Hinge assembly with limited play

Details Hinge assembly with limited play Hinge assembly with limited play

2000-07-26

2003-02-25

Knight, Anthony (Department: 3676)

Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,

Hinge

Including means to hold or retard hinged members against...

C016S336000, C016S342000, C296S097120

Reexamination Certificate

active

06523224

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a hinge assembly for pivotably connecting a device main body and an opening and closing member together, such as a telephone main body of a cellular telephone and its cover, a main body of a toilet and its seat, and the like.
In general, a hinge assembly of this type includes a sleeve-like hinge main body and a hinge shaft pivotably received in the hinge main body. The hinge main body is nonpivotably inserted in a receiving hole formed in a device main body. On the other hand, one end portion of the hinge shaft projects from the hinge main body and is nonpivotably connected to an opening and closing member. By this, the opening and closing member is pivotably connected to the device main body through the hinge assembly (see Japanese Patent Nos. 2,766,974 and 2,906,346).
In the case where the hinge assembly is used, for example, for a cellular telephone, a receiving hole is formed in a telephone main body as a device main body and the hinge assembly is received in this receiving hole. On the other hand, the hinge shaft is nonpivotably connected to a cover as an opening and closing member.
The telephone main body is normally formed of resin. Accordingly, the receiving hole is comparatively low in dimensional accuracy. For this reason, play tends to occur between the telephone main body and the hinge main body inserted in the receiving hole. As a result, the cover tends to rattle with respect to the telephone main body.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides, in order to solve the above problem, a hinge assembly for pivotably connecting an opening and closing member to a device main body, the hinge assembly comprising a hinge main body nonpivotably received in a receiving hole formed in selected one of the device main body and the opening and closing member, and a hinge shaft pivotably supported by the hinge main body and nonpivotably connected to the other (the device main body or the opening and closing member), at least a part of the hinge main body being resiliently press contacted with an inner peripheral surface of the receiving hole so that no play occurs between the device main body and the hinge main body.
It is preferred that the hinge body is formed in a sleeve-like configuration, a slit is formed in each of one pair of first opposite side portions of the hinge main body such that the slit extends from one end of the hinge main body to the other end, thereby one pair of second opposite side portions of the hinge main body can resiliently be deformed towards and away from each other and the second opposite side portions are press contacted with the inner peripheral surface of the receiving hole by their own resiliency.
It is preferred that the hinge main body is formed in a sleeve-like configuration having a square configuration in section, the slit is formed in each of the one pair of first opposite side portions of the hinge main body, the one pair of second opposite side portions of the hinge main body can resiliently be deformed towards and away from each other and the one pair of second opposite side portions are press contacted with the inner peripheral surface of the receiving hole by their own resiliency.
It is preferred that a resilient member is disposed on each of one pair of first opposite side portions and the resilient members are press contacted with the inner peripheral surface of the receiving hole by their own resiliency.
It is preferred that a pivotal movement restricting portion is disposed on the hinge shaft, a resilient piece is disposed on the hinge main body such that the resilient piece is supported by the hinge main body in a cantilever fashion, the resilient piece restricting a pivotal position of the hinge shaft by a distal end portion of the resilient piece being resiliently press contacted with the pivotal movement restricting portion, and an intermediate portion of the resilient piece is press contacted with the hinge main body.
It is preferred that the intermediate portion of the resilient piece is press contacted with the hinge main body through a reinforcement resilient piece and a distal end portion of the reinforcement resilient piece is press contacted with the distal end portion of the resilient piece in order to increase a pressing force of the resilient piece with respect to the pivotal movement restricting portion.


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