Cabinet system
A modular cabinet system is disclosed whereby a number of modules can be combined to form a unique cabinet configuration. Each module may be an accessory, such as a lamp or cable duct, or a storage compartment. The storage compartment may be configured as a square or rectangular box with one open side and side walls made of a multiplex. Each side wall has at least one system hole and at least one system thread positioned so that the holes and threads of one module line up with the holes and threads of another module for assembly. The pre-existing system holes and threads allow the modules to be separated and combined repeatedly without damage.
The present invention relates to a cabinet system comprising combinable components for forming variants for universal usage, more particularly for various office room forms such as cell, group, or combined offices.
The known cabinet systems consisting of combinable components comprise a multiplicity of components which have several width and height dimensions within a defined modular pattern to be assembled to form the cabinet systems desired. In these systems, upper and lower cabinets, sideboards, highboards and the like are defined as such and can only be used and/or assembled in accordance with this distinct function. Very often, the single parts can only be combined after drilling additional holes directly into the furniture board. Disassembling or reassembling of the combined parts is possible only in a limited way and often damages the surface visibly and permanently. It is an objective of the present invention to provide a cabinet system which avoids the disadvantages of the known prior art and which ensures that a multiplicity of variants may be formed using only a small number of different components not being restricted to one function only, wherein these variants may be adapted as often as desired to match changing office room forms or office requirements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe particular advantages of the arrangement of system holes and system threads in the carcass surfaces of components differing only in their width and height, according to the present invention, lie in the fact that
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- it is possible to arrange the components to form variants as often as desired without further drilling, doweling, screwing into the carcass surfaces, covering of holes and the like,
- it is possible to expand a basic arrangement in upward, downward, left or right directions as desired and even to use the components in a position rotated around their own axes,
- a precisely matching and unrestricted joining of the system components is ensured.
The system holes according to the present invention used to join the components by joining screws and sleeve nuts are unambiguously determined as regards their position and number on the carcass sides. Also, the number and position of the system threads in one of the carcass sides are precisely determined.
The components are manufactured of a compact board consisting of multiplex, having a thickness of 12.0 mm for example, as support material being coated on both surface sides with HPL at a thickness of, for example, 0.8 mm. The seven-fold lengthwise and transverse bonding of the single veneer sheets of the multiplex ensures excellent stability of the carcasses. Moreover, this counteracts to the inclination of the wood to deform due to humidity changes.
All carcass parts are produced using a CNC machine. In this manner, tolerances of ±0.2 mm are achieved for the system holes, system threads, hole rows, the three-hole configuration for the door stops as well as all millings, etc. The carcass parts are designed to divert the tolerances of the support material and the coating to the inside. As regards the outer dimensions, only negative tolerances up to a maximum of 0.4 mm are permitted.
Surprisingly, it has been found that the use of multiplex material and the limitation to certain outer dimensions of the components assembled in the aforementioned way makes possible the observation of tolerance chains which otherwise are only possible in steel construction work and had never been achieved hitherto in wood furniture production and which provide a precondition for the modular system according to the present invention.
The carcass parts are appropriately cut mitred (45°) and pressed to form a carcass using angle dowels commercially available. Due to the relatively thin compact board and the tolerances to be observed, this work requires utmost precision.
The system hole having a diameter of 10.0 mm, for example, is of decisive importance. All joints occurring during the assembly as well as the inclusion of additional parts such as cover panels, screens, wardrobe bars, lamps, bases, cable ducts, CPU stands, drawing roll stands, support angles, steel handles for component joining, sliding aids, inter-component connectors and component-screen connectors are made possible by means of the system holes.
The system threads are produced using riveted bushings which are generally inserted into the bottom of the carcasses to accommodate footpieces or bases. The height of the bases as well as the footpieces may be adjusted by pushing an Allan key through the system threads.
The present invention will now be explained in more detail with reference to a drawing of an example embodiment of a cabinet system.
The cabinet system is formed of three different components 1, 2, and 3. In accordance with the illustrations shown in
The dimensions of component 1 according to
Due to these basic dimensions and appropriate additional elements and due to the system holes 4 very precisely defined as to their position and number and the system threads 5 also very precisely defined as to their position and number, it is possible for the first time to furnish frequently changing office room forms or to meet changing office requirements as desired without further drilling, doweling, or screwing into the carcass walls.
The rear walls 6, 7, and 8 are formed as rear walls fixed in grooves.
In accordance with the illustration shown in
In accordance with the illustration shown in
The unified depth T of 350 mm of the components 1, 2, and 3 uses the available space very economically due to the standardized dimensions of office means such as ring binders if used in cell offices complying with DIN 4543. An extremely large accommodation space and an economic utilization of the available area is achieved. Optimum accessibility is ensured by the optimized height. Six ring binder heights require a cabinet height of only 2.10 m, eight ring binder heights a cabinet height of only 2.80 m. Using basic accessories, this arrangement can be further joined to other components in 30 upward, downward, left and right directions as desired using the system holes 4.
When used in a group office, four ring binder heights are achieved at a cabinet height of 1.40 m so that each building authority will approve this arrangement as a group solution. The arrangement of the components 1, 2, and 3 divides the room an can be rotated relative to the working desks as desired.
When used in a combined office, the advantages of the aforementioned office types are combined in an ideal manner.
The support material of the carcass walls is multiplex provided with a coating 10 made of HPL as coating material. The rear walls 6, 7, 8 may for instance be coated with melamine resin.
If required, height adjustment screws 15 are screwed into the system threads 5 of the carcass wall forming the bottom plate, or coasters 57 are inserted into the system threads 5 to provide a movable unit.
The
The blind cabinets are provided with milled guidance rails made of plastic material having narrow radiuses for optimum utilization of the inner spaces of the carcass and with an additional separating wall as sight blind and for accommodating hole rows 41 for inserting the shorter blind steel compartment bottom plates 40. The system holes 4 located behind the separating wall are equipped with threaded bushings for joining purposes. All blind cabinets are lockable.
The door handles 61 for all revolving doors 26, 33 and/or paired revolving doors 30, 36 and revolving glass doors 37 and/or paired revolving glass doors 31, 37 as well as the drawer modules 28, 29 are specifically designed to match the cabinet system. As regards the keys for the blind cabinet locks, the heads are cut off, the keys are bonded into the handles and used as key handles 62.
At the end of a carcass chain, the system holes 4 facing outward are covered by cover screws 12. As the compact plate of which the carcasses are made has a thickness of, for example, 13.6 mm and such thin material has hardly been used in furniture production up to now, a cover screw is not a standard part but must be specifically manufactured.
The lamp 19 must also be specifically manufactured to match the cabinet system and may be provided with HQI or fluorescent tubes. The footpieces of the lamp 19 are arranged at a distance of 350 mm in order to be exactly screwed into two system holes 4. The footpieces 20 maintain the distance of the cable ducts 21, 24 so that the lamp 19 is supported by the components 1, 2, 3 and not a cable duct 21, 24. The power supply is provided via the respective cable channel 21, 22, 24, 25.
Drawer modules 28, 29 are also fixed using the hole rows 41.
The three-hole arrangement 70 for the door stops is designed so that one door stop may be used with the inner revolving doors 26, 33 or paired revolving doors 30, 36 as well as revolving glass doors 27 or paired revolving glass doors 31, 37 irrespective of the different door thicknesses. In such cases, the two front holes are used for glass door stops and the two rear holes for wooden door stops. The door stop 60 consists of solid rubber and is designed for use in the three-hole arrangement 70. It is dimensioned so that it hardly becomes an obstacle when, for example, ring binders are put into the carcass.
The adjusting feet 45 may also be screwed directly into the system threads 5. They serve to adjust the height if no roller coasters 57, bases 69 or reversible feet 42 are mounted beneath the carcasses. They are provided with a hexagon plastic foot and a hexagon socket at their ends. As in case of the adjusting feet 45 being completely screwed in, the bolt must not be screwed through the system thread 5, only a height compensation of approx. 10 mm maximum is possible. This also applies to the screw-in bolt of the inserted roller coasters 57 made of plastic material.
The components 1, 2, 3 may be covered by cover panels 48 or glass cover plates 46 as shown in FIG. 13. The cover panels 48 may consist of a wide variety of materials (lacquered, veneered, melamine resin coated cover panels as well as mineral and glass cover plates 46). Cover panels made of any material except glass are provided with bond-in bushings 49 at the appropriate positions. As the holes for the bushings do not penetrate the panels, the surfaces of the cover panels 48 are not damaged. As regards the glass cover plates 46, screws 47 are bonded to the bottom side so that the fit exactly into the system holes 4 to be screwed tight from the inside using the sleeve nuts 11.
In the remaining figures, further additional elements are shown which may be joined with the components 1, 2, 3 via the system holes 4 and/or system threads 5.
The door stop 60 mentioned earlier is shown in
A CPU stand 71 as shown in
The supporting angle 73 according to
The shelf angle 74 is shown in FIG. 26. It consists of a standard angle profile with countersunk holes for wall mounting. The components 1, 2, 3 are simply placed onto the angle and then secured against tilting by a supporting angle 73.
The steel handle 75 shown in
A steel rear wall 76 for the components 1, 2, 3 as shown in
The component-screen connectors 77 according to
The sliding aid 78 according to
The component connector 79 according to
The table system as part of the furniture system comprises five basic modules shown in FIGS. 32 through 36: the two desk boards 81, 82 having different widths, for example 2.10 m and 1.70 m, and the three side desk boards 83, 84 and 85 dimensioned at, for example, 0.7 m×0.7 m, having a face 84 or an arc 85. The structure of the boards is basically the same. The desk boards consist of a sandwich board 80 as has been explained earlier.
The system allows later and frequent changes between the office room forms and also adapts to combined room systems, business clubs, team or project bureaus and the 30 like. The cabinet system is also suitable for designing reception areas, technical equipment housings, archives, pyramids, suspended systems, towers, counters, passages, room dividers, media facilities and many more.
The system holes 4 and the system threads 5 allow a precisely fitting and unrestricted combination of the components 1, 2, 3 with each other and with additional elements. A high precision level of all dimensions is required and achieved.
In the cabinet system, it is possible among other things
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- to fix cable ducts 21, 22, 24, 25 vertically or horizontally for interior or exterior angles,
- to place the components as desired on height adjustment screws 14 with the adjustment elements positioned inside the cabinet, on bases or footpieces,
- to place lamps 19,
- to fix acoustic rear walls 58, pinboards and magnetic walls,
- to fix wardrobe bars and hooks,
- to join it with high desk tops 59,
- to join it with screens 50 (even or curved),
- to fix separating or cover panels 46, 48 as desired,
- to insert slanting compartment bottom plates 39,
- to fix separating and end blinds and duplications of different sizes to lead or cover cables of any kind and/or to respond to the building conditions.
In particular, easy disassembly and any modifications of all properties as desired are possible without damaging or altering the system.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein. It is of course possible to implement further example embodiments by combining the features without exceeding the scope of this invention.
Claims
1. A modular cabinet system comprising:
- a plurality of modules, each module having a top wall, a bottom wall, a first side wall, and a second side wall, said walls of each module being permanently fixed to each other and made of a multiplex material;
- each module having dimensions chosen from one of the following: <a first size having dimensions height (H), width (W) and depth (D), wherein H, W and D are equal, a second size having dimensions H, 2*W and D, a third size having dimensions 2*H, W and D; and a fourth size having dimensions 2*H, 2*W and D each of said walls with a dimension H or W having one system hole and each of said walls with a dimension 2*H or 2*W having two spaced-apart system holes; and said bottom wall further having four spaced-apart threaded through-holes; said side and top walls being free of threaded through-holes, said modules being positioned adjacent to one another in a side-to-side or top-to-bottom orientation so that at least one system hole of each module is axially aligned with at least one system hole of an adjacent module; each of said modules being secured to each adjacent module by fastening means through said at least one axially aligned system hole.
2. The modular cabinet system of claim 1 wherein the modules can be attached to another module at any of said walls of said module.
3. The modular cabinet system of claim 1 further comprising at least one or a combination of attachable components comprising cable ducts, lamps, bases, adjusting feet, rolling coasters, acoustic rear walls, wardrobe bars, slanting compartment bottom plates, screens, high desk tops, or cover panels wherein each of said components have system holes positioned so that said system holes of said components are axially aligned with the system holes of said modules for securing said components to said modules.
4. The modular cabinet system of claim 1 wherein the threaded through-holes further comprise riveted bushings.
5. The modular cabinet system of claim 1 wherein the walls are mitred at their edges and joined together by angular dowels.
6. The modular cabinet system of claim 1 further comprising a table board having a sandwich board with an upper plate and a lower plate bonded by an adhesive, whereby said lower plate has holes and matching head millings arranged and constructed so that standard push-in bushings may be driven into said holes of said lower plate, said table board being positioned on the top wall of one of said modules so that at least one system hole of said top wall is axially aligned with at least one bushing of said lower plate, said table board secured to said top wall of said module by fastening means through said at least one axially aligned system hole and bushing.
7. The modular cabinet system of claim 1 wherein the module further comprises a plurality of horizontal rows of small holes drilled partly into at least two opposing walls and at least one door stop fixed to one of said opposing walls, whereby said plurality of horizontal rows correspond to variable positioning of said door stops to accommodate doors of different thicknesses.
8. The modular cabinet system of claim 7 wherein said door stops further comprise a rubber piece having a plurality of passage holes.
9. The modular cabinet system of claim 1 further comprising a footpiece having a base plate, a number of system holes for fixing said footpiece onto said threaded through-holes, and two independently adjustable feet positioned axially offset from said system holes whereby said footpiece is adjustable to achieve varying heights.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein D is approximately 350 mm.
11. The system of claim 1, wherein each system hole is located at a distance ½D from a front edge of a module, and ½D from at least one side edge of a module.
12. The system of claim 1, wherein said modules are of at least two different sizes.
13. The system of claim 1, wherein each system hole is a distance ½ H or ½ W from a nearest longitudinal edge of a wall on which said hole resides.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Nov 1, 2002
Date of Patent: Oct 18, 2005
Assignee: M3 Gesellschaft fur modulare Einrichtungsysteme mbH (Waldstadt)
Inventors: Helge Krause (Prieros), Hans-Peter Welke (Berlin)
Primary Examiner: James O. Hansen
Attorney: Norris McLaughlin & Marcus PA
Application Number: 10/286,569