This invention relates to cases, drawers, storage systems and engagement means for same. In particular, to cases that can serve as a drawer and can ^" be stored in a storage facility, similar to that of a "chest of drawers" by virtue of the engagement means.

Prior art systems have been such that a "chest of drawer" system had contained permanent drawers, which were not readily removed, or if removed could only be used in the same manner as when they were contained in a chest. ^• For example, filing cabinets have had removable drawers for the purpose of easy movement of the cabinet. However, although removable, the drawers are substantially drawers out of a cabinet and cannot be used for any other purpose except for storage and replace¬ ment back into a cabinet.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a drawer case, or case drawer which substantially overcomes or ameliorates the abovementione disadvantages.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cabinet storage system which will substantially overcome- or ameliorate the abovementioned disadvantages.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an engagement means which substantially overcomes or ameliorates the abovementioned disadvantages.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is disclosed an engagement means adapted to be placed on an object, said object by means of said engagement means being adapted to be stored, said engagement means comprising at least two elongated guide means adapted to accent inter- engagement means on a storage facility.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is disclosed a case-drawer (or drawer case) including an engagement means, said engagement means comprising at least the elongated guide means adapted to accept inter- engagement means associated with a storage facility.

Preferably the engagement means are a set of guide recesses which accept the interengagement means which are preferably rollers or like means.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Pig. 1: is a perspective view of an assembled case of the present invention: Pig. 2: is a plan view of the base of the apparatus of Pig. 1; Pig. 3: is a view in direction of arrow X of Pig. 2; Pig. 4: is a part sectional view along AA of Pig. 2; Pig. 5: is a side elevational view of the apparatus of Pig. 2; Pig. 6: is a part sectional view along arrow BB of

Fi . 5; Pig. 7: is an underneath plan view of the apparatus of Pig. 2; Pig. 8: is a plan view of the lid of the apparatus of Pig. 1; Pig. 9: is a rear elevational view of the apparatus of Pig. 8; Pi ..10: is a part sectional view along arrow CC of ^"

Pig. 8; Pig.11: is a part sectional view along arrow BB of

Pig. 8; Pig.12: is a plan view of a latch for use with the apparatus of Pig. 1; Pig.13 ' is a sectional view of the apparatus of

Pig. 12; Pig.14: is a plan view of a hinge for use with the apparatus of Pig. 1; Pig.15: is a side elevation of the apparatus of

Pig. 14; and Pig.16: is a perspective view of a storage facility for use with the apparatus of Pig. 1. As illustrated in Pigs. 1 and 2, a case 1 comprises a lid 2 (illustrated in more detail in Pigs. 8 to 11) and a base 3 (illustrated in more detail in Pigs. 2 to 7). The lid 2 and base 3 are hinged together by means of a separate replaceable hinge 4 (illustrated in Pigs. 14 and 15) whilst

the lid 2 and base 3 can be locked together by means of a latch 5 (illustrated in Pigs. 12 and 13).

The base 3 (see Pig. 2) comprises two sidewalls 6, a rear wall 7, a front wall 8 and a base plate 9. Attached to the front wall 8 is a handle 10. The internal cavity of the base 3 is compartmentalised by means of permanent dividers 12. The base illustrated in Pig. 3 is moulded in a single piece, from a plastic material, however, if so desired, the base 3 can be fabricated. The dividers 12, in the centre of the base 3 have provision (in the form of interlocking tabs 13) for the addition of removable dividers.

On the rear wall 7 are located two hinge locators 14, which are illustrated in more detail in Pigs. 3 and 4. The hinge locators 14 have three ramp portions 15 which co-operate with a locking bar 16 to interengage and lock hinge 4 into position by means of protrusion 41 (on hinge 4) ingaging edge 17. The other edge 18 of locking bar 16 engages protrusion 42 of hinge 4. (See Pigs. 14 and 15 for detail of hinge 4) .

The side walls 6 contain engagement means (in the form of recesses 20 and 21) which are used to mate with an inter- engagement means (see Pig. 16) (in the form of rollers 63 and 64) on a storage facility, for storage of the base 3 or base 3 and lid 2 hinged together.

The engagement means or recesses 20 and 21 are formed between walls 22, 23 _. 26 and side wall surface 24 in the case of recess 21; whilst recess 20 is formed between walls 23, 25 and side wall surface 24.

The recess 21 has a gap 27 which opens out in a direction which is perpendicular to the direction which gap 28 of recess 20 opens out into. Specifically, the inter- engagement means in the form of rollers 63 and 64 are located in the engagemen means through the gaps 27 and 28. It can be seen from the configuration of recesses 20 and 21 that to mate the engagement means (recesses 20 and 21) with the interengagement means (rollers 63 and 64) on to the storage facility first requires longitudinal movement to mate ^■ gap 28 then a lateral movement (relative to the longitudinal

direction of recess 21 and 20) is required to mate gap 27 with the respective roller.

In this way, a deliberate mating or removing acting is required to locate or remove the base 3 or base 3 with lid 2. The perpendicular nature of the direction which the gaps 27 and 28 open out into, allow the base 3 or base 3 and lid 2 to be stored in a range of angles ranging from 0° to 270° (pivoting around the rear wall 7 of the base 3). Preferably at certain angles the lid 2 should be locked on the base 3 in order to prevent the contents of the case 1 spilling out.

The engagement means can be described in another way: The engagement means 20 and 21 are designed to allow the case to be accepted by interengagement means (in the form of rollers 63 and 64) . The interengagement means 63 and 64 enter the engagement means 20 and 21 from the rear and bottom respectively. The rear interengagement means enters recess 20 first, and continues down the recess 20 until the other interengagement means is aligned with gap 27 and passes through the gap 27 into recess 21. Once both ^" interengagement means are located in recesses 20 and 21 , the interengagement means allows the case 1 or base 3 to move back and forth. The front engagement means prevents the base 3 from being released from the cabinet and the length of .recess 21 deter¬ mines the maximum length of movement of the case 1 or base 3 relative to the interengagement means on the storage facility. Of course, the interengagement means on the stor¬ age facility can be mo eable relative to the storage facility.

The sides 6 also contain a latch receiving recess 29 adapted to accept a locking portion 51 of latch 5 (see Pigs.12 and 13) . The latch receiving recess 29 includes a latch lock bar 30, the bottom edge 31 of which engages the locking portion 51 of latch 5. An engagement ramp 32 is also included to direct and bias the locking portion 51 into engagement with the bottom edge 3 ^' •

The base 3, need not be compartmentalised. The configuration of the base can be determined by the user so ^' that a useful .and desired configuration can be obtained from the factory, or built to suit by the users.

Illustrated in Pigs. 8 to 11 is a lid 2 for use in conjunction with base 3. ^"" "be lid 2 includes front wall 35, sidewalls.36 and rear wall 37, with a top surface 38. The rear wall 37 includes a hinge receiving portion 39 which is illustrated in detail and in cross-section in Pig. 11.

The hinge receiving portion 39 has a locking bar 40 which is locked between protrusions 41 and 42 of the hinge 4.

The forward portion of side walls 36 include latch attachment means 40, and the location of these correspond to the latch recesses 29 on the base 3. The latch attachment means 40 is illustrated in detail and in cross-section in Pig. 10. The attachment means 40 has a latch securing bar 43, the edge 44 of which receives a shoulder 45 on the latch 4, thus, keeping the latch 4 secured in position on the lid 2. The lower edge 46 and intermediate surface 47 engage shoulder 48 and surface 49 on the latch 4 respectively.

Preferably both lid 2 and base 3, latch 5 and hinge 4 are made of synthetic ouldable materials. The latch is preferably made from acetyl copolymer because of the wear characteristics of this material. The hinge, on the other hand, is manufactured from polypropylene for the bending characteristics of this material.

The components which are prone to wear or break are the hinges 4 or latches 5, however, the design and configuration of the lids 2 and bases 3 are such that easy removal and replacement of the latches 5 and hinges 4 can take place.

The latch 5 has been discussed in previous passages, however, as illustrated in Pig. 12 and 13, the latch 5 com¬ prises shoulders 45 and 48, with an angled surface 49 between them. Extending away from the securing end of the latch 5 is a cantilevered portion 50, at the end of wuich is a lock portion 5 .

Pressure is applied to a set of finger grips 52 which are located in order to disengage the latch 5 from the lock bar.30 on the base 3. The cantilevered portion 50 provides a spring bias for the latch 5, and the angle of the cantilevered portion 50 relative to the side wall 36 aids in the locking action.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET

The hinge 4 has been discussed briefly in previous passages, however, as illustrated in 14 and 15 the hinge 4 comprises- a pair of base sections 53 upon which is mounted shoulders 41 and 42. When the hinge 4 is located in the lid 2 and base 3, the hinge 4 remains located by means of a latch attachment 40 and locking bar 16 respectively. When the lid 2 is rotated relative to the base 3, rotation is limited by means of engagement of one shoulder 42 with the other shoulder 42. The base sections 53 are joined by means of a thin hinge material 54.

Illustrated in Pig. 16 is a storage facility (or cabinet) 60 which has layers 61 of storage areas for storing cases 1. Each layer has a frame or skeletal shelf 62, having two rollers 63 and 64 (interengagement means) for engaging the recesses 20 and 21 respectively. The skeletal shelf 62 is slidable relative to the facility 60, whilst the recesses 20 and 21 allow the case 1 to slide relative to the skeletal shelf 61. As mentioned previously, the recesses 20 and 21 allow the case 1 to be stored at any angle ranging from upside down horizontally at 0°, to upright at 90°, to right side up horizontally at 180°, to upside down vertically at 270 , without any modification to the system as illustrated.

The storage facility 60, for convenience, can be rotatable about three axes if necessary, or located in ceil¬ ing corners to take advantage of limited space. If ceiling corners are used, it is envisaged that the cases 1 would be stored in a position in the range of 180° to 270°. The storage facility can be made in a variety of shapes and sizes and does not necessarily require rollers 63 and 64 to act as the interengagement means with the recesses 20 and 21 on base 3-

The case 1 can be stored at an angle ranging from 270° to 360°, however to do so, the gap 27 in recess 21 must not be located at the back end of the recess 21. ^' Preferably, the gap 27 can be located at the forward end of the recess 21 , and may be lopated anywhere intermediate the back and front ends of recess 21.

The present invention offers the ability of a drawer case

or case drawer, which can be stored in a storage facility or cabinet, while still remaining portable, functional and main¬ taining the individuality at the same time.

^' In so doing, the invention can remove the need of having stationary shelves and drawers and also can remove the need of separate implements to transport stored and shelved goods.

When the case drawer 1 is a "case", the lid 2 and base 3 remain hinged together and stored as a unit. However, if it is desired to use the drawer case as a drawer only, the lid 2 can be removed at the hinges so that the base 3 will act as a true drawer.

The recesses 20 and 21 are envisaged to be applicable to many objects and articles in order to store said objects and articles in cabinets or other storage facility. Recesses 20 and 21 can be fabricated or attached to the side of boxes, cases, camera cases, files and many other items.

The foregoing describes one embodiment of the present invention and modifications made by those skilled in the art, can be made thereto, without departing from the scope of the present invention.