Patent ID: 8414093

Claim:
A moveable shelf assembly comprising: a shelf carriage having a pair of generally equally spaced-apart sidewalls interconnected by a back support member, and at least one generally horizontally-orientated shelf or shelf unit forming a structure having length, width, depth, and a front; wherein an imaginary horizontal plane intersects the shelf carriage approximately halfway of the length of the structure thereby dividing the shelf carriage into an imaginary top half and a bottom half; a pair of stationary support sidewalls spaced apart a distance that the shelf carriage sidewalls can pass within and outside of the stationary support sidewalls; and motorized means for moving the shelf carriage from a first at rest position positioned substantially within the stationary support sidewalls to a second extended position so that the imaginary horizontal plane of the shelf carriage is in a lower horizontal plane in the extended position than that of the imaginary horizontal plane of the shelf carriage in the at rest position, wherein the motorized means further includes: (i) a drive mechanism positioned at each of the stationary support sidewalls, each drive mechanism having a linkage arm assembly that is interconnected to one of the shelf carriage sidewalls, said linkage arm assembly moveable along an arcuate pathway within its respective stationary support sidewall to allow the linkage arm assembly rotary movement; and (ii) a controllable powered motor to provide rotational movement to the drive mechanism wherein one drive mechanism is a master drive mechanism positioned at one of the stationary support sidewalls having a linkage arm assembly that is interconnected to the one of the shelf carriage sidewalls, and the other drive mechanism is a slave mechanism positioned at the other stationary support sidewall with a cross-linkage between the master drive mechanism and the slave drive mechanism so that linkage arm of the slave mechanism follows the same rotary movement as that of the linkage arm assembly of the master drive mechanism.