COLLAPSIBLE CABINET
A collapsible cabinet includes a rectangular cabinet body made out of a soft fabric sheet material and having a top panel, a bottom panel, a left side panel, a right side panel, a back panel and a front opening, hook and loop pads fixedly provided on the outside of the cabinet body such that multiple collapsible cabinets can be fastened together to form a combination cabinet unit, a hard support plate hinged to one side edge of the back panel inside the cabinet body for supporting the cabinet body in shape, and a partition member detachably mounted in the cabinet body to divide the holding space of the cabinet body into multiple small storage spaces.
(a) Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cabinets and more particularly, to a collapsible cabinet.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Cabinets are commonly used in a limited home space for keeping things in good order. Conventional cabinets are made of a hand material, such as plastics, wood, or metal. These cabinets are not collapsible to reduce the size when not in use or for delivery. There are combination cabinets comprised of a number of hard component parts subject to a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) design. However, it is complicated to collapse or to build up these combination cabinets. Further, the hard component parts of these combination cabinets use a big amount of packing materials.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a cabinet, which is collapsible. It is another object of the present invention to provide a cabinet, which can conveniently be collapsed or set up into the operative form.
To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, the collapsible cabinet comprise a rectangular cabinet body, hook and loop pads, and at least one hard support plate. The cabinet body is made out of a soft fabric sheet material, having a top panel, a bottom panel opposite to the top panel, a left side panel and a right side panel stitched to and connected between the top panel and the bottom panel at two opposite lateral sides, a back panel peripherally stitched to a respective rear side edge of the top panel, the bottom panel, the left side panel and the right side panel, and a front opening through which storage items are inserted into the inside space of the cabinet body surrounded by the top panel, the bottom panel, the left side panel, the right side panel and the back panel. Further, the back panel has a narrow elongated diagonal slot. The hook and loop pads are fixedly provided at the top panel, the bottom panel, the left side panel and the right side panel such for enabling multiple collapsible cabinets to be fastened together to form a combination cabinet unit. The at least one hard support plate is respectively hinged to the inside wall of the cabinet body at the border of the back panel for supporting the cabinet body in shape.
Further, a partition member may be fixedly provided inside the cabinet body or detachably fastened to the inside of the cabinet body to divide the inside space of the cabinet body into multiple small storage spaces for keeping different things in good order. The partition member can be a crossed member fastened to the inside of the cabinet body to divide the inside space of the cabinet body into four small storage spaces. Alternatively, the partition member can be a flat member horizontally or vertically fastened to the inside of the cabinet body to divide the inside space of the cabinet body into two vertically or horizontally spaced small storage spaces.
The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and feature of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Referring to
Because the cabinet body 1 is made out of a soft fabric sheet material, hard support means must be used to support the cabinet body 1 in shape. Therefore, two hard support plates 2 are respectively stitched to the rear side of the top panel 11 and the rear side of the bottom panel 12. The size of the hard support plates 2 is approximately equal to one half of the size of the back panel 15. The two hard support plates 2 can be turned relative to the cabinet body 1 to a vertical position and abutted against each other to support the cabinet body 1 in shape. Further, a hook pad (or loop pad) 21 is respectively fixedly provided at the back side of each hard support plate 2 for fastening to a loop pad (or hook pad) 151 at the inner surface of the back panel 15 to hold the hard support plates 2 in vertical. When not in use, the hook pads (or loop pads) 21 are disengaged from the loop pad (or hook pad) hook pad (or loop pad) 151, and then the hard support plates 2 are respectively turned to a horizontal position and respectively closely attached to the top panel 11 and the bottom panel 12 for enabling the cabinet body 1 to be folded into a flat collapsed condition (see
Further, a partition member 3 may be inserted into the cabinet body 1 to divide the inside space of the cabinet body 1 into many separated small spaces for keeping different items. The partition member 3 can be directly stitched to the inside wall of the cabinet body 1. Alternatively, hook and loop materials (not shown) may be used to detachably fasten the partition member 3 to the inside wall of the cabinet body 1. The partition member 3 may be variously embodied. For example, the partition member 3 shown in
Further, in the embodiment shown in
Referring to
A prototype of collapsible cabinet has been constructed with the features of
Although particular embodiment of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.
Claims
1-7. (canceled)
8. A collapsible cabinet comprising:
- a rectangular cabinet body made out of a soft fabric sheet material, said cabinet body having a top panel, a bottom panel opposite to said top panel, a left side panel and a right side panel stitched to and connected between said top panel and said bottom panel at two opposite lateral sides, a back panel peripherally stitched to a respective rear side edge of said top panel, said bottom panel, said left side panel and said right side panel, and a front opening through which storage items are inserted into the inside space of said cabinet body surrounded by said top panel, said bottom panel, said left side panel, said right side panel and said back panel, said back panel having a narrow elongated diagonal slot;
- hook and loop pads fixedly provided at said top panel, said bottom panel, said left side panel and said right side panel such for enabling multiple collapsible cabinets to be fastened together to form a combination cabinet unit;
- two hard support plates respectively hinged to two opposite side edges of said back panel inside said cabinet body for supporting said cabinet body in shape, and size of said hard support plates being equal to one half of size of said back panel; and
- a partition member fastened to the inside of said cabinet body to divide inside space of said cabinet body into multiple small storage spaces, said partition member being a crossed member fastened to the inside of said cabinet body to divide the inside space of said cabinet body into four small storage spaces.
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 18, 2006
Publication Date: Feb 21, 2008
Inventor: Wen-Tsan WANG (Taipei)
Application Number: 11/465,454
International Classification: A47B 43/00 (20060101); A47B 87/02 (20060101);