Supports – Machinery support – Foot or leg
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-07
2001-09-04
Braun, Leslie A. (Department: 3632)
Supports
Machinery support
Foot or leg
C248S188800, C248S188900, C248S615000, C181S207000, C181S208000, C181S209000, C384S610000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283437
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to support and more particularly to a foot device for stably supporting an electronic equipment on a supporting plane (table or ground).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, referring to
FIG. 1
, an electronic equipment such as parallelpiped cabinet
91
in a sound reproducing system has a speaker provided therein. The cabinet
91
is usually placed on table or ground with the bottom completely abutted thereon. As such, vibration generated by speaker will transmit progressively to the surface of table or ground. This vibration is damped by the surface gradually, totally absorbed by it, or in harmony with it. All of these contribute to the uneven transmission of vibration of speaker, resulting in a poor quality thereof.
A foot
90
is provided on bottom of cabinet
91
for improving the above deficiency in FIG.
1
. The foot is a cone-shaped member made of aluminum, steel, or copper. This foot
90
aims at separating cabinet from table or ground. However, it is disadvantageous because the sharp point on top of foot
90
urges against bottom of cabinet
91
which in turn may result in foot pierced bottom of cabinet. As such, cabinet is damaged. Foot
90
may be inverted to cause its sharp point to contact with table or ground, while the planar bottom urges against cabinet. However, this still may cause scratch on table or ground. An improved cap
92
may be placed below the sharp point for protection. However, the sharp point may deform due to he weight of cabinet, or the cap is pierced, resulting in an increase of interference effect. Additionally, such foot
90
is difficult to mount and may be collapsed. Thus further improvement needs.
Another prior art is shown in
FIG. 2
wherein a foot is provided on each corner of cabinet. The cap
80
has a cone-shaped recess
81
provided on the center of the side not in contact with cabinet. A vertical member
70
having two cone-shaped ends on top and bottom respectively. A base
60
corresponding to cap
80
has a hole
61
with a bore larger than the diameter of member
70
and an inverted cone-shaped end. The top end of member
70
engages with recess
81
, while the bottom end inserts into a hole
61
of base
60
to engage with the bottom end thereof. It is seen that the cone-shaped ends of member
70
urge against cap
80
and base
60
respectively. Member
70
is made of tungsten steel. Thus it is durable, while the cost is relatively high. However, cap
80
and base
60
are both made of copper. Thus it is common for cap
80
and base
60
being pierced by member
70
. It is further seen that there is no air opening communicated between hole
61
of base
60
and external surface of base
60
. Thus once member
70
mounted between cap
80
and base
60
wherein member
70
and base
60
are very tightly engaged due to the weight of member
70
, the air pressure balance between recess
81
of cap
80
and hole
61
of base
60
is not maintained. This may cause member
70
to cling to base
60
, thus unabling to pull member
70
therefrom for maintenance and even worse somewhat integrally formed together. Further, member
70
may slant to one side of hole
61
when member
70
and base
60
are loosely engaged. This causes the slanted portion of member
70
to secure to base
60
for further causing base
60
to interfere with the vibration generated by cabinet. Additionally, the deformation of both top and bottom cone-shaped portions of member
70
as well as the piercing of cap
80
and base
60
all result in a compromise of quality. Additionally, such device is difficult to mount. Thus further improvement still needs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a foot device for supporting electronic equipment thereon comprising a sleeve having an axial through hole; and a plurality of balls one by one in line provided in the axial through hole wherein the bottom and top balls are extended above the axial through hole. As such, in use, the electronic equipment is supported by the extended ball of the foot device, while not in contact with supporting plane (table or ground). This point based contact has the effect of suspending the electronic equipment in the air, thus eliminating interference. Further, the vibration generated by the electronic equipment is not absorbed and interfered by the supporting plane, resulting in a uniform transmission of vibration produced by the electronic equipment to all directions without damping or interfering for achieving a maximum quality.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2612335 (1952-09-01), Saltzman
patent: 4696583 (1987-09-01), Gorges
patent: 5138867 (1992-08-01), Nish et al.
patent: 5810038 (1998-09-01), Carpinella
patent: 5893547 (1999-04-01), Cohen, Jr.
patent: 5942735 (1999-08-01), Liang
patent: 6138967 (2000-10-01), Okamoto
patent: 6138979 (2000-10-01), Morman
patent: 6142431 (2000-11-01), Herzog
patent: 6155530 (2000-12-01), Borgen
Bacon & Thomas PLLC
Braun Leslie A.
Marsh Steven
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