AU2004203633A1 - Wheel support structure for sliding doors or panels - Google Patents

Description

P001 Section 29 Regulation 3.2(2)

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Application Number: Lodged: Invention Title: Wheel support structure for sliding doors or panels The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: WHEEL SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR SLIDING DOORS OR PANELS The present invention relates to improvements in wheel support structures for sliding doors or panels, that provide a capability of vertical adjustment of the wheel or wheels carried by the structure.

Typically known wheel support structures of the aforementioned kind provide a support housing and a wheel carriage carrying one or more wheels, the support housing being fixed to or within a cavity of a door or the like. Often a further structure is located between the support housing and the wheel carriage to assist with or enable the height adjusting capability whereby movement of the carriage in a horizontal direction relative to the support housing will cause the carriage to be adjusted upwardly or downwardly relative to the support housing.

Normally some form of screw member is provided to move the carriage relative to the support housing and when the screw member is not rotated, to fix the carriage in a desired vertically adjusted position relative to the support housing.

Conventional wheel support structures of this general type are known to suffer from some disadvantages including that the load carrying capacity of the structure may be solely via the pins or similar member engaging in the inclined guides and is thereby limited, that the amount of vertical adjustment can be limited, and that it is difficult to remove the wheel carriage for servicing and/or replacement without having to replace the entire wheel support structure. Another difficulty is that existing structures make it difficult to reduce the overall width of the assembly to allow them to be used with thinner doors or panels.

Still further difficulties with known arrangements include difficulties with access to the adjustment point often requiring maintaining different inventories for left and right handed operation and other similar conventional variations and the inability to provide infinite variations with upward and downward adjustment without having defined limits of movement.

Some of the aforementioned problems have been resolved by providing wheel support structure constructions as disclosed in Australian Patent Application No. 48102/2001. The objective of the present invention is to provide a wheel support structure of the aforementioned kind that will resolve one or more of the further difficulties outlined above with known structures of this kind.

2 Accordingly, the present invention provides a wheel support structure including a support housing adapted for fixing to a door, panel or the like, a wheel assembly having at least one wheel and a carriage member rotatably supporting the wheel or wheels, said wheel support structure further including an adjustment mechanism including a first rotational member supported by first bearing means co-operable with said support housing whereby said first rotational member is rotatable relative to said support housing, said first rotational member further including second bearing means co-operable with said carriage member and eccentrically disposed relative to said first bearing means whereby rotation of said first rotational member relative to said support housing causes adjustment of the height of said carriage member relative to said support housing, said wheel support structure further including actuation means to effect selective rotational movement of said first rotational member. Such an arrangement allows for continuous up and down adjustment of the wheel supporting carriage member without reaching any defined limit of the adjustment by simple continued operation of the actuation means.

Preferred features and aspects of this invention are as disclosed and defined in claims 2 to 14 inclusive as annexed hereto, the subject matter of these claims being hereby incorporated into the disclosure of the present specification by this reference thereto. It will be apparent that in certain preferred embodiments adjustment can be effected by access to the actuation means from each longitudinal end of the support housing or each side face of same, thereby allowing for the same structure to be used in essentially any application.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the annexed drawings, in which: Fig 1 is a side elevation of a wheel support structure in accordance with a first preferred embodiment; Fig 2 is a side elevation view from the opposite side to that of Fig 1; Fig 3 is an underneath plan view of the wheel support structure shown in Figs 1 and 2; Fig 4 is an end elevation view of the wheel support structure shown in Figs 1 to 3; Fig 5 is a section view along line A-A of Fig 1; Fig 6 is a section view along line B-B of Fig 3; Fig 7 is an underneath perspective view of the assembled wheel support structure; Fig 8 is an exploded perspective view of the assembly shown in Figs 1 to 6; and Fig 9 is a perspective view of a further preferred embodiment.

Referring now to the annexed drawings, a wheel support structure 10 is illustrated having a support housing 11 which is adapted to be secured within a recess or the like of a door, sliding panel or similar to support same when being moved along a support rail. The support housing 11 has a top face 12, two opposed side faces 13, 14 and two opposed end faces 15, 16 with an open lower face. A wheel supporting carriage member 17 is housed within the support housing 11 and includes a body structure 18 rotatably supporting (in the illustrated embodiments, two spaced wheels 19 such that they are capable of relatively free rotation and a portion of the periphery of the wheels 19 projects downwardly beyond a lower surface of the body structure 18.

The body structure 18 of the carriage member 17 has an upwardly facing and open recess 20 with the opposed side walls of the recesses 20 having circular bearing openings 21 formed therein. Located generally within the recess 20 is a rotatable member 27 having projecting elements 22 on either side each having a circular bearing surface 23 positioned within the openings 21. Each of the projecting elements 22 have a further laterally extending portion 24 having a peripheral bearing surface 25 that is eccentrically disposed relative to the bearing surface 23. Each of the projecting elements 22 are coaxial and each of the further laterally extending portions 24 are coaxial but the eccentricity results in the respective axes being spaced from one another. Each of the laterally extending portions 24 are engaged with bearing openings 26 in the side walls 13, 14 of the support housing 11. As a consequence of this construction, rotation of the rotatable member 27 will cause the carriage member to rise or fall relative to the support housing 11, thereby enabling the wheels 19 to be adjusted in height relative to the support housing 11 or more particularly relative to the construction element (door panel) to which the support housing 11 is secured in use.

The rotatable member 27 has central body portion 28 with a ring gear 29 disposed about its periphery, the ring gear being coaxially disposed with the laterally projecting portions 24. To enable the rotatable member 27 to be selectively rotated when height adjustment is required, the illustrated embodiment includes an actuating shaft 30 retained within an upper region of the support housing 11 in a manner that will allow the shaft 30 to be rotated. The shaft has at least one end 31 (or as illustrated two opposed ends 31, 32) that is/are accessible through the end walls 15, 16 of the support housing 11. The or each of the ends 31 or 31/32 are configured to enable operable engagement with a screw driver or the like when an installer wishes to rotate the shaft 30 for adjustment purposes. The shaft 30 further includes a gear portion 33 that is engaged in use with the gear ring 29 on the rotatable member 27 such that rotation of the shaft 30 from either end causes a corresponding rotational movement of the rotatable member 27 and thereby height adjustment of the carriage member 17 relative to the support housing 11.

Figure 9 illustrates conceptually a possible variation to the arrangements shown in Figs 1 to 8. In this embodiment, a further gear 34 is arranged on the shaft 30, conveniently at one end of the shaft and is engagable with a gear (not shown) on a transverse shaft 35 with a head 36 configured to be rotated by a screw driver or the like. The transverse shaft 35 might desirably extend fully across the support housing 11 such that it includes a head 36 accessible from either side face 13, 14. With such an arrangement, the actuating shaft 30 might be operated by access from either end face 15, 16 or either side face 13, 14.

It will of course be appreciated that many variations within the scope of the annexed claims can be employed. The rotatable member 27 might be moulded from a suitable plastics material or die cast from a metal material. Any known forms of fabrication or machining might also be employed.

Claims (15)

1. A wheel support structure including a support housing adapted for fixing to a door, panel or the like, a wheel assembly having at least one wheel and a carriage member rotatably supporting the wheel or wheels, said wheel support structure further including an adjustment mechanism including a first rotational member supported by first bearing means co-operable with said support housing whereby said first rotational member is rotatable relative to said support housing, said first rotational member further including second bearing means co-operable with said carriage member and eccentrically disposed relative to said first bearing means whereby rotation of said first rotational member relative to said support housing causes adjustment of the height of said carriage member relative to said support housing, said wheel support structure further including actuation means to effect selective rotational movement of said first rotational member.

2. A wheel support structure according to claim 1 wherein continued rotation of said first rotational member causes said carriage member to first rise relative to the support housing and then fall relative to the support housing without reaching a limit or stop position.

3. A wheel support structure according to claim 2 wherein continued rotation of said first rotational member causes said carriage member to fall relative to said support housing and subsequently rise relative to said support housing without reaching a limit or stop position.

4. A wheel support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the first bearing means includes shaft means integral with the first rotational member or operationally connected therewith received in bearing recesses or bores in side walls of the support housing.

A wheel support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the first bearing means includes shaft means integral with or operationally connected with the support housing and received in bearing recesses or at least one bore formed in the first rotational member.

6. A wheel support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the second bearing means includes a pair of coaxial circular bearing surfaces located on the first rotational member and eccentrically positioned relative to said first bearing means, each of said circular bearing surfaces being receivable co- operatively in circular bearing recesses or bores formed in said carriage member.

7. A wheel support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the second bearing means includes a pair of coaxial circular bearing surfaces formed on said carriage member and eccentrically positioned relative to said first bearing means, each of said circular bearing surfaces being receivable co- operatively in circular bearing recesses or at least one bore formed in said first rotational member.

8. A wheel support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein said first rotational member includes a first gear ring coaxially formed relative to said first bearing means, said first gear ring cooperating with a second gear member rotationally supported by said support housing adapted for selective rotation by external manipulation.

9. A wheel support structure according to claim 8 wherein said second gear member is formed on an operating shaft extending longitudinally of the support housing, the operating shaft being accessible from at least one longitudinal end of the support housing.

A wheel support structure according to claim 9 wherein said operating shaft is accessible selectively from either end of the support housing.

11. A wheel support structure according to claim 9 or claim 10 wherein the operating shaft includes a third gear member operatively connected therewith and engaged with a fourth gear member rotationally supported by the support housing for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the operating shaft, said fourth gear member being accessible from a first side face of the support housing. I

12. A wheel support structure according to claim 11 further including a fifth gear member rotationally supported by the support housing for rotation about an axis perpendicular to said axis of the operating shaft, said fifth gear member being operatively engaged with the third gear member and accessible from a second side face of the support housing opposite to said first side face.

13. A wheel support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein the carriage member supports two said wheels disposed in line with each other.

14. A wheel support structure according to claim 13 wherein the first bearing means is located between said wheels.

15. A wheel support structure substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 8th day of July 2004 ANTHONY BEARINGS PTY LTD WATERMARK PATENT TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS 290 BURWOOD ROAD HAWTHORN VICTORIA 3122 AUSTRALIA P23077AU00 SKP/JC