AU2004201171B2 - Multi point adjustment of wheel support structures for sliding doors or panels - Google Patents

Description

Pool Section 29 Regulation 3.2(2) AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Application Number: Lodged: Invention Title: Multi point adjustment of wheel support structures for sliding doors or panels The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me / us: 1 MULTI POINT ADJUSTMENT OF WHEEL SUPPORT STRUCTURES FOR SLIDING DOORS OR PANELS The present invention relates to improvements in wheel support structures for sliding door or panels, that provide a capability of vertical adjustment of the 5 wheel or wheels carried by the structure. Australian Patent Application No. 48102/01 discloses one such adjustable wheel support structure where the adjustment is achieved by movement of an actuating member generally in the plane of wheel support structure. The actuating member is typically a threaded rod like member that is rotated to move inwardly 10 or outwardly of the wheel support structure, the actuating member cooperating with inclined surfaces to move the wheel or wheels upwardly or downwardly relative to the wheel support structure. In this earlier disclosure, access to the threaded rod like actuating member is via one longitudinal end face of the wheel support structure which is adequate for many applications. However, in some 15 applications adjustment via access to an end face of the wheel support structure is either difficult or impossible. The objective therefore of the present invention is to provide an arrangement in an adjustable wheel support structure that will enable adjustment from at least one side face of the wheel support structure, or selectably from one side face and/or an end face of the wheel support structure, 20 or selectably from either side face and/or an end face of the wheel support structure. Accordingly, the present invention provides a wheel support structure including a support housing having two opposed side faces and two opposed end faces adapted for fixing to a door, panel or the like, a wheel assembly having at 25 least one wheel and a carriage member rotatably supporting the wheel or wheels, said wheel assembly being movable in a vertical direction relative to said support housing in response to an adjusting movement in a horizontal direction of said wheel assembly, and an actuating mechanism arranged to effect adjustable movement of the wheel assembly in a horizontal direction, said actuating 30 mechanism being characterized by an externally threaded rod member received within and threadably engaged with a threaded bore of a sleeve member, said sleeve member being mounted for rotation relative to said support housing whereby such rotation causes axial movement of said rod member relative to said 2 sleeve member to effect relative movement of the wheel assembly in a horizontal direction, adjusting rotation of said sleeve member being accessed manually from at least one side face of said support housing. Preferred aspects and features of this invention may be as defined in 5 claims 2 to 8 as annexed hereto, the subject matter of which is hereby included in the disclosure of this specification. The invention has particular but not necessarily exclusive application to wheel support structures of the type disclosed in the specification of Patent Application No. 48102/01, the subject matter of which is incorporated into the present specification by this reference thereto. 10 The present invention provides the capability of adjusting wheel height relative to the support housing from the front or rear (side) faces of the support housing or selectably from either side face or the end face. The advantage of providing adjustability selectably from either side face or an end face is that one unit may be built that is effective in any application thereby avoiding the need to 15 have differently configured units with an increased inventory of parts to cover the various possible applications. Preferred embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of a first preferred embodiment of a wheel 20 support structure of the present invention; Fig. 2 is an underneath plan view of the embodiment shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section view along line A-A of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a section view along line B-B of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a section view along line X-X of Fig. 4; 25 Fig. 6 is a top perspective view of the wheel support structure of Figs. 1 to 5; Fig. 7 is a top perspective view similar to Fig. 6 but from the reverse side; Fig. 8 is an exploded perspective view of the wheel support structure shown in Fig. 6; 30 Fig. 9 is an exploded perspective view similar to Fig. 8 but from the other end; Fig. 10 is an exploded perspective view from the underneath side of the wheel support structure shown in Fig. 6; 3 Fig. 11 is an underneath perspective view of a wheel support structure according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 12 is a detailed perspective view of the actuating mechanism shown in Fig. 11; and 5 Fig. 13 is an exploded perspective view of the wheel support structure shown in Fig. 11. Referring to the annexed drawings, a wheel support structure is illustrated generally having features as first disclosed in Australian Patent Application No. 48102/01. Reference may be had to the specification of this earlier patent 10 application for a more complete understanding of the wheel support structure itself. In general, the wheel support structure 10 includes a support housing 11 and a wheel assembly 12. Preferably, the wheel assembly 12 (as disclosed in the earlier patent application) may comprise one or a pair of wheels 13 supported in a wheel carrying bogey 14 which is itself supported in a wheel carriage frame 15 member 15. The support housing 11 has a pair of opposed side faces 16, 17 and a pair of opposed end faces 18, 19. Moreover, at least one, and preferably more than one, pairs of cooperating inclined engagement surfaces 20/21, 22/23, 24/25 and 26/27 are provided cooperating between the wheel carriage frame member 15 and the support housing 11 whereby movement of the wheel carriage frame 20 member 15 in a horizontal direction (arrow X) will result in relative movement in a vertical direction (arrow Y) between the wheel assembly 12 and the support housing 11. An actuating mechanism 28 is provided to effect movement of the wheel assembly 12 in the horizontal direction X relative to the support housing 11. The actuating mechanism 28 includes a threaded rod member 29 operatively 25 engaged with an internally threaded bore 30 of a sleeve member 31. The sleeve member 31 is rotatably mounted in the support housing 11 by and is restrained against axial movement by having an integrally formed outer circumferential ring 32 engaged within a groove 33 in the support housing 11. The rod member 29 has at least one longitudinally extending flat zone 34 30 cooperating with a flat region of the bore 35 on the support housing 11 through which the rod member 29 extends into an internal cavity 36 to engage with a substantially vertical engagement surface 37 on the wheel carriage frame member 15. By this arrangement, the rod member 29 is prevented from rotating 4 when the sleeve member 31 rotates such that the rod member 29 moves only in the horizontal direction X by inter-cooperation of the screw threads when the sleeve member 31 is rotated. Thus, upon rotation of the sleeve member 31, the rod member 29 moves in the horizontal direction X and correspondingly moves 5 the wheel carriage frame member in the same direction which, because of the cooperating inclined surfaces 20 to 27 also moves in the vertical direction Y to provide the necessary height adjustment in this direction. Conveniently, rotation of the sleeve member 31 in accordance with the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 10 is achieved by access from either of the side 10 faces 16 or 17 or from the end face 18. This may be achieved by first and second plug members 38, 39 rotatably supported by and retained with the support housing 11, each having a bevel gear formation 40, 41 engagable with a bevel gear formation 42 on the circumferential ring 32 of the sleeve member 31. Each of the first and second plug members 38, 39 also include screw driver engaging 15 recesses 52, 53 on their outer faces to allow them to be selectably rotated as desired. The sleeve member 31 also includes a screw driver engaging recess 44 on its outwardly facing end 45 that is accessible through an opening 46 in the housing end face 18. Thus the sleeve member 31 may be rotated selectively by engaging a screw driver (manual or power operated) with either the end 20 formations in the sleeve member 31 itself or alternatively with the formations in the rotatable plug members 38, 39. Figs. 11, 12 and 13 illustrate a possible alternative embodiment where the sleeve member 31 is formed with a worm gear 47 cooperable with a worm gear 48 formed on a cross shaft 49 that is snap fitted into the support housing 11. The 25 outer ends of the cross shaft 49 has head portions 50, 51, each of which has screw driver engaging recesses 52, 53 on their outwardly facing surfaces.

Claims (8)

1. A wheel support structure including a support housing having two opposed side faces and two opposed end faces adapted for fixing to a door, panel or the like, a wheel assembly having at least one wheel and a carriage member rotatably supporting the wheel or wheels, said wheel assembly being movable in a vertical direction relative to said support housing in response to an adjusting movement in a horizontal direction of said wheel assembly, and an actuating mechanism arranged to effect adjustable movement of the wheel assembly in a horizontal direction, said actuating mechanism being characterized by an externally threaded rod member received within and threadably engaged with a threaded bore of a sleeve. member, said sleeve member being mounted for rotation relative to said support housing whereby such rotation causes axial movement of said rod member relative to said sleeve member to effect relative movement of the wheel assembly in a horizontal direction, adjusting rotation of said sleeve member being accessed manually from at least one side face of said support housing.

2. A wheel support structure according to claim 1 wherein said sleeve member has an axis of rotation extending longitudinally between said two opposed side faces of said support housing from one of said end faces.

3. A wheel support structure according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein a first rotatable plug is secured to said support housing and is accessible from at least one of said side faces, said first rotatable plug carrying first gear means engagable with second gear means on said sleeve member whereby rotation of said first rotatable plug causes rotation of said sleeve member.

4. A wheel support structure according to claim 3 wherein said first rotatable plug means is accessible from both said side faces of the support housing. 6

5. A wheel support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein a second rotatable plug means is provided secured to said support housing and is accessible from the other of said side faces, said second rotatable plug carrying third gear means engagable with said second gear means on said sleeve member whereby rotation of said second rotatable plug causes rotation of said sleeve member.

6. A wheel support structure according to any one of claims 3, 4 or 5 wherein said gear means are cooperating bevel gears.

7. A wheel support structure according to claim 3 or 4 wherein said first and second gear means are cooperating worm gears.

8. A wheel support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein an axial end of said sleeve member is accessible from one of said end faces, said axial sleeve member being manually rotatable via said access. DATED this 19th day of March, 2004 ANTHONY BEARINGS PTY LTD WATERMARK PATENT & TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS 290 BURWOOD ROAD HAWTHORN VICTORIA 3122 AUSTRALIA P22593AUOO SKP/JC