Office furniture abstract
A modular system for office furniture comprising a sufficient number
of three types of modules, each corresponding to one or more of
the following functions: a "working surface" function,
a "support" function, a "storage" function,
and an "electrical wire guiding function." The first module,
a "table top module," provides a working surface which
performs the "working surface" function. It comprises
three sections, two end sections and a middle connecting section,
and is supported by the second and third modules. The end sections
of the first table top module each rest on a second "support"
module which performs both the "support" and "storage
functions." The third module is a column having upper and lower
portions and performs both the "electrical wire guiding"
and support functions." The upper portion contains the electrical
wires of all hardware and appliances distributed on the table top
module and the lower supports the middle section of the first table
top module. The first table top module is held in place on the second
and third modules by gravity. Two or more table top modules can
be juxtaposed along two of any of their sides while resting on at
least one common support module to form a variety of office furniture
assemblies.
Office furniture claims
I claim:
1. A modular system for office furniture, comprising:
a first planar module having top and bottom planar surfaces, rectangular
first and second end sections having different widths, and a third
angular middle section connecting said first and second end sections,
said top and bottom planar surfaces defining an asymmetrical, reversible
working surface, said angular middle section having a cutoff corner,
and said first, second and third sections being formed as a single
piece;
a second support module having a top surface configured to support
the width of said first end section of said first planar module;
a third support module having a top surface configured to support
the width of said second end section of said first planar module;
and
a fourth support module having a horizontal flat triangular surface
for engaging and supporting said cutoff corner of said angular middle
section of said first planar module, said fourth support module
having an upper portion having a triangular cross section which
extends vertically above said triangular surface and said top surface
of said first planar module, said upper portion including at least
one electrical outlet, and a lower portion having a square cross
section extending vertically below said triangular surface and said
bottom surface of said first planar module;
wherein said first, second, third and fourth modules are selectively
fixed in position with respect to one another by gravity alone,
said first end section of said first planar module resting on said
top surface of said second support module, said angular middle section
of said first planar module resting on said triangular surface of
said fourth support module, and said second end section of said
first planar module resting on said top surface of said third support
module.
2. The modular system for office furniture of claim 1 wherein
said second support module includes storage means for storing articles.
3. The modular system for office furniture of claim 1 wherein
said third support module includes storage means for storing articles.
4. A modular system for office furniture, comprising:
a first planar module having top and bottom planar surfaces, rectangular
first and second end sections having different widths, and a third
angular middle section connecting said first and second end sections,
said top and bottom planar surfaces defining an asymmetrical, reversible
working surface, said angular middle section having a cutoff corner,
and said first, second and third sections being formed as a single
piece;
a second support module having a top surface configured to support
the width of said first end section of said first planar module;
a third support module having a top surface configured to support
the width of said second end section of said first planar module;
and
a fourth support module having a peripheral notch for engaging
and supporting said cutoff corner of said angular middle section
of said first planar module, said fourth support module having an
upper portion which extends vertically above said peripheral notch
and said top surface of said first planar module, said upper portion
including at least one electrical outlet, and a lower portion extending
vertically below said peripheral notch and said bottom surface of
said first planar module;
wherein said first, second, third and fourth modules are selectively
fixed in position with respect to one another by gravity alone,
said first end section of said first planar module resting on said
top surface of said second support module, said angular middle section
of said first planar module resting in said peripheral notch of
said fourth support module, and said second end section of said
first planar module resting on said top surface of said third support
module.
5. The modular system for office furniture of claim 4 wherein
said second support module includes storage means for storing articles.
6. The modular system for office furniture of claim 4 wherein
said third support module includes storage means for storing articles.
Office furniture description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new modular system for office furniture,
especially adapted to the creation of assemblies named "landscaped
offices", made of a number of standardized elements properly
assembled.
2. Related Art
Such systems are presently proposed under many presentations, having
the common drawback to call for use a great number of different
elements, due to the need of elements especially designed for each
dimension and each place in each assembly. As an example, in very
usually proposed systems, it is currently called for a number of
elements, as high as five hundred, the management of which is extremely
heavy and complicated. This is still more serious for companies
proposing several different systems of this kind. Moreover the connection
of said elements together make use of connecting elements, which
can be complicated or at least need a costly manpower and is time
consuming.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention eliminates said drawbacks, by using a new system
calling in two concepts, which could be apparently considered as
obvious, but which have never been taken in account.
The first of said concepts is the fact that an assembly of this
nature, whatever its overall outline and dimensions, has only a
limited number of functions to fulfill, i.e.:
the "working surface" function,
the support or rest function,
the storage function,
and the power conductors guiding function.
Consequently, the first basic concept of the invention is to limit
the number of elements or modules in a system to those which are
each necessary and sufficient to fulfill each of said functions
or even simultaneously two of them.
The second concept is the fact that, using passive means for putting
the modules in place, the natural gravity, i.e. the weight of a
first module, is generally sufficient to connect it to a second
module located beneath the first module.
Consequently, the second basic concept of the invention is to eliminate
from the system any connecting element, said connection resulting
only from a proper positioning and gravity.
The invention has therefore for its object a system for office
furniture characterized in that it comprises the necessary and sufficient
number of elements or modules, assembled and connected by gravity,
each corresponding to a given function, i.e. the "working surface"
function, the support/guiding function, the conducter guiding function
being fulfilled by a column forming by a lower portion thereof a
rest for an angle of a table top fulfilling the function of working
surface, above which an upper portion of the column guides and delivers
all the leads and conductors feeding all appliances distributed
on said table top, said table top having, on each side of said column,
a wing the end of which rests upon a box fulfilling the support
function and together the storage function, the juxtaposition of
at least two identical table tops along two of any of their sides
with a view to extend the overall structure to assemblies of non-limited
dimensions, calling for at least one common rest module, said elements
being connected together by passive gravity positioning and carring
means which make sure the proper connection of the respective volumes
by mutual natural adaptation thereof.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the table
top comprises different working portions each adapted to an "under-function",
said "under-functions" being also in a limited number,
which can be reduced to:
a comparatively wide portion provided to receive i.e. the informative
hardware and the documents used by the operator,
a comparatively medium portion, forming the desk proper, upon which
the operator "works",
and a comparatively narrow portion, upon which are installed phone,
filing baskets, small office accessories and the same.
To this effect, the table top is dissymetrical, its two wings having
different widths and being connected through an angular or round
central portion resting by its external angle upon the column/connector
guide, while the wings ends rest each upon a support or rest module
the depth of which is egal to the width of each wing.
When a wing is "final", i.e. is at one end of the assembly,
the width of the rest module can be comparatively narrow, although
it can be used as a storage space.
When a wing is connected to another wing of an adjoining end of
another table top, the width of the rest module should be double
to accomodate the said both wing ends.
Such a "double" rest module can be the unique rest module
in the system, in this case an end wing can cover the entire top
of the rest module or only one half, the other half being covered
by an adjacent end wing of an adjacent table top, or a shelf, or
an auxiliary table or the same.
Each rest module can be properly prepared to fulfill the storage
function, i.e. with drawers, doors, shelves, suspended files and
the same.
The module rest column/conductor guide is a vertical prism having,
at the rest modules height a cut-out part adapted to receive an
angle of a table-top and, above said cut-out part an upper portion
through which are guided all the leads and conductors feeding all
the apparatuses and appliances distributed on said table top, all
the plugs and sockets being displayed along the front face of said
upper portion.
The connection of one table top with another adjoining one to create
a landscaped office can be realized along any couple of sides of
the same length or width, turning inside out or not, said top being
usable recto-verso, with a view to create sinuous shapes of working
surfaces. It can be realized using both sides of a unique column,
in which case, both tops are presenting head to tail ("Tete-beche").
A special advantage of the assemblies according to the invention
is the possibility they offer to create a great number of operation
stations in a comparatively small space.
As explained, the overall assembly is kept as immovable as a mono-block,
due only to the weight of the tops upon the rest modules. However
the tops and the rest modules can be provided with positioning means
making sure the proper connection of the respective volumes through
their natural mutual adaptation. Said positioning elements can be
stud/cup couples or pins passing through holes in the top. The use
of said means does not interfere with the gravity assembly of the
elements and does not require the use of any tool.
It is well understood that other optional accessories can be added
to the basic modular element above described, such as folding panels
provided to close the space between two rest elements.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will now be described with reference to the attached
drawings in which:
FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D show all the elements which are needed
and sufficient to build a basic assembly which can be combined with
further identical assemblies to create a whole assembly having any
configuration.
FIG. 2 shows an example of such a combination of two basic assemblies,
in which it is created a sineous whole assembly.
In this drawing, 1A is a table top provided as a working surface
and comprising two rectangles 2 and 3 joined at right angle together
through a third rectangle 4 having a cut off corner 5. The opposite
corner 6 is cut out to accomodate the user.
In the example shown, the width L of rectangle 2 is wider than
the width I of rectangle 3 but in a simpler modification, both rectangles
can be of the same width.
FIGS. 1C and 1D show two support elements, each having the shape
of a box, the depth of which being respecting I and L corresponding
to rectangles 2 and 3.
FIG. 1B shows a prismatic column 18 comprising a lower portion
7 and an upper portion 8. The lower portion 7 has a square cross
section whereas the upper portion 8 has a triangular cross section,
so that it remains a horizontal flat triangular surface 9 upon which
the cut off corner 5 of rectangle 4 can rest.
According to a modification, the column 1B is entirely of square
cross section, with a peripheral notch in place of the surface 9
said notch being slightly wider than the thickness of the plate
4 and the corner 5 is cut out to accomodate said notch.
With such a limited number of modular elements, it is possible,
according to this invention, to create an unlimited number of outlines
and of dimensions.
An example is shown on FIG. 2 in which said modular elements are
combined as follows:
Rectangle 2 of a first table top 1A rests upon the whole width
of a support element 1C, while rectangle 3 of the same top 1A rests
only upon one half of the width of a support element 1D and the
cut-off corner 5 of said top 1A rests upon a triangular section
of column 1B. The column 1B has plugs and sockets 25 displayed along
the front face of the upper portion of the third module, which plugs
and sockets are connected to leads and conductors guided through
the column 1B.
A second assembly 11A-11B-11C-11D is combined with the assembly
1A-1B-1C-1D with an inverted curvature, to create an overall sinuous
outline. Therefore rectangle 13 is resting upon the free half upper
face of support 1D, whereas rectangle 12 rests upon half of the
width of a support element 11C, the other half receiving in this
example a shelf 24. A column 11B provides a support for an angle
of top 11A, opposite to column 1B.
As it appears clearly, the assembly can accomodate two users who
can each take three positions, i.e. before each of rectangles 2
3 4 (and 12 13 14).
In the area of rectangle 4 (and 14), the user has the widest portion
of the top before him. This is the space provided for the informatic
hardware and the corresponding documents.
In the area of rectangle 2 (and 12) the working area is provided
for an usual office desk, while in the area of rectangle 3 (and
13) which is narrower, there can be distributed telephones, file
boxes and all the usual office small materials.
To invert the curvature of tops 1A or 11A, as shown, it is only
needed to turn it over.
Beyond this example it is easy to create a number of such assemblies
of any dimensions and shapes. The most important feature of the
invention is that said dimensions and shapes are not limited by
the very small number of basic modular elements 1A-1B-1C-1D.
As already mentioned, the unsymetrical shape of the table top 1A,
i.e. the different widths (L) and (l) is not a critical feature.
In the case L=l, the number of basic elements is still smaller,
since elements 1C and 1D are identical.
Said elements 1C and 1D can be equiped with drawers as shown in
1C, or with doors as shown in 1D or with any of the usual office
accessories.
As explained above, the table tops 1A-11A just rest upon the boxes
1C-1D-11C-11D and upon the surface 9 of the column 11B where they
are kept in place by their own weight. Due to this simplicity of
concept and of development, the system according to the invention
is exceptionnally cheap to build and to assemble. Any already existing
assembly of this type can be easily modified by adding further elements
or by changing the laying out of the existing elements, since no
joining pieces have to be mounted and/or disconnected. This is even
also true when positioning elements are additionnally provided,
such as pins passing through holes in the top or stud/cup couples,
since no tool is needed to clear such positioning elements.
Instead of connecting two tops along sides of rectangles 2 and
3 to obtain a continuous surface, it is possible to connect two
tops along the cut off corners 5 thereof. In this case the corners
of both tops should be cut out to adapt this same into two opposed
notches of a column 1B. |