Hard diskdrive rack assembly

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6612667
  • Patent Number
    6,612,667
  • Date Filed
    Friday, December 28, 2001
    22 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, September 2, 2003
    20 years ago
Abstract
A hard diskdrive rack assembly is constructed to include a rack and hard diskdrive boxes detachably installed in respective receiving chambers in the rack. The rack has a base frame, the base frame having hooks and locating holes respectively provided at upright sidewalls and partition plates thereof, and a cover covering the base frame, the cover having locating holes and hooks respectively forced into engagement with the hooks and locating holes of the base frame. Each hard diskdrive box has a pivoted pull handle turned between an open position where can move a hard diskdrive in and out of the respective hard diskdrive box, and a close position where the respective hard diskdrive box is locked in the corresponding receiving chamber in the rack.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




1. Field of the Invention




The present invention relates to a hard diskdrive rack and, more particularly, to a simple structure of hard diskdrive rack assembly, which comprises a hard diskdrive rack and a plurality of hard diskdrive boxes detachably mounted in the hard diskdrive rack.




2. Description of the Related Art




Various hard diskdrive racks have been disclosed for use to hold multiple hard diskdrives. These hard diskdrive racks commonly use screws to fix hard diskdrives in position. According to conventional designs, it is inconvenient to install hard diskdrives in a hard diskdrive rack.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is the main object of the present invention to provide a hard diskdrive rack assembly, which facilitates the installation and maintenance of hard diskdrives. According to one aspect of the present invention, the hard diskdrive rack assembly is comprised of a rack, and multiple hard diskdrive boxes holding a respective hard diskdrive and detachably installed in respective receiving chambers in the rack. According to another aspect of the present invention, the rack comprises a base frame, the base frame having hooks and locating holes respectively provided at upright sidewalls and partition plates thereof, and a cover covering the base frame, the cover having locating holes and hooks respectively forced into engagement with the hooks and locating holes of the base frame. According to still another aspect of the present invention, each hard diskdrive box comprises a front face panel, and a pull handle pivoted to the front face panel and turned in and out of the front face panel to control the access through which a hard diskdrive is mounted in the respective hard diskdrive box. When the pull handle turned to the inside of the front face panel, a hooked portion of the pull handle is forced into engagement with a respective hook hole in the rack to lock the respective hard diskdrive box in the corresponding receiving chamber of the rack. On the contrary, when the pull handle turned to the outside of the front face panel, the hooked portion of the pull handle is disengaged from the respective hook hole to unlock the hard diskdrive box, enabling the hard diskdrive box to be taken out of the rack.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a perspective view a hard diskdrive rack assembly constructed according to the present invention.





FIG. 2

shows one hard diskdrive box detached from the hard diskdrive rack assembly according to the present invention.





FIG. 3

is an exploded view of the hard diskdrive rack according to the present invention.





FIG. 4

is an enlarged view of a part of the base frame of the hard diskdrive rack according to the present invention.





FIG. 5

is an exploded view of a part of the present invention showing the relationship between one hook of the cove and one locating hole of the top locating flange of one partition plate of the base frame of the hard diskdrive rack.





FIG. 6

is a perspective view of a part of the present invention, showing the cover fastened to the base frame of the hard diskdrive rack.





FIG. 7

is a side plain view of the hard diskdrive rack according to the present invention.





FIG. 8

is a perspective view of one hard diskdrive box according to the present invention.





FIG. 9

is similar to

FIG. 8

but showing the pull handle extended out of the front face panel of the hard diskdrive box.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT




Referring to FIGS. from


1


through


3


, a hard diskdrive rack assembly in accordance with the present invention is shown comprised of a rack


1


and a plurality of hard diskdrive boxes


2


detachably mounted in the rack


1


. The rack


1


is comprised of a base frame


11


, a cover


12


, and a socket assembly


13


. The cover


12


covers the base frame


11


. The socket assembly


13


is fastened to the rear side of the cover


12


, and adapted to receive the hard diskdrive boxes


2


for signal transmission.




The base frame


11


comprises two upright sidewalls


111


at two sides, a plurality of hooks


1111


respectively symmetrically provided in the connection areas between the upright sidewalls


111


and the base frame


11


, a plurality of partition plates


112


arranged in parallel between the upright sidewalls


111


, a plurality of receiving chambers


113


defined between the upright sidewalls


111


and separated from one another by the partition plates


112


and adapted for receiving the hard diskdrive boxes


2


respectively, rows of longitudinally spaced protruded supporting portions


1131


respectively disposed in the receiving chambers


113


, and a plurality of stop blocks


1132


arranged in the receiving chambers


113


and aligned in transverse direction and adapted to stop the hard diskdrive boxes


2


in the receiving chambers


113


. The partition plates


112


each comprise a plurality of longitudinally spaced protruded supporting portions


1122


at two sides, a hook hole


1121


at the front side, and a locating flange


1123


at the top side. The locating flange


1123


has a plurality of longitudinally spaced locating holes


1124


. The protruded supporting portions


1131


in the receiving chambers


113


and the protruded supporting portions


1122


of the partition plates


112


are so arranged that hard diskdrive boxes


2


can be smoothly moved in and out of the receiving chambers


113


(see FIG.


4


). The cover


12


comprises two downward sidewalls


121


respectively inserted into the base frame


11


and attached to the upright sidewalls


111


of the base frame


11


at an inner side, a plurality of protruded supporting portions


1211


respectively disposed in the downward sidewalls


121


at an inner side, a hook hole


1213


disposed in one downward sidewall


121


at the front side, a plurality of locating holes


1212


disposed in the downward sidewalls


121


and respectively forced into engagement with the hooks


111


of the base frame


11


(see FIG.


6


), and a plurality of hooks


1214


spaced between the downward sidewalls


121


and respectively hooked in the locating holes


1124


of the locating flange


1123


(see FIGS.


5


and


7


).




Referring to

FIGS. 8 and 9

and

FIGS. 2 and 3

again, each hard diskdrive box


2


comprises a bottom panel


21


adapted to carry a hard diskdrive, two rails


211


longitudinally arranged at two sides of the bottom panel


21


, a front face panel


22


, and a pull handle


23


pivoted to the front face panel


22


. The pull handle


23


can be moved in and out of the front face panel


22


. The pull handle


23


has a fixed end pivoted to the front face panel


22


at one side, and a hooked portion


231


protruded from the fixed end and adapted for hooking in the hook hole


1213


of the cover


12


or the hook hole


1121


of one partition plate


112


of the base frame


11


of the rack


1


. When moving one hard diskdrive box


2


in or out of the corresponding receiving chamber


113


of the rack


1


, the pull handle


23


is turned out of the front face panel


22


to disengage the hooked portion


231


from the corresponding hook hole


1213


or


1121


. When one hard diskdrive box


2


inserted into one receiving chamber


113


of the rack


1


, the rails


211


are stopped below the protruded supporting portions


1211


of the cover


12


and/or the protruded supporting portions


1122


of the base frame


11


of the rack


1


, and the bottom panel


21


of the hard diskdrive box


2


is supported on the protruded supporting portions


1131


in the corresponding receiving chamber


113


, preventing vibration of the hard diskdrive box


2


in the corresponding receiving chamber


113


.




After installation of the hard diskdrive box


2


in one receiving chamber


113


of the rack


1


, the pull handle


23


is moved in the front face panel


22


to force the hooked portion


231


into the corresponding hook hole


1213


or


1121


to lock the hard diskdrive box


2


.




Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.



Claims
  • 1. A hard diskdrive rack assembly comprising:a rack, said rack comprising a base frame, a cover covering said base frame, and a socket assembly fastened to a rear side of said cover, said base frame comprising two upright sidewalls at two sides, a plurality of hooks respectively symmetrically provided in the connection areas between said upright sidewalls and said base frame, a plurality of partition plates arranged in parallel between said upright sidewalls, and a plurality of receiving chambers defined between said upright sidewalls and separated from one another by said partition plates, said partition plates each comprising a hook hole at a front side, and a locating flange at a top side, said locating flange having a plurality of longitudinally spaced locating holes, said cover comprising two downward sidewalls respectively inserted in between the upright sidewalls of said base frame, a hook hole disposed in one downward sidewall at a front side, a plurality of locating holes disposed in said downward sidewalls and respectively forced into engagement with the hooks of said base frame, and a plurality of hooks spaced between said downward sidewalls and respectively hooked in the locating holes of the locating flanges of said partition plates of said base frame; and a plurality of hard diskdrive boxes respectively detachably inserted into the receiving chambers of said rack and adapted to hold a respective hard diskdrive for connection to said socket assembly electrically, said hard diskdrive boxes each comprising a front face panel and a pull handle pivoted to the front face panel and moved between a locking position and an unlocking position, said pull handle having a fixed end pivoted to said front face panel and a hooked portion protruded from said fixed end, which is forced into the hook hole of said cover or the hook hole of one partition plate of said base frame of said rack to lock the respective hard diskdrive box after insertion of the respective hard diskdrive box into one receiving chamber of said rack and positioning of said pull handle in said locking position.
  • 2. The hard diskdrive rack assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein said rack comprises a plurality of protruded supporting blocks respectively provided in said receiving chamber and at said partition plates and adapted to support said hard diskdrive boxes in said receiving chamber against vibration.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Number Name Date Kind
2609268 Nye Sep 1952 A
6052278 Tanzer et al. Apr 2000 A
6058016 Anderson et al. May 2000 A
6154361 Anderson et al. Nov 2000 A
6233143 Gamble et al. May 2001 B1
6246580 Weng Jun 2001 B1
6317329 Dowdy et al. Nov 2001 B1
6498723 Konshak et al. Dec 2002 B1
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number Date Country
04148314 May 1992 JP
WO 9120083 Dec 1991 WO