MXPA96001516A - Improved rotating double joint for corral dejuegos colapsa - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a rotating hinge, which comprises: a first circular portion having a recessed portion that forms a recessed toothed gear portion, with the teeth of the toothed gear pointing radially inwardly, a gear having a plurality of gear teeth on its periphery, this portion being recessed deep enough to receive substantially the gear, the gear received by the gear portion being recessed being, and the gear teeth being interspaced with the teeth of the gear teeth, the gear being on a gear. side, a protrusion, a second circular portion having a recess, receiving this recess to the protrusion of the gear, the gear being interposed between the first and second circular portions, and preventing relative movement between the first and second circular portions when the protrusion is received by the recess, where the teeth of the engr A toothed plate has on one side thereof a radially extending projection portion on which the engagement rests, wherein, to allow the first and second circular portions of the joint to rotate with respect to each other and unlock the Union, elengrane moves from the portion of the projection, and moves axially inside the recessed jagged gear portion, to allow the protrusion of the gear to disengage from the recess of the second portion

Description

IMPROVED ROTATING DOUBLE JOINT FOR COLLABORABLE JDEGOS CORRAL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hinge or attachment of the structure of a top game pen of the kind described in the U.S. Pat.

North American Number 5,381,570 (Cheng), incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention seeks to provide an improved hinge for a folding playpen structure. The improved play yard has the novel feature of employing a top structure hinge that requires two steps to unsecure, as opposed to the one step of the Cheng patent. The hinge of the structure is composed of two halves, a gear received in one half, and a coupling gear that receives the face with teeth that has a "step" insert in the other half. When the hinge is secured open, due to the nature of the stresses and forces inside the hinge and the structure that supports the hinge, the face that receives the gear supports in this "step" to the gear, which prevents the rotation of the gear with respect to its half of the hinge that holds it. To unlock the hinge and allow the structure to bend, the user must perform two steps, in contrast to the single step of the Cheng patent: first, the user must push a button in opposition to a coil spring that releases the gear of the face that receives the gear, as in the Cheng patent, but in addition, the user must lift the upper arms of the structure that are attached to the hinge to allow the tension due to gravity and other stresses to be released. compression and traction, and to allow the gear to slide out of the "step", and to allow relative rotation between the gear and the hinge, to allow the two halves of the hinge to rotate with respect to each other. The present invention thus allows having an additional safety factor on and above the hinge design described in U.S. Patent No. 5,381,570.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure IA shows an isometric view separated in parts of the hinge of the present invention. Figure IB is a mirror image of Figure IA, seen from the rear. Figure 2 shows a top view of the half of the face receiving the gear of the hinge. Figure 3 shows a sectioned portion of Figure 2. Figure 4 shows a perspective view of Figure 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITIES Referring to the figures, a joint or hinge 10 is shown in Figures IA and IB to receive and join two bar members of structure 20 and 30 at their hollow ends, which may have openings 32 to allow fastening the ends to the bars. The hinge 10 and the structure members 20, 30 are configured in a relationship similar to the upper structure 2 and the hinge 3 shown in the United States Patent Number 5,381,570, Cheng, on which the present design is a improvement, in that the hinge is part of a collapsible baby play yard. The hinge 10 is formed of two halves, a face half 40 that receives the gear, and a face half 50 that holds the gear. The face half 50 holding the gear supports a gear 60, which has a first indented side 65 and a second smooth side 70. The indented side 65 has a pair of butterfly-shaped detents or protrusions 75, 77, which they are received by the recessed side of the face half 50 that holds the mesh. A push button 80 with two teeth 82, 84, fits through the openings 86 in the half of the face 50 that holds the gear, to push the gear 60 in opposition to a coil spring 90, which is interposed between the gear 60 and the recessed face with teeth 130 of the half of the face 40 receiving the gear. A nut and screw configuration 100 secures and centers the different parts through a central opening, but allows the axial movement of the parts. An important difference between the joint of the present invention and the joint described in the Cheng patent is the presence of a "step" or projection 110 or seat on one side of each of the teeth of recessed gear 120, which indicates radially inward towards the center of the face 130 of the recessed toothed gear of the half of the face 40 receiving the gear of the joint 10. The projection 110 can be seen on the left side of the teeth 120, when viewed from Figures 2 and 4. The step 110 is a projection spaced 5 millimeters above the base of the length of 13 millimeters of the teeth 120 of the recessed toothed gear, as shown in Figure 3 (the 13 millimeter section of the teeth corresponding to the approximate width of the gear 60), and is approximately 0.5 to 1 millimeter in width circumferentially along the tooth of the recessed gear teeth, although the dimensions are not too critical. Gear 60 is approximately 13 millimeters wide. The gear 60 rests on the projection 110, and when the connection 10 is not secured, the gear 60 is adjusted, if it is pressed in opposition to the coil spring 90, substantially entirely flush with the face 130 of the recessed gear, of the receiving face 40, and does not have its butterfly projections 75, 77 projecting outwards (except for a small portion of hub around the opening that receives screw 100, and which is received by a coupling recess in face 40 that receives the gear). As shown, the teeth forming the gear are arranged to fit in the space between the teeth 120 of the gear teeth. The projection 110 on the teeth 120 of the toothed gear recessed in this way allows, when the gear 60 rests on the projection 110, that the butterfly retentions 75, 77 of the gear 60 move out of the width of the face 40 receiving the gear ( from the side 135), and engage the corresponding indentations 140, 142 of the half of the face 50 that holds the mesh. The joint 10 has an outer circular diameter of approximately 55 millimeters. The operation of the similar components in the joint 10 is generally the same as that of the similar components described in the Cheng patent, incorporated herein in its entirety; however, in the present invention, due to the presence of the step 110 on the teeth 120 of the half of the face 40 receiving the engagement, an additional safety factor is provided when the joint collapses (bends). In the present invention, the presence of the step 110 is such that it will precisely support the engagement 60 in such a manner that its detentions 75, 77 will extend outward from the side 135 of the half of the face 40 receiving the engagement, and from this In this manner, they will engage the corresponding butterfly indentations 140, 142 of the half of the face 50 that holds the mesh. In addition, the presence of the compression coil spring 90 will force the gear 60 away from the face 130 of the recessed gear, from the half of the face 40 receiving the gear. At the juncture of the Cheng patent, a danger that exists is the accidental bending of the joint and the possible trapping of a child's limb if the push button is accidentally depressed (push cap 36 in Cheng). In the present invention, this danger is mitigated due to the unique function of the step 110 described above, which requires an additional movement to bend the joint, that is, a lifting and release of the tensions in the joint. Accordingly, when the user wishes to collapse (fold) the upper structure of a game pen, the button 80 is depressed, which must be depressed, by means of the two teeth 82, 84 acting on the gear 60, the gear 60 and its projections 75, 77, for removing the interior of the face 130 from the recessed toothed gear, from the half of the face 40 receiving the gear, against the force of the spring 90, and in this way uncoupling the detents from the gear 75, 77 of the corresponding indentations 140, 142 of the half of the face 50 that holds the mesh. However, in the present invention, unlike the Cheng patent, the presence of the projection 110 on which the gear normally rests provides just enough resistance to the axial movement of the gear when the push button is depressed to prevent this retraction. of the gear 60 inside the face 130. In practice it has been found that only by releasing the tensions accumulated on the joint 10, by lifting the joint (as by lifting the bars of the structure 20, 30), is it enough to release meshing 60 of the coupling with the projection 110, and in this way the force of the push button is allowed to retract the gear 60 inward from the face 130 of the half of the gear receiving face 40, as explained above. Once this happens, the joint can be rotated and the bars of the play yard structure can collapse. In this way, the present invention provides an additional safety factor: in order to unlock the joint for rotation, a user must not only press the push button associated with the joint, but also raise and release the stresses accumulated on the joint. union, by lifting the members of the structure attached to the union. Since it is unlikely that a child has the strength to do this, the accidental collapse of the playground structure is reduced. The joint of the present invention can be constructed from a high impact engineering thermoplastic material, which can be injection molded or molded. As described in the Cheng patent, the joint of the present invention can be used in a collapsible playpen, especially for joining the horizontal upper tubular bar members. The above description is offered for illustrative purposes only. Those skilled in the art will be able to see that numerous modifications and variations can be made while still falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed herein below.

Claims (8)

R E I V I N D I C A C I O N S

1. A rotating hinge, which comprises: a first circular portion having a recessed portion that forms a recessed toothed gear portion, with the teeth of the toothed gear pointing radially inward; a gear having a plurality of engaging teeth on its periphery, this portion being recessed sufficiently deep to substantially receive engagement, with the gear received by the recessed gear portion being intermeshed with the teeth of the gear serrated, having the gear on one side, a protuberance; a second circular portion having a recess, receiving this recess to the protrusion of the mesh; the gear being interposed between the first and second circular portions, and preventing relative movement between the first and second circular portions when the protrusion is received by the recess; wherein the gear teeth have on one side thereof a radially extending projection portion on which the engagement rests; wherein, to allow the first and second circular portions of the joint to rotate with respect to each other and unsecure the joint, the engagement moves from the portion of the projection, and moves axially within the recessed jagged gear portion. , to allow the protrusion of the gear to disengage from the recess of the second circular portion.

The rotating hinge according to claim 1, which further comprises a spring disposed between the recessed toothed gear portion and the gear, the spring being axially disposed at the center of the gear and the recessed toothed gear portion.

The rotating hinge according to claim 2, wherein the recess of the second circular portion has an opening, a push button having a protrusion extending through the opening, engaging the protrusion of the push button with the gear to move the gear axially inwardly of the recessed toothed gear portion when the gear of the boss portion is displaced.

The rotating hinge according to claim 3, wherein the first and second circular portions are connected to the tubular rods in a horizontal manner to form a crossbar structure for a child's play pen, and this gear is It moves from the projection portion, lifting the bars to release tension on the hinge.

5. The rotating hinge according to claim 4, which further comprises an opening in the gear and in the first and second circular portions, this opening receiving a nut and a screw.

6. A rotating bending joint for bar members, which comprises: a first portion receiving a bar at one end, and having a recessed toothed gear portion, this toothed gear portion having a plurality of teeth surrounding and they form the recessed portion, and they point radially inward, these teeth having along one side thereof, a step portion; a second portion receiving a tubular rod at one end, and having a plurality of indentations, these indentations having at least one opening passing therethrough, and a protuberance connected to a push button passing through the openings. openings, giving these indentations towards the recessed toothed gear portion; a gear having on one side a plurality of detents dimensioned to engage the indentations, and of a width sufficient to be received substantially flush inside the recessed toothed gear portion; a spring interposed between the gear and the recessed toothed gear portion, and which forces the gear away from the toothed gear portion; the engagement allowing the first and second portions of the joint to be secured in a rotatable manner and fixed one with respect to the other when the detentions are coupled with the indentations, and when the engagement is resting on the step portion; while to allow the first and second portions of the joint to rotate with respect to each other and unlock the joint, the press button is depressed and the ends of the first and second portions are raised to allow the engagement to come out of engagement. the step portion, and to allow the push button to push the gear further into the recessed toothed gear portion of the first portion to allow the indentations to detach from their engagement with the detentions.

The rotating bending joint according to claim 6, wherein: the recessed toothed gear portion is about 13 millimeters deep, the gear is about 13 millimeters per side, and the step portion is about 5 millimeters. millimeters in height from the bottom of the recessed portion and up to approximately 1 millimeter in width radially.

8. In combination, in a play pen made of tubular bars supported by a rotating bending joint, the invention comprising: a play pen having a plurality of tubular bars supported therebetween by a rotating bending joint; said junction having a first portion receiving one of the plurality of bars at one end, and having a gear portion recessed, said gear portion having a plurality of teeth surrounding and forming the recessed portion and pointing radially towards inside, having these teeth along one side thereof, a step portion; a second portion receiving another of the tubular bars at one end, and having a plurality of indentations, these indentations having at least one opening passing therethrough, and a protuberance connected to a push button passing through of the openings, giving these indentations towards the recessed toothed gear portion; a gear having on one side a plurality of detents dimensioned to engage the indentations, and of a width sufficient to be received substantially flush inside the recessed toothed gear portion; a spring interposed between the gear and the gear portion recessed, and which forces the gear away from the toothed gear portion; the engagement allowing the first and second portions of the joint to be secured in a rotatable manner and fixed one with respect to the other when the detentions are coupled with the indentations, and when the engagement is resting on the step portion; while to allow the first and second portions of the joint to rotate with respect to each other and unlock the joint, the push button is depressed and the tubular rods and the ends of the first and second portions are raised to allow the The gear is released from the step portion, and allows the push button to push the gear further into the recessed gear portion of the first portion, to allow the indentations to detach from engagement with the detentions. SUMMARY An improved rotating union of the kind described in U.S. Patent No. 5,381,570, for collapsible tubular play structures, having a step on the tooth of a recessed toothed gear portion, on which rests a gear of Connection. In order to unlock the joint, the gear must be moved axially inwards with a push button, as well as the tension on the joint must be released, lifting the tubular bars connected to the joint, in such a way that the mesh out of the step. In this way, an additional safety factor is integrated in order to unlock the joint, and it reduces an accidental release. * * * * *