DRAWER CABINET

Abstract

A drawer cabinet includes a cabinet body, a plurality of drawers slidably disposed in the cabinet body, and a safety mechanism including an interlocking unit. The interlocking unit includes two securing members disposed in a first direction and spaced apart from each other, a plurality of eyelet members each disposed on a respective one of the drawers and located between the two securing members, and an interlocking string passing through the eyelet members and having one end that is connected to one of the two securing members and the other end that is connected to the other one of the two securing members. The interlocking string has a length that is greater than a distance between the two securing members and that allows only one of the drawers to be fully pulled out of the cabinet body.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Taiwanese Invention patent Application No. 112110682, filed on Mar. 22, 2023.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a drawer cabinet, and more particularly to a drawer cabinet with a safety mechanism.

BACKGROUND

A drawer cabinet is used for storing clothes, household goods, tools and other items. However, when multiple drawers of the drawer cabinet are opened at the same time, a center of gravity of the drawer cabinet may change such that the drawer cabinet may tip and a user may be hurt.

The drawer cabinet may be fixed to a wall in advance to prevent from tipping. However, in situations where placing the drawer cabinet against the wall is not possible, it is necessary to find another way to prevent the drawer cabinet from tipping.

SUMMARY

Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a drawer cabinet that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art.

According to the disclosure, the drawer cabinet includes a cabinet body, a plurality of drawers slidably disposed in the cabinet body, and a safety mechanism including an interlocking unit.

The interlocking unit includes two securing members disposed in a first direction and spaced apart from each other, a plurality of eyelet members each disposed on a respective one of the drawers and located between the two securing members, and an interlocking string passing through the eyelet members and having one end that is connected to one of the two securing members and the other end that is connected to the other one of the two securing members. The interlocking string has a length that is greater than a distance between the two securing members and that allows only one of the drawers to be fully pulled out of the cabinet body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment(s) with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted that various features may not be drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 is a back view illustrating a drawer cabinet according to an embodiment of the disclosure, wherein a back panel thereof is omitted.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a safety mechanism of the drawer cabinet according to the embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the drawer cabinet according to the embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of the drawer cabinet according to the embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram similar to FIG. 4, illustrating that one of drawers of the drawer cabinet is pulled out.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram similar to FIG. 5, illustrating that another one of the drawers is pulled out and the one of the drawers is pushed back by the safety mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a back view of the drawer cabinet according to another embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals or terminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which may optionally have similar characteristics.

It should be noted herein that for clarity of description, spatially relative terms such as “top,” “bottom,” “upper,” “lower,” “on,” “above,” “over,” “downwardly,” “upwardly” and the like may be used throughout the disclosure while making reference to the features as illustrated in the drawings. The features may be oriented differently (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative terms used herein may be interpreted accordingly.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, according to an embodiment of the disclosure, a drawer cabinet includes a cabinet body 1, a plurality of drawers 2, a plurality of slide rail units 3, and a safety mechanism 4.

The cabinet body 1 includes a bottom panel 11, two side panels 12 that are disposed at two ends of the bottom panel 11 and that extend along a first direction (Z), a top panel 13 that is spaced apart from the bottom panel 11 in the first direction (Z) and that connects the two side panels 12, a back panel 14 that is fixed to back sides of the side panels 12 in a front-back direction (Y) perpendicular to the first direction (Z), and a plurality of spacers 15 that are disposed between the side panels 12 and that are spaced apart from one another in the first direction (Z). Each of the spacers 15 is disposed in a second direction (X) that is perpendicular to the first direction (Z) and the front-back direction (Y), and is substantially a rectangular frame. In this embodiment, the first direction (Z) is a top-bottom direction, and the second direction (X) is a left-right direction. In some embodiments, the spacers 15 may be disposed in the first direction (Z) and are connected to the bottom panel 11 and the top panel 13.

The drawers 2 are slidably disposed in the cabinet body 1. Specifically, the drawers 2 are respectively and slidably disposed on the spacers 15 of the cabinet body 1. Each of the drawers 2 includes a drawer case 21 that is slidable in the front-back direction (Y), and a handle 22 that is disposed on a front side of the drawer case 21. The number of the drawers 2 is greater than two. In this embodiment, a height of a topmost one of the drawers 2 is smaller than heights of the others of the drawers 2. In some non-limiting embodiments, heights of the 15 drawers 2 may be the same.

The slide rail units 3 are disposed between the drawers 2 and the spacers 15 of the cabinet body 1. In this embodiment, each two of the slide rail units 3 are fixedly disposed on a respective one of the drawers 2, are spaced apart from each other in the second direction (X), and are slidable relative to one of the spacers 15 corresponding to the respective one of the drawers 2. In some embodiments, the slide rail units 3 may be fixedly disposed on the spacers 15 such that the drawers 2 may slide along the slide rail units 3. The structure and the number of the slide rail units 3 are conventional and have various variations, those skilled in the art may infer the details based on the above description, so further description about the slide rail units 3 is omitted.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, the safety mechanism 4 includes an interlocking unit 401 that is located between the slide rail units 3 in the second direction (X). The interlocking unit 401 includes two securing members 41 that are disposed in the first direction (Z) and that are spaced apart from each other, a plurality of eyelet members 42 each of which is disposed on a respective one of the drawers 2 and each of which is located between the securing members 41, and an interlocking string 43 that passes through the eyelet members 42. In this embodiment, the securing members 41 are respectively disposed on top and bottom of the cabinet body 1, and the securing members 41 and the eyelet members 42 are aligned in the first direction (Z), but not limited thereto. Each of the eyelet members 42 includes a fixed part 421 that is fixed to a back side of the drawer case 21 of the respective one of the drawers 2, and an eyelet part 422 that is disposed on the fixed part 421 and that allows the interlocking string 43 to pass therethrough. In this embodiment, the eyelet part 422 of each eyelet member 42 is a semi-circle ring, but not limited thereto.

The interlocking string 43 has one end 431 that is connected to one of the securing members 41 disposed on top of the cabinet body 1, and the other end 432 that is connected to the other one of the securing members 41 disposed on bottom of the cabinet body 1. The interlocking string 43 has a length that is greater than a distance between the securing members 41 and that allows only one of the drawers 2 to be fully pulled out of the cabinet body 1.

More particularly, in an example where the spacers 15 are equally spaced apart from one another and where each of the eyelet members 42 is disposed on a respective one of the drawers 2 to be located right in the middle between two adjacent spacers 15, the length of the interlocking string 43 that allows only one of the drawers 2 to be fully pulled out is represented by H+2√{square root over (L²+(T/2)²)}, where H is a distance between the securing members 41, L is a travelling distance of the drawer 2 when the drawer 2 is fully pulled out of the cabinet body 1, and T is a distance between two adjacent spacers 15.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, when one of the drawers 2 is pulled out (hereinafter referred to as “the first pulled out drawer”), one of the eyelet members 42 corresponding to the first pulled out drawer moves forward with the first pulled out drawer and pulls the interlocking string 43. Since the length of the interlocking string 43 is limited, when the first pulled out drawer is fully pulled out, the interlocking string 43 is pulled tightly and the others of the drawers 2 stay closed.

Subsequently, referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, when another one of the drawers 2 is pulled out (hereinafter referred to as “the second pulled out drawer”), another one of the eyelet members 42 corresponding to the second pulled out drawer pulls the interlocking string 43 such that the first pulled out drawer is pushed back by the interlocking string 43 since the length of the interlocking string 43 is limited. When the second pulled out drawer is fully pulled out, the others of the drawers 2 including the first pulled out drawer are closed. Therefore, in the drawer cabinet of the disclosure, only one of the drawers 2 is allowed to be fully pulled out of the cabinet body 1 at the same time, so that an accident of tipping may be avoided.

Referring to FIG. 7, the drawer cabinet according to another embodiment of the disclosure is illustrated.

In this embodiment, the drawer cabinet does not include the slide rail units 3, and the drawers 2 are directly and slidably disposed on the spacers 15 of the cabinet body 1. In this embodiment, the safety mechanism 4 includes two interlocking units 401 that are spaced apart from each other in the second direction (X) so that stability of the drawer cabinet may increase when opening or closing the drawers 2.

In summary, when pulling one of the drawers 2 while another one of the drawers 2 is fully pulled out of the cabinet body 1, the another one of the drawers 2 will be pushed back into the cabinet body 1 since the length of the interlocking string 43 is designed to allow only one of the drawers 2 to be fully pulled out. Therefore, the accident of tipping can be avoided, so that the object of the disclosure is achieved.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details have been set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiment(s). It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practiced without some of these specific details. It should also be appreciated that reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number and so forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be further appreciated that in the description, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of various inventive aspects; such does not mean that every one of these features needs to be practiced with the presence of all the other features. In other words, in any described embodiment, when implementation of one or more features or specific details does not affect implementation of another one or more features or specific details, said one or more features may be singled out and practiced alone without said another one or more features or specific details. It should be further noted that one or more features or specific details from one embodiment may be practiced together with one or more features or specific details from another embodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what is(are) considered the exemplary embodiment(s), it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment(s) but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

Claims

1. A drawer cabinet, comprising:

a cabinet body;

a plurality of drawers slidably disposed in said cabinet body; and

a safety mechanism including an interlocking unit, said interlocking unit including two securing members disposed in a first direction and spaced apart from each other, a plurality of eyelet members each disposed on a respective one of said drawers and located between said two securing members, and an interlocking string passing through said eyelet members and having one end that is connected to one of said two securing members and the other end that is connected to the other one of said two securing members, said interlocking string having a length that is greater than a distance between said two securing members and that allows only one of said drawers to be fully pulled out of said cabinet body.

2. The drawer cabinet as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of slide rail units that are disposed between said drawers and said cabinet body.

3. The drawer cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cabinet body includes a plurality of spacers that are spaced apart from one another in the first direction, each of said spacers being disposed perpendicularly to the first direction, said drawers being respectively and slidably disposed on said spacers.

4. The drawer cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said eyelet members includes a fixed part that is fixed to the respective one of said drawers, and an eyelet part that is disposed on said fixed part and that allows said interlocking string to pass therethrough.

5. The drawer cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said drawers includes a drawer case slidable in a front-back direction that is perpendicular to the first direction, and a handle disposed on a front side of said drawer case, each of said eyelet members being fixed to a back side of said drawer case of the respective one of said drawers.

6. The drawer cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein said two securing members and said eyelet members of said interlocking unit are disposed in the first direction.

7. The drawer cabinet as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of slide rail units, each two of said slide rail units disposed on a respective one of said drawers and spaced apart from each other with said interlocking unit located therebetween.