JPH0345882A - Shelf device of cold storage - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the shelf device move without the need of large force and labor by releasing a stopper mechanism so that a shaft fixing a gear may be rotated and vertically moving a frame holding a shelf directly along a sliding mechanism. CONSTITUTION:When a lever 10 is rotated, a wire 12 fixing the other end of a stopper 7 to one end of the stopper 7 fixed with the use of the lever pulls in the direction of separating the stopper 7 from a ratchet 6. As the result, a pawl part 7a of the stopper 7 is not locked with a projection part 6a of the ratchet 6, which can be rotated and a gear 5 fixed on the same shaft 4 as the ratchet 6 can be rotated as it is engaged with a rack 14. Next, a frame 2 holding a self 1 is allowed to vertically move along a rail 2 up to a target position as the lever 10 is rotated. In this case, when a upper roller 3a or a lower roller 3b abuts on a sliding groove 13a, the movement of the shelf 1 is performed smoothly since the upper roller 3a or the lower roller 3b is rotated and slided in the sliding groove 13a.

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.

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional refrigerator shelving device of this type is shown in, for example, US Pat. No. 2,841,459.

This conventional refrigerator shelf device includes a shelf arranged inside the refrigerator, a frame that holds the shelf, two rails that slide and hold the frame from left and right, and fixes the frame at an arbitrary position. It was equipped with screws and jacks.

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 at the left and right sides at the back of the refrigerator, and the screws were installed vertically at the center at the rear of the refrigerator. Then, the shaft with the handle is turned to rotate the nut fitted into the screw jack, thereby changing the position of the nut and changing the position of the frame holding the shelf.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The above-mentioned conventional refrigerator shelf apparatus has a structure in which the shelf cannot be moved unless the nut is rotated by a shaft with a handle to move the shelf by the distance the shelf is to be moved. Therefore, when the rotational friction force of the nut is large, the shaft with the handle must be turned with a relatively large force, and when the pitch of the thread of the screw jack is small, the handle must be turned a lot. Further, in the conventional refrigerator shelf device described above, the force exerted to hold the frame holding the shelf in its position is almost the same when the shelf is fixed and when the shelf is moved. Therefore, a relatively large amount of force was required, especially when moving the shelf upward.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the above-mentioned problems of conventional refrigerator shelving devices, and thereby provide a refrigerator shelving device that does not require much effort or great force to move the shelves.

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 frame for holding the shelf, and a horizontally rotating shelf attached to the rear left and right sides of the frame. An upper roller and a lower roller having shafts, a shaft installed at the back of the frame and having gears fixed on both left and right ends, a stopper mechanism installed at the frame and the shaft to stop the rotation of the shaft, and a mechanism at the back of the refrigerator. A sliding groove formed vertically on the left and right, in which at least a portion of the upper roller and the lower roller are housed and slidably held; a rack that meshes with the gear formed by the upper roller, the lower roller, and the gear, the upper roller is in contact with the front surface of the sliding groove, and the lower roller is in contact with the upper roller. The lower roller is also disposed on the left and right sides of the frame so that it comes into contact with the rear surface of the sliding groove, and the gear engages with the rack above the lower roller.

Function: Since the refrigerator shelf device of the present invention has the above-described structure, if the stopper mechanism is released so that the shaft can rotate, the frame holding the shelf can be directly moved up and down along the sliding groove. Further, the frame holding the shelf is held in that position by the force of the stopper mechanism that stops the rotation of the shaft and the rotational frictional force of the upper and lower rollers and gears. In addition, the rotational frictional force of the upper roller, lower roller, and gear increases as the load applied to the shelf increases, so that the upper roller and lower roller do not come into strong contact with the back side or front side of the sliding groove. It becomes so small that it bothers the frame. Therefore, when moving the shelf upward, it is possible to move the shelf upward with a small force. When moving the shelf downward, the rotational frictional force of the upper roller, lower roller, and gear is appropriately adjusted to prevent the shelf from falling freely, and the shelf can be moved downward with a relatively small force.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings of FIGS. 1 to 6.

Figure 1 is a sectional view of the main parts of a refrigerator to which this embodiment is applied;
The figure is a perspective view of the frame used in this example, Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the main parts of Figure 2, and Figure 4 is an upper roller, lower roller, gear, stopper mechanism, rail, and rack of this example. FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional schematic perspective view of the main parts showing the relationship between A and A in FIG.
6 is a sectional view taken along line AA' in FIG. 1 when the shelf is being moved upward.

In Figures 1 to 6, 1 is a shelf on which food is placed. Reference numeral 2 denotes a frame that holds the shelf 1, and is formed by a left frame 2a, a right frame 2b, a rear frame 2C that connects the left and right frames 2a and 2b, and a connecting stay 2d. Reference numerals 3a and 3b denote an upper roller and a lower roller, respectively, which are attached to the rear left and right sides of the frame 2 and have rotating shafts in the left-right direction.

The upper roller 3a and lower roller 3b have the same size.

4 is a shaft attached to the back of the frame 2, and fixed gears 5 are attached to both left and right ends.

A ratchet 6 is fixed to the shaft 4 adjacent to the gear 6 on the right side, and a protrusion 6a is formed around the entire circumference. 7 has a claw portion 7a that engages with a protrusion 6a of the ratchet 6, which is a stopper. 8 moves the stopper 7 to the right frame 2b
This is a stopper pin that is rotatably attached to a position where the claw 7a of the ratchet 6 can engage with the protrusion 6a of the ratchet 6. A stopper spring 9 has one end fixed to the right frame 2b and the other end biasing the stopper 7 in the direction in which the pawl 7a engages with the protrusion 6a of the ratchet 6. A lever 10 is rotatably attached to the right frame 2b with a lever pin 11.

12 is the claw portion 7 of the stopper 7 when the lever 10 is rotated.
It is a wire whose one end is fixed to the lever 10 and the other end is fixed to the stopper 7 so that a is separated from the protrusion 6a of the ratchet 6.

In this embodiment, a stopper mechanism 19 is composed of the above-mentioned edge 6, stopper 7, stopper bin 8, stopper spring 9, lever 10, lever pin 11, and wire 12. 15 is inside the refrigerator.

16 is an outer box made of iron plate of the refrigerator body. Reference numeral 17 denotes an inner box molded from resin, and rail grooves 17a are formed on the left and right sides of the interior of the refrigerator. 18 is a foamed heat insulating material filled between the outer box 1e and the inner box 17.

A metal rail 13 is attached to the rail groove 17a of the inner box 17 with a mounting screw. Reference numeral 13a denotes a sliding groove formed on the rail 13 for accommodating at least a portion of the upper roller 3a and lower roller 3b and holding them in a sliding manner. Reference numeral 14 denotes a rack that meshes with a gear 6 formed toward the back surface adjacent to the sliding groove 13a of the rail 13. The width H of the button and sliding groove 13a is approximately 0.2 to IWM larger than the outer diameter of the upper roller 3a and lower roller 3b. The upper roller 3a, the lower roller 3b, and the gear 5 are arranged such that the upper roller 3a contacts the front surface of the sliding groove 13a, and the lower roller 3b contacts the rear surface of the sliding groove 13a below the upper roller 3&. The rollers are arranged on the left frame 2a and the right frame 3b, respectively, so that the rotation axis of the upper roller 3& is in front of the rotation axis of the lower roller 3b so that the gear 6 engages with the rack 14 above the lower roller 3b. ing. Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the right frame 2b is shaped to cover the stopper mechanism 19 from the upper side and the left side.

When moving the shelf 1 of the refrigerator shelf device of this embodiment upward or downward, first, lift the front part of the lever 1o and rotate the lever 10. When the lever 1o is rotated, the wire 12, which has one end fixed to the lever 10 and the other end fixed to the stopper 7, pulls the stopper 7 in a direction away from the ratchet 6, as shown in FIG. Then, the claw 7a of the stopper 7 no longer engages with the protrusion 6a of the ratchet 6, and the ratchet e can now rotate.
A gear 5 fixed to the same shaft 4 can rotate while meshing with the rack 14.

Next, the lever 10 is rotated and the frame 2 holding the 11 shelves 1 is directly moved upward or downward along the rail 13 at the target position 1. At this time, the gear 6 held on the frame 2 via the shaft 4 also moves while meshing with the rack 14, but since the left and right gears 5 are fixed to the shaft 4 and rotate in the same manner, the height of the shelf 1 on the left and right is misaligned. does not occur. Furthermore, the width of the sliding groove 13a that slides and holds the upper roller 3a and the lower roller 3b is only slightly larger than the outer diameter of the upper roller 3a and the lower roller 3b, so that the upper roller 3a and the lower roller 3b are vertically moved. Since they are inserted into the sliding groove 13a with a distance between them, the height deviation between the front and back of the shelf 1 is so small that it does not pose a problem. Upper roller 3ai or lower roller 3
When b is in contact with the sliding groove 13a, the upper roller 3a
Since the lower roller 3b rotates and slides within the sliding groove 13a, the shelf 1 can be moved smoothly. Therefore, store food on shelf 1
There is no problem in moving the single cabinet shelf 1 placed on top of the cabinet.

Moreover, the rotational frictional force of the upper roller 3a, the lower roller 3b, and the gear 6 becomes a burden when moving the shelf 1.
The smaller the frame 2 is, the more the frame 2 is tilted to avoid strong contact with the rear surface or the front surface of 3a. Therefore, when moving the shelf 1 upward, as shown in FIG. 6, the frame 2 is tilted to reduce the rotational frictional force of the upper roller 3 & lower roller 3b and the gear 6.
can be moved up. Also, when moving the shelf 1 downward, the upper roller 3a, the lower roller 3b and the gear 5
By appropriately adjusting the rotational frictional force of the shelf 1, it is possible to prevent the shelf 1 from falling freely and move the shelf 1 downward with a relatively small force. When the shelf 1 is at the desired position 1, release the lever 1o. Lever 1
When 0 is released, the claw 7a of the stopper 7 engages with the protrusion 6a of the ratchet 6 due to the action of the stopper spring 9, and the ratchet e becomes unable to rotate. When the ratchet e becomes unable to rotate, the gear 6 fixed to the same shaft 4 as the ratchet 6 becomes unable to rotate, and the gear 11 engaged with the rack 14 is fixed at that position. Gear 6 is held by frame 2 via shaft 4, so when gear 5 is fixed, shelf 1
The frame 2 holding the is also fixed in that position.

At this time, the frame 2 holding the shelf 1 is held in that position by the force of the stopper 7 to stop the rotation of the ratchet 6 and the rotational frictional force of the upper roller 3a, the lower roller 3b, and the gear 5. In this embodiment, the upper roller 3a, the lower roller 3b, and the gear 5 are located at the back of the frame, so that the larger the load applied to the shelf 1, the more the upper roller 3a comes into contact with the front surface of the sliding groove 13a. The lower contact roller 3b makes stronger contact with the inner surface of the sliding groove 13a, and the gear 6 engages more strongly with the rack 14, increasing their rotational frictional force, so that the frame 2 that holds the shelf 1 is firmly in its position. Shelf 1 is held in place so that it does not fall.

As explained above, the refrigerator shelf device of this embodiment allows food to be placed on the shelves without requiring any effort to move the shelves! One shelf can be moved, and large force is not required to move the shelf.

In addition, in this embodiment, the right frame 2b is the stopper mechanism 19.
Since it covers from the top and left side, it is possible to connect from frame 2 to shelf 1.
There is no problem that food or the like hits the stopper mechanism 19 and damages the stopper mechanism 19 when the stopper mechanism 19 is removed.

Further, in this embodiment, since the sliding groove 13a and the rack 14 are formed on the metal rail 13, the sliding groove 13a and the rack 14 are formed on the metal rail 13.
There is no problem of deformation or damage as mentioned in 4. In this embodiment, the rack 14
is formed next to the back of the sliding groove 13a, and the gear 5 is connected to the upper and lower rollers 3.
Although the rack 14 is provided at the back of the rollers 3a and 3b, the rack 14 may be formed adjacent to the front of the sliding groove 13a, and the gear 6 may be provided in front of the upper and lower rollers 3a and 3b. In this embodiment, the sliding groove 13a and the rack 14
are formed on the metal rail 13, but the sliding groove 1 is not necessarily formed on the metal rail 13.
3a and the rack 14 do not have to be formed on the metal rail 13. In this embodiment, the mounting positions of the upper and lower rollers aa and sb to the frame 2 are not strictly determined;
It is better to install the upper and lower rollers 3a, 3b and the sliding groove 13 as far back as possible, away from the center of gravity of the shelf on which food is placed.
This is preferable because the frame 2 that holds the shelf 1 is held firmly in that position by the action of a. Also upper 0-ra 3 a
It is preferable to separate the lower roller 3b and the lower roller 3b from each other in the vertical direction as much as possible because this will reduce the wobbling of the frame 2.

As described in detail, the refrigerator shelf device of the present invention includes a shelf disposed in the refrigerator, a frame for holding the shelf, and the above-mentioned 7.
an upper roller and a lower roller having rotary axes in the left and right directions attached to the back left and right of the frame; a shirt bottom with gears fixed to both left and right ends attached to the back of the frame; and a shirt bottom attached to the frame and the shaft. a stopper mechanism that selectively stops the rotation of the shaft; a sliding groove that is vertically formed on the left and right sides at the back of the refrigerator and stores at least a portion of the upper roller and the lower roller and slidably holds them; a rack that engages with the gear formed adjacent to the groove toward the inner left and right sides of the refrigerator, and the upper roller, the lower roller, and the gear are arranged so that the upper roller is in front of the sliding groove. disposed on the left and right sides of the frame so that the lower roller contacts the inner surface of the sliding groove below the upper roller and the gear engages with the rack above the lower roller; Therefore, if the stopper mechanism is released so that the shaft can rotate, the frame that holds the shelf can be directly moved along the sliding groove, so it does not take much effort to move the shelf. Due to the action of gears and racks fixed to both ends of the housing shaft and held in the frame via the shaft, the height of the shelf does not shift from side to side even when the shelf is moved up or down. Thanks to the functions of the upper and lower rollers and sliding grooves, the shelves can be moved smoothly with almost no deviation in height between the front and back of the shelves, making it easy to place food on the shelves! Shelves can be moved. In addition, when moving the shelf upward, tilt the frame so that the upper roller and lower roller do not come into strong contact with the back side or front side of the sliding groove to reduce the rotational frictional force of the upper roller, lower roller, and gear. By making it small, the shelf can be moved upward with relatively small force. When moving the shelf downward, the rotational frictional force of the upper roller, lower roller, and gear is appropriately adjusted to prevent the shelf from falling freely, and the shelf can be moved downward with a relatively small force. In addition, the frame that holds the shelf is held in that position by the force of the Metotsuba mechanism that stops the rotation of the shaft and the rotational frictional force of the upper roller, lower roller, and gear, and the rotational frictional force of the upper roller, lower roller, and gear is The greater the load, the greater the load, which prevents the shelves from falling due to the weight of the food placed on them.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional perspective view of a main part of a refrigerator to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a frame used in this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the main part of FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional schematic perspective view of the main part of this embodiment, and FIG. 5 is an A-A/
Line sectional view, Figure 6 shows the first position when moving the shelf upwards.
It is a sectional view taken along the line A-A. 1...Shelf, 2...Frame, 3a...
...Upper roller, 3b...Lower roller, 4...
...Shaft, 6...Gear, 13...
...Rail, 13a...Sliding groove, 14...
...Rack, 19... Stopper mechanism.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A shelf installed in the refrigerator, a frame that holds the shelf, an upper roller and a lower roller that have rotating shafts in the left and right directions that are attached to the back left and right of the frame, and an upper roller and a lower roller that are attached to the back of the frame. a shaft with gears fixed to both left and right ends; a stopper mechanism provided on the frame and the shaft to stop the rotation of the shaft; It consists of a sliding groove in which at least a portion of the housing is accommodated and slidably held therein, and a rack that engages with the gear that is adjacent to the sliding groove and is formed toward the inner left and right sides of the inside of the refrigerator. The lower roller and the gear are such that the upper roller contacts the front surface of the sliding groove, the lower roller contacts the rear surface of the sliding groove below the upper roller, and the gear are arranged on the left and right sides of the frame so as to engage with the rack above the lower roller. (2) The rack is formed next to the back of the sliding groove, and the stopper mechanism has a ratchet fixed to the shaft adjacent to the right gear and has a protrusion formed on the entire circumference, and a pawl, and the pawl a stopper that is rotatably attached to the frame at a position where it can be engaged with the protrusion of the ratchet; one end is fixed to the frame, the other end is the stopper, and the claw is engaged with the protrusion of the ratchet. a stopper spring biased in the direction of the ratchet; a lever rotatably attached to the front right hand side of the frame; A shelf device for a refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising a wire fixed to the lever and having the other end fixed to a stopper. (2) The shelf of the refrigerator according to claim (1) or (2), wherein at least the sliding groove of the sliding groove and the rack is formed on a rail that is attached vertically to the left and right at the back of the refrigerator. Device.