A stay includes a first arm rotatably connected to any one of a body or a door openable to the body; a second arm, one end of the second arm being rotatably connected to the first arm and the other end being connected to any one of the body or the door. The first arm includes a resilient body, a slider urged by the resilient body to the second arm. A case slidably supports the slider toward the second arm, and a pressing part is abutted and pressured onto a cam face disposed to the second arm by the slider. An adjustment mechanism changes a pressing position between the cam face and the pressing part to a crossing direction with respect to a sliding direction of the slider and a rotation shaft axis direction of the second arm.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the U.S. National Phase of and claims priority to International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2019/019419, International Filing Date May 16, 2019; which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. JP2018-125467 filed Jun. 29, 2018; both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a stay including a first arm and a second arm rotatably connected each other and being attached between a body and a door.

BACKGROUND

As one that assists to open a door by a user and keeps a position of an opened door, a stay has been known. The stay includes a first arm and a second arm rotatably connected each other, and for example, the first arm is connected rotatably to a body and the second arm is connected rotatably to a door. To the first arm, a resilient body such as a spring and so on is disposed to exert assisting power against the door. Thus, the assisting power of the resilient body is converted to torque along a direction of opening of the second arm by, for example, a cam, and lastly, the assisting power is exerted to the door in the opening direction.

In Patent Literature 1, a stay including an adjustment mechanism, which can adjust such assisting power, is disclosed. The adjustment mechanism disclosed in the same literature is disposed with a spring between an engagement piece abutting to the cam and a receiver member, and makes it possible to adjust a position of the receiver member to the engagement piece along a longitudinal direction of a spring. That is to say, this adjustment mechanism, by changing the spacing between the receiver piece and the receiver member, changes the assisting power acting to the cam to adjust the assisting power by changing the magnitude of torque to be converted.

PRIOR ART LITERATURE

Patent Literature

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Problem to be Solved by Invention

Incidentally, the adjustment mechanism disclosed in Patent Literature 1, when increasing resilient force generated by a spring by narrowing the spacing between a engagement piece and a receiver member, converted torque constantly increased from opening position to closing position of a door. That is to say, this adjustment mechanism can change widely the magnitude of assisting power, however, the adjustment mechanism has not been able to adjust relation between an angle of the door and the assisting power, for example, as the assisting power when the door starts to open is suppressed while obtaining larger assisting power after the door being opened to some extent.

In order to address such problem, the present invention aims to provide the stay which can adjust assisting power more variously when compared to the stay having the conventional adjustment mechanism.

Means for Solving Problem

A stay of the present invention comprises: a first arm rotatably connected to any one of a body or a door openable to the body; a second arm, one end of the second arm being rotatably connected to the first arm and the other end being connected to any one of the body or the door; the first arm including a resilient body, a slider urged by the resilient body to the second arm, a case supporting slidably the slider toward the second arm, and an pressing part being abutted and pressured onto a cam face disposed to the second arm by the slider; and an adjustment mechanism changing a pressing position between the cam face and the pressing part to a crossing direction with respect to a sliding direction of the slider and a rotation shaft axis direction of the second arm.

In such stay, the adjustment mechanism may include an adjustment screw being screwed to any one of the pressing part or the slider while being supported rotatably by the any other one, and making the pressing part and the slider move relatively.

In addition and in such stay, the pressing part preferably includes an anti-loosing member abutting to the adjustment screw.

In addition and in such stay, the adjustment mechanism preferably includes a receiver member being placed between the slider and the pressing part while supporting the pressing part slidably, and being disposed at an opposite side to a side imparted with urging force of the resilient body to receive the urging force of the resilient body.

Furthermore, in such stay, the adjustment mechanism preferably include an adjustment screw being screwed to any one of the case and the second arm while supported rotatably by the other one, and making the case and the second arm move relatively.

And in such stay, the pressing part preferably makes the second arm exert torque in a direction for opening the door throughout the entire region of the pressing position being changed by the adjustment mechanism.

Advantageous Effect of Invention

In a stay of the present invention, by using an adjusting mechanism that can change the abutting position between a cam face and a pressing part to a crossing direction with respect to a slide-direction of a slider and also to a direction of the rotation shaft line of a second arm, the relation between an angle of the second arm and the torque converted from abutting power of a resilient body can be changed such that the assisting power can be adjusted more variously when compared to the conventional adjustment mechanism.

EMBODIMENT FOR PRACTICING INVENTION

Hereinbelow, one embodiment of a stay according to the present invention will be described with referring to attached drawings. Now, the say of the present invention should not be limited to embodiments disclosed in this description and the drawings and can include various embodiments practiced within the scope in accordance with Claims.

FIG. 1-FIG. 7depict a stay1of a first embodiment of the present invention. First, with referring toFIG. 1andFIG. 2, explanation will be provided about the situation where the stay1of the present embodiment is used. As shown inFIG. 1, the stay1has an opening part at its upper side, and is used by being attached between a body101having a hinge100disposed at the back and the top thereof and a door102disposed openably to the body101through a hinge100. Now, in the present description and so on, as for convenience sake, the description will be presented in the direction when viewed the stay1at the condition where the door102is opened from the front (up-and-down, right-and-left, and forward-and back directions) as shown inFIG. 1.

The stay1includes a first arm2and a second arm3rotatably connected each other. The first arm2is attached rotatably to the body101through a clip plate103, and the second arm3is attached rotatably to the door102through a clip plate104as a connection element.

When the stay1is used asFIG. 1, the door102, rotates in the range from the closed state to the body101(an opening angle of the door is to be about 0 degree) as shown inFIG. 2(a) to the opened state being opened largely above to the body101as shown inFIG. 2 (b)(the opening angle of the door is to be about 80 degrees). In addition, when the door102is opened and closed as illustrated, the stay1provides an assisting function for making a user easy to bring up the door102and a free-stop function for keeping the brought-up door102at an optional opening angle. This embodiment is configured so as to present the assisting function and the free-stop function in the range of door-open angle between about 10 degrees and 80 degrees.

Here, the clip plate103shown is attached to an inside lateral face of the body101, however, the clip plate attached to an inside back face of the body101may be used. Besides, the stay1can be attached to the one other than the system where the door102opens to the back from this side as illustrated, and for example, the stay1can be attached between the body having an opening part at the front and having a hinge at upper part of the front side and the door is disposed in front of the body through the hinge for allowing the opening from a lower side to a upper side.

Next, the configuration of stay1will be described in detail with referring toFIG. 3-FIG. 6. The first arm2described above includes, as shown inFIG. 4, a case4having a cylindrical shape, a spring receiver5fixed to an bottom end of the case4, a bushing6inserted into the case4and also into the spring receiver5, a slider7received slidably up and down to the case4, a resilient body lying between the spring receiver5and the slider7(in this embodiment, a metal spring8coiled spirally), and a pressing part9disposed at an upper pert of the slider7. Besides, between the slider7and the pressing part9, an adjustment mechanism10, which is configured for making the pressing part9move front and back to the slider7, is disposed. The adjustment mechanism10includes an anti-loosing member11held with the pressing part9, a receiver member12supporting slidably the pressing part9, an adjustment screw13being screwed to the pressing part9, and the slider7supporting rotatably the adjustment screw13. Furthermore, the first arm2and the second arm3are connected rotatably by a shaft part14.

The case4is formed by folding a metal thin plate to the shape including a right-and-left pair of lateral plates4a, and a front plate4bconnecting the lateral plates4aat the front while its back being opened. Now, the opened back-side part of the case4will be referred to a back opening4c. The lateral plates4aof the present embodiment is formed so as to have an upper quadrilateral shape and a lower triangle shape and the spacing between the lateral plates4abecomes narrow such that the spacing of the bottom part is narrower than that of the upper part. In addition, at the upper part of the lateral plates4a, shaft holes4dpositioned near the center of front and back direction, upper through-holes4epositioned in front of the shaft hole4d, a window hole4fbeing placed below the shaft hole4dwhile extending along the front and back direction, and a measure4gpositioned below the window hole4fare disposed. At the lower part of the lateral plates4a, lower through-holes4hare disposed. Furthermore, as shown inFIG. 3, at the upper side of the front plate4b, a hole4jfor adjustment is disposed.

The spring receiver5forms generally a shape connecting the plate pieces each having a rectangular shape in their planer view and the plate pieces each having a triangle shape in its side view, and the spring receiver5is made of a synthetic resin. At the upper part of the spring receiver5, protrusions5aeach having a columnar shape for positioning the spring8are disposed. At the bottom part of the spring receiver5, a bottom through-hole5bis disposed. The spring receiver5is inserted from the back opening4cto be held by the case4.

The bushing6has the shape that forms generally a cylinder shape and is disposed with a flange at one end along an axis direction. In addition, in the condition where the spring receiver5is held in the case4, the bushing6is inserted and is held in the bottom through-holes4h,5b. The bushing6is inserted with a screw and the like as shown inFIG. 1and has a function for holding the first arm2rotatably with respect to the clip plate103.

The slider7has the shape that a front wall7aand a back wall7bare disposed with the spacing along the front and back direction at the upper part of the part having a rectangular shape in its lateral view, and is made of a synthetic resin. To the front wall7aand the back wall7b, circular through-holes7cextending along the front and back direction are disposed for supporting rotatably the adjusting screw13. Besides, as shown inFIG. 5, the slider7has a concave part7dfor receiving the spring8. The slider7formed to such shape is placed slidably to the up and down direction in the case4.

The springs8are lain between the spring receiver5and the slider7to urge the slider7upwardly. The springs8of the present embodiment are positioned by the protrusion5aand the concave part7d. Furthermore, the springs8with three larger diameter types and two smaller diameter types are used in the illustrated embodiment, however, the number and sizes may be adequately selected.

The pressing part9has the shape connecting the upper part having almost the triangular shape and the lower part having the quadrilateral shape in its lateral view and is made of metal. The width of right and left direction of the pressing part9becomes wider at the upper part having the triangular shape than the lower part having the quadrilateral shape. Besides, at the lower part of the pressing part9, a female screw part9aextending to the front and back direction is disposed. As shown inFIG. 5, the lower part of the pressing part9is disposed with a concave part for receiving the anti-loosing member11. Furthermore, the upper lateral side of the pressing part9is disposed with a position indicating part9bbeing seen visually through the window hole4fwhen the pressing part9is assembled.

The anti-loosing member11has generally a rectangular solid shape and is made of a synthetic resin. At the center of the anti-loosing member11, a circular through-hole11extending to the front and back direction is formed at the position aligned to the female screw part9awhen assembled to the pressing part9. Here, the through-hole11ais formed as providing an outer diameter of an extent allowing an outer face of the adjustment screw13to abut.

The receiver member12is formed by folding a thin metal plate and has a right-and-left pair of lateral plates12aand a bottom plate12bconnecting the lateral plates12aeach other at the lower side. The receiver member12is attached at the upper part of the slider7between the front wall7aand the back wall7b. Here, the receiver member12supports slidably the triangular shape part of the pressing part9by the top part of the lateral plates12a. Furthermore, the receiver member12has the function for enforcing the slider7by receiving the urging force of the springs8acting from the lower direction of the slider7with making the lower plate12babut to the upper face of the slider7. That is to say, as shown inFIG. 6, the upper part of the slider7becomes thin by the concave parts7dfor each receiving the springs8and can resist the urging force of the spring8by the metal receiver member12such that deformation of the thin part can be protected. Now, spacing may be left between the lower face of the pressing part9and the upper face of the lower plate12b, however, the deformation of the thin part can be more effectively protected by making the lower face of the pressing part9contact with the upper face of the lower plate12b.

The adjustment screw13is held rotatably to the slider7under the condition where the pressing part9, the anti-loosing member11, and the receiver member12are fixed to the slider7. Particularly, one end of the adjustment screw13and the opposite end are supported rotatably by through-holes7cof the front wall7aand the back wall7b, and the male screw part disposed at the center of the adjustment screw13is screwed into the female part9aof the pressing part9. Thus, by the rotation of the adjustment screw13, the pressing part9is made to move in the front and back direction with respect to the slider7. Also, in this condition, the male screw part of the adjustment screw13abuts to the through-hole11aof the anti-loosing member11. That is to say, the adjustment screw13does not rotate carelessly so that the pressing part9can not move carelessly. Here, when attaching the adjustment screw13to the slider7, a washer13ashown inFIG. 4is used and after inserting the adjustment screw13into the washer13a, the end inserted therethrough is crimped and so on to prevent from escape.

Furthermore, the second arm3has generally an L-shape in its plane view and is made of a synthetic resin. At the upper part of the second arm3, an upper through-hole3ais disposed. Into the upper through-hole3a, a pin and so on is inserted as shown inFIG. 1to provide the function that the second arm3is held rotatably to the clip plate104. In addition, at the lower part of the second arm3, a shaft hole3bis disposed at the center along the front and back direction as shown inFIG. 4, and at the front of the shaft hole3b, a through-hole3cis disposed. Besides, at a lower edge part of the second arm3, a cam face3dto which the pressing part9abuts, is disposed.

The shaft part14has generally a columnar shape in which a flange is disposed at one end along the shaft direction. The shaft14is inserted into the shaft hole4dof the case4and the shaft hole3bof the second arm3to connect rotatably the first arm2and the second arm3. Now, when attaching the shaft part14, a washer14ashown inFIG. 4may be used.

In the stay1as such configured and shown inFIG. 6, the slider7is urged upwardly by the springs8to make the pressing part9abut onto the cam face3d, thereby the torque acts to the second arm3. According to the present embodiment, by rotating the adjustment screw13, the pressing part9can be moved along the front and back direction with respect to the slider7. Therefore, by moving the pressing position where the pressing part9pressingly abuts onto the cam face3d(by changing the pressing position between the pressing part9and the cam face3dto both of the direction almost crossing at right angle to the slide direction of the slider7and the rotation shaft axis direction to the slider7) to change the torque acting to the slider7. Besides, according to this embodiment, the position of the pressing part9to the slider7can be checked by the measure4gdisposed to the case4and the position indicating part9bviewed through the window hole4f. Thus, the adjustment of torque acting to the second arm3can be done with good reproducibility and accuracy.

FIG. 7 (a)shows a graph presenting one example of the relation between the angle of the door102and the shaft torque about the shaft part14(a shaft torque to the direction for opening the door102) under the condition where the stay1is attached to the body101and the door102. The one-dot-chain line in the graph ofFIG. 7 (a)shows the relation between the angle and the shaft torque under the condition where the pressing part9is moved the most posteriorly in the movable range of the pressing part9. In addition, with respect to this relation between the angle and the shaft torque, the dashed line in the graph ofFIG. 7 (a)shows the condition where the pressing part9is moved the most anteriorly as shown inFIG. 7 (b), and the solid line shows the condition where the pressing part9is moved to the center position. In such stay1, by rotating the adjustment screw13and by moving posteriorly the pressing part9from the center position, as shown as the solid line and the one-dot-chain line of the graph ofFIG. 7 (a), the shaft torque about the shaft part14becomes small when compared to that in the center position under the condition where the angle of the door102is small, however, when the angle becomes larger to some extent, larger shaft torque can be obtained. That is to say, by adjusting as described above, while suppressing assist force at the starting stage during door opening, the larger assist force can be provided to the door102after the door is opened to some extent. On the other hand, when the pressing part9is moved anteriorly from the center position, as shown as the solid line and the dashed line in the graph ofFIG. 7 (a), though the shaft torque becomes smaller at the stage where the angle of the door becomes larger to some extent, the larger shaft torque can be obtained at the smaller angle of the door102. Thus, the case adjusted as above can make the assist force larger at the stage when the door102becomes open.

Now, depending on shapes and positional relations of the cam surface3d, the pressing part9and the shaft part14, the torque directing to the closing direction of the door102(the direction that the door102is returned to the body101) can be also made to act. With configuring as describe above, for example by applying the door that opens to the horizontal direction with respect to the body, the door can be securely closed. On the other hand, as the present embodiment, when attached to one that the door102opens upwardly to the body101, as shown inFIG. 2 (a), by using the stay1that the torque toward the direction for opening the door102acts to the second arm3within the entire region of the movable range of the pressing part9, the assisting function and the free-stop function can be obtained almost in the entire movable region of the door102.

Incidentally, in the condition where the door102is opened largely and upwardly as shown inFIG. 2 (b), the through-hole3cof the second arm3(refer toFIG. 4) comes to the position aligned to the upper through-hole4eof the case4. Therefore, in the case where the stay1is attached to the body101and the door102and so on, a stick-like shaped tool, for example, such as a driver is inserted into the through-hole3cand the upper through-hole4e, the second arm3can not rotate such that the shortcoming of uncareful closing of the door102can be prevented.

Although the stay1of the above first embodiment has been one that adjust the assist force provided to the door102by moving the pressing part9with respect to the slider7along the front and back direction, the similar effect can also obtained by using a stay15of the second embodiment.

FIG. 8-FIG. 10shows the stay15of the second embodiment. The stay15is generally one that the slider7and the pressing part9are connected integrally; the second arm3includes a bracket16, and further the adjustment screw13is screwed to the case4while supported rotatably by the bracket16. Now, in the description below, parts having common functions with the first embodiment will be indicated by the same numerals and the explanation will be omitted.

The case4of this embodiment includes, as shown inFIG. 9, a long hole4kextending along the front and back direction at the upper part of the lateral plate4a. Besides, at the upper part of the front plate4b, a screw hole4madapted to be screwed with the adjustment screw13is disposed.

The bracket16has generally a channel shape in its plane view. At the right and left sides of the bracket16, the through-holes16aare disposed. Furthermore, to the forward side of the bracket16, one end part of the adjustment screw13is inserted and a supporting hole16bfor supporting rotatably it is disposed.

Besides, the shaft part14is inserted into the long hole4k, the through-holes16a, and shaft hole3bto hold the second arm3rotatably and movably toward the front and back direction to the first arm2.

The adjustment mechanism in the stay15of the second embodiment is configured, by rotating the adjustment screw13, to move the second arm3along the front and back direction with respect to the case4. By such adjustment mechanism, since the cam face3dof the second arm3can be moved along the front and back direction to the pressing part9such that the torque acting to the second arm3is also changed likely to the stay1of the first embodiment.

As described as far, the present invention has been described using particular embodiments, however, the stay of the present invention is not limited to the above described embodiments and can include ones that various modifications are incorporated. For example, though the stay1is one that the driver and so on for rotating the adjustment screw13is inserted from the front side of the case4, as shown inFIG. 11, the configured may be possible for allowing the driver and so on to insert from the back side of the case4by reversing the direction of the adjustment screw13. Furthermore, as shown inFIG. 12, an adjustment function for adjusting the magnitude of the assist force may be added by changing the spacing between the spring receiver19and the slider7by disposing a base17disposed at the lower part of the case4, a second adjustment screw18attached rotatably to the base17, and a spring receiver19moving to the up and down direction in the case4by rotating the second adjustment screw18. Furthermore, when attaching the stay1of the first embodiment, according to the above described embodiment, the shortcoming of careless closing of the door102can be prevented by inserting the drivers and so on into the upper through-hole4eof the case4together with the through-hole3cof the second arm3, alternatively, as shown inFIG. 13andFIG. 14, the configuration may be possible by placing a pin4nto the case4while disposing a hook3ehaving a C-shape in its plane view to the second arm3; when the door102is opened largely as shown inFIG. 14, the hook3eengages with the pin4nto hold the second arm3with respect to the case4. Besides, shapes of the cam face3dis not limited to those illustrated and optional modifications may be possible depending on desired assisting functions and free-stop functions. For example, for securely keeping the state of door closing, a concave part that allows the pressing part9to engage when the opening angle of the door102is to be 0 degree may be disposed to the cam face3d. Furthermore, when moving the pressing part9to the slider7in the first embodiment, for example, it may be configured that the through-hole7cdisposed at the front wall7aof the slider7is formed as a female screw part and the adjustment screw13screws to this female screw, and lastly the top part of the adjustment screw13may be supported rotatably to the pressing part9. Furthermore, in the second embodiment, when moving the second arm3along the front and back direction to the case4, it may be configured that, for example, the screw hole4mis configured to the through-hole and the adjustment screw13is supported rotatably to the through-hole, and lastly the adjustment screw13screws into the second arm3(or bracket16).

DESCRIPTION OF SIGNS AND NUMERALS