GB2166091A - Sliding rack for a vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

A sliding rack for carrying tools and components in a motor vehicle includes a generally rectangular panel (24) for supporting containers (26,28,30) for the objects to be carried. The rack has bogey wheel sets 36 38 carried at one end of the panel which engaged in respective guide rails (22,20). A fixed bogey wheel set 40 carried by the lower rail (20), has wheels projecting into the rail to engage the bottom edge (66) of the panel. As the panel is slid outwardly, it tilts under load and all of the bogies are arranged to pivot to allow the wheels to equalise the loads carried. A pivoted catch (58) is provided on one guide rail to engage in any of a plurality of positions with the rack to prevent inadvertent sliding movement and to prevent the rack being moved wholly out of the guide rail except when so desired. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Sliding rack This invention relates to a sliding rack particularly for use in a motor vehicle especially a light commercial van. When such a van is used by a tradesman or technician for example a telephone engineer, a great quantity of different tools, materials and components may have to be carried, and it is conventional to house these in individual containers mounted on a rack inside the van. Because of the dimensions of the vehicles often used, access is only obtained with difficulty, and for this reason there have been various proposals for sliding arrangements to enable the entire rack to be projected rearwardly of the vehicle and extended beyond the rear doors.Sufficient travel is necessary for the whole rack to be accessible by someone standing on the ground at the rear of the vehicle, but this can include the possibility of a portion of the rack remaining inside the vehicle.

These light commercial vehicles are often based on private motor car designs and as such have very limited headroom inside the van. In order to make best use of the space available, the rack needs to extend towards the roof of the van.

A further requirement of these racks is some means for preventing sliding movement of the rack relative to the van, so as to stop the loaded rack moving around when the vehicle is in motion.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved design which will meet requirements in these respects.

In accordance with the invention, a sliding rack particularly for use in a motor vehicle comprises a pair of parallel guide rails located generally one above the other, the rack having parallel edge portions guided for sliding movement by said rails, a plurality of rollers effective between the rails and the rack for guiding the same in relative movement thereof, and a catch for holding the rack against sliding movement, said catch comprising a part pivoted to one or other of the relatively movable parts (rack and guide rails).

Preferably the rollers are provided in pairs mounted on parallel axles attached to individual bogies, and the bogies are pivotally located so that in the event of deformation of some part of the installed system under load, the bogies can pivot to distribute load uniformly across the pair of rollers.

The term "rack" used herein is intended to mean either a skeleton frame on which the load may be attached, or a panel serving the same function. In one form, the panel may be a sheet metal pressing provided with a series of louvre-like projections each of which may be used as a hook to engage in an appropriate formation at one end of the corresponding tool tray, component tray or the like.

The invention is now more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of the rear part of a motor vehicle provided with a sliding rack; Figure 2 is an enlarged scale fragmentary elevation of the rack; Figure 3 is a plan view of the portion shown in Fig. 2; Figure 4 is a sectional end elevation taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; Figure 5 is an enlarged scale elevation of the rack; Figure 6 is a further enlarged scale crosssection of the rack and its guides taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; Figure 7 is a further and enlarged fragmentary elevation of one bogey also seen in Fig.

5; Figure 8 is a sectional plan view of the bogey taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7; Figure 9 is a view similar to Fig. 7 showing a modified bogey; Figure 10 is a plan of the modified bogey seen in Fig. 9; Figure 11 is a view similar to Fig. 7 but showing a bottom bogey as seen in Fig. 5, and on a similarly enlarged scale; Figure 12 is a cross-section on the line 12-12 of Fig. 11; Figure 13 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 6 showing the container supported on the rack and Figure 14 is a view in the same direction as Fig. 5 showing part of the container support as seen in Fig. 13.

Turning now to the drawings and particularly Fig. 1 thereof, a light commercial van is shown having rear wheels, an open door, a floor and a roof. The van is provided with a rack system according to the present invention comprising a stationary frame fixed in the van consisting of uprights 18 18 and horizontal rails 20 22, with a rack 24 in the form of a generally rectangular plate slidingly engaged with the rails 20 22 and supporting a plurality of storage containers here shown has being three different sizes 26 28 30. Fig. 1 shows the rack about halfway out of the vehicle.

Turning next to Fig. 5, from which the storage containers are omitted, it can be seen that the rack 24 is supported generally by three bogies each consisting of a pair of wheels and indicated by the reference numerals 36, 38 and 40.

The bogies 36 and 38 are fixed to the rack near its inner end (in relation to the vehicle) and as best seen in Fig. 7, each of these bogies consists of a pair of wheels 42 freely pivoted on a bracket 44 which is in turn pivoted on a pin 46 so that the bracket can tilt to enable both wheels to mainain contact with the guide rail 22 even when deformed or tilted under load. The bracket carries lateral rubbing pads 48 which may be of nylon or a suitable low friction material and which can engage laterally in the guide channel 20 or 22 to take lateral loads.

Figs. 9 and 10 show a variation of the bo gey form in which the rubbing pads are re placed by a third wheel 50 which can similarly engage on one or other side of the channel, with slight clearance.

The third bogey 40 is fixed to the guide channel 20 at the outer end of the same. This is the lower guide channel, and the wheels 52 are similarly pivoted on a bracket which in turn is pivoted on a cross pin 54. The wheels are located in a slot in the base of the channel 20 and project into the channel so that the lower edge of the rack 24 rests on those wheels as best seen in Fig. 12 for example. In this case the channel is provided with the rubbing pads 60 for the purpose of accepting lateral loads which occur for example if the vehicle is parked on a non-level ground and the rack is to be slid in or out of the vehicle.

The rack may conveniently comprise a sheet-metal pressing in the form of generally rectangular panel which is locally reinforced by having its uppe and lower edges turned to make integral channel section stiffenings 62, 64 as seen in Fig. 6, and to which the bogies 36, 38 are bolted. In addition, a further stiffening member 66 may be provided extending over part of the length of the rack at both upper and lower edges these additional members being shorter than the rack, and the forward (in relation to the vehicle) and edges of these additional members 66 being indicated by the reference numeral 68 for the upper stiffening part and 70 for the lowermost one.

The arrangement is such that in normal use when the rack is captively retained relative to, and supported by, the guide rails 20, 22, the lowermost stiffening member 66 lies between the lateral guide pad 60 (Fig. 12) and the bogey 36 lies in the channel portion of the upper guide member 22 to the left of the cutout 56 in the same (Fig. 1). Travel beyond this position is normally prevented by a detent for example 58 Fig. 1 also seen in enlarged scale in Figs. 2 to 4. As shown in the Figs, the detent comprises generally channel Ushaped catch 70 carrying a plunger 72 spring urged to take its nose through a guide hole in the rail and into anyone of a series of holes provided in the upper edge of the channel-like stiffening 64 at the top of the rack.Hence as the rack is slid outwardly of the vehicle, to the right in Fig. 1 or Fig. 2, the plunger will automatically engage with an appropriate hole and prevent the bogey 36 moving into the cutout 56. The plunger can be raised by finger pressure applied to the projecting wings 73 which are integral with the part 70, so as to disengage the plunger from the rack hole, the wing being contacted by finger pressure applied from below. Hence a relatively small clearance is necessary above the plunger between it and the roof of the van, and it is unnecessary to provide enough space for a hand to reach in above the guard rail to release the plunger. Two wings 73 are provided so that the same catch component can be used whether the rack is mounted on the right of the left of the vehicie, but it will be appreciated that hand components could be used instead.

By appropriate release of the plunger, the complete rack can be removed from the vehicle by tilting the top edge of the rack so as to move the bogey 36 through the cutout and clear of the top rail, and then lifting the panel out of engagement with the bottom rail.

The dimensions of the rail and cutout, and the positions of the end edges 68, 70 are such that when the bogey 36 is aligned with the cutout 56 at the top stiffening 66 is wholly clear of the top rail 22, but a small portion of the bottom stiffening 66 is still engaged with the bottom rail 20.

Fig. 13 shows three typical containers of a kind well known in industrial storage systems and which may be made of sheet metal or of plastics for example having a hook 76 at the rear to engage on a louvre 80 pressed out of the panel, usually with the heel 82 of the container seated against another one or more of such louvres. As seen in Fig. 14, a container can hook engage with more than one louvre lengthwise of the panel.

To prevent the loaded containers becoming disengaged from the louvres for example when the vehicle is driven over a bad road, some detachable means is preferably provided to fix the containers in place. This may consist of a simple spring clip, but alternatively and as shown in Fig. 11 and 12 apertures can be provided between the louvres and rubber plugs snap-engaged with the apertures with the head of the plug abutting the top of the container to like effect.

Many variations and modifications will be apparent to the engineer. For example many different kinds of wheels or rollers can be employed as anti-friction means facilitating sliding a laden panel rack in the rails.

Instead of providing anti-friction pads for lateral guidance on the bogey brackets, this can be provided as a iining in the channel.

Alternatively the members 66 can be provided with a facing of an anti-friction material to like effect.

The panel is not necessarily rectangular, and if the system is to be installed in a hatchback car, for example one from which the rear seats have been removed, or in a motor van based on a hatchback car, the rack or panel may have a suitably sloping edge at the righthand end of the panel as seen in Fig. 1 so as to make maximum use of the available space in the vehicle.

In general, the sidewalls of the motor vehicles are not vertical and it is preferred to have the rails 22 and 20 located in a plane which is truly vertical when the vehicle is level on a level road surface, and this may necessitate a space between the rack and the side wall of the vehicle, on the opposite side from the containers. Such a space can conveniently be used to support elongated materials or tools, for example lengths of pipe and the like and the uprights 18 may be provided with brackets to carry shelves for such purposes.

Claims (8)

1. A sliding rack particularly for use in a motor vehicle comprising a pair of parallel guide rails located generally one above the other, the rack having parallel edge portions guided for sliding movement by said rails, a plurality of rollers effective between the rails and the rack for guiding the same in relative movement thereof, and a catch for holding the rack against sliding movement, said catch comprising a part pivoted to one or other of the relatively movable parts (rack and guide rails).

2. A rack as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the rollers are provided in pairs mounted on parallel axles attaches to individual bogies which are pivotally located so that in the event of tilt the bogies can pivot to distribute load uniformly.

3. A rack as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein surfaces of anti-friction material are provided between the rack and the guide rails.

4. A rack as claimed in Claim 3 wherein pads of anti-friction material are carried by the bogies to engage in the guide rails.

5. A rack as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the catch is mounted on one guide rail and is engageable in any of a plurality of positions with the rack.

6. A rack as claimed in Claim 5 wherein the rack is arranged to be disconnectable from the guide rails by a tilting movement after release of said means and an additional relative movement between the rack and rails.

7. A rack as claimed in Claim 2 wherein the rack has bogies at upper and lower edges at one end and the lower rail carries a third bogey at the opposite end of the rack when the latter is co-extensive with the rails.

8. A rack substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.