U.S. patent application number 12/861900 was filed with the patent office on 2011-10-27 for sliding mechanism.
This patent application is currently assigned to HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD.. Invention is credited to ZE-HONG CHEN, MO-MING YU.
Application Number | 20110262060 12/861900 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44815840 |
Filed Date | 2011-10-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110262060 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
YU; MO-MING ; et
al. |
October 27, 2011 |
SLIDING MECHANISM
Abstract
A sliding mechanism includes an inner rail with a first
protrusion and a second protrusion. An outer rail with a third
protrusion and a stopping surface; a middle rail slidably mounted
between the inner rail and the outer rail along a first direction,
and having a resisting portion; a positioning member being slidably
mounted on the middle rail in a second direction. The inner rail
non-slidably latches with the middle rail when the inner rail
slides a first predetermined distance. The resisting portion
latches with the stopping surface to enable the middle rail to be
non-slidably relative to outer rail after the inner rail together
with the middle rail slides a second predetermined distance; and
the positioning member slides relative to the second protrusion in
the second direction to release the positioning member.
Inventors: |
YU; MO-MING; (Shenzhen City,
CN) ; CHEN; ZE-HONG; (Shenzhen City, CN) |
Assignee: |
HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO.,
LTD.
Tu-Cheng
TW
HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen) CO., LTD.
Shenzhen City
CN
|
Family ID: |
44815840 |
Appl. No.: |
12/861900 |
Filed: |
August 24, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
384/21 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B 2210/007 20130101;
A47B 88/49 20170101; H05K 7/183 20130101; H05K 7/1489 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
384/21 |
International
Class: |
A47B 88/16 20060101
A47B088/16 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 27, 2010 |
CN |
201010157149.2 |
Claims
1. A sliding mechanism, comprising: an outer rail; an inner rail; a
middle rail between the outer rail and the inner rail, the middle
rail having a resisting portion protruding therefrom, the middle
rail slidably mounted to the outer rail in a first direction and
the inner rail slidably mounted to the middle rail in the first
direction; a latching assembly including a first protrusion
positioned at the inner rail, a second protrusion positioned at the
inner rail and spaced from the first protrusion, a third protrusion
positioned at the outer rail, a roller being slidably mounted on
the middle rail in a second direction perpendicular to the first
direction, a stopping surface formed near the third protrusion;
wherein when the inner rail slides relative to the middle rail in
the first direction, the roller slides to and latches the second
protrusion to make the middle rail sliding with the inner rail; and
then the roller slides to and along the third protrusion until the
resisting portion resists the stopping surface to prevent the
middle rail from sliding relative to the outer rail and the roller
slides relative to the middle rail in the second direction to
release the roller from the second protrusion such that the roller
slides along the first protrusion to make the inner rail further
extends relative to the middle rail.
2. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the inner
rail includes two sliding plates respectively located at opposite
sides thereof; the middle rail includes two sliding blocks
respectively positioned at opposite sides thereof, each sliding
block defines a sliding groove which slidably engages one of the
sliding plates to enable the middle rail to slide relative to the
inner rail.
3. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 2, wherein the outer
rail has two sliding slots respectively defined at opposite sides
thereof, each sliding slot slidably engages with one of the sliding
blocks so the outer rail can slide relative to the middle rail.
4. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first
protrusion and the second protrusion are both positioned at one
side of the inner rail facing the middle rail.
5. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 4, wherein the first
protrusion includes a first protrusion valley and a first
protrusion peak; the second protrusion includes a second protrusion
valley and a second protrusion peak; the third protrusion includes
a third protrusion valley and a third protrusion peak.
6. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 5, wherein the middle
rail further defines a guiding groove to guide the roller to slide
relative to the middle rail in the second direction.
7. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 6, wherein the roller
includes a main body, a first pin protruding from one side of the
main body, a second pin protruding from another side of the main
body; the first pin slides along the first protrusion when the
inner rail slides relative to the middle rail, and the second pin
slides along the third protrusion when the middle rail slides
together with the inner rail relative to the outer rail.
8. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 7, wherein the roller
further defines a securing slot around the second pin near the main
body, the securing slot slidably secures with the portions of the
middle rail surrounding the guiding groove so the roller is
slidably secured to the middle rail.
9. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 8, wherein the roller
further defines a retaining slot defined around the first pin near
the main body; the sliding mechanism further includes an elastic
element including a retaining ring formed one end thereof and
wrapping in the retaining slot to latch the roller to the elastic
element.
10. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 9, wherein the
elastic element further includes a latching portion formed at the
center thereof; the middle rail further includes a hook latching
the latching portion to hold the elastic element to the middle
rail.
11. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 10, wherein the
middle rail further includes a opening; the elastic element further
includes a inserting portion formed another end thereof which is
inserted in the opening to assist the elastic element to hold on
the middle rail.
12. A sliding mechanism, comprising: an inner rail including a
first protrusion and a second protrusion spaced from the first
protrusion; an outer rail including a third protrusion and a
stopping surface located near the third protrusion; a middle rail
slidably mounted between the inner rail and the outer rail along a
first direction, the middle rail having a resisting portion
protruding toward the outer rail; a positioning member being
slidably mounted on the middle rail in a second direction
perpendicular to the first direction; wherein the positioning
member latches with the second protrusion to enable the inner rail
non-slidably latched with the middle rail when the inner rail
slides a first predetermined distance relative to the middle rail
in the first direction with the positioning member sliding along
the first protrusion; the resisting portion is used to latch with
the stopping surface to enable the middle rail non-slidably
relative to outer rail after the inner rail together with the
middle rail slides a second predetermined distance relative to the
outer rail in the first direction with the positioning member
sliding along the third protrusion; and the positioning member
slides relative to the second protrusion in the second direction to
release the positioning member from the second protrusion after the
positioning member slides along the third protrusion so the inner
rail can further slide relative to the middle rail in the first
direction.
13. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 12, wherein the first
protrusion and the second protrusion are both positioned at one
side of the inner rail facing the middle rail, the first protrusion
includes a first protrusion valley and a first protrusion peak; the
second protrusion includes a second protrusion valley and a second
protrusion peak; the third protrusion includes a third protrusion
valley and a third protrusion peak.
14. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 13, wherein when the
inner rail slides the first predetermined distance relative to the
middle rail in the first direction, the positioning member slides
from the first protrusion peak to the first protrusion valley.
15. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 14, wherein when the
inner rail together with the middle rail slides the second
predetermined distance relative to the outer rail in the first
direction, the positioning member slides from the third protrusion
valley to the third protrusion peak;
16. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 15, wherein after the
positioning member releases from the second protrusion, the
positioning member slides from the second protrusion peak to the
second protrusion valley so the inner rail further slide relative
to the middle rail in the first direction
17. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 16, wherein the
sliding mechanism further includes an elastic element mounted
between the middle rail and the positioning member; when the
positioning member slides from the first protrusion peak to the
first protrusion valley, the elastic element is expanded.
18. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 17, wherein when the
positioning member slides from the third protrusion valley to the
third protrusion peak, the elastic member is compressed.
19. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 17, wherein when the
positioning member slides from the second protrusion peak to the
second protrusion valley, the elastic member is expanded.
20. The sliding mechanism as claimed in claim 12, wherein the
middle rail further defines a guiding groove to guide the
positioning member to slide relative to the middle rail in the
second direction.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is related to co-pending U.S. Patent
Application (Attorney Docket No. US33047), entitled "SLIDING
MECHANISM", by Yu et al. This application has the same assignee as
the present application and has been concurrently filed herewith.
The above-identified applications are incorporated herein by
reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Technical Field
[0003] This disclosure relates to sliding mechanisms, particularly
to sliding mechanisms used in servers.
[0004] 2. Description of Related Art
[0005] A typical sliding mechanism of a server generally includes
an inner rail, a middle rail, and an outer rail. The inner rail is
mounted on the server, the outer rail is mounted to a support frame
of the server, and the middle rail is mounted between the inner
rail and the outer rail to extend the sliding distance of the
sliding mechanism. However, in the conventional product
configurations, the sliding mechanisms can be complicated and they
tend to take up a lot of space.
[0006] Therefore, there is a room for improvement in the art.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood
with reference to the following drawings. The components in the
drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead
being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the
exemplary sliding mechanism for server. Moreover, in the drawings
like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout
the several views. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers
are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like
elements of an embodiment.
[0008] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of an exemplary embodiment of a
sliding mechanism.
[0009] FIG. 2 is partially enlarged view of the sliding mechanism
shown in FIG. 2.
[0010] FIG. 3 is an assembled view of the sliding mechanism shown
in FIG. 1.
[0011] FIGS. 4-8 show the sliding mechanism shown in FIG. 3 in
different states.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] An exemplary embodiment of a sliding mechanism is shown in
FIGS. 1-3. The sliding mechanism includes an inner rail 10, a
middle rail 30, an outer rail 50, and a latching assembly 60. The
middle rail 30 is mounted between the inner rail 10 and the outer
rail 50. The latching assembly 60 includes a first protrusion 61, a
second protrusion 62, a first position member such as a roller 63,
an elastic element 64, a sliding groove 65, a resisting portion
655, and a third protrusion 66. The first protrusion 61 and the
second protrusion 62 are both positioned on the inner rail 10. The
sliding groove 65 and the resisting portion 655 are positioned on
the middle rail 30. The third protrusion 66 is positioned on the
outer rail 50.
[0013] The inner rail 10 includes two sliding plates 14
respectively located at opposite sides thereof. The first
protrusion 61 is substantially arcuate, including a first
protrusion valley 611 and a first protrusion peak 613. The first
protrusion 61, in this exemplary embodiment, is positioned at one
side of the inner rail 10 facing the middle rail 30 and near one
end of the inner rail 10. The second protrusion 62 has
substantially the same shape as, but is larger than the first
protrusion 61, and the second protrusion 62 is situated at the same
side as the first protrusion 61. The second protrusion 62 is
located at another end of the inner rail 10 and includes a second
protrusion valley 621 and a second protrusion peak 623.
[0014] The middle rail 30 includes two sliding blocks 34
respectively positioned at opposite sides thereof. The sliding
blocks 34 are for slidably engaging with the outer rail 50 so the
outer rail 50 can slide relative to the middle rail 30. Each
sliding block 34 defines a sliding groove 342 facing the other
sliding block 34. Each sliding groove 342 slidably engages one of
the sliding plates 14 to enable the middle rail 30 to slide
relative to the inner rail 10. The middle rail 30 further includes
a hook 323 for latching the elastic element 64 to the middle rail
30. An opening 322 is defined through the middle rail 30 and is
used for allowing the elastic element 64 to pass through the middle
rail 30.
[0015] Referring to FIG. 2, the guiding groove 65 is transversely
defined through the middle rail 30. The guiding groove 65 is for
guiding the roller 63 to slide relative to the middle rail 30 in a
direction substantially perpendicular to the sliding direction (an
arrow shown in FIG. 5) of the inner rail 10. The guiding groove 65
includes a guiding groove valley 651 and a guiding groove peak 652
that is larger than the guiding groove valley 651.
[0016] The resisting portion 655 protrudes from the middle rail 30
toward the outer rail 50. The resisting portion 655 is for
resisting the outer rail 50 so the middle rail 30 and the outer
rail 50 can slide together relative to the inner rail 10.
[0017] The outer rail 50 has two sliding slots 52 respectively
defined at opposite sides thereof. Each sliding slot 52 slidably
engages with one of the sliding blocks 34 so the outer rail 50 can
slide relative to the middle rail 30.
[0018] Referring also to FIG. 2, the third protrusion 66 is
substantially arcuate, and includes a third protrusion valley 661
and a third protrusion peak 663 communicating with the third
protrusion valley 661. The third protrusion 66, in this exemplary
embodiment, is positioned at one side of the outer rail 50 opposing
the middle rail 30 near one end of the outer rail 50. The outer
rail 50 further defines a latching slot 662 between the second
protrusion valley 661 and the third protrusion peak 663, which
latches with the roller 63. The outer rail 50 further includes a
stopping surface 664 located near the third protrusion peak 663.
The stopping surface 664 is for resisting against the resisting
portion 655 so the outer rail 50 slides together with the middle
rail 30.
[0019] Referring also to FIG. 2, the roller 63 includes a main body
631, a first pin 633 protruding from one side of the main body 631,
a second pin 635 protruding from another side of the main body 631.
A retaining slot 637 defined around the first pin 633 near the main
body 631 and a securing slot 639 defined around the second pin 635
near the main body 631. The first pin 633 slides along the first
protrusion 61 when the middle rail 30 slides relative to the inner
rail 10. The second pin 635 slides along the third protrusion 66
when the middle rail 30 slides relative to the outer rail 50. The
retaining slot 637 is for retaining the elastic element 64 on the
roller 63. The securing slot 639 is for slidably securing with the
portions of the middle rail 30 surrounding the guiding groove
valley 651 so the roller 63 is slidably secured to the middle rail
30. In this exemplary embodiment, the second pin 635 is smaller
than the guiding groove peak 652 so the second pin 635 can pass
through the guiding groove peak 652. The second pin 635 is larger
than the guiding groove valley 651 to prevent the second pin 635
and the middle rail 30 from separating when the second pin 635 is
located in the guiding groove valley 651.
[0020] The elastic element 64 is V-shaped and includes a latching
portion 641 formed at the center thereof, an inserting portion 642
is formed at one end thereof and a retaining ring 645 is formed at
another end thereof. The latching portion 641 latches with the hook
323 to hold the elastic element 64 to the middle rail 30. The
inserting portion 642 is inserted in the opening 322 to assist the
elastic element 64 to hold the middle rail 30. The retaining ring
645 wraps in the retaining slot 637 to latch the elastic element 64
to the roller 63.
[0021] Referring to FIGS. 1-4, in assembly, the inserting portion
642 passes through the opening 322 until the inserting portion 642
is located between the guiding groove peak 652 and the guiding
groove valley 651. The latching portion 641 latches with the hook
323 so the elastic element 64 is latched to the middle rail 30. The
retaining ring 645 wraps in the retaining slot 637 to retain the
roller 63 to the elastic element 64. The second pin 635 passes
through the guiding groove peak 652 until the securing slot 639 is
located in the guiding groove peak 652. Then the second pin 635
slides to the guiding groove valley 651 so the securing slot 639
slidably latches with the portion of the middle rail 30 surrounding
the guiding groove valley 651.
[0022] Each sliding plate 14 is slidably accommodated in one of the
sliding grooves 342 so the inner rail 10 is slidably mounted to the
middle rail 30. Referring to FIG. 4, at this time, the second pin
635 is located near the guiding groove peak 652 and the first pin
633 is located at the first protrusion peak 613 so the elastic
element 64 is compressed. Finally, each sliding block 34 is
slidably accommodated in one of the sliding slots 52 so the middle
rail 30 is slidably mounted to the outer rail 50. At this stage,
the second protrusion peak 623 is leveled with the third protrusion
peak 663 along a sliding direction of the sliding mechanism.
[0023] Referring to FIG. 5, in use, the inner rail 10 is dragged
and slides a first predetermined distance in the direction of the
arrow shown in FIG. 5, until the first pin 633 slides from the
first protrusion peak 613 to the first protrusion valley 611 and
the first pin 633 is latched by the first protrusion 61. In this
state, the inner rail 10 and the middle rail 30 are latched
together such that the inner rail 10 can slide together with the
middle rail 30; and the second pin 635 slides to the guiding valley
651 to expand the elastic element 64.
[0024] Referring to FIG. 6, continuing to drag the inner rail 10,
because the first pin 633 is latched by the first protrusion 61,
the inner rail 10, together with the middle rail 30, slides
relative to the outer rail 50. As the inner rail 10 and the middle
rail 30 slide relative to the outer rail 50, the second pin 635
slides to the third protrusion valley 661.
[0025] Referring to FIGS. 7-8, the inner rail is continued to be
pulled and slides together with the middle rail 20 a second
predetermined distance until the second pin 635 slides to the third
protrusion 66. At this moment, the second pin 635 slides from the
third protrusion valley 661 to the third protrusion peak 663 to
drive the second pin 635 to slide from the guiding groove valley
651 toward the guiding groove peak 652. The first pin 633 can then
pass through the first protrusion peak 613 making the first pin 633
release with the first protrusion 61. That is, the inner rail 10
may slide relative to the middle rail 30 again. Simultaneously, the
resisting portion 655 resists the stopping surface 664 to prevent
the middle rail 30 from continuing to slide relative to the outer
rail 50. Continuing to pull the inner rail 10 makes the inner rail
10 slide relative to the middle rail 30, the first pin 633 slides
to the first protrusion valley 611 so the inner rail 10 can further
extend relative to the middle rail 30. Thus, the inner rail 10 is
extended relative to the middle rail 30 and the outer rail 50. The
movement of pushing the inner rail 10 to its original state is
opposite to the movement of extending the rail relative to the
middle rail 30 and the outer rail 50.
[0026] It is to be further understood that even though numerous
characteristics and advantages of the exemplary embodiments have
been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details
of structures and functions of various embodiments, the disclosure
is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially
in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the
principles of the exemplary invention to the full extent indicated
by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended
claims are expressed.
* * * * *