Patent Publication Number: US-6702410-B2

Title: Device for supporting a keyboard

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional application No. 60/329,483 filed Oct. 15, 2001. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to accessories for electronics racks or cabinets, and more particularly to a device for supporting a keyboard for use in a standard electronics rack or cabinet. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     To date, electronics racks and cabinets have standardized on a size that is preferable to for most electronics devices. The EIA standard 19 inch cabinet is the most popular size of rack. These 19 inch electronics racks typically have an opening or a chassis clearance which is 17¾ inches wide to accommodate most types of electronic devices. 
     More and more, electronics racks are being called upon to store computer-related devices. These computer-related devices typically include a monitor, a central processing unit, and user interface devices such as a keyboard and a pointing device, such as a mouse. One problem which has resulted by the use of computer-related devices in electronics racks is that the standard size computer keyboard, which typically has 101 to 116 keys and a width of 17 to 20½ inches, does not fit into the 17¾ inches opening of the standard 19 inches electronics rack. 
     One way in which this problem has been solved in the past is by substituting a reduced size or mini-keyboard for the standard sized keyboard. This is usually accomplished by using smaller sized keys and/or removing sets of keys, such as the numeric keypad from the keyboard. Obviously, this results in decreased functionality of the keyboard by the user and is not an ideal solution to the problem. 
     The present invention solves the problem by the use of a rotatable keyboard supporting device which is capable of holding a full sized standard keyboard and storing the keyboard inside the cabinet when not in use. 
     SUMMARY 
     A device for supporting a standard size keyboard tray within an electronics rack or cabinet. The keyboard supporting device includes a slideable shelf and a keyboard tray that is rotatably mounted thereto. The keyboard tray is rotatable between a storage position in which the keyboard tray is substantially perpendicular to the slideable shelf and a use position in which the keyboard tray is substantially parallel to the slideable shelf. A biasing device is included for biasing the keyboard tray toward either the storage position or the use position when the keyboard tray is disposed between the use position and the storage position. 
     In one preferred form of the present invention, the biasing device includes an eccentrically mounted spring for biasing the keyboard tray. A cam-follower is provided for limiting the rotary motion of the keyboard tray and cooperates with the eccentric spring to bias the keyboard tray. In one form of the invention, the cam-follower comprises an arcuate track formed in either the slideable shelf or the keyboard tray and a follower that travels within the track disposed on the other of the slideable shelf and keyboard tray. 
     In one form of the invention, the slideable shelf may include drawer slides which permit the shelf to travel between an extended position and an unextended position. The stationary portion of the drawer slide is adapted to be slideably mounted to an electronics rack or cabinet. 
     In one form of the invention, a carousel is mounted between the slideable shelf and the keyboard tray for allowing the keyboard tray to rotate relative to the slideable shelf. 
     The keyboard tray may include a horizontal planar portion for holding a standard size keyboard, a wrist pad located at a front edge of the horizontal portion, and a cable management device, such as a slot, for managing the keyboard cable. 
     A handle may be provided on the slideable shelf for moving the shelf between the extended position and the unextended position. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings a form which is presently preferred; it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. 
     FIG. 1 shows an isometric view of the keyboard supporting device of the present invention mounted within a standard electronics cabinet or rack. 
     FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the keyboard supporting device of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 shows an isometric view of the keyboard supporting device of FIG. 2 in an unextended position. 
     FIG. 4 shows an isometric view of the keyboard supporting device of FIG. 2 in an extended position. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     In FIG. 1 there is shown a keyboard supporting device in accordance with the present invention. The keyboard supporting device is shown mounted to an electronics cabinet or rack  100 . Typically, the electronics rack or cabinet  100  is an EIA standard 19 inch enclosure having a typically chassis opening or internal clearance of 17¾ inches wide. 
     The keyboard supporting device  10  includes a slideable shelf  12  and a keyboard tray  14  rotatably mounted to the slideable shelf  12 . The keyboard tray  14  is sized to accommodate a standard sized keyboard having approximately 101 to 116 keys and is typically between 17 inches and 20½ inches wide. As such, the standard sized keyboard is usually too large to fit into a standard 19 inch electronics rack or cabinet. 
     In FIGS. 1 and 4, the keyboard tray  14  is shown in the typical use position in which the keyboard tray is substantially parallel to the slideable shelf and the slideable shelf is in an extended position in which the user has ready access to a keyboard disposed on the keyboard tray  10 . With the keyboard tray in this use position, a standard sized conventional keyboard will not fit within the electronics cabinet as described above. The keyboard tray may be rotated 90° so that it is perpendicular to the slideable shelf for facilitating the storage of the keyboard supporting device  10  within the electronics rack or cabinet  100 . 
     A keyboard supporting device  10 ′ is shown in such a storage position within the electronics rack or cabinet in FIGS. 1 and 3. The keyboard supporting device  10 ′ is shown in a storage position in which the keyboard tray is substantially perpendicular to the slideable shelf and the slideable shelf is disposed in an unextended position. In this way, even a keyboard that is wider than the opening of the electronics cabinet or rack may be easily stored within the rack itself. 
     The keyboard supporting device  10  is shown in greater detail in FIG.  2 . The slideable shelf  12  includes a substantially planar shelf portion  16  having a handle  18  located on a front edge. The handle  18  is shown as a standard C channel bracket, but it should be understood that the handle may take any suitable shape which permits a user to easily grasp the slideable shelf  12  and move the shelf between the unextended and the extended positions. A pair of drawer slides  20  are mounted to opposite sides of the shelf  16 . 
     The drawer slides include a stationary portion  22  and a slideable portion  24 . The stationary portion  22  of the drawer slide  20  typically includes a mounting portion  24 , such as the outwardly turned flange shown, for mounting the shelf  12  to the rack  100 . The slideable portion  24  of the drawer slide  20  is mounted to the shelf portion  16  and slides within the stationary portion  22  mounted to the rack  100  so that the slideable shelf  12  may travel between the extended and the unextended positions. It should be understood that the manner of attaching the drawer slide, the location of the drawer slides and the manner of mounting the drawer slides to the rack is dependent upon the design of the electronics rack and it is within the scope of the present invention to provide a suitable drawer slide and mounting scheme to accommodate any rack design. 
     The slideable shelf  12  includes a connection point  28  on the underside of the shelf on which is mounted and elongated dowel  30  which extends downwardly from shelf  16 . The dowel  30  is provided for attaching one end of a spring  32 , as described in greater detail below. An arcuate slot  34  is also formed in the planar shelf portion  16 . 
     A rotatable connector  36  is disposed between the shelf  12  and the keyboard tray  14  for permitting the rotation of the keyboard shelf  14  relative to the shelf  12 . One such rotatable connector  14  is shown in FIG. 2 in the form of a carousel which is centered on  38  on the shelf  12 . The carousel  36  has a first portion  40  which is mounted to the keyboard tray  14  and a second portion  42  which is mounted to the shelf portion  16 . Portions  40  and  42  are capable of rotating relative to each other and permit the rotation of the keyboard tray  14 . It should be understood that the rotatable connection can take many different forms which would be suitable for the present invention including a lazy Susan-type connection, a ball bearing connection, an axle-type connection, or the like. 
     The keyboard shelf  14  includes a planar horizontal portion  44  and an upturned planar vertical portion  46 . A padded wrist rest  48  is located on a front edge of the planar horizontal portion  44 . Cable management slots  50  are disposed along the upturned planar vertical portion  46  for managing the cable of a keyboard supported on the keyboard tray  14 . It should be understood that other cable management devices can be used along with the slots  50  or in place of the slots  50 , as desired. 
     An elongated dowel  52  is mounted to the underside of the horizontal planar position  16 . The elongated dowel  52  is mounted to the underside of the horizontal portion  44  of the keyboard tray  14  at connection point  54 . When the keyboard tray  14  is assembled to the slideable shelf  12 , the elongated dowel  52  cooperates with and extends through the arcuate track  34  and passes through the underside edge of the horizontal planar shelf  16  so that the other end of the spring  32  may be attached thereto. When the keyboard tray  14  is rotated between the perpendicular storage position and the parallel use position, the dowel  52  travels within the arcuate slot  34 . As such, it is contemplated that the arcuate slot subtends a 90° angle and, in the preferred embodiment, the arcuate slot  34  forms a quarter circle. 
     The dowel  52  and the arcuate slot  34  form a cam-follower assembly. In addition, the biasing spring  32  is attached at one end to the dowel  30  that is fixedly attached to the underside of the shelf  16  at one end and is attached at the other end to the dowel  52  that is attached to the rotatable shelf  44  to form a biasing device for biasing the keyboard tray  14  relative to the shelf  12 . Together, the cam-follower and the biasing device form a biasing assembly that functions to bias the keyboard tray  14  to either the storage position (located at one end of the arcuate track  34 ) or the use position (located at the other end of the arcuate track  34 ). 
     This biasing functionality is achieved because the arrangement and location of the arcuate track  34  relative to the fixed dowel  30  on the shelf  16  is such that as the keyboard tray  14  is rotated and the moveable dowel  52  travels along the arcuate track  34  away from the fixed dowel  30  which serves to stretch the spring  32 . This stretching of the spring increases until it reaches its maximum point at the half-way point between the two ends of the arcuate track  34 . The stretching of the spring  32  serves to create a spring force in the direction of the fixed dowel  30  when at the midpoint of the arcuate track  34 . 
     The arcuate slot  34  is symmetrical about a line shown perpendicular through the tangent at the midpoint. When the moveable dowel  52  is on either side of the midpoint of the arcuate slot  34 , the spring force has a component directed toward the closer end of the arcuate track and serves to bias the moveable dowel (and in turn the keyboard tray  14 ) toward the closer end of the arcuate track  34 . In this way, the keyboard tray  14  is biased in either the use position of FIG. 4 or the storage position of FIG.  3 . 
     Thus, the eccentrically installed tension spring  7  relative to the Z axis of the keyboard tray  14  and shelf  12  facilitates a smooth turning function of the rotatable keyboard tray  12  and holds the keyboard tray  12  in either the use position or the storage position. The present design allows for easy self-adjustment between the two positions and eliminates the possibility of damage to the keyboard shelf  10  or the rack  100  that may result when the drawer assembly is accidentally rolled in with the keyboard drawer in the perpendicular use position. 
     In use, a user grasps the handle  18  of the slideable drawer  12  to extend the drawer  12  from the unextended position within an electronics cabinet to an extended position outside of the electronics cabinet. When the shelf  12  is in the extended position the keyboard tray  14  may be rotated from the storage position in which the keyboard tray is substantially perpendicular to the slideable shelf to the use position, shown in FIG. 4, in which the keyboard tray is substantially parallel to the slideable shelf. The biasing assembly serves to bias the keyboard tray in the use position in which the removable dowel  52  is disposed at the far end of the arcuate track  34  in which the force of the tension spring  32  is directed at least partly in the direction toward the far end of the arcuate track. 
     When the user desires to store the keyboard supporting device  10 , the user rotates the shelf  14  back into the storage position against the force of the tension spring  7  at least until the moveable dowel  52  reaches the midpoint position of the arcuate slot  34 . At that point, the tension spring  32  exerts a force on the keyboard tray  14  to bias it toward the opposite end of the arcuate slot  34 , which is the storage position. In this storage position, the tension spring  32  exerts a force on the moveable dowel which biases the dowel towards this opposite end of the arcuate slot  34  and locks the keyboard tray  14  in the storage position. When the keyboard tray  14  is in the storage position, the slideable shelf  12  may be retracted back into the electronics rack  100  into the unextended position for safe storage of the shelf within the rack. 
     Other modifications of the keyboard supporting device  10  are also contemplated by the present invention. For example, a mouse holder may be provided in conjunction with the keyboard tray  14  for holding a conventional mouse or pointing device. It should also be understood that a variety of different types of springs having different spring constants and the like may also be employed for the coil spring  32  depicted in the drawings. 
     The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essentially attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing specification, as indicating the scope of the invention.