JP2001330877A - Rotation connecting mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the mutual contact of connecting members and to prevent malfunction caused by noise or electromagnetic induction by stabilizing the action of the connecting member. SOLUTION: A pair of hollow rotating members 7 and 8 to which a camera main body part and a camera lens part are attached is rotatably coupled, and the camera main body part and the camera lens part are electrically connected through a flat cable 9 housed inside the rotating members in this rotation connecting mechanism 20. Then, a spiral partition 21 for guiding the cable 9 is formed in the member 8. When a pair of rotating members 7 and 8 is relatively rotated, the cable 9 is guided by the partition 21 in the rotating member 8 even when the cable 9 is loosened in a direction where it is spread in the rotating members 7 and 8 or contracted in a winding direction. Therefore, the action of the cable 9 is stabilized, and the mutual contact of the cables 9 is prevented. Thus, the malfunction caused by the noise or the electromagnetic induction is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary connection mechanism used for an electronic device such as an electronic camera.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in an electronic camera, as shown in FIG. 5, a camera lens unit 2 is rotatably mounted on one side surface (right side surface in the figure) of a camera body unit 1 so that a photographer can communicate with a subject. The photographing surface of the camera lens unit 2 is pointed at a landscape or a person, or the photographer rotates the camera lens unit 2 with respect to the camera body unit 1 so that the photographing surface of the camera lens unit 2 is directed to the photographer himself. Some are configured so that they can shoot themselves or themselves and others. In this case, a viewfinder 3 made of a liquid crystal display device is provided on the rear surface of the camera body 1, that is, a surface located on the photographer side, and a shutter button 4 is provided on the upper surface of the camera body 1. . Further, inside the camera lens unit 2, a lens unit 5 is provided so as to be exposed on a photographing surface of the camera lens unit 2, for example, a front surface opposite to a photographer.

[0003] Such an electronic camera has a camera body 1
And the camera lens unit 2 are rotatably mounted in a state where they are electrically connected by the rotation connection mechanism 6. As shown in FIGS. 6 to 9, the rotary connection mechanism 6 includes a pair of hollow rotary members 7 and 8 for rotatably mounting the camera body 1 and the camera lens unit 2. The rotating members 7 and 8 are rotatably connected to each other, and a flat cable 9 for connection is housed therein in a spirally wound state, and the camera body 1 and the camera lens unit are housed by the housed flat cable 9. 2 are electrically connected to each other.

That is, of the pair of rotating members 7 and 8,
One (left side in FIG. 6) rotating member 7 is attached to the camera body 1, and the other (right side in FIG. 6) rotating member 8 is attached to the camera lens unit 2. In this state, a pair of rotating members 7 , 8 are rotatably connected to one another.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the pair of rotating members 7 and 8 have cylindrical outer wall portions 7b and 8b formed at respective peripheral edges of mutually facing surfaces of the disk portions 7a and 8a. It has a structure. 7 (a) and 7 (b), a shaft 10 is provided at the center of the left rotating member 7 so as to protrude in the same direction as the outer wall 7b. 10, a slit-shaped first connection hole 11 is provided in the front and back direction of the disk portion 7a (left and right direction in FIG. 7A) in a state of being exposed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 10. . As shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, a shaft fitting in which the tip of the shaft 10 of the left rotating member 7 is rotatably fitted to the center of the disk portion 8 a of the right rotating member 8. As shown in FIG. 8A, a rectangular second connection hole 13 is provided at a predetermined position of the disk portion 8a, that is, at a part near the periphery of the disk portion 8a. Is provided.

In such a rotary connection mechanism 6, for example,
As shown in FIG. 9, the flat cable 9 is stored in a spirally wound state in the left rotating member 7 attached to the camera body 1, and the center end 9 a of the flat cable 9 is attached to the shaft 10. The flat cable 9 is inserted into the first connection hole 11 provided and introduced into the camera body 1.
Is inserted into the second connection hole 13 of the right rotating member 8 attached to the camera lens unit 2 to be introduced into the camera lens unit 2. Thereby, the camera body 1 and the camera lens 2 are electrically connected by the flat cable 9. In this state, the rotating members 7 and 8 are butted against each other, and the outer wall 7b of the left rotating member 7 is rotatably fitted to the outside of the outer wall 8b of the right rotating member 8, and the shaft of the rotating member 7 is rotated. A pair of rotating members 7 and 8 are rotatably attached to each other by rotatably fitting the distal end of the portion 10 to the shaft fitting hole 12 of the rotating member 8.

[0006]

By the way, in such a rotary connection mechanism 6, when the camera lens unit 2 is rotated with respect to the camera body 1, the rotation member 8 is rotated about the shaft 10 in the rotation member 7. Rotate relatively, and the flat cable 9 spirally wound with this rotation shrinks in the direction of winding around the shaft portion 10 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 9, or shown by a solid line in FIG. To loosen in the direction expanding toward the outer periphery side. At this time, since the flat cable 9 is disposed in the pair of rotating members 7 and 8 in a free state, the flat cable 9 does not always perform a uniform deformation operation, but may partially deform significantly. For this reason, the operation of the flat cable 9 is unstable, and the flat cables 9 may overlap and come into contact with each other. In such a case, since the signal lines are close to each other, there is a problem that a malfunction occurs due to noise or electromagnetic induction due to electromagnetic waves from the signal lines.

An object of the present invention is to stabilize the operation of a connecting member such as a flat cable, prevent contact between the connecting members, and prevent malfunction due to noise, electromagnetic induction or the like.

[0008]

According to the present invention, a pair of hollow rotary members for mounting an apparatus main body and an apparatus attachment are rotatably connected to each other, and a connecting member is wound around the pair of rotary members. Stored in a state, one end of the connection member is led out from the rotation center side of one of the rotating members to one of the device main body and the device attachment portion, and the other end of the connection member is the other end. In the rotation connection mechanism that is led out from the peripheral portion side of the rotating member to one of the device body and the device attachment portion, thereby electrically connecting the device body and the device attachment portion, A spiral partition for guiding the connection member is provided in the rotating member.

According to the present invention, when the pair of rotating members relatively rotate with the relative rotation of the device main body and the device attachment portion, the connecting member housed in the pair of rotating members. Even if it shrinks in the direction of winding or loosens in the direction expanding toward the outer periphery, the connecting member is guided by the spiral partition provided in the pair of rotating members, so that the operation of the connecting member It is possible to stabilize, and it is possible to prevent the connecting members from overlapping and coming into contact with each other by the spiral partition, whereby it is possible to prevent erroneous operation due to noise or electromagnetic induction caused by the contact between the connecting members. In this case, as described in claim 2,
Since the connection member is a flat cable in which a plurality of signal lines are arranged in parallel, even if the number of signal lines is large, the flat cables do not overlap and come into contact with each other. And malfunctions due to electromagnetic induction or the like can be prevented.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a rotary connection mechanism according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
The same parts as those in the conventional example shown in FIGS. The rotary connection mechanism 20 has a structure in which a spiral partition 21 is provided in a pair of rotary members 7 and 8, and has almost the same structure as the conventional example except for this. That is, as shown in FIG. 2A, the inner surface (the left side surface in FIG. 1) of the disk portion 8a of the right rotating member 8 shown in FIG. A spiral partition 21 centering on the hole 12 is formed. This partition 21
The outer wall provided at the peripheral edge of the disk portion 8a extends from the vicinity of the shaft engagement hole 12 provided at the center of the disk portion 8a, that is, from the vicinity of the upper portion of the shaft engagement hole 12 in FIG. The portion 8b is formed in a spiral shape around the shaft fitting hole 12 toward the outer wall portion 8b located near the second connection hole 13 of the disk portion 8a. In this case, the height of the partition 21 is substantially the same as that of the outer wall portion 8b as shown in FIG. 2B.

Next, the case of assembling such a rotary connection mechanism 20 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 3, the flat cable 9 is spirally arranged along the partition 21 between the spiral partitions 21 of the right rotating member 8.
Then, the end 9 b on the outer peripheral side of the flat cable 9 is inserted into the second connection hole 13 provided in the disk portion 8 a of the rotating member 8 and introduced into the camera lens portion 2. Further, the end 9a on the center side of the flat cable 9 is inserted into the first connection hole 11 provided in the shaft portion 10 of the left rotating member 7 attached to the camera body 1, and introduced into the camera body 1. . At this time, the first connection hole 1 is formed in the outer peripheral surface of the shaft portion 10.
1 is exposed, the end 9a of the flat cable 9
Can be easily inserted into the first connection hole 11 from the outer peripheral surface side of the shaft portion 10. Thus, the camera body 1 and the camera lens 2 are electrically connected by the flat cable 9. In this state, as shown in FIG. 1, the rotating members 7 and 8 are abutted against each other, so that the left outer wall 7b is rotatably fitted to the outside of the right outer wall 8b, and the shaft of the rotating member 7 is rotatable. 10 is rotatably fitted into the shaft fitting hole 12 of the rotating member 8. Thereby, the pair of rotating members 7 and 8 are rotatably attached to each other, and the camera body 1 and the camera lens unit 2 are rotatably attached to each other by the pair of rotating members 7 and 8.

In such a rotary connection mechanism 20, the pair of rotating members 7, 8 also relatively rotate with the relative rotation of the camera body 1 and the camera lens 2. For example, in FIG. 1, the left rotating member 7 attached to the camera body 1 is relatively counterclockwise as shown in FIG. 3 with respect to the right rotating member 8 attached to the camera lens unit 2. , The flat cable 9 is loosened in a direction in which the flat cable 9 expands toward the outer peripheral side. At this time, since the outer surface of the flat cable 9 abuts on the inner surface of the spiral partition 21, the flat cable 9 can be prevented from spreading more than necessary. When the left rotating member 7 attached to the camera body 1 is rotated clockwise relative to the right rotating member 8 attached to the camera lens unit 2 as shown in FIG. The cable 9 shrinks in a direction in which the cable 9 winds around the shaft portion 10. At this time, the inner surface of the flat cable 9 abuts on the outer surface side of the spiral partition wall 21, so that the flat cable 9 can be prevented from shrinking more than necessary.

As described above, according to the rotary connection mechanism 20, the pair of rotary members 7, 8 relatively rotate in accordance with the relative rotation of the camera body 1 and the camera lens 2, and thus, Accordingly, the flat cable 9 is connected to the pair of rotating members 7 and 8.
The flat cable 9 is guided by the spirally formed partition wall 21 in the rotating member 8 even if the flat cable 9 is loosened in the direction of expanding toward the outer peripheral side or contracted in the direction of winding around the shaft portion 10. The operation of the flat cable 9 can be stabilized. In particular, as shown in FIG. 4, when the flat cable 9 contracts in the direction of winding around the shaft portion 10, the spiral cables 21 can prevent the flat cables 9 from overlapping and coming into contact with each other. For this reason, it is possible to prevent malfunctions due to noise or electromagnetic induction caused by contact between the flat cables 9. In this case, in the flat cable 9, a plurality of signal lines are formed parallel to each other in a width direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. As the number of the signal lines increases, noise and electromagnetic induction due to each signal line are more likely to occur. However, since the flat cables 9 do not contact each other due to the spiral partition 21, it is possible to prevent adverse effects such as noise caused by each signal line and malfunction due to electromagnetic induction.

In the above-described embodiment, the spiral partition 21 is formed on the right rotating member 8 attached to the camera lens portion 2 of the pair of rotating members 7 and 8. However, the present invention is not limited to this. A spiral partition 21 centering on the shaft 10 may be formed on the left rotating member 7 attached to the section 1. Further, in the above embodiment, of the pair of rotating members 7 and 8, the left rotating member 7 is attached to the camera body 1 and the right rotating member 8 is attached to the camera lens unit 2. However, the present invention is not limited to this. By arranging the pair of rotating members 7 and 8 to be reversed left and right, one rotating member 7 may be attached to the camera lens unit 2 and the other rotating member 8 may be attached to the camera body 1. In this case, the center end 9 a of the flat cable 9 is connected to the shaft 10 of the rotating member 7.
Through the first connection hole 11 into the camera lens unit 2,
The end 9b on the outer peripheral side of the flat cable 9 may be introduced into the camera body 1 through the second connection hole 13 of the rotating member 8, thereby electrically connecting the camera body 1 and the camera lens unit 2. .

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the flat cable 9 is used as the connection member has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a connection cable having a shape in which a plurality of signal lines are bundled may be used. In the above embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to an electronic camera has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a notebook type word processor, a personal computer, an electronic notebook, an electronic dictionary, etc. The invention can be widely applied to rotatably mounted electronic devices.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, a pair of hollow rotary members for attaching the device main body and the device attachment portion are rotatably connected to each other and housed in the pair of rotary members. In the rotary connection mechanism for electrically connecting the device main body and the device attachment portion by the connection member, by providing a spiral partition that guides the connection member in the rotation member, the device body and the device attachment portion When the pair of rotating members relatively rotate with the relative rotation of the connecting member, even if the connecting member contracts in the winding direction or loosens in the direction expanding toward the outer peripheral side, the spiral in the rotating member Since the connection member is guided by the partition wall, the operation of the connection member can be stabilized, and the connection members can be prevented from overlapping and coming into contact with each other. Malfunction due to noise and electromagnetic induction caused Te can be prevented. In this case, the connection member is a flat cable in which a plurality of signal lines are arranged in parallel, and even if the number of the signal lines is large, the flat cables do not overlap and come into contact with each other. Malfunction due to electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic induction can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a pair of rotating members in one embodiment of a rotating connection mechanism of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show a rotating part member on the right side of FIG. 1, wherein FIG. 2A is a left side view thereof, and FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a state in which the flat cable is loosened in a direction in which the flat cable spreads toward the outer peripheral side in the internal structure of the rotary connection mechanism of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which the flat cable is contracted in a winding direction in the internal structure of the rotary connection mechanism of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an external perspective view of the electronic camera.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a pair of rotating members of a conventional rotary connection mechanism applied to the electronic camera of FIG. 5;

7A and 7B show the left rotating member of FIG. 6, wherein FIG. 7A is a sectional view thereof and FIG. 7B is a right side view thereof.

FIGS. 8A and 8B show a rotating member on the right side of FIG. 6, wherein FIG. 8A is a left side view thereof, and FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an operation state of a flat cable in the internal structure of the rotary connection mechanism of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Camera main body part 2 Camera lens part 7, 8 Rotating member 9 Flat cable 9a, 9b End part of flat cable 10 Shaft part 11 First connection hole 12 Shaft fitting hole 13 Second connection hole 20 Rotation connection mechanism 21 Partition wall

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pair of hollow rotary members for mounting an apparatus main body and an apparatus accessory section are rotatably connected to each other, and a connection member is housed in the pair of rotary members in a wound state.
One end of the connecting member is led out from the rotation center side of one of the rotating members to one of the device main body and the device attachment portion, and the other end of the connecting member is around the other rotating member. A part of the device main body and the device attachment portion is led out to the other one of the device side, thereby a rotary connection mechanism that electrically connects the device body and the device attachment portion, in the pair of rotating members, A rotary connection mechanism provided with a spiral partition for guiding the connection member. 2. The rotary connection mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the connection member is a flat cable in which a plurality of signal lines are arranged in parallel.