US 8,285,349 B2Granted

Sliding portable terminal

AssigneePanasonic Corporation

InventorsNoriyoshi Sato, Kazuhiro Konishi, Kazunori Kono, Hiroshi Omura

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Abstract

It is aimed to attain compatibility between a size reduction, a thickness reduction of a portable terminal and the ensuring of an energizing force is attained. An upper case 2 is coupled with a connecting portion 4 to proceed in a predetermined direction with respect to a lower case 3. Two cases 2, 3 have a close state in which they are overlapped mutually and an open state in which the upper case 2 is extended by moving in a predetermined direction. One end of a coil portion 33A is fixed to a second hole 46 and the other end of the coil portion 33A is fixed to a third hole 50, and the connecting portion 4 has a torsion coil spring 33 that applies an energizing force to two cases 2, 3 such that the cases 2, 3 are brought into the close state or the open state. The coil portion 33A is arranged in a clearance 56 that is formed by a part of two cases 2, 3 when the two cases oppose to each other in the moving direction, and the clearance 56 is arranged in a vicinity on a predetermined direction with respect to the third hole 50 in the close state.

Claims4

Dependent claims

A sliding portable terminal, comprising:

a first case;
a second case having a protruded part extending in a protruding direction toward the first case;
a first connecting portion connected to the first case;
a second connecting portion connected to the second case and slidably coupled to the first connecting portion for sliding between an open state and a closed state;
and
an elastic portion configured to provide, in the open state, a force to keep the open state, and, to provide, in the closed state, a force to keep the closed state, the elastic portion having a center coil portion between one end and an other end of the elastic portion, wherein in the opened state and the closed state, the center coil portion includes a large-diameter portion and a small-diameter portion which are spiraled and layered in a layered direction,
wherein, when projected in a plane perpendicular to the layered direction, the small-diameter portion is disposed at a substantially opposite position to a position where the spiral of the large-diameter portion starts and ends, with respect to a center of the large-diameter portion,
wherein
a first side space and a second side space are formed between the first connecting portion and the second connecting portion in the closed state, the first side space disposed outward of the protruded part in a direction perpendicular to both the sliding direction and the protruding direction, and the second side space disposed outward of the protruded part in a direction perpendicular to the protruding direction and parallel to the sliding direction, and
in the closed state, the one end of the elastic portion fixed to the first connecting portion is disposed in the first side space, and the other end of the elastic portion fixed to the second connecting portion is disposed in the second side space.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.