Drawer guide support bracket
A support bracket for a furniture assembly is provided to mount a drawer guide component on a furniture frame. The support bracket includes a generally flat base having a pair of spaced apart and substantially parallel dowels extending from one side of the base for receipt in spaced openings in the furniture frame. The support bracket also includes an insert molded into the base and located on an axis between and substantially parallel to the dowels, wherein the insert has an opening facing in a direction opposite from the dowels for receiving a fastener mounting the drawer guide component to a second side of the base opposite from the one side.
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The present invention is directed generally to drawer guide assemblies for cabinets and, more particularly, to support brackets for mounting drawer guide assemblies to cabinets.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONCabinets often include drawer guide assemblies that are typically disposed between sidewalls of a cabinet housing and a drawer thereof. Guides are usually attached to internal sidewalls of the cabinet housing, and slides are typically attached to external sidewalls of the drawer for movement with the drawer. The slides engage with and move relative to the guides to facilitate movement of the drawer in and out of the cabinet housing. Guide assemblies may further include an intermediate member and/or roller bearings having sliding engagement with the slide and guide, and which operate to move relative to both when the drawer is slid into and out of the cabinet housing. Such “pull-out” guide assemblies operate under particularly tight tolerances and, thus, require precision in fastening the guide assemblies to the cabinet housing, in order to avoid drawer misalignment or binding. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly desirable to mount rear flanges of the guides to a back wall of the cabinet housing, instead of mounting the guides to the sidewalls of the cabinet housing.
Such a “rear-mounted” pull-out drawer guide configuration presents some challenges. First, it is particularly difficult and labor intensive to extend a fastening tool and fastener into a deep drawer opening of a cabinet housing to fasten a rear flange of the guide to the back wall of the cabinet housing. Second, in operation, there is a lack of lateral adjustment when moving the drawer in and out of the cabinet housing, because the rear flange of the guide is affixed to the back wall of the cabinet housing. Third, because the rear flange is affixed to the cabinet housing, there is a lack of adjustment and, therefore, fastening apertures in the cabinet housing and rear flange must be produced using costly precision techniques.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a furniture drawer guide mounting arrangement, particularly for bearing-type guides, having two extending dowels for receipt in existing holes on the cabinet, and which accommodates side-to-side motion of the guide rails as the drawer is opened and closed.
A support bracket is provided for mounting a drawer guide component on a furniture frame, in accordance with one aspect of the invention. The support bracket includes a generally flat base having a pair of spaced apart and substantially parallel dowels extending from one side of the base for receipt in spaced openings in the furniture frame. The support bracket also includes an insert molded into the base and located on an axis between and substantially parallel to the dowels, wherein the insert has an opening facing in a direction opposite from the dowels for receiving a fastener mounting the drawer guide component to a second side of the base opposite from the one side.
In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a furniture assembly including a furniture frame having a back wall, a drawer guide component, and the above-described support bracket for mounting the drawer guide component to the back wall of the furniture frame. In accordance with preferred aspects of the invention, the insert preferably extends beyond the second side of the base through a slot in the drawer guide, the base preferably includes bosses extending from the second side of the base for constraining the drawer guide, and the base also preferably includes ribs, and webs interconnecting the ribs.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe invention, together with additional objects, features, advantages and aspects thereof, will be best understood from the following description, the appended claims and the accompanying drawings, in which:
The furniture frame 112 includes opposed sidewalls 116, 118, a back wall 120 connecting the sidewalls 116, 118, and a front wall 122 also connecting the sidewalls 116, 118 and being disposed opposite of the back wall 120. The furniture frame 112 further includes opposed guide assemblies 124 (one shown) including a guide 126 and bearings 128. The guide 126 and bearings 128 may be composed of any desired material, including plastic, but such hardware is typically composed of metal such as galvanized or stainless steel. If desired, the guide assemblies 126 may be attached at a front end to the sidewalls 116, 118 of the furniture frame 112 or may be attached at the front end to an upper rail 130 or lower rail 132 of the front wall 122 of the furniture frame 112. At an opposed rear end, the guide 126 preferably terminates in the form of a mounting flange 134, which attaches to an interior surface 136 of the back wall 120 of the furniture frame 112 via a fastener 138, such as a screw. The fastener 138 fastens into a dowel adapter or support bracket 140, which plugs into sockets, openings, or holes (not shown) in or through the back wall 120. It is contemplated that the mounting flange 134 could be a separate bracket that attaches to the rest of the guide 126, if desired. In other words, the guide 126 itself, its flange 134, or some other intermediate bracket could be used, and each may be referred to herein as a guide component. The support bracket 140 may be composed of any suitable material, but is preferably of molded polymeric or plastic construction, such as injection molded “polyamide 6” or the like.
The drawer 114 includes opposed sidewalls 142, 144, a back wall 146 connecting the sidewalls 142, 144, and a front wall 148 also connecting the sidewalls 142, 144 and being disposed opposite of the back wall 146. The drawer 114 further includes opposed slides 150 (one shown) attached to the sidewalls 142, 144 for movement with the drawer 114. The slides 150 engage with and move relative to the guides 126 and rollers 128 to facilitate movement of the drawer 114 in and out of the furniture frame 112.
The guide 226 is vertically constrained relative to the support bracket 240. First, the bosses 274 are preferably adapted for internal constraining engagement with the guide 226 in channels (not shown) thereof. Alternatively, it is contemplated that the height of the guide 226 could be such that the guide 226 fits snugly between the bosses 274 such that the bosses 274 are adapted for external constraining engagement with the guide 226. In any event, the bosses 274 substantially prevent rotation or vertical relative motion between the support bracket 240 and the guide 226. This assures that the support bracket 240 is maintained straight on the guide 226 when fastening the fastener 238 and when mounting the assembled guide 226 and support bracket 240 to the back wall 220 of the furniture frame 212. Second, the insert 256 extends through a slot 252 in the guide 226 and is provided as substantially rectangular in shape, wherein the insert 256 has a longer width than height to provide a wide land with which to engage the slot 252 and for suitably engaging the fastener 238. The width of the slot 252 is sized relative to the width of the insert 256 so as to accommodate suitable horizontal or lateral movement of the guide 226. In contrast, the height of slot 252 and height of the insert 256 are sized such that the insert 256 substantially restrains vertical movement of the guide 226 and prevents rotation of the support bracket 240 relative to the guide 226. Moreover, the insert 256 extends fully through the slot 252 and slightly beyond the surface of the guide 226 so that when the fastener 238 is fastened down it contacts a front surface or side 255 of the insert 256 such that the guide 226 is trapped between the fastener 238 and base 258 but is freely laterally moveable with respect to the support bracket 240 and back wall 220 of the furniture frame 212 in a direction along the longitude or width of the slot 252. Therefore, the guide 226 and support bracket 240 provide a self-centering assembly to prevent misalignment or binding when operating the drawer.
There have thus been described a support bracket and furniture assembly that fully satisfy all of the objects and aims previously set forth. The present invention has been disclosed in conjunction with presently preferred embodiments thereof, and a number of modifications and variations have been discussed. Other modifications and variations will readily suggest themselves to persons of ordinary skill in the art in view of the foregoing description. For example, the invention has been disclosed in conjunction with a furniture cabinet, however other implementations such as tool boxes, and other storage apparatuses are contemplated. Directional words such as top, bottom, upper, lower, radial, circumferential, lateral, longitudinal, vertical, horizontal, and the like are employed by way of description and not limitation. Indeed, the invention is intended to embrace all modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A support bracket for mounting a drawer guide component to a furniture frame, including:
- a generally flat base having a pair of spaced apart and substantially parallel dowels extending in a direction from one side of said base for receipt in spaced openings in the furniture frame, and
- an insert molded into said base and being located on an axis between and substantially parallel to said dowels, said insert having an opening facing in a direction opposite from that of said dowels for receiving a fastener mounting the drawer guide component to a second side of said base opposite from said one side.
2. The support bracket set forth in claim 1, wherein said base is of molded plastic construction.
3. The support bracket set forth in claim 2, wherein said insert is of metal construction.
4. The support bracket set forth in claim 3, wherein said opening of said insert is threaded for threaded engagement with the fastener.
5. The support bracket set forth in claim 1 wherein said insert extends beyond a plane established by said second side of said base so as to extend through an aperture in the drawer guide component and provide a fastening surface for engaging a head of the fastener.
6. The support bracket set forth in claim 5 wherein the aperture in the drawer guide component is a slot and said insert extends through the slot to restrain relative vertical movement between said base and the drawer guide component.
7. The support bracket set forth in claim 6 wherein the slot of the drawer guide component is wider than said insert so as to permit relative horizontal movement between said base and the drawer guide component.
8. The support bracket set forth in claim 1 wherein said base further has a pair of opposed bosses extending from said second side in a direction opposite that of said dowels, said pair of opposed bosses engaging the drawer guide component to constrain relative vertical movement between said base and the drawer guide component.
9. The support bracket set forth in claim 8 wherein said pair of opposed bosses internally engage the drawer guide component.
10. The support bracket set forth in claim 1 wherein said base is defined by ribs and webs extending therebetween.
11. A furniture assembly, including:
- a furniture frame having a back wall with spaced openings;
- a drawer guide assembly having a drawer guide component with a slot therethrough; and
- a support bracket for mounting the drawer guide component to the back wall of the furniture frame, the support bracket includes:
- a generally flat base having a pair of spaced apart and substantially parallel dowels extending in a direction from one side of said base for receipt in the spaced openings in the back wall of the furniture frame, and
- an insert molded into said base and being on an axis between and substantially parallel to said dowels, said insert having an opening facing in a direction opposite from that of said dowels for receiving a fastener mounting the drawer guide component to a second side of said base opposite from said one side.
12. The furniture assembly set forth in claim 11, wherein said base of said support bracket is of molded plastic construction.
13. The furniture assembly set forth in claim 12, wherein said insert is of metal construction.
14. The furniture assembly set forth in claim 13, wherein said opening of said insert is threaded for threaded engagement with the fastener.
15. The furniture assembly set forth in claim 11 wherein said insert extends beyond a plane established by said second side of said base so as to extend through the slot in the drawer guide component and provide a fastening surface for engaging a head of the fastener.
16. The furniture assembly set forth in claim 15 wherein the insert extends through the slot to restrain relative vertical movement between said base and the drawer guide component.
17. The furniture assembly set forth in claim 16 wherein the slot of the drawer guide component is wider than said insert so as to permit relative horizontal movement between said base and the drawer guide component.
18. The furniture assembly set forth in claim 11 wherein said base further has a pair of opposed bosses extending from said second side in a direction opposite that of said dowels, said pair of opposed bosses engaging the drawer guide component to constrain relative vertical movement between said base and the drawer guide component.
19. The furniture assembly set forth in claim 18 wherein said pair of opposed bosses internally engage the drawer guide component.
20. The furniture assembly set forth in claim 11 wherein said base is defined by ribs and webs extending therebetween.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 8, 2005
Publication Date: Oct 12, 2006
Applicant:
Inventors: David Kinsel (Sylvana, OH), Rick Kimmitt (Tipton, MI)
Application Number: 11/102,369
International Classification: A47B 88/00 (20060101);