AU718501B2 - Sliding and rotating carrier - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: CENTOR PRODUCTS PTY LTD NIGEL SPORK CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

SLIDING AND ROTATING CARRIER Invention Title: t Details of Associated Provisional Application: No. PP3868 filed 3 June 1998 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: THIS INVENTION relates to an improved carrier assembly for supporting an architectural or building item, such as a door, window, shutter, screen or panel, from a track while permitting the item to travel along the track and/or rotate.

In particular, the invention relates to an improved carrier assembly having height adjustment means which can be manually-operated while an item is suspended from the carrier assembly and which can be locked quickly and easily.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Carrier assemblies are commonly used to suspend architectural items, such as a door, from an overhead 15 track to permit the door or other item to travel along the track, with or without rotation. To allow the door, for example, to be more easily installed, the carrier assembly typically comprises a carriage adapted to travel along the track, and a separate mounting bracket engageable with the carriage.

The carriage is inserted into the track, and the mounting bracket is fixed, usually by screws, to the top, side or edge of the door. The door is then lifted and positioned so that the mounting bracket engages and connects to its associated carriage, to thereby suspend the door from the carriage.

The carrier assembly normally has a height adjustment mechanism which must then be adjusted to place the door in the correct vertical position. The height adjustment mechanism is finally locked in place to complete the installation procedure.

With known carrier assemblies, the height adjustment and locking are achieved separately. The carriage can be connected to the door bracket, and then adjusted with a spanner, or adjusted by hand or spanner and then locked with a spanner. A spanner or similar tool is therefore required.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved carrier assembly having a height adjustment mechanism which can be adjusted and/or locked manually while a door or like item is suspended from the carrier assembly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In one broad form, this invention provides a carrier assembly for supporting or suspending an item, such as a door, from a track, the carrier assembly including a carriage adapted to be mounted on the track and moveable therealong, mounting means adapted to be fixed to the item, the mounting means being detachably suspendable from the carriage, manually-operable height adjustment means enabling the vertical distance between the mounting means and the carriage to be adjusted without the use of a tool from the carriage, and manually-operable locking means for locking the height S" adjustment means.

The height adjustment means may be in the form 20 of a threaded member, such as a bolt, extending between the carriage and the mounting means in use. The distance between the mounting means and the carriage, i.e. the *ee distance between the suspended item and the track, can be 0000 00.0 adjusted by rotation of the threaded member. In this 0o00 manner, the height of the suspended item can be adjusted.

Advantageously, an adjustment member is mounted to the bolt and rotationally locked to the bolt. The adjustment member has a much larger diameter than the bolt, which provides a mechanical advantage. The adjustment member serves effectively as a thumb wheel, enabling the bolt to be turned manually.

The mounting means is typically a bracket which, in use, is fixed to the top of the item to be suspended. When the mounting means is connected to the carriage, the head of the bolt and the adjustment member N are located below the bracket.

In the preferred embodiment, the adjustment member has a locating collar on its upper side which is received in a similarly dimensioned aperture in the bracket when the mounting means is suspended from the carriage. The bracket is therefore fixed laterally relative to the bolt and the carriage.

The locking means may suitably comprise a locking lever pivotally connected to the bracket, and having a flat portion which locates under the bolt head and the adjustment member, to prevent disconnection of the mounting means from the carriage.

The locking lever preferably has a lug which engages one of a plurality of circumferentially-spaced 15 recesses in the adjustment member when the locking lever is closed, preferably in a snap-lock fit. In this manner, the locking lever fixes the adjustment member in position. The locking lever may be closed manually.

Hence, both the adjustment and locking can be performed without a spanner or other tool.

Advantageously, the locking lever simultaneously locks the mounting bracket against disconnection from the carriage and fixes the height adjustment mechanism, thereby expediting the procedure for mounting the item to the track.

In order that the invention may be more fully understood and put into practice, a preferred embodiment thereof will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a carriage of a carrier assembly according to one embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a mounting bracket of the carrier assembly, Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the carrier assembly, Fig. 4 is an isometric view of the mounting bracket, Fig. 5A is a lower isometric view of the adjusting nut, Fig. 5B is an upper isometric view of an adjusting nut, and Fig. 6 is an isometric view of a locking lever.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION The carrier assembly of the preferred embodiment comprises two separate but engageable parts, namely a carriage 1 as shown in Fig. 1 and a mounting bracket 7 as shown in Fig. 2.

The carriage 1 has a housing 3 which, in use, 15 holds a nut 2 and two sets of wheel assemblies 4. In use, the wheel assemblies 4 travel on a track (not shown) formed by two opposed C-shaped rails. The illustrated carriage is a wheeled carriage, but any suitable tracking carriage can be used.

A bolt 6 is threaded into the nut 2 which is held against rotation within the housing 3. The head of the bolt 6 is lowermost, as can be seen more clearly in Fig. 3.

An adjusting nut 5 is located on the bolt 6 and has a hexagonal socket 5A adapted to receive the hexagonal head of bolt 6, to thereby rotationally lock the adjusting nut 5 relative to the bolt 6. The larger diameter of the adjusting nut 5 compared to the bolt head of bolt 6 provides added leverage for turning the bolt 6.

In this manner, the bolt 6 can be turned manually by using adjusting nut 5 as a thumb wheel.

The mounting bracket 7 is shown in Fig. 2. The mounting bracket is typically screwed to the top of the door or other item (not shown) to be suspended from a track by the carrier assembly. (The carrier assembly will be hereafter described with reference to its use with a door, but it can be used with any other suspended item) The bracket has a slot 9 leading to a central partcircular aperture which serves as a locating seat 12 as shown in Fig. 4.

The mounting bracket 7 also has a locking lever 8 pivotally connected to it. The locking lever 8 (shown separately in Fig. 6) has a pivot pin or lug 13 which locates in a corresponding pin hole 7A in the mounting bracket 7, to enable the lever 8 to be pivoted about a vertical axis (in use) relative to the bracket 7. (In Figure 3, the locking lever 8 is shown separated from the mounting bracket for the purpose of illustrating the location of the lever relative to the bolt 6 and adjusting nut 5 in the carrier assembly) :"The lever 8 is also provided with a flat central support plate 16, on which a boss 14 is provided.

The purpose of the support plate 16 and boss 14 will be described below.

o The adjusting nut 5 is shown in more detail in Figures 5A and 5B. The nut 5 is provided with a central annular flange on its upper side, having a locating shoulder 11. On its underside, the adjusting nut 5 is provided with the hexagonal socket 5A as mentioned above, as well as a plurality of circumferentially spaced recesses or indents 15. The indents are preferably partcircular in shape, defining slightly more than 1800 of a circular recess. The circumferential edge of the adjusting nut 5 is typically grooved to provide added grip for turning by thumb and/or finger.

In use, the mounting bracket is screwed to the top of the door, with the preassembled locking lever 8 rotated clear of the mounting bracket 7 (as shown in Fig.

One or more mounting brackets may be fixed to a door.

For each mounting bracket, a corresponding carriage is mounted on the track from which the door is to be suspended.

The door is then lifted into position so that the support bolt 6 of each carriage 1 is received through the slot 9 and into the aperture of the locating seat 12 of its associated mounting bracket 7, the adjusting nut being located under the mounting bracket. The locating shoulder 11 of the adjusting nut locates within the similarly dimensioned locating seat 12 of the mounting bracket 7, thereby fixing the adjusting nut laterally relatively to the mounting bracket. Since the head of the bolt 6 is captively received within the hexagonal socket on the underside of adjusting nut 5, the bolt 6 is also fixed laterally relative to the mounting bracket 7.

The adjusting nut 5 is able to be turned manually to screw bolt 6 in nut 2 (which is constrained against rotation by housing Rotation of adjusting nut thereby raises or lowers the mounting bracket 7, and hence the door, relative to the carriage 1. The vertical height of the door is therefore able to be adjusted 15 quickly and easily by manually rotating the adjusting nut S" When the door has been set to its desired vertical position, the locking lever 8 is rotated about its fixing lug 13 so that the support plate 16 slides under the head of the bolt 6. In this manner, the head of :the support bolt 6 and the adjusting nut 5 are sandwiched between the support plate 16 and the bracket 7. The support plate 16 prevents the locating shoulder 11 of the :adjusting nut from being withdrawn from the seat 12 in the mounting bracket 7, and hence the bolt 6 and adjusting nut 5 are captively held by the mounting bracket 7.

When the locking lever is fully closed, the boss 14 on the locking plate snap-locks into a complementary indent 15 in the adjusting nut 5, thereby locking the adjusting nut 5 against rotation. (Since the indents are located at discrete positions around the perimeter of the adjusting nut 5, a small adjustment to the nut 5 may be required to position an indent to receive the boss 14. However, this small adjustment has negligible effect on the height adjustment of the door).

When the carrier assembly is fully assembled and the locking lever locked into the adjusting nut, the 8 door may travel freely along the track and still rotate about the bolt 6. Since rotation of the door is usually limited to about a quarter turn, this has negligible effect on the height of the door.

The abovedescribed carriage assembly has several advantages, including The height of the door may be adjusted manually while it is suspended from the carriage 1, simply by rotating the large diameter adjusting nut 5 by hand.

The mounting bracket can be locked to the carriage with a simple manual lever action.

S The lever-action locking of the mounting bracket to the carriage simultaneously locks S.the height adjustment mechanism.

The foregoing describes only one embodiment of the invention, and modifications which are obvious to those skilled in the art may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined in the following claims.

Claims (14)

1. A carrier assembly for supporting or suspending an item, such as a door, from a track, the carrier assembly including a carriage adapted to be mounted on the track and moveable therealong, mounting means adapted to be fixed to tM item, the mounting means being detachably suspendable from the carriage, manually-operable height adjustment means enabling the vertical distance between the mounting means and the carriage to be adjusted without the use of a tool while the item is suspended from the carriage, and manually-operable locking means for locking the height adjustment means.

2. A carrier assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the height adjustment means includes a threaded .member extending between the carriage and the mounting means, whereby the distance between the mounting means 4* t* 20 and the carriage can be adjusted by rotation of the threaded member.

3. A carrier assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein the threaded member is a bolt having a bolt head, ooee meo the height adjustment means further including an adjustment member mounted to the bolt and rotationally locked to the bolt head, the adjustment member having a much larger diameter than the bolt head.

4. A carrier assembly as claimed in claim 3, e o S.E wherein the mounting means is a bracket which, in use, is fixed to the top of the item.

A carrier assembly as claimed in claim 4, wherein the bolt head and adjustment member are located below the bracket when the mounting means is suspended from the carriage.

6. A carrier assembly as claimed in claim wherein the adjustment member has a locating collar on <its upper side which is received in a locating aperture i the bracket when the mounting means is suspended from ?/0 the carriage to thereby fix the bracket laterally relative to the carriage.

7. A carrier assembly as claimed in any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the locking means comprises a locking lever pivotally connected to the bracket and having a flat portion which locates under the bolt head and adjustment member in use to prevent disconnection of the mounting means from the carriage.

8. A carrier assembly as claimed in claim 7, wherein the locking lever has a lug which engages one of a plurality of circumferentially-spaced recesses in the adjustment member when the locking lever is closed, to lock the adjustment member in position.

9. A carrier assembly for supporting or suspending an item, such as a door, from a track and adapted to travel along the track, the carrier assembly including a tracking carriage adapted to be mounted on Sthe track and moveable therealong, a mounting bracket adapted to be fixed to the 20 top of the item, a threaded member threadedly engaged with the *p carriage and extending below the carriage through an :oo aperture in the mounting bracket in use, and Co ~an adjustment member mounted on the threaded member and located under the mounting bracket in use, the adjustment member being rotationally locked to the C. threaded member and of much greater diameter than the threaded member, wherein the vertical distance between the mounting bracket and the carriage can be adjusted by manual rotation of the adjustment member without the use of a tool.

A carrier assembly as claimed in claim 9, wherein the aperture in the mounting bracket has a slotted opening permitting entry of the threaded member laterally into the aperture, the adjustment member having Sa collar locating within the aperture such that the I9 adjustment member is fixed laterally relative to the 7\4l N mounting bracket.

11. A carrier assembly as claimed in claim 9 or further comprising a locking lever pivotally mounted to the bracket and having a portion adapted to be positioned immediately below the adjustment member to prevent separation of the adjustment member from the mounting bracket.

12. A carrier assembly as claimed in claim 11, wherein the locking lever further comprises means to engage the adjustment member to prevent relative rotation of the adjustment member.

13. A carrier assembly for supporting or suspending an item, such as a door, from a track and adapted to travel along the track, the carrier assembly having a carriage adapted to be mounted on the track and moveable therealong, mounting means adapted to be fixed to the item, the mounting means being detachably connectable to the 0 O. carriage, 00 00 20 manually-operable height adjustment means on 0 the carriage enabling the vertical distance between the mounting means and the carriage to be adjusted without eecthe use of a tool, and *ee locking means for simultaneously locking the 00e0 mounting means against disconnection from the carriage and fixing the height adjustment means. oe

14. A carrier assembly as claimed in claim 13, wherein the height adjustment means includes a thumb see: wheel, and the locking means includes a locking lever which snap-locks into engagement with the thumb wheel. A carrier assembly substantially hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this second day of June 1999 CENTOR PRODUCTS PTY LTD By their Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO. c C3"I