Interlock system for ready to assemble furniture, and furniture incorporating such system

Claim 1

An interlock for securing adjacent panels of ready to assemble furniture in a selected angular relationship, which panels include opposed major panel surfaces and minor panel end faces transverse to said major panel surfaces, said interlock comprising: a rigid elongated core member including a pair of elongated faces thereon disposed in a predetermined angular relationship to one another with each of said elongated faces extending lengthwise of the elongated core member; a plurality of connecting devices fixed relative to said core member and projecting outwardly from each of said elongated faces in predetermined spaced apart relation to each other along the lengthwise extents of each of said elongated faces, said connecting devices adapted to enter into correspondingly spaced apart bores in the minor end faces of the panels which are to be secured; said connecting devices each having means thereon for engaging, in use, with locking elements disposed in the respective bores in the minor end faces of the panels whereby the connecting devices may, in use, be securely held in said bores with said elongated faces of the core member in close abutting relation to the respectively associated minor end faces of the panels, and wherein said elongated faces of the core member each comprise an elongated substantially planar surface with said pair of elongated planar surfaces being substantially at right angles to each other and said connecting devices projecting outwardly substantially at right angles to said elongated planar surfaces with which said connecting devices are respectively associated.