US 4,984,929 · Granted 1991-01-15
The Hidden Hardware That Makes Drawers Slide Smoothly
A simple metal fitting that connects the front of a drawer to its sliding rails using a dowel casing and hook. It's designed to be invisible from the outside while holding everything together perfectly straight.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a specific assembly method for connecting a drawer's front plate to its rail system using a dowel casing (a hollow tube-like piece) that fits into the front plate, paired with a hook member that attaches to the rail and locks into the casing. What's protected here is the geometric relationship between these parts—particularly how the hook's flange sits flush with the casing's front face, and the beveled edge that helps align everything smoothly.
Why it matters
This patent matters because drawer fittings are foundational to furniture manufacturing. Blum, an Austrian hardware specialist, built a significant business designing elegant, reliable solutions for connecting drawer fronts to slides—the kind of invisible engineering that determines whether a drawer feels cheap or premium. A fitting that's strong, self-aligning, and aesthetically hidden is valuable across millions of cabinet and desk applications globally.
Real-world use
Every time you open a kitchen cabinet or desk drawer smoothly and it doesn't wobble or misalign, there's likely a fitting like this one holding the front panel perfectly centered on the sliding mechanism.
Original USPTO abstract
A fitting to connect the front plate of a drawer with a rail member thereof includes a dowel casing which can be fitted into the front plate and a hook member connected to the front end of the rail member to be engaged in the dowel casing. A metallic disk provides rigidity for the dowel casing. The hook member has a flange which abuts flush with the front face of the dowel casing and which has a bevelled portion.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 4,984,929
- Filing date
- 1989-05-16
- Grant date
- 1991-01-15
- Assignee
- Julius Blum Gesellschaft M.B.H.
- Inventor(s)
- ROECK; ERICH, HOLLENSTEIN; HELMUT
- CPC class
- F16B12/42
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