Patent Abstract:
A control card loading and unloading mechanism includes a loading cartridge and a loading member coupling on the front end of the loading cartridge. The loading member has a housing trough formed integrally on the coupling surface with the loading cartridge, and a coupling member to fasten a display panel. The loading member further has openings to see and control the display panel. The loading member may be fabricated without double molding, thus can simplify design and save the cost.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to a control card loading and unloading mechanism and particularly to a loading and unloading mechanism for control cards and display panels. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   To install and assemble a computer host and control cards, the earlier conventional method is to directly fasten the control cards to the main board. When a control card has to be repaired and replaced, the entire main board has to be removed. As the control card is coupled with many connection terminals, disassembly and assembly are quite difficult. Moreover, the connection terminals might be bent or damaged and result in abnormal electric connection. 
   Refer to  FIG. 1  for a conventional control card loading and unloading mechanism that consists of a loading cartridge  10  and a case  20 . The loading cartridge  10  has a loading member  11  at the front end to hold a display panel  12 . The loading member  11  and the display panel  12  are fastened to the loading cartridge  10 . The loading member  11  has a door latch  13  on a lower end that has one end pivotally coupled on the loading cartridge  10  so that it may be turned on the loading cartridge  10 . The door latch  13  has a lug  14  close to the coupling end to engage with an anchor notch  15  on the front end of the case  20 . When the door latch  13  is turned in the forward direction, the lug  14  escapes from the anchor notch  15  to allow the loading cartridge  10  to be removed from the case  20 . On the contrary, the loading cartridge  10  and the case  20  may be latched and anchored. However, such a structure still has problems to be improved, notably: 
   In the conventional technique set forth above, the loading member  11  holds the display panel  12 , and the loading cartridge  10  is anchored on the case  20  through the door latch  13 . In the control card loading and unloading mechanism, in order to hold the display panel  12  and anchor on the case  20  at the same time, the loading member  11  and the door latch  13  have to be fabricated by separated molds according to their different functions, then are coupled together. Double molding is required. The fabrication cost increases. Assembly also is more difficult. Moreover, if there is a slight dimensional deviation during fabrication of the molds of the loading member  11  or the door latch  13 , coupling could be impossible, and the fabrication cost could be even higher. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The primary object of the present invention is to provide a loading and unloading mechanism that has an integrated housing trough for holding a display panel formed on one side of a loading member that is coupled with a loading cartridge. The loading member also has a coupling member corresponding to the display panel to provide a secure anchoring, and an opening to see and control the display panel. Therefore double molding is not necessary. The design is simpler, and the cost is lower. 
   The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded view of a conventional technique. 
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the invention. 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the invention in a use condition. 
       FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the invention. 
       FIG. 5  is an enlarged perspective view of the loading member of the invention. 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic view of the invention showing the display panel and the loading member in a coupled condition. 
       FIGS. 7A ,  7 B and  7 C are side views of the invention in operating conditions. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   Please referring to  FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and  4 , the loading mechanism  3  according to the invention includes a loading cartridge  40  and a loading member  42  which located at the front end of the loading cartridge  40 . The loading cartridge  40  may be loaded and unloaded and anchored in a housing compartment  39  formed in a case  30  through partitions  301 . The loading cartridge  40  has a sliding section  41  on one side to couple with a track  31  in the case  30  for sliding in or out of the case  30 . A control card  60  is mounted onto the loading cartridge  40  to connect to a computer host. The control card  60  in the embodiment of this invention is a disk drive array control card. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , the loading member  42  and the loading cartridge  40  are pivotally coupled together through a fastening element running through an aperture  433  formed on a wing flap  43  located on the loading member  42  and an anchor member  45  located on the loading cartridge  40 . Thus the loading member  42  is turnable on the loading cartridge  40 . The wing flap  43  has a hook  431  and latch notch  432  to latch on an anchor lug  32  on the case  30  to anchor the loading cartridge  40  on the case  30 . The hook  431  has a tilted edge which has a peak higher than the anchor lugs  32  on two sides of the front end of the housing compartment  39 . There is an elastic  49  located between the loading cartridge  40  and the loading member  42 . The loading member  42  has an anchor element  44  located on a lower side. The anchor element  44  has a latch tongue  441  and a sloped surface  442 . The anchor element  44  is fastened to a coupling member  426  located on the loading member  42  through a fastening element. The coupling member  426  has a jutting end  427  to run through a retaining hole  444  formed on the anchor element  44  to latch the anchor element  44 . The latch tongue  441  may be wedged in a latch hole  33  formed on the case  30  to prevent the loading member  42  from shaking and breaking away. The loading member  42  further has an aperture  421  to allow a pin  422  to insert and ram over the sloped surface  442  to move the anchor element  44  away from the latch hole  33 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the loading member  42  has a housing trough  46  on a rear end, and a first flange  47  and a second flange  48  on the upper end and a lower end of the rear side thereof. The first flange  47  is bent downwards to form a retaining section  471 . The second flange  48  includes the coupling member  426  and an anchor trough  443 . The anchor trough  443  is for holding a flexible key pad  425 . A display panel  50  may be placed in the housing trough  46  in a skew manner with the upper end pressing the retaining section  471 . Finally, the display panel  50  is fastened to a hole  428  on the coupling member  426 . In addition, the surface of the loading member  42  has a first opening  423  corresponding to a display screen  51  of the display panel  50  for seeing the display screen  51 , and a second opening  424  to hold a button  52  of the display panel  50 . The first opening  423  may be covered by a glass sheet (not shown in the drawings) to protect the display screen  51 . 
   Referring to  FIGS. 4 ,  7 A through  7 C, to unload the loading cartridge  40  which already held in the housing compartment  39 , first, insert the pin  422  into the aperture  421  to slide on the sloped surface  442  of the anchor element  44  (referring to  FIG. 5 ) to disengage the latch tongue  441  from the latch hole  33 ; next, flip and turn the loading member  42  upwards to a first position to move the tilted edge of the hook  431  at an angle that allows the hook to pass the anchor lug  32 , and the latch notch  432  is tilted and can pass the anchor lug  32  to allow the loading cartridge  40  to be removed from the housing compartment  39 . 
   On the contrary, for loading the loading cartridge  40  into the housing compartment  39 , flips the loading member  42  upwards to the first position to allow the tilted edge of the hook  431  at the angle that is possible to pass the anchor lug  32 ; push the loading cartridge  40  into the housing compartment  39 ; finally move the loading member  42  to a second position where the hook  431  is higher than the anchor lug  32 , and the latch notch  432  is engaged with the anchor lug  32  again, and the hook  431  confines the loading member  42  from moving. When the loading member  42  is located on the second position, the latch tongue  441  of the anchor element  44  latches the latch hole  33  to achieve the anchoring effect. 
   While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiment of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6