GB2087961A - Roller assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

An improved roller assembly comprises a support part (10) and a locating part (11), the support part (10) having means (25) to locate a roller (12), the locating part (11) having a first limb (14) adapted to co- operate with fixing means (17) to secure the locating part to a member such as a door or a window (16), a second limb (13) and the locating part (11) co-operating with the support part (10) to locate the support part in its in use position without the necessity of having to pass fixing means through the support part (10) into the window (16). Each support part may be provided with connecting means (35, 36) whereby a plurality of support parts (10) may be connected together in end-to-end relationship to provide adequate support for the member to which they are to be affixed in use. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improved roller assemblies Description of Invention The present invention relates to an improved roller assembly of the type being adapted for securing on one member which is intended to be moved by means of the roller assembly relative to another member.

The invention has particular but not exclusive application to roller assemblies adapted for use on windows or doors which are adapted for movement along a track of a frame assembly.

Known roller assemblies comprise a support part having mounted therein one or more wheels or rollers the support part being fixed to one member in a manner such that the wheels or rollers are adapted to engage the track to provide for said relative movement.

The support part is usually secured to the member by a fastener which passes through the support part and engages the member from the underside. Such a method of mounting roller assemblies makes it necessary when used on sliding doors or windows for example, to mount the roller assembly prior to positioning of the door or window in its frame which has the disadvantages of possible damage occurring to the roller assembly before assembly into the frame and also the positioning of the door or window within its frame is not made any easier by the increase in dimension added by the roller assembly.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new or improved roller assembly which overcomes or reduces the abovementioned problems.

According to one aspect of the present invention we provide a roller assembly comprising a support part, a roller mounted on said support part for rotational movement relative thereto, a locating part adapted for securing to the member to which it is required to fit the roller assembly said locating part having locating means adapted to co-operate with complementary locating means provided on the support part whereby the support part is adapted for detachable mounting on said locating part to and from an in use position.

Preferably the locating part is so adapted to be secured to the member to which it is required to fit the roller assembly by means which do not require it to be fitted to the lower edge of said member.

Preferably said locating part comprises a bracket having a first limb provided with said locating means and a second limb extending substantially at right angles to said first limb said second limb being provided with the means whereby the locating part may be secured to said member.

The first limb of the locating part may have one or more edge surfaces adapted to co-operate with a similar number of edge surfaces on the support part to locate the support part in its in use position.

Preferably said locating part has a through bore or recess adapted to co-operate with a protuberance provided on said support part said through bore or recess co-operating with said protuberance to locate or assist in locating said support part relative to said locating part.

Since for example in the field of sliding doors and windows the sizes and weights of said doors and windows vary considerably one size of roller assembly will not suffice for all purposes since, if it is sufficiently large and robust to accommodate a door of considerable weight it will be unnecessarily bulky for use with a small sliding window for example.

In the past therefore it has been necessary to provide roller assemblies of different sizes for securing to different sizes of sliding doors and windows.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a roller assembly that overcomes the abovementioned problem.

According to a second aspect of the present invention we provide a roller assembly comprising a support part, a roller member carried by said support part mounted for rotational movement relative thereto, said support part being adapted for securing to a member which it is required to move relative to another, said support part being provided with securing means adapted to cooperate with complementary securing means on a second support part whereby two support parts may be secured together in end to end relationship relative to the direction of intended travel of said member.

The support part of each roller assembly may therefore be of identical form, each assembly may be joined to another to form a continuous line of assemblies or any required number.

In the case of the small sliding window for example it may be required to fit a roller assembly only at each end of the lower surface whereas a sliding door which is likely to be very much heavier may be provided with three or four roller assemblies at each end of its lower surface thereby distributing the weight of the door over greater number of rollers.

The advantages of such an arrangement are numerous.

It is no longer necessary to manufacture a plurality of different sizes of roller assembly thereby greatly reducing the cost of manufacture and in particular the initial tooling up costs of making the roller assembly.

Furthermore, the danger of fitting an incorrect size roller assembly to a door or window is minimal and the reliability of such assemblies when used on sliding doors or windows for example is increased since when a plurality of roller assemblies are provided, if one roller assembly fails, the provision of several roller assemblies decreases the likelihood of the door or window being rendered immovable.

Preferably each such array of roller assemblies is provided with at least one locating part as afore described which greatly facilitates the mounting of the movable member in its required track.

The invention will now be described in more detail by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a roller assembly of the present invention; FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of part of the roller assembly shown in Figure 1; FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of the locating part shown in Figure 1; FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the locating part; FIGURE 5 illustrates the roller assembly of the present invention in an in user position with a second assembly secured thereto shown in dotted outline.

The roller assembly shown in the drawings comprises a support part indicated at 10, a locating part indicated at 11 and a roller indicated at 12.

The locating part 11 comprises a first limb 1 3 and a second limb 14 extending substantially at right angles to the first limb 13. The second limb 14 is provided with a U-shaped slot 15.

To secure the locating part 11 to a member which it is required to be mounted for sliding movement for example a window, part of which is shown at 16, the locating part 11 is secured to the window 16 by means of a threaded fastener 1 7. In the illustration shown in Figure 1 the fastener may be the fastener used to secure the upright member 18 of the window to the lower member 19 of the window. If the fastener 17 is unscrewed buy a small amount the locating part 11 can be slid into position the shank of the fastener 1 7 passing through the slot 1 5 until the upper surface of the first limb 13 abuts the lower surface of the member 19. The fastener 17 may then be tightened firmly securing the locating part 11 in position relative to the window 16.

The window 16 can then be mounted in a track along which it is required to be mounted for sliding movement since the support arch 10 and roller 12 may be secured to the locating part 11 at any convenient time.

In order to secure the support part 10 to the locating part 11 the locating part 11 is provided with an aperture 20 of a size such that it accommodates the protuberance 21 provided on the support part 10. Furthermore the support part 10 is provided with a recess in its upper surface the recess terminating at one end with an upwardly extending surface 22 the upwardly extending surface 22 being so spaced from the protuberance 21 such that it is adapted to cooperate with the end surface 23 of the locating part.

In order to secure the support part 10 to the locating part 11 the window 1 6 together with the locating part 11 is lifted until the support part 10 and roller 12 can be inserted in position underneath the locating part 11 the window 1 6 is then lowered onto the support part 10 the protuberance 21 extending through the aperture 20 and the end face 22 being juxtaposed with the end 23 of the locating part 11. The support part 21 may be provided with a pair of diametrically opposed lumps or pimples of a resilient material on the protuberance 21 one of these being shown at 24 such that when the protuberance 21 extends into the aperture 20 the support part 10 is held relative to the locating part 11 but that if the window 16 is again lifted the support part 10 will not become separated from the locating part 11.

The support part 10 is provided with three horseshoe shaped slots 25, 26 and 27 on each side thereof the slot 25, 26 and 27 each being arranged to accommodate and hold an axle 28 on which the roller 12 is mounted for rotation.

Alternatively the roller 12 may be fixed on the axle 28 could be of unitary construction. The axle would then be mounted in bearing surfaces provided on or secured to the support part.

Each pair of slots each slot of each pair being diametrically opposed are arranged at different heights which can clearly be seen in Figure 2 to provide adjustment means to enable the window 1 6 to be supported at different heights to compensate for different types of track on which it may be supported or tolerances of the relevant sizes of window and the frame in which it is mounted.

The support part 10 is provided with three apertures 29, 30 and 31 the apertures 29 and 30 being designed to accommodate the shank of a threaded fastener which may be used to provide extra securing means for securing the roller assembly to the window 16.

In normal circumstances it would not be required to use extra fasteners in such a manner however where for example a plurality of roller assemblies are used or assemblies being joined to each other it may be desirable to provide additional securing on at least some of the roller assemblies.

The aperture 31 is also provided to accommodate the head of a fastener a corresponding but smaller aperture 32 being provided in the locating part 11 so that a fastener passing therethrough may engage with part of the window 16.

At the leading end of each roller assembly there is provided a pair of extensions 34 which between them and the end surface 35 of the support part 10 define a longitudinal recess of a dove-tailed cross section in plan view. The other end of the support part 10 is provided with a singie extension 36 which is also of dove-tail cross section in plan view. The dimensions of the dove-tail recess and the dove-tail extension 36 are such that two of the support parts 10 may be joined to each other by engaging the dove-tail extension 36 of one in the dove-tail recess of another thereby firmly securing two of the support parts 10 together. Such an arrangement is shown in Figure 5 with a second roller assembly being shown in dotted outline at 37.

With reference to Figure 5 is will be appreciated that the roller assemblies will normally be hidden from view since the track in which they run will have natural side walls which extend up to at least the edge surface 38 of the window in Figure 5 however such side walls have been omitted in order to clearly show the mounting of the roller assemblies on the window 16.

Whereas two roller assemblies are shown joined together it will be appreciated that any number of assemblies may be provided or joined together and they may if desired form a continuous line securement of the roller assemblies to the window being provided at each end and possibly securement means may be provided at points intermediate the ends.

The locating part 1 i may be modified by having the second limb removed therefrom and may then be secured at a position intermediate the ends of the window 1 6 in order to locate a roller assembly. The locating part 11 is secured to the window 1 6 by a fastener the shank of which passes through the through wall 32 the head of the fastener dotting the underside of the first limb 13. The roller assembly which is intended to locate is then simply placed in position the protuberance 21 extending to the recess 20 the head of the fastener which is passed through the through bore 32 being accommodated by the through bore 31 illustrated more clearly in Figure 2. Such an arrangement enables the roller assemblies to be removed or replaced at will without the necessity of removing any fasteners.

Whereas in the roller assemblies described above each support part has been provided with a single roller it is envisaged that each support part may be provided with two or more rollers.

The support part 10 0 may bs made from any suitable material and it is preferably made from a plastics material by injection moulding however it could if necessary be made from a metallic material as a die-casting.

Claims (14)

1. A roller assembly comprising a support part, a roller mounted on said support part for rotational movement relative thereto, a locating part adapted for securing to the member to which it is required to fit the roller assembly said locating part having locating means adapted to co-operate with complementary locating means provided on the support part whereby the support part is adapted for detachable mounting on said locating part to and from an in use position.

2. A roller assembly as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the roller assembly is adapted to be secured to the lower edge of a member and wherein the locating part is adapted to be secured to the member by means other than a fixing means extending into the lower edge of said member.

3. A roller assembly as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein said locating part comprises a bracket having a first limb provided with said locating means and a second limb extending substantially at right angles to said first limb, said second limb being provided with the means whereby the locating part is secured to said member.

4. A roller assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the locating part has one or more edge surfaces adapted to co-operate with a similar number of edge surfaces on the support part to locate the support part in its in use position.

5. A roller assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said locating part has a through bore or recess adapted to cooperate with a protuberanse provided on said support part, said through bore or recess cooperating with said protuberance to locate or assist in locating said support part relative to said locating part.

6. A roller assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the upper surface of said support is partially recessed to receive said locating part such that in its in use position the unrecessed upper surface of said support part and the upper surface of the first limb of said locating part are substantially planar.

7. A roller assembly comprising a support part, a roller member carried by said support part mounted for rotational movement relative thereto, said support part being adapted for securing to a member which it is required to move relative to another, said support part being provided with connecting means adapted to co-operate with complementary connecting means on a second support part whereby two support parts may be secured together in end to end relationship relative to the direction of intended travel of said member.

8. A roller assembly as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 6 wherein the support part is adapted for connecting to a further support part whereby two support parts are connected together in endto-end relationship relative to the direction of intended travel in use of the roller assembly.

9. A roller assembly as claimed in Claim 7 or Claim 8 wherein the means for connecting one support part to another comprises a tongue and groove connection, the tongue being on one support part and the groove on the other and both said tongue and groove being of dove-tail crosssection, said tongue and groove being aligned to permit of engagement or disengagement between said support parts by movement in a direction transverse to the direction of travel in use so as to prevent unintentional disengagement during use of the roller assembly.

10. A roller assembly as claimed in Claim 9 wherein each support part is provided with a groove at one end thereon and a tongue at the other end thereof, said tongue and said groove each being of dove-tail shape in cross-section.

11. A roller assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the support part is provided with a plurality of fixing means each being adapted to receive a roller, said fixing means providing for relative different positional adjustment of said roller relative to said support part.

12. A roller assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the support part is made from a plastics material and said locating part is made from a metallic material.

1 3. A roller assembly as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 11 wherein both the support part and the locating part are made from plastics material.

14. A roller assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the or each roller is made from plastics material.

1 5. A roller assembly as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 13 wherein the or each roller is made from a metallic material.

1 6. A roller assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.

1 7. A roller assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 5 of the accompanying drawings.

1 8. A roller assembly including any novel feature or novel combination of features described herein and/or shown in the accompanying drawings.