JPH03217782A - Rack device for refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the left-and-right inclination of a rack, permit the movement of the rack with comparatively small force and avoid the collision of frames against each other as well as contact between the frame and the bottom of a refrigerator by a method wherein the rack is moved up-and-down by rotating spur gears on both left and right ends simultaneously by a driving device, rotating a gear shaft or the spur gears, While a frame is provided with a collision preventing stopper at the lower part of the front surface of the same. CONSTITUTION:When a dial 6a is turned, a dial shaft 7 and a driving gear 8 are turned. Accordingly, a transmission gear 9, meshed with the driving gear 8, is turned whereby a gear shaft 4 and spur gears 5 at both sides are turned. In this case, the spur gears 5 are moved while being meshed with a rack 14b at the front side of a sliding groove 14a through the gear shaft 4, however, left and right spur, gears 5 are fixed to the gear shaft 4 and are turned with the same rotation whereby a frame 2 or a rack 1 is moved up-and-down symmetrically and a positional deviation between the left height and the right height of the rack 1 will never be generated. On the other hand, the frame is prevented from contacting with the bottom of a refrigerator by collision preventing stoppers 2a', 2b' provided at the lower part of the front surface of the frame 2 even when the frame is descended excessively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a shelf device for a refrigerator, which is used inside a refrigerator and whose vertical position can be changed in various ways.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, this type of refrigerator shelving system is known, for example, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,841,459.

This conventional refrigerator shelf device includes a shelf disposed inside the refrigerator, a frame that holds the shelf, two rails that slide and hold rollers supported on the left and right sides of the frame, and a frame that supports the frame. It was equipped with a screw jack for crystallization. The frame rotatably held a nut fitted into the screw jack and a shaft with a handle for rotating the nut. Further, the rails were installed vertically on the left and right sides of the interior of the refrigerator, and the screw jack was installed vertically at the center of the interior of the refrigerator. Then, by turning the shaft with the handle and rotating the nut fitted into the screw jack, the position of the nant was changed and the position of the frame holding the shelf was changed.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The conventional refrigerator shelf device described above has a structure that allows the shelves to be moved up and down.
This is a frame fixed by a screw jack attached to the back center of the refrigerator, so if food is placed on either the left or right side of the shelf, the shelf with the most food will tilt and the rollers will fall off the rails. The shaft with the handle did not rotate smoothly as it came into contact with the handle at an angle, and the shaft with the handle had to be turned with great force. In addition, the shaft with a handle and screw jack were located in the center of the shelf, and the structure was relatively large, which caused problems with the storage of food on the lower shelf or lower level. In addition, since there is no stopper between the frames installed, there is a risk of collision between the frames, or contact with the bottom of the refrigerator when the frames are lowered to a position below a certain height. could not be prevented.

The present invention improves the above-mentioned problems of the conventional refrigerator shelf device, prevents the shelves from tilting from side to side, and allows the shelves to be moved with a relatively small force, thereby preventing the storage of food at the bottom. In addition to the shelf system of the refrigerator, the bottom of the refrigerator is likely to be damaged due to collisions between multiple attached frames, or when the lower frame is lowered to a position below a certain height. The purpose of this project is to solve these problems and provide even greater safety by providing a protrusion on the front of the frame to avoid contact with the vehicle.

Means for Solving the Problems For the above-mentioned purpose, the refrigerator shelf device of the present invention includes a shelf arranged in the refrigerator, a substantially U-shaped frame for holding the shelf, and a shelf on the front side of the frame. A collision prevention stopper protruding toward the inner bottom surface, a sliding member attached to the rear left and right sides of this frame, a gear shaft with spur gears fixed to the left and right ends attached to the rear of the frame, and this gear shaft or a drive device that rotates a spur gear; a sliding groove formed in the left and right vertical directions at the back of the refrigerator, in which at least a portion of the sliding member is accommodated and slidably held; It is comprised of racks that are formed in the horizontal and vertical directions inside the refrigerator and mesh with the spur gears.

Function Since the refrigerator shelf device of the present invention has the above-described configuration, the spur gears at both left and right ends can be rotated simultaneously by the drive device that rotates the gear shaft or spur gear, and the rack can be moved up and down. Therefore, the shelf and frame can be smoothly rotated up and down on the left and right racks at the same time. This allows the sliding members that move up and down inside the sliding groove to slide smoothly without tilting diagonally.Furthermore, a stopper is provided at the lower front of the frame to prevent contact between the frames or the bottom of the refrigerator. It is possible to prevent possible damage to the frame and other peripheral devices, and it is also possible to visually confirm contact with the frame.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings of FIGS. 1 to 8.

In the figure, 1 is a shelf on which food is placed. 2 is a frame that holds the shelf 1, and includes a left frame 2a and a right frame 2.
b, and a rear frame 2C that connects the left and right frames 2a and 2b.

Also, at the bottom of the front of both frames 2a and 2b,
When the frame is lowered, contact prevention stoppers 2a' and 2b' are respectively provided to avoid the risk of damage to various parts due to contact with other frames or the bottom of the interior of the refrigerator. 3 is the sliding member attached to the back left and right of frame 2! ), aa, and ab are an upper roller and a lower roller that constitute the sliding member 3. Further, the upper and lower rollers 3a and sb are each supported by a metallic roller shaft 3c.

Note that the upper roller 3a and the lower roller 3b are the same. 4 is a gear shaft rotatably attached to the back of the frame 2, and fixed flat gears 6 are attached to both left and right ends. e& is a dial rotatably attached to the dial hole 2d in the front part of the right frame 2b;
is a dial shaft connected to this dial 6a, and 8 is a driving gear usually called a worm gear fixed to this dial shaft 7. 9 is a transfer gear, usually called a helical gear, which is fixed to the gear shaft 4 adjacent to the spur gear 5 on the right side. In this embodiment, the dial 6a, the dial shaft end, the drive gear 8, and the transfer gear 9
The driving device 6 is configured by the following. 10 is the inside of the refrigerator. 11 is an outer box made of iron plate of the refrigerator body. 1
2 is an inner box molded from resin. 13 is the outer box 11
This is a foamed heat insulating material that is foamed and filled between the inner box 12 and the inner box 12.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a rail fixed to the rail groove 12 & of the inner box 12 with screws or the like. 14a is formed on the rail 14 and connects the spur gear 5 and the sliding member 3, that is, the upper roller 3a and the lower roller 3.
This is a sliding groove that accommodates at least a portion of b and slidably holds it. 14b is a rack that is made of a material different from that of the spur gear 5 and meshes with the spur gear 6 formed in the sliding groove 14a of the rail 14 (in the vertical direction). Note that the width dimension W of the sliding groove 14a is the outer diameter of the upper roller 3a and lower roller 3b! )0.1
It has been increased by about 1111111. Still upper roller 3
a, the lower roller 3b, and the spur gear 6 are located almost on the same line, and the upper roller 3a is in contact with the front surface of the sliding groove 14a,
The lower roller 3b is placed in contact with the inner surface of the sliding groove 14a, and the spur gear 5 is arranged on the left frame 2a and the right frame 2b so as to mesh with the rack 14b. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the frame 2 is shaped so that it covers the spur gear 6, drive gear 8, and transfer gear 9 from the inside of the refrigerator. The upper roller 3a and the spur gear 5 are still covered by a flange 2d formed at the upper end of the frame 2 and having a narrow gap with the sliding groove 14a of the rail 14.

Next, reference numeral 16 is a control panel which is provided with an air passage inside to cool the interior 1o of the refrigerator.When moving the control panel, first rotate the dial 6a, and the dial shaft 7 and drive gear 8 will rotate. . Therefore, the transfer gear 9 that meshes with the drive gear 8 rotates, and the gear shaft 4 and the spur gears 5 on both sides rotate. At this time, the spur gear 5 moves through the gear shaft 4 in the sliding groove 14a while meshing with the rack 14b on the front side, but since the left and right spur gears 6 are fixed to the gear shaft 4 and rotate in the same manner, the frame 2 Similarly to the left and right sides of the shelf 1, the shelf 1 moves up and down, and no deviation in height between the left and right sides occurs. In addition, the contact prevention stoppers 2a' and 2b' provided at the lower front of the frame 2 prevent damage to various parts that may be caused by contact with the bottom of the refrigerator even if the frame is lowered more than necessary. Become. As a result, the sliding member 3 moving up and down within the sliding groove 14a can slide smoothly without being obliquely inclined, so that the operating force for the dial 6a can be reduced. In addition, in this embodiment, since the roller shafts 3C of the upper and lower rollers 3a and 3b are made of metal, even if many foods are placed on the shelf 1, the upper and lower rollers 3a
, 3b rotate smoothly without tilting, and the frictional force can be reduced, so the operating force for the dial 6a can be extremely small. Next, when the shelf 1 is moved to the desired position using the dial 6a and then stopped, the shelf 1, that is, the frame 2, tends to fall down due to the weight of the shelf 1 and frame 2 and the weight of the food on the shelf 1. . As a result of this force, the spur gear 6 first tries to rotate. Therefore, the gear shaft 4 and the transfer gear 9 try to rotate, but the rolling gear 9 meshes with the driving gear 8, and rotating the driving gear 8 rotates the rolling gear 9. Although it is easy from a mechanical point of view, the force that causes the tooth profile 9a of the rolling gear 9 to rotate the screw-shaped tooth profile 8a of the drive gear 8 is due to the fact that the tooth profile 9& of the rolling gear 9 is approximately perpendicular to the tooth profile 8a of the drive gear 8. It is impossible to rotate the driving gear 8 by the rolling gear 9, which has an extremely large frictional force due to meshing. Therefore, when shelf 1 is stopped,
The driving gear 8 and the transfer gear 9 serve as a strobbling mechanism,
Even if food is placed on shelf 1, shelf 1 will not go down,
It is held in that position.

As explained above, the refrigerator shelf device of this embodiment does not require a large force to move the shelf 1 even when food is placed on the shelf 1, and the shelf 1 does not tilt, and each frame Moreover, damage caused by contact between the frame and the bottom of the chamber can be avoided.

Effects of the Invention As explained above, the refrigerator shelf device of the present invention includes a shelf disposed inside the refrigerator, a substantially U-shaped frame that holds the shelf, and a front surface of the frame that extends toward the bottom of the refrigerator. A protruding hit-prevention stopper ~, a sliding member attached to the back left and right of this frame, a gear shaft with a spur gear fixed to the left and right ends attached to the back of the frame, and this gear shaft or spur gear. A driving device for rotating, a sliding groove formed in the left and right vertical directions at the back of the refrigerator, in which at least a portion of the sliding member is accommodated and slidably held; Since the rack is arranged in the vertical direction and meshes with the flat gear, the rack can be smoothly rotated up and down by the rotation of the flat gears at both ends of the gear shaft rotated by the drive device. Therefore, the shelf and frame can be raised and lowered while being kept horizontal by means of spur gears that simultaneously rotate up and down on the left and right racks. This means that the sliding member moving up and down in the sliding groove can slide smoothly without tilting diagonally.
The collision prevention stopper installed at the bottom of the front of the frame allows refrigerator shelving and installation to avoid damage to various parts that may be caused by contact between frames or between the frames and the bottom of the refrigerator. become.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional perspective view of a refrigerator to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a frame used in this embodiment.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the main parts of this embodiment, FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the main parts of this embodiment, FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A in FIG. 4, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line B-B in FIG. 1. FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the main part of the right frame of this embodiment as seen from the side. The figure is a perspective view of the main part of the front side of the right frame of this embodiment; FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the front part of the inside of the refrigerator of this embodiment. 1...Shelf, 2...Frame, 2a'
, 2b'... Hit prevention stonoper, 3...
...Sliding member, 4...Gear shaft, 6...
... Spur gear, 6... Drive device, 1o...
...Inside the refrigerator, 14&...Sliding groove, 14b...
...Rank.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A shelf installed inside the refrigerator, a roughly U-shaped frame that holds this shelf, a hit prevention stopper that protrudes toward the bottom of the refrigerator on the front part of this frame, and a stopper that is attached to the back left and right of this frame. a gear shaft with spur gears fixed to the left and right ends attached to the back of the frame; a drive device for rotating the gear shaft or the spur gear; A refrigerator comprising a sliding groove in which at least a part of the sliding member is housed and slidably held therein, and a rack formed inside or adjacent to the sliding groove in the horizontal and vertical directions in the refrigerator and meshing with the spur gear. shelving device.