Sliding door hardware assembly and method

Abstract

A hardware assembly is provided for cabinet sliding doors as are used with entertainment centers. The hardware assembly includes a u-shaped spacer which is attached to a slotted plate in selective fashion to provide infinite relative positioning. The hardware assembly can be quickly installed and adjusted by inexperienced personnel which is useful in finishing the cabinet and thereafter, daily usage.

Description

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention[0002] The invention herein pertains to hardware for sliding doors and particularly for large doors as are used with entertainment centers.[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art And Objectives of the Invention[0004] In recent years entertainment centers have become popular furniture items for homes, motels, hotels and offices. Entertainment centers are generally large cabinets made of wood or similar materials which will house stereos, cd players, television sets, VCR's and other entertainment equipment. It is important that the entertainment center be closable when not in use yet when opened the doors need to not only fold but retract into the cabinet due to their large size. As a result, folding and sliding door hardware has been used for many years. However, many cabinets have front moldings which extend to reduce the frontal opening. This has required the hardware installers to use wooden blocks or other materials to offset the fixed tracks to acc...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0006] In order to overcome these and other problems associated with conventional sliding door cabinet hardware, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide cabinet door hardware which is both easy to install and which provides a superior functioning cabinet door.

[0007] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a sliding door hardware assembly and method which can be easily used by inexperienced installers in minimum time.

[0008] It is still another objective of the present invention to provide sliding door hardware including a slotted plate which allows a cabinet finisher to quickly, temporarily adjust the door so that all edges are exposed external of the cabinet, without the necessity of totally removing the doors from the cabinet, and then, easily readjusting the door to its normal operational position.

[0009] It is a further objective of the present invention to provide metal u-shaped spacers and slotted plates which can be uniformly produced and easily adapted to conventional sliding door hardware which will replace wooden fill strips.

Problems solved by technology

These wooden blocks or supports are often unsatisfactory since they may split or be of non-uniform dimensions, causing installation, operation and maintenance problems with the sliding doors.

In addition, as entertainment centers are generally finished with either paint or varnish, the inside edges of the doors proximate the cabinet sides are difficult to finish once the cabinet has been assembled and placed in a home or office.

While the door edges can be finished by removing the doors, this is of great inconvenience as oftentimes the cabinet finishers are not skilled at adjusting the doors whereby the users are left with cabinet doors which do not properly function.

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