Storage assembly and vehicle console employing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9931990-B2
Application number	US-201615376187-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2016
Priority date	Dec 21, 2015
Publication date	Apr 3, 2018
Grant date	Apr 3, 2018

Abstract

A storage assembly is provided to include a housing; a floor supported on the housing; an arm supported on the floor and elastically retractable between a retracted position and an extended position along a first direction; a drive member supported on the housing and including a cavity with an opening to receive a portion of the arm in the extended position; and a resistance member supported on the housing and including a shoulder at least partially retractably extendable through the opening to support the arm.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A storage assembly, comprising:
a housing;
a floor supported on the housing;
an arm supported on the floor and elastically retractable between a retracted position and an extended position along a first direction;
a drive member supported on the housing and including a cavity with an opening to receive a portion of the arm in the extended position; and
a resistance member supported on the housing and including a shoulder at least partially retractably extendable through the opening to support the arm.

2. The storage assembly of claim 1 , wherein the cavity is defined by an upper guiding surface and a lower guiding surface at an angle relative to each other, the lower guiding surface is positioned between the upper guiding face and the floor along a depth direction, and the opening is formed on the lower guiding surface.

3. A storage assembly, comprising:
a sidewall and a floor to define a chamber with a center, wherein the sidewall including a drive member with a first cavity and a platform positioned next thereto, and the first cavity protrudes away from the center along a width direction; and
an arm connected to the floor and including a hand,
wherein the floor is at a first depth position when the hand contacts the first cavity while being at a first width position, and the floor is at a second depth position when the hand contacts the platform while being at a second width position spaced apart from the first width position along the width direction.

4. The storage assembly of claim 3 , wherein the drive member further includes a second cavity spaced apart from the first cavity along a depth direction, and the platform is positioned between the first and second cavities, and wherein the floor is at a third depth position when the hand contacts the second cavity while being at a third width position spaced apart from the second width position along the width direction.

5. The storage assembly of claim 3 , wherein the sidewall further includes a resistance member, at least a portion of the drive member is positioned between the center of the housing and the resistance member along the width direction.

6. The storage assembly of claim 5 , wherein the resistance member is movable along the width direction.

7. The storage assembly of claim 5 , further comprising a side energizer to contact the resistance member such that the resistance member is energized against moving away from the center of the chamber.

8. The storage assembly of claim 7 , wherein the side energizer includes a leaf spring.

9. The storage assembly of claim 5 , wherein the resistance member further includes a first shoulder protruding toward the center of the chamber along the width direction, and the first shoulder being at least partially retractably extendable through an opening on a lower guide surface that defines the first cavity to support the hand.

10. The storage assembly of claim 5 , wherein the drive member includes a drive block with a drive surface extending in a direction at an angle to the width direction, and the resistance member includes a resistance block with a resistance surface to operably contact the drive surface.

11. The storage assembly of claim 10 , wherein the drive member includes at least two drive blocks to sandwich there-between the first cavity along a depth direction, and the resistance member includes at least two corresponding resistance blocks.

12. The storage assembly of claim 3 , wherein the arm includes a body positioned next to the hand along the width direction, the hand being smaller in cross-sectional dimension than the body.

13. The storage assembly of claim 3 , further comprising an arm energizer connected to the arm along the width direction such that the arm is energized against moving toward the center of the chamber.

14. The storage assembly of claim 3 , further comprising a floor energizer connected to the floor such that the floor is energized to move along a depth direction.

15. The storage assembly of claim 3 , wherein the first cavity is defined by an upper guiding surface extending in a direction at an angle to the width direction and a lower guiding surface positioned between the upper guiding face and the floor along a depth direction.

16. The storage assembly of claim 15 , wherein the lower guiding surface is more parallel to the width direction than the upper guiding surface.

17. A vehicle console, comprising:
a sidewall and a floor together defining a chamber with a center;
a drive member, wherein the drive member includes a first cavity and a second cavity spaced apart along a depth direction and a platform positioned between the first and second cavities, wherein the first cavity and the second cavity face the center of the chamber, wherein the first cavity is defined by a first upper guiding surface and a first lower guiding surface, and the first upper guiding surface and the first lower guiding surface forms an angle between 0 degree and 90 degrees, wherein the second cavity is defined by a second upper guiding surface and a second lower guiding surface, and the second upper guiding surface and the second lower guiding surface forms an angle between 0 degree and 90 degrees, and wherein the drive member includes a drive block with a drive surface extending in a direction at an angle to the width direction,
a resistance member coupled to the side wall, wherein at least a portion of the drive member is positioned between the center of the chamber and the resistance member along a width direction, wherein the resistance member includes a resistance block with a resistance surface to operably contact the drive surface of the drive member; and
an arm connected to the floor and including a hand, wherein the floor is at a first depth position when the hand contacts the first cavity while being at a first width position, the floor is at a second depth position when the hand contacts the platform while being at a second width position spaced apart from the first width position along the width direction, and the floor is at a third depth position when the hand contacts the second cavity while being at a third width position spaced apart from the second width position along the width direction.

18. The vehicle console of claim 17 , wherein the resistance member further includes a first shoulder protruding toward the center of the chamber along the width direction, and the first shoulder is at least partially retractably extendable through an opening formed on the first lower guiding surface of the first cavity to support the hand.

19. The vehicle console of claim 18 , wherein the resistance member further includes a second shoulder protruding toward the center of the chamber along the width direction, and the second shoulder is spaced apart from the first shoulder and at least partially retractably extendable through an opening formed on the second lower guiding surface of the second cavity to support the hand.

20. The vehicle console of claim 17 , wherein the first lower guiding surface has a smaller angle to the width direction than an angle of the first upper guiding surface to the width direction, and the second lower guiding surface has a smaller angle than an angle to the width direction than the second upper guiding surface.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Wang Tony
• Ge Hallie
• Fu Christina

Classifications

• B60N3/10

  of receptacles for food or beverages, e.g. refrigerated · CPC title

• B60R7/04 Primary

  in driver or passenger space {, e.g. using racks (B60R7/005, B60R7/08 take precedence)} · CPC title

• B60N3/105

  for receptables of different size or shape · CPC title