Spotted at ZOW earlier this year, the CM4070 Casetur mechanism creates added functionality to furniture parts – when applied horizontally, it is possible for surfaces or furniture parts to be rotated in that plane, where the moved part remains in the horizontal layer.
In the illustration featured here, a movable bench top can be rotated outwards from the top of a shelf or side drawer. The CM4070 can be applied to all sorts of indoor furniture applications where the necessity to hide a bench top is required.
The man behind this innovation is Ben Halde, a young engineer who studied at the Technical University of Berlin.
“When I moved to Munich, I started furnishing my apartment and noticed I had not enough space for a shelf and at the same time for a work desk, which I would only need occasionally. I tried to think of a space-saving solution to combine a side shelf with a work desk.
“I imagined a desk that could be rotated in and outwards and it had to have a square shape to fit in a corner. I browsed all furniture supplier catalogues that were available at the time and was unable to find a technical solution to meet all these requirements. I found many solutions with just a round rotating disk, but that wouldn’t do the job. So I started to get more involved and knew I had to design my own mechanism.
“Some time later, I had a moving principle which could do the job. Then I had my first mechanism prototype, built and tried it on a simple desk shelf combination. From then on, I kept myself interested in solutions for small living spaces.
Ben’s CM4070 mechanism is impressivley executed: it’s made of steel, aluminium, wheelers and plastic components. It can be installed to furniture where a horizontal table rotation in corner scenarios is required – as part of a multi-functional furniture.
The applicable furniture width is 48 to 70cm, the length of the desk is irrelevant. The height of the desk can also be chosen independently, though it is required to have a side leg supporting the desk, with wheels or gliders underneath the side leg, to support the movement.
The mechanism can be installed after milling the shape of the base into the top of the supporting furniture – the milling depth is 16.5mm. Other than that, users need 15 screws and the mechanism is all set up to rotate the desk.
The movement of the CM4070 is particular in the way that it rotates a rectangular table in a corner, something that is normally not possible because of the obstructing walls around.
Therefore the CM4070 carries out a two-step movement: first the work desk is moved away from the walls, to create the required space for a rotation and then the rotation can be carried out.
Ben says the feedback so far has been positive. “I have done two fairs so far, the inventor fair IENA 2015 in Nuremberg, where I received a bronze medal for my invention. Then at ZOW in
February this year, the first official supplier fair. The feedback has been great, I had visitors from Europe and from all over the world.
“A lot of companies have visited my stand that need such a mechanism for special solutions. I had a great feedback from carpenters that mentioned my product to be trustworthy because of its solid and strong design.
“Many kitchen companies have started to test my mechanism and some are thinking to show a kitchen application with my mechanism on their next furniture fair stand. Also a few distributors from Europe and a real estate furnishing company from overseas has started to negotiate with me.”
And what of Ben’s position in the UK market: “From the UK, I had a number of kitchen and furniture designers visiting my stand at the ZOW fair. As I understand it, made-to-measure furniture has a big market share in the UK with bespoke furniture manufacturers producing customised solutions for different spaces ... and their new solutions that fit small spaces can be very beneficial.
“I am also about to sign up for the W16 in Birmingham, the biggest supplier fair for furniture and joinery manufacturers in the UK and I hope to have some applications with my mechanism exhibited by future clients next year on the design fairs around London. Through these fairs I want to get more visibility for the CM4070 mechanism and hope to find a distributor and sales people for UK.
“In the last months I have selected various producers for each part and the mounting. Now I want to establish a sales network through distributors in various countries and external sales people as the interface to industry. When this is all set up, I think it is time for a next product.”
