BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a conventional way for installing slide rails to for example an outside panel of a work cart;
FIG. 1A is an enlarged view of a circled portion of FIG. 1;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a frame constructed in accordance with the present invention;
FIG. 2A is an enlarged view of a circled portion of FIG. 2;
FIG. 2B is an end view of the frame of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing two frames of the present invention connected together by jointing a bottom section of an upper one of the frames to a top section of a lower one of the frames;
FIG. 3A is an enlarged view of a circled portion of FIG. 3;
FIG. 4 also shows two frames connected together, similar to FIG. 3, but taken in a different perspective;
FIG. 4A is an end view of the two frames of FIG. 4;
FIG. 4B is a side elevational view of the two frames of FIG. 4;
FIG. 5 is perspective view showing a plurality of frames of the present invention mounted to for example an outside panel of a work cart to support and retain slide rails of the work cart;
FIG. 5A is an enlarged view of a circled portion of FIG. 5; and
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a work cart in which the frames of the present invention are employed to retain slide rails that slidably support withdrawable member.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference to the drawings and in particular to FIGS. 2, 2A, and 2B, an aluminum-extruded frame constructed in accordance with the present invention, generally designated with reference numeral 1, is shown. The frame 1 is comprised of top, middle, and bottom sections integrally formed with each other. The top section forms an enclosed top channel 11 having a top wall to which two rack members 12 are attached. Each rack member 12 is connected to the top wall of the top channel 11 by a web (not labeled) in which a slit 12a, 12b is defined just below the rack member 12. The middle section of the frame 1 is composed of three consecutive channels 13 integrated with a vertically stacked over each other. The bottom section of the frame 1 comprises an enclosed bottom channel 15 that is substantially symmetric with respect to the top channel 11 and the top and bottom channels 11, 15 are sized to project beyond the middle section sideways so as to delimit a slot 14 of which a bottom is defined by the three vertically stacked, consecutive channels 13 of the middle section. The bottom channel 15 has a bottom wall on which two spaced walls are formed, each forming a rib 15a, 15b on an inside surface thereof. The spacing between the walls is substantially corresponding to two rack members 12 so that the spacing between the walls is sufficient to receive the rack members 12 of another identical frame 1 therein with the ribs 15a, 15b slidably received in the slits 12a, 12b to thereby joint the two frames 1 together.
Also referring to FIGS. 3, 3A, 4, 4A, and 4B, the frame 1 of the present invention can be expanded by serially jointing two or more frames 1 together in a top-to-bottom manner. As mentioned previously, the ribs 15a, 15b of the bottom section of a first frame 1 are receivingly engageable with the slits 12a, 12b of a second, identical frame 10 that is positioned under the first frame 1, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 3A. In this way, the bottom section of the first frame 1 is jointed to the top section of the second frame 10 and the two frames 1, 10 can be movable with respect to each other with the ribs 15a, 15b sliding along the slits 12a, 12b, as illustrated in FIGS. 4, 4A, and 4B.
To install a slide rail 2 of a work cart, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 5A, the rail 2 that is constructed to correspond in size and outline to the slot 14 delimited by the top and bottom sections of each frame 1 or 10 is positioned into the slot 14 and held in position therein so that withdrawal of a withdrawable member supported on the rail 2 can be effected, as shown in FIG. 6.
To this point, it is apparent that the present invention features the following advantages:
(1) The frame of the present invention can be easily manufactured and installed, and can cooperate with slide rails for withdrawable members, incorporated in fore example a work cart or a support tray to simplify the installation operation of the slide rails.
(2) The frame of the present invention can function as a partition board for it can be easily expanded by jointing consecutive ones of the frame to suit the requirement for covering any area or space and is thus flexible.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment with reference to the drawings thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that a variety of modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention which is intended to be defined by the appended claims.
Patent Application
20080086971
