Swivel recoiler

Abstract

A recoiler has a retractable cable with an attachment pad on the distal end of the cable for attachment to an item of merchandise. The cable is stored on a spring biased spool located within a recoiler housing. The housing is freely rotatably mounted on a post extending upwardly from a base plate secured to the spool housing by a fastener and adapted to be secured to a support structure.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated of the best mode in which Applicant contemplates applying the principles, is set forth in the following description and is shown in the drawings and is particularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the swivel recoiler of the present invention mounted on a supporting structure and connected to an item of merchandise.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the swivel recoiler connected as shown in FIG. 1 with the swivel feature being shown by the alternate dot dashed positions of the merchandise.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the swivel recoiler of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 44, FIG. 2.

Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The recoiler of the present invention is indicated generally at 1, and is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 being connected to an item of merchandise 3. Merchandise 3 is depicted as being a camera. However any item of merchandise and other types of objects can be connected to the recoiler by an attachment pad 5, which is connected to the distal end of a cable 7. Attachment pad 5 can be connected easily to merchandise 3 by a disc-shaped pressure sensitive adhesive pad 9 or other type of attachment device. Recoiler 1 preferably is mounted on a support structure 11 by a second pressure sensitive adhesive pad 13 or other type of mechanism.

The components of recoiler 1 are best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Recoiler 1 includes a housing indicated generally at 15, which includes a bottom housing member 17 and a top housing member 19, each of which preferably is formed as a one piece member of plastic material enabling them to be mass produced at a relatively low cost. A spool 21 stores a predetermined length of cable 7 which extends outwardly through a cable outlet opening 25 formed by aligned notches 26 and 27 provided in bottom housing member 17 and top housing member 19, respectively. Preferably a cable guide 29 is located in outlet opening 25 to facilitate the movement of the cable in and out of the outlet opening by reducing the sliding friction between the cable and housing.

Bottom housing member 17 is of an annular configuration having a cylindrical side wall 31 and a disk-shaped bottom 33. An annular spindle 35 is formed integrally with bottom 33 and extends upwardly therefrom and has an annular slot 37 formed therein for slidably receiving and retaining a tab 39 provided on one end of a coil spring 41. Spool 21 has a pair of spaced annular flanges 21A and 21B which forms a cable storage chamber 21C therebetween. Spool 21 is formed with an annular central recess 43 and a central opening 45 and has a small slot 49 is formed in an inner edge of flange 21A for receiving a coil spring attachment tab 50 therein. A arcuate slot 51 terminates in an enlarged end opening 52 for receiving cable 7 therethrough and for securing the cable to spool 21 by a ferrule 54 connected to the inner end of the cable.

Top housing member 19 preferably has a dome-shaped top 57 with a central recess 59 and a center hole 61 for receiving a fastener 63 therethrough as discussed below. A cover 65 complementary in shape to the diameter of recess 59, is snap-fitted or permanently secured in the recess after the recoiler has been assembled to provide a pleasing appearance thereto and prevent access to fastener 63. Housing members 17 and 19 are permanently secured together such as with a sonic weld, an adhesive or other type of securement means to provide a secure internal chamber for rotatably mounting spool 21 therein. When in the assembled position as shown in FIG. 4, spool 21 is rotatably mounted on spindle 35 which extends through spool opening 45, with coil spring tab 39 being connected to spindle 35 in slot 37 and outer coil spring tab 50 being connected in slot 49 of spool 21. Cable 7 is connected at its inner end by ferrule 54 to spool 21 with its distal end being connected to attachment pad 5, which may include an end cap 67 on which pressure sensitive adhesive pad 9 is secured.

In accordance with the main feature of the invention, recoiler housing 15 is rotatably mounted on a swivel base indicated generally at 70. Base 70 preferably is a one piece member formed of plastic and has a disc-shaped base 71 with an annular post 73 extending upwardly therefrom having a hollow interior 75 and an annular boss 76 at the base of post 73. Double-sided pressure sensitive pad 13 preferably is attached to the bottom surface 78 of swivel base 71 for securing it to the top of support structure 11 as shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, housing 15 is rotatably mounted on swivel 70 by bottom housing member 17 resting upon the top surface of annular boss 76 with post 73 extending upwardly through hollow interior 36 of spindle 35. Fastener 63 is threadably engaged in bore 75 of post 73 with an enlarged head 68 of fastener 63 trapping housing 15 thereon. Thus, as shown in FIG. 4, housing 15 is freely rotatably mounted on post 73 with very little rotational frictional engagement occurring between a small portion of bottom housing member 17 and the top surface of boss 76. Thus, no matter which direction cable 7 is pulled outwardly from housing 15, the housing will rotate in the desired direction as shown by the two alternate dot dashed positions in FIG. 2. This avoids cable 7 putting an undesirable force on spool 21 and the internal mechanism thereof. As the cable is pulled outwardly, spool 21 rotates with respect to spindle 35 tensioning coil spring 41 so that when the outward pressure on cable 7 indicated by Arrow head A in FIG. 1 is released, coil spring 41 will bias cable 7 in the direction of Arrow head B retracting the attached article of merchandise to a desired storage position.

Thus, recoiler 1 provides an extremely simple recoiler mechanism which includes a swivel whereby the cable is always pulled from the recoiler housing and the internal spool in the desired direction for attachment to an item of merchandise or other object, and in which the spring will automatically bias the cable toward a retracted position onto the spool when the extraction pressure is released therefrom. Housing 15 will always rotate or swivel easily on swivel post 73 to ensure that the correct alignment is maintained between the housing and item of merchandise.

In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed.

Moreover, the description and illustration of the invention is an example and the invention is not limited to the exact details shown or described.

Claims

1. A recoiler for automatically retracting a cable comprising: a housing containing a spool, a length of cable stored on said spool, and a spring biasing the spool and cable in a retractable direction;a base having an upstanding post pivotally mounting the housing on said base; andan attachment member for attaching the base on a supporting structure.

2. The recoiler defined in claim 1 wherein the housing includes top and bottom members secured together and forming an internal chamber; in which a spindle extends outwardly from the bottom housing member into the chamber and rotatably mounts the spool thereon; and in which the spring is a coil spring having one end attached to the bottom housing spindle and another end attached to the spool.

3. The recoiler defined in claim 2 wherein the spool includes a central recess with a central opening through which the spindle extends; and in which the coil spring is located within the central recess and extends about the spindle.

4. The recoiler defined in claim 2 wherein the base post extends into a hollow interior of the spindle for rotatably mounting the housing on the post.

5. The recoiler defined in claim 4 wherein the base post includes a boss; and in which the bottom housing member is rotatably supported on the boss.

6. The recoiler defined in claim 5 wherein the base is a one-piece member formed of plastic.

7. The recoiler defined in claim 4 wherein the base post extends through an opening formed in the top housing member; and in which a fastener having an enlarged head is secured in the base post to secure the housing on said base post.

8. The recoiler defined in claim 7 wherein the top housing member includes a top central recess; in which the fastener head is located in said central recess; and in which a cover is mounted on the top housing member concealing the fastener head.

9. The recoiler defined in claim 2 in which each of the top and bottom housing members is a one-piece member formed of plastic.

10. The recoiler defined in claim 1 wherein the attachment member is a pad having opposed surfaces, one surface being attached to a bottom surface of the base and having a pressure sensitive adhesive on the other surface for securing the base to the supporting structure.

11. The recoiler defined in claim 1 wherein one end of the cable is attached to the spool and an opposite end is secured to an attachment pad; and in which the attachment pad has a member for attaching the pad to an item of merchandise.

12. The recoiler defined in claim 11 wherein the attachment pad member is a disc of pressure sensitive adhesive.