Patent ID: 8011308

Claim:
A telescopic support for a table defining a work surface, said support comprising: an outer leg part having a tubular body defining a longitudinal axis and having an interior passage through which the longitudinal axis extends centrally, said tubular body having vertically extending ribs; and one or more longitudinally-extending splines extending radially, inwardly from the tubular body; and an inner leg part having: a shuttle body part and a fluted body part separable from said shuttle body part, both said parts being disposed at least in part in the tubular body said fluted body part being geometrically coupled to the tubular body of the outer leg part with notches fitted on said ribs and having a substantially cylindrical center portion and notched plates secured to either end of the center portion and forming longitudinally-spaced upper and lower ends of the shuttle body part; and rollers rotatably mounted to the shuttle body part by means of an axle having a ball bearing to support the inner leg part for longitudinal reciprocating movement in the tubular body, in which the rollers are longitudinally spaced from one another, each at a respective end of the shuttle body part and disposed in a respective notched plate defining said end, wherein said rollers include, for at least one of said one or more splines, at least one grooved roller having a peripheral groove which receives said spline during said reciprocating movement to constrain said outer and inner leg parts against relative rotation about the longitudinal axis, the interior dimension of the tubular body and splines is smaller than the exterior dimension of the shuttle body part and rollers so that there is an interference fit between the inner leg part and the tubular body of the outer leg part and there is a sliding fit between at least one of the rollers and its respective axle to permit smooth reciprocating motion.