Low profile slide-out operating mechanism for expandable vehicle room

A master-slave operating mechanism for selectively extending and retracting the slide-out section of a vehicle body, the mechanism comprising:

• a pair of substantially parallel, inverted U-shaped outer channels secured to the vehicle body, each of the outer channels having a top wall and depending sidewalls, the depending sidewalls defining a mounting surface at an outer end of each outer rail;
• a pair of substantially parallel, inverted U-shaped inner channels for supporting the slide-out section thereon, each of the inner channels having a top wall disposed beneath the top wall of each outer channel and depending sidewalls positioned inside each of the depending sidewalls of each outer channel, the depending sidewalls of each inner channel being shorter than the depending sidewalls of each outer channel;
• a gear rack fixed to the top wall of each of the inner channels;
• an input gear mounted for rotation with and upon an input stub shaft rotatably mounted on each mounting surface;
• an idler gear in meshing engagement with the input gear and mounted for rotation with and upon an idler stub shaft rotatably mounted on each mounting surface;
• a drive gear in meshing engagement with the idler gear and mounted for rotation with and upon a driven stub shaft rotatably mounted on each mounting surface the drive gear being engageable with the gear rack;
• a drive shaft assembly extending between each of the drive gears;
• and
• a drive arrangement for rotating one of the input gears so as to rotate one of the drive gears, the drive shaft assembly transmitting the rotational movement of the one drive gear to the other drive gear causing the simultaneous rotation of the drive gears against the gear racks and enabling the inner rails to slide into and out of the outer rails thereby extending and retracting the slide-out section.

An operating mechanism for selectively extending and retracting a slide-out section of a vehicle body, the mechanism comprising:

• a pair of substantially parallel outer rails secured to the vehicle body;
• a pair of substantially parallel inner rails for supporting the slide-out section thereon, each of the inner rails being slidably mounted for longitudinal movement relative to one of the outer rails;
• rollers supporting each of the inner rails for facilitating longitudinal sliding movement of the inner rails relative to the outer rails said rollers including a pair of rollers aligned coaxially along a roller axis and separated axially by a space between them, said roller axis being generally perpendicular to a longitudinal extent of said inner rail and displaced from rolling surfaces of said inner rail by a distance approximately equal to a radius of said rollers so that said rollers support said inner rail by rolling on said rolling surfaces;
• and
• a drive arrangement including a gear rack mounted to at least one of the inner rails and disposed thereon in alignment with said space between said rollers a drive gear engageable with the gear rack and extending from an axis of said drive gear to a point of engagement with said gear rack in generally the same direction as said rollers extend from said roller axis to a point of contact with said rolling surfaces, and a device entrained to rotate the drive gear to drive the gear rack and thereby remove the inner rail longitudinally relative to the outer rail;
• wherein each said inner rail is an inverted u-shaped channel and said gear rack is disposed inside said channel with an engagement surface of said rack and said rolling surfaces facing downwardly.