AU664793B2 - Article housing case - Google Patents

Description

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664793

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Applicant: NIHON~ K1ZNKO ZOUSHIN KEKXYUKAI CORPORATION Invention Title: ARTICLE HOUSING CASE 0 0* 0 00..

0**0 000* The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: M I

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SPECIFICATION

TITLE OF THE INVENTION Article housing case Technical Field The present invention relates to a handy article housing case, and in particular to an article housing case with a handle suitable for housing a heavy article such as a magnetic treating device.

Background Art Heretofore, as such an article housing case, there has existed the one in which a locking mechanism for keeping a closed state is provided on an open/close member of the operable, portable case. In said portable case, a cover member is openably mounted to a body member having a proper depth, and a space enough to house an article is formed between the body member and the cover member. Said locking mechanism comprises a pair of locking fixtures engagable with each other,in which with a method such as machine screw fixing, one locking fixture is mounted to the body member, while the other locking fixture is mounted to the cover member.

I le However, such a locking mechanism is complex in structure and trouble-prone, and requires much labor to produce, so that the cost to produce such an article housing case is expensive. Each locking fixture composing the locking mechanism is fixedly mounted to the body member -i.d tLh cover member with a method such as machine screw fi ing, so that it requires much labor to mount and is prone to be dismounted and thus missed. Since it is made of a metal, a problem also exists in that corrosior occurs.

Disclosure of the Invention According to the p cesent invention there is provided an article housing case comprising: a portable case including a pair of case half members hinged together to facilitate opening and closing of said case, said case half members arranged so as to face each other when said case is in a closed state to define a space for housing an article; a handle fixed to an end face of said case; a locking mechanism disposed on each side of said handle on said end face, each locking mechanism comprising a guide protrusion provided on an end face of one case half member, a slide leaf slidably engaging said guide Soo. protrusion for reciprocal sliding thereon, an engaging protrusion formed on an end face of the other case half 25 member, and first and second stopper means for limiting reciprocal sliding of said slide leaf in opposite •directions; whereby when said case is in said closed state, each slide leaf can slide, in one direction along its guide protrusion to abut said first stopper means whereat said 30 slide leaf engages its corresponding engaging protrusion to oe o' lock said case in said closed state, and wherein each slide leaf can be slid in an opposite direction along its guide protrusion to abut said second stopper means whereat said slide leaf disengages its corresponding engaging protrusion to unlock said case from said closed state.

S2 According to the present invention, when the slide leaves engage with the engaging protrusion members, a lock,inr state is obtained, while when the slide leaves disengage from the engaging protrusion members, a locking state is released, whereby a locking mechanism with a simple structure is obtained. This causes the locking mechanism to become trouble free and the production cost of the article housing case to be reduced.

Mounting of the locking mechanism requires no fixed mounting such as machine screw fixing, and there is no probability that the components of the locking mechanism are missed.

Further, using a synthetic resin forming member as a slide leaf allows the locking mechanism as with the case body member to be easily produced and become light in weight and to develop no rust. Also, mounting a stopper to the slide leaf causes the scope of the reciprocation of the

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slide leaf to be controlled, so that the slide leaf is not released from the guide protrusion member.

Brief Description of Drawings Fig. 1 is a front view showing the appearance of an article housing case which is one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view showing the appearance of the article housing case.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the opening state of the article housing case.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the back of a slide leaf.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the slide leaf engages with an engaging protrusion member.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the slide leaf disengages from the engaging protrusion member.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on line A A of Fig.

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on line B B of Fig.

Fig. 9 is an illustrative view showing in a plan view manner the relationship among a guide protrusion member, the engaging protrusion member, and the slide leaf in a locking state.

Fig. 10 is an illustrative view showing in a plan view manner the relationship among the guide protrusion member, the engaging protrusion member, and the slide leaf in an unlocking state.

Best Mode for Carrying out the Invention Figs. 1 through 3 show an article housing case which I U1 is one embodiment of the present invention.

The article housing case comprises a portable case 1 which is formed of a synthetic resin and has a shape similar to a portable luggage and two slide leaves 3, 3 arranged on the upper end face of the portable case 1.

Said portable case 1 has a handle member 2 integrally formed on the central portion of the upper end face, and at the symmetrical positions on the both sides of the handle member 2, there are disposed said slide leaves 3, 3, respectively.

Said portable case I is such that opening faces of a pair of case half members lA, 1B having proper depths are butted against each other to form a space capable of housing an article inside the case, and is formed openably outward as shown in Fig. 3 by fixing of two places of the butt end faces on the side opposite to said handle member 2 with hinges 10, Said handle member 2 comprises handle half members 2A, 2B integrally formed on the case half members 1A, 1B, respectively, and in a closing state in which the opening faces of the case half members 1A, 1B are butted against each other,the handle half members 2A, 2B are overlapped each other to form the handle member 2.

At the position where the each slide leaf 3 of said portable case 1 is disposed, as, shown in Figs. 5 and 6, on the one case half member 1B side a guide protrusion member which the slide leaf 3 reciprocatably engages with, and on the other case half member IA side an. engaging protrusion member 4 which the slide leaf 3 reciprocatably engages with are integrally formed at respective positions of opening edges. Said engaging protrusion member 4 is formed in a manner to have a length about one fifth that of the guide protrusion member 5, and positioned in opposition to the inner end portion of the guide protrusion member Said slide leaf 3 is formed of a synthetic resin as with the portable case 1, and as shown in Fig. 4, on the central portion of the back in the crosswise direction, there is formed a groove 6 between both side walls 11, 12.

The groove 6 is closed at its outer end by an end wall 13, but is opened at its inner end because no end wall exists.

On the central position of the groove 6 in the crosswise direction,there is integrally formed a partition wall 7 shorter than the slide leaf 3, and on both sides. of the partition wall 7,there are formed on one side an engaging groove 8 engaging with the engaging protrusion member 4 and on the other side a guide groove 9 reciprocatably engaging with the guide protrusion, member Fig, 5 shows a. state in which the slide leaf 3 engages with the engaging protrusion member 4, that is, a locking state in which the portable case 1 is not operable, where the guide protrusion member 5 is arranged in said guide groove 9 of the slide leaf 3 and the engaging protrusion member 4 is arranged in said engaging groove 8 of the slide leaf 3.

Fig. 6 shows a state in which the slide leaf 3 disengages from the engaging protrusion member 4, that is, an unlocking state in which the portable case 1 is operable, where the innyer end of the guide protrusion member 5 is escaped from the open end of the guide groove 9 and the whole of the engaging protrusion member 4 is escaped from the open end of the engaging groove 8.

On the outer side faces of said guide protrusion o member 5 and the engaging protrusion member 4, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, there are formed concave grooves 14, extending in the longitudinal direction, while on the inner faces of the both side walls 11, 12 of the slide leaf 3, there are formed protrusion rails 16, 17 slidable engaging with the concave grooves 14, 15, respectively. On the inner side face of the guide protrusion member 5, there is formed a similar concave groove 18, while on the partition :wall 7 of the slide leaf 3, there also is formed a protrusion rail 19 slidable engaging with said concave groove 18, respectively.

Both ends of said partition wall 7 are. terminated at positions behind the inner and outer ends of the slide leaf :1 1 11 3 as shown in Fig. 4; and a distance LI between the inner end of the partition wall 7 and the open end of the slide leaf 3, and distance L2 between the outer end of the partition wall 7 and the end wall 13 of the slide leaf 3 are caused to correspond substantially to a length d of said engaging protrusion member 4.

Figs. 9 and 10 show in a plan view manner the relationship among the guide protrusion member 5, the engaging protrusion member 4, and the slide leaf 3 in the locking and unlocking states. In these Figs., the slide leaf 3 and the partition wall 7 of the slide leaf 3 are indicated with one-dot chain line.

.In the locking state of Fig. 9, the inner end of the partition wall 7 of the slide leaf 3 hits against .an outer end 20 of the engaging protrusion member 4. Therefore, the outer end 20 of the engaging protrusion member 4 functions as a first stopper for controlling the inward movement of the slide leaf 3.

In the unlocking state of Fig. 10, the outer end of 0'"O the partition wall 7 of the slide leaf 3 hits against a protrusion portion 21 integrally formed on the inside of the outer end of the guide protrusion member 5. Therefore, the protrusion portion 21 functions as a second stopper for controlling the outward movement of the slide leaf 3.

In the article housing case having the above-mentioned r composition, when with the portable case 1 closed, the each slide leaf 3 is caused to move inward along the guide protrusion member 5, the each slide leaf 3 engages with the engaging protrusion member 4 to cause the locking state, thereby preventing the case half members 1A, 1B from opening.

When the each slide leaf 3 is caused to move outward along the guide protrusion member 5, the each slide leaf 3 disengages from the engaging protrusion member 4 to cause the unlocking state, thereby allowing one case half member 1B to be opened with respect to the other case half member

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Claims (8)

1. An article housing case comprising: a portable case including a pair of case half members hinged together to facilitate opening and closing of said case, said case half members arranged so as to face each other when said case is in a closed state to define a space for housing an article; a handle fixed to an end face of said case; a locking mechanism disposed on each side of said handle on said end face, each locking mechanism comprising a guidE protrusion provided on an end face of one case half member, a slide leaf slidably engaging said guide protrusion for reciprocal sliding thereon, an engaging protrusion formed on an end face of the other case half member, and first and second stopper means for limiting reciprocal sliding of said slide leaf in opposite directions; whereby when said case is in said closed state, each slide leaf can slide in one direction along its guide protrusion to abut said first stopper means whereat said S: 20 slide leaf engages its corresponding engaging protrusion to lock said case in said closed state, and wherein each slide i'...leaf can be slid in an opposite direction along its guide protrusion to abut said second stopper means whereat said slide leaf disengages its corresponding engaging protrusion to unlock said case from said closed state.

2. An article housing case according to claim 1 wherein each slide leaf further comprises a partition wall for slidably engaging its corresponding guide protrusion.

3. An article housing case according to claim 2 wherein said first s t cpper means comprises an end wall of said engaging protrusin which is arranged to abut one end of said partition wall.

4. An article housing case according to clair 3 wherein said second stopper means comprises a protrusion formed on said guide protrusion and arranged for abutting an opposite end wl4 -oof said partition wall.

5. An article housing according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said handle comprises a first half handle member fixed to the end face of one of said case half members and a second half handle member fixed to the end face of the other case half member, said half handle members arranged so as to overlie each other when said case is in said closed state. 0* 5* SS S S* a. a. 15

6. An article housing case according to any oae of claims 1 to 5, wherein each slide leaf is made of a synthetic resin material.

7. An article housing case according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said portable case is made- from a synthetic resin material.

8. An article housing case substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. DATED THIS 21ST DAY OF AUGUST, NIHON KENKO ZOUSHIN KENKYUKAI CORPORATION By Its Patent Attorneys: GRIFFITH HACK CO. 1995 Fellows Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia S S* I.oRa;~-rsc~-UPI.~R'I ABSTRACT An article h',using case of the present invention comprises a portable case formed of a synthetic resin and slide leaves 3) arranged on the outer end face of the portable case. The portable case is formed openably outward in such a manner that opening faces of a pair of case half members (1A, 1B) are butted against each other and appropriated places of the butt end faces are fixed with hinges (10, 10). On the end face on the opening side of one case half member there are formed inte- grally guide protrusion members with which said slide leaves reciprocatably engage, while on the end face on the opening side of the other case half member (1A), S. there are formed integrally engaging protrusion members 4) which the slide leaves engage with and disen- gage from by the reciprocation of the slide leaves (3 3). a 0000 e