This invention relates to mounting devices, and more particularly, though not exclusively, to devices for mounting furniture units such as cabinets on walls.

The invention provides a wall mounting device comprising a bracket assembly for attachment to a unit to be mounted on a wall, and hooking means for engaging the bracket assembly on a support anchored to the wall, in use, for suspending said unit from the support, wherein said hooking means comprises a releasable locking mechanism movable into a locking position for blocking disengagement of the bracket assembly from the support, with said locking mechanism being arranged to move into its locking position automatically upon engagement of the bracket assembly with the support.

By way of example, an embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a wall mounting device according to the invention,

Figure 2 is a detail view of the locking lever of the device of Figure 1, Figures 3a, 3b and 3c show the device of Figure 1 in use with a furniture unit, and Figure 4 is an enlarged detail view of the locking assembly.

Wall hanging brackets for mounting furniture units such as cabinets and the like on walls are generally known. These typically involve brackets for attachment to the unit to engage a support affixed to the wall. These brackets commonly include mechanisms for making horizontal and vertical adjustments to enable the position and/or inclination of the unit to be adjusted once mounted. Typically, however, conventional brackets do not have any means of preventing their accidental dislodgement. The device 10 seen in Figure 1 is in the form of a bracket assembly for mounting a furniture unit such as a cabinet or the like on a wall. The unit will typically be mounted using two of these devices 10, attached to the back of the unit at each top corner. The device 10 incoporates horizontal and vertical adjusting mechanisms to allow for adjustment of the unit after mounting. Normally, the device 10 will be hidden by a decorative cover, but this has been omitted from the drawings for the sake of clarity. The components of the device 10 and its manner of operation are seen in Figures 3a, 3b and 3c. The device 10 is secured to the inside of the unit 11 at the junction of its top frame 12 and backboard 13 by suitable means such as screws. The device 10 is designed to partly protrude out of the back of the unit 11 through a hole 14 in the backboard 13. The protruding part of the device 10 comprises a rigid arm 15. The arm 15 extends generally horizontally out of the unit 11 and ends in a downwardly extending hook 16. The hook 16 is designed to engage a rigid support 17 which is anchored to a wall 18 by suitable means such as screws. Here, the support 17 is in the form of a horizontally arranged elongate rail.

The support 17, seen in Figures 3a, 3b and 3c in cross-section, has a lip 19 that extends upwardly and outwardly from the surface of the wall 18. The gap thereby created is designed to receive the hook 16 of the arm 15 as the unit 11 is lowered into position. The support 17 is thereby able to take the weight of the unit 11 and its contents.

The device 10 here has a safety locking mechanism to ensure that the unit 11 cannot become accidentally dislodged from its mounting on the wall 18 by being inadvertently lifted off the support 17. The locking mechanism comprises a lever 20 pivotally mounted on the arm 15 to enagage and latch onto the support 17 in use. The lever 20 is mounted on the arm 15 by a pivot pin 21 and spring-loaded by a compression spring 22. The biassing action of spring 22 is arranged to urge the lever 20 towards its locking position as seen in Figure 3b. The lever 20 has a nose section 23. The free edge of the lip 19 of the support 17 is doubled over, as seen in Figures 3a, 3b and 3c, to create a rounded profile 24. In use, the lever 20 comes into contact with the support 17 by engagement of the nose section 23 with the rounded profile 24. This is the point illustrated in Figure 3a. The contouring of the rounded profile 24 in this manner helps to reduce frictional forces involved in the interaction between the lever 20 and the support 17, as described below, and the nose section 23 of the lever 20 is preferably also contoured for similar reasons.

The doubling over of the free edge of the lip 19 of the support 17 creates a downwardly facing ledge 25, as seen in Figures 3a, 3b and 3c. The nose section 23 of the lever 20 is rebated to form an upwardly facing latching surface 26. It will be seen that further lowering of the unit 11 from the position seen in Figure 3a will result in the nose section 23 riding over the rounded profile 24 of the support 17, causing the lever 20 to pivot as it does so, against the biassing action of the spring 22. Eventually, the latching surface 26 of the lever 20 will be sprung under the ledge 25 of the support 17 under the biassing action of the spring 22. This is the position seen in Figure 3b. This is the locking position of the locking mechanism. In this position, it will be seen that the ledge 25 constitutes a physical block against possible upward movement of the latching surface 26, hence positively preventing the possibility of the device 10 moving out of its engagement with the support 17.

It will be noted that the lever 20 is designed to move automatically into its locking position upon lowering of the device 10 onto the support 17. This means that when a unit incorporating the device 10 is lowered into position on a support 17, the locking mechanism will be activated without need of intervention by hand or by tool. This contrasts with many conventional systems, which require a manual step in the mounting process.

It is to be noted that the geometry of the lever 20 and its manner of mounting are chosen so as to ensure that it will automatically tend to fall towards its locking position as seen in Figure 3b under force of gravity. This arrangement means that the locking function of the device 10 is effectively fail safe, because the lever 20 will still tend to perform its proper role, even if the spring 22 goes missing or otherwise ceases to function. The fail safe functionality of the lever 20 is further assisted by arranging for the axis of the pin 21 that pivotally mounts it to be slightly offset from the point of contact between the rigid arm 16 and the support 17. This offset is indicated by measurement x in Figure 4.

It is also to be noted that the vertical height of the doubled over lip 19 of the support 17, indicated by measurement y in Figure 4, is considerably less than the overall height of the support 17 itself, indicated by measurement z in Figure 4. In this case, measurement y is less than a fifth of measuremnt z. Locking mechanisms for conventional wall mounting brackets typically span between both upper and lower edges of the supporting rail. The arrangement seen here thus offers a significantly more compact solution that needs far less space than conventional devices.

The device 10 is provided with a release mechanism for unlocking the locking mechanism. The free end 27 of the lever 20 opposite to its nose section 23 is accessible via a hole 28 in a frame section 29 of the device 10. This enables the lever 20 to be pivoted by pressing with a tool such as a screwdriver A. This is the situation seen in Figure 3c. It will be seen that pressing on the free end 27 of the lever 20 pivots its latching surface 26 out of engagement with the ledge 25, against the biasing action of the spring 22, thus allowing the unit 11 to be lifted upwardly and off the support 17. This is the unlocked position of the locking mechanism. The lever 20 conveniently has an automatic retaining mechanism to hold it in its unlocked position. This is seen in Figure 2. Here, the retaining mechanism is in the form of a keeper 30 formed on a resiliently flexible wing 31 of the lever 20. The wing 31 is designed to resiliently deflect as it engages another frame section 32 of the device 10, as the lever 20 is pivoted towards its unlocked position, until the keeper 30 is able to spring into a hole 33. The engagement of the keeper 30 in the hole 33 will then retain the lever 20 in its unlocked position, allowing for removal of the unit 11. This is the position seen in Figure 3c. The lever 20 can be allowed to spring back to its start position under the biasing action of the spring 22 simply by pressing the keeper 30 out of its engagement with the hole 33.