Receptacles – Closures – Pivotable
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-28
2003-08-26
Hylton, Robin A. (Department: 3727)
Receptacles
Closures
Pivotable,
C312S322000, C296S024430, C220S811000, C220S263000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06609631
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
The present invention relates to a mechanism for opening/closing and supporting a cover, which is suitably used for opening and closing an opening of a receptacle used in a vehicle such as a storage compartment, a cup holder or the like, and in particular, to a two shaft type opening and closing mechanism for a container with a cover, which can be easily attached to the container or receptacle and the cover.
Conventionally, receptacles such as cup holders, storage compartments, and the like have been set at a center console or the like in a vehicle. A cover for opening and closing the opening of the receptacle is provided at the receptacle.
In the cover provided at the receptacle, generally, one edge portion thereof is pivotally attached to one edge portion of a receptacle main body, such that the cover opens and closes in a flap-like manner. Thus, it is required to provide a space above the receptacle main body which corresponds to the locus of pivoting of the distal end of the cover, accompanied by the opening and closing of the cover. Further, it is required to provide a space at one end side of the receptacle main body for the cover to be positioned at the time when the cover is in a completely open state with respect to the receptacle main body. Thus, it has not been easy to ensure the space for setting the conventional receptacle having a cover within a vehicle where space is limited.
In order to overcome this drawback, the mechanism for opening/closing a cover which is illustrated in
FIG. 5
was proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 8-156698). As shown in
FIG. 5
, a pivoting member
2
is pivotally supported at a pivot shaft
11
which projects at an outer side surface of a receptacle main body
1
. A guide hole
12
, which is formed in a circular-arc shape along the locus of pivoting of the pivoting member
2
, and a forked-off hole
13
, which is branched outwardly from the guide hole
12
, are formed in the side surface of the receptacle main body
1
. First slide shafts
31
are provided at both side portions of a cover
3
(only one side portion is shown in FIG.
5
), and each shaft
31
is inserted through the guide hole
12
from the inner side of the receptacle main body
1
and is pivotally attached to the pivoting member
2
. Further, at both side portions of the cover
3
(only one side portion is shown in FIG.
5
), second slide shafts
32
are arranged parallel to the first slide shaft
31
, and each shaft
32
is inserted through the guide hole
12
from the inner side of the receptacle main body
1
and is inserted into a cut-in groove
21
formed in the pivoting member
2
. The cover
3
is urged by a torsion spring s which is attached between the second slide shaft
32
and a projection
14
provided between the guide hole
12
and the pivot shaft
11
.
Operations of opening and closing the cover
3
by the opening/closing mechanism are shown in
FIGS. 6A through 6D
.
In a closed state in which the opening of the receptacle main body
1
is closed by the cover
3
, as shown in
FIG. 6A
, the first slide shaft
31
is positioned at one end (the upper left end in the figure) of the guide hole
12
, and the second slide shaft
32
is positioned at the distal end portion of the branched hole
13
. In this state, the cover
3
is urged in the closing direction by the torsion spring s (not shown in the figures), such that the closed state is maintained.
When the cover
3
is pivoted from this closed state in the opening direction (toward the upper right in the figures) against the urging force of the torsion spring s, as shown in
FIG. 6B
, first, the cover
3
pivots around the first slide shaft
31
, and the second slide shaft
32
enters into the guide hole
12
from the distal end portion of the branched hole
13
. Then, as shown in
FIG. 6C
, the first slide shaft
31
and the second slide shaft
32
move within the guide hole
12
toward the other end side thereof (the lower right side in the figures), the pivoting member
2
pivots around the pivot shaft
11
, and the cover
3
pivots around the pivot shaft
11
in the direction of opening. As shown in
FIG. 6D
, when the second slide shaft
32
abuts against the other end of the guide hole
12
, the cover
3
reaches the limit, and the opening of the receptacle main body
1
is opened. In this case, at the time of the operations from FIGS.
6
B through
FIG. 6D
, the urging force of the torsion spring s works in a direction of pivoting the cover
3
in the opening direction. Due to this urging force, the cover
3
pivots automatically, and is maintained in the completely open state shown in FIG.
6
D.
Further, when the cover
3
is to be closed from the open state of
FIG. 6D
, by pivoting the cover
3
in the closing direction (toward the upper left in the figures) against the urging force of the torsion spring s, as shown in
FIG. 6C
, first, the first slide shaft
31
and the second slide shaft
32
move along the guide hole
12
toward the one end thereof, the pivoting member
2
pivots around the pivot shaft
11
, and the cover
3
pivots around the pivot shaft
11
. When the first slide shaft
31
reaches the one end of the guide hole
12
as shown in
FIG. 6B
, as shown in
FIG. 6A
, the second slide shaft
32
enters into the branched hole
13
from the guide hole
12
and moves toward the distal end of the branched hole
13
, and the cover
3
pivots around the first slide shaft
31
such that the opening of the receptacle main body
1
is closed. In this case, at the time of the operations from
FIGS. 6B
to
FIG. 6A
, the urging force of the torsion spring s is applied in the direction of pivoting the cover
3
in the closing direction. Due to this urging force, the cover
3
automatically pivots, and the closed state shown in
FIG. 6A
is maintained.
In this way, the mechanism for opening/closing a cover operates such that, by using two shafts which are the first slide shaft
31
and the pivot shaft
11
as the pivot shafts for pivoting the cover
3
, the space required for opening and closing the cover
3
is small, and the space for providing the receptacle within the vehicle can easily be ensured.
However, in this mechanism for opening/closing the cover, in order to carry out the operation of pivoting the cover
3
around the first slide shaft
31
and the pivot shaft
11
on a predetermined locus, the guide hole
12
must be formed in the side surface of the receptacle main body
1
and the second slide shaft
32
must be provided on the cover
3
. Further, because of the structure in which the first and second slide shafts
31
,
32
are formed separately from the cover
3
, the number of structural parts is large and the operations for assembling the respective parts are complex.
Further, the operations for assembling the parts are complex. For example, after the first and second slide shafts
31
,
32
provided at the cover have been inserted into the guide hole
12
from the inner side of the receptacle main body
1
, the first and second slide shafts
31
,
32
must be pivotally attached to the pivoting member
2
, and the first and second slide shafts
31
,
32
must be inserted into the cut-in groove
21
provided at the pivoting member
2
and the cover
3
must be assembled to the pivoting member
2
.
Moreover, there is a need to reduce the operation load at the time of the opening and closing operations of the cover
3
, which is caused by the great friction generated between the second slide shaft
32
and the guide hole
12
. Thus, grease for lubrication must be applied to the second slide shaft
32
or to the inner peripheral surface of the guide hole
12
to reduce the frictional resistance therebetween. Thus, there is a problem that this makes the work for assembling the cover
3
to the receptacle main body
1
complex.
In view of the aforementioned problems, an object of the present invention is to facilitate the assembly work of a cover to a receptacle main body, in a two-shaft pivoting-type
Hylton Robin A.
Kanesaka & Takeuchi
Nifco Inc.
LandOfFree
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