Module and timepiece comprising such a module

Abstract

A module and a timepiece provided with the module are provided. The module is characterized by comprising: a first member; a hand that moves above the first member; a second member that has flexibility; and a third member that is disposed between the first member and the second member and has higher rigidity than the first member.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a module for electronic devices such as watches, and a clock having the module. Background Technology

[0002] Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 6-80196 discloses an electronic clock with a liquid crystal panel. The electronic clock with a liquid crystal panel has a liquid crystal panel on the lower surface of the text panel used to indicate the time by the hand moving above it, which displays various information. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The problem that the invention aims to solve

[0004] However, regarding the structure described in the aforementioned report, when subjected to impacts such as drops, the LCD panel bends and comes into contact with the text panel. Consequently, the text panel bends and collides with the pointer, potentially affecting the pointer movement or causing the pointer to fall off.

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to provide a module that can suppress the influence of flexible components on pointers caused by impact bending.

[0006] Methods for solving problems

[0007] The present invention provides a module characterized by comprising: a first component; a pointer that moves above the first component; a second component that is flexible; and a third component disposed between the first component and the second component, and having higher rigidity than the first component.

[0008] The effects of the invention

[0009] According to the present invention, even if a component flexes due to an impact, by configuring a second component with a higher rigidity than the first component between the pointer and the first component, the flexing of the first component can be suppressed, and the effect on the pointer caused by the flexing of the first component due to an impact can be suppressed. Attached Figure Description

[0010] Figure 1 This is a diagram showing a watch that incorporates the present invention.

[0011] Figure 2 It indicates assembly at Figure 1 The top view of the clock module of the watch shown.

[0012] Figure 3 yes Figure 2 A 3D view of the clock module shown.

[0013] Figure 4 yes Figure 2 The exploded 3D view of the clock module shown.

[0014] Figure 5 It is along Figure 2 A cross-sectional view along line AA. Detailed Implementation

[0015] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 This diagram illustrates a watch incorporating the present invention. The watch is a hybrid watch with both analog and digital functions, and includes a watch case 1. Strap mounting portions 2 (not shown) are provided on the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock sides of the watch case 1, respectively. Inside the watch case 1 is... Figures 2-5 The clock module 3 shown.

[0016] First, let's describe the overview of clock module 3. For example... Figure 5 As shown, the clock module 3 has a housing 6 consisting of an upper housing 4 and a lower housing 5. The upper housing 4 opens downwards, and the lower housing 5 is inserted into the upper housing 4 from below. A text panel 7 is disposed on the upper surface 4a of the upper housing 4, a reinforcing plate 8 is disposed on the lower surface of the text panel 7, and a liquid crystal panel 9 is disposed on the lower surface of the reinforcing plate 8. That is, the text panel 7, the reinforcing plate 8, and the liquid crystal panel 9 are arranged along... Figure 5 They are arranged adjacent to each other in the vertical direction and along the thickness direction that is consistent with the visual confirmation direction of the watch.

[0017] A watch movement 10 is housed within the casing 6. The watch movement 10 has a pointer axis 11 that passes through the LCD panel 9, the reinforcing plate 8, and the text panel 7, and protrudes upwards (towards the surface) of the text panel 7. A pair of hands 12, including an hour hand 12a and a minute hand 12b, are mounted at the protruding upper end. Furthermore, although in Figure 5 The details are omitted, but the casing 6 contains a circuit board that forms the electronic circuitry for controlling and driving the clock module 3 as a whole, as well as various electronic components required to realize the clock function.

[0018] Next, the text panel 7, the reinforcing plate 8, and the liquid crystal panel 9 will be described in detail. The text panel 7 is a flexible plate-shaped component that is prone to bending in the thickness direction due to impact, and is made of, for example, plastic. The text panel 7 is provided with a display opening 71 (first opening) and an overlapping portion 72. The display opening 71 is part of the liquid crystal panel 9, and is the part that exposes the display area for displaying various information required to realize various functions of the watch, such as date, day of the week, etc., in an electro-optical manner. It is formed into a roughly heart shape with an area of ​​more than half of the total area of ​​the text panel 7.

[0019] The overlapping portion 72 covers the area of ​​the liquid crystal panel 9 other than the display area. It has a gently sloping, mountain-shaped outer periphery (ranging from 1 to 5 o'clock) that protrudes towards the center of the text panel 7, thus forming a roughly heart-shaped opening 71 for display. Furthermore, at the protruding end of the overlapping portion 72 located at the center of the text panel 7, a through-hole portion 73 (protrusion) is provided, which opens to the through-hole 73a (first hole) into which the pointer shaft 11 is inserted. Additionally, the portion of the overlapping portion 72 other than the through-hole portion 73, that is, part of the opening edge of the display opening 71, slopes towards the display area.

[0020] On the other hand, such as Figure 4 and Figure 5 As shown, the liquid crystal panel 9 is embedded in a recess 4b disposed on the upper surface 4a of the upper housing 4. The recess 4b has an opening shape corresponding to the shape of the liquid crystal panel 9, with a flat bottom surface and a depth slightly deeper than the thickness of the liquid crystal panel 9. The size of the recess 4b, i.e., the size of the liquid crystal panel 9, is approximately the size of the entire area of ​​the upper surface 4a of the upper housing 4, and its shape is octagonal. A through hole 9a (second hole) through which the pointer shaft 11 of the watch movement 10 passes is provided in the center of the liquid crystal panel 9. The external dimensions of the liquid crystal panel 9 are much larger than its thickness dimension, and it is integrally formed with the through hole 9a, thus having the same flexibility as the text panel 7, which is prone to bending in the thickness direction due to impact. Furthermore, although not shown, the liquid crystal panel 9 has a general structure having a liquid crystal cell and a polarizing plate disposed on the upper surface of the liquid crystal cell. The liquid crystal cell, for example, has transparent electrodes disposed on the opposing surfaces of a pair of transparent glass substrates, and liquid crystal is sealed between these two glass substrates.

[0021] On the other hand, the reinforcing plate 8, as described above, disposed between the text panel 7 and the liquid crystal panel 9, is made of stainless steel, and even though it is a plate-shaped component, it does not have the flexibility of the text panel 7 and the liquid crystal panel 9. That is, the reinforcing plate 8 is a rigid component with higher rigidity than the text panel 7 and the liquid crystal panel 9. The reinforcing plate 8 is provided with an opening 8a (second opening) that corresponds in shape to the display opening 71 provided on the text panel 7 and is slightly larger than the display opening 71. As a result, the display area of ​​the liquid crystal panel 9 can be visually confirmed through the display opening 71 of the text panel 7.

[0022] Furthermore, the reinforcing plate 8 has a shape and size approximately the same as the upper surface 4a of the upper housing 4, and the entire outer periphery of the liquid crystal panel 9 is covered by the reinforcing plate 8. Additionally, there is a very small gap between the back of the reinforcing plate 8 and the upper surface of the liquid crystal panel 9. Moreover, the reinforcing plate 8 is securely fixed to the upper surface 4a of the upper housing 4 by double-sided adhesive tape 13 arranged at four locations on the outer periphery of the aforementioned recess 4b on the upper surface 4a of the upper housing 4. Furthermore, the reinforcing plate 8 is securely fixed to the back of the text panel 7 by double-sided adhesive tape 13 arranged at four locations on the outer periphery.

[0023] To elaborate on this point, for a watch with the aforementioned clock module 3, if it falls to the ground with the hands 12 side down, for example, the text panel 7 and the liquid crystal panel 9 are flexible and prone to bending in the thickness direction. Therefore, due to the impact with the ground, they each bend towards the hands 12 side, and the amount of bending increases when the impact is large. At this time, since there is no opening like the text panel 7 on the liquid crystal panel 9, the center of the hand axis 11 is displaced significantly.

[0024] However, because a stainless steel reinforcing plate 8 is disposed between the liquid crystal panel 9 and the text panel 7, the large bending of the liquid crystal panel 9 toward the text panel 7 side (the hand 12 side) is suppressed by the reinforcing plate 8. Therefore, even in a structure where the text panel 7 overlaps the entire area of ​​the liquid crystal panel 9 between the liquid crystal panel 9 and the hand 12, it is possible to prevent the text panel 7 from being pressed by the bent liquid crystal panel 9 and touching the hand 12. In other words, in the clock module 3, because it has a structure including the text panel 7, the hand 12 that moves above the text panel 7, the flexible liquid crystal panel 9, and the reinforcing plate 8 disposed between the text panel 7 and the liquid crystal panel 9 and having a higher rigidity than the text panel 7, it is possible to suppress the impact on the hand 12 caused by the bending of the liquid crystal panel 9 due to impact.

[0025] In this embodiment, the pointer 12 is mounted on a pointer shaft 11 that passes through the liquid crystal panel 9 and the text plate 7 and protrudes towards the surface of the text plate 7. The text plate 7 has a display opening 71 that exposes the display area of ​​the liquid crystal panel 9, and an overlapping portion 72 of a through hole portion 73 that forms the display opening 71 and includes the through hole 73a into which the pointer shaft 11 is inserted. The reinforcing plate 8 has an opening 8a with a shape corresponding to the display opening 71 and the through hole portion 73. In this structure, the text plate 7, by providing a larger display opening 71, is more prone to bending in the thickness direction compared to the case where a larger display opening 71 is not provided.

[0026] However, as mentioned above, since the reinforcing plate 8 suppresses significant deflection of the liquid crystal panel 9 toward the text panel 7 side (pointer 12 side), it is possible to reliably prevent the text panel 7 from hitting the pointer 12 even when an impact is applied to the text panel 7 in the thickness direction. Furthermore, the shape of the opening 8a of the reinforcing plate 8 corresponds to the shape of the display opening 71 of the text panel 7, thereby reliably suppressing the deflection of the liquid crystal panel 9 toward the text panel 7 side (pointer 12 side) by the reinforcing plate 8, and enabling a larger (wider) display area to be set on the liquid crystal panel 9.

[0027] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the overlapping portion 72 of the text plate 7 is a shape in which a portion of the outer periphery of the text plate 7 protrudes towards the center of the text plate 7, and a through hole 73 is provided at the protruding end of the overlapping portion 72 located at the center of the text plate 7. Therefore, when an impact is applied to the text plate 7 in the thickness direction, although the overlapping portion 72 is prone to bend towards the pointer 12, since the reinforcing plate 8 is firmly fixed to the back side of the text plate 7, that is, the side opposite to the surface on the pointer 12 side, the large bending of the overlapping portion 72 towards the pointer 12 side can be reliably suppressed by the reinforcing plate 8. Thus, the influence on the pointer 12 caused by the bending of the flexible member due to impact can be suppressed.

[0028] Furthermore, the text panel 7 shown in this embodiment is merely an example; the same effect can be achieved even if the shapes of the display opening 71 and the overlapping portion 72 are different from those in this embodiment. Additionally, while this embodiment shows a text panel 7 with a single display opening 71, multiple display openings exposing the display area of ​​the liquid crystal panel can also be provided on the text panel 7. That is, regardless of the shape of the display opening 71 and the overlapping portion 72, or the number of display openings 71, the same effect can be achieved in a structure where the center portion of the text panel 7 is prone to flexing towards the pointer 12 when an impact is applied to the text panel 7 in the thickness direction.

[0029] Furthermore, the reinforcing plate 8 shown in this embodiment is merely an example. It can be made of transparent reinforced plastic, as long as its rigidity is higher than that of the liquid crystal panel 9 and the display area of ​​the liquid crystal panel 9 can be visually confirmed through the display opening of the text panel 7. Even in this case, by using the reinforcing plate to reliably suppress large bending of the liquid crystal panel 9 toward the text panel 7 side (pointer 12 side), it is possible to prevent the text panel 7 from hitting the pointer 12 with an impact, and the influence caused by the bending of the liquid crystal panel 9 due to the impact can be eliminated from the pointer 12.

[0030] Furthermore, this embodiment illustrates a clock module in which a flexible text plate 7, which overlaps the entire area of ​​the liquid crystal panel 9 and has a thickness direction, is disposed between the pointer 12 and the liquid crystal panel 9. However, the present invention is not limited to this and can also be applied to modules having the following structures. For example, in a structure in which a flexible component (second component) that is easily flexible in the thickness direction, such as a liquid crystal panel or a solar panel, is disposed above the pointer on the surface side of the text plate 7 (first component), i.e., on the side that is visually confirmed, so that their state can be visually confirmed, is simply a reinforcing plate (third component) with a higher rigidity than the flexible component, such as a reinforcing plate made of transparent reinforced plastic, disposed between the flexible component and the pointer.

[0031] In the case of watches and similar devices with such a module, for example, when dropped to the ground with the back side facing down, although flexible components such as the LCD panel and solar panel may bend towards the hands due to the impact, the bending towards the hands is reliably suppressed by the reinforcing plate, preventing them from hitting the hands. Therefore, even in a structure where flexible components are positioned on the side of the visual confirmation hands, the impact on the hands caused by the bending of the flexible components due to the impact can be suppressed.

[0032] In other words, the present invention can also be applied to modules having a first component, a hand that moves above the first component, a flexible second component, and a third component disposed between the first and second components and having higher rigidity than the first component; that is, other modules having a structure in which a second component is disposed on the side of the visually confirming hand or on the opposite side thereof. Furthermore, the module of the present invention is not limited to watches, but can also be used in other devices having hands.

[0033] The embodiments and variations of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited thereto and includes the invention as described in the claims and its equivalents.

Claims

1. A module, characterized in that, have: First component (7); The pointer (12) moves above the first component (7); The second component (9) is flexible; as well as The third component (8) is disposed between the first component (7) and the second component (9) and has higher rigidity than the first component (7).

2. The module according to claim 1, characterized in that, The second component (9) is a liquid crystal panel (9). The pointer (12) is mounted on a pointer shaft (11), which passes through a second hole (9a) formed in the liquid crystal panel (9). The liquid crystal panel (9) is integrally formed with the second hole (9a) sandwiched between them.

3. The module according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first component (7) is flexible in the thickness direction, is disposed between the pointer (12) and the third component (8), and overlaps with the second component (9).

4. The module according to claim 2, characterized in that, The pointer (12) is mounted on the pointer shaft (11), which protrudes through a first hole (73a) formed in the first component (7) and toward the surface side of the first component (7).

5. The module according to claim 4, characterized in that, The first component (7) has an overlapping portion (72) with the first hole (73a) formed therein, and a first opening (71) that exposes the display area of ​​the second component (9).

6. The module according to claim 5, characterized in that, The third component (8) has a second opening (8a) with a shape corresponding to the first opening (71) of the first component (7).

7. The module according to claim 5, characterized in that, The overlapping portion (72) of the first component (7) is a shape in which a part of the outer peripheral side of the first component (7) protrudes toward the center. A protrusion is provided at the protruding end of the overlapping portion (72) located at the center of the first component (7), and the first hole (73a) is formed in the protrusion.

8. The module according to claim 1, characterized in that, The third component (8) is fixed to the back side of the first component (7) opposite to the side of the pointer (12).

9. A clock, characterized in that, The module comprising any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The clock according to claim 9, characterized in that, The pointer (12), the first component (7), the second component (9), and the third component (8) are respectively configured in the order of the pointer (12), the first component (7), the third component (8), and the second component (9) from the user's visual confirmation side.

11. The clock according to claim 9, characterized in that, The pointer (12), the first component (7), the second component (9), and the third component (8) are respectively configured in the order of the second component (9), the third component (8), the pointer (12), and the first component (7) from the user's visual confirmation side.

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