WO2014111261A1

WO2014111261A1 - Cantilevered supporting structure for furniture shelves

Info

Publication number: WO2014111261A1
Application number: PCT/EP2014/000115
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carlo Cattaneo
Original assignee: Leonardo S.R.L.
Priority date: 2013-01-21
Filing date: 2014-01-15
Publication date: 2014-07-24
Also published as: DE212014000026U1

Abstract

A cantilevered supporting structure (10, 110, 210) for the anchorage of furniture shelves (R) to supporting elements (16, 35, 116, 135; 216, 235) fixed to a wall (17). According to the invention, said structure comprises, in combination: an upright (11, 111, 211) destined for being hooked to said wall (17) and an arm (12, 112, 212) destined for receiving said shelf (R), reciprocal fixing means between said upright (11, 111, 211) and arm (12, 112, 212), anchoring means of said upright (11, 111, 211) to said supporting elements (16, 35, 116, 135; 216, 235), first regulation means (39, 139, 239) for regulating the perpendicularity of the arms (12, 112, 212) with respect to the wall (17), the reciprocal parallelism of the arms (12, 112, 212) and the levelling of the same, second regulation means (18, 118, 218) for regulating the vertical position, and final tightening means for recovering the clearances after effecting the above regulations, said upright (11, 111, 211) also being equipped with hooking means of said structure (10, 110, 210) to said supporting elements (16, 35; 116, 135; 216, 235).

Description

CANTILEVERED SUPPORTING STRUCTURE FOR FURNITURE SHELVES

The present invention relates to a cantilevered supporting structure for furniture shelves, such as, for example, suspended desks, tables, shelves and similia.

The present tendency of interior design is to produce furniture shelves which extend cantilevered directly from a supporting wall, so that the underlying and overlying spaces are completely free.

This requirement is strongly felt in the production of suspended desks, where the underlying space is destined for housing various accessories and for the passage of service cables.

For this reason, it is extremely desirable to have a desk completely without side shoulders or other equivalent encumbering supporting means.

This requirement is satisfied by desks whose shelves extend cantilevered directly from a supporting wall .

The objective difficulties, however, for producing a cantilevered supporting structure capable of adequately and safely supporting loads to which the shelf is subjected and which are extremely variable, are well-known. These loads, in fact, significantly increase with an increase in the depth of the shelf, in relation to the static load to which it is subjected, and the dynamic stress transmitted by the user, which can be extremely variable and burdensome.

In addition to the requirements indicated above, a cantilevered supporting structure for furniture shelves should also allow the shelf to be assembled in a correct position with respect to both the wall (not always perfectly flat) and also to adjacent shelves.

It should also be pointed out that, according to the known art, a corresponding size of supporting structure is destined for each depth of cantilevered shelf, with a consequent warehouse adaptation, which is complex and costly for the furniture producers.

The general objective of the present invention is to solve the problems indicated above, by providing a cantilevered supporting structure for furniture shelves, suitable for being fixed to the wall, in a precise and correct position, so as to also safely support extremely heavy loads.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a supporting structure which can be easily adapted to different shelf depths.

The above objectives are achieved by a cantilevered supporting structure for furniture shelves having the characteristics specified in the enclosed claim 1 and dependent claims.

The structural and functional characteristics of the invention and their advantages with respect to the known art, can be easily understood from the following description, referring to the enclosed drawings, which illustrate embodiment examples of the invention itself.

In the drawings :

figure 1 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a first embodiment example of a supporting structure according to the invention;

figure 2 is a perspective view of the assembled structure of figure 1, also illustrating means, for example plates, for hooking the structure to the wall; figure 3 is a raised front view of the structure of figures 1 and 2;

figure 4 is a section according to the lines IV- IV of figure 3 ;

figure 5 is a section according to the lines V-V of figure 3;

figure 6 is a section according to the lines VI-VI of figure 3;

figures 7 and 8 are two views, similar to figures 1 and 2, respectively, but illustrating a second possible embodiment of the invention;

figure 9 is a partial cross-section and sectional perspective view showing a suspended desk produced using the supporting structure of figures 1-6;

figure 10 is a perspective view of the desk of figure 9, illustrating its assembly by sliding the shelves R on the arms of adjacent supporting structures ;

figure 11 is a perspective view similar to figure 2, illustrating a third embodiment example of a supporting structure according to the invention;

figure 12 is a raised front view of the structure of figure 11; and

figure 13 is a section along the line XIII-XIII of figure 12.

With reference to figures 1-10 of the drawings, the cantilevered supporting structure for furniture shelves according to a first embodiment of the invention, particularly, but not exclusively, fo the production of suspended desks, is indicated as a whole with 10.

Said structure 10 comprises an upright 11 and an arm 12, extending cantilevered from the lower end of said upright 11.

The upright 11, in the example illustrated, has a C-shaped transversal section whose wings 13, at the upper end, are hook-shaped 14 for hooking the upright 11 to a supporting element, for example the edge 15 of an upper plate 16 (or other equivalent supporting element) fixed to a wall 17. A continuous bar can be used instead of the plate 16.

The upright 11, in correspondence with said upper end, is also equipped with a vertical regulation system comprising a grain 18 which acts against the edge 15 of the plate 16 (figures 1 and 5) . For this purpose, the grain 18 is screwed through a threaded hole 19 of a platelet 20 kept in position by means of a fork spring 21.

Again close to the upper end, the core 22 of the upright 11 has a threaded hole 23 through which a grain 24 passes. Said grain 24 (figure 5), by acting against the edge 15 of the plate 16, has the function of recovering the clearances and fixing the upright 11 in position, after the various regulations, as will appear evident hereunder.

The arm 12, which can be cylindrical, for example, is fixed to the upright 11 by means of a screw 25 which is screwed through an axial threaded hole 26 of the same arm 12 (figures 1 and 5) .

The same screw 25 blocks, on the core 22 of the upright 11, a vertical plate 27, inside the upright 11, and a horizontal outer plate 28. For this purpose, the core 22 and the plates 27, 28 have respective holes 29, 30 and 31, for the passage of the screw 25 (figures 1 and 5) .

A screw 32, having a protruding circular head 33, is also screwed onto the platelet 27, which is suitable for being hooked, preferably from above, inside a shaped seat 34 of a supporting element, for example a lower plate 35 (or other equivalent supporting element) fixed to the wall 17 (figures 2, 4 and 5) . A continuous bar can be used instead of the plate 35.

The free end of said screw 32, opposite the head

33, has a shaped manoeuvring seat 36, accessible through a hole 37 of the core 22, so as to be able to rotate the screw 32 through a threaded hole 32a for recovering clearances and tightening in position, analogously to the grain 24.

Respective grains 39 are screwed through side threaded holes 38 of the platelet 28, which, by reacting against the plate 35 fixed to the wall, allow not only the perpendicularity of the arm 12 to be registered with respect to the wall 17, on a horizontal plane, but also the parallelism with the arms 12 of other adjacent supporting structures (figures 7 and 8) , and also the levelling (figures 4 and 6) .

U indicates manoeuvring tools of the grains 18, 24, 39 and of the screw 36, and B schematizes a bubble positioned on the arm 12 (figure 6) .

The functioning and method of use of the supporting structure according to the invention are evident from what is described above, with reference to the figures which are briefly as follows.

With reference to figures 9, 10 of the drawings, in relation to the length of the piece of furniture to be created (for example, a suspended desk) , a plurality of structures 10 (at least ¹ two) is first hooked to the plates 16 (bar 49), 35 fixed to the wall, after which all of the regulations described above are effected, namely: the perpendicularity of the arms 12 with respect to the wall 17, the reciprocal parallelism of the arms 12 (by rotation according to the arrow F of figure 4), the levelling of the same arms 12, by acting on the grains 39 (by rotation according to the arrow Fl of figure 6) and the vertical regulation (according to the arrows F2 of figure 5) by acting on the grains 18.

The grains 39 and 18 respectively represent first and second regulation means of the structure 10, acting between the plates 35 and 16 and the upright 11.

Finally, the clearances are recovered and the various components are blocked in position (figures 1- 6) through the tightening of the grain 24 and screw 32.

The grain 24 and screws 32, on the contrary, represent final tightening means of the structure 10 for the recovery of the clearances, acting between two plates 16 and 35, respectively.

Figures 7, 8 illustrate another possible embodiment of the invention, wherein the components which are the same or equivalent to those illustrated in figures 1-6, are indicated with the same reference numbers increased by 100.

In this embodiment of the invention, an arm 112 is envisaged, having a "C" -shaped transversal section, the same as that of the upright 111.

As can be clearly seen from the drawings, the arm 112 is fixed to the upright 111 by means of two side brackets 50, which are screwed onto the wings 113, 113a of the upright 111 and arm 112, respectively.

More specifically, the fixing between the upright 111 and the arm 112 is effected by means of pairs of end-pins 51 and pairs of central screws 52. The pins 51 pass through holes 53 and 54 respectively of the bracket 50 and wings 113, 113a, whereas the screws 52 are screwed through threaded holes 55 of the wings 113, 113a, passing through holes 56 of the bracket 50.

A nut 138 protrudes from the side of each bracket 50, fixed to the same, a grain 139 being screwed through said nut 138. The nut 138 and the grain 139 clearly have the same function as the components 38 and

39 of the embodiment of figures 1-6.

The cantilevered supporting structures 10, 110 according to the invention, are capable of receiving any type of shelf on the arms 12 and 112, which are fixed in position by suitable fixing means which can also be of any type.

Similarly, aesthetical panels can be fixed to the uprights 11, 111.

Among the possible variations, the plates 16, 35 can be possibly grouped in a single supporting element

216, 235 (single plate), still remaining within the protection scope of the invention, as illustrated in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in figures 11-13.

An example of a suspended desk S (figures 9, 10) is produced by fixing a horizontal shelf R to the arms 12 and a vertical panel P to the uprights 11.

There can be numerous fixing systems of the shelf R to the arms 12 and the panel P to the uprights 11.

The shelf R, for example, can be advantageously equipped (on the underlying surface) with sleeves M made of plastic material, which are inserted onto the arms 12.

In figures 9 and 10, the supporting structures 10 are hooked above to a bar 49, fixed to the wall, instead of to plates.

C indicates a channel for the passage of service cables, which is covered by the shelf R slidingly assembled, by inserting the sleeves M on the arms 12, as indicated by the arrow.

In the third embodiment of the invention illustrated in figures 11-13, the components which are the same or equivalent to those illustrated in figures 1-6 are indicated with the same reference numbers increased by 200.

In this third embodiment of the invention (as already mentioned), the two plates 16, 35 are merged into a single plate 216, 235, which allows the supporting structure to be assembled with even greater ease and precision.

The protection scope of the present invention is therefore defined by the following claims.

Claims

A cantilevered supporting structure (10, 110,

210) for anchorage to supporting elements (16, 35; 116, 135; 216, 235), fixed to a wall (17), of furniture shelves (R) , characterized in that it comprises, in combination: an upright (11, 111,

211) destined for being hung to said wall (17) and an arm (12, 112, 212) destined for receiving said shelf (R) , reciprocal fixing means positioned between said upright (11, 111, 211) and arm (12, 112, 212), anchoring means of said upright (11,

111, 211) to said supporting elements (16, 35; 116, 135; 216, 235), first regulation means (39, 139, 239) for regulating the perpendicularity of the arms (12, 112, 212) with respect to the wall (17), the reciprocal parallelism of the arms (12,

112, 212) and the levelling of the same, second regulation means (18, 118, 218) for regulating the vertical position, and final tightening means for recovering the clearances after effecting the above regulations, said upright (11, 111, 211) also being equipped with hooking means of said structure (10, 110, 210) to said supporting elements (16, 35; 116, 135; 216, 235).

The structure according to claim 1, characterized in that said supporting elements consist of two plates (16, 35; 116, 135) upper and lower, respectively.

The structure according to claim 1, characterized in that said supporting elements consist of a single plate (216, 235) joining said plates (16, 35; 116, 135) .

The structure according to claim 1, characterized in that said supporting elements consist of continuous bars (49) .

The structure according to claim 1, characterized in that said fixing means positioned between said upright (11) and arm (12) consist of a screw (25) which is screwed through an axial threaded hole (26) of the same arm (12) .

The structure according to claim 1, characterized in that said anchoring means of said upright (11, 111, 211) to said wall (17) consist of a hook (14, 114, 214) inserted at the upper end of said upright (11, 111 ,211) to be hooked to an edge (15, 115, 215) of said supporting element (16, 116, 216) .

The structure according to claim 1, characterized in that said first regulation means for regulating the perpendicularity of the arms (12) with respect to the wall (17) , the reciprocal parallelism of the arms (12) and the levelling of the same, consist of beads (39, 139, 239) acting between said upright (11, 111, 211) and said supporting element ((35, 135, 235).

The structure according to claim 1, characterized in that said second regulation means for regulating the vertical position of said structure (10, 110, 210) consist of a bead (18, 118, 218) acting between said upright (11, 111, 211) and said supporting element (16, 116, 216).

The structure according to claim 1, characterized in that said final tightening means consist of a bead (24, 124, 224) and a screw (32, 132, 232) acting between said upright (11, 111, 211) and said supporting elements (16, 35; 116, 135; 216, 235) .

. The structure according to claim 9, characterized in that said screw (32, 132, 232) has a head (33, 133, 233) suitable for being engaged in a complementary seat (34, 134, 234) of said supporting element (35, 135, 235).

. The structure according to claim 1, characterized in that said fixing means positioned between said upright (11, 111, 211) and arm (12, 112, 212) consist of two side brackets (50) fixed on the wings (113, 113a) of the upright (111) and arm (112) respectively, by fixing means.

. The structure according to claim 11, characterized in that said fixing means between upright (111) and arm (112) comprise pairs of end pins (51) and pairs of center screws (52), wherein the pins (51) pass through holes (53,54), of the bracket (50) and wings (113,113a) respectively, whereas the screws (52) are screwed through threaded holes (55) of the wings (113,113a), passing through holes (56) of the bracket (50) . . The structure according to claim 11, characterized in that a nut (138) protrudes laterally from each bracket (50) , fixed to it, a bead (139) , acting on said supporting element (135), being screwed through said nut (138) .