JPH067264A - Buffer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the miniaturizing of the apparatus itself requiring no large operation space for a braking force generation means by arranging an elastic body and a coil spring about a hinge shaft of a moving member. CONSTITUTION:When a user operates a toilet seat 2 manually by turning to close, with the turning of the toilet seat 2, a housing 6 turns with respect to a hinge shaft 3 and a support shaft 8. With the turning of the housing 6, coil spring 11 is twisted to generate a reaction increasing gradually in the direction of opening the toilet seat 2 while the diameter thereof is reduced gradually so that an elastic body 10 is pressed to increase a friction force gradually between the elastic body 10 and the support shaft 8. With an increase in the reaction and the friction of the coil spring 11, a braking force is applied to the turning of the housing 6 with respect to the support shaft 8. Thus, the turning of the toilet seat 2 is given the braking force and the toilet seat 2 turns slowly and quietly to be kept closed in place on a toilet. This mechanism allows the simplification of the apparatus itself, thereby achieving miniaturization thereof.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Object of the Invention]

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cushioning device for imparting a cushioning function to the rotation of a movable member with respect to a fixed member, and is used as a device for opening and closing a toilet seat or a toilet lid for a toilet bowl.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of shock absorber, one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-274216 has been known. In this conventional device, when the toilet seat is rotated in the closing direction, the rotational movement is converted into a linear movement by the conversion means arranged in the cylinder, and the piston arranged in the cylinder moves in the rotational axis direction of the toilet seat. The air in the cylinder flows into the rear space from the front space with respect to the moving direction of the piston through the orifice formed in the piston, and the spring arranged between the piston and the cylinder is compressed. A braking force is applied to the rotation of the toilet seat by this air flow, and the braking force is gradually increased by the compression action of the spring, whereby the toilet seat is closed slowly and quietly. It was. When the toilet seat is rotated in the opening direction, the air in the cylinder flows out at once through the holes formed in the orifice and the piston, and the spring is restored by its urging force. Braking force does not work for turning.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional device, as a shock absorber, a converting means for converting the rotational motion of the toilet seat into a linear motion and a braking force for the rotational motion of the toilet seat are provided. A braking force generating means including a cylinder, a piston, an orifice, and a spring is required to gradually increase the braking force as the toilet seat rotates. In addition, a space that takes the movement of the piston into consideration is required.
Therefore, the device itself is complicated and large.

Therefore, it is a technical object of the present invention to provide a compact shock absorber having a simple structure.

[0006]

[Constitution of the invention]

[0007]

The technical means taken in the present invention to solve the above technical problems are a fixed member, a movable member rotatably supported by the fixed member, and the movable member. And an elastic body arranged around the hinge axis, and a coil spring arranged around the elastic body and having one end locked to the fixed member and the other end locked to the movable member. .

[0008]

According to the above technical means, when the movable member is rotated, the coil spring is twisted to generate a reaction force and is gradually contracted to press the elastic body. In addition to the reaction force of the coil spring, the frictional force between the hinge shaft of the movable member and the elastic body gradually increases, so that the rotating force of the movable member is gradually increased. It will be going. As described above, the converting means and the braking force generating means of the conventional device are configured only by the elastic body and the coil spring arranged around the hinge axis of the movable member, and the braking force generating means of the conventional device is provided. Since a large working space is not required, the structure of the device itself is simplified and downsized.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a toilet bowl (not shown)
The toilet seat 2 has a hinge shaft 3 and a shock absorber 12 which will be described later in a case 1 which is disposed in the upper rear part of the vehicle and has various functional parts such as a human body local washing device and control circuits (not shown) thereof built therein.
It is rotatably supported so as to be able to take a closed state placed on the toilet bowl and an opened state separated from the toilet bowl via the.

Next, the hinge shaft 3 of the toilet seat 2 and the shock absorber 12
The support structure by will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the outer peripheral surface of the hinge shaft 3 has a width across flats.
Is non-rotatably supported by being inserted into the support hole 4a in a flange portion 4 having a support hole 4a formed in the upper wall of the case 1 and having the same shape as the outer peripheral surface of the hinge shaft 3 and having a width across flat. ing.

On the lower wall of the toilet seat 2, there is formed a cylindrical support portion 5 having an inner peripheral surface of a hexagonal shape, one end of which is open and the other end of which is closed. A cylindrical housing 6 having an outer peripheral surface having the same hexagonal shape as the inner peripheral surface of the support portion 5 and having one end opened and the other end closed is accommodated in the support portion 5. It is supported so that it cannot rotate.

A screw portion 6a is formed on the inner peripheral surface near the opening end of the housing 6, and a cap 7 having a screw portion 7a screwed to the screw portion 6a is screwed to the opening end. . A support shaft 8 is rotatably supported by the cap 7 so that one end thereof penetrates the cap and is exposed to the outside. The support shaft 8 is formed with a support hole 8a having the same shape as the outer peripheral surface of the hinge shaft 3 and opening to one end side and having a width across flats. The hinge shaft 3 has the support hole 8a.
And is integrated with the support shaft 8. A sleeve 9 is fixed to the other end side of the support shaft 8, and the sleeve 9 is supported by the housing 6 so as to be relatively rotatable. As a result, the support shaft 8 is rotatably supported by the housing 6 via the cap 7 and the sleeve 9.

An elastic body 10 is supported around the support shaft 8 so as to be relatively rotatable. A coil spring 11 is disposed around the elastic body 10, one end of which is locked to a slit 6b formed in the housing 6 and the other end of which is locked to a slit 9a formed in the sleeve 9. The support shaft 8, the sleeve 9, the elastic body 10 and the coil spring 11 are all housed in the housing 6.

The hinge shaft 3 and the shock absorber 12 thus constructed are assembled as follows. The hinge shaft 3 is inserted into the support hole 4a and supported by the case 1, and the housing 6
The support shaft 8, the sleeve 9, the elastic body 10 and the coil spring 11 are accommodated therein, and the shock absorber 12 closed by the cap 7 is accommodated in the support portion 5 and supported by the toilet seat 2. Then, the hinge shaft 3 is inserted into the support hole 8a while aligning the toilet seat 2 so that the hinge shaft 3 and the support hole 8a of the support shaft 8 are aligned with each other. As a result, the toilet seat 2 is rotatably supported by the case 1 via the hinge shaft 3 and the shock absorber 12. In this way, the hinge shaft 3 and the shock absorber 12 can be non-rotatably supported by the case 1 and the toilet seat 2, respectively, only by inserting and accommodating them in the support hole 4a and the support portion 5, respectively. In addition, it is not necessary to provide an assembly flange portion or the like for non-rotatably supporting the hinge shaft 3 and the shock absorber 12 by using fixing means such as bolts, and the size is reduced accordingly. Further, the cushioning device 12 is accommodated in the toilet seat 2 which has a relatively large internal space as compared with the case in which various functional parts such as a human body part cleaning device and their control circuits are accommodated. The degree of freedom in designing the device 12 is greatly improved.

A through hole 3a is formed in the hinge shaft 3, and a through hole 8b is formed in the support shaft 8 so as to be continuous with the support hole 8a and coaxial with the through hole 3a. A cord 13 such as a heating device (not shown) is inserted. As a result, the handling of the cord 13 is simplified and the cord 13 is slidably attached, and the cord 13 is rotated by the turning operation of the toilet seat 2.
Is not twisted.

Next, the operation will be described.

When the user manually rotates the toilet seat 2 in the closing direction, the housing 6 rotates with respect to the hinge shaft 3 and the support shaft 8 as the toilet seat 5 rotates. With the rotation of the housing 6, the coil spring 11 is twisted to generate a reaction force that gradually increases in the direction to open the toilet seat 5, and the diameter thereof is gradually reduced, so that the elastic body 10 is pressed and the elastic body 10 is pressed. The frictional force between the support shaft 8 and the support shaft 8 gradually increases. A braking force is applied to the rotation of the housing 6 with respect to the support shaft 8 due to the increase of the reaction force and the frictional force of the coil spring 11, whereby a braking force is applied to the rotation of the toilet seat 2 and the toilet seat 2 is bent. Moreover, it quietly rotates and becomes a closed state placed on the toilet bowl. As a result, even if the user releases his / her hand from the toilet seat while the toilet seat 2 is being rotated, the toilet seat 2 vigorously falls onto the toilet bowl, damages the toilet seat 2 or the toilet bowl, or collides with the toilet bowl, causing a collision noise. Does not occur. Further, when the toilet seat 2 is rotated in the opening direction, the coil spring 11 is twisted so as to open and the frictional force between the elastic body 10 and the support shaft 6 is released. This ensures smooth and quick rotation of the toilet seat 2.

As described above, the reaction force of the coil spring 11 and the frictional force between the support shaft 8 and the elastic body 10 are utilized to provide a braking force to the rotation of the toilet seat 2 only by disposing the elastic body 10 and the coil spring 11. Therefore, the number of parts is small, which simplifies the apparatus itself and particularly reduces the size in the axial direction. Further, since no fluid is used to apply the braking force to the rotation of the toilet seat 2, no special sealing mechanism is required, and the number of parts can be further reduced. Furthermore, the coil spring 1
Since the reaction force of 1 and the frictional force between the support shaft 6 and the elastic body 10 gradually increase with the rotation of the housing 6 hinge shaft 3 and the support shaft 8, the braking force of the toilet seat 2 also increases. It will gradually increase with the rotation. This allows
The toilet seat 2 can be operated with a comparatively small force at the initial stage of the rotation operation of the toilet seat 2, and the braking force is surely applied to the rotation of the toilet seat 2 immediately before the toilet seat 2 is closed, so that the toilet seat 2 is loose and quiet. It can be rotated.

As shown in FIG. 4, when there is a sufficient extra space in the case 1, the shock absorber 12 is used.
May be arranged in the case 1. In this case, a portion corresponding to the support portion 5 is formed on the upper wall of the case 1 to support the shock absorber 12, and a portion corresponding to the support hole 4a is formed to the lower wall of the toilet seat 2 to form the hinge shaft 3. Supported.

[0022]

According to the present invention, the fixed member, the movable member rotatably supported by the fixed member, the elastic body arranged around the hinge axis of the movable member, and the elastic member arranged around the elastic body. Since the shock absorber is configured with a coil spring having one end locked to the fixed member and the other end locked to the movable member, the number of parts is small, and thus the device itself is simplified. It can be miniaturized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a toilet seat device in which a shock absorber according to the present invention is mounted on a toilet seat.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a shock absorber.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a shock absorber.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view corresponding to FIG. 1 in which a shock absorber is mounted on a case.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Case (fixed member) 2 Toilet seat (movable member) 3 Hinge shaft 10 Elastic body 11 Coil spring

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tomio Oguma 2-1-1 Asahi-cho, Kariya city, Aichi Prefecture Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A fixed member, a movable member rotatably supported by the fixed member, an elastic body arranged around a hinge axis of the movable member, and one end arranged around the elastic body. A buffer device having a coil spring locked to the fixed member and the other end locked to the movable member.