Drawer assembly

Claim 2

A drawer guide adapted to be used with a chest frame that has a sill, comprising: an elongated crosS arm of a low friction material for mounting on said sill, said arm having a thin middle web portion and front and rear edge portions that are thicker than the middle portion so they lie at a greater height than the middle portion; said edge portions having a plurality of slots that form nubs therebetween for slideably supporting a drawer, whereby to minimize entrapment of abrasive particles between the drawer and cross arm.

Claim 3

A drawer and guide adapted to be used with a chest frame that has a sill, comprising: an elongated cross arm of low friction material for mounting on said sill, said arm having a thin middle web portion and front and rear edge portions that are thicker than the middle portion so they lie at a greater height than the middle portion; and a drawer with a bottom wall and a pair of laterally spaced guide strips depending from the bottom wall and extending in a direction along the length of the drawer; and wherein said cross arm has a pair of slots extending perpendicular to the length of the cross arm and positioned to receive said guide strips of said drawer.

Claim 4

A drawer and guide adapted to be used with a chest frame that has a sill, comprising: an elongated cross arm of low friction material for mounting on said sill, said arm having a thin middle web portion and front and rear edge portions that are thicker than the middle portion so they lie at a greater height than the middle portion; and a drawer with a bottom wall and a pair of laterally spaced guide strips depending from the bottom wall and extending in a direction along the length of the drawer; and wherein said cross arm has a pair of slots extending perpendicular to the length of the cross arm and positioned to receive said guide strips of said drawer.

Claim 5

A drawer apparatus adapted to be used with a chest frame that has a sill and a runner-supporting portion extending rearwardly from the sill, comprising: a runner having a thin elongated portion for mounting on the runner-supporting portion of a chest frame, and having a rearward end with at least one laterally extending stop; and a drawer having a bottom wall for riding on said runner and a pair of runner-straddling portions projecting from the bottom wall and laterally spaced to lie close to opposite sides of the runner, at least one of said portions having a rear end that abuts said laterally extending stop to limit the rearward movement of the drawer into the chest frame.

Claim 6

A drawer apparatus adapted to be used with a chest frame that has a sill and a runner-supporting portion extending rearwardly from the sill, comprising: a runner having a thin elongated portion for mounting on the runner-supporting portion of a chest frame, and having a rearward end with at least one laterally extending stop; and a drawer having a bottom wall for riding on said runner and a pair of runner-straddling portions projecting from the bottom wall and laterally spaced to lie close to opposite sides of the runner, at least one of said portions having a rear end that abuts said laterally extending stop to limit the rearward movement of the drawer into the chest frame.

Claim 7

The drawer guide described in claim 3 wherein: said runner has a pair of thick edge portions extending along its length and that are connected by a web which is thinner than said edge portions, whereby to permit the mounting of the runner by fasteners driven through the web so the fastener tops lie below the edge portions of the runner.

Claim 8

The drawer guide described in claim 3 wherein: the bottom wall of said drawer has a downwardly-extending rib portion near the front of the drawer, said bottom wall being devoid of downwardly extending ribs directly behind said rib portion; and including a ship lock coupled to the front end of said runner and tapered in height so that the rear end of the ship lock has a greater height than the front end thereof, said ship lock located at the same lateral position as said rib portion, so that as the drawer is slid into the chest frame the rib portion rides over the ship lock and then falls down behind the ship lock.

Claim 9

A chest assembly comprising: a chest frame which includes a plurality of vertically spaced sill beams and a plurality of runner beams extending rearwardly from the centers of the sill beams; a plurality of T-shaped bearing members of smooth low-friction material, each including a cross arm lying on a sill beam and a runner lying on a runner beam, said cross arm having thick forward and rearward edge portions connected by a thin center portion, and said runner having thick laterally-spaced edge portions connected by a thin center portion; a plurality of fasteners projecting through the thin center portions of the cross arm and runner and into the sill and runner beams, said fastener having heads that project above the thin center portions to heights less than the tops of the thick edge portions; and a plurality of drawers having bottom walls slideably engageable with thick edge portions of the cross arms and runners, and each having a pair of runner-straddling walls lying on either side of the runner.

Claim 10

A chest assembly comprising: a chest frame which includes a plurality of vertically spaced sill beams and a plurality of runner beams extending rearwardly from the centers of the sill beams; a plurality of T-shaped bearing members of smooth low-friction material, each including a cross arm lying on a sill beam and a runner lying on a runner beam, said cross arm having thick forward and rearward edge portions connected by a thin center portion, and said runner having thick laterally-spaced edge portions connected by a thin center portion; a plurality of fasteners projecting through the thin center portions of the cross arm and runner and into the sill and runner beams, said fastener having heads that project above the thin center portions to heights less than the tops of the thick edge portions; and a plurality of drawers having bottom walls slideably engageable with thick edge portions of the cross arms and runners, and each having a pair of runner-straddling walls lying on either side of the runner.

Claim 11

The chest assembly described in claim 6 wherein: each of said runners has a pair of end stop portions extending from laterally opposite sides of the rear end of the runner, said end stop portions positioned to abut the rear ends of the runner-straddling walls to limit the rearward sliding of the drawer.

Claim 12

A drawer guide and chest frame combination comprising: a chest frame having a sill of a wood-like material that can be easily penetrated by a fastener having a pointed shank; an elongated cross arm disposed on said sill, said cross arm constructed of low friction plastic-like material which is easily penetrated by a fastener having a pointed shank, said arm having a thin middle web portion and front and rear edge portions that are thicker than the middle portion so they lie at a greater height than the middle portion; and a plurality of fasteners with shanks that are pointed at their ends and that project through the thin web portion of the cross arm into the sill, said fasteners having heads that lie above the thin web portion but at heights less than the tops of the front and rear edge portions, whereby to enable rapid staple-gun mounting or the like.

Claim 13

A drawer guide and chest frame combination comprising: a chest frame having a sill of a wood-like material that can be easily penetrated by a fastener having a pointed shank; an elongated cross arm disposed on said sill, said cross arm constructed of low friction plastic-like material which is easily penetrated by a fastener having a pointed shank, said arm having a thin middle web portion and front and rear edge portions that are thicker than the middle portion so they lie at a greater height than the middle portion; and a plurality of fasteners with shanks that are pointed at their ends and that project through the thin web portion of the cross arm into the sill, said fasteners having heads that lie above the thin web portion but at heights less than the tops of the front and rear edge portions, whereby to enable rapid staple-gun mounting or the like.

Claim 14

The drawer guide described in claim 8 wherein: said arm has a plurality of locating lugs extending downwardly from the rear edge portion and abutting the rear of the chest frame sill, said rear edge of said cross arm lying behind the rear of said sill.

Claim 15

A drawer and guide apparatus adapted to be used with a chest frame that has a sill beam and a runner-support extending rearwardly from the center of the sill beam, comprising: a thin T-shaped bearing member of low friction material having an elongated runner for mounting on the runner-support and an elongated cross arm at the front of the runner for mounting on the sill beam, said runner having a pair of end stops projecting laterally from opposite sides of the rear end of the runner; and a drawer with a bottom surface and a pair of runner-straddling walls thereon spaced apart by slightly more than the spacing of said edge portions of said runner and positioned so that the rear ends of said runner-straddling walls hit the end stops when the drawer is slid into the chest frame.

Claim 16

A drawer and guide apparatus adapted to be used with a chest frame that has a sill beam and a runner-support extending rearwardly from the center of the sill beam, comprising: a thin T-shaped bearing member of low friction material having an elongated runner for mounting on the runner-support and an elongated cross arm at the front of the runner for mounting on the sill beam, said runner having a pair of end stops projecting laterally from opposite sides of the rear end of the runner; and a drawer with a bottom surface and a pair of runner-straddling walls thereon spaced apart by slightly more than the spacing of said edge portions of said runner and positioned so that the rear ends of said runner-straddling walls hit the end stops when the drawer is slid into the chest frame.

Claim 17

A drawer and frame combination comprising: a chest frame having a sill with a center portion and opposite ends, and having a runner-support extending rearwardly from the center of the sill; a thin T-shaped bearing member of low friction material having an elongated runner mounted on the runner-support and having an elongated cross arm at the front of the runner mounted on the center portion of the sill; a pair of corner members mounted on said sill beyond the opposite ends of the cross arm and extending higher than the arm; and a drawer with a bottom surface slideable on the cross arm, side walls with bottoms spaced apart slightly less than the spacing of the corner members, and a pair of runner-straddling walls; said side walls angled from the vertical so that the bottoms of the side walls are closer together than the tops of the side walls, and said corner members having upstanding portions spaced inward from either end of said sill to closely engage the bottoms of the side walls and short bottom portions of approximately the same height as said T-shaped bearing member and lying under the drawer.

Claim 18

A drawer and frame combination comprising: a chest frame having a sill with a center portion and opposite ends, and having a runner-support extending rearwardly from the center of the sill; a thin T-shaped bearing member of low friction material having an elongated runner mounted on the runner-support and having an elongated cross arm at the front of the runner mounted on the center portion of the sill; a pair of corner members mounted on said sill beyond the opposite ends of the cross arm and extending higher than the arm; and a drawer with a bottom surface slideable on the cross arm, side walls with bottoms spaced apart slightly less than the spacing of the corner members, and a pair of runner-straddling walls; said side walls angled from the vertical so that the bottoms of the side walls are closer together than the tops of the side walls, and said corner members having upstanding portions spaced inward from either end of said sill to closely engage the bottoms of the side walls and short bottom portions of approximately the same height as said T-shaped bearing member and lying under the drawer.