Back-to-back drawer assembly with staggered bypassing slides

Abstract

A drawer assembly for use in a unit having a transverse opening therethrough with two sets of drawers mounted in the opening in back-to-back relationship, the sets of drawers being openable from opposite sides of the unit. The assembly comprises a pair of identical panels defining the sides of the unit opening. Each panel provides a plurality of horizontal, evenly spaced drawer guides, corresponding guides on the panels having coplanar guide surfaces. The drawers of both sets are identical, except for vertical depth, and are interchangeable within each set and from set-to-set. Each drawer comprises an open rectangular frame having front and rear panels joined by first and second side panels. First and second mirror image drawer slides are affixed to the first and second side panels, respectively. The first slide is located near the upper edge of the first side panel and the second slide is located near the lower edge of the second side panel, the vertical distance between the lower surfaces of the first and second slides being equivalent to the vertical distance between the upper surfaces of two adjacent guides. The slides are of a length slightly less than that of the guides. Each drawer has a bottom element affixed to its frame and determining the vertical drawer depth. The staggered arrangement of the drawer slides enables the slides of the drawers of the two back-to-back sets to engage different guides with the slides of each set by-passing the drawers of the other set.