Piece of Furniture in Which a Washing Machine Can Be Placed and Method for Manufacture Thereof

Abstract

A piece of furniture in which a washing machine can be placed, comprising two substantially vertical side walls, a substantially horizontal bottom wall, a substantially horizontal top wall and a substantially horizontal carrier placed between the bottom wall and the top wall.

Claims

1. A piece of furniture in which a washing machine can be placed, comprising: two substantially vertical side walls, a substantially horizontal bottom wall, a substantially horizontal top wall, and a substantially horizontal carrier for the washing machine, placed between the bottom wall and the top wall, wherein the side walls are placed on top of the bottom wall.

2. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom wall is provided with means for placing the bottom wall level on a ground surface.

3. The niece of furniture as claimed in claim 2, wherein the means for placing the bottom wall level on a ground surface are height-adjustable legs.

4. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the side walls are provided with mounting means placed close to a rear side thereof.

5. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 4, wherein the mounting means are furniture brackets or corner bracings provided with a soft material.

6. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carrier is fixed at a distance above the bottom wall, thus forming a storage space between the bottom wall and the carrier.

7. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 6, wherein one or more support means for transmitting vertical forces are placed between the bottom wall and the carrier.

8. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 7, wherein the support means are plate-like and placed substantially parallel to the side walls and/or the rear side.

9. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 6, wherein the storage space is provided with a drawer.

10. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least the carrier is protected against moisture.

11. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carrier is provided on its upper side with a cover plate.

12. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein a retaining member arranged at a front side of the carrier.

13. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carrier has a length from the front side of the carrier to the rear side of the carrier, which is smaller than the depth of the piece of furniture.

14. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least a part of the front and/or rear side is open.

15. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 14, herein at least a part of both the front side and the rear side is open.

16. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the top wall is provided with a ventilation opening.

17. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom wall and/or side walls and/or top wall are mutually connected by means of steel fixing means.

18. A method for manufacturing a piece of furniture as claimed in claim 1, comprising: providing the horizontal bottom wall, placing the vertical side walls on top of the bottom wall, arranging the carrier between the side walls and at a distance above the bottom wall, and placing the top wall at a distance above the carrier.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18 for manufacturing a piece of furniture, further comprising: placing vertical support means on the bottom wall after the bottom wall has been provided and before the side walls have been placed, and placing the carrier on the support means.

20. The piece of furniture as claimed in claim 3, wherein the height-adjustable legs at least partially comprise plastic.

Description

[0024] The invention will be further elucidated on the basis of a number of exemplary embodiments, wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawing, in which:

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a schematic perspective view of a piece of furniture according to a first embodiment of the invention,

[0026] FIG. 2 shows a schematic perspective view of a piece of furniture according to another embodiment of the invention, comprising mounting means and height-adjustable legs and support means,

[0027] FIG. 3 shows schematically a partially cross-sectional perspective view of a side wall and the carrier with a metal cover plate provided with upright edges and a retaining member,

[0028] FIG. 4 shows a schematic perspective view of another embodiment of the invention with a washing machine therein and an add-on thereon, and

[0029] FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of the carrier, cover plate and retaining member in a longitudinal sectional view.

[0030] FIG. 1 shows that a piece of furniture 1 for accommodating a washing machine 2 comprises a bottom wall 4 on which side walls 3 are placed. This is therefore a clear difference relative to conventional pieces of furniture, wherein the side walls are fixed against the end surfaces of the bottom wall. The placing of side walls 3 on bottom wall 4 results in a considerably stronger and more rigid construction of piece of furniture 1. A carrier 6 for washing machine 2 is arranged between and fixedly connected to side walls 3. An top wall 5 is placed on side walls 3. Carrier 6 is in this example arranged at a distance from bottom wall 4, this resulting in a storage space 15 between bottom wall 4 and carrier 6. Storage space 15 is here provided with a drawer 9. Side walls 3 are in this embodiment fixed to top wall 5, to carrier 6 and to bottom wall 4 by means of steel fixing means 7, which provide for a particularly great rigidity and strength in the connections between the different parts. Top wall 5 is here further provided with a ventilation opening 10 for discharging hot air created during use of washing machine 2.

[0031] FIG. 2 shows that the storage space between bottom wall 4 and carrier 6 is provided in this example with sliding means 13 for drawer 9. Bottom wall 4 is also provided here with height-adjustable legs 11, and side walls 3 are provided with mounting means 8 close to the rear side. Support means 12 on which carrier 6 is placed are in this embodiment placed on top of bottom wall 4. Support means 12 here take the form of vertical wall parts, two of which are parallel to and connected to side walls 3, while the third vertical wall part forms a rear wall of storage space 15 under carrier 6. Carrier 6 thus rests on support means 12 along three of its edges. Together, the support means 12, side walls 3 and carrier 6 form a frame which is both strong and stiff.

[0032] FIG. 3 shows one of the two side walls 3 and carrier 6 in detail. It can be seen that carrier 6, which can be manufactured from a high-grade wood-based plate material, is provided on its upper side with a cover plate 16 of metal or of a fibre-reinforced plastic. The cover plate has an upright front edge 17 and upright side edges 18. These upright edges protect the surrounding structure against being penetrated by moisture which could leak from washing machine 2. In addition, upright front edge 17 prevents washing machine 2 falling from carrier 6 due to vibration. Cover plate 16 further has a downward bent end edge 19 which protects the corresponding side of carrier 6 against the effects of moisture.

[0033] Carrier 6 has a length, calculated from its front side to its rear side, which is smaller than the depth of piece of furniture 1, whereby a space 14 remains between the rear side of carrier 6 and the rear side of piece of furniture 1. This space can serve for feeding conduits through.

[0034] FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of washer cabinet 1 according to the invention with an add-on 20 which is placed on top wall 5. Add-on 20 is provided with side walls 21 lying in the same plane as side walls 3 of washer cabinet 1 and with a front sidedefined here by a door 22lying in the same plane as the front side of the washer cabinet. The add-on thus has the same outer dimensions as the washer cabinet, in this example a width of 67 centimetres and a depth of 65 centimetres. These are not common dimensions for a piece of furniture, but they provide the required interior space for placing washing machine 2. Add-on 20 further has a conventional construction, with side walls 21 which are fixed on either side of the (non-visible) bottom wall and top wall. The rear wall (not visible here) of the add-on can however in any case be offset to the front relative to the rear side of side walls 20 to some extent so as to enable hot air from the washing machine to be discharged. It can otherwise be seen in this example that washing machine 2 is indeed placed in washer cabinet 1. A gap 23 through which hot air can likewise escape is left between washing machine 2 and top wall 5.

[0035] In FIG. 5 an alternative arrangement of the piece of furniture 1 is shown, in which the carrier 6 is covered by a plate 16 which not only has a downward bent edge 19 at the rear, but also at the front. In this embodiment the retaining member 24 is formed by an L-shaped metal strip having an upright leg 17 extending in front of the carrier 6 and the bent edge 19 of the cover plate 16, and a horizontal leg 25 extending below the carrier 6. This horizontal leg 25 is fixedly connected to the carrier 6 by a number of connectors 26, e.g. screws.

[0036] Although this application refers repeatedly to a washing machine, the piece of furniture can also be used for placing a tumble dryer, combo washer or washer dryer therein.

[0037] Although the invention has been elucidated above on the basis of a number of embodiments, it will be apparent that these can be varied in many ways. The scope of the invention is therefore defined solely by the following claims.