Patents Assigned to Franco Ferrari
  • Patent number: 6145164
    Abstract: A hinge for furniture having a base (10) comprising a first element (41) which at the upper part thereof has coupling surfaces for a hinge wing and at the lower part thereof has a groove (20) receiving a second element (30) intended for being fastened to a piece of furniture. The first and second elements are mutually slidable in a direction transverse to the hinge extension by means of a rotary cam (27). The second element (30) is received in the groove in a drawer-like slidable manner in said transverse direction and the first element (41) comprises a through hole (25) disposed between the groove and the upper part. The cam (27) has a pivot pin (28) for rotation control which is fitted in said through hole (25) to be rotated therethrough, and the second element (30) has a face thereof turned towards the groove from which teeth (33, 35) forming reaction surfaces for the cam project, which teeth are disposed on opposite sides of the cam in the transverse direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2000
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5927841
    Abstract: An element 10 for manufacturing a drawer is made of a bordered strip (11, 111, 211, 311, 411) which can be folded crosswise to its extension along scored lines (12, 13) to form the sides of a drawer. The strip has, on a first face, a rib (14) close to one edge of the strip and extending longitudinally to the extension of the strip. The rib (14) is designed to fit into a groove (16) along the side of the base of the drawer. Disposed on the opposite face of the strip are runners (18, 19) secured to the strip a by fastening device (23, 24) which traverse the strip to be at least partially contained in the cross section of the rib (14).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 27, 1999
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5887316
    Abstract: A single-pin furniture hinge of the box type comprises a first (11) and a second (12) fastening element designed to be fastened to two furniture parts to be hinged together and an arm (15) provided at one end with the first fastening element (11) and at the other end with hinging elements (16) for hinging it to the second fastening element (12) to achieve the articulation of the hinge. The arm (15) is composed of a first (19) and a second (20) part which reciprocally slide upon operation of adjusting screw (31) to enable adjustment of the reciprocal position of the two fastening elements (11, 12). The adjusting screw (31) having its axis coinciding with the direction of adjustment of the hinge and cooperating with said first (19) and second (20) part to achieve their reciprocal sliding upon rotation of the screw.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 30, 1999
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5842759
    Abstract: A device (10) for adjustably fitting a drawer runner on a furniture unit, comprises a first plate (11) with fastening means (12) for securing it to the furniture unit, and a second plate (13) with fastening means (14) for securing it to the runner. The two plates comprise guides (17, 18) for reciprocal sliding constraint. An eccentric cam (20) is received in a first slot (19) in a plate and has a pivot (22) which is received in a second slot (21) in the other plate, thereby achieving the reciprocal sliding of the two plates parallelly to the guides constraining the manual rotation of the cam. The plate with the second slot (21) has a slanted plane (23) which extends in the sliding direction of the constraining guides (17, 18) and towards the second slot (21) to constitute sliding surfaces for the pivot (22) during the assembly of the two plates by reciprocal sliding along the constraining guides until the end of the pivot snaps into the second slot (21).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 1, 1998
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5781966
    Abstract: An cam adjusting device (30) comprises a first and second element sliding reciprocally and a cam (32) pivoted to the first element by means of a pivot (33) rotating around an axis (48) to react with one of its lateral surfaces (35, 38) against a bearing surface (34, 37) on the second element, upon rotation of the cam around the axis thereby achieving sliding and adjustment of the reciprocal position of the first and second element. The cam is shaped so that, for any angular position of the cam in its active stroke the centre of rotation of the cam is substantially in the region of a straight line (41) passing through a point (36) of contact between a lateral surface of the cam and a bearing surface of the second element, said straight line being slanted at an angle .phi. identical to the angle of friction in the point of contact. A cam meeting this condition has been found maximize the amplitude of the adjustment without encountering instability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 21, 1998
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5737804
    Abstract: A furniture hinge comprises a first (11) and a second (12) fastening element designed to be secured to two furniture parts to be hinged together, and an arm (15) which ends at one extremity with the first fastening element (11) and at the other extremity has a pivot (16) pivoting it to the second fastening element (12) to achieve the joint of the hinge. The arm (15) is made in two portions (17, 18) sliding reciprocally upon operation of adjusting means (22) composed of a cam (23) to allow adjustment of the reciprocal position of the first and second fastening element. Advantageously, the sliding surface (20) of the second portion (18) comprises an elongated housing (24) to receive the cam (23) with a lateral surface of the cam which reacts against the side walls of the housing. The sliding surface (19) of the first portion (17) comprises a through hole (25) which receives, with a minimum of side play, a control pin (26) protruding from the cam so as to be operated from the outside.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 14, 1998
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5737820
    Abstract: A clamping tool designed for clamping sheet metal runners onto the side panels of drawers comprises an elongated grippable casing, at one end of which is a clamp (27, 127) composed of a pair of jaws (20, 21, 121) designed to grip a clamping area of a runner clasping the edge of a side panel of the drawer. Inside the casing is a actuator (18, 118) for moving a wedge-shaped element (19, 119). At least one jaw (21, 121) of the pair is made on the extremity of a lever (22, 122) having its other extremity (24, 124) slidingly resting on the wedge-shaped element (19, 119). Upon actuation of the actuator, the wedge (19, 119) slides over the extremity (24, 124) of the lever (22, 122) to rotate it around a pivot (23, 123) lying between the extremities and shift the jaws towards each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 14, 1998
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5669108
    Abstract: A unit for fastening iron fittings (43) to furniture parts, comprises an expansion plug (11) which axially receives a pin (12) rotatable between an insertion position and an expansion position of the expansion plug. The pin has a radial protrusion (34) designed to imprison an iron fitting between it and an opposing top end of the expansion plug. The radial protrusion defines a flat surface, substantially perpendicular to the axis of the pin, which extends partially over a coupling seat (35) formed in the opposing top end (14) of the expansion plug around the passage (13) for insertion of the pin in the expansion plug, the bottom (36) of the seat forming a surface facing the flat surface of the radial protrusion, the slot (35) having a side wall (38) facing a corresponding side wall (39) of the pin. The seat (35) can thus receive a substantially complementary portion provided on the iron fitting in correspondence with a hole in the latter for the passage of the pin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 23, 1997
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5634242
    Abstract: A furniture hinge (10, 110) has a wing (11, 111) and a cup (12, 112) interconnected with each other by a lower link rod (14, 114) and an upper link rod (15, 115). A torsion spring (25, 125) is wound round a pin (21, 121) inside the wing and parallel to the pivots of the link rods so as to have a thrust arm (22, 122) which acts upon a protrusion (20, 120) of the lower link rod facing towards the pin of the spring to push the hinge towards the closed position during a last section of the movement. The pivoting of the lower link rod (14, 114) to the wing is substantially between the pin (21, 121) of the spring and the pivoting of the upper link rod (15, 115) to the wing. The torsion spring advantageously has a reaction arm (123) which rests on the lower link rod (114).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1997
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5626450
    Abstract: An expansion plug fastening assembly (15, 115) for fastening a hardware element (13, 113), in particular a runner for drawers, to a hole (11, 111), comprises an expansion plug casing (10, 110) which fits into the hole. The casing (10, 110) comprises an axial housing (16, 17, 116, 117) axially rotatably housing the shank (24, 25, 124, 125) of a pin (22, 122) for fastening the hardware element. At least one first segment of the shank (25, 125) has an axis (23) eccentric with respect to the head (18, 118) to permit adjustment of the position of the hardware element in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the pin on rotation of the pin. The shank advantageously also comprises a second segment (24, 124) coaxial to the head and the housing comprising a first (17, 117) and a second portion (16, 116) receiving the first (25, 125) and the second segment (24, 124) respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 6, 1997
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5617612
    Abstract: A furniture hinge (10) comprises a first cup-shaped element (11) and a second arm-shaped element (12) pivoted together to rotate reciprocally from an open position to a closed position. The arm-shaped element (12) is made of sheet metal with one end (20) bent to wind round a hinge pin (21) supported in the cup (11). The bent end of the arm-shaped element (12) also defines bearing surfaces (22) for a double twist pressure spring (23) which pushes the first and second element towards the closed position starting from a position close to the latter. A U-bolt forms the hinge pin (21) and a pin (26) supporting the spring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 8, 1997
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5586364
    Abstract: A fastening element for fastening hardware elements (31) to parts of furniture units (14) comprises an expansion plug (11) having an axial through housing (17) which can receive an expanded pin (23), which can rotate between a position in which the plug is not expanded, to enable it to be inserted in a hole (16) in the furniture unit (14), and a position in which the plug is expanded to anchor it in the hole. The walls of the axial housing (17) and of the pin (23) have reciprocal contacting surfaces in the expanded position which diverge in the direction of insertion of the plug. A cam plate (32) provided centrally with a polygonal hole (33) for coupling with a protrusion (30) of the pin (23) and peripherally with a raised edge (34) for guiding fingers (22, 22') of the plug (11) for reversibly guiding the expansion of the plug.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 24, 1996
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5535504
    Abstract: A machine for fitting metal runners on a drawer comprises an actuator (44) for mechanically operating at least one hammer (24) for clinching gripping tabs against a side panel (16) of the drawer. The gripping tabs are laterally disposed along a longitudinally extending U-shaped groove formed in the runner (12) and extending from a longitudinal edge of the runner towards the hammer, prior to clinching. The hammer (24) and the corresponding anvil counter plate (22) extend in a longitudinal direction to the runner to simultaneously clinch all the gripping tabs. Advantageously, the machine comprises two clinching assemblies (20) to clinch both runners to a drawer in a single operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 16, 1996
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5468109
    Abstract: A removable fastener (10, 110) for a part (25, 28, 122) such as a furniture accessory with a hole in a surface (24, 120) comprises a dowel anchor (11, 11', 111) with ribbing thereon (23, 112) for lateral engagement in the surface hole. The dowel anchor comprises a seat (13, 113) in which is received the end of an element (12, 12', 114) in turn constrained to the part and there being between the element and the seat a form of separable mutual constraint. The element is provided in the form of a dowel or pin (12, 12', 114) constrained to the part to be axially insertable in the seat (13, 113) in the dowel anchor and the constraint comprises elastically yielding elements (14, 15, 40, 41, 117) projecting toward the axis of the seat (13, 113) to engage the side wall of the dowel (12, 12', 114) upon its insertion in the seat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 1994
    Date of Patent: November 21, 1995
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5460443
    Abstract: A device (10) for fastening and adjusting the front panel (12) of a drawer with respect to the side panel (11) comprises a sliding element (26) which is made to slide by shifting means (19, 21) in the direction of the length of the side panel. The sliding element (26) comprises a hook-shaped end (28) which engages with complementary hooking means (32) fitted on the front panel, so as to support the front panel and draw the hooking means close to the device upon operation of the shifting means (19, 21), thereby blocking the movement of the front panel with respect to the side panels of the drawer. The sliding element (26) can be raised by means of an adjusting screw (30) to provide adjustment of the vertical position of the front panel. The shifting means and the adjusting screws are provided with respective control ends protruding from the lower side of the device and extending along a lower edge of the side panel containing the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 1994
    Date of Patent: October 24, 1995
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5450655
    Abstract: A hinge (10) comprises a first (13) and a second (24) fastening element connected to each other by means of a kinematic articulated chain comprising at least two elements (18, 26) articulated to each other and defining space (28) between two of their opposing edges which varies in width upon rotation of the hinge. A further element (31) is secured to at least one of said two elements so as to be pushed by the rotating movement of the hinge to come to rest in correspondence with said space (28). In this way, the space is at least partially obstructed in order to prevent the transversal introduction of slender objects such as fingers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1993
    Date of Patent: September 19, 1995
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5373609
    Abstract: A four-bar linkage hinge comprises two fastening elements (11, 12) with a first (14) and a second link (13) pivoted by their ends, respectively, to each fastening element (11, 12). The first link (14) has an extension (20) which rests on a free arm (25) of a spring (21) which reacts with its other end (24) on one of the two fastening elements, and which exerts pressure on said extension (20) in order to rotate the link to shift the hinge from a nearly closed to a closed position. The arm (25) bears a cam surface with a raised area (28) which is traversed by said extension (20) when the hinge is in the nearly open position, to permit the release of the spring (21) on continuation of the opening movement and push the hinge open.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 20, 1994
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5345654
    Abstract: A furniture hinge comprises a cup (12) which is flush-mounted in a door (17). The cup (12) comprises lateral protrusions (13, 14) having slots (15, 16) into which are inserted a shank with a button-shaped end (21, 22) protruding from the surface of the door (17) on either side of the housing (18) of the cup. The cup (12) is rotatable in the housing (18) from a first position in which the button-shaped ends fit into the slots (15, 16) to an operative or locking position with the wing (11) generically perpendicular to the edge of the door (17) and the button-shaped end locked in the slots (15, 16). A base (34) is provided for securing an articulated wing (11) of the hinge to the piece of furniture. Said base (34) comprises slots (47, 48) into which are inserted a shank (49, 58) of a button-shaped end (63, 64) protruding from the surface of the furniture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1992
    Date of Patent: September 13, 1994
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5142737
    Abstract: A base (10) comprises a first plate type element (11) to be secured to the piece of furniture and a second element (12) shaped to fit onto a hinge wing (13). The plate element (11) is generically shaped in the form of a cross with countersunk holes (14, 15) for screwing it onto the piece of furniture. Disposed between the holes is a seat (17) into which the second element (12) is screwed. The lower part of the second element (12) has a housing (19) into which the first element (11) fits with uniform transverse clearance, thereby advantageously enabling adjustment of the transversal position of the second element (12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 1991
    Date of Patent: September 1, 1992
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli
  • Patent number: 5025530
    Abstract: A hinge, in particular for furniture doors, of the type in which a wing is designed to be fitted to a base secured to the piece of furniture, comprises an intermediate element for connecting the wing to the base having a substantially U-shaped transverse configuration to determine two rigid sides which laterally embrace the base.The intermediate element is provided with fastening means for securing it to the wing, and unfastenable means connecting it to the base comprising members yieldingly fitted onto the intermediate element in two portions spaced apart from each other in the longitudinal direction of the wing. The yielding members are elastically biased to move into a position in which they engage with complementary housings in the base in order to couple the intermediate element to the latter, the movement of approach between the base and the wing for the coupling being amply indeterminate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 1989
    Date of Patent: June 25, 1991
    Assignee: Franco Ferrari
    Inventors: Franco Ferrari, Carlo Migli