The invention concerns a damping device for movable parts of pieces of furniture, which is particularly suitable for dampening foldable doors having a combined swinging and translation movement. In the furniture sector, the use of damping devices to dampen the movement of movable parts of pieces of furniture such as doors, drawers or the like, is known; a device of this type, for example known from EP 1006251 , generally comprises fluid damping means, for example a linear or rotary viscous fluid damping device, operatively connected with a linearly movable driving member which extends from a housing body.

The housing body can be fixed on a peripheral wall of the fixed part of the piece of furniture or it can be inserted in a cavity obtained in a peripheral wall of the fixed part of the piece of furniture, in such a way that the driving member extends frontally from the fixed part of the piece of furniture to contact the furniture door at least in correspondence with the final part of the closing movement of the door itself, in such a way as to slow down the closing movement and prevent the door from hitting the fixed part of the piece of furniture.

This configuration of damping device is particularly suitable for dampening the movement of conventional swinging doors around a hinged axis; however this type of solution, there being direct contact of the door with the driving member, does not allow to modulate the damping intensity along the operating stroke of the device.

This configuration has also proved unsuitable for use on pieces of furniture with folding doors or, more generally, with doors which fold according to a combined swinging and translation movement; in this case, during the contact of the door with the driving member, there is a relative movement transversely to the actuating direction of the device, causing possible jamming of the device and over time an aesthetic damage to the door at the contact surface with the driving member. In addition, the damping device has an extension in the longitudinal actuating direction of the device that does not allow its application in the thickness of the door; it is therefore necessary to mount it on the fixed part of the piece of furniture, resulting in a greater aesthetic impact.

There is therefore a need to have a damping device for pieces of furniture that has the possibility of modulating the damping action and which can be fixed to furniture doors and which can also be validly used to dampen folding doors according to a combined swinging and translation movement.

An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a damping device for pieces of furniture that allows the damping action to be modulated along the operating stroke of the device, resulting at the same time constructively simple.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a damping device of the kind under consideration, which can be used to dampen doors which fold according to a combined swinging and translation movement, by ensuring an optimal damping action without jamming and preventing any damage to the surface of the piece of furniture intended to come into contact with the driving member of the device.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a damping device of the kind under consideration, which has limited overall dimensions such as to allow it to be mounted in the thickness of a door or a drawer front.

The above can be achieved by means of a damping device for movable parts of pieces of furniture having a relative movement with respect to a fixed part of the piece of furniture, comprising :

- a housing body fixable to one of said fixed part or said movable part of the piece of furniture,

- fluid damping means arranged in said housing body,

- a driving member operatively connected with said damping means, the driving member being movably supported by said housing body, characterized in that said driving member is swingably supported by said housing body by means of a swinging axis, and in that the driving member has a contacting portion conformed and arranged in such a way to contact the other of said fixed part or said movable part of the piece of furniture at least at a part of a closing or opening movement of the movable furniture part, the driving member further having an actuating portion conformed and arranged for actuating said fluid damping means.

Further characteristics of the present invention are further defined in the subsequent claims.

The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more evident from the following description of a preferential but not exclusive embodiment of the damping device for pieces of furniture, with reference to the attached figures, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a piece of furniture equipped with the damping device according to the present invention, fixed in a cavity on an inner side of a furniture door; Figure 2 is an enlarged detail of Fig. 1 , in which the damping device according to the invention is more visible;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the damping device according to the invention;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the damping device mounted in the door of the piece of furniture of Fig. 1 ;

Figure 5 is the longitudinal sectional view of the damping device of Fig. 4, with the door in a partially open position in which the damping device has contacted the furniture body but has not yet been stressed; and

Figure 6 is the longitudinal sectional view of the damping device of Fig. 4, with the door in the closed position in which the damping device has been stressed to the end of its operating stroke.

The figures show a damping device 10 according to an embodiment of the invention, which is particularly suitable for dampening movable parts of pieces of furniture, such as wings, doors, drawers or the like. In the illustrated embodiment, the damping device 10 is mounted in a piece of furniture having a fixed part 11 and doors 12 which can be folded according to a combined swinging and translation movement; the damping device can however also be used to dampen conventional swinging doors or drawers.

Preferably, the doors 12 are configured to be foldable in such a way to be concealed in lateral niches of the fixed part 11 of the piece of furniture, as explained below; in particular, the piece of furniture comprises a fixed part or body 11 formed by an upper wall 13, a lower wall 14, side walls 15 and a rear wall 16 defining an internal compartment open on a front side and closable by means of the doors 12. Each door 12 comprises a first closing panel 12' hingedly connected directly or indirectly to the fixed part 11 of the piece of furniture and a second closing panel 12” hingedly connected to the first closing panel 12’ in such a way to be mutually folded.

In the piece of furniture illustrated, the first panel 12', on an opposite side to the second panel 12", is indirectly connected to the piece of furniture, in particular hinged to a sliding support element or frame 17 that allows to control the opening and closing movement of the door 12 ; specifically, two support elements 17 are provided, arranged on opposite sides of the piece of furniture and conformed to protrude and re-enter respective niches provided on an external side of the corresponding side walls 15 of the piece of furniture, which niches are closed by suitable panels 17' carried frontally by the support elements 17 themselves.

Each of the two elements 17, which supports a respective door 12 formed as mentioned by two folding panels 12', 12", slides parallel to the side wall 15, so as to be able to come out of the niche to control the opening, folding and retractable movement of the door 12 into the niche, in cooperation with appropriate guide means for the door provided on the piece of furniture.

In the piece of furniture illustrated, the damping device 10 according to the invention is arranged and fixed in a cavity obtained on an inner side of one of the panels 12', 12" of each door 12, for example on the second panel 12", in such a way as to be facing the upper wall 13 of the piece of furniture for the purpose of operating the device; however, a different positioning of the damping device is not excluded, for example in a cavity obtained frontally in the thickness of the upper wall 13 or lower wall 14 of the piece of furniture to come into contact with the furniture door. The damping device 10 comprises a housing body 18, for example in a single piece or formed by several body parts assembled together, which body 18 has inside itself a housing seat for fluid damping means, as hereinafter explained; the damping device 10 further comprises a driving member 19 operatively connected to the damping means, which is movably supported by said housing body 18.

According to the present invention, the driving member 19 is swingably supported by the housing body 18 by means of a swinging axis 20; moreover, the driving member 19 has a contacting portion 21 conformed and arranged in such a way as to contact in the illustrated solution, the front surface 13’ of the upper wall 13 of the piece of furniture at least in correspondence with a part of a closing or opening movement of the door 12, it also has an actuating portion 22 conformed and arranged for actuating the fluid damping means directly or indirectly by means of suitable transmission means, for example an intermediate lever and / or sliding block or by means of gears. If, on the other hand, the damping device is arranged on the fixed part

11 of the piece of furniture, the contacting portion 21 of the device will be conformed and arranged to contact the inner surface of the furniture door.

Preferably, the driving member 19 in correspondence with the contacting portion 21 has a friction reducing element; the friction reducing element is preferably conformed as a roller 21 or a rolling bearing, but it is not excluded that it may be conformed as piece of self-lubricating material and / or of a material having a reduced friction coefficient.

Thanks to the presence of the friction reducing element, in particular conformed as a roller 21 or bearing, when the driving member 19 contacts the front surface 13' of the upper wall 13 of the piece of furniture there is no jamming or minor damage to the piece of furniture which could arise in particular in the case of combined swinging and translation movement of the doors.

The driving member 19 is preferably conformed as a swinging lever having a first arm 19' on which the contacting portion is defined and a second arm 19” on which the actuating portion 22 is defined for actuating the fluid damping means; the second arm 19" of the driving member 19 extends on a side opposite to the first arm 19' with respect to the swinging axis 20, and preferentially extends substantially transversely or in any case angled with respect to the extension axis of the first arm 19' of the driving member 19. With the solution according to the invention it is possible to modulate the damping action along the operating stroke of the device, since it is possible to shape and / or orient in a simple way the actuating portion 22 and / or the second arm 19" of the driving member 19 as a function of the damping effect to be obtained, possibly also providing a cam surface at the actuating portion 22 for interacting with a portion or surface of the damping means.

Preferably, the housing body 18 extends in a longitudinal direction orthogonally to the swinging axis 20 of the driving member 19 and has a reduced depth such as to allow its insertion into the cavity obtained in the thickness of the door 12. The driving member 19 is swingably movable between a first initial position which occurs when the damping device is not stressed, in which the contacting portion 21 of the driving member 19 protrudes from a front opening of the housing body 18, and a second position which occurs when the damping device is stressed by the opposite part of the piece of furniture, in which the contacting portion 21 of the driving member 19 is pressed and then re-enters into the housing body 18.

The damping device 10 comprises elastic return means, not illustrated, for example housed in the damping means or acting directly on the driving member 19, which urge and tend to bring the driving member 19 back to the first initial position. The damping means preferably comprise a linear fluid damper 23 extending according to an axis, which is longitudinally arranged in the housing body 18; for example, the damper 23 can be of the oil type comprising an oil containment cylinder 24 in which a piston, not illustrated, is movable, connected to a piston rod 25 which extends from the cylinder 24 to allow the actuating of the damper 23.

In the illustrated embodiment, the second arm 19" of the driving member 19 extends substantially orthogonally to the axis of the linear damper 23 and is placed at the end of the cylinder 24 of the damper 23 ; in this way, when the roller 21 of the driving member 19 contacts the upper wall 13 of the piece of furniture and generates a rotation of the driving member 19 itself, the second arm 19" compresses the damper 23, thus obtaining a dampening effect for the closing movement of the door 12.

However, it is not excluded that the damping means are of another type, for example a grease-filled rotary damper ; in this case the actuating portion 22 of the driving member 19 will have suitable transmission means or operative connection, for example a toothing engageable with a gear connected with the rotary damper.

Preferably, the damping device comprises magnetic retaining means, for example conformed as a magnet 26 or a ferromagnetic element, arranged in or on the housing body 18 and couplable with a corresponding magnetic or ferromagnetic element 27 arranged on the other piece of furniture than that on which the damping device is arranged, for holding the movable part of the piece of furniture in a closing or opening position with respect to the fixed part of the piece of furniture.

Preferably the magnet 26 can be carried by an adjustment element 28 made of ferromagnetic material which can be adjustably engaged by screw means in a hole of the housing body 18, so as to be able to adjust the position of the magnetic means in the frontal direction.

Preferably, means are provided for adjusting the swinging stroke of the driving member 19, for example conformed as an adjustment dowel 30 adjustably arranged on the driving member 19 and conformed to contact a stop element 31 on the housing body 18 ; on the driving member 19 a block or abutment element 32 in soft material, for example in rubber, is also preferentially provided to avoid any noise when the driving member 19 leans on the housing body 18 at the initial position in which the contacting portion 21 protrudes from the cavity in the door to be activated when closing the door itself.

In order to cover the visible front surface of the housing body 18 it is possible to provide the application of a cover casing, not shown Generally, the damping device according to the invention can be used in a piece of furniture comprising a fixed part and at least a movable part having a relative movement with respect to the fixed part, in which the fixed part or the movable part has a cavity for the insertion of the damping device; once the damping device has been inserted into the cavity and fixed to the relative part of the piece of furniture, for example by means of screws 29, the contacting portion 21 of the driving member 19 of the device protrudes from the cavity beyond the surface of the furniture part to contact the other part of the piece of furniture at least in correspondence with a part of a closing or opening movement of the movable part of the piece of furniture. From the above it is evident that the damping device according to the invention achieves the aforementioned purposes, as it allows to obtain a damping action that can be modulated along the operating stroke of the device ; It can also be used to dampen folding doors according to a combined swinging and translation movement, ensuring an optimal dampening action without jamming and preventing any damage to the surface of the piece of furniture intended to come into contact with the driving member of the device.

Furthermore, the damping device according to the invention has a limited overall dimensions such as to allow it to be mounted in the thickness of a door or a drawer front. The damping device according to the invention is however susceptible to modifications and variations falling within the scope of the inventive concept; furthermore the construction details can be replaced by technically equivalent elements.