Interlocking drawer assembly

Claim 1

A readily mountable drawer comprising a bottom panel, two side panels, a front panel and a back panel, pairs of complementary positive detent means integrally formed in one piece with respective juxtaposed panels for hand assembling said drawer by substantially exclusively unidirectional relative displacement of said juxtaposed panels until they are locked in place relative to one another, each of said panels being connected to an adjacent one of said panels by an interlocking connection including an elongated male strip generally lying in a plane and a similarly elongated female part defining an elongated groove, and said detent means including each male strip being at least partially discontinuous in a transverse direction to define a pair of independent hooks, each hook lying generally coplanar with the remainder of said male strip and having a free portion lying along a free edge of said male strip, and each hook free portion having on one surface thereof a transverse detent projecting normal to said plane, said female part having a notch opening from the interior of said groove and receiving each detent, and the opposite surface of each hook free portion having a relieved part extending transversely away from said free edge beyond said detent to permit flexing of said hook free portion relative to the remainder of said hook and passage of said hook free portion into said groove together with entry of said detent into said notch.