The present invention relates generally to workbenches and tool chests, and more particularly to a combination workbench and tool chest including theft prevention arrangements.
A typical combination workbench and tool chest is used by a professional or home handyman who needs to store a large collection of tools and equipment and who also needs a workbench but desires both in a single, compact unit. It is useful for the home handyman who is usually confined to a limited work space and cannot afford the luxury of spreading his work out over a large area. A professional workman, such as a carpenter or mechanic, needs to be able to securely store his collection of tools and equipment at a job site or garage.
If a professional workman is to leave his tools and equipment at a job site, he needs a chest which can be securely locked to prevent theft. Unfortunately, this need for security conflicts, in principle, with the other essential requirement of a chest, that is, that it provide him with easy accessibility to his tools.
Indeed, one of the principal problems with current combination workbench and tool chest designs is that access to the storage areas of the chest is limited. Some designs provide for access to the storage areas by lifting or removing the bench work--the flaw of such designs being that while the device is being used as a workbench, access to the storage areas is made difficult or impossible. Other designs may provide for storage spaces beneath the bench surface, which are accessible through a door or opening on one side of the bench. While these designs do allow some access to the storing areas while the work surface is being used, access to the tools and equipment is still impaired by the closed sides of the bench. The provision of drawers is of limited value in easing this problem, since their use for storage of bulky items is usually inefficient.
Additionally, few, if any, combination tool chest and workbench designs make any provision for the convenient storage of small articles such as washers, nails, etc.
Another major problem with some current designs is that they do not provide an unobstructed bench surface extending to all edges of the bench. Backs, trays or boxes mounted above the plane of the work surface decrease the value of the surface in that they prevent the workman from extending his material over the side of the bench. Other designs make no provision for extending the work surface, or any provision for extending the surface while at the same time maintaining a continuous flat surface. An uneven work surface is of little value in supporting long, rigid items.