Furniture item with sliding leaf mechanism

Abstract

A mechanism is described for leaves of a furniture item (10). The furniture item comprises a compartment (V), a sliding leaf (22, 24) to close/uncover the compartment, a mechanism (40) mounted inside the compartment to support the leaf during a horizontal movement in order to uncover the compartment. The mechanism has a support point (48, 58) on the leaf when the leaf is moved to uncover the compartment, wherein the point is displaceable with respect to the furniture item along a direction parallel to the sliding of the leaf, said point being comprised in a rigid element (46, 56) constrained to the compartment.

Claims

1. Furniture item comprising a compartment, a sliding leaf to close/uncover the compartment, the leaf having a stroke of a horizontal movement, the stroke having an end, a mechanism mounted inside the compartment to support the leaf during a horizontal movement in order to uncover the compartment, wherein the mechanism comprises a first arm, which is mounted inside the compartment, for supporting the leaf during a horizontal movement in order to uncover the compartment, and hinged to the compartment about a first vertical axis; a second arm, which is hinged to the first arm about a second vertical axis, the second vertical axis parallel to the first vertical axis, is adapted to be parallel to the sliding direction of the leaf when the leaf is moved to uncover the compartment, has the free end facing the opening direction of the leaf, and at said free end there is mounted a wheel with a pivoting axis parallel to the first vertical axis and to the second vertical axis, the wheel configured to slide inside a complementary guide mounted on the inner side of the leaf, wherein said first arm and said second arm are mounted so that the rotation of the second arm with respect to the first arm varies the position of the wheel when the leaf moves, the wheel thereby assuming two different positions relative to the open/closed position of the leaf, and at the end of the stroke of the horizontal movement of the leaf, the horizontal movement being a sliding movement, the first arm is approximately orthogonal to the plane of the leaf and the second arm is substantially orthogonal to the first arm thereby forming at this point an L-shaped arm.

2. Furniture item according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism comprises a first pair of parallel arms hinged to the compartment and a second pair of parallel arms respectively hinged to the first pair of parallel arms.

3. Furniture item according to claim 2, wherein the first pair of parallel arms is connected by a rigid element, and wherein the first pair of parallel arms is hinged to the compartment or furniture item via an anchoring element, the anchoring element comprising a base fixable to the furniture item or compartment and a portion adjustable in position with respect to the base.

4. Furniture item according to claim 3, wherein the second pair of parallel arms is hinged to the compartment or furniture item via an anchoring element, the anchoring element comprising a base fixable to the furniture item or compartment and a portion adjustable in position with respect to the base.

5. Furniture item according to claim 2, wherein the first pair of parallel arms is connected by a rigid element.

6. Furniture item according to claim 5, wherein the first pair of arms comprises a seat in which to insert one end of the rigid element.

7. Furniture item according to claim 2, wherein the second pair of arms is connected by a rigid element.

8. Furniture item according to claim 7, wherein the second pair of arms comprises a seat in which to insert one end of the rigid element.

Description

(1) The advantages of the invention will be more apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment, making reference the attached drawing in which

(2) FIG. 1 shows a three dimensional view of a furniture item with closed leaves;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a three dimensional view of the furniture item of FIG. 1 with a leaf open;

(4) FIG. 3 shows the furniture item of FIG. 2 seen from above;

(5) FIG. 4 shows isolated a support mechanism for the leaf;

(6) FIG. 5 shows a cross section according to the plane V-V of FIG. 1;

(7) FIG. 6 shows an enlargement of the hatched area C2 in FIG. 5;

(8) FIGS. 7 and 8 show schematically two configurations of the support mechanism,

(9) FIG. 9 shows an enlargement of the dotted circle C1 in FIG. 3.

(10) In the figures, identical numbers indicate identical or conceptually alike parts, and the elements are described as being in use.

(11) FIG. 1 shows a furniture item 10 comprising a ceiling panel 12, two side panels 14, 16, a bottom 20 and back-panel 28 which delimit a compartment V.

(12) Two leaves 22, 24, horizontally sliding one with respect to and on the other, can cover (FIG. 1) or uncover (FIG. 2) the compartment V.

(13) Each leaf 22, 24 is supported in known manner by a pair of brackets 30, 32 connected to carriages provided with rollers sliding inside a rail 34, set e.g. on the ceiling panel 12.

(14) For supporting and guiding a leaf 22, 24 there is an articulated mechanism 40 mounted inside the compartment V. For simplicity, we will describe the mechanism only for the leaf 24, since the mechanism may be identical for the leaf 22.

(15) The mechanism 40 (FIG. 4) comprises a pair of first arms 44, 54 hinged to the compartment V around a vertical axis X1 by means of two optional, e.g. angular, brackets 42, 52. The brackets 42, 52 allow the fine adjustment of the axes X1, X2 inside the compartment V.

(16) Preferably, to simplify the kinematics and the construction, the arms 46, 56 and the arms 44, 54 are parallel to each other and straight.

(17) A second pair of parallel arms 46, 56 is hinged, respectively, to the first arms 44, 54 around a vertical axis X2, parallel to X1.

(18) At the end of arms 46, 56 is mounted a wheel 48, 58 with a pivoting axis X3 parallel to X1 and X2. The wheel 48, 58 can slide inside a complementary guide 70 mounted on the inner side of the leaf 24 (FIG. 6); therefore, the leaf 24 can be moved relatively to the mechanism 40 without breaking away.

(19) To give greater rigidity to the mechanism 40, preferably the arms 44, 54 are connected by a bar 60, and/or the arms 46, 56 are connected by a bar 62. For example, the arms 44, 54 and the arms 46, 56 may have on the side facing the other arm a groove or cavity in which to insert the end of the bar.

(20) Operation

(21) To move the leaf 24 and discover the compartment V, it is enough to just pull the leaf 24 towards the outside of the furniture item 10. The leaf 24, supported by the bracket 32 and the mechanism 40, moves away from the furniture item 10, arranging itself more outside than the closed leaf 22. One can then push the leaf 24 to overlap it to the leaf 22.

(22) At rest, with the leaf 24 closed (FIG. 1), the mechanism 40 is configured approximately as in FIG. 7, with the arms 44, 46, 54, 56 turned and directed towards the panel 12 (FIG. 7).

(23) The detachment of the leaf 24 from the furniture item 10 makes the arms 44, 46, 54, 56 slightly rotate toward the opposite panel 14.

(24) Even, during the horizontal sliding of leaf 24 towards and above the leaf 22, the arms 44, 46, 54, 56 rotate slightly toward the leaf closed 22 (to the left clockwise in FIGS. 7 and 8) about the axis X1.

(25) At the end of the stroke of horizontal sliding, the boundary of guide 70 abuts on the wheel 48, 58. Then the rotation of the arms 46, 56 about the axis X1 and the rotation with respect to the arms 44, 54 about the axis X2 increases a lot. Eventually, the arms 44, 54 are approximately orthogonal to the plane of the leaves 22, 24 (or, which is the same, to the back-panel 28) and the arms 46, 56 are substantially orthogonal to the arms 44, 54 (FIG. 8).

(26) The arms 44, 54 and the arms 46, 56 form at this point an L-shaped support, the outer segment of which is parallel to the plane of the leaves 22, 24 (and parallel to the sliding direction of the leaves 22, 24). The articulation with respect to axis X2 between the arms 44, 54 and the arms 46, 56 allows the mechanism 40 to deform and dynamically follow the movement of the leaf 24. In particular, the rotation of the arms 46, 56 with respect to the arms 44, 54 varies the position of the roller 48, 58 when the leaf 24 moves: the wheel 48, 58 can therefore assume two different positions relative to the open/closed position of the leaf 24. Not only one gains length in the stop limit of the open the leaf 24 (the arms 46, 56 may have any length), but the relative displacement (for e.g. the rotation) between the arms 46, 56 and the arms 44, 54 eliminates the design limitations for the length of the outer segment of the said L, because such segment (here the arms 46, 56) moves along with the leaf 24. In fact, with the rigid L-shaped arm of the prior art the support point is fixed relatively to the sliding direction of the leaves and does not go over the opening of compartment V, for which the end-of-travel stop is inherently determined.

(27) With the arms 46, 56 also moves the wheel 58, 48 (i.e. the point of support for the leaf 24). Also, note that the rotation of the arms 46, 56 allows said point of support not only to bypass the central edge of compartment V but also to overlap the other closed leaf 22 (see 10 FIG. 9). Thus the stop limit of leaf 24 widens and/or moves towards the leaf 22, thereby allowing to uncover more the compartment V.

(28) The mechanism has other advantages. E.g. it has increased smoothness, because the arms 44, 46, 53, 56 rotate on and are hinged with pins having relatively small diameter, so the friction that these develop during their rotation is proportionally negligible compared to the length of the levers.

(29) It has higher rigidity, due to the fact that there are no relative plays as in the pinion-rack coupling of the prior art, and to the fact that torsion bars can be used (see. E.g. the bars 60, 62) with very robust section.

(30) Possible variants compared to those already described are e.g.: the number and form of the leaves; the use of upper carriages in the guides 34 to move or support the leaves is optional but advantageous. Although the mechanism 40 alone may be able to hold the leaf, in most applications it can only ensure that the leaf 24 remains vertically parallel to the structure of the furniture item 10, or keeps aligned vertically the top and bottom of the leaf 24 by avoiding asymmetries and jams in the carriages 30, 32, especially when the leaf 24 is guided by an upper carriage and a lower one; the use of a pair of arms 46, 56 and arms 44, 54 is optional, which however improves the rigidity and stability of the support. It could suffice to have a pair of arms 46, 56 or arms 44, 54; the use of a pair of arms hinged to each other is optional. It could suffice e.g. to have an L-shaped arm with the end hinged to the compartment. However to move the abovementioned support point for the leaf one may also implement other systems, e.g. hinged arms to the compartment around also or only to one or more axes orthogonal to the plane of the leaf (that is, perpendicular to the back-panel 28), electric actuators or drivers, or articulated parallelograms.