US 5,634,683 AGranted

Slideout room for vehicle

OwnerJames Younginventor

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Abstract

An extendible slideout room having a roof, floor, and sidewalls is moveable between a retracted position and an extended position within a lateral wall of a vehicle such as a motorhome, a boat, or virtually any type of trailer. In the retracted position, the roof, floor and two side walls of the slideout room are disposed within the vehicle, with a third outer side wall positioned in sealed contact with the vehicle's lateral wall about the periphery of the slideout room. When extended, the slideout room's roof, floor and sidewalls project outwardly from the vehicle's lateral wall in sealed contact with the vehicle's wall. Elongated screws rotationally coupled to the slideout room's outer side wall at their respective distal ends are inserted through respective threaded fittings fixedly attached to the vehicle's lateral wall, with each screw disposed adjacent a respective corner of the room. A toothed sprocket is attached to the distal end of each screw, with the sprockets coupled together by means of an endless chain. A drive sprocket connected to a drive motor is also coupled to the chain for displacing the chain and rotating the screws in unison. Rotation of the drive sprocket in a first direction extends the slideout room, while rotation of the drive sprocket in a second, opposed direction retracts the room within the vehicle. The drive mechanism including motor, sprockets and chain are coupled to and move with the slideout room during extension and retraction.

Claims16

Dependent claims

For use in a vehicle having a plurality of first side walls, an arrangement comprising:

a slideout room disposed in an opening in one of said first side walls and including a floor, a ceiling, an end wall and a plurality of second side walls, said slideout room further including a plurality of corners defined by intersections of said floor and said ceiling with each of said second side walls;
a plurality of elongated screws each disposed adjacent a respective corner of said slideout room and having a respective longitudinal axis oriented generally perpendicular to said one of said first side walls of the vehicle, each of said screws further including a distal end coupled to the end wall of said slideout room and a proximal end disposed in the vehicle;
a plurality of threaded fittings attached to said one of said first side walls of the vehicle about the aperture therein, wherein each of said screws is threadably inserted in a respective one of said fittings;
a plurality of sprockets coupled by means of an endless chain, wherein each of said sprockets is fixedly mounted to a proximal end of a respective one of said screws;
drive means coupled to said endless chain for displacing said chain and rotating each sprocket and screw combination in a first direction for retracting said slideout room within the vehicle through the aperture therein or for rotating each sprocket and screw combination in a second, opposed direction for extending said slideout room out of the vehicle through the aperture therein, wherein said drive means is coupled to and moves with said slideout room;
and
a plurality of slide members extending between the distal and proximal portions of said slideout room for engaging said one of the vehicle's first side walls adjacent the aperture therein for facilitating sliding displacement of the slideout room between the extended and retracted positions.

4 more elements

For use in a vehicle having an extendible slideout room, wherein said slideout room includes a floor, a ceiling, an end wall, and a plurality of side walls, an arrangement for displacing said slideout room through an aperture in a lateral wall of the vehicle between an extended position and a retracted position, said arrangement comprising:

a plurality of elongated screws disposed in a spaced manner about the periphery of the slideout room with each of said screws including a distal end coupled to the slideout room and a proximal end disposed in the vehicle and having a sprocket attached thereto, wherein each of said screws is inserted through and threadably coupled to the lateral wall of the vehicle;
an endless chain engaging each of said sprockets disposed on the distal ends of said screws;
drive means coupled to said endless chain for rotating said sprocket and screw combinations in a first direction for extending the slideout room from the vehicle through the aperture in the lateral wall of the vehicle or for rotating said sprocket and screw combinations in a second, opposed direction for retracting the slideout room into the vehicle;
and
a plurality of slide members for engaging the lateral wall of the vehicle adjacent the aperture therein for facilitating sliding displacement of the slideout room between the extended and retracted positions.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.