Miscellaneous hardware (e.g. – bushing – carpet fastener – caster – Hinge – Including means to hold or retard hinged members against...
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-07
2004-08-17
Knight, Anthony (Department: 3676)
Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,
Hinge
Including means to hold or retard hinged members against...
C016S321000, C016S339000, C016S345000, C361S689000, C361S689000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06775884
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clip-type friction hinge device, and more particularly, to a hinge device used in a notebook computer and the like, that can be firmly installed by inserting a clip with an hole into the inside of a stand fixed to a computer monitor, can enable a user to freely adjust a torque by pivotally moving the stand about a shaft when the monitor is pivotally moved and making a portion where the hole is formed in the clip and a portion where the hole is not formed unequal in width to produce different torques in size on both sides of the direction of rotation, and can be easily assembled and stably used for a long time by reducing the number of components.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, 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 to say, in the 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.
Such a friction hinge device has advantageous in its own way. However, most of the devices cannot be manufactured to be 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.
Recently, the friction hinge device of torsion spring mode has been developed as a hinge device for solving the above problems, as shown in FIG.
1
.
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.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, the friction hinge device includes a housing
100
, a rotary shaft
200
, and a torsion spring
300
.
The housing
100
is provided with an axial hole
101
and a fixing slot
102
formed on a lower part of the axial hole
101
.
The rotary shaft
200
includes a first axis part being inserted to the axial hole
101
of the housing
100
, a second axis part
202
being connected to an end part of the first axis part
201
, and a fixing part
203
being connected to the second axis part
202
and extending to the opposite direction of the first axis part
201
. The first axis part
201
, the second axis part
202
and the fixing part
203
may be separately formed or integrally formed according to the conditions in manufacturing and assembling. A hole for screw
204
is formed on the fixing part
203
and the rotary shaft
200
is combined to the cover of the notebook computer by a screw (not shown) fastened through the hole
204
. In this case, the housing
100
is similarly combined to the main body of the notebook computer by the fastening of a screw or the like.
The torsion spring
300
is comprised of a plurality of clip-type leaf springs, and is fixed to the housing
100
by being pressed to the rotary shaft
200
and inserted to the axial hole
101
of the housing
100
together with the rotary shaft
200
.
FIG. 2
illustrates a front view of the friction hinge device of FIG.
1
. The torsion spring
300
is inserted to the axial hole
101
of the housing
100
and the torsion spring
300
is fixed to the housing
100
not to be rotatable by fitting a downward projection part
301
of an arrow shape formed on the lower part thereof into the fixing slot
102
of the housing
100
. Further, the rotary shaft
200
is pushed to a central hole of the torsion spring
300
.
On the other hand, two oil grooves
302
facing against each other are formed at the inner circumference of the central hole
303
of the torsion spring
300
, and lubricating oil is charged to the oil grooves. Thus, it is possible to reduce the friction resistance generated between the outer circumference of the rotary shaft
200
and the inner circumference of the central hole
303
of the torsion spring
300
during the rotation of the rotary shaft
200
.
In such a friction hinge device, if the rotary shaft
200
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 shaft
200
receives the torque due to the friction with the torsion spring
300
, and thereby a rapid rotation is restrained to buffer the shock. Thereafter, when the rotation is stopped at a predetermined rotary angle, the rotary shaft
200
is fixedly maintained at the angle by the pressure due to the tightening elasticity of the torsion spring
300
. Since the torsion spring
300
is fixed to the housing
100
not to be rotatable, the generation of the torque due to the friction during the rotation of the rotary shaft
200
is ensured. Since the torsion spring
300
of a closed circle shape stably supports the rotation of the rotary shaft
200
and the friction resistance is reduced by the lubrication of oil, the rotation of the rotary shaft
200
is smoothly performed.
The conventional friction hinge device, however, has a drawback that it requires much time and efforts to push the rotary shaft
200
into the torsion spring
300
since the torsion spring
300
is formed to be a closed circle shape.
The conventional friction hinge device has another drawback that it cannot freely adjust the torque in a wanted direction since the torques are equally produced in size on both sides of the direction of rotation. In particular, there are some cases that require different torques on the both sides of the direction of rotation in order to easily fix and maintain the monitor and so on at the proper angle. The conventional friction hinge device has still another disadvantage that it cannot make the torques unequally formed on the both sides.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a clip-type friction hinge device that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a clip-type friction hinge device having a simple structure capable of freely adjusting a torque in a wanted direction, being easily assembled, and improving convenience in use.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a clip-type friction hinge device comprises a hinge body having insertion grooves on both insides thereof, a shaft being inserted to the each insertion groove of the hinge body on one side thereof and defining a central shaft when a monitor is pivotally moved, stands being formed on the outer circumference of other side of the shaft to be rotated about the shaft, clips each being inserted between the stand and the outer circumference of the shaft to adjust the amount of torque during the rotation of the stand, and torsion springs being fixedly installed on both outer circumferences of the hinge body to elasticall
Pendorf & Cutliff
Williams Mark
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