Office appliance

Claim 2

An office appliance including, a cabinet having a pair of spaced apart side walls, a plurality of vertically aligned horizontally displaceable file components disposed within said cabinet, means mounting said components within said cabinet and between said side walls for rectilinear movement from a retracted position within the confines of said cabinet to an extended position outside said cabinet, an interlock assembly carried by said cabinet, activating means displace-able upon movement of any one said component and engaging said interlock assembly to limit the number of said components dis-placeable from a retracted to an extended position at any one time, a receding door assembly disposed within said cabinet above at least one said file component, said door assembly in-cluding a follower assembly provided with mounting means for rectilinear motion substantially the depth of said cabinet, and a door panel pivotally attached adjacent its top to said follower assembly, whereby, when said follower assembly is dis-placed to the forward limit of its travel said door panel may be vertically disposed to enclose said cabinet in front of a respective retracted component therebeneath and subsequently said panel may be pivotally displaced to a horizontal plane prior to retraction into said cabinet with concurrent rearward dis-placement of said follower assembly.

Claim 3

An office appliance including, a cabinet having a pair of spaced apart side walls, a plurality of vertically aligned horizontally displaceable file components disposed within said cabinet, means mounting said components to said side walls for rectilinear movement from a retracted position within the confines of said cabinet to an extended position outside said cabinte, an interlock assembly carried by said cabinet, activating means displaceable upon movement of any one said component and engaging said interlock assembly to limit the number of said components displaceable from a retracted to an extended position at any one time, said file components in-cluding shelf assemblies each having a pair of side walls and a rear wall, said mounting means comprising channel elements attached respectively to said cabinet side walls and shelf side walls, said activating means including a lever pivotally attached to said shelf rear wall, means normally urging said lever into an elevated position, said interlock assembly including a plurality of vertically stacked slidable lockbars disposed adjacent said channel elements attached to said cabinet side walls for limited total vertical displacement therein, a cam member attached to each said lockbar for rotary displacement thereon, each said cam member provided with an annular pro-jection extending into the horizontal plane of said shelf lever for activation thereby, a flange on said cam member having ad-jacent portions of greater and lesser radii, said flange portions engaging the top of the next lower said lockbar to position the attached lockbar and all lockbars thereabove at alternate elevations when arcuately displaced, stop means carried by each said shelf assembly adjacent said rear wall, and stop means ex-tending from said lockbars and displaceable into the path of said shelf stop means when said lockbars are elevated upon arcuate displacement of one said cam member to preclude outward move-ment of any additional shelf assembly disposed above an extended shelf assembly.

Claim 4

An office appliance including, a cabinet having a pair of spaced apart side walls, a plurality of vertically aligned horizontally displaceable file components disposed within said cabinet, means mounting said components to said side walls for rectilinear movement from a retracted position within the confines of said cabinet to an extended position outside said cabinte, an interlock assembly carried by said cabinet, activating means displaceable upon movement of any one said component and engaging said interlock assembly to limit the number of said components displaceable from a retracted to an extended position at any one time, said file components in-cluding shelf assemblies each having a pair of side walls and a rear wall, said mounting means comprising channel elements attached respectively to said cabinet side walls and shelf side walls, said activating means including a lever pivotally attached to said shelf rear wall, means normally urging said lever into an elevated position, said interlock assembly including a plurality of vertically stacked slidable lockbars disposed adjacent said channel elements attached to said cabinet side walls for limited total vertical displacement therein, a cam member attached to each said lockbar for rotary displacement thereon, each said cam member provided with an annular pro-jection extending into the horizontal plane of said shelf lever for activation thereby, a flange on said cam member having ad-jacent portions of greater and lesser radii, said flange portions engaging the top of the next lower said lockbar to position the attached lockbar and all lockbars thereabove at alternate elevations when arcuately displaced, stop means carried by each said shelf assembly adjacent said rear wall, and stop means ex-tending from said lockbars and displaceable into the path of said shelf stop means when said lockbars are elevated upon arcuate displacement of one said cam member to preclude outward move-ment of any additional shelf assembly disposed above an extended shelf assembly.

Claim 5

An office appliance according to Claim 1 wherein, said follower assembly mounting means includes a pair of door channels fixedly attached to said cabinet side walls, each said channel provided with top and bottom flanges and an inter-mediate side wall defining a guideway, a pair of side support plates each having an outer edge disposed within one of said guideways, roller means carried by each said support plate and engaging a respective said channel, a cross channel connecting said pair of support plates, hinge means joining the forward portion of said cross channel to said door panel to provide said pivotal attachment between said follower assembly and door panel, and stop means on said channels limiting the forward and rear-ward displacement of said follower assembly.

Claim 6

An office appliance according to Claim 1 wherein, said file components include a shelf assembly having an upstanding rear wall, said activating means comprising a lever pivotally attached to said rear wall, an inclined plate on said lever normally spring-urged to an elevated position above said rear wall and engageable with said interlock assembly during with-drawal and retraction of said shelf assembly, a stop flange on said inclined plate, a projection fixedly attached to said cabinet and extending inwardly into the path of said lever plate ad-jacent the front of said cabinet whereby, upon displacement of said shelf assembly to its fully extended position said lever plate engages and is deflected by said projection prior to re-turning to its elevated position with said shelf assembly fully extended and rearward displacement of said shelf assembly is normally precluded as said lever stop flanges on said elevated plate abuts said projection but may proceed upon manual deflection of said plate and stop flange below the level of said projection.

Claim 7

An office appliance according to Claim 1 wherein, said file components include a drawer having an open front, said mounting means comprising channel elements attached respectively to said cabinet side walls and said drawer, said activating means including a saddle carried by one said drawer attached channel and engageable with said interlock assembly upon ex-tension and retraction of said drawer to restrict the extension of other file components from said cabinet when one said drawer is extended.

Claim 8

An office appliance according to Claim 2 wherein, said lever includes an inclined plate and limit flange, spring-biased hinge means attaching said lever to said rear wall inter-mediate said plate and limit flange and normally biasing said plate into an elevated position with said limit flange abutting said rear wall and lock means fixedly attached to said cabinet projecting into the path of said inclined plate to preclude retraction of said shelf assembly from a fully extended position without manual deflection of said plate to bypass said lock means.

Claim 9

An office appliance according to Claim 3 wherein, said roller means includes a pair of rollers on each said support plate, and a pin element having a vertical shank attaching each said roller to its respective support plate with the peri-phery of said rollers juxtaposed said channel side walls and vertically spaced from said channel top and bottom flanges.

Claim 10

An office appliance according to Claim 3 wherein, each said support plate is provided with an elongated slot, and means carried by the ends of said cross channel slidably en-gaging said slots to permit relative horizontal displacement between said door panel attached to said cross channel and said support plates.

Claim 11

An office appliance according to Claim 4 wherein, said stop means on said door channels includes bumpers mounted at the forward and rearward limits of said guideways and en-gageable by said roller means.

Claim 12

An office appliance according to Claim 3 wherein, said hinge means includes a cross channel hinge leaf having a vertically offset hinge pin, a door panel hinge leaf connected with said hinge pin whereby, when said panel is pivoted about said hinge pin into a horizontal position and displaced into a retracted position said panel is disposed in a plane above said door channel top flanges.