Patent ID: 7694390

Claim:
A hinge mechanism for a foldable electronic device, comprising: a shaft having a pair of shaft ends; a cam having a cam tip; a housing having opposite housing ends, one housing end being an open housing end, the opposite housing end being a partially open housing end, the partially open housing end comprising a transverse wall and a keyed hole defined in the transverse wall; an arresting member; a cam follower having a cam surface arranged to movably contact the cam tip; and an elastic member for providing an elastic force; wherein the cam, the cam follower, the elastic member and the arresting member surround the shaft in turn, the cam follower and the elastic member are received in the housing, the cam is disposed at the partially open housing end with the tip of the cam being received in the housing, the transverse wall of the partially open housing end prevents the cam from sliding further into the housing, the arresting member is disposed adjacent to the open housing end; and further wherein the arresting member can slide into the housing, the cam is rotatable relative to the shaft and non-rotatable relative to the housing, and the cam follower is slidable and non-rotatable relative to both the shaft and the arresting member and rotatable relative to the housing.