US3239294A

US3239294A - Living room office cabinet

Info

Publication number: US3239294A
Application number: US191611A
Authority: US
Inventors: Lammeyer Konrad
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1961-05-02
Filing date: 1962-05-01
Publication date: 1966-03-08
Anticipated expiration: 1983-03-08

Description

March 8, K- LIVING ROOM OFFICE CABINET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 1, 1962 INVENTOR KONRAD LAMMEYER ATTORNEYS March 8, 1966 K. LAMMEYER LIVING ROOM OFFICE CABINET 2 SheetsSheet 2 Filed May 1, 1962 INVENTOR KON RAD LAMMEYER ATTORNEYS United States Patent M 3,239,294- LlVING ROUM UFFICE CABiNlET Konrad Lammeyer, Sturmiusstrasse 2, Hulda, Germany Filed May 1, 1962, Ser. No. 191,611 Claims priority, application Germany, May 2, 1961, L 29,275, L 38,892 Claims. (Cl. 31227) This invention relates to a new living-room office cabinet and more specifically to a piece of furniture suitable for typewriting as well as for other oflice work requiring a usual writing table.

In many cases, for example in case of commercial travellers who are at home only on week ends, presidents or secretaries of clubs, societies etc., teachers, physicians, in short in all cases in which the ofiice work to be done is limited in time or in amount, it is not worth while having a separate office room furnished with writing desk, filing cabinets, typewriter table, etc. involving high expenses for rent, heating and maintenance.

There are known writing desks having desk plates which can be drawn out or swung down into position ready for use, and providing space for receiving a typewriter. With these known writing desks, the typewriter has, however, to be taken out and put onto the desk plate so that while typewriting the desk plate cannot be used for other purposes. Furthermore, these desks offer working space to one person only and not simultaneously to two persons as is often required, for'example if a commercial traveller or agent comes home in the evening or on the week-end and wishes to discuss and do desk work together with his wife or with another person. Moreover, these desks permit typewriting only in an uncomfortable and inconvenient position.

An object of the invention is to provide a piece of furniture which, in closed position, requires a minimum of space and can be put into any living-room, but nevertheless contains all the necessary oflice articles, and which, in opened position, offers suiiicient working place at a convenient working height.

A further object of the invention is to provide a living room ofiice cabinet which despite limited dimensions in closed position, permits, when opened, the simultaneous working of two persons-one at the typewriter table and the other at the writing desk.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide means which permit in a simple and space-saving manner displacing a typewriter from an inoperative position within a cabinet of the type in question into operative position at the usual writing height.

The living-room ofiice cabinet according to the invention comprises a vertically adjustable typewriter supporting plate, pigeonholes and drawers for receiving various articles for office purposes, such as card index boxes, calculating machine, dictating machine, writing materials etc., furthermore one or several doors at least one of which carries on its inside a file shelf which is swung into the space underneath the typewriter supporting plate when closing the door, and a pivotally mounted desk plate forming the cover plate of the cabinet.

With the above and other objects in view, this invention consists of the novel features of construction, combi nation, and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part of this application, and in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the invention showing a living-room office cabinet in closed position.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the living-room oflice cabinet in completely opened position.

Patented Mar. 8, 1966 FIG. 3 is a plan view of the living-room ofiice cabinet according to FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial view showing in detail the means for vertically adjusting the typewriter supporting plate.

FIG. 5 is an elevational view taken on the line A-B in FIG. 4, partly in section.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates generally a living-room oflice cabinet separated into a middle portion and two side portions by two

stationary partitions

2 and 3. The side portions can be adapted to serve different oflice purposes.

In the embodiment illustrated, the left side portion is equipped with a pigeonhole 4 for receiving a card index box, a drawer 5 for ofiice articles, such as pencils, paper clips etc., drawers 6 for letter paper, envelopes etc. while the right side portion is provided with a pigeonhole 7 for a dictating machine or a card index box, a drawer 8 and a pigeonhole 9. The middle portion contains a vertically adjustable plate 10 carrying a typewriter (not shown) provided in the upper space 11. In the upper position of the plate 10 (FIGS. 4 and 5) the typewriter is at the proper height for use and there is sufficient space for the writers legs and knees, while in the lowermost position (FIG. 2) the typewriter is completely concealed within the cabinet.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the plate 10 rests upon a scissors-like parallel guide device formed by two pairs of legs 25 the ends of which are pivotally and slidably, mounted, respectively on

angle irons

26 and 27. The upper angle irons 27 are fixed at both sides of the bottom surface of the plate 10. The lower angle irons 26 are secured to ledges 28 which in turn are afiixed to the

partitions

2 and 3. Alternatively, the angle irons 26 can be directly mounted on the

partitions

2 and 3. The two legs 25 of each pair of legs have their centers pivotally interconnected. Pins affixed to the extremities 25 of the legs 25 are slidable within slots 29 provided in the

angle irons

26 and 27. A set plate 30 is pivotally con nected with the rear wall 33 of the cabinet 1 by means of a ledge 31 and hinges 32. The set plate 30 has itspreferably rounded-upper front parts 34 bear against the bottom surface of plate 11) and can be tilted by handle 36 extending through a slot 37 in the plate 10. The plate 10 is raised by moving the handle 36 in the direction opposite to arrow 35 from its almost horizontal rest position (FIGS. 2 and 3) into essentially vertical position position (FIGS. 4 and 5). The lowering of the plate 10 is eifected by moving the handle 36 in the direction of arrow 35, and is assisted by the weight of the typewriter on plate 10. The combination of parallel guide device 25-29 and set plate device 30-32 and 36 ensures an easy and safe lowering and raising of the typewriter.

A desk plate 12 completely covers the cabinet 1 when it is closed (FIG. 1). The desk plate is, adjacent one of its ends, pivotally connected to the right side portion of the cabinet and can be swung about a pivot 13 in the direction of arrows 14 into the fully extended position (FIG. 2) or into each desired intermediate position in the forward and rearward direction, as indicated by dot-dash lines in FIG. 3 by way of example.

Due to the unilateral mounting of the desk plate the full effective space of the desk plate 12 can be made use of, even in the uppermost position of the typewriter supporting plate 10. When the desk plate is swung out by for example, one person can typewrite and alternatively work at the desk plate 12, merely by turning, preferably on a swivel chair. The cabinet according to the invention, however, also allows one person to work at the desk plate and another person to typewrite simultaneously. If the desk plate 12 is swung out by or 270, the two persons are sitting one beside the other and substantially facing each other, respectively.

Legs 16 are pivotally mounted near the end of the desk plate 12 opposite the pivot 13 to ensure a safe support of plate 12 in opened position. The legs 16 can be moved to the bottom surface of the desk plate 12 in the direction of arrow 17 and locked there.

Furthermore, a ledge 18 is fixed to the bottom surface of the desk plate 12, which ledge serves as a supporting and locking means for the plate 12 when the cabinet 1 is closed.

Attached to the front of the cabinet are two

doors

15, 20. The door 15 serves for covering the right side portion and the door 20 serves for covering at the left side and middle portions. Mounted on the inside of the door 20 is a file shelf 21 which, when the door 20 is closed, extends into the free space 19 underneath the typewriter supporting plate 10, whereby the files are lodged in an invisible and dust-free manner. Since the door 20 may be large corresponding to the size of the cabinet, and the files may be relatively heavy, a supporting roller 22, which may be spring-loaded, is secured to the bottom surface of the file shelf 21. When the cabinet 1 is closed, the supporting roller 22 is hardly visible. The door 20 can be opened at an angle of 180; it can, however, also be put into any intermediate position (dot-dash-lines) (FIG. 3) so that the files are in easy reach when sitting in front of the cabinet.

The bottom surface of the file shelf 21 is provided with a wedge 23 which rests upon a bottom ledge 24 when the door 20 is closed, and which ensures that the lower edges of both doors are in registry even if the file shelf is heavily loaded.

It will be understood that many changes and modifications of the cabinet described herein may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. There may be provided, for example, instead of the two

doors

15, 20 one door only. Furthermore, the cabinet may rest upon rollers in order to be easily movable. An additional working place may be provided by equipping the left side portion with a further plate which may e.g. be laterally folded down or detachably mounted.

What I claim is:

1. A living-room ofiice cabinet with means for receiving oflice articles, comprising in its upper portion vertically adjustable typewriter supporting means, and a desk plate secured-to said cabnet near one of its ends and being swingable in horizontal direction to cover the cabinet, said vertical adjustable typewriter supporting means comprising a suporting member, parallel guide means connecting said supporting member to said cabinet, a plate which is tiltable about a horizontal axis by means of a handle connected to said plate, said plate being pivoted at its one edge for swinging upwardly from a horizontal position by more than and having means at its other edge engageable with the lower side of the supporting member for holding it in raised position, and means engageable by said plate when swung beyond 90 to limit further swinging thereof in a downward direction.

2. A cabinet according to claim 1, characterized in that supporting means are hingedly connected to said desk plate and are foldable up and down.

3. A- cabinet according to claim 1, characterized by at least one door carrying at its inside a shelf extending into the free space underneath said typewriter supporting means when said door is closed.

4. A cabinet according to claim 3, characterized in that said door comprises a supporting roller.

5. A cabinet according to claim 4, characterized in that said door is provided with a wedge which rests upon a bottom fledge of said cabinet when said door is closed.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 543,940 8/1895 Lauter 312-29 X 583,752 6/1897 Johnson 312-282 740,434 10/ 1903 Howe 312-29 778,390 12/1904 Wheeler 312-21 X 902,737 11/1908 Jones 312-237 1,543,980 6/1925 Blood. 1,943,282 1/1934 Bellavia 312- X 2,328,019 8/1943 Jones 312-194 2,429,362 10/ 1947 McDowell 312-282 2,531,646 11/1950 Rockola 312-213 2,533,155 12/1950 Von Hacht 312-194 2,655,420 10/1953 Hadley 312-282 2,988,413- 6/1961 Bergen 312-195 FOREIGN PATENTS 812,819 9/ 1951 Germany.

274,359 5/1930 Italy.

575,885 4/ 1958 Italy.

3,258 of =1 890 Great Britain. 251,852 9/1948 Switzerland.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner. FRANK B. SHERRY, Examiner.

Claims

1. A LIVING-ROOM OFFICE CABINET WITH MEANS FOR RECEIVING OFFICE ARTICLES, COMPRISING IN ITS UPPER PORTION VERTICALLY ADJUSTABLE TYPEWRITER SUPPORTING MEANS, AND A DESK PLATE SECURED TO SAID CABINET NEAR ONE OF ITS END AND BEING SWINGABLE IN HORIZONTAL DIRECTION TO COVER THE CABINET, SAID VERTICAL ADJUSTABLE TYPEWRITER SUPPORTING MEANS COMPRISING A SUPORTING MEMBER, PARALLEL GUIDE MEANS CONNECTING SAID SUPPORTING MEMBER TO SAID CABINET, A PLATE WHICH IS TILTABLE ABOUT A HORIZONTAL AXIS BY MEANS OF A HANDLE CONNECTED TO SAID PLATE, SAID PLATE BEING PIVOTED AT ITS ONE EDGE FOR SWINGING UPWARDLY FROM A HORIZONTAL POSITION BY MORE THAN 90* AND HAVING MEANS AT ITS OTHER EDGE ENGAGEABLE WITH THE LOWER SIDE OF THE SUPPORTING MEMBER FOR HOLDING IT IN RAISED POSITION, AND MEANS ENGAGEABLE BY SAID PLATE WHEN SWUNG BEYOND 90* TO LIMIT FURTHER SWINGING THEREOF IN A DOWNWARD DIRECTION.