US3032381A - Plastic utility drawer - Google Patents

Description

May 1, 1962 J. BORO PLASTIC UTILITY DRAWER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 31, 1960 85 e32 sz IN V EN TOR.

BORO

\JERRY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. d ERRY BORO BY May 1, 1962 J. BORO PLASTIC UTILITY DRAWER Filed Aug. 31, 1960 United States This invention concerns a garment storage chest, and particularly is directed at a plastic storage chest including a solid, one piece frame adapted for stacking with other similar frames, with a drawer removably disposed in each frame.

One object of the invention is therefore to provide a unit for a storage chest including a one-piece molded, transparent plastic frame and a one-piece molded, transparent plastic drawer, the drawer being adapted to receive one or more partitions or dividers to form a plurality of compartments therein.

A further object is to provide a garment storage chest including a plurality of stacked units having interfitting projections on adjacent sides so that the units are interlocked but readily removable one from the other.

A still further object is to provide a garment storage chest of the character described with a slidable plastic drawer for each unit, each drawer being provided with internal projections for receiving partitions.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, and to the appended claim in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a chest of drawers embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the chest of drawers, one drawer being shown partly open.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the chest shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the chest shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale showing one interlocking arrangement of elements, taken on line 55 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale showing another interlocking arrangement of elements, taken on line 66 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of one unit of the chest including frame, drawer and partitions.

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of a drawer with partitions mounted therein.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken on line 9--9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of the drawer taken on line 1010 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 11 is a bottom plan view of the drawer.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1-4, a chest 20 including a plurality of stacked units 22. Each unit includes a one-piece molded plastic box-like frame 29 having a flat bottom plate 23 formed with generally rectangular openings 24, 25; see FIGS. 3 and 7. Between openings 24, 25 is a central web 28, and a rectangular marginal frame 30. Underneath the four corners of the frame 30 are four pairs of spaced parallel short projections 32. At the two ends of web 28 are two V- shaped projections 34, 36 disposed with their apices adjacent the front and back ends of the bottom plate 23. A central ridge 38 extends longitudinally of the web 28 between the V-shaped projections. Two ridges 40, 42 are disposed at outer marginal edges underneath plate 23.

The frame 29 has a top plate 21 integrally formed with an intersecting array of V- shaped ridges 44, 46 on the top of the plate. The arms of the projecting ridges interatcnt HCQ sect at 48 and 49. Apex 50 of ridge 44 is located at the center of the back edge of the plate 21; see FIGS. 4 and 7. Apex 51 of ridge 46 is located at the center of the front edge of the plate 21 where it is connected to a straight ridge 52 extending across the front edge of the plate 21.

The frame 29 has rectangular side plates 31, 33 formed with rectangular openings 35, 37. The rear and front ends of the frame are open. A depending short bar 39 is disposed in the rear opening between side plates 31, 33, as best shown in FIG. 1.

When the frames are nested to form a stack as shown in FIGS. l4, then the V- shaped projections 34, 36 fit within the apices 50 and 51 of ridges 44, 46; see FIG. 5. At the same time the arms of each of ridges 44, 46 are disposed between the several pairs of projections 32; see FIGS. 4 and 6. The several units are thus held in a vertical stack one upon the other and are prevented by the interlocking ridges and projections from moving horizontally with respect to each other. The units can, however, be lifted readily off of one another.

Each unit 22 includes one drawer 60 in the frame 29. The drawer, as clearly shown in FIGS. l-4 and 7-10, is a one-piece, rectangular-shaped open-top plastic body having a flat bottom plate 62, front wall 63, rear wall 64 and side walls 65, 66 all integrally joined to each other. On the front and rear walls 63, 64 are pairs of spaced vertical ridges 68, 69, respectively, adapted to slidably receive the end of the partitions 70-72 so as to divide the interior of the drawer into four compartments. If desired, only one or two partitions instead of all three may be disposed in the drawer. Ridges 74 and 76 in pairs may be provided on the side walls for receiving the ends of a partition in transverse disposition across the drawer as indicated by dotted lines in FIGS. 7 and 8, to form two compartments in the drawer. When partition 75 is used then partitions 7(l72 will be omitted. The drawer, depending on the number and arrangement of partitions can thus be used to hold socks, shirts, sweaters, lingerie, accessories, etc. By providing a different partition arrangement in each drawer, the chest 20 may be adapted for any desired household storage use. Spaced parallel ridges 8082 under bottom wall 62 slide on the bottom plate 23 of the frame.

The frames, drawers and partitions are all preferably formed of rigid, transparent plastic material to provide the user with a full view of the chest contents at all times. A handle '85 is integral with the front wall of each drawer.

In FIGS. 1-4, the lowermost frame is shown alone without a drawer. This frame will receive a drawer 60 such as shown in the other frames.

If desired, a single unit may be used alone as a storage chest. The user may then add on units one at a time whenever required to increase the capacity of the storage chest.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise constructions herein disclosed and that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent 1s:

A sectional container comprising a sectional body adapted to be stacked, consisting of a hollow frame and a drawer slidably mounted therein, said frame constituting a box-like structure having top, bottom and side walls, said bottom and side walls havin openings therein,

crossed ridges on the top surface of the top wall forming apices, projections on the outer surface of the bottom wall, said projections including opposed V-shaped devices at the ends of the wall centrally thereof, an elongated ridge betweensaid devices, and pairs of closely spaced short protuberances at the corners thereof, said V-shaped devices adapted to interlock with the apices of the ridges and the bodies of the ridges adapted to interlock with the corner protuberances when two of said containers are superimposed with said top and bottom Walls in contact to interlock said superimposed containers and prevent lateral horizontal displacement thereof, said superimposed containers being separable vertically.

UNITED STATES PATENTS Vannice May 31, 1960 Lehmann Sept. 29, 1891 Fitzpatrick Dec. 15, 1925 Meyer Aug. 23, 1938 Gould May 9, 1939 Smith May 9, 1950 Moore Sept. 4, 1956 Brooks Oct. 29, 1957 Todd Dec. 13, 1960

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