Fold-back doors for pieces of furniture

May 16, 1961

R. vincens 2,984,532 fold-back doors for pieces of furniture

Filed Oct. 27, 1959

Sheets-Sheet 1

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May 16, 1961

R. VINCENS

FOLD-BACK DOORS FOR PIECES OF

Filed Oct. 27, 1959

2,984,532 furniture

Sheets-Sheet 2

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United States Patent Office „ ²&gt;⁹⁸⁴&gt;⁵³²^: , 7.: : Patented May 16, 1961

2,984,532

FOLD-BACK DOORS FOR PIECES OF FURNITURE

Rene Vincens, Martm-Eglise Pres Dieppe, France, as- ⁸signor to Societe Civile de Recherches et d’Etudes industnelles, Neuville-Ies-Dieppe, France

Filed Oct. 27,1959, Ser. No. 849,083

Claims priority, application France Oct. 27,1958 ¹⁰

Claims. (Cl. 312—323)

Ths invention relates to improvements in fold-back doors for pieces of furniture, and notably in doors pivotal mounted about a horizontal axis disposed at the upper or lower portion of drawers, shelves, bins or trays of cabinets, cupboards or filing-cabinets of offices and the like.

Hinge means for fold-back doors of this type are already known wherein these doors are adapted to slide relative to a cross-member extending throughout their length, this cross-member being pivoted about a horizontal axis. .After opening the door by pivoting same fr°ut its vertical position to its horizontal position, the door can be retracted completely or partially within the piece, of furniture by sliding in said cross-member.

_ It is the essential object of this invention to provide on tne one hand a device for hingedly mounting the crossmember alone, this device being adapted to be fitted very

Φ pieces of furniture made in sections adapted to be disassembled, and on the other hand means for guiding the door relative to the cross-member for preventing anv jamming therebetween.

According to this invention, the hinge means contemplated for a fold-back door for a piece of furniture adapted to be disassembled and made of vertical uprights in which apertures are formed for securing the trays or shelves and wherein the fold-back door is adapted to shoe relative to a cross-member pivotally mounted about a horizontal axis, is characterized in that it comprises, at either end of the cross-member, a bearing-forming plate rigid with said cross-member, and a support-forming plate associated with said bearing-forming plate and detachably mounted through the relevant upright, said support-forming plate being provided with a fixation member engaging an aperture in said upright, a resiliently mounted pivot pin for hingedly mounting the corresponding bearing-forming plate, and an abutment member engageable by said bearing-forming plate in the open position of said door.

In order to afford a better understanding of this invention and of the manner in which the same may be carried out in practice, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and illustrating diagrammatically by way of example a typical form of embodiment of the invention. In the drawings·

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the hinge mounting of the cross-member.

Figure 2 is a perspective view, with parts broken away showing the mounting of the support-forming plate on the upright of a piece of furniture or cabinet.

Figure 3 is a side view taken in the direction of the arrow f of Fig. 1.

. Figure 4 is a plane view showing the door-guiding device, the body of the cross-member being removed for the sake of clarity; and

Figure 5 is a section taken upon the line V—V of Fig. 4, the body of the cross-member being in position.

In Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings the fold-back door 1 consisting of a rectangular sheet-metal plate is adapted to slide relative to the cross-member 2 extending throughout the length of the door 1. To this end, the side edges In of door 1 are doubled Over, as shown, in order to constitute U-sectioned slide-bars each having its upper wing fitted between the side edge 2α of cross-member 2 and a bearing-forming plate 3. The bearing-forming plate 3 consists of ah angle-member having its horizontal wing 3α secured by a bolt 4 on the cross-member 2. The end portion 2α of cross-member 2 is shifted vertically so that the upper wing of slide-bar la may fit in the fork consisting of the wing 3α and end portion 2α.

The vertical wing 3b of the bearing-forming plate 3 is formed with a substantially central hole adapted to receive a pivot pin 5 carried by a support-forming plate 6.

This pivot pin 5 is maintained in the hole of the support forming plate 6 by a spring blade 7 secured at 10 on the plate 6. The upper and lower edges of plate 6 are bent at right angles.

The vertical edges of plate 6 are formed with lug ex20 tensions bent at right angles to constitute a rear lug 6α and a front lug 6b.

From Fig. 1 it will be seen that the rear lug 6α acts as an abutment to the vertical wing 3b of the bearingforming plate 3 rigid with cross-member 2. In the abut¹ ment position this cross-member 2 and the door 1 are horizontal. Of course, any other suitable member may be substituted for the rear lug 6α.

The front lug 6b serves the purpose of engaging one of the vertical apertures 8α formed in the uprights 8 of the ' cabinet or like piece of furniture. In Fig. 2 it is clear that, when this lug 6b is engaged in an aperture 8α, the support-forming plate 6 is rendered solid with the upright 8 due to the wedging of the lug 6b against the bottom or central portion of the upright-forming section 8.

To this end, the width e of lug 6b is advantageously selected to be close to the distance d measured between one vertical edge of an aperture 8α and the remotest edge of the section 8 in order to lock the support-forming plate 6 against lateral displacement.

In Fig. . 2 there is illustrated in chain-dotted lines a tray 9 which is also secured on the upright 8 by means of a pawl 20 engaging one of the apertures 8α.

From Figures 1 to 3 it is clear that the door 1, after having been pulled out completely from the cabinet, can pivot about the pivot pins 5. The support-forming plate 6 may be positioned above or below the tray 9, as desired, according as the door 1 is to close upwards or downwards’

The figures illustrate a typical form of embodiment wherein the door 1 is closed by pivoting in the direction of the arrow fj (Fig. 1), that is upwards.

If the door is to be closed through a downward rotational movement, the plate 6 is simply mounted upsidedown that is, with the pivot pins 5 at a level higher than that of the lugs 6α and 6b.

In Figs. 4 and 5, the cross-member 2 carries at either end, m the transverse direction, a pair of superposed pulleys designated by the reference numerals 11, 12 and 13, 14. A guide cable 15 anchored at 15α on one of the upper comers of the rectangular door 1 passes over the pulley 14 and then over pulley 11, and is then directed towards the opposite comer of the door and secured to one end of a traction spring 16. The other end of this spring 16 is anchored on the door 1. Another cable 17 anchored at 17α on the door 1 follows a path symmetric to that of cable 15 with respect to the transverse plane of symmetry. This other cable 17 is similarly anchored to a spring 18. The springs 16, 18 are housed in a channel lo formed along the rear edge of door 1.

The cables 15, 17 serve the purpose of guiding the door 1 relative to the cross-member 2. As long as the door 1 moves in a direction parallel to this cross-member 2, the spnngs 16, 18 are subjected substantially only to the tensions necessary for imparting a sufficient rigidity to the cables. If, as a consequence of a faulty movement, the door 1 tended to become inclined relative to the cross-member 2, with an inherent risk of jamming the former, one of the springs would be subjected to an additional pull as a consequence of the elongation of the path of the relevant cable. If, for example, it is attempted to impress a movement of rotation in the direction of the arrow f₂ to the door 1 relative to the cross-member 2, it will be seen from Fig. 4 that the path of cable 15 is elongated and therefore the spring 15 will exert an additional pull on the cable 15 thus automatically tending to counter-balance or compensate the pivoting movement in the direction of the arrow f₂ and to maintain the parallel relationship between the door 1 and cross-member 2.

Of course, many modifications may be brought to the arrangement shown and described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.