JPH0129656Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a zero return type counter, and in particular provides moderation to the zero return lever to improve the reliability of its operation and the operability of zero return. be.

[Prior art]

2. Description of the Related Art Electrical equipment such as copying machines and other equipment and devices are generally provided with counters for numerically displaying the number of uses, the time of use, and other quantities. This type of counter is configured to perform counting operations using a group of number wheels arranged coaxially to display a multi-digit numerical value and a plurality of shift pinions interposed between the group of number wheels. However, a zero return mechanism is often attached to reset the displayed numbers, that is, to initialize the count. This zero return mechanism mainly consists of a zero return lever that is swingably supported on the counter housing, and a pressing piece that pivotally supports the shift pinion on this lever and that can abut and engage with the number wheel group. are integrally formed. By manually swinging this zero return lever in one direction, the shift pinion is separated from the group of number wheels, while the pressing piece forcibly rotates each number wheel to return to the zero position. By rotating it, a reset operation is performed.

By the way, in this type of counter, the above-mentioned zero return lever is pivotally supported on the counter housing, and a spring is applied to the lever to urge it toward the number wheel group, and when resetting, the lever resists this spring force. The configuration is such that the zero return lever is swung (rotated). For this reason, when the lever is returned to zero, the hand operating the lever does not receive any tactile sensation indicating the return operation, resulting in poor operability such as causing the lever to swing more than necessary, as well as causing undue force to be applied to the lever. There is no risk of damaging it. In addition, since the lever simply uses the spring force to interpose the digit pinion between the number wheels, when a forced rotation force greater than the spring force is applied to the digit wheel, the digit pinion can be moved relatively easily. Otherwise, the reliability of the counting operation will be reduced.

[Summary of the idea]

The present invention provides an engaging portion on the zero return lever, while
An engaging elastic piece that engages with this is provided on the counter housing, and the engagement force between these engaging parts and the engaging elastic piece provides moderation in the swinging direction to the zero return lever. We aim to improve operability by generating a disengagement force during operation and using this as a feeling of operation.
On the other hand, it is possible to obtain a counter that can prevent the shift pinion from coming off due to uncontrolled swinging of the zero return lever, thereby improving its reliability.

〔Example〕

Figures 1 to 3 are overall configuration diagrams of the counter of the present invention, with Figure 1 being a partially exploded perspective view and Figure 2 being a partially exploded perspective view.
3 are a plan view and a cutaway side view. In these figures, a counter 1 includes a base 2 made of a synthetic resin material into a roughly flat plate shape, and a frame 3 made of a metal material shaped into a U-shape in plan, and the base 2 and the frame 3 are integrally combined. It makes up the housing. The base 2 includes an engaging piece 4 for engaging the frame 3, a shaft support portion 5 for a zero return lever (described later), a push button support groove 6, a bullet cam support rod 7, a contact bullet support groove 8, and other protrusions 63, 64. , 65 and holes are formed. In addition, the frame 3 has both side walls 3a, 3
a and a rear wall 3b, and includes an engagement hole 9 that fits into the engagement piece 4 of the base 2 to integrate the base 2 and the frame 3, shaft support holes 10, 11, and an armature support hole 12. It forms a hole. Further, both ends 62 of a distance rod 61 are caulked and fixed between the holes 60, 60 in the frame side walls 3a, 3a. Furthermore, a protrusion 76 for fitting into a case (not shown) is also formed on the outer surface.

A main shaft 13 is supported at both ends in the one shaft support hole 10, and a number wheel group 1 consisting of a plurality of number wheels (seven in this example) is mounted on the main shaft 13.
4 are coaxially mounted. The number wheel group 14 has numbers "0" to "9" written on its circumferential surface in the circumferential direction, and a heart cam 15 is integrally formed on one side thereof. The other number wheels except for the number wheel 16 of the lowest digit on the right side of the figure, that is, the number wheel 17 of the most significant digit on the left side of the figure and the other intermediate number wheels 18, are provided with pin gears 19 on the other side, and pin gears 19 are provided on the other side. High number car 17
A segment gear 20 is provided on a part of the circumference on one side of the other numbered wheels 16 and 18. Furthermore, a ratchet gear 21 is integrally formed on the other side of the lowest numbered wheel 16, and an arc-shaped projection 2 is formed on one side of the highest numbered wheel 17 and on a part of the circumference corresponding to the displayed number "9".
2 protrudes in the axial direction. In addition, main shaft 1
3 has a spring 23 between it and the frame side wall 3a.
A washer 24 is mounted on the shaft, and the shaft position of the number wheel group 14 is regulated by this biasing force.

A zero return lever 25, which is generally U-shaped and biased clockwise by a spring 52, is disposed at the rear of the numerical wheel group 14, and a support shaft 26 protruding from both ends of the lever 25 is connected to the base. 2 shaft support part 5
The zero return lever 25 is supported so as to be able to swing in the vertical direction. A pinion shaft 27 is supported at both ends of the zero return lever 25, and a plurality of (six in this example) shift pinions 28 are pivotally supported by the pinion shaft 27. It goes without saying that these shift pinions 28 are interposed between the number wheels 14, and mesh with the opposing pin gears 19 and segment gears 20 to perform a known shift operation. Furthermore, seven pressing pieces 29 corresponding to the heart cams of each number wheel group 14 are juxtaposed and protrude from the front surface of the zero return lever 25. Furthermore,
The other end of the zero return lever 25 has a sliding contact pin 31 at the tip.
A pole drive lever 30 to which is fixed is provided to protrude upward.

On the other hand, a spool 32 is fixed to the rear wall 3b of the frame 3 at its base end. This spool 32 has a core 33 at the central axis position, and a winding 34 made of thin wire is arranged around the spool 32 to form an electromagnetic structure. A circuit board 35 is integrally fixed to the side of the base end 32a of this spool 32. Components such as a reed switch 36, a diode 37, and a lead wire 66 are attached to the circuit board 35. In particular, the reed switch 36 is connected to the window 3 of the circuit board 35.
5a, and the contact is turned on by the excitation force in the winding 34. Furthermore, the armature support hole 9 is provided in the front position of the spool 32.
One end of the armature 38 made of a piece of ferromagnetic material is supported by the spring 3.
It is adsorbed and moved rearward (to the left in the figure) against the urging force of 9. The spring 39 is hung between a section 38b of the armature 38 and a section 3c of the frame 3.

In addition, other shaft support holes 1 of the frame 3
1 supports a pole shaft 40, into which a pole 41 is loosely inserted at its boss portion 41e. This pawl 41 is formed into a roughly U-shape, and has ratchet pawls 41a at its upper and lower ends that alternately mesh with the ratchet gear 21 of the lowest numeral wheel 16.
41b, and has a slightly larger engagement hole 41c on the lower side of the shaft support, into which the distal end of the armature 38 is inserted and engaged. Therefore, when the armature 38 is reciprocated at its tip 38a in the front-back direction by the excitation force of the winding 34, the tip of the pole 41 is thereby reciprocated up and down, and the upper and lower ratchet claws 41a, 41b
are meshed with the ratchet gear 21 in order, thereby causing it to rotate integrally with the lowest numbered wheel 16 in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure. Further, a tapered groove 41d is formed on the upper side of the pawl 41, and engages the sliding pin 31 of the pawl drive lever 30 of the zero return lever 25. Due to this engagement relationship, when the zero return lever 25 is reset, the pawl 41 is slightly rotated clockwise in the drawing by the pawl drive lever 30, and the ratchet pawls 41a and 41b are respectively disengaged from the ratchet gear 21. The least significant number wheel 16 is placed in a free state to enable its return to zero.

On the other hand, at the front left end of the base 2, there is provided a push button structure 42 for reset supported by the push button support groove 6 and the like. This push button structure 42 includes a push button 43 that is moved directly rearward against the force of a spring 51 when manually operated (pushing operation), and a rod portion 43a that is provided upright on the push button 43 that can be rotated horizontally. It consists of a push button cam 44 that is supported so that it can be supported, and a push button lever 45 that is located behind the push button cam 44 and whose rear end is engaged with a part of the zero return lever 25 (an end of the pinion shaft 27). ing. The push button 43 is integrally formed with an engaging protrusion 43b that fits into the push button support groove 6 and a bullet cam operating protrusion 43c, and a cam spring 46 fitted into the rod portion 43a moves the push button cam 44 counterclockwise in the figure. direction.
However, the push button cam 44 comes into contact with the side wall of the frame and its rotation is restricted. The push button cam 44 is provided with an engaging piece 44a projecting upward, which can engage with the protrusion 22 of the uppermost numeral wheel 17 when the push button cam 44 moves rearward. Further, the push button lever 45 is supported by the frame 3 by a pin protrusion 45a protruding from one side, and the push button cam 44 does not engage with this in its normal position, but the push button cam 44 engages with the protrusion 22 and moves clockwise. A contact portion 45b that can come into contact with the rear end 44b for the first time when it is slightly rotated is integrally formed. Note that the elongated hole 45c provided in the push button lever 45 is an escape hole for the main shaft 13.

Further, a pair of bullet cams 47 and 48 are inserted vertically into the bullet cam support rod 7 of the base 2, and a pair of contact bullet 4 is inserted into the contact bullet support groove 8.
The lower tongue pieces 49a and 50a of 9 and 50 are integrally press-fitted and supported, respectively, and the lead wire 67 is connected to the lower tongue pieces 49a and 50a.
Then, the other end knob 47a of the upper bullet cam 47 is brought into contact with the front side surface of one end of the front contact strip 49, and the other end knob 48a of the lower bullet cam 48 is brought into contact with one end of the rear contact strip 50. These bullet cams 4 are in contact with the rear side.
By rotating the contact strips 7 and 48 counterclockwise and clockwise, respectively, the contact strips 49 and 50 are brought into contact with each other at each bent portion. The upper bullet cam 47 has an operating protrusion 47
When b is engaged with the protrusion 22 of the highest numbered wheel 17, it is rotated counterclockwise against the spring force of the contact strip 49, and the lower strip cam 48 pushes one end of the button 43. The number wheel 17 and the push button 4 are rotated clockwise against the spring force of the contact bullet 50 by being pushed by the bullet cam operating protrusion 43c.
The relative position with 3 is determined.

In addition to the above overall structure, as shown in FIG. 4, the zero return lever 25 has a recess 53 as an engaging portion at the bottom on the right side of the figure, and a recess 53 in the part of the base 2 opposite thereto. A tongue-like engagement elastic piece 54 is formed integrally with the base 2. This engagement elastic piece 54 has an engagement protrusion 55 projecting in a substantially triangular shape at its upper tip, and can be elastically deformed slightly up and down using its base end as a fulcrum. As shown by the solid line in FIG. 5, the zero return lever 25 is in its normal position, that is, in the swinging (rotating) position where the shift pinion 28 is brought into mesh with the number wheel group 14 by the biasing force of the spring 52. The engagement protrusion 55 of the engagement elastic piece 54 is caused to engage and enter the recess 53.

According to the above configuration, each time the winding 34 is energized, the electromagnetic structure mainly including the spool 32 is excited and attracts the armature 38, and when the excitation force is removed, the armature 38 is moved back. . Due to the back and forth movement of this armature 38, the tip 3
The entire pawl 41 engaged with the pawl 8a is swung up and down about the pawl shaft 40, and the reciprocating movement of the upper and lower pawls 41a and 41b causes the ratchet gear 21, that is, the lowest numbered wheel 16, to move as is known. Rotate in steps of one number. Then, this rotation is sequentially transmitted to the upper digit number wheels through the cooperation of the segment gear 20, the shift pinion 28, and the pin gear 19, and a so-called digit shift operation is performed to display the cumulative number on the circumference of each number wheel group 14. It will be displayed numerically.

After a predetermined counting operation, if the highest number wheel 17 is displayed as "8" or less, the push button cam 44 does not engage the protrusion 22 even if the push button 43 is pressed, so the push of the push button 43 is transmitted to the push button lever 45. Therefore, the zero return lever 25 is not operated. However, when the highest number wheel 17 displays "9", the push button cam 44 engages with the protrusion 22 and rotates, so the push of the push button 43 is transmitted to the push button lever 45, and the zero return lever 25 is reversed. Swings clockwise. This swinging of the zero return lever 25 causes the shift pinion 28 supported by it to be disengaged from between the number wheels 14, leaving the number wheels 14 in a free state. Pressing piece 2
9 comes into contact with the heart cam 15 and is forcibly rotated by the well-known heart cam operation, thereby returning the number wheels 14 to zero.

At this time, as the zero return lever 25 rotates, the sliding contact pin 31 of the pole drive lever 30 moves toward the pole 4.
The pawl 41 is slightly rotated clockwise by engaging with the taper groove 41d surface of the pawl 41 to disengage the pawls 41a and 41b from the ratchet gear 21. The wheel 16 is made free to enable the above-described zero return operation of the lowest number wheel 16.

On the other hand, the reed switch 36 on the circuit board 35 is turned on by the excitation of the electromagnet structure, and the counting operation of the counter is sent as an electric signal to a circuit not shown.

Note that when the highest number wheel 17 displays "9", the protrusion 22 activates the contact strip 49 to turn on the contact, and when the push button 43 is pressed, the contact strip 50 is activated to turn on the contact. These are used, for example, as signals for electrical locks of equipment not shown.

By the way, in the above-mentioned zero return lever 25, in the normal state where the shift pinion 28 is engaged with the number wheel group 14, the engagement protrusion 55 of the engagement elastic piece 54 engages with the recess of the zero return lever 25, as described above. 53 in an intrusive state, even if a force greater than the spring 52 is applied between the number wheel group 14 and the shift pinion 28, the zero return lever 25 will not easily swing due to the engagement force. Therefore, the shift pinion 28 is not forcibly separated from the number wheel group 14. Thereby, the counting operation is not disturbed and its reliability can be improved.

On the other hand, when the push button 43 is pressed to perform the zero return operation and the zero return lever 25 is swung as described above, the zero return lever 25 moves the engagement protrusion 55 into the recess 53 as shown by the chain line in FIG. Furthermore, when the shift pinion 28 is completely moved to the disengagement position, it will be moved to a position where the engaging protrusion 55 passes over the corner 56 of the lever 25. Become. This constitutes a mechanism similar to a so-called click mechanism, and the hand operating the push button 43 in particular feels a click sensation. Therefore, the operator feels the return-to-zero operation through this click feeling, and this click operation ensures that the shift pinion 28 is disengaged, so that parts are not damaged due to excessive operation. In addition, the operability of returning to zero can be improved.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be applied to all counters having a zero return lever. Further, the recess 53 and the protrusion 55 are located on the lever 2.
5 may be provided with a protrusion and the engaging elastic piece 54 may be provided with a recess 53. Furthermore, although it is preferable that the engagement elastic piece 54 is formed integrally with the housing as in this example, it may be configured to be attached as a separate member.

[Effect of idea]

According to the present invention, the zero return lever is provided with a corner,
In addition, since the engaging elastic piece is deformable so that it can ride over this corner, the minute resistance force when the engaging elastic piece rides over the corner is transmitted from the zero return lever to the push button structure, resulting in a so-called click feeling. The operability of returning to zero can be improved.

In addition, since the engaging part and the engaging elastic piece are engaged in the normal position of the zero return lever, the shift pinion can be prevented from disengaging even if force is applied to the number wheel, improving the reliability of the counter. You can improve.

Furthermore, by integrally forming the engaging portion and the engaging elastic piece with the zero return lever and the base of the counter housing, it is possible to construct the device without increasing the number of parts.

On the other hand, since the push button assembly is supported by the support groove provided in the base of the counter housing, the linear movement of the push button assembly can be ensured. In this case, since the support groove is provided in the base, it is not possible to provide a corresponding elastic piece for moderating the position of the push button structure, but as described above, the engagement elastic piece can be engaged with the zero return lever. Therefore, it is possible to indirectly give moderation to the push button structure. In other words, even if the degree of freedom in the design of the push button structure is low, it is possible to provide effective moderation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of the counter of the present invention.
2 is a plan view of the assembled state, FIG. 3 is a cutaway side view, FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the main parts, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the main parts for explaining the operation. 1...Counter, 2...Base, 3...Frame, 14...Number car group, 25...Zero return lever,
28... Digit pinion, 29... Pressing piece, 38
... Armature, 41 ... Pole, 43 ... Push button, 52 ... Spring, 53 ... Recess (engaging portion), 54 ... Engagement elastic piece, 55 ... Engagement protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A number wheel group of multiple digits, a shift pinion that is interposed between the number wheels and performs a digit-feeding operation, and a shift pinion that supports the shift pinion and is swingably supported by a counter housing and is oscillated. A zero return lever that separates the shift pinion from the number wheel group and returns the number wheel group to zero, and a support groove provided in the base of the counter housing so as to be capable of linear movement; The push button structure contacts the zero return lever and swings the zero return lever, and the zero return lever is provided with a corner at a part thereof, and an engaging part is provided at a position adjacent to the corner. A concave portion is formed in the base of the counter housing to engage with the engaging portion at the normal swing position of the zero return lever to impart moderation in the swing direction to the zero return lever; 1. A counter comprising an engaging elastic piece that is elastically deformable so as to be able to ride over the corner when the counter is swung.