Automatic pull-in mechanism for drawer guides

An automatic pull-in mechanism in combination with a drawer guide,

• (a) the drawer guide having a guide rail formed of sheet metal which is to be fastened to a carcase wall of a carcase, the guide rail having a portion of its profile bent upwardly from a profile portion, the profile portion projecting at substantially a right angle and horizontally from the carcase wall, the upwardly bent portion of the guide rail entering from below into a corresponding runner rail formed by an open-bottomed hollow member which is to be fastened removably on a drawer, the runner rail having tracks formed in an interior thereof for roller bearings mounted in an elongated cage, the roller bearings being rollable via an inside portion thereof on an outside portion of the upwardly bent portion of the guide rail and the roller bearings being rollable via an outside portion thereof on the tracks formed by associated portions of an inner surface of the runner rail to thereby permit a longitudinal displacement of the runner rail relative to the guide rail, the runner rail having a projection reaching downward therefrom into an interior of the carcase,
• (b) the automatic pull-in mechanism comprising a shallow, elongated case for fastening to the profile portion of the guide rail, the pull-in mechanism having journaled therein
• a toggling component which can move between two end positions and which toggling component is biased by a spring, the toggling component having an open-ended slot such that when the pull-in mechanism is disposed on the guide rail with the toggling component disposed in a location extending past the profile portion of the guide rail and into the carcase interior, the open-ended slot can receive the projection, the case further comprising
• a slide guiding means cooperating with the toggling component to positively and slidingly guide the toggling component from an end position of the toggling component associated with an open-drawer position to a position aligned with the projection such that the projection is received in the open-ended slot of the toggling component during a movement of the runner rail toward a closed-drawer position, the slide guiding means being formed such that the toggling component, in cooperation with the projection received in the open-ended slot of the toggling component, can be further displaced in the direction of the closing movement of the projection and associated runner rail, the spring exerting a bias on the toggling component in a direction of the closed-drawer position,
• whereby when the toggling component is disposed relative to the runner rail and the guide rail such that, upon a shift of the runner rail from the open-drawer position to the closed-drawer position, as the closed-drawer is approached, the toggling component is in the end position associated with the open-drawer position and receives the projection into the open-ended slot, and such that after the toggling component is driven by the projection to the open-drawer position of the toggling component, the projection and an associated runner rail is thereby driven resiliently by the toggling component to the closed-drawer position by the biasing force of the spring,
• wherein the toggling component further comprises a resilient catch located at a distance from the open-ended slot and towards the interior of the carcase, such the when the toggling component is in an end position associated with the drawer-open position, the catch is retracted into the case so as to be outside of a path of the projection, and such that when the toggling component is in an end position associated with the closed-drawer position, the catch protrudes into the path of the projection to thereby retain the projection such that the retaining action can be overridden in the drawer-closing direction by resilient deformation of the catch.

An automatic pull-in mechanism in combination with a drawer guide,

• (a) the drawer guide having a guide rail formed of sheet metal which is to be fastened to a carcase wall of a carcase, the guide rail having a portion of its profile bent upwardly from a profile portion, the profile portion projecting at substantially a right angle and horizontally from the carcase wall, the upwardly bent portion of the guide rail entering from below into a corresponding runner rail formed by an open-bottomed hollow member which is to be fastened removably on a drawer, the runner rail having tracks formed in an interior thereof for roller bearings mounted in an elongated cage, the roller bearings being rollable via an inside portion thereof on an outside portion of the upwardly bent portion of the guide rail and the roller bearings being rollable via an outside portion thereof on the tracks formed by associated portions of an inner surface of the runner rail to thereby permit a longitudinal displacement of the runner rail relative to the guide rail, the runner rail having a projection reaching downward therefrom into an interior of the carcase,
• (b) the automatic pull-in mechanism comprising a shallow, elongated case for fastening to the profile portion of the guide rail, the pull-in mechanism having journaled therein
• a toggling component which can move between two end positions and which toggling component is biased by a spring, the toggling component having an open-ended slot such that when the pull-in mechanism is disposed on the guide rail with the toggling component disposed in a location extending past the profile portion of the guide rail and into the carcase interior, the open-ended slot can receive the projection, the case further comprising
• a slide guiding means cooperating with the toggling component to positively and slidingly guide the toggling component from an end position of the toggling component associated with an open-drawer position to a position aligned with the projection such that the projection is received in the open-ended slot of the toggling component during a movement of the runner rail toward a closed-drawer position, the slide guiding means being formed such that the toggling component, in cooperation with the projection received in the open-ended slot of the toggling component, can be further displaced in the direction of a closing movement of the projection and associated runner rail, the spring exerting a bias on the toggling component in a direction of the closed-drawer position.
• whereby when the toggling component is disposed relative to the runner rail and the guide rail such that, upon a shift of the runner rail from the open-drawer position to the closed-drawer position, as the closed-drawer position is approached, the toggling component is in the end position associated with the open-drawer position and receives the projection into the open-ended slot, and such that after the toggling component is driven by the projection to the open-drawer position of the toggling component, the projection and an associated runner rail is thereby driven resiliently by the toggling component to the closed-drawer position by the biasing force of the spring,
• wherein the guide rail has, in an area of transition between the profile portion and the upwardly bent portion, a slot-like, elongated recess into which the case can be introduced fittingly into a correct fastening position, and
• wherein the case further comprises abutments limiting a depth of insertion into the recess and at least two resilient tongues, free ends of which are resiliently compressible upon the insertion of the case into the guide rail recess, such that the tongues spring open behind a carcase-facing inside surface of the upwardly bent portion to secure the case against withdrawal from the recess.