Anti-tipping mechanism, furniture apparatus including anti-tipping mechanism and method of manufacturing same

A method of manufacturing an anti-tipping apparatus configured to inhibit opening of plural ones of a plurality of drawers, the method comprising:

• inserting stopping blocks into a frame of a furniture apparatus such that the stopping blocks are arranged within a shaft in a first direction perpendicular to one or more rails fixedly attached to side surfaces of the plurality of drawers, the stopping blocks configured to interact with the one or more rails such that,
• when each of the plurality of drawers are closed, each of the stopping blocks are in a first position to interact with at least respective ones of the plurality of drawers below an uppermost one of the plurality of drawers, and
• when one of the plurality of drawers is an open drawer, the stopping blocks associated with the open drawer and ones of the plurality of drawers thereabove move vertically within the shaft to a second position in response to a sloped end surface of a corresponding one of the one or more rails of the open drawer contacting a respective one of the stopping blocks to inhibit the opening of the ones of the plurality of drawers above the open drawer while the stopping blocks below the open drawer remain in the first position and are inhibited from moving vertically to the second position due to extension of the corresponding one of the one or more rails to inhibit opening of ones of the plurality of drawers below the open drawer, wherein the stopping blocks are formed of strips of wood.

An anti-tipping apparatus configured to inhibit opening of plural ones of a plurality of drawers, the anti-tipping apparatus comprising:

• an interlocking mechanism including,
• sets of horizontal stopping blocks configured to interact with a rail fixedly attached to a bottom of a respective one of the plurality of drawers;
• and
• vertical stopping blocks including lower vertical stopping blocks and a set of upper vertical stopping blocks, the lower vertical stopping blocks configured to interact with one or more rails fixedly attached to side surfaces of the plurality of drawers, and the set of upper vertical stopping blocks configured to interact with respective end horizontal stopping blocks among the sets of horizontal stopping blocks, wherein
• when each of the plurality of drawers are closed, each of the lower vertical stopping blocks are in a first position to interact with respective ones of the plurality of drawers except an uppermost one of the plurality of drawers and the sets of horizontal stopping blocks are free to move horizontally in opposite directions when the rail fixedly attached to the bottom of a respective one of the plurality of drawers associated with the set of horizontal stopping blocks moves while the drawer is opened, and
• when a lower one of the plurality of drawers is an open drawer, the vertical stopping blocks associated with the open drawer and ones of the plurality of drawers thereabove are at a second position different from the first position in response to a sloped end surface of a corresponding one of the one or more rails of the open drawer contacting a respective one of the vertical stopping blocks to inhibit the opening of the ones of the plurality of drawers above the open drawer while the vertical stopping blocks below the open drawer remain in the first position and are inhibited from moving vertically to the second position due to extension of the corresponding one of the one or more rails to inhibit opening of ones of the plurality of drawers below the open drawer, and
• when one of the uppermost one of the plurality of drawers is an open drawer, the horizontal stopping blocks associated with the open drawer move horizontally in opposite directions to both inhibit other ones of the sets of horizontal stopping blocks from being movable horizontally such that other uppermost ones of the plurality of drawers are inhibited from opening while the respective end horizontal stopping blocks are positioned to inhibit the vertical stopping blocks from being movable vertically from the first position to the second position such that each of the lower ones of the plurality of drawers is inhibited from opening.