Patent Application
20090183340
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sliding hinge, especially to a sliding hinge with positioning elements.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Sliding-design electronic devices including cell phones, PDAs or the like comprise a cover with a display, a base with a keyboard and main electronic elements, and a conventional sliding hinge. The conventional sliding hinge is mounted between the cover and the base to allow the cover sliding relative to the base.
With reference to
However, the conventional sliding hinge has following disadvantages:
1. The resilient element (60) and the positioning element (70) are two independent elements. The resilient and positioning elements (60, 70) have no connecting segments but have to maintain at corresponding position. The assembling of the resilient and positioning elements (60, 70) only relies on the pressing of the stationary and sliding brackets (40, 50). Therefore, the assembling of the conventional sliding hinge is complicated and hard.
2. The resilient element (60) is used to provide friction but only contacts with the extensions (51) of the sliding bracket (50). The small contacting surface causes the sliding bracket (50) slides unstably relative to the stationary bracket (40) and also limits the providing friction.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a sliding hinge to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a sliding hinge that simplifies assembling procedure and effectively provides friction. The sliding hinge is mounted in an electronic device and has a stationary bracket, a sliding bracket, a resilient element and a positioning assembly. The stationary bracket connects to a base of the electronic device. The sliding bracket connects to a cover of the electronic device, is mounted slidably on the stationary bracket and has a body. The resilient element is mounted the stationary bracket and the body of the sliding bracket to provide effectively friction to maintain the cover at any desired position. The positioning assembly is formed on the stationary bracket, the sliding bracket and the resilient element to simplify the assembling procedure.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
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The body (21, 21A, 21B) has two sidewalls, a bottom surface, two through holes (211, 211B) and two clamping protrusions (212, 212A, 212B). Each sidewall of the body (21, 21A, 21B) has a distal end. The through holes (211, 211B) are formed respectively through the sidewalls of the body (21, 21B). The clamping protrusions (212, 212A, 212B) are formed on the bottom surface of the body (21, 21A, 21B). Each clamping protrusion (212, 212A, 212B) is hollow and has internal threads.
The extensions (22, 22A, 22B) are formed on and transversely protrude out from the distal ends of the sidewalls of the body (21, 21A, 21B), are perpendicular with the sidewalls of the body (21, 21A, 21B) and are respectively mounted slidably in the sliding channels (11, 11A). Each extension (22B) has a bottom surface and a positioning protrusion (221B). The positioning protrusion (221B) is formed on and protrudes out from the bottom surface of the extension (22B) and selectively engages between the inclined protrusions (121A) of the stationary bracket (10) to provide positioning function.
With reference to
The main sheet (31, 31A, 31B) has a central part, two sides, two ends, a bottom surface, a top surface, two fastening protrusions (311, 311B), an additional sheet (312) and a positioning protrusion (313) or two positioning protrusions (313A). The main sheet (31, 31B) may abut the body (21, 21B) of the sliding bracket (20, 20B), or the main sheet (31A) may abut the stationary bracket (10A). The fastening protrusions (311, 311B) are formed respectively on and protrude out from the sides of the main sheet (31, 31B) and respectively engage the through holes (211, 211B) of the sliding bracket (20, 20B) to connect the resilient element (20, 20B) securely to the sliding bracket (20, 20B). The additional sheet (312) is formed downward in the central part of the main sheet (31) to form an opening, abuts the stationary bracket (10) and has a bottom surface. The positioning protrusion (313) may be formed on the bottom surface of the additional sheet (312) and selectively engage the positioning holes (12) of the stationary bracket (10), or the positioning protrusions (313A) may be formed on the bottom surface of the main sheet (31A) and selectively engage between the corresponding inclined protrusions (121A) of the stationary bracket (10) to provide positioning function.
The legs (32, 32A, 32B) protrude oppositely out from the main sheet (31, 31A, 31B). The legs (32, 32B) may be formed respectively on and protrude out from the ends of the main sheet (31, 31B) and may abut the stationary bracket (10, 10A). Or the legs (32A) may be formed oppositely on and protrude out from the top surface of the main sheet (31A), may abut the body (21A) of the sliding bracket (20A) and may be clamped between the clamping protrusions (212A) of the sliding bracket (20A) to securely connect the resilient element (30A) to the sliding bracket (20A).
When the sliding hinge as described is used, the stationary bracket (10, 10A) is connected to a base of an electronic device, and the sliding bracket (20, 20A, 20B) is connected to a cover of the electronic device. Therefore, when the cover is slid relative to the base, the sliding bracket (20, 20A, 20B) and the resilient element (30, 30A, 30B) is slid relative to the stationary bracket (10, 10A, 10B).
The positioning assembly is formed on the stationary bracket (10, 10A), the sliding bracket (20, 20A, 20B) and the resilient element (30, 30A, 30B) to selectively maintain the sliding bracket (20, 20A, 20B) at a predetermined position. Therefore, when the cover is slid relative to the base, the positioning assembly allows the cover to maintain at a predetermined position.
With reference to
With reference to
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Therefore, the sliding hinge as described has following advantages:
1. Because the positioning assembly is formed on the stationary bracket (10, 10A), the sliding bracket (20, 20A, 20B) and the resilient element (30, 30A, 30B), the components of the sliding hinge as described is decreased to simplify the assembling procedure.
2. Because the resilient element (30, 30A, 30B) directly contacts with the body (21, 21A, 21B) of the sliding bracket (20, 20A, 20B), the contacting surface is increased to increase the friction. Therefore, the cover is more easily to maintain at any desired position by the friction provided by the resilient element (30, 30A, 30B).
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
