Supports – Stand – Tilting support surface
Reexamination Certificate
1997-04-02
2002-07-30
King, Anita (Department: 3632)
Supports
Stand
Tilting support surface
C248S454000, C108S008000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06425566
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a general method of inclining a body with small force. The invention also relates to a book rack for use in a study, an office or the like, and to a display rack with which to watch television or the like at any desired angle.
2. Prior Art
A conventional, generally used method of inclining a body includes selecting a particular position as a fulcrum or a rotation axis, and turning the body on the fulcrum or axis.
Bookstands and bookends have conventionally been used to keep books and magazines by ones' sides for reading, deskwork, etc.
Various methods have been proposed for freely inclining racks or tables which support television sets, computer displays, industrial display terminals, etc. One of the methods includes fitting a bar or arm to a rack, and locking the bar or arm at a desired angle. Another method includes using a spring for balancing with the gravity of an inclining body. Still another method includes elastically coupling a monitor base, which has a spherical bottom, and a set base to each other with an H-shaped post, and sliding the spherical bottom on the set base to tilt the monitor base.
In general it is possible to incline a heavy body with minimum force by turning the body on an axis which extends through the center of gravity, because the body always keeps its balance. In practice, however, it is difficult to do so under circumstances of (about) design or use. Therefore, it is often necessary for a position off the center of gravity to be a fulcrum or a rotation axis. When a body is turned on a fulcrum or an axis off its center of gravity, the center of gravity necessarily changes in height. In order to tilt a heavy body or return the tilted body on such a fulcrum, there is a need of great force for balancing the body against the moment of gravity around the fulcrum. This results in consumption of additional energy which would otherwise not be necessary. Such problems have conventionally been coped with individually. It seems that great interest has not been taken to general methods of reducing the inclining force.
In view of this point, the inventor has studied or considered a general method of inclining a body with minimum force on a fulcrum positioned at the periphery of the body or another position off the center of gravity. This results in the present invention.
An inclining book rack is a thing to which this method is applied for handling books. In general, books are kept upright on bookshelves or in bookstands or between bookends. Soft books, like books with thin covers, magazines and files holding many papers, are apt to bend or fall down on bookshelves etc., so it is difficult for the books to stand. As a result, the bookshelves etc. are apt to be disordered, so books may be difficult to take out from them or put on them. Naturally, books are stabler when laid than when put upright.
Nevertheless, books are kept upright on bookshelves etc. presumably because upright books are easier to take out. In this case, however, the above problem cannot be avoided with regard to soft books.
Not only soft books, but also many books with hard covers, which are easy to handle, are often piled on desks and at nearby places. In this case, to take out a lower one of the piled books, it is necessary to remove the upper ones. Consequently, lower books are less apt to be used.
As stated above, books have such characters that they can be kept more stably if they are piled, while they can be taken out more conveniently if they are kept upright. If books are laid and piled when kept, and if all of the piled books are inclined to be upright when one or more of them are taken out, it is possible to both keep the books stably and take out one or more of them easily. If an apparatus is invented for easily effecting such switching, it would solve all of the above problems. Such a conception is the basis for the present invention as an inclining book rack. The total weight of piled books is fairly heavy, however, even if each of them is light, so it takes considerable force to incline them. Here, it is therefore significant to apply the above general method of inclining a body with minimum force.
Another example of application of this method would be a television rack with which to watch television at an arbitrary angle. As stated above, a television rack or the like may be inclined up and down by various methods. One of the methods includes fitting a bar or arm to a rack, and locking the bar or arm at a desired angle. In this method, however, there is such a limitation that the rack inclination cannot be very large. Another method includes using a spring for balancing with the gravity of an inclining body. In this method, however, the body stability is apt to be insufficient. Still another method includes sliding the spherical bottom of a monitor base on a set base to tilt a monitor. In this method, however, the inclination cannot be very large and the monitor movement is not liable to be smooth.
There seem to be few racks for inclining a television right and left, but it is difficult for a person in a lying posture to watch television. In particular, it is one of a few comforts to a person who is sick in bed to watch television While watching television, the person tries to adjust his/her head angularly to the television screen. As a result, the person's neck or shoulders are apt to be fatigued unconsciously. In order for a person in a lying natural posture to watch television, it is preferable to be able to adjust the television to the person angularly right and left. To this case also, it is possible to apply the above general method of inclining a body with minimum force.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It s an object of the present invention to provide a method of inclining a body by applying to the body minimum force which is necessary only to transit the body from the condition of equilibrium at an inclination to that at another inclination, in order to incline the body or return the inclined body. In the invention, a body is balanced always even while inclining, and its center of gravity is constant in height. It is possible to determine exactly by calculation the shapes of fulcrum systems for such best body inclination. Therefore, only if the position of the center of gravity can be grasped, desirable fulcrum Systems can be set flexibly without being restricted by the body shape.
A body supported by a plurality of fulcrums are very stable and can be held or fixed at any angle in a stepless manner. Contrariwise, on a body supported by a single fulcrum, there is no friction, and only the roll of the body shifts the fulcrum. It is therefore possible to incline the body with very small force.
It is another object of the invention to provide an inclining book rack which can stably hold even soft books with thin covers, magazines or document files, and from which one or more of the books or the like can be easily taken out. The rack is based on the method of piling up books when holding them, and making them upright when taking out one or more of them. It is easy to take out a lower one of the books piled on the rack. It is possible to return a read book only by placing it on the top of the piled books. It is therefore easy to keep a desk top from being disordered.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a display rack which is highly stable, and which can be held at any stepless angles, by applying the above inclining method. By properly setting fulcrum systems, it is possible to widen the range of inclination. Therefore, a person in a lying natural posture can watch television, without tiring his/her neck or shoulders in an attempt to adjust his/her head angularly to the television screen.
Further objects, characteristics and advantage of the present invention will be clarified in the following explanation.
In order to achieve the above objects, this invention is constructed as follows.
It is one of the characteristics of the invention to incline a body on a fulcrum w
King Anita
Koda & Androlia
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