is a larger-scale view of an upper anchor arrangement of the scissors-assembly on a bar carrying the door in the right-hand upper corner of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6a is a side view of an upper rail of, a further embodiment, with a guide plate for guiding the (not illustrated) door, on lowering it into the door compartment;

FIG. 6b is a sectional view taken along line C--C in FIG. 6a, with the door also shown;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the door-carrying bar of an alternative embodiment and its guidance on the upper rail;

FIG. 8a shows a stop for preventing the drawing of the bar shown in FIG. 7 out of the door compartment, in a sectional view;

FIG. 8b is a sectional view taken along line D--D in FIG. 8a; and

FIG. 9 is a sectional view similar to that of FIG. 4, with the door-carrying bar of FIG. 7, and illustrating the fastening of the door to the bar.

Referring now to the drawings, they show a furniture article with a door 1 which is slidable or lowerable into a door compartment 2. The door 1 is fastened by means of cup hinges 3a, 3b to a door-carrying bar 4, which is carried by a scissors-assembly or arrangement having two beams 5a, 5b which are connected with the bar by two anchor arrangements, of which the top anchor arrangement is fixed and the bottom anchor arrangement is vertically displaceable. The fixed and displaceable anchor arrangements also connect beams 5a, 5b to a first side wall 6 of the door compartment 2. It is naturally also possible for the upper anchor arrangement to be displaceable and the lower anchor to be fixed. However, the preferred arrangement has the advantage that the effect of the weight of the scissors assembly assists the lowering of door 1 and, prior to the fastening thereof, ensures that the scissors assembly remains lowered in the door compartment 2. FIG. 1 shows the article of furniture with an unlowered, closed door 1, the scissors-assembly being open. Door 1 and bar 4 are located in the use position. If the door 1 is completely open, it can be slid or lowered into the door compartment 2, with the scissors-assembly 5a, 5b collapsing and the bar 4, guided on an upper rail 7a and a lower rail 7b, being slid to the rear end of the door compartment 2.

The upper rail 7a and the lower rail 7b serve to precisely guide the door-carrying bar 4 and consequently prevent a twisting and jamming of the scissors assembly 5a, 5b.

According to the invention, not only the upper rail 7a, but also the lower rail 7b is mounted on the first side wall 6. This has the advantage that a first adjustment of the rails can take place during the fitting of the retaining device, e.g. rails by the manufacturer, as opposed to taking place at the time of assembling the door compartment 2. If a readjustment after the assembly should be necessary, the rails 7a, 7b are fixed to the side wall 6 in such a fashion that their spacing from wall 6 can be adjusted from the side of the first side wall 6 opposite to the door compartment. As seen from FIG. 3, the rails 7a, 7b are fixed to the side wall 6 by sleeves or bushings 13 having an external thread and screwed to the respective rail, e.g. the upper rail 7a by screws 14. If it is necessary to modify the spacing between rail 7a and side wall 6, the screw 14 which is in engagement through the end of bushing 13 with the rail 7a is loosened, the bushing 13 is moved by turning, using e.g. a hexagon socket wrench, and then screw 14 is tightened again. This permits re-adjustment of the rail without tiresome manipulations within the door compartment 2, which saves a considerable amount of extra work. The underside of the bar 4 is provided with an engaging guide which engages an upwardly extending projection of rail 7a to slide along the latter as shown in FIG. 3.

An alternative construction of rail 7a shown in FIGS. 6a, 6b facilitates the guidance of the bar by a guidance of door 1, which is produced by a guide member 27, which engages with rail 7a on lowering the door into the compartment. Thus, uncontrolled lateral movements of the door are reliably prevented. Another possibility of guiding door 1 is provided by a guide plate 28, which engages in a slot 29 formed in the top of door 1. Both alternative possibilities are shown in FIG. 6b. They can be readily combined, but one of them is normally sufficient and adequate. Identical guides can be provided at the lower end of door 1.

FIG. 7 shows a further alternative embodiment of the guidance of the door-carrying bar 4 suitable for the above-described construction of rail 7a. The bar 4 carries a strut-like guide 30 partially inserted therein. Guide 30 has a U-shaped part which is in engagement with rail 7a, and also carries a snap device 31 which, together with a screw 32 mounted on rail 7a, forms a snap lock effective against an undesired sliding of the bar 4 back out of the use position into the door compartment 2. Due to the fact that this snap lock acts between the door-carrying bar 4 and the rail 7a, it does not have to be adjusted on modifying the spacing of rail 7a from the first side wall 6. Although a guide plate for guiding the door, as shown in FIG. 6a, 6b is not shown here, it can easily be provided.

The fixed anchor arrangement of beam 5b on the first side wall 6 includes a fixing member 8 (FIG. 1, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d), which is connected through the wall by means of a screw connection 9 to an adjusting member 10 (FIG. 2b) in such a way that the screw connection 9 forms a common fulcrum for fixing member 8 and adjusting member 10. In addition, the fixing member 8 and the adjusting member 10 are connected to each other by a further screw connection 11, which passes through the first side wall 6 with a lateral or peripheral clearance, so that with the screw connection 11 loosened, the fixing and adjusting members 8, 10 can be jointly pivoted about their common fulcrum. However, if after the fastening of the door 1, it is found that it hangs out to a certain extent then the screw connection 11 is loosened and the lower end of adjusting member 10 is pressed rearwards. The fixing member 8 is carried therealong and, consequently, the upper anchoring point of the scissors-assembly is rearwardly displaced. As a result the door-carrying bar 4 and door 1 are aligned. When the adjustment is completed the screw connection 11 is tightened and forms a clamping connection between the fixing member 8 and the adjusting member 10, on the one hand, and the first side wall 6, on the other hand. In addition, the adjusting member 10 is secured against pivoting about the fulcrum by a screw 12. Thus, the adjustment can be easily performed from outside the door compartment 2 with the retaining mechanism and the fastened door 1 completely assembled.

A stop member 33 (FIGS. 8a, 8b) fixed by means of a clamping screw 34 to door-carrying bar 4 prevents the latter from being drawn out of the door compartment 2 beyond the use position. It cooperates with a stop element 35 fixed to the first side wall 6. On loosening the clamping screw 34, the stop member 33 can be slid along the bar 4 out of the area in which it cooperates with the stop element 35 or slips automatically out of said area under the influence of gravity. The door-carrying bar 4 can then be drawn out of the door compartment 2 for adjustment or other maintenance purposes. For securing the bar 4 in this position, it is possible to provide another snap lock (not illustrated) between the door compartment 2 and bar 4, so that the latter does not slide back into the compartment 2.

Normally the door compartment 2 is limited on the side opposite to the first side wall 6 by a second side wall 15 shown in FIG. 4. If the distance between the second side wall 15 and the first side wall 6 is too great, then a disturbing gap occurs, whereas if it is too small the edge of door 1 rubs against the second side wall 15 during opening and closing, which can lead to considerable damage to the door 1, e.g. splintering of the veneer. Thus, a roller 16 is fixed to the door-carrying bar 4 which roller can be displaced along a dovetail groove of bar 4 and can be fixed to the bar 4 by means of screws. The roller 16 is spaced from the second side wall 15, so that annoying noise is avoided during the insertion or drawing out of the door 1. When door 1 is drawn out, the roller 16 presses against a plastic plate 17 fitted to the second side wall 15 in the vicinity of the front edge thereof. Plate 17 ensures an adequate spacing between the side wall 15 and door 1, even if the spacing is actually too small. In order to increase a tolerance range, it is also possible to provide a mounting support for roller 16, which would make it possible to modify its distance from the door-carrying bar 4.

In an alternative construction shown in FIG. 9, roller 16 is replaced by a screw 16', which has a rounded head abutting against plate 17 and which facilitates the adaptation to the spacing with respect to the second side wall 15. FIG. 9 further shows an alternative construction of the door-carrying bar 4, in which hinges 3a and 3b (FIG. 1) are provided having an identical construction. Each hinge is fixed to the bar 4 by means of a retaining part 37, which embraces a protruding part of the bar 4 in a claw-like manner. This construction saves space compared with that of FIGS. 1 and 4.

The anchoring of the scissors-assembly (FIGS. 1, 5) to the door-carrying bar 4 is provided by the upper fixed anchor arrangement of beam 5a, which is formed by a bolt 18 anchored to the beam 5a and a slot 19 which is open downwardly or may be widened as in FIG. 2d. Slot 19 is formed in a carrier element 25 fixed to the bar 4. A vertically displaceable plastic slide 20 (FIG. 1) is connected in a rotary manner to the beam 5b and is guided in a downwardly open dovetail-shaped groove 21 in the bar 4. Since after moving the stop member 33 out of the vicinity of the stop element 35, the bar 4 can be completely drawn out of the door compartment 2, it can be equally easily detached from the scissors assembly 5a, 5b.

In the same way the anchoring arrangement for the beam 5b of the scissors assembly on the top of the first side wall 6 is formed by an upwardly open or widened slot 22 (the first variant permitting easier assembly and disassembly, whilst the latter is mechanically more stable) provided in the fixing member 8 and a bolt 23 (FIG. 1) fixed to the beam 5b. At the bottom of the beam 5a, for anchoring of the scissors assembly system to the bar 4, a further slide member is connected in a rotary manner to the beam 5a , which is guided in an upwardly open dovetail-shaped groove, which in this case is terminated at its lower end by a sound reducing plastic stop, which permits the easy unhinging of the scissors assembly.

To ensure that an excessive drawing of the bar 4 out of the door compartment 2 does not lead to the unintentional drawing of the beam 5a out of the displaceable anchor arrangement on the first side wall 6, a stop 36 (FIG. 1) is fitted to the bar 4, which limits the upward movement of slide 20 in the dovetail-shaped groove 21. Stop 36 is fixed in detachable manner, e.g. by means of a clamping screw, which facilitates an intentional unhinging of the scissors assembly 5a, 5b, as described hereinbefore.

To ensure that the scissors assembly takes up a minimum amount of depth of the door compartment 2 with door 1 lowered, the anchor arrangements of the scissors assembly on door-carrying bar 4 and on the first side wall 6 are fitted to the outer corners of beams 5a, 5b, respectively.

The many possible adjustments are supplemented by a set or adjusting screw 24, which makes it possible to vertically displace door-carrying bar 4 with respect to the support or carrier element 25 suspended on bolt 18 by means of slot 19. It is merely necessary to loosen screws 26, which secure the carrier element 25 against a vertical displacement of bar 4, adjust the position of the bar 4 by turning the set screw 24 and then re-tightening screws 26. As described hereinbefore, for the purpose of this adjustment, the door-carrying bar 4 can naturally be drawn out of the door compartment 2, which makes work much easier.

There has been disclosed heretofore the best embodiment of the invention presently contemplated. However, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention.