GB2072954A

GB2072954A - A cabinet for electronic equipment

Info

Publication number: GB2072954A
Application number: GB8009974A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Marconi Co Ltd
Current assignee: BAE Systems Electronics Ltd
Priority date: 1980-03-25
Filing date: 1980-03-25
Publication date: 1981-10-07

Abstract

A cabinet 1 contains a number of electronic units 2, each mounted on telescopic rails 7 and 8 so that it can be withdrawn from the cabinet for inspection or repair. The unit 2 is pivoted on a plate 9 fixed to the rail 7 so that it can be swivelled to an upright position to facilitate access to components on its underside. Two trunnion pins 12, 16 on the unit 2 co- operate with retaining members 15, 17 to hold the unit 2 in its horizontal position or in its vertical position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A cabinet for electronic equipment This invention relates to a cabinet for electronic equipment and arose with a view to providing a simple mechanical structure allowing various units of the electronic equipment to be withdrawn and inspected for servicing or adjustment with the minimum of inconvenience.

The invention provides a cabinet for electronic equipment comprising a housing; a unit which carries electronic components and is mounted on a support so that it can slide from a first position inside the housing to a second position outside the housing, the unit being connected to the support by a pivot allowing the unit to adopt different rotational positions relative to the support when inside and outside the housing respectively, and detent means for holding the unit in the said rotational positions.

The pivot preferably takes the form of a projection on the said unit which fits into a slot in the support or vice versa. This allows the unit to be removed from the support by simply lifting it. It is expected however that such removal will not normally be necessary since the pivotting of the unit allows a ready access to the underside for servicing purposes.

The detent means preferably includes two separate catches, one for holding the unit in one of its rotational positions (e.g. a horizontal position) the other being to hold the unit in the other of its rotational positions (e.g. a vertical position). Each of these catches can be constituted by a trunnion pin on the unit which fits into a slot on the support, some suitable retaining means being provided to hold the trunnion pin in the slot.

One particular way of carrying out the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:~ Figure 1 is a side elevation of part of a cabinet constructed in accordance with the invention, showing one unit withdrawn and held in a horizontal position: Figure 2 is similar to Fig. 1 but shows the unit pivotted to a second, vertical position; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the part of the cabinet shown in Fig. 1 showing the unit held in its horizontal position; and Figure 4 is similar to Fig. 3 but shows the unit held in its vertical position.

Referring to the drawings the cabinet 1 carries a number of electronic units such as the one shown at 2. Each of these units 2 has a front panel 3 3 which may or may not carry certain controls and/or indicators and which is normally exposed and forms a front face of the cabinet. A chassis 4 contains electronic components which are connected to other components within the cabinet 1 by a flexible cable 5 having sufficient length and slackness to allow the unit to be moved to its extended position as shown in the drawings but also to be pushed back to its retreated position where the front panel 3 lies flush with the front edge 6 of the cabinet 1.

The unit 2 is held relative to the rest of the cabinet 1 by a support in the form of two rails 7 and 8, the rail 7 sliding telescopically within the rail 8, and the rail 8 sliding within another rail (not shown) rigidly secured within the housing 1. This allows the unit 2 to be withdrawn to its extended position as illustrated where it is completely clear of the front edge 6 of the housing. A duplicate set of rails 7 and 8 are provided at the opposite side of the housing 1 but these are not shown in the drawings.

Attached to the rail 7 and extending upwardly therefrom is a support plate 9. The support plate 9 has a groove 10 which opens onto the top edge of the plate 9 and receives a pivot pin or projection 11 fixed rigidly to the chassis 4 of the unit 2. A similar pivot arrangement is used at the opposite side of the cabinet and this allows the unit 2 to be rotated from the horizontal position shown in Figs.

1 and 3 to a vertical position shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The arrangement of the pivot pin 1 1 and slot 10 also allows the unit 2 to be removed completely from the housing 1 simply by lifting it out of the groove 10. Before doing this it would of course be necessary to disconnect the cable 5.

The chassis 4 also carries a first catch member in the form of a trunnion pin 12. This fits into a groove 13 formed in a plate 14 secured to the outermost extremity of the rail 7. This plate 14 forms another first catch member and a retaining member 15 is pivotted to the plate 14 and serves to hold the trunnion pin in the groove 13 so that the unit 2 is held securely in its horizontal position.

The retaining member 15 has a surface 1 5a arranged so that the member 15 is displaced from its illustrated position by the trunnion pin 12 as the unit 2 swings into its horizontal position. The centre of gravity of the member 1 5 is arranged so that the latter then swings back to its illustrated position.

Second catch members are provided for the purpose of holding the unit 2 in its vertical position as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4. These second catch members are formed by a further trunnion pin 1 6 secured to the chassis 4 of the unit 2 and a retaining member 17. This retaining member 17 serves to hold the trunnion pin in a groove 18 in the plate 9 in a similar way as previously described in connection with the retaining member 15. The unit 2 can thus be held securely in its upright position so as to allow ready access by a service engineer to the underside of the unit 2.

It will be appreciated that in the illustrated construction the parts by which the unit 2 is pivotted on the support 7 and 8; and the various catch members are particularly easy to construct consisting simply of the two plates 9 and 14, the two pivotted stops 15 and 17 and the three projecting members 12, 16 and 11.

Claims

1. A cabinet for electronic equipment comprising a housing; a unit which carries electronic components and is mounted on a support so that it can slide from a first position inside the housing to a second position outside the housing, the unit being connected to the support by a pivot allowing the unit to adopt different rotational positions relative to the support when inside and outside the housing respectively, and detent means for holding the unit in the said rotational positions.

2. A cabinet according to claim 1 in which the pivot includes a projection on the unit which fits into a slot in the support or vice versa this allowing the unit to be removed from the support by lifting the unit and thereby disengaging the projection from the slot.

3. A cabinet according to claim 1 or 2 in which the detent means includes first catch members on the unit and the support respectively these first catch members co-operating to hold the unit in one of said rotational positions and second catch members on the unit and support respectively these second catch members co-operating to hold the unit in another of said rotational positions.

4. A cabinet according to claim 3 in which the first catch members include a trunnion pin on the said unit, a recess defined by the support and arranged to receive the trunnion pin and a retaining member for holding the trunnion pin in the recess.

5. A cabinet according to claim 4 in which the second catch members include a second trunnion pin on the said unit, a second recess defined by the support and arranged to receive the second trunnion pin and a second retaining member for holding the second trunnion pin in the second recess.

6. A cabinet according to claim 3 or 4 in which the or each retaining member is pivotted to the support.

7. A cabinet according to claim 3 in which the catch members on the supports are located at opposite sides of the pivot.

8. A cabinet according to any preceding claim in which the support is extendible in length.

9. A cabinet according to claim 8 in which the support is telescopic.

10. A cabinet according to claim 8 or 9 including two supports at opposite sides of the unit.

11. A cabinet according to any preceding claim in which the components carried by the unit are linked to other components contained in the cabinet by a flexible cable which allows the unit to slide from the housing and to be pivotted between said rotational positions without disconnection of the cable.

12. A cabinet according to claim 1 and including a plurality of units, supports, pivots and detent means all mounted on a common housing.

13. A cabinet substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings and substantially as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

New claims or amendments to claims filed on 4-11-80 Superseded claim 1 New or amended claims~

1. A cabinet for electronic equipment comprising: a housing; a unit which carries electronic components; a sliding support by which the unit is mounted on the housing so that the unit can slide from a first position substantially inside the housing to a second position which is substantially outside the housing but where the unit is still mounted on the housing; a pivot by which the unit is connected to the sliding support and which moves from a position inside the housing to a position outside the housing when the unit slides between the first and second positions, the pivot allowing the unit to adopt different rotational positions relative to the support when the unit is in the said first and second positions respectively; and detent means for holding the unit is the said rotational positions.