JP7643748B2 - Connecting parts - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a connecting member that connects adjacent insertion holes formed at the open ends of plate-shaped members.

Conventionally, for example, semiconductor manufacturing equipment often has a drive unit arranged inside a box, and panel-shaped materials are often used as the walls of the box. Panel-shaped materials are also often used in liquid crystal panel manufacturing equipment. Furthermore, plate-shaped materials are used in a variety of manufacturing sites, such as the interior of these devices, where plate-shaped block materials with a certain thickness are often used.

At assembly sites where such manufacturing equipment is assembled, it is not enough to manufacture just one unit; multiple pieces of equipment are often assembled at one location. For this reason, a large number of plate-shaped materials are brought to the assembly site to carry out the assembly work, but because the floor space at the assembly site is also limited, multiple plate-shaped materials are stored, for example, stacked flat on a pallet.

However, stacking multiple plate-like materials flat can cause scratches on the surface, and these scratches can lead to product complaints after the device is assembled. For this reason, known panel stands are used in which, for example, U-shaped angle members are arranged in parallel on a base member with a distance somewhat wider than the thickness of the plate-like materials, and the plate-like materials are held between adjacent U-shaped angle members. However, most of these panel stands can not be disassembled and assembled, and installing multiple panel stands can cause problems such as making it difficult to secure the space required for assembly work.

Therefore, the present inventor has developed a holding shelf assembly component that allows for the manufacture of holding shelves at low cost and that makes it easy to carry out preparation work before assembling the holding shelf and clean up after disassembly (see Patent Document 1). With this holding shelf assembly component, two comb-shaped members are stacked together to form a first assembly unit, and the two comb-shaped members are connected with a connecting member to form a second assembly unit, and the holding shelf is formed by combining the second assembly unit and the first assembly unit.

The two comb-shaped members connected by the connecting member are made of plastic cardboard. The plastic cardboard has a hollow structure with a pair of flat plastic sheets connected by a plastic core, and an insertion hole is formed at the open end of the hollow structure of the comb-shaped member. The connecting member is made of a connection member made of a flexible synthetic resin strip with a width that can be inserted into the insertion hole, and two tubular members made of synthetic resin cylinders with a diameter that is inscribed in the insertion hole.

One end of the connecting member is inserted into one of the insertion holes at the tip of one of the two comb plate-shaped members, and the other end is fitted into the insertion hole at the tip of the other comb plate-shaped member. Then, the two tubular members are fitted into their respective insertion holes, and the connecting members are fixed by pressing them against the inside of the insertion holes. The two comb plate-shaped members connected in this way are rotatably connected to form a second assembly unit.

Patent No. 6154423

However, when connecting using the above-mentioned connecting member, it is necessary to fit the two cylindrical members into their respective insertion holes while maintaining the state in which both ends of the connecting member are inserted to the appropriate positions into the insertion holes at the tips of the two comb-shaped members, which is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. In addition, because the connecting member is made up of a total of three members, one connecting member and two cylindrical members, the number of parts is high, which is a factor in increasing costs.

The present invention aims to provide a connecting member that connects adjacent insertion holes formed at the open ends of plate-shaped members, with a reduced number of parts and easy connection work.

The connecting member of the present invention is a connecting member that connects adjacent insertion holes formed at the open ends of plate-like members, and has a first columnar portion that is inserted into and fitted with one of the adjacent insertion holes, a second columnar portion that is inserted into and fitted with the other of the adjacent insertion holes after the first columnar portion, the second columnar portion being shorter than the first columnar portion, and a thin-walled portion that is thin-walled so as to be bendable, connecting the first columnar portion and the second columnar portion.

According to the connecting member of the present invention, the first columnar part, which is longer than the second columnar part, is inserted first into one of the adjacent insertion holes, and then the second columnar part, which is shorter than the first columnar part, is inserted. Therefore, when the second columnar part is inserted into the insertion hole, the second columnar part is positioned by the first columnar part that was previously inserted into the insertion hole, making it easy to insert the second columnar part.

In the connecting member of the present invention, it is desirable that either or both of the tip of the first columnar portion and the tip of the second columnar portion have a tapered shape. In this way, when inserting the columnar portion into the insertion hole, the tapered shape of the tip acts as a guide, making it easy to insert the columnar portion into the insertion hole.

The connecting member of the present invention makes it possible to easily connect adjacent insertion holes by first inserting the first columnar portion into one of the insertion holes and then inserting the second columnar portion, which has been positioned in this way, into the other insertion hole, thereby reducing the number of parts and reducing costs.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a holding shelf according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing the first assembly unit of FIG. 1, in which FIG. 2A is a plan view and FIG. 2A and 2B are diagrams showing the second assembly unit of FIG. 1, in which FIG. 2A is a plan view and FIG. 1A and 1B are diagrams showing a connecting member, in which FIG. 5 is a right side view showing a state in which the connecting member in FIG. 4 is folded. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of using the connecting member of FIG. 4. FIG.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a holding shelf in an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a diagram showing the first assembly unit of Figure 1, where (A) is a plan view and (B) is a front view, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing the second assembly unit of Figure 1, where (A) is a plan view and (B) is a right side view.

In FIG. 1, the holding shelf 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention is used, for example, at manufacturing sites for semiconductor devices, liquid crystal panel devices, etc., and is capable of holding plate-like materials, etc. required for assembling the devices, in a leaning position. The holding shelf 1 is assembled using holding shelf assembly members including a first assembly unit 10 and a second assembly unit 20. The holding shelf 1 can be used not only at manufacturing sites for semiconductor devices, etc., but also at various sites where plate-like materials are handled, such as construction sites, tatami mat replacement sites, and woodworking workshops.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first assembly unit 10 is configured by connecting two pairs of comb plate-shaped portions 13A, 13B formed into a comb plate shape by a rectangular plate-shaped base portion 11 and a plurality of comb-tooth plate portions 12 perpendicular to the base portion 11, that is, by including two pairs of comb plate-shaped portions 13A, 13B. The base portion 11 is formed of a rectangular plate-shaped plate member having a long side of length L1 according to the needs such as the size of the plate-shaped material to be held.

The comb-tooth plate portion 12 is made of a rectangular plate member whose short sides have a first width W1. The comb-tooth plate portion 12 has its long sides 12A, 12B oriented perpendicular to the long sides 11A, 11B of the substrate portion 11. A plurality of comb-tooth plate portions 12 are arranged in parallel on one long side 11A of the substrate portion 11 with gaps 15 of a second width W2 provided along the long side 11A of the substrate portion 11. The comb-tooth plate portion 12 is formed integrally with the substrate portion 11.

In this embodiment, each of the comb-tooth plate portions 13A and 13B forms an L-shape with the substrate portion 11 and an end plate portion 121 located at the end of the multiple comb-tooth plate portions 12 arranged in parallel. Furthermore, the end of the substrate portion 11 opposite the end plate portion 121 forms a protruding end 111. Specifically, the protruding end 111 protrudes from the comb-tooth plate portion 122 opposite the end plate portion 121 of the multiple comb-tooth plate portions 12 arranged in parallel along the long side 11A of the substrate portion 11 by a length equal to the second width W2 of the gap 15 between the comb-tooth plate portions 12.

In this embodiment, the protruding ends 111 of the two pairs of comb plate-shaped portions 13A, 13B face the same side, and the tip faces of the respective comb tooth plate portions 12 are arranged opposite each other with one side 12A connected. In addition, the surfaces of the long sides 11B of the substrate portion 11 of the two pairs of comb plate-shaped portions 13A, 13B, i.e., the surfaces of the long sides 11B that are one side of the end opposite the comb tooth plate portion 12 side, are arranged opposite each other with one side 11C (the side opposite to the side 12A of the connected tip faces of the comb tooth plate portions 12) connected.

The first assembly unit 10 is made of plastic cardboard. Plastic cardboard is a hollow structure, similar to paper cardboard, in which, for example, a pair of flat plastic sheets are connected by a plastic core 12C (see FIG. 1). In this embodiment, the core 12C has a number of continuous uneven shapes in the first width W1 direction of the comb-tooth plate portion 12, i.e., along the long side 11A of the base portion 11. Therefore, in this embodiment, the comb-tooth plate portion 12 has a number of hollow elongated holes H (see FIG. 1) that are multiple hollow elongated holes that penetrate the comb-tooth plate portion 12 in the longitudinal direction and are open at both ends, and the comb-tooth plate portions 13A and 13B look like a harmonica when viewed from the side.

The first assembly unit 10 forms the two pairs of connected comb plate-shaped parts 13A, 13B by cutting the plastic cardboard. At this time, in order to keep the sides 12A, 11C of the two pairs of comb plate-shaped parts 13A, 13B connected, the plastic cardboard is not completely cut from the opposite directions for sides 12A and 11C, but is instead half-cut so that one of the plastic sheets is not cut, as shown in FIG. 2(B).

The first assembly unit 10 forms two sets of peaks 14, with the connected portions of the comb-tooth plate portions 12 forming peaks at the top, as shown in FIG. 1, by valley-folding all of the connected sides 12A, 11C of the two pairs of comb plate-shaped portions 13A, 13B. The vicinity of the open ends of the peaks 14 of the hollow elongated hole H constitutes insertion holes 16A, 16B into which the connecting member 30, described below, can be inserted. In this embodiment, the insertion holes 16A, 16B have a rectangular cross section.

As shown in FIG. 3, the second assembly unit 20 has a pair of rectangular frame plate portions 21 and a lattice plate portion 22 into which each of the two sets of peak portions 14 of the first assembly unit 10 is inserted one by one into the gap 22A.

The pair of frame plate parts 21 are formed of a pair of rectangular plate-shaped plate members having long sides with the same length L1 as the long sides of the aforementioned base plate part 11. The pair of frame plate parts 21 are arranged facing each other with a gap of the third width W3 between their long sides.

The lattice plate section 22 is a rectangular plate member whose short side has a second width W2 that is the same as the gap 15 of the comb-tooth plate section 12. The plate members 23 are arranged in parallel between the pair of frame plate sections 21 with their long sides facing in a direction perpendicular to the long sides of the pair of frame plate sections 21, with a gap of the first width W1 that is the same as the short side of the aforementioned comb-tooth plate section 12 along the long sides of the frame plate sections 21. In addition, the lattice plate section 22 is provided with rectangular plate members 24 that divide the gap of the first width W1 in half, each with an equal length, in a direction perpendicular to the long sides of the frame plate sections 21.

In addition, in this embodiment, a plate member 23 is disposed at one end of the pair of frame plate portions 21, and at the other end, the pair of frame plate portions 21 and plate member 24 protrude from the plate member 23 by a first width W1 that is the same as the short side of the aforementioned comb tooth plate portion 12.

The first width W1, which is the same as the short side of the comb-tooth plate portion 12, refers to the width in which the short side of the first width W of the comb-tooth plate portion 12 can fit into the gap of the first width W1. The second width W2, which is the same as the gap of the comb-tooth plate portion 12, refers to the width in which the plate member of the second width W2 of the lattice plate portion 22 can fit into the gap 15 of the second width W2 of the comb-tooth plate portion 12.

The second assembly unit 20 is made of plastic cardboard, just like the first assembly unit 10. The second assembly unit 20 is formed by cutting plastic cardboard into a single unit of the frame plate portion 21, lattice plate portion 22, and plate member 23.

The holding shelf 1 is formed by combining the first assembly unit 10 and the second assembly unit 20. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the connected sides 12A, 11C of the two pairs of comb plate-shaped parts 13A, 13B of the first assembly unit 10 are all valley-folded to form two sets of peaks 14, with the connected parts of the comb tooth plate parts 12 becoming peaks at the top.

Then, the two sets of peaks 14 of the first assembly unit 10 are inserted one by one into the gaps 22A of the lattice plate portion 22 of the second assembly unit 20, and the second assembly unit 20 is pushed forward to the edge of the base plate portion 11 of the first assembly unit 10, and the comb-tooth plate portion 12 of each of the two sets of peaks 14 of the first assembly unit 10 is rotated about the connected side 12A to expand the base plate portion 11, thereby assembling and forming the holding shelf 1.

In the holding shelf 1 thus formed, various plate-shaped materials can be inserted into the gap 15 of the second width W2 of the comb-tooth plate portion 12 and held in a leaning position. In addition, in this holding shelf 1, each of the peaks 14 of the first assembly unit 10 is inserted into the gap 22A of the lattice plate portion 22 of the second assembly unit 20, so that the side 11C, which is the connecting portion of the two pairs of comb-shaped portions 13A, 13B, does not shift to one side when the plate-shaped material is inserted or removed from the gap 15. Therefore, the holding shelf 1 does not become unstable, and it is possible to stably hold the plate-shaped material.

In addition, in the holding shelf 1 of this embodiment, the connecting member 30 shown in Figures 4 to 6 is inserted into the adjacent insertion holes 16A, 16B near the open end of the peak portion 14, and these adjacent insertion holes 16A, 16B are connected to reinforce one side 12A of the half-cut comb tooth plate portion 12.

Figure 4 shows the connecting member, where (A) is a front view, (B) is a right side view, Figure 5 is a right side view showing the connecting member of Figure 4 in a folded state, and Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram showing how to use the connecting member of Figure 4.

The connecting member 30 has two columnar portions 31A, 31B that are inserted into the insertion holes 16A, 16B located on both sides of one side 12A of the mountain portion 14. The columnar portions 31A, 31B have cross sections that allow them to be inserted into the insertion holes 16A, 16B into which they are inserted. In this embodiment, the columnar portions 31A, 31B have rectangular cross sections that correspond to the insertion holes 16A, 16B. In addition, one of the columnar portions 31A, 31B, columnar portion 31A, is formed longer than the other columnar portion 31B (approximately 5 mm longer in this embodiment).

The columnar portion 31A and the columnar portion 31B are connected by a thin-walled portion 32 that is thin enough to allow the connecting member 30 to be folded as shown in FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 4, before the connecting member 30 is folded, one side surface 32A of the thin-walled portion 32 is flush with one side surface 34A, 34B of the columnar portions 31A, 31B.

In addition, a tapered portion 33 is provided at both ends of the connecting member 30, i.e., at the tip of each of the columnar portions 31A and 31B. The tapered portion 33 can also be formed on only one of the columnar portions 31A and 31B. The connecting member 30 is integrally molded from synthetic resin.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the connecting member 30 having the above configuration is first inserted by inserting the longer columnar portion 31A into the insertion hole 16A of one of the comb tooth plate portions 12 of the mountain portion 14. At this time, since the tip of the columnar portion 31A is provided with a tapered portion 33, the columnar portion 31A can be easily inserted into the insertion hole 16A using the tapered portion 33 as a guide.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1B, while pushing forward the longer columnar portion 31A, the shorter columnar portion 31B is inserted into the insertion hole 16B of the other comb tooth plate portion 12. At this time, since the longer columnar portion 31A of the connecting member 30 is inserted into the insertion hole 16A adjacent to the insertion hole 16B to be inserted, the position of the shorter columnar portion 31B to be inserted into the insertion hole 16B is restricted, and the columnar portion 31B is positioned relative to the insertion hole 16B, facilitating insertion.

As shown in FIG. 1C, when the two pillars 31A and 31B are inserted all the way, the pillars 31A and 31B fit into the insertion holes 16A and 16B, respectively, and the comb-tooth plate portions 12 on both sides of the peak portion 14 are firmly connected. After attaching an appropriate number of connecting members 30 to the comb-tooth plate portions 12 of the peak portion 14 in this way, the first assembly unit 10 and the second assembly unit 20 are combined as described above to form a holding shelf 1 in which one side 12A of the half-cut comb-tooth plate portion 12 is reinforced.

The first assembly unit 10 and the second assembly unit 20 are not limited to being made of plastic cardboard as in this embodiment, but may be made of cardboard paper, wooden boards, synthetic resin boards, or metal boards. For example, in the case of wooden boards, synthetic resin boards, or metal boards, processing such as cutting out pieces of the above-mentioned shapes from these boards may be performed. When the connecting member 30 is used, an insertion hole may be drilled at the tip of the comb-tooth plate portion 12. Alternatively, when no insertion hole is provided, a hinge may be used instead of the above-mentioned connecting member 30 to connect the comb-tooth plate portions 13A and 13B to each other so that they can rotate freely.

In the above embodiment, the first assembly unit 10 includes two pairs of comb plate-shaped portions 13A, 13B, and the rectangular plate member 24 is provided on the lattice plate portion 22 of the second assembly unit 20 so that each of the peak portions 14 of the first assembly unit 10 is inserted into the gap 22A of the lattice plate portion 22 of the second assembly unit 20, dividing the gap of the first width W1 into two equal halves in a direction perpendicular to the long side of the frame plate portion 21. However, it is also possible for the first assembly unit to include three or more pairs of comb plate-shaped portions.

That is, the first assembly unit includes N pairs of comb plate-shaped parts (N≧2 (integer)), the N pairs of comb plate-shaped parts are arranged with the tip faces of the respective comb tooth plate parts facing each other and one side of the comb tooth plate parts is connected, and one side of the end of the base part of the N pairs of comb plate-shaped parts opposite the comb tooth plate part side is arranged opposite to one side of the connected tip faces of the comb tooth plate parts and one side of the surface opposite the side, and it is also possible to have a configuration in which all the connected sides of the N pairs of comb plate-shaped parts are folded in a valley to have N sets of peaks where the connected parts of the comb tooth plate parts become peaks.

In this case, the lattice plate portion of the second assembly unit is provided such that the rectangular plate member divides the gap of the first width into N equal lengths in the direction perpendicular to the long side of the frame plate portion. This allows each of the N pairs of peaks of the first assembly unit to be inserted one by one into the gaps of the lattice plate portion, and the connecting portions of the N pairs of comb plate portions do not shift to one side when the plate-shaped material is inserted or removed from the gaps, and the holding shelf does not become unstable when the plate-shaped material is inserted or removed, making it possible to stably hold the plate-shaped material, etc.

The connecting member of the present invention is useful as a member for assembling a holding shelf, which is used, for example, at manufacturing sites for semiconductor devices, liquid crystal panel devices, etc., and is used to assemble and form holding shelves, etc., capable of holding plate-like materials, etc., required for assembling the device, in a leaning position, using plate-like members.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Holding shelf 10 First assembly unit 11 Base plate portion 12 Comb-tooth plate portion 12C Core 13A, 13B Comb-tooth plate portion 14 Ridge portion 15 Gap 16A, 16B Insertion hole 20 Second assembly unit 21 Frame plate portion 22 Lattice plate portion 23, 24 Plate member 30 Connecting member 31A, 31B Column-shaped portion 32 Thin portion 33 Tapered portion 111 Protruding end 121 End plate portion 122 Comb-tooth plate portion

Claims (3)

A connecting member is a plate-like member formed by connecting a pair of flat sheets with a plurality of cores, the plate-like member having a hollow long hole formed by being partitioned by the plurality of cores, the connecting member connecting adjacent insertion holes formed by opening ends of the hollow long hole ,
a first columnar portion that is inserted into the hollow slot through one of the adjacent insertion holes and fitted therein;
a second columnar portion that is inserted into the hollow slot from the other of the adjacent insertion holes after the first columnar portion and is fitted therein, the second columnar portion being shorter than the first columnar portion;
A connecting member having a thin-walled portion that is thin enough to be bendable, the thin-walled portion connecting the first columnar portion and the second columnar portion. The connecting member according to claim 1, wherein either or both of the tip of the first columnar portion and the tip of the second columnar portion are tapered. The connecting member according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the thin-walled portion has a side surface flush with one side surface of the first columnar portion and the second columnar portion.

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