Patent ID: 7878595

Claim:
A pivot mechanism, comprising: a stationary body fixed to a desired position; a movable body directly coupled to the stationary body by a hinge coupling so as to be pivotable to different pivotal positions within a predetermined angle range, the movable body having only a single pivot center, gravitational force providing gravitational moments acting on the movable body about the pivot center, the gravitational moments changing depending on the pivotal position of the movable body; a torsion spring member having a support section that functions as a center of twist of the torsion spring member supported on the stationary body and a biasing section extending from and pivotable about the support section and in engagement with the movable body, the biasing section movable on a pivot trajectory with the movable body as the movable body pivots about the pivot center, the torsion spring member providing a torque biasing the movable body in a pivot direction opposite to the gravitational moments acting on the movable body; wherein the support section is positioned between the pivot trajectory of the biasing section and the pivot center of the movable body; and wherein the torsion spring member is disposed on the stationary body so as to not be associated with the pivot center of the movable body.