Slidable room assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9738210-B1
Application number	US-201615270240-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 20, 2016
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

A slidable room assembly comprising a vehicle body having an opening formed in an exterior wall and a reciprocable slideout unit or compartment disposed in the opening and slidable between a retracted position and an extended position. Sliding movement of the slideout unit is controlled by means of a drive mechanism that includes rack gear assemblies driven from a drive shaft as described herein. Sliding movement of the slideout unit may be either motor driven or manually powered.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A slidable room assembly in a vehicle body, the vehicle body having a plurality of exterior walls, at least one of which has an opening and a slideout unit disposed in the opening and reciprocable between an extended position and a retracted position, the slidable room assembly comprising:
a drive shaft having a first end and a second end, and a means for rotation of the drive shaft;
a plurality of first bevel gear sets connected to the first and second ends of the drive shaft and adapted to redirect the rotational motion of the drive shaft;
a plurality of rigid first auxiliary shafts having a too end and a bottom end, each rigid first auxiliary shaft being oriented perpendicular to the drive shaft and operatively connected at their bottom ends to the first bevel gear set for rotation thereby;
one or more second sets of bevel gears each connected to the top end of one of the plurality of rigid first auxiliary shafts, adapted to redirect the rotational motion of the drive shaft;
one or more second auxiliary shafts operatively connected to the one or more second set of bevel gears for rotation thereby;
a plurality of drive gears located on either the drive shaft or the auxiliary shafts; and
a rack gear assembly associated with each drive gear, each rack gear assembly comprising at least one rigid rack gear that is connected to the slideout unit and associated with the at least one drive near for linear movement of the slideout unit relative to the opening.

2. The slidable room assembly of claim 1 , wherein the one or more second auxiliary shafts are rigid.

3. The slidable room assembly of claim 1 , wherein the one or more second auxiliary shafts are oriented parallel to the drive shaft.

4. The slidable room assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of drive gears comprises a pair of horizontally spaced drive gears.

5. The slidable room assembly of claim 4 comprising at least a first and a second rack gear assembly, wherein the first rack gear assembly includes a pair of rack gears aligned with the first pair of horizontally spaced drive gears, and wherein the second rack gear assembly includes a pair of rack gears aligned with the second pair of horizontally spaced drive gears.

6. The slidable room assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first rack gear assembly is disposed on an opposite side of the slideout unit than the second rack gear assembly.

7. The slidable room assembly of claim 1 further comprising a slideout frame that is insertable into the opening to receive the slideout unit.

8. The slidable room assembly of claim 7 , wherein the slideout frame further comprises a plurality of corner members each disposed at a corner of the slideout frame.

9. The slidable room assembly of claim 8 , wherein the first bevel gear sets and the at least one second bevel gear set are contained within the slideout frame.

10. The slidable room assembly of claim 8 , wherein the slideout frame further comprises at least one mid-frame member disposed between adjacent corner members.

11. The slidable room assembly of claim 10 , wherein the drive shaft and the auxiliary shafts are contained within the slideout frame.

12. The slidable room assembly of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of rollers that are each rotatably mounted to the vehicle and engage at least an underside of a floor of the slideout unit.

13. The slidable room assembly of claim 8 further comprising a plurality of rollers that are each rotatably mounted in a mounting bracket affixed to at least two of the plurality of corner members, and engage at least an underside of a floor of the slideout unit.

14. The slidable room assembly of claim 10 further comprising a plurality of rollers that are each rotatably mounted in a mounting bracket affixed to at least one of the plurality of mid-frame members, and engage at least an underside of a floor of the slideout unit.

15. The slidable room assembly of claim 7 , further comprising a drive mechanism that is attached to a bottom side of the slideout frame.

16. The slidable room assembly of claim 15 , wherein the drive mechanism is attached to the bottom side of the slideout frame via a motor bracket.

17. The slidable room assembly of claim 1 , wherein the rigid rack gears are each disposed within a rack housing that is mounted to an exterior surface of the slideout unit.

18. The slidable room assembly of claim 17 , wherein each rack housing further comprises at least one side flange that is received in a rack guide.

19. The slidable room assembly of claim 18 , wherein the rack guide further comprises an insert to facilitate smooth reciprocation of the rack housing within the rack guide.

20. The slidable room assembly of claim 19 , wherein the insert comprises a low friction material.

21. The slidable room assembly of claim 1 , wherein each rack gear further comprises a plurality of teeth covered by a protective surface, the slidable room assembly further comprising at least one router that guides the protective surface around the associated drive gear so as to not interfere with the engagement between the teeth of the rack gear and their associated drive gear.

22. The slidable room assembly of claim 21 , wherein each protective surface comprises a thin membrane or a sleeve.

Assignees

• Norco Ind Inc

Inventors

• Garceau Bernard F
• Belle Timothy
• Krobot Bori

Classifications

• B60P3/34 Primary

  the living accommodation being expansible, collapsible or capable of rearrangement ({B60P3/38} takes precedence; tents supported at least partially by vehicles E04H15/06) · CPC title

• F16H19/04

  comprising a rack · CPC title