US 2003/0188898 A1Published application

Balance with draft shield

AssigneeMettler-Toledo AG

InventorsChristoph Aebi, Paul Luchinger

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Abstract

A balance with a draft shield enclosing a weighing pan (33) has slidable walls (6, 7, 8) with slide handles (10, 110, 210) to open and close the weighing compartment (2). A connector body (22) serves to couple non-adjoining slidable walls (6, 7, 8) to each other. Besides for pushing the slidable walls open and closed, the slide handles (10, 110, 210) also serve to couple and uncouple the slidable walls, so that more than one wall can be moved simultaneously using only one hand, or a wall can be moved by pushing a handle on the opposite side. The slide handles are configured as pairs of handle elements that are attached either to adjoining walls or to a wall and an adjoining place on the connector body. In the coupled state, the pairs of handle elements are folded or swiveled into each other, working as a single handle, e.g., for two adjoining walls. In the uncoupled state, they move the walls individually. List of Reference Symbols 1 balance housing 2 weighing compartment 3 rear wall 4 floor of weighing compartment 5 front wall 6 side wall 7 side wall 8 top cover panel 9 grip handle 10, 110, 210 slide handle 11, 111, 211 rigid handle element 12, 112, 212 swiveling handle element 13 foot 14, 114, 214 recess 15 floor compartment 16 holder element 17 guide device 18 guide rail 19 upper guide groove 20 lower guide groove 21 carriage 22 connector body 23 plate 24 housing floor 25 roller 26 projection 27 holder device 28 axle 29 spring 30 fastening lug 31 end stop 32, 132 depression for gripping 33 weighing pan

Claims11

Dependent claims

A balance comprising a draft shield enclosing a weighing compartment (2) that surrounds a weighing pan (33), wherein the draft shield has at least two slidable walls (6, 7, 8) that are slidable to open and close the weighing compartment (2), wherein said slidable walls include adjoining slidable walls (6, 8 or 7, 8) and non-adjoining slidable walls (6, 7), further comprising a slidable connector body (22) that serves to couple the non-adjoining slidable walls (6, 7), and at least one slide handle (10, 110, 210) configured for coupling and uncoupling at least one of a first connection between two of the adjoining slidable walls (6, 8 or 7, 8) and a second connection between one of the slidable walls (6, 7) and the connector body (22);

wherein the at least one slide handle (10, 110, 210) comprises a first handle element (12, 112, 212) and a second handle element (11, 111, 211) complementing each other as a pair, wherein in said first connection the pair of handle elements are connected to the adjoining slidable walls (6, 8 or 7, 8) and in said second connection the pair of handle elements are connected to the connector body (22) and one slidable wall (6, 7), wherein each of the handle elements by itself is configured as a handle to slide the slidable wall (6, 7, 8) or connector body (22) that the handle element is attached to, wherein the first handle element (12, 112, 212) is configured with a recess (14, 114, 214) and the second handle element (11, 111, 211) is configured to engage the recess (14, 114, 214) through a swiveling movement of at least one of the handle elements in order to couple the pair of handle elements together, and wherein a pair of handle elements in their coupled condition as a slide handle (10, 110, 210) has a substantially equal contour shape and size as the first handle element (12, 112, 212).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.