Supports – Stand – Tilting support surface
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-14
2001-05-15
Braun, Leslie A. (Department: 3632)
Supports
Stand
Tilting support surface
C248S923000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06231021
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. §119 from my utility model application entitled Flat Panel Display Apparatus Compensating Hinge Unit for Tilt Operation filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office on Dec. 12, 1997 and there duly assigned Ser. No. 97-36964 by that Office.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flat panel display apparatus having a screen, and more particularly, to a flat panel display apparatus which can stop a tilt operation of a flat panel display apparatus when an excessive force is provided to a display unit which includes a flat panel display screen for viewing images in order to control a visual angle of the display unit forwardly or backwardly. Movement of the display unit so as to tilt forwardly or backwardly, or swivel to the left or right is enabled by a hinge unit which is connected between the display unit and a stand unit which supports the display unit on a given surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a flat panel display apparatus includes a hinge device for controlling a visual angle of a display unit in a left or right swivel direction (about an axis perpendicular to a surface on which the flat panel display apparatus rests), and forward or backward tilt direction (about an axis parallel to the surface on which the flat panel display apparatus rests). The hinge device is connected between the display unit, having a flat panel, and a stand unit performing the function of supporting the display unit.
The hinge device performs a tilting operation to control a visual angle by enabling movement of the display unit forward or backward, and enables a swivelling operation of the display unit to the left or right.
Also, the hinge device includes a pair of stoppers to be operated when the display unit is moved at least a certain predetermined angle from a standard position. There are two kinds of stoppers, one kind stops tilting and the other kind stops swivelling, and two of each kind are equipped inside the hinge device.
However, the stoppers are formed so as to have a small size due to the narrowness of the internal structure and equipment space, etc., of the hinge device, and therefore, they do not have that strong durability.
Also, the operations of tilting and swivelling of the display unit are accomplished by a manual activity of a user. However, sometimes an excessive force in the tilting direction is applied to the display unit when swivelling the display unit left or right, and the tilt stoppers, which are used to prevent excessive tilt of the display unit, receive the excessive force due to this. In this case, it is difficult to support the display unit in the tilt directions with just the stoppers inside of the hinge device.
That is, if the display unit is moved slowly during the tilting operation, no serious problem arises, but if the display unit is operated with an excessive force, the stoppers inside the hinge device receive the excessive force. As a result, some problems may arise, for example, an obstacle to movement of the display unit, deterioration in the reliance of the flat panel display device, and weakened representative competitive power may result.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a flat panel display apparatus having a hinge device that enables tilting of a flat panel display unit in a forward or backward direction, and swivelling in a right or left direction, and, which has a high degree of durability.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a flat panel display apparatus having a hinge device that enables tilting of a flat panel display unit in a forward or backward direction and swivelling in a right or left direction, has stoppers which stop the tilting operation of the flat panel display unit when a tilt angle exceeds a predetermined angle, and is capable of protecting the stoppers when an excessively large force is applied to the flat panel display unit in the tilt direction.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a flat panel display apparatus which has a great amount of durability by reinforcing stoppers which stops the tilting operation without any obstacle even though the display unit is tilted by an excessive force.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing a flat panel display device having a double stopper device in which supplemental stoppers are positioned outside of the hinge device in addition to stoppers positioned inside of the hinge device.
Therefore, the flat panel display apparatus of the present invention has stoppers mounted inside of the hinge device and supplemental stoppers mounted outside of the hinge device.
Also, the stoppers and supplemental stoppers perform a role that stops a rotation of tilt brackets of the hinge device for enabling tilting of the flat panel display unit, the tilt brackets being fixed to the lower part of the display unit.
Therefore, the flat panel display apparatus has a better reinforced hinge device because the tilting operation of the flat panel display unit is stopped by the supplemental stoppers in addition to the conventional stoppers.
Therefore, the above objects are further achieved by providing a flat panel display apparatus including a display unit having a screen; a stand unit supporting the display unit; a liquid crystal monitor having a hinge unit in which stoppers connected between the display unit and the stand unit are mounted, wherein the stoppers stop a tilting operation of the display unit; and supplemental stoppers formed outside of the hinge unit and which assist the operation of the stoppers.
One feature of the present invention is that the supplemental stoppers are mounted on both sides of the hinge main body of the hinge unit, and another feature of the present invention is that the supplemental stoppers are formed in accordance with the hinge main body.
Also, still another feature of the present invention is that a tilting operation of the display unit performed by the tilt brackets which are fixed to a lower part of the display unit, is stopped when the tilt brackets reach the supplemental stoppers.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5081742 (1992-01-01), Kobayashi
patent: 5335142 (1994-08-01), Anderson
patent: 5520361 (1996-05-01), Lee
patent: 5652694 (1997-07-01), Martin
patent: 5687939 (1997-11-01), Moscovitch
patent: 5702197 (1997-12-01), Chen
patent: 5765794 (1998-06-01), Chen
patent: 5854735 (1998-12-01), Cheng
patent: 5941497 (1998-06-01), Inoue et al.
patent: 5947440 (1999-09-01), Cho
patent: 5964443 (1999-10-01), Leveille
Braun Leslie A.
Le Tan
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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