JP2558498B2 - Hinge structure using a torsion bar - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a hinge structure used in an opening / closing device in which a rotating body rotates with respect to a fixed body via an axis.

[Prior Art] As an opening / closing device of this type, there is one in which a rotating body rotates about a horizontal axis or a vertical axis with respect to a fixed body.

An example of the rotating body that rotates around a horizontal axis is an upper unit that rotates with respect to a lower unit (fixed body) when a paper jam occurs in a copying machine or a printer, and a rotating body that rotates about a vertical axis is a gate unit. An example is an open / close door or an open / close lid in a cabinet.

When these locks are unlocked, they are normally opened or closed automatically by a biasing means such as a spring.

Moreover, this operating range was within a narrow range of less than 90 ° from the horizontal state in the case of a rotating body that rotates about a horizontal axis. That is, in the case of a copying machine, the upper unit is opened about 30 ° with respect to the lower unit and hands are put from the side to perform maintenance such as clearing paper jams.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional switchgear having the rotating body that rotates around the horizontal axis as described above, maintenance work is difficult because the opening angle of the rotating body is small, and only maintenance work from the side can be performed. However, there is a problem that there are restrictions on the mechanism of the copying machine, the printer, and the like.

Therefore, the rotating body is designed to have a rotating range of more than 90 ° from the horizontal state, that is, a rotating range extending over two quadrants, and after the rotating body is opened, paper jam is cleared from the upper part or maintenance such as parts replacement is performed. It was also considered to do the work. However, in this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the self-weight torque (W) of the rotating body 100 acts in the closing direction of the rotating body 100 in the front half of the rotation as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3C, the rotary body 100 acts in the opening direction. Therefore, since the acting direction of the self-weight torque of the rotating body 100 is completely opposite in the front half and the rear half, the urging means such as a conventional spring in which the acting direction of the torque is unidirectional is used, Even if the self-weight torque W of the rotating body 100 is balanced in the minute, the rotating body 100 will be in the half after the rotation.
Since the self-weight torque W of (1) is in the same direction as the urging direction of the urging means, there is a problem in that the rotating body 100 operates shockably. Incidentally, (b) in FIG. 4 represents a neutral state in which the turning moment of the turning body 100 becomes zero.

Further, a biasing means such as a spring having a one-way action is also used in an opening / closing device having a rotating body which rotates via a vertical axis, and the rotating body is impacted by the biasing means when the lock is released. There was a problem that it opened or closed automatically.

As described above, the conventional opening / closing device uses the urging means, but since the urging means operates in only one direction,
It was impossible to eliminate the above-mentioned shocking operation of the rotating body only by the biasing means.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances,
The purpose of the hinge is to provide the urging means itself of the rotating body with a function of alleviating the above-mentioned shocking operation, and to enable the rotating body to rotate about a horizontal axis over a two-quadrant range from a horizontal state to a vertical state. It is in providing structure.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides that, in the front half of rotation of the rotating body, one end hook portion is in contact with the first movable locking piece driven by the rotating body and the other end hook portion. A second fixing member in which the one end hook portion is fixed to the fixed body in the rear half of the rotation of the rotating body after contacting the first fixed locking piece fixed to the fixed body. A torsion bar that abuts on the stop piece and the other end hook portion abuts on a second movable locking piece that follows the rotating body to urge the rotating body in a direction opposite to the urging direction. And

Further, the rotating body is rotatable with respect to the fixed body via a horizontal axis or a vertical axis.

Further, the rotating body may have a rotating range extending from the horizontal state to the vertical state around the horizontal axis in two quadrants.

[Operation] Since the present invention is configured as described above, the biasing direction of the torsion bar that biases the rotating body acts in the opposite direction between the front half and the rear half of the rotating body. This urging action of the torsion bar prevents the turning body from rapidly turning toward the turning end point, and in particular, allows the turning body around the horizontal axis to turn in the above two quadrants.

[Examples] Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described based on illustrated examples. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an opening / closing device having a rotating body that rotates about a horizontal axis.

 FIG. 1 is an operation explanatory view of the switchgear.

The opening / closing device has a rotation range over two quadrants in which the base end side of the rotating body 1 is pivotally supported 3 by the fixed body 2 and the rotating body 1 goes from the horizontal state A to the backward inclined state D beyond the vertical state. There is.

The hinge structure according to the present invention constitutes a pivotal support portion of the opening / closing device.

FIG. 2 shows a hinge device 4 having the hinge structure.
The hinge device 4 includes a fixed frame 5 having a U-shaped cross section and a long groove,
The plate-shaped movable frames 8 and 9 pivotally supported at both ends of the fixed frame 5 through horizontal shafts 6 and 7, and the fixed frame 5 described above.
It is composed of two torsion bars 10 and 11 mounted inside.

The movable frames 8 and 9 have a first movable locking piece 8 formed by bending inward while maintaining an appropriate interval in the movable direction of the frames.
a and 9a and second movable locking pieces 8b and 9b are provided, respectively. The first movable locking pieces 8a, 9a are the second movable locking pieces 8a.
It is provided at a distance that is centrifugal compared to a and 9b. Barrier plates 12 and 13 that close the groove of the frame are provided at both ends of the fixed frame 5, and horizontal shafts 6 and 7 that pivotally support the movable frames 8 and 9 are fixed to the outer surfaces of the barrier plates 12 and 13. Has been done. Weirboard 12,1
The 3 is provided at its top portion with first fixed locking pieces 12a, 13a bent inwardly. The heights of the first fixed locking pieces 12a, 13a are set so as not to collide with the second movable locking pieces 8b, 9b when the movable frames 8, 9 rotate. Further, the frame upper edge portions near both ends of the fixed frame 5 are formed in a two-step shape of a low step portion and a high step portion, and the high step portion becomes the second fixed locking pieces 15a, 15b, and the low step portion is formed. The portions are stopper portions 14a and 14b.

Each of the two torsion bars 10 and 11 has one end hook portion 10a, 11a formed to be slightly longer on one end side and the other end hook portion 10b, 11b formed to be slightly shorter on the other end side. It is provided. The one end hook portions 10a, 11a of the torsion bars 10, 11 are bent so as not to interfere with the other end hook portions 11b, 10b of the other torsion bars 10, 11 after mounting. And these two torsion bars 10,1
1 is mounted in the groove of the fixed frame 5 so that its one end side and the other end side are opposite to each other. At this time, the hooks on both ends of the torsion bars 10 and 11 are attached to the first fixed locking pieces 12a and 1a.
The torsion bar 10 is positioned between 3a and the second fixed locking pieces 15a and 15b, and the one end hook portion 10a of the torsion bar 10 is movable inside the first movable locking piece 8a of the movable frame 8 and the other end hook portion 10b is movable. The torsion bar 11 is attached to the inside of the second movable locking piece 9b of the frame 9 so as to come into contact therewith.
a is inside the first movable locking piece 9a of the movable frame 9, and the other end hook portion 11b is the second movable locking piece 8b of the movable frame 8.
It is attached by abutting each inside. And
The torsion bars 10 and 11 are mounted in the groove of the fixed frame 5 by sandwiching the two inner shaft portions of the hook portions at both ends with synthetic resin blocks 16 and 17 that are divided into two parts, one above the other so that they do not interfere with each other. Has been done.

In the free state of the hinge device 4 configured as above, the movable frames 8 and 9 bring the hook portions of the torsion bars 10 and 11 into the abutting state as described above, and respectively move the first fixed locking pieces 12a and 13a. The second fixed locking pieces 15a and 15b of the fixed frame 5 are rotatable in the same direction.

In order to mount the hinge device 4 on the opening / closing device shown in FIG. 1, the fixed frame 5 is fixed to the fixed body 2 and the movable frames 8 and 9 are fixed to both side walls of the movable body 1 in the above-mentioned free state. . By doing so, the first movable locking pieces 8a, 9a and the second movable locking pieces 8b, 9b follow the rotating body 1.

Next, the operation of the hinge device 4 thus mounted on the opening / closing device will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the movable frame 8 side portion, but the movable frame 9 side portion operates in the same manner.

The hinge device 4 shown in FIGS. 3 (a), (b), (c) and (d) is A, B, C and D of the rotating body 1 shown in FIG. 1, respectively.
Corresponding to the state of.

First, the hinge device 4 is attached to the opening / closing device by positioning the rotating body 1 between the B state and the C state shown in FIG. During this time, the hinge device 4 is in a state in which the torsion torque is slightly applied to the torsion bars 10 and 11. Then, from this state, the rotating body 1 is closed, that is, from the B state in FIG.
To bring it into a state, an external force may be applied to the rotating body 1 to rotate the rotating body 1 in the same direction. At the time of this rotation, the other end hook portions 10b and 11b of the torsion bars 10 and 11 are respectively engaged with the first fixed locking pieces 12a and 1a.
While abutting against 3a, co-rotation with the rotating body 1 is restricted,
The one end hook portions 10a, 11a are pushed by the first movable locking pieces 8a, 9a driven by the rotating body 1 to rotate, whereby torsion torques are accumulated in the torsion bars 10, 11 (see FIG. )
reference).

Therefore, in the fully closed state, the rotating body 1 is biased by the torsion bars 10 and 11 in the direction of the arrow α shown in FIG.

In addition, the rotating body 1 is moved from the free state to the opening direction, that is, the first direction.
To change from the C state to the D state in the figure, it is sufficient to apply an external force to the rotating body 1 to rotate it in the same direction. At the time of this rotation, the one end hook portions 10a, 11a of the torsion bars 10, 11 come into contact with the second fixed locking pieces 15a, 15b, respectively, to restrict co-rotation with the rotating body 1, and at the other end hooks. When the portions 10b and 11b are pushed and rotated by the second movable locking pieces 8b and 9b that follow the rotating body 1, torsion torque is accumulated in the torsion bars 10 and 11 (Fig. 3 (d)). reference).

The rotating body 1 is provided with the other end hook portions 10b and 11b of the torsion bars 10 and 11 and stopper portions 14a and 1a provided on the fixed frame 5.
By contacting 4b and restricting further rotation, the fully opened state shown in FIG.

Therefore, in the fully open state, the rotating body 1 is biased by the torsion bars 10 and 11 in the direction of the arrow β shown in FIG.

Incidentally, in FIG. 3, θ ₀ , θ ₁ , θ ₂ and θ ₃ respectively indicate the rotation angles of the rotary body 1 from the fully closed state.

Here, the torque of the torsion bar 10, 11 is designed to exceed the automatic torque rotating member 1 between the rotation angle theta ₀ through? ₁ (between the first diagram A-B) the rotary body 1, times The torque is designed to be substantially equal to the own-weight torque of the rotating body 1 between the rotating angles θ _{2 to} θ ₃ of the moving body 1 (between C and D in FIG. 1). Between the rotation angles θ _{1 and} θ ₂ (between B and C in FIG. 1), a slight torque is generated in the torsion bars 10 and 11 as described above.

According to the above design, by unlocking the rotating body 1 in the fully closed state, the rotating body 1 is automatically rotated by the repulsive force of the torsion bars 10 and 11 to the angle θ ₁ . Subsequent rotations rotate from the angles θ ₁ to θ ₂ by applying an external force to the rotating body 1, but the rotation at this time reduces the self-weight torque (rotational moment) of the rotating body 1. Since it has a small force, it is possible with a small force. Further, the rotation from the angle θ ₂ to the angle θ ₃ cancels the self-weight torque of the rotating body 1 and the torque of the torsion bars 10 and 11, and it is possible to stop at any position and fully open with a small external force. It can be rotated to the state. Therefore, the rotating body 1 can be smoothly moved without any shocking operation at the time of the opening operation.

As described above, the hinge structure according to the present invention is provided with two hinges about the horizontal axis.
In the front half of rotation (θ ₀ → θ ₁ ), a biasing force in the α direction against the own-body torque of the rotary body 1 is applied to the rotary body 1 that rotates in the range of the quadrant, and the half after rotation ( θ ₂ → θ ₃ )
In, the biasing force in the β direction opposite to the α direction against the weight torque of the rotating body 1 is applied. This applies not only to the above-described embodiment of the rotating body around the horizontal axis but also to the rotating body around the vertical axis, and the biasing force in the opening direction in the front half of the rotation acts on the rear half of the rotation. The urging force acting in the direction opposite to the urging force is used to alleviate, and a smooth opening operation can be ensured without a shocking opening operation.

In the above-described embodiment, two torsion bars are used in order to eliminate the bias of the biasing force with respect to the rotating body. However, if the swinging body is light and the bias of the biasing force can be ignored, one torsion bar is used. The same applies to the torsion bar.

Although the movable locking piece is provided on the movable frame of the hinge device, it may be provided on the rotating body itself, or the fixed locking piece may be provided on the fixed body itself without being provided on the fixed frame of the hinge device. .

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION Since the present invention is configured as described above, biasing forces in opposite directions act on the front half and the rear half of the rotation range of the rotating body. For this reason, the biasing force for the latter half acts on the turning weight of the rotating body for the latter half or the rotation speed of the rotating body that is rotated by the biasing force for the first half, and the shocking opening operation is suppressed. This makes it possible for the first time to rotate the rotating body around the horizontal axis in a two-quadrant range that exceeds the horizontal state to the vertical state, and secures a sufficient opening angle of the rotating body, for example, a copying machine. It is possible to improve maintenance work efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation explanatory view of an opening / closing device around a horizontal axis provided with a hinge structure of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a hinge device having the hinge structure as above, (a) is a plan view, and (b) is a part. A broken side view, (C) is a left side view, and FIG. 3 is III of FIG. 2 (A).
-I shows a cross-sectional view taken along line III, (a) is a state diagram corresponding to a fully closed state of the switchgear, (b), (c) is a state diagram when the biasing force is not involved in the rotating body of the switchgear (d) Is a state diagram corresponding to the fully opening of the switchgear, FIG. 4 (a),
(B) and (C) are operation explanatory views of a conventional opening / closing device in which the rotating body has a rotating range extending in two quadrants around the horizontal axis. 1 ... Rotating body, 2 ... Fixed body, 4 ... Hinge device, 10,11 ... Torsion bar.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first fixed locking piece in which a hook portion of one end is in contact with a first movable locking piece driven by the rotary body and a hook portion of the other end is fixed to a fixed body in a front half of rotation of the rotary body. And the second end hook portion abuts on the second fixed locking piece fixed to the fixed body in the rear half of the turning body while the second end hook portion is turned. A hinge structure comprising a torsion bar that abuts a second movable locking piece that follows and biases the rotating body in a direction opposite to the biasing direction. 2. The hinge structure according to claim 1, wherein the rotating body is rotatable with respect to the fixed body via a horizontal axis or a vertical axis. 3. The hinge structure according to claim 1, wherein the rotating body has a rotating range around a horizontal axis extending in two quadrants from a horizontal state to a vertical state.