Electronic equipment

Details Electronic equipment Electronic equipment

2002-03-08

2004-03-16

Hansen, James O. (Department: 3637)

Supports: cabinet structure

For particular electrical device or component

C369S075110

Reexamination Certificate

active

06705688

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic equipment having a front panel that is attachable to and detachable from an equipment body, and more particularly to a mechanism for attaching/detaching the front panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among conventional pieces of electronic equipment having a front panel, there is a piece of such electronic equipment, which has a tiltable front panel adapted to be turned in the direction of thickness of an equipment body thereof by fitting spindles into, for example, both side parts of the bottom portion of the front panel, respectively, and by using each of the spindles as a turning shaft. In the electronic equipment having the tiltable front panel, an insertion hole formed in the front surface portion of the equipment body, into which a recording medium, such as a CD (Compact Disc), is inserted, is opened by turning the front panel. Regarding the electronic equipment having such a tiltable front panel, a mechanism for attaching the front panel to the equipment body and for detaching the front panel therefrom has been proposed. The conventional mechanism for attaching and detaching the front panel is described hereinbelow by referring to
FIGS. 10
to
13
.
FIG. 10
is a perspective view showing the outside appearance of the conventional electronic equipment and illustrates a state in which a front panel
300
is not attached to an equipment body
100
yet.
FIG. 11
is a perspective view illustrating the outside appearance of each of the front panel
300
and the equipment body
100
in the case that the front panel
300
is attached to the equipment body
100
.
FIG. 12
is a sectional view taken on line A—A of FIG.
11
. Further,
FIG. 13
is a perspective view illustrating the outside appearance of each of the front panel
300
and the equipment body
100
in the case that the front panel
300
is tilted.
As illustrated in
FIG. 10
, a concave subpanel
200
is attached to the front portion of the equipment body
100
. An insertion hole
200
b,
into which a recording medium, such as a CD, is inserted, is formed in a wall surface portion
200
a
of the subpanel
200
. A turning arm
400
is provided in the bottom portion of the left-hand side of the subpanel
200
, as viewed in this figure. This turning arm
400
is attached to the subpanel
200
so that a projection
400
a,
which is formed at an end portion thereof in such a manner as to be integral therewith, and a gear
700
rotatably supported by a shaft nearly at the center thereof are exposed from the wall surface
200
a
thereof. Further, a turning arm
500
is provided attached to a right-side part of the bottom portion of the subpanel
200
, as viewed in this figure, so that a projection
500
a,
which is formed at an end portion thereof in such a manner as to be integral therewith, is exposed from the wall surface
200
a
thereof.
Moreover, a lock arm
600
is provided at a right-side top portion of the subpanel
200
, as viewed in this figure. This lock arm
600
is attached to the subpanel
200
so that an engaging claw
600
a
formed at an end portion thereof is exposed from the wall surface
200
a.
Incidentally, this lock arm
600
is pushed by an elastic member (not shown) so that the engaging claw
600
a
is turned toward the center of the wall surface
200
a.
On the other hand, recesses
300
b
1
(shown in
FIG. 12
) and
300
b
2
are formed at a left-side-part and a right-side part of the bottom portion of the front panel
300
, respectively. These recesses
300
b
1
and
300
b
2
are fitted around the projections
400
a
and
500
a,
so that the front panel
300
is turnably supported by the equipment body
100
. Further, a sector gear
300
a
(shown in
FIG. 12
) is formed on a rear surface side of the front panel
300
in such a way as to be integral therewith. Furthermore, a concave portion
300
e,
which engages with the engaging claw
600
a,
and a push button
300
d
to be operated at the time of tilting the front panel
300
are formed on the front panel
300
.
As shown in
FIG. 11
, the front panel
300
is attached to the equipment body
100
by being housed in the concave portion of the subpanel
200
.
As illustrated in
FIG. 12
, the turning arm
400
is pushed by an elastic member (not shown) in such a way as to turn counterclockwise, that is, in a direction, in which the turning arm
400
is fitted into the recess
300
b
1
, by employing a pin
400
b
as a fulcrum. Further, the turning arm
400
is provided with a gear damper
800
adapted to mesh with the gear
700
. The gear
700
of the turning arm
400
meshes with the sector gear
300
a
when the front panel
300
is attached to the equipment body
100
. Furthermore, the turning arm
500
is pushed by a leaf spring
900
a,
which is attached to a bracket
900
, in such a manner as to turn clockwise, that is, in a direction, in which the projection
500
a
is fitted into a recess
300
b
2
, by employing the pin
500
b
as a fulcrum.
In the case of employing the mechanism for attaching and detaching the front panel
300
, which is constructed in the aforementioned manner, when a user attaches the front panel
300
to the equipment body
100
, the front panel
300
is positioned so that the rear-surface-side thereof faces the wall surface
200
a
of the subpanel
200
, as illustrated in FIG.
10
. Then, the turning arm
400
is turned clockwise by first applying a force, which acts against the pushing force of the elastic member, thereto while the projection
400
a
is fitted into the recess
300
b
1
of the front panel
300
. Furthermore, during a state in which the turning arm
400
is turned, a right-side surface portion of the front panel
300
is fitted into the recess portion of the subpanel
200
. Then, the force acting against the pushing force of the elastic member is released. Thereupon, the recess
300
b
2
of the front panel
300
is fitted around the projection
500
a.
The engaging claw
600
a
of the lock arm
600
is engaged with the concave portion
300
e
of the front panel
300
. Further, as illustrated in
FIG. 11
, the front panel
300
is attached to the equipment body
100
by pushing each of the turning arm
400
, the turning arm
500
, and the lock arm
600
toward the center of the front panel
300
.
On the other hand, when a user removes the front panel
300
illustrated in
FIG. 11
, which has been attached to the equipment body
100
, therefrom, first, the user pushes the push button
300
d
provided on the front panel
300
to thereby cancel an engaged state, in which the engaging claw
600
a
of the lock arm
600
and the concave portion
300
e
of the front panel
300
engage each other. Then, as illustrated in
FIG. 13
, each of the gear damper
800
, the gear
700
, and the sector gear
300
a
is turned, so that the front panel
300
is tilted to a position (shown in FIG.
13
), in which the insertion hole
200
a
is opened, by employing the projections
400
and
500
as turning shafts.
During a state in which the front panel
300
is tilted to a position in which the insertion hole
200
a
is opened, the user moves the front panel
300
in such a way as to turn one of the turning arms
400
and
500
. For instance, when the front panel
300
is moved in the direction of an arrow A shown in
FIG. 13
, the turning arm
500
turns counterclockwise against the pushing force of the leaf spring
10
about pin
15
. Thereupon, the front panel
300
is moved to thereby cancel a fitted state, in which the projection
400
a
of the turning arm
400
is fitted into the recess
300
b
1
of the front panel
300
. Then, the front panel
300
is moved in a direction in which the front panel
300
goes away from the subpanel
200
, so that the fitting between the projection
500
a
of the turning arm
500
and the recess
300
b
2
of the front panel
300
is released. Thus, the front panel
300
is removed from the equipment body
100
.
As described above, in the case of the conventional mechanism for atta

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