Miscellaneous hardware (e.g. – bushing – carpet fastener – caster – Hinge – Including means to hold or retard hinged members against...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-19
2001-10-16
Browne, Lynne H. (Department: 3629)
Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,
Hinge
Including means to hold or retard hinged members against...
C016S337000, C016S340000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06301748
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a friction hinge device, and more particularly to an improved clip type friction hinge device which can be conveniently assembled and can easily adjust a torque.
2. Description of the Related Art
A friction hinge device is a very useful device for maintaining an object at a predetermined position or at a predetermined angle. For example, it is used to maintain a display of a notebook computer at a predetermined angle for a main body thereof or to properly adjust and maintain the screen angle of an LCD monitor. That is, in a notebook computer, the friction hinge device combines a cover in which a display is integrated to a main body so that the display can be opened/closed up and down. When the cover is opened, the friction hinge device serves to maintain the cover at a proper angle for the main body by the pressure of the spring and clip therein. In addition, the friction device generates a dynamic torque due to the friction when an object like a cover of a notebook computer is moved or rotated, thus restraining a rapid operation of the object and buffering the shock.
Representative modes presently used for such a friction hinge device are a wrap spring mode, an axial disk compression mode, a roll pin mode and a clip spring mode, and so on.
Such a friction hinge device is advantageous in its own way. However, most of the devices cannot be manufactured to a structure proper to a recent trend pursuing the miniaturization/thinness of products, or even though it can be manufactured in that way, it is complicated to manufacture it and the durability thereof rapidly drops in the case that high torque should be maintained. Therefore, to solve these problems, a friction hinge device of torsion spring mode has been recently developed.
The friction hinge device of torsion spring mode is constructed to adjust both the friction area and the pressure of a spring and to generate a frictional force of a constant size.
FIG. 1
shows a conventional friction hinge device of a torsion spring mode as described above.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, the friction hinge device has a housing
10
, a rotary axis
20
and a torsion spring
30
.
The housing
10
has an axial hole
10
a
and a fixing slot
10
b
formed at the lower portion of the axial hole
10
a.
The rotary axis
20
has a first axis part
20
a
which is inserted to the axial hole
10
a
of the housing
10
, a second axis part
20
b
connected to the end of the first axis part
20
a
and a fixing part
20
c
connected to the second axis part
20
b
and extended to the opposite direction of the first axis part
20
a
. The first and second axis parts
20
a
and
20
b
and the fixing part
20
c
may be separately or unitedly formed according to the conditions in manufacturing and assembling. A hole for screw
20
d
is formed at the fixing part
20
c
. The rotary axis
20
is combined to the cover of a notebook computer by a screw (not shown) fastened through the hole
20
d
. In this case, the housing
10
is similarly combined to the main body of the notebook computer by the fastening of a screw.
The torsion spring
30
is comprised of a plurality of clip type plate springs and is fixed to the housing
10
by being pressed to the rotary axis
20
and inserted to the axial hole
10
a
of the housing
10
together with the rotary axis
20
.
FIG. 2
is a front view showing the friction hinge device of FIG.
1
. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the torsion spring
30
is inserted to the axial hole
10
a
of the housing
10
. The torsion spring
30
is fixed to the housing
10
not to be rotatable by fitting a lower projection part
30
a
of an arrow shape formed at the lower part thereof into the fixing slot lob of the housing
10
. The rotary axis
20
is pushed to a central hole
30
c
of the torsion spring
30
.
Meanwhile, two oil grooves
30
b
facing against each other are formed at the inner circumference of the central hole
30
c
of the torsion spring
30
, and the lubricating oil is charged to the oil grooves. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the friction resistance generated between the outer circumference of the rotary axis
20
and the inner circumference of the central hole
30
c
of the torsion spring
30
during the rotation of the rotary axis
20
.
In such a friction hinge device, if the rotary axis
20
is rotated (e.g., if the cover of a notebook computer is opened or the screen angle of an LCD monitor is adjusted), the rotary axis
20
receives the torque due to the function with the torsion spring
30
, and thereby a rapid rotation is restrained to buffer the shock. Thereafter, when the rotation is stopped at a predetermined rotary angle, the rotary axis
20
is fixedly maintained at the angle by the pressure due to the tightening elasticity of the torsion spring
30
. Since the torsion spring
30
is fixed to the housing
30
not to be rotatable, the generation of the torque due to the friction during the rotation of the rotary axis
20
is ensured. Since the torsion spring
30
of a closed circle shape stably supports the rotation of the rotary axis
20
and the friction resistance is reduced by the lubrication of oil, the rotation of the rotary axis
20
is smoothly performed.
However, in the conventional friction hinge device as described above, since the torsion spring is formed to be a closed circle shape, it requires much time and efforts to push the rotary axis
20
into the torsion spring
30
.
Further, in the conventional friction hinge device, it is not that the whole sectional parts of the torsion spring
30
are contact with the rotary axis
20
but that only some parts of them are contact with the rotary axis
20
. Since it is required a strong fastening elasticity of the spring when a predetermined torque is generated, an abnormal abrasion is generated due to the slackness and permanent transformation of the torsion spring
30
and the strong stress to the rotary axis
20
, causing an unstable torque when it is used for a long time.
In addition, when the rotary spring
20
pushed into the torsion spring
30
is used for a long time, the force that holds the rotary axis
20
is deteriorated due to the abrasion of the torsion spring
30
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a clip type friction hinge device which can be easily assembled, freely adjust the torque according to the number of the C type clips used in assembling, and improve the stability and reliability by preventing the transformation of the C type clips and minimizing the deviation between the static torque and the dynamic torque.
To achieve the above object, the clip type friction hinge device of the present invention comprises a housing; a rotary axis which is inserted to the housing to be rotatable; a torsion spring for elastically supporting the rotary axis for the housing; and a plurality of C type clips for adjusting a torque which are elastically inserted to the outer circumference of the torsion spring.
The housing has an axial hole to which the rotary axis is inserted and a fixing slot formed at the lower portion of the axial hole. The rotary axis has a first axis part to which the torsion spring is inserted, a second axis part connected to the end of the first axis part and a fixing part combined to the second axis part.
The torsion spring is comprised of a pair of semi-cylindrical spring members. By combining a pair of spring members together, there forms a central hole to which the rotary axis is pushed. And a projection part which is fitted to the fixing slot of the housing is formed at one side of the torsion spring. A pair of folding parts or embossing parts may be vertically folded at the projection part to face against each other. In addition, a positioning groove and a projection which face from each other and are used to easily fit the central position when combining a pair of spring members may be formed at the opposite side of the projection part.
Further, the C type clip has a slit opened in a radial dire
Browne Lynne H.
Dunwoody Aaron
Pendorf & Cutliff
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