Optics: image projectors – Housing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-28
2001-07-10
Dowling, William (Department: 2851)
Optics: image projectors
Housing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257729
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a projector including an electro-optical device for forming an optical image according to image information, a projection lens for enlarging and projecting the image formed by the electro-optical device, a housing for accommodating these components, and a handle pivotally mounted on the housing, in which the handle and the housing are made of different materials.
2. Description of Related Art
Hitherto, projectors have been known which include a light source, an electro-optical device for forming an optical image according to image information by using a light beam emitted from the light source, and a projection lens for enlarging and projecting the image formed by the electro-optical device.
Such projectors are widely used for multimedia presentations at conferences, academic meetings, exhibitions, and the like.
While the projector is sometimes kept installed in a conference room or the like for a presentation, it is sometimes brought in as necessary, or is stored in another place after use. Therefore, the projector is provided with a handle for easy carrying. Some of the handles are of the type that is pivotally mounted on the housing of the projector so that it is pivoted to be raised during carrying, and is down out of the way in other states. Most of the handles are made of resin that is excellent in formability and is inexpensive, thereby reducing the cost of parts.
In the above-described handle, as shown in
FIG. 8
, when a pivoting axis
700
is turned by a predetermined angle, a projection
710
makes contact with a contact portion
810
on the inner surface of a housing
800
(one-dot chain line), passes the contact portion
810
, and is retained on the inner surface (two-dot chain line), whereby the position of the handle is maintained at the turned position.
The housing on which the handle is mounted is, however, sometimes made of metal for the purpose of ensuring rigidity of the entire device. That is, in such a case, since the projection of the handle made of resin and the housing made of metal make contact every time the handle is turned, the resin handle is easily worn, and it is impossible to maintain the position of the handle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a projector in which the position of a handle can be reliably maintained even when a housing and the handle are made of different materials.
A projector of the present invention includes an electro-optical device for forming an optical image according to image information, a projection lens for enlarging and projecting the image formed by the electro-optical device, a housing for accommodating the electro-optical device, and a handle pivotally mounted on the housing, the handle and the housing being made of different materials. The handle and the housing have a handle-side contact portion and a housing-side contact portion, respectively, for maintaining the position of the handle by frictional resistance produced by contact therebetween, and the handle-side contact portion and the housing-side contact portion are made of the same kind of material.
In the present invention, the position of the handle is maintained with the handle-side contact portion and the housing-side contact portion being in contact with each other. Since the contact portions are made of the same kind of material, there is no fear that one of the contact portions will undergo localized wear. Even when the housing and the handle are made of different materials, the position of the handle is reliably maintained.
In the projector of the present invention, the handle-side contact portion may be made of the same kind of material as that of the handle, the housing-side contact portion may be made of the same kind of material as that of the handle, and the housing-side contact portion may be provided in a fixed member fixed to the housing.
That is, on the side of the handle that is a smaller member than the housing, since the material of the handle-side contact portion conforms to the material of the handle, it is easy to integrally form the handle and the handle-side contact portion. On the side of the housing, since the housing is a relatively large component, the fixed member can be made sufficiently large in conformity with the housing. Therefore, the fixed member is easily handled, and is reliably fixed to the housing by using, for example, screws.
In this case, it is preferable that the fixed member serve as a member for mounting the handle on the housing.
In such a case, the handle is reliably mounted on the housing by the fixed member, and there is no need to provide another member especially for mounting the handle, which reduces the number of components.
Furthermore, it is preferable in the projector of the present invention that the housing have, on the outer side, an indented holding section for holding the handle therein, that the handle be pivotally supported in the holding section, and the fixed member be fixed in engagement with the holding section.
When the handle is merely provided outside of the housing, it is entirely exposed, and this is not visually preferable. By forming the holding section in the housing and holding the handle therein, however, the outward appearance is visually simplified and is made preferable. Furthermore, since the handle is pivotally supported by using the holding section, there is no need to provide another structure for pivotal support only, and the structure is simplified. Furthermore, the fixed member is easily and reliably positioned with respect to the housing by being engaged with the holding section, which allows a quick fixing operation.
In the projector of the present invention, the housing-side contact portion of the fixed member may be provided on the surface along the direction in which the fixed member is fixed to the housing.
Although the position of the fixed member with respect to the housing sometimes varies in the fixing direction, the handle-side contact portion and the housing-side contact portion can be contacted each other with a fixed contact resistance in the present invention, regardless of such variations in position in the fixing direction. This can reduce the possibility of defective conditions where the urging manner of the handle varies from one projector to another.
According to the present invention described above, since the handle-side contact portions and the housing-side contact portions are made of the same kind of material, when the position of the handle is maintained with the contact portions being in contact with each other, there is no fear that one of the contact portions will undergo localized wear. Even when the housing and the handle are made of different materials, it is possible to reliably maintain the position of the handle.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4715705 (1987-12-01), Nord
patent: 5382991 (1995-01-01), Rodriguez, Jr. et al.
patent: 6185052 (2001-02-01), Fujimori et al.
patent: 60-49677 (1985-04-01), None
patent: 7-113996 (1995-05-01), None
Dowling William
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Seiko Epson Corporation
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