The present invention relates to a furniture door for the fitting of hinges.

With particular but not exclusive reference to the caravan sector, it is known that there is an ongoing search for innovative materials for the provision of lightened interior furnishings, and in particular of their doors, which still have pleasant aesthetic characteristics and good mechanical strength but limited weight, so as not to affect negatively the overall weight of the vehicles in which they are incorporated, their consumption and their consequent polluting emissions.

For example, it is known to provide doors constituted by a finishing shell inside which a filling core is accommodated. The finishing shell is made of laminated material comprising two external sheets that constitute the mutually opposite faces of the door and are blended by a perimetric profile. The filling core is made of a material having reduced density, for example porous (foams made of polymeric material) or having a honeycomb structure (made of paper or cardboard).

These doors of the known type are not free from drawbacks, which include the fact that they make it particularly difficult to fit the hinges for connection to the structure of the pieces of furniture, which generally provide for a connecting plate which is fixed to the door by means of threaded elements.

The limited thickness of the external shell and the reduced mechanical strength of the internal core, in fact, do not allow the threaded elements to have enough grip in the door and do not allow to obtain a stable and durable connection. Nevertheless, during use the door often becomes detached from the hinge and from the corresponding threaded connection elements, causing damage of the corresponding finishing shell, which tends to chip at the entry holes of said threaded elements.

In order to try to overcome these problems, it is known to provide self-locking threaded bushings which are inserted by pressure into the door and form the female threads in which the threaded hinge connection elements engage. However, these bushings over time also tend to slide out of the door, with the risk, moreover, of damaging the corresponding finishing shell. Furthermore, the need to provide the bushings entails an increase in the overall costs.

As an alternative, it is known to provide connecting plates provided with internally threaded bushings which are glued to the pre-processed door in order to define the seats of the bushings. This solution, besides having in any case the problems mentioned above, entails a considerable complication of the processing cycle and a further increase in production costs, both for the additional materials and for the operating steps required.

The aim of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks mentioned above of the background art by devising a furniture door for the fitting of hinges which allows to obtain a connection that is stable and reliable over time with the hinges for articulation to the structure of the piece of furniture, without complicating the processing cycle or increasing the production costs of the door itself.

Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to preserve the integrity of the door during use, avoiding the risk of damage caused by the separation of the hinge.

A further object of the present invention is to have a structure that is simple, relatively easy to provide in practice, safe in use, effective in operation, and of relatively low cost.

This aim and these and other objects that will become more apparent hereinafter are all achieved by a furniture door for the fitting of hinges according to claim 1 and optionally provided with one or more of the characteristics according to the dependent claims.

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become better apparent from the detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of a furniture door for the fitting of hinges, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a furniture door for the fitting of hinges, according to the invention, associated with two hinges for articulation to the structure of a piece of furniture (not shown);

Figure 2 is a perspective and partially sectional view of a portion of a first embodiment of the door according to the invention, associated with a hinge for articulation to the structure of a piece of furniture; Figure 3 is a perspective and partially sectional view of a portion of a second embodiment of the door according to the invention, associated with a hinge for articulation to the structure of a piece of furniture;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the door according to the invention associated with a hinge for articulation to the structure of a piece of furniture;

Figures 5 and 6 are respective sectional views of Figure 4, taken along a plane that is transverse to the arrangement of the door according to the invention, in subsequent assembly steps.

With particular reference to the figures, a furniture door for the fitting of hinges is generally designated by the reference numeral 1.

The door 1 is designed, in use, to be associated by means of one or more hinges 101 for articulation to the structure 102 of a piece of furniture, forming a compartment, which is closed when the door 1 is arranged against said structure and rendered accessible by moving the door 1 by means of the hinges 101.

Typically, the hinges 101 allow the movement of the door 1 with respect to an axis having a substantially horizontal arrangement and are arranged along such axis.

The door 1 can have different shapes and dimensions. Generally, the door 1 has a substantially quadrangular plan shape and can have a flat or curved shape.

The door 1 has in any case two dimensions (length and width) which are much greater than the third (thickness) and therefore it has two surfaces that have a larger extension than the others. The door 1 is constituted by a finishing shell 2 comprising a pair of opposite faces 3 which are mutually blended by a perimetric band 4, inside which a filling core 5 is accommodated.

The faces 3 correspond to the larger surfaces of the door 1 , while the band 4 corresponds to the perimetric edge at the thickness of said door. The finishing shell 2 can be provided by means of laminated material of the conventional type so as to obtain the desired aesthetic covering.

The door 1 is adapted to be associated with the structure 102 of a piece of furniture by means of at least one hinge 101. Generally, there are at least two hinges 101 for the articulation of the door 1 to the structure 102 (Figure 1).

Each hinge 101 is provided with a connecting plate 103 adapted to abut against one of the faces 3 at a coupling region 6 and to be connected to said door by means of one or more threaded elements 104. Generally, threaded elements 104 such as self-tapping screws, which grip within the thickness of the door 1 during assembly while they are inserted in it, are used. For example, in the shown version there are four threaded elements 104 (of which only two are visible in the figures) for connecting the plate 103 of each hinge 101 to the door 1.

The plates 103 are arranged adjacent to the face 3 of the door 1 that in use is designed to be directed toward the inside of the piece of furniture.

It should be noted that the hinges 101 used can have different structures. The figures show, by way of example, conventional hinges 101 with a double quadrilateral mechanism and a closure shock-absorbing element, but the invention can be used with any type of known hinge provided with a plate 103 for connection to the door 1 by means of threaded elements 104.

The filling core 5 is made of lightened material, for example, having a porous or alveolar structure.

The filling core 5 made of material having a porous structure can be provided by means of polymeric foam, for example made of polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene or polyurethane, injected inside the finishing shell 2 and allowed to solidify.

The filling core 5 made of material having an alveolar structure can be provided by means of a panel made of paper, cardboard or polymeric material having, for example, a honeycomb structure or with tubular elements such as straws.

The door 1 comprises at least one stiffening insert 7 which is accommodated within the thickness of the filling core 5 at least at the region 6 for coupling with a corresponding hinge 101.

The insert 7 is constituted by a substantially plate-like element having such shape and dimensions as to have an extension at least equal to that of the plate 103 of the corresponding hinge 101.

If the door 1 is articulated to the structure 102 of the piece of furniture by means of two or more hinges 101, it is preferable to provide an insert 7 at each region 6 for coupling with a respective hinge 101, as shown in the figures.

In any case, it is not excluded to provide a single insert 7 having such an extension as to cover the regions 6 for coupling with two or more hinges 101.

In the description that follows, mention will be made generically of "an" insert 7, which is understood to refer to "each" insert 7 placed at a respective hinge 101 or to the "single" insert 7 provided at two or more hinges 101.

The insert 7 is preferably made of rigid material. For example, the insert 7 can be made of plastic or metallic material. If it is metallic, the insert 7 is preferably provided with a plurality of pre-holes 8 that pass through its thickness (Figure 3) in order to facilitate the insertion of the threaded elements 104 during fitting.

The insert 7 can have a thickness on the order of magnitude of a few millimeters, for example 3 mm.

In the step for fitting the door 1 to the structure 102 by virtue of the hinges 101, the presence of the insert 7 allows to obtain a better grip of the threaded elements 104 which, by passing through the thickness of the insert, remain anchored thereto, ensuring a more stable and durable connection.

Figures 5 and 6 show subsequent fitting steps in which a threaded element 104 is screwed inside the door 1 by passing through a face 3 of the finishing shell 2, part of the thickness of the filling core 5, and passing through the insert 7.

Preferably, the insert 7 is positioned at a distance from the perimetric band 4 in order to prevent the thickness of the door 1 from breaking up during use due to the traction transmitted to the threaded elements 104.

For example, the insert 7 can be arranged at a distance on the order of magnitude of 10 mm from the band 4.

Even more preferably, the insert 7 is completely immersed in the material of which the filling core 5 is made, material being provided also between the insert and the band 4.

For example, if the filling core 5 is obtained from solidified foam, the insert 7 can be kept in position inside the finishing shell 2 during the step of injection and hardening of the foam.

As an alternative, if the filling core 5 is made of heat-deformable plastic material and the insert 7 is made of metallic material, the latter can be heated and forced inside the material constituting the core.

If instead the filling core 5 is made of a material with an alveolar structure, a seat can be defined in which to accommodate the insert 7, the seat being then closed by a piece of the same material, optionally gluing it. In practice it has been found that the present invention achieves the intended aim and objects and in particular the fact is stressed that the door according to the invention allows to obtain a stable and durable connection with the hinges for articulation to the structure of the piece of furniture, preserving the integrity of said door and avoiding increasing the complexity of its structure and its processing cycle in order to avoid increasing the production costs.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims.

All the details may furthermore be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the requirements without thereby abandoning the protective scope of the claims that follow.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. 102020000005221 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.