The invention relates to a portable stand, and more particularly to a portable stand for a portable electronic device.
Portable devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers, are becoming ever more popular and are generally made to be relatively small and lightweight for handheld use. However, some portable devices are somewhat inconvenient to be picked up by one hand. In addition, when placed on a tabletop, a display of the portable device is parallel to the tabletop, resulting in poor posture of the user, which causes pain and soreness in the user's neck and shoulder after a while.
Referring to
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a portable stand that is suited for use with a portable electronic device, and that can alleviate the aforesaid drawback of the prior art.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a portable stand for a portable electronic device includes a handle rod, a clamping member and a connecting mechanism.
The clamping member includes a longitudinal clamping body for detachably clamping the portable electronic device. The clamping body has first and second fixed jaws spaced apart from each other along a longitudinal direction of the clamping body, and a longitudinal base panel interconnecting the first and second fixed jaws.
The connecting mechanism interconnects pivotally the handle rod and the clamping member such that an included angle between the handle rod and the clamping member is variable. The connecting mechanism includes a socket member disposed on one of the handle rod and the clamping member, and an engaging member disposed on the other one of the handle rod and the clamping member. The socket member has a socket wall that defines a ball receiving space. The socket wall has at least one notch communicated with the ball receiving space. The engaging member has a ball part that is rotatably mounted in the ball receiving space and a stem that is connected to the ball part and that extends into the notch when the handle rod is folded over the clamping body.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a portable stand for a portable electronic device includes a handle rod, a clamping member and a connecting mechanism.
The clamping member includes a longitudinal clamping body for detachably clamping the portable electronic device. The clamping body has a longitudinal base panel, and at least one fixed jaw extending transversely from the base panel.
The connecting mechanism interconnects pivotally the handle rod and the clamping body such that an angle between the handle rod and the clamping body is variable.
The base panel has a longitudinal sliding recess. The clamping member further includes a sliding jaw slidable relative to the base panel. The sliding jaw has a slide part that is slidably disposed in the sliding recess, and a jaw part that extends from the slide part. The sliding jaw is movable toward the at least one fixed jaw for clamping the portable electronic device against the at least one fixed jaw.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:
Referring to
The handle rod 2 is suitable for grasping by a user's hand. In this embodiment, the handle rod 2 is a substantially cylindrical body. However, the shape of the handle rod 2 is not limited to that disclosed.
The clamping member 3 includes a longitudinal clamping body 31 for detachably clamping the portable electronic device 1, and a sliding jaw 32 slidable relative to the clamping body 31. The clamping body 31 has first and second fixed jaws 33, 34 spaced apart from each other along a longitudinal direction of the clamping body 31, and a longitudinal base panel 35 interconnecting the first and second fixed jaws 33, 34. The first and second fixed jaws 33, 34 are suitable for respectively clamping the lateral sides 11 of the portable electronic device 1. The base panel 35 has a longitudinal sliding recess 351 that longitudinally extends between the first fixed jaw 33 and the second fixed jaw 34. The sliding recess 351 is indented downwardly from a top surface of the base panel 35, and has an open end 353 proximate to the first fixed jaw 33 and a close end 354 proximate to the second fixed jaw 34. In this embodiment, the clamping body 31 further has a cutout 331 that extends through the first fixed jaw 33 and an end portion of the base panel 35 adjacent to the first fixed jaw 33 and that is communicated with the sliding recess 351. Specifically, the base panel 35 further has a recess bottom wall 356 bounding a bottom end of the sliding recess 351, and a stop protrusion 352 protruding from the recess bottom wall 356 into the sliding recess 351 in proximity to the open end 353 of the sliding recess 351. In this embodiment, the sliding recess 351 is wider in proximity to the recess bottom wall 356 and narrower in proximity to a top end of the sliding recess 351, and has a lower wide recess portion 355 which is proximate to the recess bottom wall 356 and which has two engaging ends 355′ that are transversely opposite to each other and that extend longitudinally.
In this embodiment, the sliding jaw 32 is slidable relative to the base panel 35. Specifically, the sliding jaw 32 is insertable into the sliding recess 351 through the cutout 331. In this embodiment, the sliding jaw 32 has a slide part 321 slidably disposed in the sliding recess 351 and a jaw part 322 extending from the slide part 321. The sliding jaw 32 is movable toward one of the first and second fixed jaws 33, 34 for clamping the portable electronic device 1 against the one of the first and second fixed jaws 33, 34. The slide part 321 of the sliding jaw 32 is slidable between the open end 353 and the close end 354. In this embodiment, the slide part 321 of the sliding jaw 32 is convexed upwardly midway between and extends downwardly and arcuatedly towards two longitudinally opposite ends of the slide part 321. Specifically, the slide part 321 of the sliding jaw 32 is formed with an indentation 323, and is provided with a limit portion 324 and two transversely opposite resilient longitudinal wings 325. The indentation 323 is indented downwardly from a top surface of the slide part 321 of the sliding jaw 32 (as shown in
To assemble the sliding jaw 32 with the clamping body 31, one of the two longitudinally opposite ends of the slide part 321 distal from the jaw part 322 is disposed to face the cutout 331 in advance. With the resilient longitudinal wings 325 respectively inserted into the engaging ends 355′, the slide part 321 is slid in the sliding recess 351 toward the second fixed jaw 34. As the limit portion 324 of the slide part 321 reaches the stop protrusion 352 in proximity to the open end 353 of the sliding recess 351, the sliding jaw 32 has to be pushed toward the second fixed jaw 34 with a slightly greater force in order to move the limit portion 324 past the stop protrusion 352. By engagement of the limit portion 324 with the stop protrusion 352, the sliding jaw 32 is prevented from departing outwardly from the cutout 331, and thus movably limited between the close end 354 and the open end 353. Specifically, in this embodiment, a height of the highest mid-point from a lowest point of each of the resilient longitudinal wings 325 is greater than a height of a top end of each of the engaging ends 355′ from the recess bottom wall 356. When the resilient longitudinal wings 325 are respectively inserted into the engaging ends 355′, each of the resilient longitudinal wings 325 resiliently abuts against the top end of the respective engaging end 355′ and the limit portion 324 abuts against the recess bottom wall 356, so that the slide part 321 of the sliding jaw 32 is hamperedly slidable between the open end 353 and the close end 354 in the sliding recess 351.
The connecting mechanism 4 includes a socket member 41 disposed on a top end of an upper part of the handle rod 2 and an engaging member 42 disposed on a bottom side of the base panel 35. The socket member 41 is formed in one-piece with the handle rod 2. However, the connecting mechanism 4 is not limited to this disclosure. For example, the socket member 41 can be disposed on the clamping member 3 and the engaging member 42 can be disposed on the handle rod 2. In this embodiment, the socket member 41 has a socket wall 412 that is disposed on the top end of the upper part of the handle rod 2 and that defines a ball receiving space 411. The socket wall 412 has two spaced apart notches 413 (only one is visible) communicated with the ball receiving space 411. In addition, the handle rod 2 has a slit 414 that communicates with the ball receiving space 411 and the notches 413, and that extends downwardly from the ball receiving space 411 and the top end of the upper part of the handle rod 2 into the upper part of the handle rod 2 to split the upper part of the handle rod 2. Each of the notches 413 decreases in width to its bottom end from a top open end of the socket wall 412 and is rounded at its bottom end. In such a condition, each of the notches 413 has a substantially V-shaped contour. In this embodiment, the engaging member 42 has a ball part 421 that is rotatably mounted in the ball receiving space 411 and a stem 422 that is connected to the ball part 421 and that extends into one of the notches 413 when the handle rod 2 is folded over the clamping body 31. Specifically, the slit 414 has a width smaller than a diameter of the stem 422. In this embodiment, the stem 422 is a circular rod and the diameter of the stem 422 is smaller than or equal to the maximum width of each of the notches 413. When the socket member 41 is assembled with the handle rod 2, the slit 414 provides flexibility to the socket wall 412, such that the ball part 421 may be inserted into and received in the ball receiving space 411. Preferably, the handle rod 2 has a threaded hole 415 that extends through the slit 414 (see
In actual use, the portable electronic device 1 is disposed between the first and second fixed jaws 33, 34. If the two lateral sides 11 of the portable electronic device 1 respectively abut against the first and second fixed jaws 33, 34, the slide part 321 of the sliding jaw 32 is disposed at the open end 353 of the sliding recess 351. In such a manner, the jaw part 322 of the sliding jaw 32 is disposed in the cutout 331 and substantially flush with the first fixed jaw 33. As a result, the first fixed jaw 33, the second fixed jaw 34 and the jaw part 322 of the sliding jaw 32 cooperate to clamp the portable electronic device 1.
Referring to
After the clamping member 3 clamps the portable electronic device 1, the user can grasp the handle rod 2 to adjust the included angle between the clamping member 3 and the handle rod 2 in a stepless manner. However, since the ball part 421 is hamperedly rotatable in the ball receiving space 411, the user has to slightly force the handle rod 2 in order to adjust the included angle between the clamping member 3 and the handle rod 2. With the portable electronic device 1 clamped by the clamping member 3, an adjustment of the included angle between the clamping member 3 and the handle rod 2 facilitates adjustment of an angle of view of the portable electronic device 1. In addition, the portable electronic device 1 can inclinedly stand on the table (not show) with the assistance of the handle rod 2 for easy viewing.
With reference to
To sum up, by virtue of the stem 422 of the engaging member 42 extending into one of the notches 413, the clamping member 3 and the handle rod 2 can be folded over each other in a parallel manner to reduce the occupied space for easy storage. Furthermore, since the sliding jaw 32 is hamperedly slidable between the first and second fixed jaws 33, 34, the jaw part 322 of the sliding jaw 32 can be moved to cooperate with the second fixed jaw 34 to clamp a relatively small portable electronic device 1. By virtue of the structure of the clamping body 31 and the sliding jaw 32, the portable electronic devices 1 of various sizes can be firmly clamped by the clamping member 3.
While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical embodiment, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.