BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above object and other advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention with reference to the attached drawings:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present invention; and
FIG. 2 to FIG. 8 show the perspective views of the present invention from a first to a seventh embodiment respectively.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIG. 1, the track type impact buffered input device of the present invention comprises one or more than one slide track 2 in a main body 1 of the input device. Each of the slide track 2 is provided with a weight buffer 3, and each slide track 2 is formed into a closed loop type track 21 in various figures such as rectangle, ellipse, or polygon, whereas the weight buffer 3 is made of a massive substance such as a weight, a lead bead, or a gravity ball.
When the main body 1 of the input device is moved from its initial position to a desired position by the user exerting a force, the weight buffer 3 will retard the motion of the main body 1 of the input device with its increased inertia as if a reversed force were applied to the main body 1. In this manner, the impact force imposed on the user's wrist is alleviated by the retarding effect of the weight buffer 3, and the user does not need to exert a large force to stop the main body 1 at a predetermined position or when a sudden change of moving direction is required, thereby preventing injury to the user's wrist by the impact force.
Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, in the first and the second embodiments of the present invention, the slide tracks 2 in the main body 1 of the input device are disposed in a way such that their longitudinal axes along the advancing direction of the input device are in parallel, perpendicular, or even intersected at an arbitrary angle with each other so as to allow the main body 1 of the input device to move freely in any desired direction.
In the third embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the slide track 2 is configured into a long elongated track 21 wherein an elastic buffer 4 is provided at each of the two ends of the slide track 2. The elastic buffer 4 is made of rubber, cotton, foam cotton, thermoplastic elastomer, or spring 41.
In the rest of the embodiments shown in FIG. 4 through FIG. 8, when the main body 1 of the input device is to be moved from its initial position to a desired position, a force is exerted by the user. The weight buffer 3 will retard the motion of the main body 1 of the input device with its inertia as if a resisting force were applied to the main body 1. Thus, the impact force which possibly impacts the user's wrist when moving the main body 1 is alleviated by the retarding effect of the weight buffer 3 and the user does not need to exert a large effort to stop the main body 1 at a predetermined position or when a sudden change of moving direction is required, thereby successfully preventing injury to the user's wrist. In these embodiments, the elastic buffer 4 plays an important roll as an absorbent to the impact energy of the weight buffer 3 arriving at the terminal of the slide track 2 so as to protect the slide track 2 from being damaged. As described above, all the slide tracks 2 are disposed in a way such that their longitudinal axes along the main body 1 of the input device are in parallel, perpendicular, or even intersected at an arbitrary angle with each other so as to allow the main body 1 of the input device to move freely in any desired direction.
Although the description above contains many examples, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustration of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given.
Patent Application
20070273639
