Patent Publication Number: US-7896452-B2

Title: Slide braking apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a slide braking apparatus, and more particularly to a simple linking structure provided for users to control the locking or pushing of a slide in a simple, easy and effort-saving manner. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In general, a traditional cabinet for installing computers and related equipments comes with detachable drawers on different decks of the cabinet and a slide disposed between the drawer and the cabinet for guiding the drawer to slide into or out of the cabinet. The structure of the slide sequentially comprises a bottom rail, a middle rail for sliding on the bottom rail, and an inner rail for sliding on the middle rail, wherein the bottom rail is fixed onto an internal side of the cabinet, and the inner rail is installed on a lateral side of the drawer, and the middle rail and the inner rail slide are coupled on a track, such that the drawer can slide into or out of the cabinet successfully. 
     Although the foregoing slide structure is convenient to operate and maintain, yet its application is not very safe since the slide structure does not have any braking or stopping device, so that the machine on the drawer may slide into the cabinet due to inertia or slide into the cabinet accidentally during maintenance. As a result, strong forces impact the expensive industrial computer and related machines, or even turn the whole cabinet over by the unstable center of gravity of the cabinet. 
     To solve the aforementioned problem, manufacturers install a locking device on the slide, so that the slide can be locked at an appropriate position to provide a positioning effect, and control the timing of sliding the drawer. A typical structure was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,685 entitled “Release mechanism for drawer slide latches” as shown in  FIG. 1 , and the mechanism mainly controls a first element  40  to slide into or out of a second element  50 , and the structure installs a door latch  41  and a shifting mechanism  42  for controlling the displacement of the door latch  41  at the first element  40  (which is the aforementioned inner rail). When the first element  40  slides a predetermined distance out of the second element  50 , the door latch  41  installed on the first element  40  and coupled to a plate  51  of the second element  50  (which is the aforementioned middle rail), such that the first element  40  is locked onto the second element  50  to provide a position limit effect. If it is necessary to slide the first element  40  into the second element  50 , the shifting mechanism  42  is pushed to drive the door latch  41  to retract from the plate  51  of the second element  50 , so that the first element  40  is pushed into the second element  50 . 
     Although the aforementioned structure can achieve the braking effect to effectively limit the inner rail of its sliding out of the middle rail, yet the application requires further improvements, since the direction of releasing the braking is in the same direction of sliding the first element  40  into the second element  50  in the prior art structure of the shifting mechanism, such that if a user pushes the shifting mechanism  42  to release the braking, the shifting mechanism  42  will push the first element  40  to slide into the second element  50 , and the door latch  41  will get stuck in the plate  51  of the second element  50 , and the door latch  41  will not be retracted from the plate  51  easily. Further, a friction is used to provide a link between components. In other words, the user must apply a larger moment of force to push the shifting mechanism to release the brake. 
     In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a slide braking apparatus to overcome the shortcomings of the conventional braking structure. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide a slide braking apparatus installed on two corresponding lateral sides of a middle rail and an inner rail the slide for controlling the timing of sliding the inner rail into the middle rail. The apparatus comprises a guide bump, a hook and a control handle, wherein the hook and the control handle are installed at the inner rail, and the guide bump is disposed on a lateral side of the middle rail, and the hook is elastically and pivotally coupled to a lateral side of the inner rail, and a side of the hook has a rib with a protruded guide bump disposed on an edge of the rib and guided by the front end of the guide bump to drive the hook to turn and press against the rear end of the guide bump, so as to produce a braking effect to the inner rail, and a control handle installed on the inner rail produces a linking effect with the hook by a link element for controlling the hook to turn and separate from the rear end of the guide bump, and successfully push the inner rail into the middle rail. With the linking structural design, users may apply a moment of force from different directions in order to release the action of sliding the inner rail into the middle rail in a convenient and effort-saving manner. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a prior art release mechanism; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a slide of a slide braking apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of a slide braking apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 3   a  is an enlarged view of a portion of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarged view of another portion of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view of the structure of a slide braking apparatus in accordance of the present invention, showing that a hook and a control handle are in a natural status; 
         FIG. 5   a  is a schematic view of the structure of a slide braking apparatus in accordance with the present invention, showing that a rib of a hook is in contact with the guide bump and its status of being guided by the guide bump; 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic view of the structure of a slide braking apparatus in accordance with the present invention, showing that a control handle links with a hook to turn and its status of being exerted by a force; 
         FIG. 6   a  a schematic view of the structure of a slide braking apparatus in accordance with the present invention, showing that a control handle links with a hook to turn and its status of releasing an inner rail from being braked; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of an auxiliary slide braking apparatus of a slide braking apparatus in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 7   a  is an enlarged view of a portion of  FIG. 7 ; 
         FIG. 7   b  is an enlarged view of a portion of  FIG. 7  viewing from another angle; 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic view of the structure of a slide braking apparatus in accordance with the present invention, showing that a rib presses against a braking plane; and 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of a slide braking apparatus in accordance with another preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing that an auxiliary hook is turned by a force from the inner rail to retract a rib from a braking plane. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The objective, technical measures and performance of the present invention will become apparent in the detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows: 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 ,  3 ,  3   a , and  4 , the present invention provides a slide braking apparatus installed between a middle rail L 2  and an inner rail L 3  for controlling and limiting the timing of sliding the inner rail L 3  into the middle rail L 2 . The braking apparatus comprises a guide bump  10 , a hook  20  and a control handle  30 , wherein the hook  20  and the control handle  30  are installed on a lateral side of the inner rail L 3 , and the guide bump  10  is disposed on a lateral side of the middle rail L 2  and protruded towards the hook  20 . 
     The front end of the guide bump  10  has a guide plane  11  for guiding the hook  20 , and the rear end of the guide bump  10  has a braking plane  12  for pressing against the hook  20 . 
     The hook  20  is pivotally coupled onto a lateral side of the inner rail L 3  and elastically turned to an appropriate range on the inner rail L 3 , and a side of the hook  20  has a resilient element  22 , and an end of the resilient element  22  is fixed onto the inner rail L 3 , and another end of the resilient element  22  is fixed to the hook  20  for supplying a resilience to the hook  20 , and the hook  20  has a rib  21  extended perpendicularly towards the middle rail L 2 , and the rear end of the rib  21  corresponds to the guide plane  11  at the front end of the guide bump  10 , and the front end of the rib  21  is provided for pressing against the braking plane  12  at the front end of the guide bump  10 . 
     Similar to the hook  20 , the control handle  30  is pivotally coupled to the same side of the inner rail L 3  and elastically turned to an appropriate range on the inner rail L 3 , and the front end of the control handle  30  has a link element  31 , and another end of the link element  31  is coupled to the hook  20 , so that the control handle  30  links with the hook  20  to turn and control the hook  20  to retract from the braking plane  12  at an appropriate time, so as to release the braking effect of the inner rail L 3 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 5   a  for the application, if the inner rail L 3  slides an appropriate distance from the middle rail L 2 , the rib  21  on the hook  20  is contacted with the guide plane  11  at the front end of the guide bump  10  and guided to link with the hook  20  in order to turn the hook  20 . When the rib  21  is shifted to an end point of the guide plane  11 , the hook  20  resumes its original position by the resilience, such that the front end of the rib  21  is pressed against the braking plane  12  at the rear end of the guide bump  10  to limit the inner rail L 3  from sliding into the middle rail L 2 . 
     In  FIGS. 6 and 6   a , if it is necessary to push the inner rail L 3  into the middle rail L 2 , a downward force is applied onto the control handle  30  to turn the control handle  30  and the link element  31  links with the hook  20  to retract the rib  21  from the braking plane  12 , so as to release the braking of the inner rail L 3 , and push the inner rail L 3  into the middle rail L 2  successfully. 
     In  FIGS. 7 ,  7   a  and  7   b , the present invention further installs an auxiliary braking apparatus between the middle rail L 2  and the bottom rail L 1  to assist the aforementioned braking apparatus, and the auxiliary braking apparatus is substantially the same as the braking apparatus and comprises an auxiliary guide bump  10 ′ disposed at the bottom rail L 1  and an auxiliary hook  20 ′ pivotally coupled to the front end of the middle rail L 2 , wherein the assembly of the auxiliary guide bump  10 ′ and the auxiliary hook  20 ′ are the same as the guide bump  10  and the hook  20 , and thus will not be described here. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8  for the application, if the inner rail L 3  slides out and link with the middle rail L 2  to side the bottom rail L 1  out, the rib  21 ′ of the auxiliary hook  20 ′ installed on the middle rail L 2  is guided by the guide plane  11 ′ at the front end of the auxiliary guide bump  10 ′ of the bottom rail L 1  to link and turn the auxiliary hook  20 ′. If the rib  21 ′ of the auxiliary hook  20 ′ is shifted to the end point of the guide plane  11 ′, the auxiliary hook  20 ′ will resume its original position by resilience, so that the rib  21 ′ presses the braking plane  12 ′ at the rear end of the auxiliary guide bump  10 ′ to brake the middle rail L 2  (as shown in  FIG. 8 ). 
     In  FIG. 9 , if it is necessary to push the middle rail L 2  into the bottom rail L 1 , the method of releasing the braking apparatus installed between the middle rail L 2  and the inner rail L 3  can be used, wherein a force is applied to the control handle  30  (not shown in the figure) to release the braking effect of the inner rail L 3 , such that when the inner rail L 3  slides into the middle rail L 2 , the rear end of the inner rail L 3  is pressed against an end of the auxiliary hook  20 ′ to turn the auxiliary hook  20 ′, and the rib  21  is retracted from the braking plane  12 ′ (as shown in  FIG. 9 ) to release the braking effect of the middle rail L 2  and push the middle rail L 2  into the bottom rail L 1  successfully. 
     While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.