Note : Les revendications sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A cabinet construction including: a housing; at least one shelf
mounted within said housing; guide means mounted on said shelf, said guide
means including a rail member having its transverse axis perpendicular to
said shelf, and including a longitudinal slot extending into said member
from a first end and lying in a plane perpendicular to said shelf; at
least one container, said container including a bottom wall and two opposed
longitudinal side walls attached to said bottom wall; said bottom wall
of said container including a longitudinally extending channel configured
to fit slidably over said guide means; and mounting means attached to
said container, said mounting means including an elongated member which is
mounted transversely across said channel and arranged to cooperate with
said slot in said rail member to detachably mount said container on said
shelf.
2. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 1 in which said
container includes a rear wall having an aperture being substantially
aligned with said channel; and in which said mounting means includes a
bracket, said bracket including a first wall having a slot and flange means
connected to the periphery of said first wall, said slot extending through
a portion of said flange means; means to attach said bracket to said rear
wall so that said slot is aligned with said aperture, said first wall of
said bracket being spaced from said rear wall by said flange means to
define a cavity, and said elongated member being slidably mounted within
said cavity.
3. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 1 wherein at least
the upper portion of said opposed side walls of said container is made of
a flexible material.
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4. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 1 wherein said
container further includes a front panel and wherein handle means are
attached to said front panel.
5. A file cabinet construction including: a housing having a first
and second opposed substantially parallel side walls and a rear wall; at
least one shelf mounted within said housing; a guide rail having a top
surface, a bottom surface and a longitudinal slot extending into said guide
rail from a first end; means for mounting said guide rail on said shelf;
at least one container insertable into said housing, said container including
two opposed longitudinal side walls and a bottom wall, said bottom wall
including a longitudinal channel configured to fit slidably over said guide
rail; and mounting means attached to said container, said mounting means
including an elongated member extending transversely across said channel,
said member being movable in a plane which is substantially perpendicular
to the axis of said channel, and said member being arranged to cooperate with
said longitudinal slot in said guide rail to detachably mount said
container on said shelf.
6. A file cabinet construction as claimed in claim 5 in which said
mounting means includes a plurality of tabs extending from said bottom
surface of said guide rail, at least one of a first type of said tabs
including a first portion which is coplanar with said rail, a second
portion which is substantially perpendicular to said first portion, and a
slot extending into said first portion in a direction parallel to the
longitudinal axis of said rail, and at least one of a second type of said
tabs said second type being substantially coplanar with said guide rail and
including a sloping surface extending downward from said bottom surface of
said guide rail; and in which said at least one shelf includes a plurality of
apertures arranged to cooperate with said tabs so that said guide rail is
mounted substantially parallel to said side walls.
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7. A file cabinet construction as claimed in claim 5 in which:
said top surface of said guide rail has a first portion which is substan-
tially parallel to said shelf and a second portion which slopes downwardly
from said first portion toward said shelf at said first end, and a second
surface forming an acute angle with said second portion of said first
surface, said second surface being spaced from said shelf to form a passage
which connects with said longitudinal slot in said guide rail, said guide
rail being mounted on said shelf substantially parallel to said opposed side
walls of said housing with said first end of said guide rail being adjacent
to said rear wall of said housing; and said elongated member being mounted
so that said member moves through said passage and into said slot as said
container is withdrawn from said housing.
8. A file cabinet construction as claimed in claim 7 in which said
guide rail includes a longitudinal slot having a first portion sloping
upwardly from said passage and a second portion which connects with said
first portion and extends substantially parallel to said shelf, said second
portion terminating at a point adjacent to the edge of said shelf spaced
from said rear housing wall; and in which the center of gravity of said
container will be beyond said shelf when said elongated member reaches said
point in said longitudinal slot of said guide rail causing said container
to pivot about said slidable member and said shelf edge when said container
is fully withdrawn from said housing.
9. A cabinet construction including: a housing having opposed
substantially parallel side walls and a rear wall; a number of shelves mounted
within said housing in superimposed relation; a number of guide rails, each
of which includes a longitudinal slot, said longitudinal slot extending
into said guide rail from a first end; said guide rails being mounted on
each of said shelves so that each of said guide rails is arranged substan-
tially parallel to said opposed side walls of said housing with said first
end adjacent to said back wall of said housing; a number of containers, each
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of said containers including first and second opposed side walls and a
bottom wall, said bottom wall having a longitudinal channel configurated to
fit over said guide rail, and mounting means attached to each of said
containers said mounting means including an elongated member extending
transversely across said channel said elongated member being movable in
a plane which is substantially perpendicular to the axis of said channel and
said member being arranged to fit slidably into said slot in one of said
guide rails when said container is withdrawn from said housing to detachably
mount said container on said guide rail.
10. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 9 in which a plurality
of sheetlike members are mounted on each of said shelves so that said
sheetlike members are substantially parallel to said opposed side walls of
said housing to form a plurality of compartments along each of said shelves,
one of said guide rails being mounted in each of said compartments and each
of said containers being configured to fit within one of said compartments.
11. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 10 in which each of
said continers includes a rectangular front panel, said front panel having
a height substantially equal to the distance between two of said overlapping
shelves and a width which is substantially equal to the width of said
compartment so that adjacent ones of said front panels abut to form a
substantially continuous surface across the front of each of said shelves.
12. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 11 in which handle
means are attached to each of said front panels.
13. A cabinet construction as claimed in claim 9 in which at least one
of said side walls of at least some of said containers includes a bottom
portion adjacent to said bottom wall of said container and a top portion
spaced from said bottom wall of said container and in which said top
portion is composed of a flexible material.
14. In combination, a generally horizontal shelf extending between front
and rear limits a drawer enterable upon said shelf via the front limit and
substantially fully and slidably accommodated in the space between said
limits, said drawer having a downwardly open elongate bottom channel aligned
in the longitudinal direction of drawer entry and withdrawal from said shelf,
an upstanding elongate guide plate carried by said shelf and positioned for
guiding coaction with said channel in the course of longitudinal drawer
movement, said guide plate being characterized by an elongate generally
horizontal slot open only near the rear limit of drawer insertion upon said
shelf, and means including a transversely extending member carried by a
lower rear portion of said drawer and extending across said channel and
enterable in said slow only for a substantially fully closed condition of
said drawer, the forward end of the slot terminating within the body of
said plate at a forward location so offset upwardly and rearwardly of said
forward limit in relation to the effective vertical offset of said transversely
extending member from the drawer bottom that, once engaged in said slot and
for a withdrawal of said drawer, said transversely extending member will
limit full withdrawal while also retaining a downwardly inclined orientation
of said drawer, said orientation being further stabilized by drawer-bottom
engagement with the front limit of said shelf.
15. In combination, a generally horizontal shelf having spaced lateral
edges and extending longitudinally between front and rear limiting edges,
a generally rectangularly prismatic box enterable upon said shelf via the
front limiting edge, the bottom of said box including a downwardly open
elongate guide channel along the front-to-back center line of said bottom,
a locking pin at the rear end of said box and extending transversely of the
alignment of said channel, and a longitudinally extending upstanding guide
plate secured to said shelf between said lateral edges, said guide plate
having an elongate slot haying a rearwardly open end in register with the
elevation of said pin with respect to said box that, upon withdrawal of
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said box in the condition of pin-and-slot engagement, said pin will limit
full withdrawal while also retaining a downwardly inclined orientation of
said box, said orientation being further stabilized by box-bottom engagement
with the front edge of said shelf.
16. The combination of claim 15 in which said pin is vertically
movably guided at the rear end of said box, the limits of guided movement
being a lower elevation in registry with the open end of the box slot when
the box is in the shelf and an upper elevation at least as high above the
box bottom as is the maximum elevation of the guide plate above the shelf.
17. The combination of claim 15, wherein said guide plate is one of a
plurality, at spacings which are substantially the lateral-width dimension
of said box, whereby said box may be one of a plurality of like boxes
similarly accommodated by said shelf, in side-by-side and independently
accessible array.
18. The combination of claim 15, in which said shelf and guide plate
are separate parts having coactive formations to lock the same in assembled
relation.
19. A cabinet construction including a housing; at least one shelf
mounted within said housing; guide means mounted on said shelf; at least
one container, said container including a bottom wall, two opposed longitu-
dinal side walls attached to said bottom wall and a rear wall; said bottom
wall of said container including a longitudinally extending channel configured
to fit slidably over said guide means and said rear wall having an aperture,
said aperture being substantially aligned with said channel; mounting means
attached to said container, said mounting means including an elongated
member which is mounted transversely across said channel and arranged to
cooperate with said guide means to detachably mount said container on said
shelf; said mounting means further including a bracket, said bracket
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including a first wall having a slot and flange means connected to the
periphery of said first wall, said slot extending through a portion of
said flange means, means to attach said bracket to said rear wall so that
said slot is aligned with said aperture, said first wall of said bracket
being spaced from said rear wall by said flange means to define a cavity
and said elongated member being slidably mounted within said cavity.
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