WO2002030240A1

WO2002030240A1 - Boxed compartment modular structure, encasing household electric appliances movable in several positions

Info

Publication number: WO2002030240A1
Application number: PCT/IT2001/000518
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fabio Dal Tio
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2000-10-13
Filing date: 2001-10-12
Publication date: 2002-04-18
Anticipated expiration: 2003-04-13
Also published as: IT1316239B1; ITRM20000547A1; ITRM20000547A0; AU2001295907A1

Abstract

The invention concerns a modular structure for furniture, or independent or associated complementary furniture modules, in which there are one or more boxed compartments encasing household electric appliances movable onto sliding or rotating means for transferring said appliances in several positions; from an operative use position, to a position for activating supplying and/or maintenance operations, and to at least another position in which an appliance is completely removed from the boxed comparment encasing it.

Description

BOXED COMPARTMENT MODULAR STRUCTURE, ENCASING HOUSEHOLD ELECTRIC APPLIANCES MOVABLE IN SEVERAL POSITIONS

DESCRIPTION The invention relates to a modular structure for furniture or complementary furniture in which at least one boxed compartment encases a household electric appliance, movable on sliding or rotating means for transferring it in several positions suitable to the operative use, or to the supplying and/or the maintenance thereof, jointly to the detaching thereof from the boxed compartment in order to completely remove it therefrom.

The present invention was advantageously, yet not exclusively, developed for a household espresso coffee brewing electric appliance (coffee maker) . The invention solves a relevant architectural and industrial problem; with at least one boxed compartment, furniture or complementary furniture modules of high functionality and pleasant aesthetic aspect are implemented. For several years, the field of furniture or of complementary furniture modules, has been aimed at implementing modular structures, allowing an industrial manufacturing adaptable to the custom needs and demands . In fact, in the field of household or executive office furniture, there is the demand for more versatile pieces of furniture, which be convertible for various uses according to the respective environments in which they be located, or, casewise, according to an user's needs.

It is known that in the field of household, civil and industrial furniture, modular structures have since long become popular. Such structures show two important features: they are sectional and modular. Sectional means that they may be transported disassembled, assembled on the site of use and disassembled again when not needed anymore, so as to save space. Modular means that other components, advantageously assembled in order to meet novel demands, may be added thereto. The state of the art of modular structures comprises built-in household electric appliances inserted inside of the furniture component modules, in particular of modular kitchens. Among said household and/or electric appliances, espresso coffee makers apt to be associated to the inside of a related sectional kitchen module, or of an office furniture module, by screws or like fastening means which often compromise the pleasant aesthetic aspect and the overall design thereof, have been known for quite some time.

Moreover, the installation of these appliances proves difficult, since there is the need to use a plurality of screws, or of like fastening members, and therefore is not always optimally carried out by the installing operator.

Also the required interventions for the supplying of the raw materials, for the maintenance and/or the repair, prove difficult and complex, as necessarily entailing the disassembling of the appliance from the encasing vane and the subsequent reassembling therein, with the inherent waste of an operator's energies and time.

This state of the art of the household electric appliances entails, besides the drawback of said rigid fastenings, also that of the integral constraint to the load-bearing structure, thereby limiting the aesthetic effect of the furniture and preventing the availability of many modular pieces of furniture having more pleasant and functional novel aspects. This prior state of the art is susceptible of further improvements, particularly concerning the possibility of overcoming the abovementioned drawbacks .

In light of the above, there ensues the need to solve the technical problem of devising a modular structure with boxed compartments more functional to the use of various appliances of everyday use and not requiring rigid fastenings to the posts an/or to the walls of the furniture, and which be apt to receive and support, also by means of movable assembling means, household appliances or devices however arranged in the various boxed spaces in order to satisfy aesthetic and functional criteria, as well as to intercalate void spaces at will. The invention solves said technical problem adopting built-in household electric appliances and/or devices which be easy and rapid to assemble and/or disassemble from the related boxed compartments and which allow to carry out the various ordinary and extraordinary maintenance operations and/or optional supplying operations in an extremely easy way and with no need to totally disassociate the former from said boxed spaces or to remove any fastening member.

Moreover, the household electric appliances according to the present invention are provided onto the top or lateral side surfaces thereof with one or more openings enabling the operator to access internal functional members or devices in their positions extracted from the boxed compartments, facilitating the carrying out of the ordinary maintenance and/or of various supplying operations .

According to the present invention, the more complex maintenance operations may be performed separating the household electric appliances from the related encasing boxed compartments by a mere clearing of the linear sliding and/or rotating means, with no need to remove any rigid fastening member or element .

Moreover, in the known embodiments, said household electric appliances, encased inside of the boxed compartments of the modular furniture, are provided rearwise and/or sideways with socket means and/or members for the rapid coupling thereof to a power supply, and, optionally, to the water system.

The advantages attained by the present invention are: elimination of the rigidity of the compositions of the furniture structures, and sensible reduction of the related costs; greater accessibility of the boxed spaces; effect of a greater available volume and an improved positional arrangement of the household appliances, preferably espresso coffee brewing appliances; adoption of slenderer and remarkably less bulky modular furniture, like the posts; complementarity or replacement of household electric appliances advantageously standardised in the dimensions thereof; greater freedom of distribution of the boxed compartments inside of the modular structure for furniture; wider variety of aesthetically and functionally viable shapes .

The modular structure of the applicant consists of parallelepipedic boxed compartments, associable at will to the various household electric appliances and independent therefrom. The innovative advantage of this modular structure, tested for a long time by the applicant, is that the user, due to lack of space or to a mere convenience of orderly application, may resolve the modular furniture structure in several parts and vary at will the furniture, or prearrange the household electric appliances into the modular boxed spaces for the best practical use thereof.

The innovation in the improvements in modular furniture structures remarkably influences the winning competition in the sales market. Accordingly, Industries strive to attain, in complementary furniture, ever-improved performances, having improved results in the practical use thereof and an acceptable reliability. The quest for improved performances should find the way to an incisive improvement of all the constituent components of the modular furniture structure and in all of the operative aspects related to the latter, as well as to the search of an improved assembling of the household electric appliances to the modular structure, i.e., manufacturing a structure of improved quality and with a higher technological content.

The present invention promotes and actuates several improvements to the known art from which it derives and which it sensibly innovates, solving yet unsolved technical limitations in the field of the application and of the use of the household electric appliances, in particular the use of espresso coffee makers, in a modular structure for furniture.

These and other advantages are attained by means of a modular structure for furniture of the present invention which comprises at least one boxed compartment encasing a household electric appliance, preferably an espresso coffee maker. Said household electric appliance is movable on linear sliding means or onto rotating means for transferring and moving it in several positions; from a position of operative use, which is facilitated by a lying plane generated by a front notch, to a supplying and/or maintenance position by means of a sliding or of a rotation to place it in a position extracted from the boxed compartment and in at least another position in which it is completely separated therefrom in order to advantageously remove it from the modular structure.

Said extracted positions are stabilised with known locking members .

In practice, the sliding means are linear and/or telescopic guides, and the rotating means are hinges and/or pins with related known bushes and said rotating means are positioned with vertical and horizontal, preferably vertical, rotation axes. The linear and/or the telescopic guide sliding means are anchored topwise, or bottomwise and/or at the sides of the boxed compartment which encases the household electric appliance rendered advantageously movable by said sliding means.

According to an embodiment, the modular structure for furniture comprises one or more boxed compartments encasing household electric appliances in sight, or foldaway with a front wing, or collapsible, or with a vertically or horizontally sliding gate.

According to a further embodiment, the boxed compartments encasing household electric appliances are overlappable, or adjacent, in a row, along the sectional walls of the modular structure for furniture.

According to a further embodiment, the modular structure for furniture has bearing shelves which are slidable and extractable above or below the household electric appliance which advantageously lies in an operative use condition in order to facilitate the several requested uses. According to a further embodiment, the modular structure of the present invention has drawers which are extractable, above or below with respect to the household electric appliance, in order to advantageously gather therein the appliances, at hand for carrying out the operative use thereof or the supplying and/or maintenance operations .

According to a further embodiment, the boxed compartments encasing the household electric appliances or devices are manufactured multi-sized. Further features and advantages of the boxed compartment modular structure encasing household electric appliances according to the invention will be made apparent by the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of example and without limitative purposes, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

- figure 1 schematically shows in a perspective view a modular structure for kitchen-size furniture, as well as a boxed compartment encasing an espresso coffee maker in a partially extracted position for carrying out supplying and/or maintenance operations;

- figure 2 schematically shows, in a perspective view enlarged with respect to figure 1, an espresso coffee maker in an extracted position for carrying out supplying and/or maintenance operations, as well as the openings formed onto the top surface for an easy carrying out of the ordinary maintenance and/or supplying operations jointly to the linear sliding guides; figure 3 schematically shows in an isometric perspective the espresso coffee maker in a position inserted into the boxed compartment of the modular structure, as well as a supporting plane, sliding and extractable below the household electric appliance in an operative use position in order to facilitate the several requested uses; figure 4 schematically shows in an isometric perspective the espresso coffee maker in an inserted position and ready for use, the latter being facilitated by a lying plane generated by a front notch reentering into the vertical wall of the modular structure for furniture; - figure 5 schematically shows in an isometric perspective the espresso coffee maker in a position inserted into the boxed compartment of the modular structure, as well as a drawer extractable below the household appliance for gathering in said drawer the appliances which advantageously facilitate the supplying operations .

For simplicity's sake, in the figures components corresponding or having the same functions are indicated with the same reference numbers. Likewise, for overall clarity, in the figures the already known household electric appliances, which may be present in vertical overlapping or in horizontal continuations for the completion of the modular structure, are not shown, and accordingly a further description thereof is omitted as superfluous to an understanding of the innovative features of the present invention. Thus, e.g., the socket means for the rapid connection to a power supply, and, optionally, to the water system, are not represented. Likewise, the rotating means optionally employed to transfer in several positions the household electric appliance are not represented, as said pin or hinge means are well-known to the art, and likewise, therefore, the circuitry of such household electric appliances is not represented nor described, as implementable in different ways, all known to the art. In the attached figures, an espresso coffee maker 4 inserted in the boxed compartment 6 of a modular structure for kitchen furniture 1 is shown. The household electric appliance 4 is shaped so as to be built-in inside of a boxed space 6, and it is selectively extractable therefrom by means of linear sliding guides 5 which translate the former along the alternating direction 7 for transferring it in several positions : from an inserted operative use position, as in figures 3, 4, and 5, to an extracted position for the carrying out supplying through the two top openings 8, one of the latter allowing access to the coffee grinder tank, and the other one allowing access to the water receiver. In the inserted operative use position, the espresso coffee maker 4 is shaped with a lying plane 2 generated by a front notch which proves remarkably practical for the operating of the former.

In presence of a need of maintenance interventions, preferably through the side walls 3, the built-in appliance 4 is transferred with translating means 5 to an extracted position, as it is shown in figures 1 and 2.

In the solution shown in figure 3, the modular structure 1 has a supporting plane 10 extractable below the appliance 4 in an alternating direction 9 for facilitating the several requested uses . In the solution shown in figure 5, the modular structure 1 has, below the maker 4, a drawer 11 sliding in the alternating direction 12 for advantageously gathering the operative tools necessary to an operator in the carrying out of supplying and/or maintenance operations.

In practice, the arrangements of the manufacturing details may differ from the above illustrated ones, yet being equivalent thereto, and always falling within the protective scope of the present invention.

Thus, the shape of the boxed compartment, though substantially parallelepipedic, could be different from that related to the straight section, which could differ from the rectangular shape for being oval, polygonal, circular, square or even non-geometrical: this both keeping constant or not.

Claims

1. A modular structure for furniture, or independent or associated complementary furniture modules, i.e., modules sectional with other modular members, for forming an individual room furniture characterised in that it comprises at least one boxed compartment encasing a household electric appliance movable onto sliding or rotating means for transferring it in several positions; from an operative use position, to a position for the carrying out of supplying and/or maintenance operations, and to at least another position wherein it is completely removed from the encasing boxed compartment.

2. The modular structure for furniture according to claim 1, characterised in that the household electric appliance is a coffee maker which, installed built-in in a boxed compartment, remains held therein in an operative use position, the latter being facilitated by a lying plane generated by a front notch, and that in presence of a need of supplying and/or maintenance interventions is transferred, with sliding or rotating means, to a position extracted from the boxed compartment.

3. The modular structure for furniture according to claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the household electric appliance in the position extracted from the boxed compartment is partially extracted, or totally extracted, or completely separated from the latter to distance it from the sectional furniture module.

4. The modular structure for furniture according to claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the positions extracted from the boxed compartment are stabilized by known locking means .

5. The modular structure for furniture according to claim 1, characterised in that the sliding means are linear and/or telescopic guides and that the rotating means are hinges and or pins with related bushes, all known to the art, said rotating means being positioned with vertical and horizontal, preferably horizontal, axes of rotation.

6. The modular structure for furniture according to claim 1, characterised in that the linear and/or telescopic guide sliding means are anchored above, or below and/or at the sides of the boxed compartment encasing the household electric appliance made movable by said sliding means .

7. The modular structure for furniture according to claim 1, characterised in that it comprises one or more boxed compartments encasing household electric appliances in sight, or foldaway with a front wing, or collapsible, , or with a vertically or horizontally sliding gate.

8. The modular structure for furniture according to claim 1, characterised in that the boxed compartments encasing household electric appliances are overlappable, or adjacent, in a row, along the sectional walls of the modular structure for furniture.

9. The modular structure for furniture according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that it has sliding bearing shelves which are extractable above or below the household electric appliance which advantageously lies in an operative use condition in order to facilitate the several requested uses.

10. The modular structure for furniture according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that it has drawers which are extractable above or below the household electric appliance in order to advantageously gather therein the tools advantageously at hand for carrying out the operative use thereof, or the supplying and/or maintenance operations.

11. he modular structure for furniture according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the boxed compartments encasing the household electric appliances are manufactured multi-sized.