Miscellaneous hardware (e.g. – bushing – carpet fastener – caster – Hinge – Resiliently biased hinge
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-16
2001-10-23
Knight, Anthony (Department: 3626)
Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,
Hinge
Resiliently biased hinge
C016S304000, C016S307000, C016S334000, C016S344000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06305050
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hinge device to be used for a foldable apparatus comprising an apparatus main body and a cover apparatus such as a lap-top type computer, a portable telephone set or a word processor so as to make the cover rotatably fitted to the main body, said hinge device being adapted to hold the cover to any intermediary angular position relative to the main body between the fully closed position and the fully opened position and release the cover from the intermediary angular position when appropriate force is applied to the cover so that the cover may be opened and closed smoothly.
2. Prior Art
Known lock means including claw clutches and magnets that are adapted to prevent the cover of an apparatus such as a portable telephone set from being inadvertently closed in use or opened when not in use are not satisfactory particularly in terms of limited applicability, high cost and inconvenience of operation. In an attempt for dissolving the drawbacks of the prior art, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-11831 proposes a hinge device as briefly described below.
A hinge device according to the above patent document has a configuration as schematically illustrated in
FIGS. 7 through 10
of the accompanying drawings. Referring firstly to
FIGS. 7 and 8
, an apparatus main body
1
and a corresponding cover
2
are put together by means of the hinge device in such a way that they may be opened relative to each other by an angle of &agr;° and closed from that angular position. The hinge device
3
is constituted by a pair of main body hinge sleeves
1
a
integrally formed with and secured to the main body
1
and a pair of cover hinge sleeves
2
a
also integrally formed with and secured to the cover
2
and the abutment facet
1
b
of each of the main body hinge sleeves
1
a
and the corresponding abutment facet
2
b
of the mated one of the cover hinge sleeves
2
a
slide on each other when the cover is turned open and closed as seen from FIG.
8
.
A fixed disk
4
is fitted into each of the main body hinge sleeves
1
a
in such a way that it cannot rotate but can axially move relative to the hinge sleeve
1
a
by way of mutual engagement of a guide rib
1
c
formed on the inner peripheral surface of the main body hinge sleeve
1
a
and a corresponding guide groove
4
a
formed on the outer peripheral surface of the fixed disk
4
. On the other hand, a movable disk
5
is fitted into each of the cover hinge sleeves
2
a
in such a way that it cannot rotate relative to the hinge sleeve
2
a
. In the case of the illustrated arrangement, rib
5
a
formed on an end facet of the movable disk
5
is held in engagement with groove
2
c
formed in the inside of the cover hinge sleeve
2
a.
Additionally, in the above known hinge device, either the fixed abutment facet
4
b
of the fixed disk
4
or the movable abutment facet
5
b
of the movable disk
5
(the fixed abutment facet
4
b
in the illustrated instance) is provided with a plurality of (three) engaging recesses
6
arranged peripherally at predetermined angular positions N
1
, N
2
and N
3
(as defined by the opening angle &agr;° of the cover
2
) as seen from
FIGS. 9A
,
9
C and
10
, while the other of them is provided with the a plurality of (two) corresponding engaging projections
8
arranged peripherally at predetermined angular positions P
1
and P
2
and projecting from the movable abutment facet
5
b
as seen from
FIGS. 9B
,
9
D and
10
, the engaging recesses
6
and the corresponding engaging projections
8
being adapted to be urged into mutual engagement by a coil spring
7
.
As seen from
FIG. 10
, the coil spring
7
is housed in a storage cavity
4
c
having an opening at the side of the fixed disk
4
opposite to the fixed abutment facet
4
b
. Then, a rod
9
is driven from the outside of the remain body hinge sleeve
1
a
to run through the coil spring, the fixed disk
4
and the movable disk
5
so that the front end
9
a
of the rod is tightly received in threaded hole
2
e
cut into the bottom
2
d
of the cover hinge sleeve
2
a
In
FIG. 10
, reference symbol
9
b
denotes the head of the rod
9
.
As a result of this arrangement, the coil spring
7
resiliently presses the fixed disk
4
against the movable disk
5
and urges the engaging recesses
6
and the corresponding engaging projections
8
into mutual engagement. In other words, the fixed abutment facet
4
b
is pressed against the movable abutment facet
5
b.
Thus, it will be appreciated from
FIG. 10
that, as the cover is moved to become open, the movable disk is rotated with the cover hinge sleeve
2
a
, the engaging projections
8
projecting from the movable abutment facet
5
b
of the movable disk
5
are moved peripherally and released from the mutual engagement with the corresponding engaging recesses
6
as shown in FIG.
9
E. Then, the fixed disk
4
is moved leftward in
FIG. 10
against the resilient force of the coil spring
7
so that the front ends of the engaging projections
8
are made to slide peripherally on the fixed abutment facet
4
b.
Therefore, referring to
FIGS. 9A through 9E
, while the engaging projections
8
of the movable disk
5
arranged at angular positions P
1
, P
2
are held in engagement with the corresponding engaging recesses
6
of the fixed disk at angular positions N
1
, N
2
so long as the cover
2
is closed, they come to be engaged respectively with the engaging recesses
6
located at angular positions N
3
, N
1
when the cover is opened by angle &agr;° .
The above described known hinge device represents a major technological advancement over known lock means including claw clutches and magnets because the cover is effectively prevented from being inadvertently closed in use or opened when not in use and can be operated to become open and closed in a very simple way.
While the above described known hinge device is highly effective, it requires a cumbersome assembling process. More specifically, as may be seen from
FIGS. 8
,
9
A through
9
E and
10
, firstly the cover hinge sleeve
2
a
is fitted to the cover and the groove
2
c
is made to become engaged with the rib
5
a
, while the fixed disk
4
is fitted into the main body hinge sleeve
1
a
so that the guide rib
1
c
is made to become engaged with the guide groove
4
a
of the fixed disk
4
. Then, the coil spring
7
is put into the fixed disk
4
and the rod
9
is driven to move through the coil spring
7
until the threaded front end
9
a
of the rod
9
is tightly held into engagement with the corresponding threaded hole
2
e
bored through the bottom
2
d
of the cover hinge sleeve
2
a
so that the coil spring
7
is compressed by the head
9
b
of the rod
9
to by turn press the fixed abutment facet
4
b
of the fixed disk
4
against the movable abutment facet
5
b
of the movable disk
5
.
The present invention is intended to eliminate the above cumbersome assembling operation. In an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an engagement assembly with which a rod is made to pass through a second (movable) disk, a sliding disk and a coil spring and become securely and unremovably received by a first (fixed) disk so that the sliding disk is made to resiliently abut the second (movable) disk under the effect of the coil spring, while a pair of spaces are provided between the sliding disk and the remote ends of the sliding grooves of the first (fixed) disk. With this arrangement, the sliding disk is made free from any obstruction when it is axially moved as the second member (cover) is opened or closed relative to the first member (apparatus main body).
The engagement assembly becomes engaged with the first (fixed) disk and the second (movable) disk simply by aligning the first (fixed) disk of the first member (apparatus main body) and the second (movable) disk of the second member (cover) and bringing them into mutual engagement. Then, the second disk is unreleasably held to the second hinge sleeve so that the first member and the second mem
Jacobson & Holman PLLC
Knight Anthony
Sugatsune Kogyo Co. Ltd.
Williams Mark
LandOfFree
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