Furniture Joint Actuation With Hidden 90° Blocking Transmission

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing systems for actuating and blocking joints between furniture components, such as shoulders and shelves, face challenges in narrow spaces, requiring complex mechanisms and visible components, which affect both assembly ease and aesthetic appeal.

Innovation Solution

A system utilizing a pinion-toothed crown bevel gear or worm screw and gearwheel mechanism, integrated into a shaped body with a pin or grub screw, allows for 90° transmission and actuation from minimal spaces, providing a simple, economical, and functional solution with minimal visibility.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of operation

If complex actuation mechanisms are used in narrow spaces, then joint actuation and blocking is achieved, but device complexity and visibility increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvejoint actuation and blockingVSAvoidmechanism complexity and visibility

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The actuation mechanism is nested within the joint structure itself. The actuating element is received within the shoulder, and the blocking element is received within the shelf, creating a compact nested arrangement that achieves joint actuation without external complex mechanisms visible from the front of the furniture.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses vertical dimension for actuation elements that extend through the thickness of the shoulder and shelf, allowing operation from the front face while the actual blocking mechanism operates in the depth dimension, effectively moving the complexity to a different spatial dimension where it is hidden.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Ease of operation

If actuation elements extend through furniture components, then joint actuation is enabled, but visibility and encumbrance increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvejoint actuation accessibilityVSAvoidactuation element extension

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSLength of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The actuating element is nested within the shoulder structure, and the blocking element is nested within the shelf structure. This nesting allows the elements to function without protruding significantly, minimizing visibility and encumbrance while maintaining operational accessibility.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of extending actuation elements from the front face outward, the design inverts the approach by receiving the actuating and blocking elements within the furniture components themselves, with only minimal portions exposed for operation, thus reducing visibility while maintaining function.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

3Reliability

If blocking elements are received within shelves, then joint blocking is achieved, but assembly difficulty increases in narrow spaces

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvejoint blocking stabilityVSAvoidassembly ease in narrow spaces

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The joint system is segmented into separate functional components: the actuating element in the shoulder, the blocking element in the shelf, and the pin connecting them. This segmentation allows each component to be independently positioned and assembled, simplifying assembly in narrow spaces compared to monolithic designs.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The blocking element is nested within the shelf structure, and the actuating element is nested within the shoulder structure. This nested arrangement allows components to be assembled in a logical sequence from the front, with each nested component being accessible through the previous one, facilitating assembly in constrained spaces.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

Enables stable and accessible joint actuation and blocking in tight spaces with minimal encumbrance and visibility, improving both assembly and aesthetic aspects of furniture components.

Implementation Method 1

pinion-toothed crown bevel gear

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectGear mechanism: Gear

Implementation Method 2

worm screw and gearwheel mechanism

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectWorm drive: Worm Drive

Data Source

PatentUS12012983B2Actuation and blocking system of a joint between a shoulder and a shelf of furniture or other furnishing items

Publication Date: 2024.06.18 LEONARDO

AI summary

An actuation and blocking system of a joint for use in a piece of furniture or other furnishing item for perpendicularly interconnecting a shoulder with a shelf, base or top includes a pin with a fixing element to the shoulder and the shelf, base or top and adapted to be at least partially inserted in a hole of the shoulder and of the shelf, base or top. The pin has a side hole for receiving a shaped stem, which extends from an actuation and blocking group of the joint positioned on the shelf, base or top parallel to the floor or the ceiling, which are close to the furniture or other furnishing item when assembled, the actuation and blocking group providing for a 90° transmission between a maneuvering point, accessible from the front or side of the furniture, and the shaped stem, inserted in the side hole of the pin.