Knoll Gmbh

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Wallace C Bullwinkle

Robert E Reuter

Charles P Rozier, Jr

A Brooks Rorke

John J Rizzi

William I Stephens

R Douglas Reuter

Masamichi Udagawa

Sigrid G Moeslinger

Arkady Golynsky

Ronald A Snyder

Robert E Anderson

Al Schmidt

Larry L Hoff

A furniture system, method of assembling furniture for a work space, and a fastening apparatus for interconnecting furniture components include one or more fastening devices. Each fastening device includes a body that has a channel sized and configured to receive a first rail. Each fastening device also includes at least one of a connector assembly and an opening formed in the body for attaching the fastening device to at least one other furniture component. The connector assembly and the opening in the body are sized and configured so that the other furniture components are positioned such that at least one of their height and length extend in a direction substantially perpendicular to the length of the first rail, such as a direction that is mostly perpendicular to the length of the first rail. Other embodiments of the fastening device may include variations in configurations to the connector assembly or body.

Furniture component fastening apparatus, furniture system and method of assembling furniture for a work space

A wall spine assembly for a modular office system comprises a plurality of individual panel assemblies. Each of the panel assemblies includes a vertical support structure and mechanically affixed lower panels in a rigid box-beam structure. Facing panels are removably attached to support brackets mounted on the vertical supports. A cavity exists between the facing panels and vertical supports to permit the lay-in of cabling through the office system. A crown member is provided on the top of the vertical support and is adapted to receive brackets for the mounting of accessories above a desk or other work surface attached to the panel. The panels, and especially the crown, permit the mounting of office components such as shelves, storage cabinets, lighting fixtures and the like anywhere along the horizontal length of the wall. A horizontally telescoping vertical end post is also provided.

Hybrid office panel construction for a modular office furniture system

A stackable panel system having a versatile corner supporting arrangement for addition onto existing wall systems for a modular office system. The corners of the stackable panel include a sliding engagement scheme, wherein a mast assembly is secured to a top portion of the wall system by a mast base and slidably engages a central open area of a corner support on the stackable panel by means of a vertically oriented mast upright. Additional panels can be added to the stackable panels by means of intermediate connectors. On the upper portion of the top panel, a corner trim piece covers over the central open area of the top corners. A top connector helps to rigidly secure adjacent stackable panels, either with a T-shaped, L-shaped or X-shaped connection. A perimeter framing system utilizing the corner support arrangement for the stackable panels is also provided. Each of the frame members includes a semi-circular section and a flat section. The frame members are secured to the corner connectors having a matching cross section by means of screws which are threadingly engaged with the flat portions and pass into the semi-circular areas such that the open area of the frame does not have the frame securing elements projecting therein. In a further embodiment, a floor mounted mast assembly is provided for using the stackable panels of the present invention as a room space divider. In addition, the corner supports can be attached to existing panels so that they may be used with prior art systems to convert them into stackable panels of the present invention having a sliding engagement mechanism.

Stackable panel system for modular office furniture

A network of electrical raceways primarily for carrying telephone and data cable wires extends in vertical and horizontal directions through a modular partition system and enables vertical and horizontal lines such as signal wires to be inserted and removed from the surface of horizontal and vertical channel members. Vertical raceways are provided by a vertical spine attached between adjacent panels. The vertical raceways have resilient elongated tubes with a longitudinal slit forming a seam, with resilience and stiffness sufficient to retain any enclosed wires. The tube is deflectable to permit manual, forcible insertion and removal of the wires into and out from the vertical wireway. Splicing fixtures continue the raceways around vertical to horizontal diversions, also being accessible from the surface.

Lay-in wireways for a space divider system

An office partition panel is electrically attached to an adjacent panel and/or a power source line. The panel has a body to be mounted upright on a lower edge having an elongated weldment forming a channel opening upwardly. Frame elements engage between the body and the weldment, spacing the channel from the body and from a lowermost channel forming the lower edge of the panel. The weldment provides lateral access to the channel for laying in wiring. An electrical fixture such as an outlet receptacle is mounted along the channel, and the channel supports the electrical wiring terminating at the electrical fixture. The wiring path leads from the channel in one panel to an adjacent panel and a bridge channel element attaches to the weldment to extend the channel across a gap between the adjacent panels. A cover strip removably mountable on the lower edge covers the channel laterally for enclosing the electrical wiring, and a bridge cover strip covers the bridge channel element across the gap. The electrical wiring can be installed laterally into the channel, and terminated at the electrical fixture, for hardwiring the partition system, whereupon the channel is closed to safely enclose the wiring.

Hardwiring race for office partitions

A fully enclosed structural support stanchion for furniture is provided, having an internal cavity which may receive standard modular office furniture electrical service cabling, and which is provided with a demountable front accessory panel to which plural electrical or electronic accessories may be mounted such that a portion of the accessory extends into the stanchion and releasably connects to one end of the standard modular furniture electrical service cabling. The stanchion is constructed with rigid materials so that it can act as a support for an overhead bookshelf or other storage facility, and the stanchion is further provided with a large internal storage cavity into which small office supplies or other articles may be placed and stored behind a hinged, selectively closable door. The stanchion further includes an elongated bracket support which may receive standard shelf brackets, permitting the stanchion to act as a cantilever support for structures such as shelves secured to the shelf brackets. The internal cavity and demountable front-accessory panel of the stanchion may receive electrical service wiring comprising a conventional cable and connector shell rigidly mounted on a support bracket having a spring clip, enabling an electrical receptacle to be quickly and releasably secured to the mounting bracket spring clip while simultaneously mating electrical contacts on the receptacle with electrical contacts provided in the cable connector shell.

Furniture stanchions with unitary power routing system

A cabinet is provided with a curved, upwardly-swinging door and interior shelves. The curved shelf door is mounted on a pair of opposed arms which rotate on a horizontal axis. Each arm is provided with two opposed, circularly arcuate slots and a central ellipsoidal slot, each slot engaging a fixed stud at the side of the cabinet. The ellipsoidal slot and its corresponding stud provide a center pivot for each of the arms. The arms are mounted inside the cabinet on opposed interior side walls. Lighting can be provided in a formed recess in the bottom of the cabinet. The cabinet can also be provided with plural internal shelves supported on planar brackets. The cabinet further can be provided with a pair of side-by-side doors and a center wall. Arms are mounted on each side of the center wall and adjacent the interior side walls of the cabinet, for separately mounting the doors.

Overhead cabinet with rotating door

A fully enclosed structural support stanchion for furniture is provided, having an internal cavity which may receive standard modular office furniture electrical service cabling, and which is provided with a demountable front accessory panel to which plural electrical or electronic accessories may be mounted such that a portion of the accessory extends into the stanchion and releasably connects to one end of the standard modular furniture electrical service cabling. The stanchion is constructed with rigid materials so that it can act as a support for an overhead bookshelf or other storage facility, and the stanchion is further provided with a large internal storage cavity into which small office supplies or other articles may be placed and stored behind a hinged, selectively closable door. The stanchion further includes an elongated bracket support which may receive standard shelf brackets, permitting the stanchion to act as a cantilever support for structures such as shelves secured to the shelf brackets. The internal cavity and demountable front-accessory panel of the stanchion may receive electrical service wiring comprising a conventional cable and connector shelf rigidly mounted on a support bracket having an accessory spring clip, enabling accessories to be quickly and releasably secured to the mounting bracket spring clip while simultaneously mating electrical contacts on the accessory with electrical contacts provided in the cable connector shell.

A combined slider and hinge structure for a vertical cabinet door is disclosed, which permits the cabinet door to be constructed with its hinged edge arranged flush with the side of the cabinet to which it is hinged. The inventive structure includes front and back columnar interior frame members, upper and lower slides secured to the frame members, an elongated anti-rack plate secured to the sliding members of the upper and lower slides, upper and lower flush-mount hinges secured to the anti-rack plate inwardly of and adjacent to the slides, and a door secured to the hinges. A false exterior panel can be placed over the frame members, slides, and anti-rack plate to conceal them. In operation, the door is rotated on the hinges to an open position, and thereafter the slides are operated by pushing the door directly toward the rear of the cabinet structure, retracting the door and concealing it behind the false exterior panel.

Flush-front cabinet door and hinge therefor

An integrated system for storing and transporting files, flat materials, and office supplies is disclosed, including a file cabinet having bottomless drawers for receiving hanging file and supply holders, a briefcase having inward-facing ledges for receiving hanging holders, and a portable, unitary file holder compatible with standard letter and legal-size hanging file drawers. The file holder includes twin handles for grasping and carrying the file holder, a hanging file rail disposed within the file holder for supporting standard letter-size files, non-slip feet for placing the unitary file holder on any suitable surface, a plurality of divider panels and a file holder bottom portion disposed to receive such panels. A briefcase is provided and is adapted to receive such file holders by hanging and supporting them using means similar to a standard hanging file drawer. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a file holder is provided which is molded of a relatively rigid thermoplastic material. The supply holder hangs transversely in a file drawer and accepts panels for subdividing the holder in small compartments. The briefcase receives hanging file holders and folders on plural interior ledges disposed at a distance substantially equivalent to the distance between hanging rails in a standard hanging file drawer.

Growing community of inventors

Norristown, PA, United States of America

Wallace C Bullwinkle