GB2180276A - A panel for partitioning a room - Google Patents

Abstract

A panel for partitioning a room comprises a channel extending along an upper edge of the panel and defining a first electrical wiring duct. Similar channels extend along the vertical edges of the panel (1), there being hooks and complimentary apertures for attaching the panel to a support (2) so that the vertically extending channels and the supports define second wiring ducts. The panels and supports are such that electrical wires may be passed through the second and first wiring ducts for the connection of electrical fittings (48) at convenient locations on the panel. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A panel for partitioning a room This invention relates to a panel for partitioning a room, and to a partitioning system including a panel and a supporttherefor.

Panels currently available for partitioning an office are connected to upstanding supports to form dividing walls. Electrical wiring forthe office is generally provided along skirting ofthe panels and/or within these upstanding supports. The construction of partitioning systems is often made awkward by the positioning ofthewiring ductalong the skirting, and, further, electrical fittings, for example plugs and switches, must be located on the supports or skirting.

According to one aspect ofthe present invention, there is provided a panel comprising: means extending along an edge ofthe panel and defining a channel having side walls and a base, the base having an aperture constituting one end ofafirstwiring duct extending through the panel to the opposite edge of the panel; and attachment meansforattachingthe panel to a support so thatthe side walls and the base define with the support a second wiring duct com municatingwiththefirstwiring ductvia said aperture whereby electrical wires may be passed through the second and first wiring ducts forthe connection of electrical fittings at convenient locations on the panel.

Preferably the panel also comprises means extending along a further edge ofthe panel defining a further ductfor electrical wires, the further duct communicating with the second duct.

The present invention also provides a partitioning system comprising: a panel according to the one aspect of the present invention; and a support having attachment means complementary to the attachment means provided on the panel.

The attachment means on the panel may be hooks, in which castthe support is provided with complimentary means, e.g. apertures.

The support may be provided at its upper end region with an aperture which, with the panel attached to the support, communicates with the further duct whereby electrical wires may be passed along the further duct, through the aperture in the supportto communicate with a further duct of another similar panel attached to the support.

The support preferably comprises an elongate body portion and a detachable end piece which defines with an upper end of said body portion said aperture whereby, with the end piece detached, electrical wires can pass from the further duct of one panel to the further duct ofthe other panel overthe upper end of said body portion, the electrical wires being retained by subsequently attaching the end piece to the body portion.

With this arrangement of intercommunicating ducts, the electrical wiring for an office partftioning system can be carried out very simply and effectively.

Further, it enables electrical fittings to be provided at any convenient locations on the panel itself.

For a better understanding of the present invention, and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, byway of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figures 1 and 2 illustrate possible layouts using a partitioning system in accordance with an embodi ment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a side view showing two panels with supports attaching along their edges; Figure 4 is a section along IV-IV of Figure 3; Figure 5 shows details in the portion encircled V in Figure 4; Figure 6 shows detail ofthe portion encircled VI in Figure 4; Figure 7 is a perspective view showing connection oftwo panels to a support.

Figure8 is a section along lineVIII-VIII in Figure 3 (but only showing a section through one of the panels); Figure 9 is a section through a support; Figure 10 shows detail ofthe portion encircled X in Figure9; Figure 11 shows detail of the portion encircled XI in Figure 9; and Figure 12 is an exploded, cut-away view of a support.

Referring firstly to Figures 3 to 6 illustrating the panel, Figure 3 shows two panels 1 connected via a support 2. The panels 1 are substantiallythesame, and will now be described in detail below.

The panel has two vertical edges 3, 4 along each of which there extends a channel section 5 (see Figure 8).

The channel sections 5 each have side walls 6 and a base 7.

As shown more clearly in Figure 8, the panel is constructed with upstanding hardwood members 8 andhastwo6mm plywoodfacing members 9 and 10 spaced apart by these members 8. As shown in Figure 4wooden crosspieces 11,12 and 13,14 define upper and lower edges of first and second panel portions 1 a, 1 b. The panel portions are connected together via a duct structure 1 5a (Fig. 6) which is attached to the crosspieces 12 and 13 by screws 51,52. The duct structure 1 5a defines a transversely extending first wiring duct 15 and is formed by two steel side pieces 16, 17 and upper and lower pieces 18, 19.The side pieces 16,17 have upper and lowerflanges 20 each of which is provided with a protrusion 21 which is received by a groove 22 of the upper or lower piece 18, 19 respectively.

The upperand lower pieces 18,19 are each formed with screw receiving portions 23 by means ofwhich the channel section 5 can be screwed to the edge of the panel portions 1 a, 1 b to form the panel 1.

The side pieces 16, 17 can slide along the duct 15 to expose electrical wires disposed in the duct 15.

Further, the side pieces can be removed from the panel 1 if necessary by removing the channel section 5 and sliding the side pieces along the duct 15 so that electrical fittings can be fitted to the side pieces. The channel section 5 is also secured to the upstanding members 8,9 byfurtherscrews53, 54 spaced lengthwise ofthe base 7 ofthe channel section.

The channel section 5 has an aperture, which is indicated bya dotted line and by reference numeral 24 in Figures 4 and 6, forming one end of the duct 15. As shown in Figure 5, the upper cross piece 11 is disposed slightly belowthe upper edges ofthe facing members9 and 10 ofthe panel 1. Asteel channel 25 runsacrossthetopofthepanel 1 and is enclosed buy a slidable cover 26. In this way a further duct 27 is formed running across the top ofthe panel 1. The cover 26 can slide with respect to the channel 25 by virtue of protrusions 27 running in grooves 28.

The supports 2 will now be described with reference to Figures 9 and 12 2 of the accompanying drawings.

As shown most clearly in Figure 12, the support comprises a metal box section 29. The lower portion of the support2 has a foot 30 formed of a plastics material and carrying a vertically extending screw threaded portion 31.(Fig. 10).Asupportstructure32 provided in the section 29 carries a nut 33 through which the screw-threaded portion 31 extends so that rotation of the foot 30 enablesthe height of the support to be adjusted. The foot 30 can be rotated by usingthe knurled wheel 34 (see Fig. 12).

The support2 is provided with attachment means in the form of slots 35 in its upper and lower regions.

These slots are arranged to receive corresponding hooks (e.g. 36 in Figure 7) extending from the base 7 of the channel section 5 extending along the edges ofthe panels 1. Afurther internallythreaded support structure 37 is provided in the upper region ofthe support 2.

This portion 37 carries an internally threaded nut 38 for receiving a vertically extending threaded portion 39 carrying a disc 40. The threaded portion 39 has an aperture 41 in its upper end region for receiving an Allen keyorthe like. In this way, with the hooks of the panel engaging the slots 35, the system so formed can be secured by lowering the disc 40 to clamp each hook 36 in its slot 35. A detachable plastics cap 42 is received bythe box section 29 at its upper end and is provided with weakened regions 43 which can be removed for reasons to be described hereafter.

A partitioning system,for example for an open-plan office, can be constructed by attaching a panel between two supportsto form a wall.

Figures 1 and 2 show possible arrangements ofthe panels to provide open plan office systems. The supports have slots in each oftheirfour sides to enable corners to be formed bytwo panels connected to adjacent sides ofthe support 2. As shown most clearlyin Figures 7 and 8, with the support 2 connected to a panel 1, the channel section 5 forms with the support 2 a second wiring duct 44.The interconnection of ducts 15,44 and 27 means that the provision of electrical wires, and the fitting of electrical outlets can be carried out verysimply. The upper ends ofthe box section 29 are disposed below the upper edges ofthe panels 1 so that electrical wires can be passed from the further duct 27 of the one panel to the further duct 27 of another panel overthe box section 29. The detachable cap 42 with appropriate ones of its weakened regions 43 removed, can be inserted into the box section 29 to retain the electrical wires. For example, as shown in Figure 7, electrical wires 45 may extend along the top edge of a panel 1 through duct 27 through an aperture in cap 42 formed bythe removal of weakened regions 43 and along the upper edge of a second panel via its duct 27.In another case, electrical wires 46 may pass through a duct 27 of panel 1 along an upper edge thereof and then down duct 44 along the edge ofthe panel 1 to communicate with first 'wiring duct 15 via aparture 24. In this way, electrical fittings maybe provided atanyconvenient location on the panel, for example as illustrated at48 in Figure 3.

The provision of sliding covers 26, 17, 16 means that assemblyofthis system is verysimple, and thatthe assembled system does not have unsightly wiring.

Vinyl inserts 49 (Figure7) are received byflanges of the side walls 5 ofthe channel section 7toform a trim.

In addition, a panel cap 50, made of a plastics material, is provided which is received by the flanges ofthe side walls 5 of the channel section 7to close the duct44for the sake of neatness.

Claims (11)

1. A panel comprising: means extending along an edge of the panel and defining a channel having side walls and a base, the base having an aperture constituting one end of a firstwiring duct extending through the panel to the opposite edge ofthe panel; and attachment means for attaching the panel to a support so that the side walls and the base define with the support a second wiring duct communicating with the first wiring duct via said aperture whereby electrical wires may be passed through the second and firstwiring ducts forthe connection of electrical fittings at convenient locations on the panel.

2. A panel as claimed in claim 1, which also comprises means extending along a further edge of the panel defining a further ductfor electrical wires, the further duct communicating with the second duct.

3. A panel as claimed in claim 1 or 2, which comprises first and second panel portions connected to each other via a duct structure defining the first wiring duct.

4. Apanel as claimed in claim 1,2 or3 in which the firstwiring duct has a side piece which is slidable to provide access two electrical wires passing through the duct.

5. A panel as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the channel is provided with a detachable end memberforclosingthesecondwiring ductwithout interfering with the further wiring duct, when present.

6. A panel substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A partitioning system comprising: a panel as claimed in any preceding claim; and a support having attachment means complementary to the attachment means provided on the panel.

8. A system as claimed in claim 7, in which the attachment means on the panel comprise hooks and the attachment means on the supportoomprises corresponding openings.

9. A system as claimed in claim 7 or 8, in which the support is provided at its upper end region with an aperture which, with the panel attached tothe support, communicates with the further duct whereby electrical wires may be passed along the further duct, through the aperture in-the supportto communicate with a further duct of another similar panel attached to the support.

10. Asysten as claimed in claim 9, in which the support comprises an elongate body portion and a detachable end piece which defines with an upper end of said body portion said aperture whereby, with the end piece detached, electrical wires can pass from the furtherductofone paneltothefurtherductofthe other panel over the upper end of said body portion, the electrical wires being retained bysubequently attaching the end piece to the body portion.

11. A partitioning system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.