Device with handle

Abstract

To provide a device with a handle that takes up less space when the handle is not in use.SOLUTION: By rotating a handle portion 10 around a handle shaft portion 12, a grip portion 11 can be moved away from a surface 1A from the state shown in FIG. 4 (first state) to a state (second state) where the grip portion 11 can be gripped by an operator. At this time, the operator needs to apply force to the handle portion 10 against a leaf spring. In the second state, the operator can grip the handle portion 10 (grip portion 11) and carry the device 1. On the other hand, in the first state, as described above, the space occupied by the entire structure related to the handle portion 10 can be reduced, such that the handle portion 10 does not become an obstacle when the device 1 is attached and used.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an appliance with a handle, which is provided on a surface thereof to be gripped during transportation or the like. [Background technology]

[0002] Since the shapes of various devices (electronic devices, etc.) vary depending on the purpose, the ease of transport varies depending on the shape and weight. To facilitate the transport, a handle is attached to the surface of such devices. However, although the handle is important when transporting the device, it is not necessary when installing and using the device. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of such a device with a handle (device 900). The device 900 has a substantially cylindrical shape, and handle holding fittings 91A and 91B are fixed to a cylindrical surface 900A by screws or the like (not shown) so as to protrude from the surface 900A, and a rod-shaped gripping portion (handle) 92 that can be gripped by an operator is fixed between the handle holding fittings 91A and 91B at a location spaced apart from the surface. The operator can transport the device 900 by gripping the gripping portion 92.

[0003] As mentioned above, the handle itself is not necessary when the device is actually in use, but a structure that utilizes this handle for other purposes is described in Patent Document 1. In this technology, the handle provided on the case is also used to secure the unit (floppy disk unit) housed in the case. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 2826540 DISCLOSURE OF THEINVENTION [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In the prior art, it is clear that if the handle protrudes from the surface of the device by a certain amount, the device is easier to handle, such as transporting it. However, generally, after the device is installed, a handle that protrudes a large amount becomes an obstacle when performing various tasks, or the presence of the handle requires unnecessary space. Although it is possible to remove the handle after installation, this makes the tasks more complicated, or if the device needs repair, the handle must be reattached.

[0006] For this reason, there has been a demand for devices with handles that occupy less space when the handles are not in use.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has an object to solve the above problems. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The present invention is a device with a handle, which is a portable device equipped with a handle to be grasped by an operator, comprising: a storage section fixed to a surface of the device; a handle section having the handle as a part of it and rotatable within a plane including the normal to the surface and attached to the storage section, thereby realizing a first state in which the handle is close to the surface and a second state in which the handle is away from the surface by switching between the first state and the second state; and a spring that is sandwiched between the storage section and the handle section and biases the handle section so that the first state is maintained when the handle section is set to the first state. The surface may be curved, and the storage section and the handle section may be shaped to match the curved shape. The first state may be switched to the second state by applying a force against the elastic force of the spring to the handle to rotate it. The spring may be formed by bending a straight leaf spring. The handle portion is provided with an axis portion that serves as a rotation axis when the handle portion is rotated, and the spring is engaged with a spring engagement surface provided in the storage portion on one side and with the axis portion on the other side, and a groove portion may be formed in the axis portion for engaging the end of the handle portion. The two shaft portions are provided in the handle portion in a first direction perpendicular to the direction in which the handle portion rotates, and after the handle portion is attached to the storage portion, the spring is inserted and attached between the storage portion and the two shaft portions along the first direction, and a guide portion protruding from the other side toward the one side may be provided in the storage portion between the two shaft portions to guide the spring when it is inserted. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, in an appliance with a handle, the space occupied by the handle can be reduced when the handle is not in use. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a perspective view showing a structure of a device with a handle according to an embodiment; [Diagram 2] 1 is a plan view showing a structure relating to a handle portion of a device with a handle according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 3] 4 is an exploded view of a structure relating to a handle portion of a device with a handle according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 4] 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure relating to a handle portion of a device with a handle according to an embodiment. FIG. [Diagram 5] 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a handle portion of a device with a handle according to an embodiment is changed from a first state to a second state. [Figure 6] 1 is a plan view showing a state in which a handle portion of a device with a handle according to an embodiment is changed from a first state to a second state. FIG. [Figure 7] 1 is a plan view showing a state in which a leaf spring is attached to a device with a handle according to an embodiment. FIG. [Figure 8] 13 is a plan view showing a form in which a leaf spring is attached when there is no guide portion in the device with a handle in the embodiment. FIG. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of an example of a conventional device with a handle. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a device with a handle (device) 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Here, the device 1 is installed and used after being transported by a worker, and has a substantially cylindrical shape, similar to the device 900 described above, and a handle part 10 having a grip part (handle) 11 on a part of the surface 1A of this cylindrical shape is attached. Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the grip part 11 not being used (not being gripped by the worker).

[0012] The handle 10 is rotatably attached to a thin, generally plate-like storage section 20 fixed to the surface of the device 1. Depending on the angle set during rotation, the handle 10 can be in two states: a state in which the handle 10 is aligned with the surface 1A and the gripping section 11 is close to the surface 1A (first state: state in FIG. 1 ), and a state in which the handle 10 stands upright from the surface 1A and the gripping section 11 is separated from the surface 1A (second state). In particular, when not in use, the first state is stably maintained by being biased by a spring sandwiched between the handle 10 and the storage section 20. The storage section 20 and the handle 10 are bent or curved according to the shape of the surface 1A of the device 1. Therefore, when the handle portion 10 is not in use, the space occupied by the handle portion 10 essentially overlaps with the space occupied by the thin storage portion 20, making it possible to reduce the space occupied by the entire structure related to the handle portion 10.

[0013] FIG. 2 is a plan view of the surface 1A of the device 1 showing the structure related to the handle portion 10 and the storage portion 20 on the surface 1A of the device 1 at this time, FIG. 3 is an exploded view thereof, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view (partially see-through) in the AA direction in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, a leaf spring (spring) 30 is provided between the handle portion 10 and the storage portion 20, but in FIG. 4, the leaf spring 30 is omitted and the handle portion 10 is shown by a broken line. Although FIG. 2 is a plan view, the storage portion 20 and the leaf spring 30 are shown hatched for identification. Also, like the handle holding fittings 91A and 91B of the device 900, the storage portion 20 is actually fixed to the surface 1A by screws or the like, but the illustration of the screws is omitted in the figure.

[0014] As shown in Fig. 4, the cross-sectional shapes of the storage section 20 and the handle section 10 are both bent (curved) shapes corresponding to the surface 1A of the device 1. In Fig. 4, the storage section 20 spreads in the left-right direction, and the left end portion is a handle locking section 21 that is locally bent so as to move away from the surface 1A as shown in Fig. 4, and one handle locking section 21 is formed on each of the left and right sides in Figs. 2 and 3. In addition, as shown in Fig. 4, a handle shaft mounting section 22 is formed slightly to the right of the center of the storage section 20 so that a gap is formed between the handle shaft mounting section 22 and the surface 1A.

[0015] The planar shape of the handle part 10 is as shown in Fig. 3, and as a whole, it has a shape in which one side of a rectangular shape is partially removed, and is manufactured by bending a metal rod-shaped member having a substantially circular cross section, for example. The lower side of the handle part 10 in Figs. 2 and 3 is a grip part (handle) 11 to be held by an operator, and the two upper ends are handle shaft parts (shaft parts) 12 that are rotatably attached to the storage part 20. In this way, the handle part 10 is attached to the storage part 20 using the handle shaft parts 12 provided separately in two along the left-right direction (first direction) in the figure, and the handle part 10 can be made rotatable relative to the storage part 20 with the handle shaft parts 12 as a rotation shaft. A groove part 12A is formed on the outer periphery of the handle shaft part 12 on the left side in the figure so that the outer diameter of this metal member is locally reduced. The end of the leaf spring 30 on the left side in the figure is engaged with the groove portion 12A.

[0016] The leaf spring (spring) 30 is formed by bending a long and thin leaf spring having a surface perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 3 in a direction within the paper surface of the figure, and has a shape as shown in the figure when no force is applied. Therefore, when a force is applied to compress the leaf spring 30 in the vertical direction in FIG. 3, an elastic force that resists this is generated. In the storage section 20, on the left side of the handle mounting section 22 in FIG. 4, a leaf spring locking surface (spring locking surface) 23 that locks the leaf spring 30 on the lower side (one side) in FIG. 2 is formed as shown in FIG. 2. On the other hand, on the upper side (the other side) in FIG. 2, the leaf spring 30 is locked by the left and right handle shafts 12. With this structure, the leaf spring 30 is sandwiched between the handle section 10 and the storage section 20 in the vertical direction in FIG. 2. Alternatively, the handle section 10 is stably attached to the storage section 20 by this.

[0017] The shape, length, etc. of the leaf spring 30 are set so that the state (first state) shown in Figures 2 and 4 is stably achieved when no external force is applied to the handle portion 10. In this state, as shown in Figure 4, the handle portion 10 (grip portion 11) is locked at the upper side by the handle locking portion 21, so that the grip portion 11 is prevented from moving upward and causing the handle portion 10 to rotate.

[0018] In the above configuration, by rotating the handle portion 10 around the handle shaft portion 12, the grip portion 11 can be moved away from the surface 1A from the state shown in FIG. 4 (first state) to a state (second state) where the grip portion 11 can be gripped by an operator. At this time, the operator needs to apply force to the handle portion 10 against the leaf spring 30. In the second state, the operator can grip the handle portion 10 (grip portion 11) and carry the device 1. On the other hand, in the first state, as described above, the space occupied by the entire structure related to the handle portion 10 can be reduced, so that the handle portion 10 does not become an obstacle when the device 1 is attached and used.

[0019] The above structure and the switching of the state will be described in detail. Figures 5 and 6 are cross-sectional and plan views showing the state from the state (first state) of Figures 2 and 4 to the second state, respectively. Note that the set angle (angle around the handle shaft 12) of the handle 10 in the second state is shown differently in Figures 5(b) and 6(b) for convenience, and when actually used, the set angle is such that the handle 10 stands upright as shown in Figure 5(b).

[0020] 2 and 4 (first state), the rotation of the handle part 10 is restricted by the fact that the grip part 11 is locked by the handle locking part 21 and the leaf spring 30 is present between the shaft part 12 of the handle part 10 and the leaf spring locking surface 23 of the storage part 20. In contrast, as shown in Fig. 6(a), by pulling the handle part 10 downward in Fig. 6(a) (to the left in Figs. 4 and 5(a)) so as to narrow the gap between the shaft part 12 and the leaf spring locking surface 23 against the leaf spring 30, the grip part 11 is separated from the handle locking part 21 as shown in Fig. 5(a) and the handle part 10 can be rotated as shown in Figs. 5(b) and 6(b), thereby entering the second state.

[0021] That is, in the above structure, the operator can change the handle portion 10 from the first state to the second state by pulling the handle portion 10 downward in Fig. 2 to separate the gripping portion 11 from the handle locking portion 21 and then rotating the handle portion 10. This operation can be easily achieved by combining the storage portion 20, the handle portion 10, and the leaf spring 30.

[0022] The process of combining the components in Fig. 3 to realize the structures in Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 will be described. Fig. 7 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 2, explaining this process. Here, as shown in Fig. 7(a), the handle section 10 is attached to the storage section 20. At this time, by providing the notches 24 as shown in the drawings in the handle shaft attachment sections 22 on the left and right sides of the storage section 20, this operation can be performed without interference between the handle shaft section 12 protruding inward and the storage section 20.

[0023] From this state, as shown in Fig. 7(b), the leaf spring 30 can be inserted from the left side in the figure between the handle shaft 12 and the leaf spring locking surface 23. At this time, by providing a guide portion 25 that protrudes downward between the left and right handle shafts 12 on the upper side of Fig. 7(b), this operation can be carried out smoothly as shown in Fig. 7(c), and finally, as shown in Fig. 6(b), the leaf spring 30 is held between the storage portion 20 and the handle portion 10 with the shaft portion 12 locked on the upper side and the leaf spring locking surface 23 locked on the lower side.

[0024] In this case, by providing a groove 12A in the left handle shaft 12, the end of the leaf spring 30 on the left side in the figure can be locked into the groove 12A as shown in Fig. 2, and the leaf spring 30 can be stably maintained in this state after installation. Since the groove 12A is formed so that the outer diameter of the handle shaft 12 is locally reduced, the situation in which the end of the leaf spring 30 is locked into the groove 12A does not change even when the handle part 10 is rotated.

[0025] 7(c), a hypothetical configuration in which the guide portion 25 is not provided is shown in Fig. 8. In this case, it is not easy to lock the leaf spring 30 under the right handle shaft portion 12 as shown in Fig. 6(b). In other words, the guide portion 25 protruding downward between the two handle shaft portions 12 contributes to holding the leaf spring 30 between the handle portion 10 and the storage portion 20 in an appropriate state.

[0026] In other words, with this configuration, the structure shown in FIG. 2 can be easily assembled and realized.

[0027] In the above configuration, the storage section 20 can be easily manufactured as a thin one by processing a plate material made of metal (e.g., aluminum, steel, etc.). At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, it is easy to bend and curve the cross-sectional shape to match the surface 1A of the device 1. As described above, a metal (e.g., stainless steel, etc.) bar material bent into a substantially rectangular shape can be used as the handle section 10, and it is easy to match this shape with the cross-sectional shape (shape of the surface 1A) of the storage section 20. In other words, the above structure can be easily realized on devices having surfaces of various shapes by matching it with the surfaces.

[0028] At this time, particularly in the first state, as shown in FIG. 4, the space occupied by the handle portion 10 almost overlaps with the thin storage portion 20, so the space occupied by the handle portion 10 and the storage portion 20 is small. Therefore, even if the device 1 is actually installed in various devices, the presence of the handle portion 10 and the storage portion 20 does not pose an obstacle. After that, when the device 1 needs to be transported for repair or replacement, the handle portion 10 can be easily put into the second state. The length of the handle portion 10 in the vertical direction in FIG. 3 is appropriately set so that the distance between the grip portion 11 and the surface 1A in the second state makes it easy for an operator to grip the grip portion 11.

[0029] In the above example, the leaf spring 30 shown in Fig. 3 etc. is used, but the shape of the spring is arbitrary as long as it exerts an elastic force between the storage section and the handle section. However, like the leaf spring 30, a long and thin metal (such as stainless steel) leaf spring is preferred because it is easy to manufacture and easy to install, as shown in Fig. 7.

[0030] In the above example, the leaf spring 30 is sandwiched between the shaft 12 of the handle 10 and the leaf spring locking surface 23 of the storage section 20, but as long as the spring is sandwiched between the handle and the storage section and the handle can be rotated relative to the storage section, the structure of the storage section and the handle for sandwiching the spring can be arbitrary. The structure of the handle locking section that locks the gripping section in the first state can also be appropriately set accordingly. The above device 1 can also be an electric device, a gas device, or any other device with any function.

[0031] The present invention has been described above based on the embodiment. This embodiment is merely an example, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible in the combination of the respective components, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0032] 1,900 Equipment with handles (equipment) 1A, 900A surface 10 Handle 11, 92 Handle 12 Handle shaft (shaft) 12A Groove 20 Storage area 21 Handle locking part 22 Handle shaft attachment part 23 Leaf spring retaining surface (spring retaining surface) 24 Cutout 25 Guide section 30 Leaf spring (spring) 91A, 91B Handle retaining bracket

Claims

1. A portable device with a handle that is held by an operator, a storage portion fixed to a surface of the device; a handle portion having the handle on a part thereof, and being rotatable within a plane including a normal line of the surface and attached to the storage portion, thereby realizing a first state in which the handle is close to the surface and a second state in which the handle is separated from the surface; a spring that is sandwiched between the storage section and the handle section and biases the handle section so that the first state is maintained when the handle section is placed in the first state; A device with a handle, comprising:

2. 2. The device with a handle according to claim 1, wherein the surface is curved, and the storage section and the handle section are shaped to match the curved shape.

3. 3. The device with a handle according to claim 1, wherein the first state is switched to the second state by applying a force against the elastic force of the spring to the handle portion to rotate it.

4. 4. The device with a handle according to claim 3, wherein the spring is formed by bending a straight leaf spring.

5. The device with a handle as described in claim 4, characterized in that the handle portion is provided with an axis portion that serves as a rotation axis when the handle portion is rotated, the spring is engaged with a spring engaging surface provided in the storage portion on one side and with the axis portion on the other side, and a groove portion is formed in the axis portion for engaging the end of the handle portion.

6. The shaft portion is provided in two in a first direction perpendicular to a direction in which the handle portion rotates, the spring is inserted between the storage section and the two shaft sections along the first direction after the handle section is attached to the storage section, The device with a handle as described in claim 5, characterized in that a guide portion is provided in the storage portion, protruding from the other side toward the one side between the two shaft portions, so as to guide the spring when the spring is inserted.

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