JP2004085845A - Dial device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a dial by which a more excellent click operational feeling is obtained in equipment having the dial. <P>SOLUTION: An operation dial 1a and a click cam 2 are coupled through a dial shaft 1b, and pivotally supported to freely rotate by a shaft hole bored on the housing 3 of equipment having the dial. Supporting structure is provided inside the housing 3 so that elastic force nearly in a perpendicular direction to the shaft 1b with respect to the acting surface of a click cam plate 2 may be given to a spherical contact 4 by an elastic body 5, and constituted so that the contact may smoothly nearly reciprocatively and linearly move along the shape of the respective cam acting angles of the click cam when the click cam plate 2 is rotated with the rotation of the dial 1a. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device such as a mobile phone or a camera which is small and particularly operated with one hand, and more particularly to a dial device which is arranged so as to perform a function switching operation or an adjustment operation using a belly of an index finger above a grip of the camera. It relates to improvement of operation feeling.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a dial-shaped setting member has been used for setting various information for photographing of a camera and switching functions. 2. Description of the Related Art In a small camera or the like, a dial device that rotates so as to rub with one finger in a crown shape has been put to practical use as a method of switching functions.
[0003]
In addition to this, a dial device has been put into practical use as a method for switching functions in small devices and the like, in which most of the functions are put in the main body, a slightly arcuate portion is exposed outside the main body, and rotated as if rubbing with one finger. ing.
[0004]
There are other forms such as a lever type dial device with a protruding operation part, but a dial that rotates from one side with respect to the rotation axis with the belly of the finger differs in the force applied when bending and extending the finger, so click However, there were many problems such as a feeling of being hard, and the momentum being over the target position, which hindered quick and accurate operation.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation state of a camera having a dial device to which the present invention is applied. Dial A is a mode dial for setting various modes, dial B is a shutter dial used when shutter speed is prioritized, and dial C is a setting dial for changing a set value in each mode. In this case, the dial B is operated with the thumb and the dial C is operated with the index finger to perform photographing. In the conventional camera, the click strength in the rotation direction was equal, so that the operation torque felt by the finger when operating with one finger was uncomfortable due to the rotation direction. Was.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problem, in the present invention, at least one contact provided with an elastic force and at least two or more point-symmetrically arranged rotations about the center of the rotation axis that generates a click, and the reverse rotation thereof. The cam characteristics are set separately for each rotation direction so that different click actions can be obtained for forward rotation and reverse rotation by using cam elements that have different inclination angles and perform different load actions. Another object of the present invention is to provide a dial device capable of intuitively operating the dial with one finger by changing each click load.
[0007]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
In the dial device of the present invention, for example, the click is set strongly by increasing the inclination of the cam acting in the forward rotation, and the click is set weaker by decreasing the inclination of the cam acting in the reverse rotation. With this configuration, the rotation direction is set so that the rotation direction is easy and the rotation can be easily controlled with one finger, so that the rotation direction is set to the normal direction and the other direction is set to the reverse direction. Improve.
[0008]
【Example】
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0009]
FIG. 1 is a sectional view and a main part plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, an operation dial 1a and a click cam 2 are connected by a dial shaft 1b, and are rotatably supported by a shaft hole formed in a housing 3 of a device having a dial. A spherical contact 4 represented by a sphere in the figure is provided inside the housing 3 by an elastic body 5 represented by a compression coil spring in the figure, and an elastic force is applied to the action surface of the click cam plate 2 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the dial shaft 1b. The housing 3 is provided with a support structure so that the click cam plate 2 rotates along with the rotation of the dial 1a, and smoothly moves along the cam action angle shapes of P and Q shown in FIG. 2 of the cam. The contact is configured to make a substantially reciprocating linear motion.
[0010]
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion X in FIG. 1. The structure of the dial device of the present invention will be described in more detail.
[0011]
In the drawing, the cam surfaces 6 and 7 are with respect to an axis passing through the center of the rotation shaft. The pair of cams have different angles P and Q, respectively, and the pair of cams are arranged around the rotation angle range or the entire circumference of the dial.
[0012]
With this mechanism, for example, when the click is set strongly by increasing the inclination of the cam acting in the forward rotation, and the click is set weaker by decreasing the inclination of the cam acting in the reverse rotation, the force is applied by one finger. By setting the rotation direction that has a margin and facilitates the rotation control to the normal rotation and the other to the reverse rotation, it is possible to eliminate the uncomfortable feeling of the click torque of the dial device and to improve the operation accuracy.
[0013]
FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention in which a cam is formed by piercing a hole radially with respect to the center of rotation.
[0014]
The operation dial 8a, the cam plate 9a fixed inside the operation dial 8a and the dial shaft 8b are pivotally supported, and the spherical contact 11 and an elastic body 12 represented by a compression coil spring in the drawing for applying elastic force thereto are arranged in parallel with the dial shaft 8b. And a device housing 10a having at least one vertical hole 10b for guiding. In particular, the click hole 9b formed in the cam plate 9a is symmetrical with respect to the rotation direction in the conventional click hole (9c in FIG. 5), but the rotation direction in the click hole (9b in FIG. 4). When the advancing direction of the hole end face of the cam plate 9a contacts the spherical contact 11 at an angle other than a right angle to the spherical contact 11, the running angles R and S of the spherical contact 11 become R ≠ S (in the figure). By setting R> S), for example, the click can be set strongly by increasing the inclination of the cam acting in the forward rotation. When the click is weakened by reducing the inclination of the cam that acts in the reverse rotation, the rotation direction is set to normal rotation with one finger and sufficient rotation for easy rotation control, and the other to reverse rotation. By doing so, it is possible to eliminate the discomfort of the click torque of the dial device and at the same time to improve the accuracy of the operation.
[0015]
FIG. 6 is another embodiment of the present invention using a crown-shaped cam.
[0016]
An operation dial 13a and a cam portion 13b integrally formed in an annular shape inside the operation dial 13a are supported by a shaft hole formed in the device housing 15a by a dial shaft 13c, and two or more bosses provided on the housing surface. The click spring plate 14 positioned at 15b slidably and elastically abuts the cam portion 13b. Since the cam portion 13b is set at different angles U and T so as to be asymmetrical with respect to the rotation direction, this mechanism increases the click by increasing the inclination of the cam acting in the forward rotation, for example. When the click is set weakly by reducing the inclination of the cam that acts in the reverse rotation, when there is a margin in the force with one finger, the rotation direction that is easy to control the rotation is set to the normal rotation, and the other is set to the reverse rotation. By setting so that it is possible to eliminate the discomfort of the click torque of the dial device, it is possible to improve the operation accuracy.
[0017]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in a device to which the dial device of the present invention is applied, the dial can be accurately turned with one finger, and the reliability of the operation is improved. Also, the present invention can be used for a dial having a secondary input function of moving the dial shaft in the thrust or radial direction, and the outer periphery of the dial is mostly hidden inside a device on which the dial is mounted or a protruding operation. It may be a lever type dial device having a section.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view and a plan view of a main part showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion X in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cutaway perspective view of an operation dial according to another embodiment of the present invention. .
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a click hole of the cam plate of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a plan view of a click hole showing a conventional example of the cam plate of FIG. 3;
FIG. 6 is another embodiment of the present invention using a crown-shaped cam.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation state of a camera having a dial device.
[Explanation of symbols]
1a. Operation dial 1b. Dial axis 2. Click cam 3. Case 4. Spherical contact 5. Compression coil spring 6. Cam surface 7. Cam surface 8a. Operation dial 8b. Dial shaft 9a. Cam plate 9b. Click hole 9c. Click hole 10a. Case 10b. Vertical hole 11. Spherical contact 12. Elastic body 13a. Operation dial 13b. Cam portion 13c. Dial shaft 14. Click spring plate 15a. Case 15b. boss

Claims (2)

In a dial device that operates the outer peripheral portion of the dial from one side with the pad of a finger among devices having a dial, setting means for setting a click torque of the dial device to different torques in forward rotation and reverse rotation is provided. Characteristic dial device. 2. The dial device according to claim 1, wherein the setting means for setting the click torque to different torques in the forward rotation and the reverse rotation is a combination of an elastic member and a cam.

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