Motors: spring – weight – or animal powered – Spring
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-15
2004-07-20
Fenstermacher, David (Department: 3682)
Motors: spring, weight, or animal powered
Spring
C188S290000, C267S155000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06763915
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a mainspring mechanism and a device having such a mechanism, and more particularly, to the configuration of a driving mechanism which is suitable for use as an automatic opening and closing mechanism, or the like for a lid and a storage section.
BACKGROUND ART
In general, small mainspring mechanisms are used as driving sources for obtaining a driving force for various kinds of objects in various fields. Normally, a spiral mainspring is held inside a mainspring case called a barrel drum, and a rotating shaft connected to the inner end of the mainspring is rotatably supported in the center of the mainspring case. While only the rotating shaft is sometimes used as a unique driving-force output section in this case, for example, one of the rotating shaft and the mainspring case is sometimes used as an input shaft, and the other is used as an output shaft.
In the above-described mainspring mechanisms, since the driving force obtained after winding up the mainspring generally increases and decreases in accordance with the degree of winding of the mainspring, the driving speed varies depending on the degree of winding of the mainspring when a fixed driving load exists. Accordingly, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-31146, a configuration (speed regulating mechanism) is adopted in which a braking plate rotatably held in a braking case filled with a fluid, such as liquid or powder, is connected to one end of a mainspring, and variations in the driving force of the mainspring are suppressed by the braking action of the braking plate, thereby reducing changes in driving force or driving speed.
However, while the above mainspring mechanism with the braking device has the configuration including the mainspring, the mainspring case, the braking plate, and the braking case, it must have a high sealing performance because it is necessary to fill the braking case for holding the braking plate with fluid or the like. Since it is also necessary to connect the braking plate and the mainspring, the configuration is usually quite complicated, the number of components is large, and it is difficult to reduce the production cost. Since the shape and structure are complicated, the mainspring case and the like are complicated, and it sometimes cannot be made of materials other than a plastic mold from a cost standpoint. This results in insufficient rigidity and insufficient durability of the mechanism in most cases. Furthermore, the overall mechanism is made thicker for similar reasons, and it is difficult to incorporate it in various devices.
Some of the conventional mainspring mechanisms having the braking device cannot perform efficient driving since the rotational load, such as frictional load, is increased due to size reduction and a simplified structure, and are difficult to be mounted in various devices since the configuration is special.
Furthermore, since the braking property is determined almost by the structure of the braking section, the material of fluid, and the like, the degree of flexibility in the structure of the braking section and in the selection of the material is low, and it is difficult to adjust the braking property of the assembled braking section.
Accordingly, the present invention aims to solve the above problems, and objects of the invention are to reduce the size and thickness of a mainspring mechanism having a braking device by adopting a configuration which can simplify the structure of the mainspring mechanism and which can reduce the number of components, to reduce the production cost of the mainspring mechanism, to provide a mainspring mechanism which can efficiently transmit the driving force and which can easily be mounted in various devices, and to provide a configuration in which the braking property of a braking section can easily be adjusted.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
In order to achieve the above objects, a mainspring mechanism of the present invention includes a driving-force storing section having a mainspring to be wound up by a winding force so as to store a resilient force, a mainspring holding portion connected to the outer end of the mainspring so as to hold the mainspring therein, and a rotating member connected to the inner end of the mainspring and rotatably supported by the mainspring holding portion; an output device connected to the rotating member; and a braking section having a braking member connected to the rotating member so as to produce a braking force in response to the rotation of the braking member. According to this invention, since the rotating member is connected to the inner end of the mainspring, the diameter of the bearing portion of the winding stem supported by the mainspring holding portion is reduced, and the frictional load can be decreased. Furthermore, since the rotating member having the output device is placed on the inner side, the outer peripheral surface of the mainspring holding portion or the like can be easily attached to another member or the like. Since the rotating member is connected to the inner end of the mainspring, and also to the output device, the output device can be easily replaced and the shape and structure of the output device can be determined with more freedom by making the rotating member and the output device separate from each other. Therefore, it is possible to further reduce the size of the mainspring, and to reduce the production cost. The output device of the present invention may be formed of various structures, such as a gear, a gear train, a pulley, a chain, a belt, or a shaft.
Since the mainspring slowly stores and emits elastic energy because of the braking force produced by the braking section, the lifetime thereof is prolonged. The mainspring includes a constant torque spring and a coil spring which are used in such a manner as to receive and emit energy in response to changes in the winding state. The mainspring, the rotating member, and the mainspring holding portion may be connected by arbitrary device, such as press welding, hooking, or welding.
In the present invention, it is preferable that the driving-force storing section and the braking section be separate from each other. According to this invention, since the driving-force storing section and the braking section are separate, for example, in a case in which the driving-force storing section can independently operate, the braking section can be incorporated after the driving-force storing section is assembled, and the driving-force storing section can be removed from the production line before assembly of the braking component when a component, such as the mainspring, of the driving-force storing section is defective. For example, in a case in which the braking section can independently operate, since the driving-force storing section can be incorporated after the braking section is assembled, handling, management and the like of the components during assembly operation can be facilitated, for example, the braking section having the structure filled with a viscous fluid can be combined with another component after filling, or a plurality of braking sections having different braking forces can be prepared beforehand.
In the present invention, it is preferable that the braking section form a unit by itself. Herein, “the braking section forms a unit by itself” device that another component can be mounted into the braking section after the braking section has been completely assembled. According to this invention, since the braking section forms a unit by itself, it can be easily handled, and the assembly operation can be easily performed, for example, the braking section can be linked with the driving-force storing section in the final process of assembly. In particular, in a case in which the fluid is stored in the braking section, the braking section can be easily handled and managed with it being sealed. It is also possible to prepare a plurality of types of braking sections having different braking properties beforehand, and to selectively mount the braking sectio
Matsunaga Taro
Morikuni Eiji
Nagao Shoichi
Fenstermacher David
Seiko Epson Corporation
Watson Mark P.
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