JP2862769B2 - Hard cover structure of electronic equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hard cover structure for a portable or handy type electronic device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a portable electronic device such as an electronic organizer or a pocket computer is provided with a hard cover that can be opened and closed to protect the main body. In many cases, the hard cover can be opened and closed within a range of about 180 ° with respect to the main body.

FIG. 15 is an overall front view showing an example of such an electronic apparatus (a pocket computer shown) having a 180 ° openable / closable hard cover, FIG. 16 is a front view showing only the main body, and FIGS. 18 is a partial side view seen from the left and right sides of FIG.

As shown in these figures, the conventional hard cover structure has a hinge shaft 54 having a columnar tip at one side of a main body 53 provided with an input key 51 and a display unit 52 in a cabinet 50. The cap-shaped fitting portions 57, 58 provided at both ends of one side of the hard cover 56 are fitted to the hinge shafts 54, 55, respectively. The locking claw portions 59 and 60 are provided at the center of the side portions, respectively. The cover 56 is opened and closed by rotating the hard cover 56 around the hinge shafts 57 and 58 with respect to the main body 53 within a range of substantially 180 °. In this case, when the hard cover 56 is closed, the claw portions 59 and 60 are engaged with each other so that the hard cover 56 is locked in a closed state so that the hard cover 56 is not opened carelessly. Has become.

The hinge shafts 57 and 58 are formed integrally on one side of the main body cabinet 50 by simultaneous molding, and formed by fitting another component (for example, a hinge pin) on one side of the main body. There are cases.

[0006]

In an electronic device having a hard cover for protecting the main body as described above, the hard cover must be opened at the time of use. But sometimes it gets in the way. Therefore, it is desirable that the hard cover can be easily attached and detached as needed.

However, in the conventional hard cover structure, from the viewpoint of preventing the hard cover from falling off, the fitting portion on the hard cover side is fitted to both ends of the cylindrical hinge shaft of the main body as described above. Therefore, there is a problem that the hard cover cannot be removed from the main body even when the hard cover is in the way during use.

In addition, even if the hard cover can be removed from the main body by providing hinge shafts at both ends of one side of the main body so as to be able to enter and exit in the axial direction, if the attaching / detaching operation is complicated and troublesome, the hard cover is removed. In some cases, the electronic device is carried while the electronic device is being carried, and as a result, there is no point in providing the hard cover, and the original purpose of the hard cover for protecting the main body is not achieved.

If the ends of the hinge shaft are hemispherical, removal of the hard cover may be relatively easy, but on the other hand, when the hard cover is closed, the fitting portion on the hard cover side from the hinge shaft can be easily formed. There is a possibility that it will come off.

[0010] In short, in the conventional hard cover structure,
If the device can be securely protected when not in use, the hard cover must not be easily removed during use.On the other hand, if the hard cover can be easily removed, the One side of the cover comes off the main body, and there is a problem that the original purpose of the hard cover for protecting the main body cannot be achieved.

The present invention addresses the above-mentioned problems in the prior art. By improving the structure of the hinge portion to which the hard cover is attached, the hard cover does not come off from the main body when the hard cover is closed, and the hard cover is opened. It is an object of the present invention to provide a hard cover structure of an electronic device in which a hard cover is sometimes easily attached and detached.

[0012]

To achieve the above object, a hard cover structure according to the present invention is provided at one end of a hinge shaft provided at one side of a main body and at one end of a hard cover at one end of a hard cover. Cap-shaped fitting is rotatably fitted,
The hard cover can be opened and closed within a range of approximately 180 ° from the front side of the main body around the hinge axis, and the main body and the other side of the hard cover engage with each other when the hard cover is closed. In the electronic device provided with a lock mechanism for locking the hard cover, at least one end of the one side of the main body has a hinge shaft tip as follows.

That is, when viewed from the direction facing the surface of the main body, a semi-circular column that is a semi-circular convex in the extension direction of the tip portion is
It has the same diameter as this and is cut off by a cylindrical surface concentric with the hinge axis.

This will be described with reference to the drawings showing an embodiment of the present invention. The tip of the hinge shaft has a shape as shown in FIGS. That is, the axial direction of the hinge shaft 7 provided on one side 5a of the main body 5 is the X direction, and the direction from one side 5a of the main body 5 to the other side is orthogonal to the X direction, the Y direction. When a direction orthogonal to both the X and Y directions (a direction orthogonal to the main body surface) is defined as a Z direction,
The shape as viewed from the X direction is circular as shown in FIG. 6, the shape as viewed from the Y direction is square as shown in FIG. 7, and the shape as viewed from the Z direction is a semicircle as shown in FIG. It has a shape.

[0015]

According to the hard cover structure having the above-mentioned structure, even if the hard cover is to be separated from the main body in a closed state, the peripheral portion of the cap-shaped fitting portion is formed on one side of the hard cover. By being hooked on a corner portion (a portion located on the bottom surface side of the main body) of the tip portion of the hinge shaft, separation in the Z direction is prevented, and the other side portion is locked to the main body by a lock mechanism.
Therefore, the separation in the Y direction from one side of the main body to the other side is also prevented. Therefore, when the hard cover is closed, the hard cover cannot be removed from the main body.

On the other hand, when the hard cover is completely opened, that is, when the hard cover is located at an angle of about 180 ° with respect to the main body, the hinge shaft has a semicircular shape when viewed from a direction facing the main body surface. The fitting portion on the hard cover side can be separated from one end of the hinge shaft by moving the fitting portion of the hard cover in a direction away from the main body along the end surface of the distal end portion. Accordingly, after one fitting portion of the hard cover is separated from the one end of the hinge shaft on the main body side, the other end of the hinge cover located at the other end of one side of the main body is then separated from the other end of the hard cover. By separating the fitting portion, the hard cover can be removed from the main body.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. First, the overall configuration of the electronic device according to the embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an electronic device (pocket computer in this embodiment) 1 has a main body 5 having an input key unit 3 and a display unit 4 arranged on the upper surface side of a cabinet 2, and A hard cover 6 is attached to the main body 5 so as to be openable and closable to protect the front side of the main body 5.

The main body 5 has hinge shafts 7 and 8 at the left and right ends of one side 5a located on the upper side in the drawing, and a hard cover at the center of the other side 5b. A locking claw 9 is provided.

The hard cover 6 has cap-shaped fitting portions 10 and 11 formed on both left and right ends of one side thereof, and these fitting portions 10 and 11 are connected to each hinge of the main body 5. A claw 12 is rotatably fitted to each of the shafts 7 and 8 and is engageable with the claw 9 of the main body 5 at the center of the other side.

When the hard cover 6 is turned around the hinge shafts 7 and 8 toward the body surface side and closed,
As shown in FIG. 3, the claws 12 on the hard cover 6 side
The hard cover 6 is locked in the closed state by engaging with the claw portion 9 on the side, and the lock is released from that state and rotated in the opposite direction, and the hard cover 6 shown in FIGS. Thus, the hard cover 6 can be opened to an angle of about 180 ° with respect to the main body 5.

Next, the hinge shaft 7 located on the left end side of the one side portion 5a of the main body 5 and its peripheral structure will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. In the following description, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the axial direction of the hinge shaft 7 is set in the X direction, and the one side 5 of the main body 5 is set so as to be orthogonal to the X direction.
The direction from a to the other side portion 5b is defined as the Y direction, and the direction orthogonal to both the X and Y directions (the direction in which the main body 5 in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the hinge shaft 7 is formed in a tubular shape having an outer diameter slightly larger at the base end 7a than at the tip 7b. 5
It is attached to the hinge shaft mounting portion 5c provided on the left end side of FIG. In this case, the hinge shaft 7 has its base end 7a side housed in the mounting portion 5c of the main body 5, and has the inner rear end surface of the base end portion 7a and the inner rear end surface of the main body mounting portion 5c opposed thereto. Is constantly urged toward the left in the figure by the spring 13 interposed therebetween, so that the distal end portion 7b is set in a state protruding from the left end of the one side portion 5a of the main body by a predetermined amount. I have.

As a characteristic feature of the present invention, the tip 7b of the hinge shaft 7 has a semicircular shape projecting in the direction opposite to the X direction when viewed from above in FIG. 5, as shown in FIGS. The semi-cylindrical cylinder has the same diameter as that of the semi-cylindrical cylinder and is cut by a cylindrical surface concentric with the hinge shaft 7. In other words, the tip portion of the cylinder having the same diameter as the tip portion 7b of the hinge shaft 7 is cut in the Z direction by a semi-cylindrical surface having the same diameter and a convex semicircular shape in the direction opposite to the X direction. It has been.
Therefore, when the distal end portion 7b of the hinge shaft 7 is viewed from the Z direction, it looks semi-circular as shown in FIG. 5, and when viewed from the X direction, it looks circular as shown in FIG.
When viewed from the direction, it looks rectangular as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, when the hard cover 6 is in the closed state, FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, both cap-shaped fitting portions 10 and 11 provided at both ends of one side of the hard cover 6 on the side of the main body one side 5 a are both hinge shafts on the main body 5 side. 7 and 8, and the claw portions 9 and 12 of the main body 5 and the hard cover 6 are engaged with each other on the other main body side portion 5b side to be in a locked state.

At this time, even if it is attempted to remove the hard cover 6 from the main body 5 in the Z direction, the fitting portion 11 of the hard cover 6 located on the right side in FIG.
1 corresponds to the cylindrical tip of the hinge shaft 8, and the fitting portion 10 of the hard cover 6 located on the left side in FIG. 1 is the back side of the corresponding tip 7 b of the hinge shaft 7 (see FIG. 6
And the portion indicated by reference numeral 7b 'in FIG. 10), and cannot be removed. The other side 5b of the main body is locked by the engagement of the two claws 9 and 12 as described above.
It cannot be removed in the Y direction shown in FIG. Therefore, when the hard cover is closed, the hard cover 6 cannot be removed from the main body 5 in any direction.

On the other hand, when the hard cover 6 is in a completely opened state (the state shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 11 and 12), that is, when the hard cover 6 is located at an angle of about 180 ° with respect to the main body 5. As shown in FIG. 13, the hinge shaft 7 has a tip 7b formed in a semicircular shape when viewed from the Z direction.
In addition, since it is mounted on the mounting portion 5c of the main body 5 via the spring 13 so as to be able to move in and out, the fitting portion 1 on the hard cover 6 side
0, the hinge shaft 7 is attached to the mounting part 5 against the spring 13.
By moving the fitting portion 10 along the end surface of the hinge shaft tip portion 7b in a direction separating from the main body 5 while pushing inward of the hard cover 6 from the hinge shaft 7 of the main body 5, The fitting portion 10 can be detached. Therefore, one of the holes 1 in the hard cover 6 is thus formed.
0 is detached from one of the hinge shafts 7 on the main body 5 side,
As shown in FIG. 14, the hard cover 6 can be easily removed from the main body 5 by separating the other hole 11 in the hard cover 6 from the other hinge shaft 8 on the main body 5 side. When attaching the hard cover 6 to the main body 5, it is needless to say that the reverse operation may be performed.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an electronic apparatus in which a hard cover is openably and closably attached to one side of a main body via a hinge shaft, a hinge on at least one end of one side of the main body is provided. By forming the shaft tip into a predetermined shape, it is not possible to remove the hard cover from the main body when the hard cover is closed, that is, when the electronic device is not operated such as when carrying the hard cover, while the hard cover is opened. At the time, that is, when operating the electronic device, the hard cover can be easily attached to and detached from the main body. As a result, it is possible to solve the problem that the hard cover interferes with the operation of the electronic device without impairing the original purpose of protecting the main body when carrying the electronic device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an entire configuration of an electronic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a hard cover thereof is opened to an angle of 180 °.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of the electronic device.

FIG. 3 is a right side view of the electronic device in a state where the hard cover is closed.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary front view showing the main body of the electronic device alone;

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view showing a part of the enlarged view;

6 is a side view showing a state where the periphery of the tip end of the hinge shaft is viewed from the X direction in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a state in which the periphery of a tip end of a hinge shaft is viewed from a Y direction in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a partially enlarged view showing a left side surface of the electronic apparatus with the hard cover closed.

9 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged view showing a left side surface of the electronic device with the hard cover opened.

12 is a sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a sectional view showing a state where one fitting portion of the hard cover is being detached from one hinge shaft on the main body side.

FIG. 14 is an entire front view of the electronic apparatus showing a state in which a hard cover is being removed from a main body.

FIG. 15 is an overall front view of an electronic apparatus showing an example of a conventional hard cover structure.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary front view showing the main body of the electronic device alone;

FIG. 17 is a partial side view of the main body viewed from the left side in FIG. 16;

18 is a partial side view of the main body viewed from the right side in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Electronic device 5 ... Main body 5a ... One side of main body 5b ... Other side of main body 6 ... Hard cover 7, 8 ... Hinge shaft 7b ... Hinge shaft tip Portions 9, 12: Lock mechanism (locking claw portion) 10, 11: Cap-shaped fitting portion

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cap-shaped fitting portion provided on one side of a hard cover is rotatably fitted to a tip end of a hinge shaft provided on one side of a main body. The hard cover is approximately 18
The electronic device is provided with a lock mechanism that can be opened and closed within a range of 0 ° and that is provided on the other side of the main body and the hard cover with a lock mechanism that engages with each other when the hard cover is closed to lock the hard cover. Hard cover structure,
A semi-cylindrical column in which at least one end of the hinge shaft on one side of the main body has a semicircular shape that is convex in an extension direction of the front end when viewed from a direction facing the main body surface, has the same diameter as the semi-cylindrical shaft, and has a hinge shaft. A hard cover structure for an electronic device, wherein the hard cover structure has a shape cut off by a concentric cylindrical surface.