US2998128A - Plastic cabinet drawer construction - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 29, 1961 w. e. LARSON PLASTIC CABINET DRAWER CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 18, 1957 n 5 mu 8 pm 5/ o m CHRT/ A T 5 M MD W2 H w 9 I m E u u 2" g a z m 7 I m w. m

Aug. 29, 1961 w. e. LARSON PLASTIC CABINET DRAWER CONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 18, 1957 W? 3% wflawu I 0 5 I 7 j 4 r M a W 4 r L .1 4 w J w L W Ii..\ 6 3 i6 3 4 n (T 4 aw .4 .(4 k 9) 0 4 4 fill 622W i Valiel" 6 Larva/v 2,998,128 PLASTIC CABINET DRAWER CONSTRUCTION Walter G. Larson, Rockford, Ill., assignor to Elco Tool and Screw Corporation, Rockford, 111., a corporation of Illinois Filed Feb. 18, 1957, Ser. No. 640,728 6 Claims. (Cl. 206-4534) This invention relates to a new and improved plastic cabinet drawer construction and has for its principal object the provision in elongated multiple compartment cabinets of drawers which are of square cross-section and designed for use intercehangeably in any one of the compartments in a multi-compartment cabinet, whether the cabinet is placed in a horizontal plane or in a vertical plane, the cabinets having portions designed to interfit when stacked either way, that is, horizontally on top of one another or vertically alongside one another, as may best suit the users needs in a home work-shop or other place.

The drawers, in accordance with my invention, are provided of one-piece construction, molded of clear plastic material to enable the user to see at a glance what is in a drawer and how much or how little of a given size of screws, bolts, nuts or other commodity, so that that he can readily see when the supply should be replenished. I prefer to provide vertical ribs in each drawer on opposite sides in closely spaced relation to the front to define guides for identification cards such as it is contemplated the screw manufacturer will insert, giving the correct specifications for the screws, bolts, or the like which the drawer contains when sold originally, the thought being that the user may continue to use the drawer for the same item from then on and, in that event, will keep the identification card in its place in the drawer front as a means of knowing what to ask for when replenishing his stock and is therefore not so apt to get the wrong size. Each drawer is also originally equipped with a top slide closure entered in guides provided on the upper edges of the side walls, which can be easily and securely fastened in place with strips of adhesive material applied to the opposite sides of the drawer overlapping the top closure, so that the closure is partly supported by the guides against accidental displacement and partly by the strips. In this Way, at a cost only slightly above what would be involved if a cardboard carton of similar size were used, the screw manufacturer, by giving away the plastic container as a premium, encourages the purchaser in buying a larger quantity of each size of screws or bolts than he would otherwise be apt to purchase at one time, and the retailer makes enough profit per sale to make it worth his while to feature the screw manufacturers products in a floor or counter display, and the chances are that with the identification card going with each drawer bearing the screw manufacturers name, the purchaser is more apt to go back to the same store where he purchased the drawer-full and get the drawer refilled with the same manufacturers products, so that the volume of sales is increased and both the retailer and the manufacturer realize more profit.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are a top, side and front view, respectively, of a plastic drawer made in accordance with my invention showing the cover slide in FIGS. 1 and 2 pulled out partway to better illustrate the construction;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a face view of a goods identification card designed for use in these drawers to identify the screws,

belts or the like for shipment and sales purposes, as well PaItentedAug. 29, 1961 as later by the purchaser to identify the contents of the various drawers in a multi-compartment cabinet;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view ofa drawer filled with screws, as shipped by the screw manufacturer, ready for sale, the same having therein an identification card of the kind shown in FIG. 5 and having the cover slide fastened securely with two pieces of adhesive tape, which are enough to prevent accidental opening of the package and spilling of the contents and yet permit easy opening by the purchaser;

FIGS. '7 and 8 are a top view and bottom view, respectively, of a multi-compartment plastic cabient made in accordance with my invention designed to receive drawers of the kind shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 and 6;

FIGS. 9 and 10 are a front view and side View, respectively, of two such cabients shown horizontally disposed in stacked relation, one of the compartments in FIG. 9 having a drawer shown inserted therein to illustrate how the drawers are made to fit in the compartments of the cabinets;

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view along the lines of FIG. 9, but showing the cabinets interlocked in vertically disposed side by side relationship, one of the four compartments illustrated also having a drawer shown therein, showing that the drawers may be inserted interchangeably with either of the four walls of a compartment forming the bottom of the compartment;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged sectional detail of the cabinet construction taken on the line 1212 of FIG. 9, this scale corresponding to that for the drawers shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and

FIG. 13 is an enlarged fragmentary detailtaken on the line 13-13 of FIG. '9, illustrating how the T-shaped ribs on the outer side of one wall of each cabinet interfit with the projecting ribs and bosses provided on the outer side of the opposite wall for alignment of cabinets when placed in stacked relation, as in FIG. 9, or as in FIG. 11.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 to 6, each drawer 12 is molded in one piece of clear plastic material such as polystyrene. The bottom 13, back 14, front 15, and side walls 16 are all of approximately the same thickness, a certain slight outward inclination of the side, back, and front walls with respect to one another being provided insure easy withdrawal of the drawer from the mold cavity. The side and back walls are of the same height, but the front wall 15 extends a trifle higher so as to define shoulders 17 for abutment of the front end of a top slide closure 18 in its closed position, the latter being also preferably molded of the same clear plastic material as the drawer. The side longitudinal edges 19 of the closure 18 are bevelled, giving the closure a dovetail cross-section, as seen in FIG. 4, to cooperate with dovetail guides 20 provided in upwardly projecting portions 21 on the upper edges of the side walls 16. The bevels 19 are on a smaller angle than the guideways 20, as appears in FIG. 4, to reduce surface contact and thus avoid any likelihood of the slide sticking and being hard to open or close. The side edges of the front wall 15 project slightly beyond the side walls 16, as indicated at 22, to provide finger holds for the more secure handling of a drawer by its one end even when filled with screws or the like. A semi-circular notch 23 is molded in the top portion of the front wall 15 at the middle as a finger hole to facilitate withdrawal of a drawer from a compartment using the tip of the index finger, after which the drawer when pulled out can be held securely by one end between the thumb and middle finger and steadied with the index finger against tipping.

Molded integral with the side walls '16 inside the drawer and in closely spaced substantially parallel relation to the front wall 15 are vertical ribs 24 which form one side of acssnas vertical guides 25 for the reception of the edge portions of a cardboard identification card 26 shown in FIG. in the laid out flat form and in FIG. 6 as it is used in a :drawer with the top portion 27 bent atright angles along the perforated tear line 28. The middle portion 29 of .this line is .only scored and left unperforated so that a Semi-circular tab 30, the periphery of which is defined by ;a semi-circle 31 of perforations connecting up with the perforations at 28 will tear out when the section 27 is torn off of the card 26,,leaving the notched main section .132 with its notch in register with the notch 23 in the .drawer front. On the front of this main section 32 is printed, as shown, the specifications for the goods contained in the drawer, as, for example, 1 /4" No. 8 fiat .head slotted wood screws. The price for the package, as, for example, 59, as shown in FIG. 6, is preferably printed on the tear-out tab 30 to be thrown away with the end section 27 by the purchaser, but up to that time the tab 3% serves as a closure for notch 23 to keep the package fully closed against any loss of screws, the portion 27 being bent down, as appears in FIG. 6, at right angles to the rest of the card, and the slide 18 holding the card in place and being secured against accidental displacement by means of the two strips of adhesive tape 33, .as shown in FIG. 6. That is the way the package is made up by the screw manufacturer and shipped in quantities to the retailer and placed on display in the store. In this way, at a cost only slightly above what would be involved if a cardboard carton of similar size were used instead of the plastic container, the screw manufacturer, by furnishing the plastic container as a premium, encourages the prospective purchaser in buying a larger quantity of each size of screws or bolts than he would otherwise be apt to purchase at one time, and the retailer makes enough profit out of each sale, even if he sells only one drawer unit, to make it worth his while to feature the screw manufacturers product in a floor or counterdisp-lay. Also, the chances are that with the identification card 26 going with each drawer bearing the screw manufacturers name and address, as indicated in FIG. 5, the purchaser is more apt to go back to the same store where he purchased the drawer full of screws to .get the drawer refilled with the same kind of screws, assuming the screws first purchased were satisfactory, so that the volume of sales is increased and the manufacturer and the retailer both profit thereby. The purchaser also has the advantage in having the identification card 26 (which is well protected by but nevertheless easily readable through the front of the drawer) of knowing what to ask for when replenishing his stock and is therefore not so apt to get the wrong size of screws, and there is less of the retailers time consumed in deter- .mining what the purchaser wants, so that the retailer benefits from this arrangement also and the whole sales program is improved over the practice followed in the past. Not only that, but the purchaser finds there are many advantages in having screws and other items in the clear plastic containers, for example, the screws, bolts, etc., are kept nicely sorted instead of jumbled; the user can see .at a glance how much or how little of any given size he has on hand; he does not have to worry about the plastic container deteriorating and falling apart like a cardboard container will in time, and hence, there is no likelihood of any screws or bolts being spilled and wasted, as so often happens when other old practices are followed. All of these advantages are obtained even if the purchaser purchases only one or more drawers, without a cabinet, in which case he most likely will keep the slide closures in the drawers. Ifthe purchaser purchases five drawers and gets a five-compartment cabinet thrown in as a pre mium on such a quantity purchase he generally discards the slide closure 18, because the contents of the drawers are sufliciently enclosed when the drawers are inserted in the cabinet.

Elongated multi-cornpartment cabinets like those ;.shown at 34:in:FIGS.'7 to 13, are provided foruse with the drawers 12, each cabinet being molded in one piece of clear plastic material, such as polystyrene. The cabinets shown each have five compartments 35 to accommodate five drawers. All of the compartments 35 are square in cross-section and the drawers 12 are likewise so that it is immaterial which side .of a compartment happens to form the bottom. Hence, :the purchaser may place a cabinet on end, as in FIG. 11, or lay it down, as in FIG. 9, and, as will soon appear, provision is made for interengagement of projections on abutting cabinets so as to hold them neatly in aligned relationship, and the interengaging projections function substantially just as well when the cabinets are stacked alongside one another, as in FIG. 11, or on top of one another, as in FIG. 9. Angular guide bosses 36 are molded integral with the body of each cabinet in the four corners of-each compartment 35 to accommodate the drawers entered in any one of the four different positions possible, depending upon which side of a compartment happens to be disposed on the bottom. These guides 36 are sub- ,Stantially parallel with one another, little or no allowance for draft being necessary on these ribs, because of their small width, as in the case of the walls of each compartment. That accounts in FIG. 12 for the rib 36 tapering to zero thickness at the inner end of the drawer compartment. Good drawer action requires parallelism of these guides. With these parallel guides 36 to ,support the two lower longitudinal edge portions of each of the drawers in closely spaced relationship to the walls of the compartments, easy sliding in and out of all of the drawers is assured, and they are not so apt to stick as a result of uneven shrinking or swelling with temperature change as might otherwise occur if the drawers had surface to surface abutment with the bottoms and sides of the compartments. A drawer 12 is shown in only one of the compartments in FIGS. 11 and 12 to enable better illustration of the details of the cabinets. The partition walls 37 between compartments are tapered from back to front about fifteen thousandths of an;inch on each side to enable good draft in molding. The opposed end walls 38 and the opposed longitudinally extending walls 39 are of uniform thickness from back to front of the cabinet, but are in diverging relation on the same fifteen thousandth of an inch taper to assure good draft in molding. The back wall 40 is preferably a trifle thicker than the walls 38 and 39 because holes 41 are provided therein at the center of the end compartments adapted to receive screws for fastening the cabinets to a supporting wall.

Molded integral with one longitudinal wall 39 of each cabinet on the outer side are elongated T-shaped ribs 2 2 which are preferably aligned with the two endmost partition walls 37. To inter-fit with these T-shaped ribs I provide on the outer side of the other wall 39 of each cabinet two elongated straight ribs 43 spaced to one side of the planes of the endmost partition walls 37, and L-shaped ribs 44 on the other side of the planes of said partitions, as seen in FIG. 8. There is just enough space between the front ends of ribs 43 and one leg 45 of L-shaped ribs 44 to accommodate the cros-portion 46 of the T-shaped ribs 42., as indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 13, so that it is a simple matter to interengage these projections when stacking the cabinets, as appears in FIG. 9. When these projections are interengaged, the cross-bars 46 on ribs 4-2 prevent any fore and aft relative movement by abutment with ribs 43 and legs 45, as should be clear from inspection of FIG. .13. Relative endwise movement is prevented by abutment of the one end of each cross-portion -46 with the other legs 47 of the L-shaped ribs 44, in one direction and by abutment of the sides of ribs 42 and 43 in the other direction, as should be evident also in FIG. 13. There are four additional ribs 48, two of which are provided adjacent the end walls 38 and two in alignment with, the

two -'other"partition'walls, as clearly appears in FIGS.

8 and 9, in parallel relationship to ribs 43, as appears in FIG. 8, and these ribs 48 project to the same extent from walls 39 as ribs 43 and 44, as clearly appears in FIG. 9, so that a good footing is provided for a cabinet that may be laid on a bench or shelf, as indicated by the line 49 of FIG. 9, using these ribs for supporting feet. On the other hand, where the stacked cabinets are fastened to a wall, as indicated by the line 50 in FIG. 10, the alignment of the cabinets assured by the interengagement of the molded projections, makes it possible to maintain flush front alignment for neat appearance of two or more cabinets in a group, and, of course, this is true whether the cabinets are stacked horizontally, as in FIGS. 9 and 10, or vertically alongside one another as in FIG. 11.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and the like, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawer having a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, the front wall being of transparent material and having a notch provided in the upper portion thereof of a size adapted to serve as a finger hole in pulling the drawer out of a drawer compartment, a slide closure slidable in guides provided on the side walls to close said drawer except for the notch in the front wall, and an identification card inserted in said drawer behind and readable through the front wall bearing data identifying the merchandise placed in said drawer, said card serving also as a closure for said notch.

2. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and the like, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawer having a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, at least said front wall being of transparent material and having a notch provided in the upper portion thereof of a size adapted to serve as a finger hole in pulling the drawer out of a drawer compartment, a slide closure slidable in guides provided on the side walls to close said drawer except for the notch in the front wall, and an identification card inserted in said drawer behind the front wall identifying the merchandise placed in said drawer and serving as a closure for said notch, the data on said card being readable through said front wall, and said card having a tear-out section which when torn off of the card defines a notch in the card registering with the notch in the drawer front.

3. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and the like, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawer having a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, said drawer being molded of clear plastic material and having vertical ribs molded on the side walls behind and in closely spaced relationship to the front wall defining guideways therebetween, said front wall having a notch provided in the upper portion thereof of a size adapted to serve as a finger hole in pulling the drawer out of a drawer compartment, a slide closure slidable in guides provided on the side walls to close said drawer except for the notch in the front wall, and an identification card inserted in said guideways identifying the merchandise placed in said drawer and serving as a closure for said notch.

4. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and the like, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawer having a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, the front wall having a notch provided in the upper portion thereof of a size adapted to serve as a finger hole in pulling the drawer out of a drawer compartment, a slide closure slidable in guides provided on the side walls to close said drawer except for the notch in the front wall, a card inserted in said drawer and held in place behind the front wall by the slide closure and serving as a closure for said notch, and means detachablv secured to the drawer and slide closure for holding the latter in closed position, at least the front wall of said drawer having a window portion through which the card is visible, the card bearing identification data relative to the contents of the drawer, said card having a tear-out section which when torn 01f defines a notch in the card registering with the finger hole notch in the drawer front.

5. A combination shipping ticket and drawer label comprising an elongated rectangular card divided transversely intermediate its ends by a tear line along which the card is adapted to be folded while the same is used in shipment with both end portions, on both of which data is printed to identify the merchandise whether viewed from the top of the drawer or from the front of the drawer, the one section being large enough to serve as a label for the drawer front and being so used when the other section is torn off, the middle portion of the tear line extending into the upper portion of the label section to define a tear-out portion which when torn out defines a notch that is arranged to register with a notch in the drawer front in connection with which said label section is to be used.

6. A container for small articles of merchandise, such as screws and the like, in shipment and sales as a unit, comprising an open top drawer having a bottom, side walls and back and front walls, at least said front wall being of transparent material and having a notch provided in the upper portion thereof of a size adapted to serve as a finger hole in pulling the drawer out of a drawer compartment, a transparent slide closure slidable in guides provided on the side walls to close said drawer except for the notch in the front wall, and a combination shipping ticket and drawer label comprising an elongated rectangular card divided transversely intermediate its ends by a tear line along which the card is adapted to be folded while the same is used in shipment with both end portions, on both of which data is printed to identify the merchandise whether viewed from the top of the drawer or from the front of the drawer, said card being folded along the tear line to right angle form and inserted in said drawer with one section of the card disposed parallel to and in abutment with the back of the drawer front and serving as a label and with the other section of the card disposed under and parallel to the slide closure and serving to further identify the merchandise in the drawer up to the time that the closure is removed and said section of the card therebeneath is torn off.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 337,798 Sweney Mar. 9, 1886 434,044 Estey Aug. 12, 1890 514,929 Hatteberg Feb. 20, 1894 747,685 Coye Dec. 22, 1903 988,199 Lockwood Mar. 28, 1911 1,076,116 Hatfield Oct. 21, 1913 1,362,328 Knorr Dec. 14, 1920 1,473,854 Heidland Nov. 13, 1923 1,682,540 Schlegelmilch Aug. 28, 1928 2,125,313 Ringler Aug. 2, 1938 2,620,252 Restivo Dec. 2, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 415,169 Great Britain Aug. 23, 1934 86,706 Sweden June 30, 1936 104,760 Sweden June 16, 1942 812,594 Germany Sept. 3, 1951 1,125,609 France July 16, 1956

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