Abstract:
A swiveling display device, capable of easy assembly and disassembly, includes a main body, a supporting arm joined to the main body, and a base having a positioning hole. The supporting arm is inserted into and detachably engages the positioning hole in such a manner that the supporting arm can rotate within a predetermined range.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a display device, and more particularly to a display device capable of easy assembling and disassembling and swiveling. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Most conventional liquid crystal displays can be tilted but not swiveled. Some conventional liquid crystal displays capable of swiveling cannot be easily assembled or disassembled due to their complicated structure. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     The invention provides swiveling display devices, capable of easy assembly and disassembly. An exemplary embodiment of a display device comprises a main body, a supporting arm joined to the main body, and a base having a positioning hole. The supporting arm is inserted into and detachably engaged by the positioning hole such that the supporting arm can rotate within a predetermined range. 
     The supporting arm has a slot, the base has a spring plate disposed in the positioning hole, and the spring plate has a hook. When the slot engages the hook, the supporting arm is engaged by the positioning hole. When the spring plate is deformed by pressure, the hook releases the slot, thus, the supporting arm is detached from the positioning hole. 
     The slot has a predetermined width at the periphery of the supporting arm, thus, when the positioning hole engages the supporting arm, the supporting arm can rotate. 
     The supporting arm is hollow and has an inner surface and a protrusion disposed on the inner surface. The base has a post disposed in the positioning hole and the positioning pole has a recess. When the supporting arm engages the positioning hole, the supporting arm holds the post in such a manner that the inner surface abuts the post and the protrusion engages the recess. 
     The recess has a first lateral surface, a second lateral surface separated from the first lateral surface by a predetermined distance and a bottom surface connecting the first and second lateral surfaces. When the supporting arm holds the post and the inner surface abuts the post, the protrusion abuts the bottom surface. When the supporting arm rotates relative to the positioning hole, the protrusion abuts either the first lateral surface or the second lateral surface, which limits the supporting arm to rotating in a range defined by the first and second lateral surfaces. 
     The protrusion has a notch, and the bottom surface has a projecting portion. When the notch holds the projecting portion, the supporting arm is positioned at a specific position. 
     The base has a plurality of ribs disposed on walls of the positioning hole, which extend along an axial direction of the positioning hole. When the supporting arm is inserted into the positioning hole, the supporting arm abuts the ribs. 
     A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a front view of a display device of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a side view of a display device of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  is an exploded view of a cross section along the line A-A of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  shows a cross section along the line A-A of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  shows a cross section of a supporting arm of the invention; 
         FIG. 6  shows a cross section of a base of the invention; 
         FIGS. 7   a ,  7   b  and  7   c  show cross sections of the supporting arm joined to the base; and 
         FIG. 8  depicts the positions of the main body of the display device corresponding to the positions of the supporting arm shown in  FIGS. 7   a  to  7   c.    
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a display device  1000  of the invention comprises a main body  100 , a supporting arm  200  and a base  300 . In  FIG. 2 , the main body  100  is joined and fixed to the supporting arm  200  by a connecting mechanism  120 . In this embodiment, the supporting arm  200  has a tube-like shape. The supporting arm  200  is hollow and inserted into a base  300  which has extending arms  310  extending forward to form a larger bottom area, whereby the main body  100  is capable of standing stably on a desk or other flat surface. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a slot  220  formed on the tube-like supporting arm  200  near one end thereof has a predetermined width at the periphery of the tube. The supporting arm  200  has an inner surface  240  from which a protrusion  260  extends along the axial direction of the supporting arm  260 . 
     In  FIG. 3 , the extending arms  310  are omitted for clarity. The base  300  has a positioning hole  320  formed from the top to the bottom of the base  300 . A spring plate  340  is formed extending axially from the rim and parallel to the inner wall of the positioning hole  320 . A hook  342  disposed on the spring plate  340 , projects from the spring plate  340  and corresponds to the slot  220  of the supporting arm  200 . A post  360  is disposed at the center of the positioning hole  320 . A plurality of ribs  380  disposed on the inner wall of the positioning hole  320  extends in parallel along the axial direction of the positioning hole  320 . When the supporting arm  200  is inserted into the positioning hole  320 , the inner surface  240  of the supporting arm  200  holds the post  360  and the outer surface  280  of the supporting arm  200  abuts the ribs  380 . At this time the hook  342  engages the slot  220 , whereby the supporting arm  200  is positioned in the positioning hole  320  as shown in  FIG. 4 . Because the slot  220  has a predetermined width, when the supporting arm  200  engages the positioning hole  320 , the supporting arm  200  can rotate with respect to the positioning hole  320 , thus, the main body  100  can swivel. The supporting arm  200  is extracted from the positioning hole  320 , by exerting pressure on and pushing the spring plate  340  in the direction B through the base  300  to release the hook  342  from the slot  220 . Thus, the supporting arm  200  is extracted from the positioning hole  320  of the base  300 . The ribs  380  enable the outer surface  280  of the supporting arm  200  to make line contact with the positioning hole  320 , thus, friction between the supporting arm  200  and the positioning hole  320  is reduced to ease disassembly. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , a protrusion  260  is disposed on the inner surface  240 . A notch  262  is formed at the middle of the protrusion  260 . A recess  362  formed on the post  360  comprises a first lateral surface  3621 , a bottom surface  3622  and a second lateral surface  3623 . The first lateral surface  3621  and the second lateral surface  3623  are connected to the bottom surface  3622 , and the first lateral surface  3621  is separated from the second lateral surface  3623  by a predetermined distance. A projecting portion  3624  is formed at the center of the bottom surface  3622 . 
     When the supporting arm  200  is inserted into the positioning hole  320 , the inner surface  240  of the supporting arm  200  holds the post  360  as shown in  FIGS. 7   a ˜ 7   c . At this time, the protrusion  260  abuts the bottom surface  3622 . In  FIG. 7   a , when the supporting arm  200  rotates relative to the positioning hole  320 , the notch  262  of the protrusion  260  hold the projecting portion  3624  to position the supporting arm  200  at a predetermined position. Thus, the main body  100  is positioned at position L as shown in  FIG. 8 . In  FIG. 7   b , when the supporting arm  200  rotates, enabling the protrusion  260  to abut the first lateral surface  3621 , the main body  100  is constrained at position M as shown in  FIG. 8 . In  FIG. 7   c , when the supporting arm  200  rotates, enabling the protrusion  260  to abut the second lateral surface  3623 , the main body  100  is constrained at position N as shown in  FIG. 8 . The first lateral surface  3621  and the second lateral surface  3623  define the range of swivel of the supporting arm  200 . In this embodiment, as the slot  220  also constrains the supporting arm  200  to swivel in another range, the width of the slot  220  must be larger than the distance between the first and second lateral surfaces  3621  and  3623 . 
     The supporting arm  200  is joined to or detached from the base  300  by pressing the spring plate  340 . The predetermined width of the slot  220  allows the supporting arm  200  to swivel, thus, the main body  100  of the display device  1000  swivels with respect to the positioning hole  320 . The supporting arm  200  swivels within a range defined by the protrusion  260  and the post  360 . The display device  1000  swivels, and can be easily assembled and disassembled. 
     While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.