SE544269C2

SE544269C2 - A joystick with a position adjustment device and a method of adjusting an initial position of a joystick

Info

Publication number: SE544269C2
Application number: SE1951470A
Authority: SE
Inventors: Johan Gustavsson
Original assignee: Rototilt Group Ab
Priority date: 2019-12-16
Filing date: 2019-12-16
Publication date: 2022-03-22
Also published as: SE1951470A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a joystick (10) with a base part (11) and a grip part (12), which are interconnected by means of a position adjustment device (20), wherein the position adjustment device (20) includes a ball and socket joint and a clamping device (27) that is adjustable between an unlocked position (U) in which the grip part (12) is free to be repositioned with respect to the base part (11) and a locked position (L) in which the grip part (12) is prevented from being repositioned by means of a clamping action of the clamping device (27), said clamping device (27) being adjustable between the locked position (L) and the unlocked position (U) by means of a lever (28) arranged on an accessible portion of the joystick (10).

Description

A JOYSTICK WITH A POSITION ADJUSTMENT DEVICE AND A METHOD OFADJUSTING AN |N|T|AL POSITION OF A JOYSTICK TECHNICAL FIELD The invention relates to a joystick with a position adjustment device. Specificaily, theinvention relates to a joystick for manoeuvring hydraulic tools, which joystick may beadjusted into different initial positions depending on specific needs of an operatoroperating the joystick.

BACKGFIOUND ln construction work, forest keeping and the like it is common practice to utilise a workvehicle, such as an excavator, with a crane arm with an outer end at which a hydraulictool such as a tiltrotator, compactor, hydraulic hammer, grapple, pallet |oader or the like isarranged. The hydraulic tool is normally controlled by an operator in the cab of theexcavator, and often, ajoystick is arranged, by means of which the hydraulic tool or tools arranged at the outer end of the crane arm is/are manoeuvred.

An operator of an excavator and associated tools is often seated inside a cab for manyhours of a workday and this makes it necessary to consider the operator ergonomics andmake sure that problems such as ligament damages, muscle fatigue and the like areavoided or at least kept at a minimum.

The operator ergonomics concerns the seat the operator is seated in, but also thepositioning and availability of the controls that the operator is using during operation. lnview of that an excavator or the like is normally used by many different operators it wouldbe advantageous to provide a possibility to customize the cab controls to the specificneeds and preferences of each operator that operates said cab controls SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION lt is an object of the invention to provide an improved flexibility of the availability andpositioning of the controls of an excavator cab. Specificaily, the invention provides anincreased flexibility with respect to the ergonomics of a joystick.

According to a first aspect the invention relates to ajoystick with a position adjustmentdevice, specifically a joystick arranged to manoeuvre hydraulic tools, wherein the joystickincludes a base part and a grip part, which are interconnected by the position adjustmentdevice, wherein the position adjustment device includes a ball and socket joint comprising: - a male part, including a pin-like portion extending from either the base part orthe grip part and a ball portion, which is arranged at an outer end of the pin-like portion,wherein a diameter of the ball portion is greater than a width of the outer end of the pin-like portion; - a female part, including a cavity provided in the other of the base part and thegrip part and provided to receive the ball portion, wherein the female part further includesa clamping device arranged to clamp the ball portion inside the cavity, and wherein theclamping device is adjustable between an unlocked position in which the ball portion isfree to rotate inside the cavity and un locked position in which the ball portion isprevented from rotation inside the cavity by a clamping action of the clamping device,said clamping device being adjustable between the unlocked position and the lockedposition by means of a lever arranged on an accessible portion of the joystick.

An advantage of the inventive joystick is that the initial position of the joystick may beeasily adjusted by the operator, in a simple hand manoeuvre, and without the use of anytools. This provides such a readily available possibility to adjust the initial position of thejoystick that the operator most likely will not omit this possibility for reasons ofconvenience or neglect. Thereby, the object of improved operator ergonomics isachieved. ln specific embodiments of the invention the joystick comprises a pocket space into whichthe lever is arranged to be received when in the locked position. ln specific embodiments of the invention the lever includes a cam surface arranged to acton a clamp of the clamping device.

The clamp may be an elongate bracket with a central opening arranged to allow passageof the outer end of the pin-like portion but not the ball portion, and wherein the lever actson a first end of the clamp, and wherein the clamp is pivotally fixed at a second end of theclamp on the opposite side of the central opening. ln specific embodiments of the invention the pin-like portion of the ball element extendsfrom the base part of the joystick, and wherein the cavity of the female part is provided inthe grip part.

According to a first aspect the invention relates to a method of adjusting an initial positionof a joystick, the joystick comprising a base part and a grip part, which are interconnectedby a position adjustment device, wherein the position adjustment device includes a ball and socket joint comprising: - a male part, including a pin-like portion extending from either the base part orthe grip part and a ball portion, which is arranged at an outer end of the pin-like portion,wherein a diameter of the ball portion is greater than a width of the outer end of the pin-like portion; - a female part, including a cavity provided in the other of the base part and thegrip part and provided to receive the ball portion, wherein the female part further includesa clamping device arranged to clamp the ball portion inside the cavity, and wherein theclamping device is adjustable between an unlocked position in which the ball portion isfree to rotate inside the cavity and a locked position in which the ball portion is preventedfrom rotation inside the cavity by a clamping action of the clamping device, wherein themethod comprises the steps of: - adjusting said clamping device from the locked position to the unlocked positionby means of a lever arranged on an accessible portion of the joystick, - positioning the grip part in a desired initial position, and - locking the grip part in the desired initial position by re-adjusting the lever intothe locked position. ln specific embodiments of the invention the adjusting and re-adjusting of the position ofthe lever is performed by hand, without the use of tools. These is advantageous as itassures that the adjustment of the initial position of the joystick is something that is easilyadapted, such that an operator will not refrain from doing it due to the inconvenience ofdoing it. This may possibly save many operators from problems that would otherwise arise from bad ergonomics.

Other embodiments and advantages will be apparent from the detailed description andthe appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Below, specific embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to theappended drawings, of which; Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a specific embodiment of a joystick in accordance with the invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of the joystick in Fig. 1 with a clamping device in a lockedposition, Fig. 3 is a side view of the joystick in Fig. 1 with the clamping device in an unlockedposition, Fig. 4 is a partly cut side view of a clamping device of a joystick position adjustmentdevice in a locked position, and Fig. 5 is a partly cut side view of a clamping device of a joystick position adjustmentdevice in an unlocked position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SHOWN EI\/|BOD|I\/IENTS ln Fig. 1 ajoystick 10 for manoeuvring hydraulic tools is illustrated.

The joystick 10 includes a base part 11 and a grip part 12. The grip part 12 is specificallyadapted to be gripped by a hand of an operator. ln the shown embodiment the grip part12 is adapted to be held by a right hand, but it may of course be adapted to be held by aleft hand, or to be held by either hand, e.g. with a substantially symmetric design. Thegrip part 12 includes a plurality of controls 13 configured to control different functions ofthe hydraulic tools that the joystick is adapted to control.

The controls 13 may include, as illustrated in the drawings, roller controls 14 adapted tobe controlled by means of a rolling movement by a finger, e.g. the thumb; thumb buttons15 adapted to be pressed by a thumb; an index button 16 adapted to be pressed by anindex finger; and a control bar 17, which may either be controlled by an index finger or byone or two fingers of the hand not gripping the joystick.

A connection is arranged to provide the instructions and commands from the plurality ofcontrols 13 arranged on the joystick. Preferably, wires (not shown) are arranged totransmit said instructions and commands in the form of electric signals from the grip part12, via the base part 13 to a control unit (not shown) in which the commands are registered and acted upon. The commands may, however, also be transmitted wirelessly.

Further, the grip part 12 is pivotally arranged, wherein further control of the functions ofthe hydraulic tools may be achieved. Typically, by manoeuvring of the grip part 12 withrespect to the base part 11 the movements of a crane arm and/or a hydraulic toolarranged on a crane arm may be controlled. The base part 11 preferably comprises amuff 18 arranged to allow flexible movement of the grip part 12 with respect to the basepart 11. The joystick either comprises or is connected to a servo box in which themovements of the grip part 12 with respect to the base part 11 is transformed into hydraulic fluid flows to control the movements of a crane arm and/or a hydraulic tool. Theservo box may be hydraulic servo box or an electric servo box.

As is illustrated by a multidirectional arrow AB the grip part 12 of the joystick 10 may beadjusted with respect to the base part 11. The grip part 12 may both be tilted in anydesired direction as illustrated by the arrows AB, and of course in any direction inbetween the arrows. Further though, the grip part 12 of the joystick 10 may be rotatedaround its axial direction with respect to the base part 11. This repositioning of the portion12 of the joystick 10 with respect to the base part 11 is the inventive manner ofrepositioning an initial position of the joystick.

The initial position, or zero position, indicates the position in which the joystick is in aneutral position, in which it does not affect the hydraulic tool in any direction. The initialposition is adjustable because different operators have different preferences. Therefore,for ergonomic reasons it is desirable to have the possibility to adjust this initial position.Also, for an operator, it may be desirable to adjust the initial position during operation inorder to avoid fatigue due to movements in a similar position and instead provide thepossibility of slightly adjusting the initial position at will. The grip part 12 is biased so as toreturn the initial position when unaffected by the operator's Figs. 2 and 3 are side views of the joystick 10 from which it may be viewed that the basepart 11 and the grip part 12 are interconnected by a position adjustment device 20, whichwill be further described below. ln Fig. 2 the position adjustment device 20 is shown in a locked position L, in which alever 28 of the joystick 10 is arranged in a locked position alongside the grip part 12 ofthe joystick 10. ln the shown embodiment, the grip part 12 comprises a pocket space 19,specifically arranged to receive the lever 28 when in the locked position L. ln Fig. 3 thelever 28 of the joystick 10 is arranged in an unlocked position U at an angle with respectto the joystick and outside of the pocket space 30. ln the unlocked position U the grip part 12 is free to be repositioned with respect to thebase part 11, is illustrated by a multidirectional arrow AB so as to adjust an initial positionof the joystick as described above. ln the locked position L the grip part 12 is preventedfrom being repositioned by a clamping action of a clamping device 27, which will befurther described below with reference to Figs. 4 and 5, said clamping device beingadjustable between the locked position L and the unlocked position U by means of thelever 28.

Also visible in Figs. 2 and 3 is a pin-like portion 22 of the position adjustment device 20.The pin-like portion 22 extends from either the base part 11 or the grip part 12 and isreceived in the other of the base part 11 or the grip part 12. ln the shown embodiment the pin-like portion 22 of the ball element 21 extends from thebase part 11 of the joystick and is received in the grip part 12.

Figs. 4 and 5 are partly cut side views of a clamping device of a joystick positionadjustment device 20 in a locked position L, and an unlocked position U, respectively.

The position adjustment device 20 includes a ball and socket joint comprised of a malepart 21 and a female part 25, which are interconnectable.

The male part 21 includes a pin-like portion 22 extending from either the base part 11 orthe grip part 12. lt also comprises a ball portion 24, which is arranged at an outer end 23of the pin-like portion 22. The diameter of the ball portion 24 is greater than a width of theouter end 23 of the pin-like portion 22. ln operation of the joystick, the movements of thegrip part 12 with respect to the base part 11 are transmitted via the pin-like portion 22 ofthe male part 21 to the grip part 12. Further, the movement of the pin-like portion 22 iscommunicated to a servo-box as presented above, and interpreted into movements of ahydraulic tool, crane or the like.

The female part 25 is provided in the other of the base part 11 or the grip part 12. ltincludes a cavity 26 provided to receive the ball portion 24 of the male part. ln the shownembodiment the pin-like portion 22 of the male part 21 extends from the base part 11 ofthe joystick 10, and wherein the cavity 26 of the female part 25 is provided in the grip part12.

The female part 25 includes a clamping device 27 arranged to hold the ball portion 24inside the cavity 26, which clamping device 27 is adjustable between a locked position Lin which the ball portion 24 is clamped inside the cavity 26 by a clamping action of theclamping device 27 whereby it is prevented from rotation, and an unlocked position U inwhich the ball portion 24 is free to rotate inside the cavity 26. The clamping device 27 isadjustable between the locked position L and the unlocked position U by means of alever 28 arranged on an accessible portion of the joystick 10. The lever 28 is preferably ahand lever, i.e. a lever that may be controlled by hand, without the use of any tools. ln the unlocked position U, the initial position of the joystick 10 may be adjusted as isillustrated by a multidirectional arrow AB, wherein the grip part 12 of the joystick may be adjusted in all directions with respect to the base part 11 as described above, i.e. byrotating the clamp counterpart 35 in any direction with respect to the ball portion 24.

As is visible in Fig. 3, the shown embodiment of the joystick 10 comprises a pocketspace 30 into which the lever 28 is arranged to be received when in the locked position L,in order to hide away the lever 28 so as to not hinder the manoeuvrability of the joystick.

The lever 28 includes a cam surface 30 arranged to act on a clamp 29 of the clampingdevice 27. ln the shown embodiment the clamp 29 is an elongate bracket with a centralopening 31 arranged to allow passage of the outer end 23 of the pin-like portion 22 butnot to allow passage the ball portion 24. The lever 28 acts on a first end 32 of the clamp29, wherein the clamp 29 is pivotally fixed at a second end 33 of the clamp 29 on theopposite side of the central opening 31.

Two screws 36,37 are arranged to fix the clamp to a clamp counterpart 35, wherein theball portion 24 of the male part 21 is to be clamped in a cavity 26 formed between theclamp and the clamp counterpart 35. A first screw 36 is arranged through a first screwhole at the first end 32 of the clamp 29, which screw hole has no threads. lnstead, thescrew is attached to a pivot pin 34 of the lever 28. Specifically, the lever 28 may include acylindrical opening around its rotational axis into which the pivot pin 34 may be inserted.The pivot pin 34 includes an opening with threads that mates with the first screw 36.Further, the lever 28 includes a semi circumferential track (not shown) allowing passageof the first screw 36 regardless of the position of the lever 28, i.e. in the unlockedposition, the locked position, and any position there between. The cam surface 30 isarranged as an eccentric surface around the rotational axis of pivot pin 34, wherein amaximal distance off-centre is achieved when the lever 28 is arranged in the lockedposition, e.g. upwards alongside the grip part 12 of the joystick 10.

The second screw hole 39, arranged at the second end 33 of the clamp 29 is providedwith threads arranged to mate with threads of the second screw 37. As an alternative anut may be arranged on the back side of the clamp to mate with the second screw 37.

As illustrated in Fig. 5, when the lever 28 has been manoeuvred into a position where itextends away from the joystick and wherein the clamping device 27 is in the unlockedposition U, an increased distance DU is provided between the clamp 29 and the clampcounterpart 35. The increased distance Du is achieved in the cam surface 30 is lessimportant in this position. lt allows the ball portion 24 to both turn and tilt with respect tocavity 26 between the clamp 29 and the clamp counterpart 35, in which the ball portion 24 is held. Thereby, the grip part 12 may be equally turned and tilted with respect to thebase part 11 of the joystick. ln the shown embodiment, the male part 21 includes an attachment portion 40 which isadapted to be fixed in the base part 11 of the joystick. The female part 25 is attached tothe grip part 12 of the joystick by means of the clamp counterpart 35, which is eitherattached to the grip part 12 or arranged as an integral portion thereof. As implied above,the male part 21 may alternatively be attached to the grip part 12 and the female part 25may in that case be attached to the base part 11 of the joystick.

Above, the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. Theinvention is however not limited to these embodiments. lt is obvious to a person skilled inthe art that other embodiments are possible within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A joystick (10) with a position adjustment device (20), wherein the joystick (10) isarranged to manoeuvre a crane arm and/or a hydraulic tool arranged on a crane armand includes a base part (11) and a grip part (12), which are interconnected by theposition adjustment device (20), wherein the position adjustment device (20) includesa ball and socket joint comprising: - a male part (21), including a pin-like portion (22) extending from either the basepart (11) or the grip part (12) and a ball portion (24), which is arranged at an outerend (23) of the pin-like portion (22), wherein a diameter of the ball portion (24) isgreater than a width of the outer end (23) of the pin-like portion (22); - a female part (25), including a cavity (26) provided in the other of the base part(11) and the grip part (12) and provided to receive the ball portion (24), wherein thefemale part (25) further includes a clamping device (27) arranged to clamp the ballportion (24) inside the cavity (26), and wherein the clamping device (27) is adjustablebetween an unlocked position (U) in which the ball portion (24) is free to rotate insidethe cavity (26) and a locked position (L) in which the ball portion (24) is preventedfrom rotation inside the cavity (26) by a clamping action of the clamping device (27),said clamping device (27) being adjustable between the unlocked position (U) and thelocked position (L) by means of a lever (28) arranged on an accessible portion of thejoystick (10). The joystick (10) according to claim 1, wherein the joystick (10) comprises a pocketspace (19) into which the lever (28) is arranged to be received when in the lockedposition (L). The joystick (10) according to anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the lever (28)includes a cam surface (30) arranged to act on a clamp (29) of the clamping device(27). The joystick (10) according to claim 3, wherein the clamp (29) is an elongate bracketwith a central opening (32) arranged to allow passage of the outer end (23) of the pin-like portion (22) but not the ball portion (24), and wherein the lever (28) acts on a firstend (32) of the clamp (29), and wherein the clamp is pivotally fixed at a second end(32) of the clamp (29) on the opposite side of the central opening (32). The joystick (10) according to anyone of the preceding claims, wherein the pin-likeportion (22) of the ball element (21) extends from the base part (11) of the joystick (1 O), and wherein the cavity (26) of the female part (25) is provided in the grip part(12) . A method of adjusting an initial position of a joystick (10) arranged to manoeuvre a crane arm and/or hydraulic tool arranged on a crane arm, the joystick comprising abase part (11) and a grip part (12) which are interconnected by a position adjustmentdevice (20), wherein the position adjustment device (20) includes a ball and socketjoint comprising: - a male part (21), including a pin-like portion (22) extending from either the basepart (11) or the grip part (12) and a ball portion (24), which is arranged at an outerend (23) of the pin-like portion (22), wherein a diameter of the ball portion (24) isgreater than a width of the outer end (23) of the pin-like portion (22); - a female part (25), including a cavity (26) provided in the other of the base part(11) and the grip part (12) and provided to receive the ball portion (24), wherein thefemale part (25) further includes a clamping device (27) arranged to clamp the ballportion (24) inside the cavity (26), and wherein the clamping device (27) is adjustablebetween an unlocked position (U) in which the ball portion (24) is free to rotate insidethe cavity (26) and a locked position (L) in which the ball portion (24) is preventedfrom rotation inside the cavity (26) by a clamping action of the clamping device (27),wherein the method comprises the steps of: - adjusting said clamping device (27) from the locked position (L) to the unlockedposition (U) by means of a lever (28) arranged on an accessible portion of the joystick(10), - positioning the grip part (12) in a desired initial position, and - locking the grip part (12) in the desired initial position by re-adjusting the lever(28) into the locked position (L), wherein the adjusting and re-adjusting of the positionof the lever (28) is performed by hand, without the use of tools.