METHOD FOR PRODUCING AN INTEGRATED DOOR FOR CABINET-LIKE

FURNITURE PIECES

DESCRIPTION

The present invention refers to an improved method for producing an integrated door as usually employed in cabinet-like furniture pieces intended in particular for home use.

In particular, the present invention is found to be advantageous mainly in the production of doors, in which the middle panel exposed to view is a mirror or a metal surface that must not be subject to any machining or metal processing that might damage or impair the appearance from outside.

Widely known in the art are methods for producing doors for cabinet-like furniture pieces, wherein the surface exposed to view from outside is formed of a panel, often a mirror or a metal panel, that is internally supported by a load- bearing structure formed of a frame, which said panel is joined to.

So, for example, known from the Italian patent no. 1181205 is a construction method for producing doors of the kind including a central mirror, wherein said mirror is supported by a frame that extends also externally with corresponding peripheral portions, which said mirror is applied and secured to.

Such solution, while quite effective from an aesthetical point of view, turns

however out as being rather complicated from a construction point of view due to the considerable number of processing steps required.

Known from the Italian patent no. 1234619 is on the other hand the method based on providing a door for cabinet-like furniture pieces of the kind comprising a load-bearing frame that supports a panel closing the cavity of the cabinet, and that is sized to be substantially similar to, or slightly smaller than, the peripheral size, i.e. the perimeter of said closing panel. However, the system used to secure said panel to the frame under the same panel is based on the use of four screws due to extend through the panel, and this - further to requiring a great extent of accuracy and care in completing the fastening operation - implies a certainly considerable amount of manual work to be carried out, considering that such multiple screw-tightening operation is scarcely fit for automation.

Known from the publication JP 02206544 A2 is a method for producing sound- deadening and vibration-damping panels, which comprises providing a first panel due to act as the outer panel exposed to view, an inner support panel due to work as a frame, and a middle adhesive layer which - owing to both its nature and the fact that it is fitted between said panels - is effective in damping the vibrations, which the entire panel structure may be subject to, to a really considerable extent.

This panel, while easy to produce, has however a drawback in that the inner support surface cannot act as an autonomous support, but needs on the contrary to be in turn supported by appropriate means provided to also perform a structural role.

It would therefore be desirable, and it is an object of the present invention, actually, to provide a method for producing an integrated door for cabinet-like furniture pieces that is simple, fast to be performed, reliable and free of any of the afore-cited drawbacks.

According to the present invention, this aim is reached in a particular kind of fabrication method that incorporates the features and characteristics as defined and recited in the appended claims.

Features and advantages of the present invention will anyway be more readily understood from the detailed description that is given below by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

- Figures 1 to 7 are respective views of corresponding steps carried out in performing the method for producing a door according to the present invention;

- Figures 8 and 8A are a view of a further step aimed at improving the method illustrated in the preceding Figures, and a cross-sectional view of a door for cabinet-like furniture pieces provided according to the method illustrated in the preceding Figure, respectively.

With reference to the above-listed Figures, a method according to the present invention is comprised of following steps:

1 ) providing a planar panel 1 due to perform a structural role; this panel 1 is preferably made of a sheet-metal piece, so as to be able to be easily bent (Figure 1 );

2) forming the related raised edges 2, 3, 4, 5 by bending them in a single and same direction, so that said panel 1 and said raised edges take the form of a parallelepiped open on a face thereof (Figure 2) and adapted to act as a frame;

3) providing separately a thick slab 6 so sized as to be able to fit exactly, i.e. flush within said parallelepiped-shaped frame; since such slab is only due to act as a filler, it can be made of a low-cost and most easily processable material that is anyway able to ensure an adequate extent of strength to distributed pressure, such as for instance high-density polystyrene foam (Figure 3);

4) applying a layer of an appropriate glue or adhesive on to the outer faces 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E, 6F, or at least some of such faces, of said slab 6 (Figure 4);

5) inserting said slab 6 into the cavity of said parallelepiped-shaped frame, so that said outer faces thereof are able to mate with and adhere against the inner, bent sides of said raised edges 2, 3, 4, 5 of said panel 1 (Figures 5, 5A and 5B);

6) applying the outer panel 8 on to said slab 6, wherein said outer panel will have previously been so formed and shaped as to be exactly supehmposable to the perimeter of said raised edges, i.e. capable of being laid in a flush manner thereupon (Figure 6);

7) compressing said outer panel 8 and said planar panel 1 orthogonally together (Figure 7), so as to stabilize and enable the adhesive provided between the outer face 6D of said slab 6 and the inner surface of said outer panel 8 to more effectively bond thereto.

As a result, said outer panel 8 is able to adhere against and firmly engage the outer face 6D of said slab 6, so as to form - jointly with said slab and said panel 1 - a single solid and stable body, i.e. the finished door.

Fully apparent is therefore the ability of the above-described method to enable a door of the afore-noted kind to be manufactured in a thoroughly simple manner, without any need arising for particular tools and techniques to be used.

Anyway, the method according to the present invention, as described above, is such as to allow for a number of further advantageous improvements, i.e.:

a) a first one of such improvements derives from the fact that said planar panel 1 is a metal sheet and it is formed so that the four corners thereof are so cut and shaped as to show four respective right-angle notches 10, 11 , 12, 13, i.e. four corresponding "relieves"; in fact, as clearly shown in Figure 1 , such a shaping allows the raised edges 2, 3, 4 and 5 to be bent along the respective dashed lines, in view of obtaining the afore-mentioned parallelepiped, without any risk of running into the problems that are typically brought about by excess material forming at the corners, which in fact would be a serious hindrance to free bending without

any material forming into lumps; in addition, the initial forming operation, which the planar panel 1 is subject to, is a simple blanking one, i.e. an operation that is widely known as being simple, fast, inexpensive and reliable to perform;

b) a second improvement relates to the way in which the panel is finished; with reference to Figure 8A, after the preceding step 7 of mutual compression, the outer peripheral border of the finished door is processed in view of removing the outwards oriented terminal edge portions 20 of said raised edges 2, 3, 4 and 5; in fact, these portions, although quite thin, are anyway such as to generate an angle that would be considered as an altogether avoidable sharp edge or corner by a user.

Therefore, such terminal edge portion 20 is removed, by means of processing techniques as they are largely known as such in the art, thereby allowing the processed and exposed surface of the raised edges 2, 3, 4, 5 to lie flush with the adjacent , similarly blunted and smoothed surface 21 of the outer panel 8.

It should finally be noticed that the fabrication method according to the present invention makes it certainly easier and safer for a mirror-like shining metal sheet, or even an actual mirror, to be used as an outer panel 8; in fact, the afore-cited parts making up the integrated door are applied and held together solely by the layer of adhesive provided on the outer surfaces of the internally fitted slab 6, so that they are by no way stressed by any mechanical processing or structural tension induced thereby.