초록 ▼

A vertically adjustable wheel assembly for movably supporting an appliance cabinet or the like upon a supporting surface includes a housing, a supporting bracket, a wheel unit, an adjusting rod, an adjusting screw and various elongated mounting members. The wheel unit is defined by a pair of spaced

A vertically adjustable wheel assembly for movably supporting an appliance cabinet or the like upon a supporting surface includes a housing, a supporting bracket, a wheel unit, an adjusting rod, an adjusting screw and various elongated mounting members. The wheel unit is defined by a pair of spaced rollers that are interconnected by a reduced diametric portion. The wheel unit is rotatably attached to the support bracket by an axle member, while the adjusting rod is also mounted for rotary movement by the support bracket. The support bracket is pivotally mounted to the housing, with both the wheel unit and the adjusting rod being permitted to rotate relative thereto. The adjusting screw extends through a frontal portion of the housing and it is threadably connected to the adjusting rod such that rotation of the screw causes pivoting of the support bracket relative to the housing and movement of the wheel assembly between fully extended and fully retracted positions. With the rollers of the wheel unit being laterally spaced, the adjusting screw is permitted to extend between the rollers when the adjustable wheel assembly assumes the retracted position. The arrangement represents an extremely compact vertically adjustable wheel assembly that can be advantageously preassembled and attached to a refrigerator cabinet or the like as a unit.

대표청구항 ▼

[ We claim:] [1.] In an appliance including a cabinet having front corner portions and rear corner portions, a vertically adjustable wheel assembly for movably supporting the appliance upon a supporting surface comprising:a compact housing including an upper plate and at least three side plates exte

[ We claim:] [1.] In an appliance including a cabinet having front corner portions and rear corner portions, a vertically adjustable wheel assembly for movably supporting the appliance upon a supporting surface comprising:a compact housing including an upper plate and at least three side plates extending downward from a frontal portion and opposing lateral side portions of the upper plate respectively with the lateral side plates being formed with a set of axially aligned holes and the frontal side plate being formed with a through hole;a support bracket including a pair of spaced mounting legs and a bridge member interconnecting the mounting legs, with the mounting legs being formed with first, second and third sets of axially aligned apertures arranged in a triangular pattern;a wheel unit having an associated central axis;an axle member mounting the wheel unit to the support bracket for rotation about the central axis, with the axle member connecting the wheel unit at the first set of axially aligned apertures;an adjusting rod having end portions rotatably mounted within the second set of axially aligned apertures and a central portion provided with a threaded bore;a pin member pivotally mounting the support bracket within the housing, with the pin member extending through the set of axially aligned holes of the housing and the third set of axially aligned apertures of the support bracket; andan adjusting screw extending through the through hole of the frontal side plate, with the adjusting screw having a head portion positioned at the frontal side plate and a threaded portion received within the threaded bore of the adjusting rod, wherein the housing and the wheel unit are mounted beneath one of the front corner portions of the appliance cabinet with rotation of the adjusting screw from the front corner portion of the appliance cabinet causing pivoting of the support bracket relative to the housing and vertical movement of the adjustable wheel assembly between fully extended and fully retracted positions.