FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns a furniture element, such as a wardrobe for containing garments, such as a containing piece of furniture used as a wardrobe. In particular, the present invention can be used, merely by way of example, in the home, in hotels or in commercial activities selling clothes, for the temporary storage of objects or garments, to move or remove the same, also automatically.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conveyors are known, for the temporary storage and movement of hanging objects, in order to make them available for an operator so they can be selectively removed in a desired position.

In particular, conveyors are known to transfer hanging objects such as for example garments, comprising a support frame on which a guide is mounted, typically a rail or a pair of rails, which defines a closed path.

Inside or on the guide a mobile support unit is made to slide, normally in a closed-ring and suitable to transport the objects in suspension, which are disposed attached to it so as to be hung up.

These known conveyors are normally used in the professional field, for example in professional or industrial laundries in which a large number of garments are treated.

It is known to use said conveyors in the home as well, in particular to overcome the disadvantage of known wardrobes wherein, in order to retrieve the garments he/she wishes to wear, the user has to remove them autonomously from the temporary storage position.

Sometimes this operation can be difficult or inconvenient, especially if it is difficult to access inside the wardrobe, as may happen when it is made in an attic as a built-in wardrobe to close the lower part of the room. In this case it may happen that the wardrobe also extends into zones situated behind pieces of furniture or dividing walls and that such zones may be located distant from the access door to the wardrobe.

It may also be inconvenient or difficult to retrieve garments for a user when the user has a large number of garments and consequently the wardrobe is very big.

It is however a disadvantage of known conveyors used in the home that they are not very safe, because the moving mechanical components are exposed, and they are not very esthetically pleasing.

Indeed, when the support unit is moving, the user can often become caught in the moving mechanical components or, worse, he/she may cut himself/herself due to the shearing effect between fixed parts and moving parts.

One purpose of the present invention is to obtain a furniture element used as a wardrobe that is capacious and that allows the user to retrieve the garments that he/she wishes to wear on each occasion, possibly using a motorized conveyor, both quickly, easily and safely, without risks to his/her safety.

Another purpose of the present invention is to obtain a furniture element used as a wardrobe that has an esthetic appearance suitable for the requirements of installation in the home.

The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is set forth and characterized in the independent claim, while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the invention or variants to the main inventive idea.

In accordance with the above purposes, a furniture element according to the present invention is intended for use as a wardrobe in the home, hotels or in commercial activities selling garments, and comprises at least a flat plane delimiting at least part of a containing compartment for garments.

According to one characteristic of the present invention, the furniture element comprises a conveyor device integrated into the at least one flat plane, the conveyor device in turn comprising a support unit of the garments. The support unit is selectively mobile along a closed-ring path to allow to move the garments along the conveyor device and to facilitate the user in choosing and removing the garments. The conveyor device is integrated in the flat plane in the sense that at least the support unit is housed inside the flat plane, that is, in the thickness of the latter. In this way the advantage is obtained that, even in home use, hotel use or in commercial activities selling garments, it is possible to use techniques for moving garments that are usually reserved for professional fields. This is made possible by the fact that the integration described above allows to insert into the panel the mechanical components of the conveyor device and in particular the areas of contact between the moving mechanical parts, confining them to zones that cannot be reached directly from the outside by the user. This reduces, or eliminates, the risk of crushing, cutting or catching the user's fingers or hands.

Moreover, integrating the conveyor device into the flat plane or planes avoids compromising the esthetic appearance of the furniture element, since it confers on the flat plane an esthetically linear, simple and clean appearance, and hence in conformity with the typical requirements of home use.

According to some possible forms of embodiment, the conveyor device may comprise a motor unit connected to the support unit that supports the garments and configured to move the support unit along the closed-ring path. The motor unit is at least partly housed inside the flat plane. In this way it is possible to automate the movement of the support unit and facilitate the operations of choosing and removing the garments, also in an automated way and /or driven from a distance. For example, the motor unit can be driven by a remote control device, a computer or a phone.

In some forms of embodiment, the at least one flat plane comprises an internal compartment made in its own thickness and in which the motor unit is partly or completely contained.

In some forms of embodiment, as well as the motor, the motor unit comprises one or more transmission members, which are in turn contained, partly or completely, in the internal compartment of the flat plane.

According to some features of the present invention, the flat plane comprises a sliding seating made in its own thickness and defining a ring guide of the conveyor device. One or more sliders, mobile along a trajectory defined by the ring guide, are contained in the sliding seating.

In some forms of embodiment of the present invention, the ring guide comprises a slit which puts the sliding seating into communication with the internal compartment. The slit allows a transmission member, such as a toothed crown housed in the internal compartment of the flat plane, to contact one or more sliders present in the sliding seating and part of the support unit.

This contact allows to transmit the motion from the electric motor to the support unit and, peculiar to the present invention, by means of a coupling contained entirely in the flat plane.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of some forms of embodiment, given as a non- restrictive example with reference to the attached drawings wherein:

- fig. 1 is a three-dimensional view of a furniture element used as a wardrobe according to the present invention;

- fig. 2 is a partly sectioned view of a part of the wardrobe in fig. 1 ;

- fig. 3 is an enlargement of a detail in fig. 2;

- fig. 4 is a partial view of a component of the wardrobe in fig. 1 ;

- fig. 5 is a partly sectioned view of a part of the wardrobe in fig. 1 ;

- fig. 6 is an enlargement of a detail in fig. 5;

- fig. 7 is a partial perspective view of a furniture element according to a variant of fig. 1 ;

- fig. 8 is a lateral view of a component of fig. 7;

- fig. 9 is an enlarged view of a detail of fig. 6 according to a possible variant.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SOME FORMS OF EMBODIMENT

With reference to fig. 1, a furniture element such as a wardrobe according to the present invention is indicated in its entirety by the reference number 10 and can be defined for example by a built-in wardrobe, or a containing piece of furniture, such as a wardrobe.

In the specific case shown by way of example in fig. 1, the wardrobe 10 includes a support structure 11 that supports a flat plane 14 and contributes with it to delimit a containing compartment 12.

The support structure 1 1 can include a plurality of perimeter walls 11a that can be defined, as in fig. 1, by panels that make up the structure of a containing piece of furniture, or perimeter walls of the room of a building, or the floor of a room on which support means rest, such as bars, frames or other. However, it is not excluded that, in other forms of embodiment, the support structure 11 may comprise suspension support means to keep the flat plane 14 in a suspended condition with respect to a wall.

Some forms of embodiment may provide that a single wardrobe 10 can include several containing compartments 12, for example adjacent or one above the other, depending on the number and disposition of the perimeter walls 1 1a and flat planes 14.

Hereafter in the description we shall refer only to one containing compartment 12, merely by way of example and without intending to limit the present invention which, as we said, can also include a plurality of containing compartments 12.

In particular, the flat plane 14 delimits the containing compartment 12 at the top, and integrates a conveyor device 15 configured to support and move the garments 13.

In some forms of embodiment, the flat plane 14 can be made with plates 14a, for example metal, attached to each other to define the faces thereof, and can be hollow inside.

In other forms of embodiment, the flat plane 14 can have a solid or partly solid section, for example a drum-like structure made of wood or aluminum or a composition of these two materials or others, such as for example glass, polymer materials, or wood derivatives or, substitutes and can have one or more internal cavities.

The external surfaces of the flat plane 14 can be lined with lining materials such as fabrics, leather, imitation leather, non-woven fabrics or other materials suitable for the purpose, in order to confer a desired esthetic appearance on the flat plane 14.

The conveyor device 15 can include a motor unit 16 that functions as a movement mean for a support unit 17.

The motor unit 16 moves the support unit 17 along a ring guide 18 configured to make the garments 13 perform a closed sliding trajectory, that is, a ring path, inside the containing compartment 12. The closed sliding trajectory lies on a plane parallel to the flat plane 14.

The support unit 17 can include a support member for the garments 13, such as for example a belt 20 with an annular conformation made of a metal material, for example steel or aluminum, or polymer, for example ABS (acrylonitrile- butadiene-styrene) .

The belt 20 can be holed and include a plurality of through apertures 21 into which hooks 22 of clothes-hangers 23 can be inserted, which support the garments 13. The through apertures 21 can be of sizes suitable to allow to attach one hook 22 of clothes-hangers 23, as shown for example in figs. 1-6, or have a length suitable to accommodate several hooks 22 of clothes-hangers 23 as shown for example in figs. 7 and 8.

The garments 13 are substantially hanging in the containing compartment 12 of the wardrobe 10 and move inside it due to the effect of the movement of the support unit 17.

In some forms of embodiment, the containing compartment 12 includes a loading/removal area 24, accessible to the user from outside the wardrobe 10, in which the garments 13 are loaded by the user on the belt 20, or removed therefrom.

The containing compartment 12 also includes a temporary storage area 25, in which the garments 13 are positioned after loading and before removal.

In some forms of embodiment, the motor unit 16 can be connected to remote drive means 26, which can be the electric cable type or wireless, as shown for example in fig. 1.

The remote drive means 26 can include electronic or electromechanical activators and/or control devices of the motor unit 16, such as for example position transducers that allow to determine the relative position of the through apertures 21 of the belt 20 with respect to the loading/removal area 24.

With reference to figs. 2 to 6, the ring guide 18 can be defined by an annular sliding seating 19 made in the thickness of the flat plane 14 and that extends for most of the plan bulk of the flat plane 14.

In this case, as shown in fig. 3, the sliding seating 19 can be delimited at the top and bottom by two plates 14a, and laterally by two C-shaped profiles 27.

The shaped profiles 27 can have a rectilinear or curvilinear development, or a composite rectilinear-curvilinear development.

In possible implementations, where the flat plane 14 has a solid or drum-type section, the ring guide 18 can also be defined by a sliding seating 1 made in the drum structure, in which its external panels constitute the plates 14a that delimit the sliding seating 19 at the top and bottom, and the already cited shaped profiles 27 delimit it laterally.

With reference to figs. 2 to 4, the support unit 17 includes a plurality of sliders 28 attached to the belt 20, disposed along the ring guide 18 and positioned sliding inside the sliding seating 19.

The sliders 28 each include an anchoring base 29 to which are attached both the belt 20 and also sliding means 30 that allow the sliders 28 to slide on the ring guide 18.

The sliding means 30 can include a plurality of rollers 31 connected to the anchoring base 29 and rotatable around their axes of rotation R that can be both parallel to the lying plane of the sliding trajectory and also orthogonal thereto, that is, parallel or orthogonal with respect to the lying plane of the belt 20.

The attachment of the belt 20 to the anchoring bases 29 provides the presence in the flat plane 14 of a guide aperture 32, with an annular development, parallel to the ring guide 18 and extending along the whole sliding seating 19. The guide aperture 32 puts the sliding seating 19 into communication with the containing compartment 12. The belt 20 is located through, with its thickness, through the guide aperture 32.

Figs. 5 and 6 are used to describe forms of embodiment in which the motor unit 16 includes an electric motor 33 associated with the flat plane 14.

In possible forms of embodiment, the electric motor 33 can be included inside a containing shell 34 attached to the flat plane 14, for example in its lower part, facing toward the containing compartment 12.

Other implementations can provide that the electric motor 33 is entirely contained in a suitable compartment made inside the thickness of the flat plane

14.

The motor unit 16 can include a toothed crown 35, connected to the electric motor 33 from which it receives rotational motion, for example directly or indirectly by the interposition of a pulley 36.

The toothed crown 35, as in the specific case of figs. 2 and 3, can be contained in an internal compartment 37 made in the thickness of the flat plane 14. In this way the flat plane 14 functions as a protection and containing body for the toothed crown 35 and the portion of belt 20 that engages on the latter and thus avoids maintaining exposed parts that are dangerous for the user.

The internal compartment 37 and the sliding seating 19 can be communicating by means of a slit 38 into which a peripheral part of the toothed crown 35 is inserted.

The toothed crown 35 is moved by the electric motor 33 and rotates around its axis of rotation X, orthogonal to the lying plane of the sliding trajectory. The toothed crown 35 is configured and disposed in a position such that it contacts the support unit 17 and causes it to advance.

According to one possible form of embodiment, shown for example with reference to figs. 1-9, motion is conferred on the support unit 17 by the motor unit 16 by contact between the toothed crown 35, in particular its peripheral part, and the sliders 28 which on each occasion are in correspondence with the zone of the ring guide 18 where there is the slit 38.

This contact determines the thrusting of the sliders 28 along the sliding trajectory defined by the ring guide 18 and the consequent drawing of the belt 20 and therefore of the garments 13.

According to a possible variant of the present invention, not shown in the drawings, it may be provided that the toothed crown 35 is configured to engage directly on the through apertures 21 made on the belt 20, in this way causing it to advance.

Consequently, the toothed crown 35 and the possible pulley 36, and also possible other gears or mechanical transmission elements interposed between the electric motor 33 and the toothed crown 35, function as members to transmit motion from the electric motor 33 to the support unit 17.

The solution described above, in which the toothed crown 35 engages on the support unit 17, and more specifically inside the sliding seating 19, advantageously allows to enclose, inside the flat plane 14, that is, in a zone not accessible to the user, at least some of the moving mechanical components in reciprocal contact. The contact area between the electric motor 33 and the transmission members, that is, the toothed crown 35 and the pulley 36, and the contact area between these and the sliders 28, can be dangerous zones for the user, in particular due to the risk of crushing and cutting his/her fingers. This advantage is peculiar to the wardrobe 10 according to the present invention and differs from the state of the art in that in known conveyors of the industrial and professional type, even if used in the home, such contact areas between the components of the motor unit 16 or between the motor unit 16 and the support unit 17 can be reached by the user and hence are potentially harmful for his/her safety.

When the user drives the electric motor 33, this moves the support unit 17 so as to make the garments 13 present in the temporary storage area 25 move in succession toward the loading/removal area 24.

The opposite movement is possible when the garments 13 are loaded in the loading/removal area 24 and then intended for the temporary storage area 25.

It is clear that modifications and/or additions of parts may be made to the wardrobe 10 as described heretofore, without departing from the field and scope of the present invention.

For example, in possible implementations, the remote drive means 26 connected to the motor unit 16 can be configured to perform the instructions of an automated management program of the movements described above.

This can allow, even in a domestic wardrobe 10, to easily manage the temporary storage and removal of garments 13, in an automated manner, for example simply by selecting the desired garment/garments 13 through a user interface of the remote drive means 26.

In another form of embodiment, shown for example with reference to figs. 7 and 8 and possibly able to be combined with the forms of embodiment described here, the support unit 17 can comprise auxiliary support means 39 which can be connected to the belt 20 and define other attachment zones for the garments 13, as well as those provided by the through apertures 21 of the belt 20.

According to the form of embodiment in figs. 7 and 8, the auxiliary support means 39 comprise a plurality of support elements 40 with an oblong development, reciprocally connected to each other in correspondence with their ends.

The support elements 40 can comprise for example bars or section shapes. The auxiliary support means 39 also comprise suspension elements 41 able to be connected to the belt 20 and configured to support in suspension the support elements 40, distanced from the belt 20. The suspension elements 41 can comprise, merely by way of example, belts, cables, bars or a possible combination thereof.

The suspension elements 41 can be provided with adjustment elements 42 configured to adjust the length of the suspension elements 41 and therefore the distance of the support elements 40 from the belt 20.

It is also clear that, although the present invention has been described with reference to some specific examples, a person of skill in the art shall certainly be able to achieve many other equivalent forms of wardrobe, having the characteristics as set forth in the claims and hence all coming within the field of protection defined thereby.