Modular elements for composing disassemblable walls, cabinets, writing-desks or other pieces of furniture

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The present invention concerns modular elements for composing rectilinear walls or walls extending with changes of directions, as well as cabinets, bookcases, writingdesks or similar pieces of furniture, and which can be easily disassembled and assembled again according to different patterns so as to divide a room in various sub-rooms or spaces having different intended purposes and each comprising the mainly necessary pieces of furniture, as shelves, bookcases, cabinets, writing-desks, tables and the like.

The invention provides a series of modular elements including:

panels of various standard sizes;

box-lixe sections made of metal, to be applied to at least two opposite edges of said panels, said sections on each of their parallel side surfaces and on one of the other side surfaces comprising a central longitudinal groove designed to receive screws or devices provided to connect two adjacent panels in coplanar arrangement or with a desired angle, while from the remaining side surface means extend outwardly for the connection of each section to the respective panel body;

column elements provided at their ends with means adapted to be received into the central longitudinal grooves of said box-like sections and allowing the adjacent panels to be connected to one another with the desired angle, said column elements co-operating with sealing means and with adjustable feet, which can be adjusted by acting on the upper end of said column elements;

rods connected to adjustable feet passing through the body of a panel within the thickness thereof and ending with upper control means;

expansion locking screws to be inserted in the front grooves of the box-like sections;

vertical shaped bars provided at their ends with engaging means for the connection of adjacent panels in coplanar relationship in co-operation with a pair of said box-like sections;

hinge means to connect adjacent panels at right angles; and

shaped bars acting as spacing means to be mounted between two parallel panels and designed to be inserted into engaging seats of said panels in order to maintain the two panels parallel to one another.

In addition conventional auxiliary fittings will be used, in order to equip the structure with devices, such as table lamps, sockets or taps or the like used together with means, allowing said devices to be applied on the structure made of the modular elements of this invention or providing connections for the application of series of drawers, card-index boxes and the like.

Modular elements for obtaining equipped walls are already known in the art, elements which are commonly designed to subdivide a room in various spaces or sub-rooms having different intended purposes, but the already known systems are very complicated, require considerable space as well as the use of several different steel structural devices in order to allow to compose the various walls and pieces of furniture.

The present invention permits to compose walls with the use of few and very simple modular elements and with the use of a very limited number of locking and hinge means.

These and other characteristics and advantages of this invention will be better understood from the following description of an embodiment of this invention and taking in consideration the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top diagrammatic view of a configuration of walls and of pieces of furniture composed by means of the modular elements of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the detail of the end portion of a wall panel provided with a box-like section on its vertical side;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the detail of a column device for the connection between two panels and which enables the panels to be oriented according to any desired angle, one of said panels being already connected to the column device;

FIG. 4 is a perspective explosion view, partly broken away, of the column device shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a vertical section partly broken away, showing the connection between two walls with the use of a column device, said section being taken on the line A--A of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of the device provided to connect two walls in rectilinear relationship;

FIG. 7 is a top view of two wall panels connected to one another with the use of the device shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on the line B--B of FIG. 7 and partly broken away;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view (partly broken away) of a detail of the panel, shown in FIG. 7, and provided with an adjustable foot which can be controlled from the upper part of the panel and which passes through the thickness of this latter;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged perspective view of the writing-desk shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a section of the table-top of the writing desk and of one of its sides, taken on the line C--C of FIG. 10;

FIG. 11a is an enlarged view of the hinge structure of FIG. 11; and

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the beam (partly broken away) designed to hold the side panels of the writing-desk of FIGS. 1 and 10 in their parallel relationship.

Now referring to the drawings it is to be noted that the carrying structure is constituted of a plurality of panels made of chips covered with wood surfaces or of surfaces made of synthetic resin bonded laminate, said panels being constructed in a series of standard modular sizes according to their intended purposes.

The panels include: panels 1 designed to form the partition walls or the walls of cabinets or the like, and having a height equal to that of the partition walls to be obtained or equal to a submultiple of said heights; panels 2 to form the table-tops of writing-desks, tables or the like or the top walls of cabinets or the like; and panels 3 to form the sides of the writing-desks, tables or the like. At 4 are generally indicated metal sections designed to be applied along at least the vertical edges of the panels 1, and at 5 are generally indicated the column devices adapted to connect wall panels in any angular mutual position by means of end sections 4, while at 6 are indicated the devices for the connection of two wall panels 1 in aligned relationship. At 7 are indicated hinges provided to connect at right angles two panels 2 and 3 so as to construct a writing-desk, a table or the like in cooperation with a spacing bar, generally indicated by 8, or for forming angled walls for other intended purposes.

The hereinbefore mentioned elements are the main modular elements necessary for obtaining assemblable and disassemblable equipped walls or other pieces of furniture.

Now will be described in detail the single elements. Referring to an element 4 (see in particular FIGS. 2 and 3), this element is constituted of a section, preferably made of a light metal alloy, on two parallel sides of which a pair of grooves 9 are arranged of a rectangular cross section and having flanges 9a extending one towards the other so as to define therebetween a slot communicating with the outside.

The grooves 9 are designed to house expansion screws or the like, adapted to support hooks, small beams, shelves or brackets (which have not been shown in the drawings and which are of well known type).

On the outer surface of the section 4 a groove 10 is arranged similar to the grooves 9 and having flanges 10a extending one towards the other, while from the opposite side surface of said section extend outwardly toothed pins 11 designed to be inserted into the panel bodies 1 so as to lock the sections 4 to these latter sections 4, serving at the same time to screen the inner layers of the materials forming the panels 1.

For the connection of a panel 1 to another panel with any angle, a device 5 is provided, designed to be connected to the sections 4 as applied to the adjacent panels 1. The device 5 comprises a tubular hollow column 12 ending with a ring 12a made of plastic.

At the ends of the column 12, inside each of the rings 12a will be inserted the inner projecting arms of shaped pieces 13, each comprising a projecting outer part 13a having such a form as to be able to enter through its end orifice into the facing groove 10, of the adjacent section 4, and thus remaining locked therein.

On the outer end portion of the upper device 5 the pieces 13, 13a are locked between the ring 12a and an innerly threaded bushing 15 which will be screwed on the threaded tubular end portion 14a of an inner tubular body 14.

The tubular body 14 houses a vertical rod 17 made integral, at the upper end, with a control head 17a, while at its lower end the tubular body 14 is made integral with a bushing 18 along which a cylindrical foot 19 can slide having a double wall and on which rests the rod 17. Thus after the assembling of the wall, the foot 19 can be actuated so as to move it forwards so as to bring the respective wall in a correct vertical position, compensating for any uneveness of the floor and that is done acting with a tool on the head 17a of the rod 17. It results that the adjustment of the foot becomes easy since it can be performed from the top of the walls and that can be carried out also in the event that the panels 1 in question are a part of a cabinet or if one of the panels supports a writing table and the like.

The movement backwards of the foot 19 is performing owing to the wall weight.

The pieces 13, 13a are inserted and locked inside the grooves 10 of the sections 4. By releasing or removing the bushing 15 this latter will disengage said pieces 13 and 13a, afterwards a panel can be rotated with regard to another panel and be positioned according to the desired angle. Then the bushing 15 will be again locked to the device 5. Between the pieces 4 and the joining device 5 are also inserted packing pieces 50 which have a front cylindrical concave surface 50a, adapted to mate with the surface of the column 12, while at their back they form a projecting part mating with the shape of the grooves 10, inside which said projecting parts are received.

In the event that two panels have to be connected in aligned relationship (FIG. 1) a simplier device 6 can be used (FIGS. 6 and 7) comprising a small rod 20 having a lower threaded portion 20a, said rod 20 entering a block 21 having an inner threaded hole designed to receive the threaded lower portion 20a of the rod 20 while at its upper end said rod 20 freely passes through a similar block 22, the hole of which, on the contrary, is not threaded.

The blocks 21 and 22 have shaped side surfaces so as to be inserted contemporaneously inside the two grooves 10 of the adjacent sections 4 which in this case are brought in contact end by end.

Therefore the blocks 21 and 22 have a pair of flattened faces of such a size as to respectively abut against the bottom of the grooves 10 of two sections, while in the other faces longitudinal grooves 49 (FIG. 6) are arranged adapted to contact the side surfaces of said groves 10 and to receive their flanges 10a, so that said blocks 21 and 22 after being inserted through the end orifices inside the grooves 10 of the adjacent sections 4, connect these latter together by means of the rod 20, which will be screwed into the block 21 acting on its upper control end 20b.

The disassemblable walls are preferably provided with a lower protection socle 23. In this case on the lower end of the said device 6 the rod 20 (FIG. 8) passes through the piece 21 and is received inside a ground-engaging foot 24 mounted inside a connection body 26 located between the adjacent socles 23 and fixedly connected to the panels 1 by means of screws 25. In the case, in which the panels 1 are connected in aligned relationship, the devices for compensating for horizontality defects of the floor can be constituted of a vertical through rod 27 (FIG. 8) having a control head 27a provided with an engaging slot on which a tool can be engaged, said rod 20 being threaded at least at its lower portion 27b. Said rod 27 passes through a vertical hole 28, arranged in the panel thickness and which near its lower part enlarges so as to form a hole of a larger diameter and which serves as a seat to receive a nut 29 screwed on the threaded rod 26 and acting as female thread body. At the upper part the rod 27 is supported and guided by a bushing 30 which at its upper end forms an outwardly extending flange 30a, by means of which it remains suspended to the top of the hole 28 (FIGS. 7 and 8), while at its lower part the rod 27 cooperates with a cylindrical body which houses a soft end body 32, the cylinder 31 being received inside a complementary hole arranged in the inserted piece 26, said hole having such a height to permit the ground engaging surface of the foot 32 to be aligned with the elements 23 or to extend outwardly beyond them. Thus in the event that at the point where two panels 1 are connected to another in aligned position, the floor presents a lack of flatness, the body 31 is caused to move forwards through the rod 27, acting on its head 27a to obtain the correctly horizontal positioning of the horizontal edges of the panels 1. The panels 1 can be used to form partitions of the subrooms. In this case they could embody doors or glazed frames and the like, or they could be used as bearing walls for shelves or for a table-top of a writing desk, for a table or the like which in this case, on its side adjacent to the wall could be carried by a beam, which at its ends is supported by expansion screws of a known type (not shown) and which are inserted inside the grooves 9 of the sections 4 fixed to a panel 1, from which said table-top 2 must be supported on one of its sides.

Now will be illustrated the system for composing a writing desk using panels 2 and 3. See FIGS. 10, 11 and 12.

The panels 2 and 3 are similar to the panels 1 with the exception of their sizes. On the panels 3 are arranged holes provided with innerly threaded bushings 33. At 7 is generally indicated a hinge device designed to allow the panels 2 and 3 to be connected at right angles or to be folded one on the other.

The hinge device 7 comprises a first plate 34 which will be embedded in the inner face of a panel 3 and which is integral with a tab 35 set at right angle, through which a hole is bored to receive a pivot pin 36, while 37 is a second plate (FIG. 11) partly embedded in the inner surface of the panel 2 and carrying a second tab 38 set at a right angle to the plate 37 and provided with a hole to receive the pivot pin 36.

The positioning of the tab 35 with regard to the plate 34 is such that when the plate 37 is positioned at right angle, it abuts and stops against the plate 34, while after a rotation thereof through an angle of 90.degree. (in clockwise direction in FIG. 11), it can be set parallel to the plate 34 so that the panels 2 and 3 can be folded one on the other (position shown in broken line on the table as shown in FIG. 1), thus occupying a minimum space while keeping the panels 2 and 3 connected one to the other. At least the inner plate 37 cooperates with an outer parallel plate 39; said plates 37 and 39 are provided with coaxial holes to receive screws 40, thus permitting to firmly lock said second panel 2 to the hinge device since the panels have "per se" a very low strength. In the plate 39 other holes 41 can be provided for the fastening thereto of other various devices, as for instance, a table lamp, a box including gurrent taps, switches and the like. The plate 39 and the holes can be screened by a removable outer plate 42.

For the purpose of locking the panels 2 and 3 in their use position, in which they are set at right angles one to the other, a strong longitudinal beam is provided, generally indicated by 8 and having shaped end portions 43 adapted to permit the connection of each portion 43 to a plate 44 fixed by screws 45 to the inner surface of the respective panels 3.

The end portions 43 of the beam 8 are so shaped as to include hooking grooves complementary of shaped ribs provided on the plates 44. Said shaped end portions 43 are also each provided with an oblique hole 46 in register with a hole 47 arranged through a projecting part 43a of the end portion 43, said holes 46,47 being designed to receive a big screw 48.

Thus after having applied the plates 44 to end panels 3, the beam 8 will be inserted by moving it up to bring the pair of holes 46, 47 in register. Then the safety locking screws 48, will be screwed therein. In the case in which one of the ends of the table top 2 of a writing desk is carried by a wall panel 1, in correspondence of which side no panel 3 will be provided and a plate 44 will be fixed to beam (not shown) designed to carrying the panel 2 constituting the table top of the writing table, the beam being supported by expansion screws engaged inside the grooves 9 of the sections 4 fixed at the side edges of the supporting panel 1 carrying the table top panel 2 of the writing table.

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