Front face mounting apparatus and process

• US 6,390,576 B1
• Filed: 11/16/2000
• Issued: 05/21/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rev-A-Shelf Company LLC (Jones Plastic & Engineering Company, LLC), Rev-A-Shelf
• Original Assignee: Rev-A-Shelf
• Inventors: Walburn, William L.
• Primary Examiner(s): WILKENS, JANET MARIE
• Application Number:
  US09/714,362
• Time in Patent Office: 551 Days
• Field of Search: 312/348.1, 312/348.4, 312/348.2, 312/330.1, 312/334.1, 312/257.1, 312/265.6, 312/321.5, 312/270.3
• US Class Current: 312/348.4
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 88/956 for enabling adjustment of the front panel

Abstract

An apparatus for adjustably mounting a drawer face panel onto a drawer slide having a plurality of holes includes a stand and an angled bracket. A first leg of the angled bracket includes a plurality of holes and slots, and the second leg includes a plurality of openings that are in general alignment with some of a plurality of holes in the stand. A first attachment engages at least one of the plurality of openings in the second leg of the angled bracket and at least one of the plurality of holes in the stand and permits adjustment of the angled bracket relative to the stand. A second attachment engages at least one of the plurality of holes in the stand and at least one of the plurality of holes in the drawer slide and permits adjustment in attaching the stand to the drawer slide.

Claims

1. A drawer face panel having a rear surface including a center and outer lateral extremities, a drawer slide, and apparatus for adjustably mounting the drawer face panel to the drawer slide which comprises:

(a) a stand having a plurality of holes;

(b) an angled bracket having a first leg, a second leg, a plurality of holes and a plurality of slots in the first leg, and a plurality of openings in the second leg in general alignment with at least some of the plurality of holes in the stand;

(c) first attachment means engaging at least one of the plurality of openings in the second leg of the angled bracket and at least one of the plurality of holes in the stand for adjustable attaching the angled bracket to the stand; and

(d) second attachment means engaging at least one of the plurality of holes in the stand and the drawer slide for adjustably attaching the stand to the drawer slide.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first log of the angled bracket is positioned parallel to the rear surface of said drawer face panel and extending laterally away from the center of the drawer face panel and affixes to the outer lateral extremities of the drawer face panel so as to avoid the necessity of an intermediate structural member between any outer frames of the drawer face panel, and wherein the second leg is perpendicular to the first leg.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein a first of the plurality of openings in the second leg comprises an L-shaped slot wherein a vertical leg of the L-shaped slot has a width greater than that of the hole in the stand in general alignment therewith, and a second of the plurality of openings in the second leg is a second slot.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said first attachment means comprises:

(a) third means for adjustably engaging said L-shaped slot to affix the second leg with the stand, and

(b) fourth means for adjustably engaging the second slot to affix the second leg with the stand.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the third means comprises:

(a) a first part of a fastener combination receivable into one of said plurality of holes in the stand and also receivable into the L-shaped slot; and

(b) a second part of the fastener combination engaged with the first part, and acting in conjunction with the first part to affix the second leg with the stand.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the third means further comprises spacer means for spacing the second leg of the angled bracket from the stand.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said fourth means comprises:

(a) a first part of a second fastener combination receivable into a second of said plurality of holes in the stand and also receivable into said second slot; and

(b) a second part of the second fastener combination engaged with the first part, and acting in conjunction with the first part to affix the second leg of the angled bracket with the stand.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the fourth means further comprises spacer means for spacing the second leg of the angled bracket from the stand.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising mountings for affixing said drawer slide inside an enclosure, the mountings including lateral slots allowing lateral and skew adjustment of the drawer slide.

10. An enclosure having an opening defined by a perimeter, a drawer face panel having an outer portion dimensioned to overlap the perimeter, a drawer slide assembly having a fixed portion and a movable portion, and a drawer face mount for mounting the drawer face panel to the drawer slide assembly to permit adjustment of the drawer face panel relative to the perimeter of the enclosure containing the drawer slide, the drawer face mount comprising:

(a) mountings for affixing the fixed portion of said drawer slide assembly inside said enclosure;

(b) a pair of stands attached to a movable portion of the drawer slide assembly, the stands having a plurality of holes;

(c) a pair of brackets having a first leg affixable to a back of said drawer face panel and a second leg having a plurality of openings in general alignment with at least some of the plurality of holes in one of the stands; and

(d) attachment means engaging at least one of the plurality of holes in each stand and at least one of the openings in each bracket for adjustably attaching each bracket to an adjacent one of the stands so that the outer portion of the drawer face panel can be positioned with respect to said perimeter of the enclosure.

11. The drawer face mount of claim 10, wherein the first leg of each bracket is positioned parallel to a rear surface of said drawer face panel and extends laterally outwardly from the adjacent stand to a position to overlap the outer portion on one side of the drawer face panel and the second leg of said angled bracket is perpendicular to the first leg.

12. The drawer face mount of claim 11, wherein one of the plurality of openings in the second leg of each bracket comprises an L-shaped slot having a width greater than that of said hole in the adjacent stand in general alignment therewith.

13. The drawer face mount of claim 12, wherein another of the plurality of openings in the second leg of each bracket comprises a downwardly opening slot.

14. The drawer face mount of either claim 12 or 13, wherein said attachment means comprises a fastener passing through the L-shaped slot in one of the brackets and through one of the plurality of holes in each stand, the fastener having force adjustment means for adjusting the compressive force applied to the adjacent bracket and stand.

15. The drawer face mount of claim 14, wherein the force adjustment means comprises threads machined into at least one of the plurality of holes in the stand, engaging threads circumscribing the fastener.

16. The drawer face mount of claim 13, wherein said attachment means comprises a fastener passing through the downwardly opening slot in one of the brackets and through one of the plurality of holes in each stand.

17. The drawer face mount of claim 16, wherein the fastener further comprises spacers spacing the second leg of the angled bracket from the stand.

18. The drawer face mount of claim 10, wherein said mountings include means permitting lateral and skew adjustment of said slide assembly with respect to said enclosure.

19. The drawer face mount of claim 10, wherein said drawer slide assembly comprises an in-cabinet wastebasket holder.

20. A process for mounting a drawer face panel to a drawer slide to insure correct alignment of the drawer face panel with respect to a perimeter of an opening in an enclosure receiving the drawer slide, the process comprising the steps of:

(a) providing mountings for said drawer slide that allow for lateral and skew adjustment of position of a fixed portion of the drawer slide within said enclosure;

(b) directly fixing a set of brackets to outer lateral extremities of said drawer face panel;

(c) coupling the set of brackets to a movable portion of the drawer slide so that the height, pitch, and roll positions of the drawer face panel can be adjusted;

(d) initially securing the mountings to the enclosure, and the brackets to the drawer slide, with such force as will permit positional adjustment of the drawer face panel with respect to the perimeter of the opening in the enclosure;

(e) uniformly contacting the drawer face panel to the enclosure opening perimeter and re-extending the drawer slide;

(f) increasing mounting retention forces so that the lateral and skew positions of the drawer slide are secured; and

(g) increasing bracket coupling forces so that the height, pitch, and roll positions of the drawer face panel are fixed with respect to the drawer slide.

21. In a cabinet including an enclosure and a drawer system for use in the enclosure, the drawer system having a face panel and a drawer slide, the improvement comprising:

(a) an L-shaped stand having a plurality of holes, the L-shaped stand being fixed to the drawer slide; and

(b) an angled bracket having a first leg fixed to the drawer face panel and a second leg having a plurality of openings in general alignment with at least some of the plurality of holes in the stand, including a first slot having a width greater than that of the hole in the stand in general alignment therewith, and further including a second slot, the second leg of the angled bracket being affixed to the L-shaped stand.

22. The improvement of claim 21 wherein the drawer slide further comprises a wastebasket holder.

23. The improvement of claim 21 wherein the first slot in the angled bracket comprises an L-shaped slot, where the vertical leg of the L-shaped slot has a width greater than that of the hole in the stand in general alignment therewith.

24. The improvement of claim 21 further comprising mountings for affixing the drawer slide to the enclosure including lateral slots permitting lateral and skew adjustment of the drawer slide with respect to the enclosure.

25. In a drawer system for use in an enclosure, including a drawer having a drawer face of frame and panel construction, a drawer slide, mountings which affix the drawer slide in the enclosure, an improved means for mounting the drawer face onto the drawer slide comprising:

(a) an L-shaped stand having a plurality of holes, the L-shaped stand being fixed to the drawer slide; and

(b) an angled bracket having a first leg affixed to the frame of said drawer face and a second leg having a plurality of openings in general alignment with at least some of the plurality of holes in the stand, including an L-shaped slot, wherein the vertical leg of the L-shaped slot has a width greater than that of the hole in the stand in general alignment therewith, and further including a second slot, the second leg of the angled bracket being fixed to the L-shaped stand.