Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus – product – and – Cell support for removable cell – Having switch or interlock means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-24
2001-03-06
Chaney, Carol (Department: 1745)
Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus, product, and
Cell support for removable cell
Having switch or interlock means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06197443
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery chamber structure suitable for use in an electronic device such as a mobile communication device.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, the use of portable information terminals such as various mobile communication media has been popularized at high rate. In such portable information terminal, a real time information is obtained by transmitting and receiving an information through the electronic mail or a facsimile by utilizing a telephone circuit or a portable radio equipment.
Conventionally, a battery chamber having a structure such as shown in
FIG. 6
has been employed in such portable information terminal.
Describing the battery chamber structure
61
of this portable information terminal with reference to
FIG. 6
, the battery chamber structure
61
is equipped with a casing
62
, a cover member
63
and a lock piece
64
. The casing
62
is molded with a synthetic resin and has substantially a rectangular parallelepiped configuration. The casing
62
houses a communication equipment (not shown), etc., and has a battery chamber
66
for holding a battery B by pressing it by a spring terminal (negative terminal)
65
in the form of a frustum of a cone to a fixed terminal (positive terminal). A recess
67
is formed in the casing
62
on the side of the spring terminal
65
thereof. The recess
67
is opened in an upper surface portion
62
a
of the casing and, when the battery chamber
66
is closed by the cover member
63
, communicates with a recess (not shown) formed in an inner surface of the cover member
63
. The battery chamber
66
includes a back face portion
66
a
, left and right side face portions
66
b
(only one of them is shown) and a bottom face portion
66
c
and is formed by partially cutting away the upper surface portion
62
a
and a front surface portion
62
b
of the casing
62
. A fitting portion
68
which extends in parallel to an axis direction of the battery B is formed in an edge portion of an opening of the bottom face portion
66
c
. The cover member
63
is L shape in cross section and is fitted in the fitting portion
68
of the casing
62
such that it can reciprocate along the fitting portion
68
. The lock piece
64
can reciprocate in a space defined by the recess
67
of the casing
62
and the recess (not shown) of the cover member
63
.
In this battery chamber structure, in order to load the battery B in the battery chamber
66
, the fitting state between the casing
62
and the cover
63
is released to open the battery chamber
66
and the battery B is resiliently fitted between the spring terminal
65
and the fixed terminal (not shown). On the other hand, in order to remove the battery B from the battery chamber
66
, the fitting state between the casing
62
and the cover
63
is released to open the battery chamber
66
and the spring terminal
65
is compressed to allow the battery B to be derived from the battery chamber
66
freely.
With the recent reduction of size and weight of an electronic device such as portable information terminal, the electronic device equipped with the battery chamber structure of this type is frequently carried in a bag of a user or in a pocket of his clothes. Therefore, there may be a case where such electronic device is erroneously dropped dependent on a state of use or dropped from the bag or the pocket dependent on an attitude of the user. As mentioned, the battery B is resiliently held between the spring terminal
65
and the fixed terminal (not shown). Therefore, when the electronic device is erroneously dropped and the battery B in the battery chamber
66
is shocked thereby, the shock power may move the battery B in a direction in which the spring terminal
65
is compressed and may be separated from the fixed terminal (not shown). In such case, a power is not supplied to electronic parts (not shown) within the casing
62
, resulting in a degraded reliability in power supply.
In order to solve such problem, it may be considered to increase the spring constant of the spring terminal
65
to thereby rigidly support the battery B within the battery chamber
66
. In such case, however, the insertion and/or replacement of the battery B with respect to the battery chamber
66
becomes difficult.
Incidentally, a battery chamber structure of an electronic device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 9-259850 or Hei 9-306450 does not solve the above mentioned problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a battery chamber structure of an electronic device, which can improve the reliability of power supply and with respect to which a battery can be easily inserted or replaced.
In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, a battery chamber structure of an electronic device comprises a casing of an electronic device, the casing being formed with a battery chamber for resiliently holding a battery between a spring terminal and a fixed terminal provided in the battery chamber, a cover member equipped on the casing for opening and closing the battery chamber, a lock piece provided in the casing for fixing the cover member to and unfixing the cover member from the casing by reciprocating with respect to the casing, a battery receiving piece formed on the lock piece for restricting a movement of the battery in the battery chamber in an axis direction of the battery toward the spring terminal in the battery chamber, the battery receiving piece being adapted to move between a battery movement restriction position and a battery movement non-restriction position by the reciprocal movement of the lock piece.
In this construction, when the battery receiving piece is positioned in the battery movement restriction position by the reciprocal movement of the lock piece, the movement of the battery held between the spring terminal and the fixed terminal in the axis direction of the battery toward the spring terminal is restricted. On the other hand, when the battery receiving piece is positioned in the battery movement non-restriction position by the reciprocal movement of the lock piece, the restriction of movement of the battery held between the spring terminal and the fixed terminal in the axis direction of the battery toward the spring terminal is released.
In this battery chamber structure, the battery receiving piece is preferably shifted by a pressing force generated by the movement of the battery toward the spring terminal within the battery chamber. That is, it is preferable to construct the battery chamber structure such that, when the battery receiving piece is pressed by the movement of the battery toward the spring terminal, the battery receiving piece is shifted in the direction of the pressing force.
The battery chamber structure may be constructed such that the cover member is slidable back and forth with respect to the casing and the battery chamber is closed by the movement of the cover member in a forward direction with respect to the casing and is opened by the movement of the cover member in a backward direction.
Alternatively, the battery chamber structure may be constructed such that the cover member is rotatable with respect to the casing and the battery chamber is closed by the rotation of the cover member in one direction with respect to the casing and is opened by the rotation of the cover member in the other direction.
It is preferable to provide a reinforcement rib on a portion of the battery receiving piece on an opposite side to the battery when the battery receiving piece is in the battery movement restriction position. When the battery receiving piece having such rib is shifted from the battery movement restriction position along the axis direction of the battery, the rib receives the shifting force.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a battery chamber structure of an electronic device comprises a casing of the electronic device, the casing being formed with a batt
Chaney Carol
McGuireWoods LLP
NEC Corporation
Tsang Susy
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