Site News  |   Monitor Keywords  |   Monitor Archive  |   Organizer  |   Account Info  |

Device for both-way control of length of linear member

Device for both-way control of length of linear member description/claims

The present invention relates to a device for adjusting length of a linear member, and more particularly, to a device to reduce and extend length of a linear member such as an electric wire, a strap, a string, and the like in both directions if necessary, and having advantages of a simple structure, easy manufacture, and selective adjustment of a desired portion of the linear member.

There are several ways for adjusting length of a linear member, arranging the linear member, and holding the linear member, such as a method of winding around a specific object by hand, a method of winding the string by fixing one end of the string to a shaft and rotating the shaft by hand, electric force, magnetic force, or mechanical force, and the like. Moreover, when the one end of the string cannot be fixed to the shaft because the ends of the string are being used for another purpose, the string may be folded by a predetermined length and fixed by a clip, a band, or the like. In this case, the method is inconvenient to use and the string gets tangled when the length of the string is frequently adjusted. Moreover, in the case where the intermediate portion of the string is fixed to the shaft and the shaft is rotated to wind the string, since two strings are simultaneously wound, it is hard to wind the string. Since the length of the string is shortened as much as the other side is lengthened, trial and error is needed to adjust the length of the string so as to be as long as desired.

In order to solve the above-mentioned inconvenience, there have been developed several methods such as a method of electrically connecting one end of the string to an external device using a conductor (U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,617 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,957), and a method of selectively adjusting the length of the left side and right side of the string (Korean Patent Application No. 93-009410). According to the method, disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 93-009410, a winding shaft includes a string fixing device, a string locking device, and a guide plate, a push rod follower, a clutch member, a driving shaft, and a winding wheel are disposed at the left side and the right side of a transmission including a handle, a rotation shaft, and bevel gears to differentiate the transmittal directions of rotation forces of a left clutch and a right clutch such that the winding wheel rotates about the winding shaft in a desired direction to wind the string. However, in the above conventional method, since a mechanism of transmitting the driving force to rotate the winding wheel and the winding shaft are complicated, it is difficult to use in industrial fields and these methods must be used only when the string is fixed to the winding machine.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems and technical requirements from the past.

Inventors of the present invention have carried out extensive research and repeated experiments, and developed an apparatus having a simple structure, that is easy to manufacture, and allows adjustment of a linear member such as an electric wire, a string, a strap, or the like so as to be as long as desired in both directions. The apparatus of the present invention can be applied to adjust an intermediate portion of a string when both ends of the string are used for other purposes as well as when one end of the string is fixed to a winding shaft.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of an apparatus for adjusting length of a linear member in both directions including a winding shaft having an outer circumference around which the linear member is wound, and a pair of rotation members spaced apart from and coupled with the outer circumference of the winding shaft to rotate about the winding shaft, and having slots formed in the sides thereof and facing each other.

There are various linear members, for example, electric wires and wirings of electric home appliances and industrial machines, a wire of a computer mouse, a skipping rope, wires of ear phones, a cord of mobile phone, or the like, but limited to these.

The winding shaft and the rotation members are coaxially positioned and coupled with each other to rotate such that the inner sides of the rotation members are spaced apart from the outer circumference of the winding shaft. Thus, the linear member is wound around the outer circumference of the winding shaft, in more detail, around the outer circumference of the winding shaft spaced apart from the inner sides of the rotation members by a predetermined distance due to the rotation of the rotation members.

If the structures of the winding shaft and the rotation members satisfy the specification as described above, the apparatus for adjusting length of a linear member of the present invention (hereinafter often referred to an “adjustor”) may be separated and assembled if necessary.

The apparatus has a structure independent from the linear member or a structure in which the linear member forms a part of the apparatus.

When the apparatus has the structure independent from the linear member, in a state of placing a part of the linear member in the slots of the apparatus, the rotation members rotate to wind the linear member around the outer circumference of the winding shaft. In a preferred embodiment, the apparatus further includes locking protrusions formed in inner sides of the slots. When the linear member is rotated in a state of placing the linear member on the locking protrusions, the winding of the linear member is more easily carried out. Further, the locking protrusions clearly separate the portions around which the linear member is wound from each other. In more detail, the linear member is wound around and released from a corresponding portion A of the winding shaft corresponding to a rotation member and a corresponding portion B of the winding shaft corresponding to another rotation member.

According to circumstances, in a state of completely separating the rotation members, the winding of the linear member is carried out after coupling the rotation members with each other while the linear member is wound around the outer circumference of the winding shaft at least one turn and is projected to the exterior through the slots.

When the linear member forms the part of the apparatus, one end of the linear member penetrates the winding shaft or a rotation member (a) (a portion except for the slot) and the other end of the linear member is projected to the exterior through the slot of another rotation member (b). Thus, one end of the linear member is connected to the exterior via the winding shaft or an independent through-hole formed at a certain position of one of the rotation members. In this structure, the linear member may be installed in the adjustor when manufacturing the adjustor or when using the apparatus.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in order to prohibit the rotation between the rotation members or between the rotation members and the winding shaft if necessary, locking members are formed at a portions where the rotation members contact each other or the rotation members contact the winding shaft.

The locking members formed in the portions against which the rotation members contact each other prevent the rotation members from freely rotating when the linear member is wound around the winding shaft or released from the same.

The locking member formed in the portions where the rotation members contact the winding shaft is useful to perform the winding of the linear member by rotating one of the rotation members in a specific direction. For example, to reduce the length of the linear member at one rotation member a, the locking members are driven to fix the opposite rotation member b to the winding shaft and to rotate the rotation member a so that a desired process can be performed. Moreover, the locking members of the respective rotation members contacting the winding shaft are respectively driven to keep the linear member in state of winding or releasing.

Various modifications of the apparatus for adjusting length of a linear member according to the present invention are possible, and several examples are as follows.

According to a first modification of the adjustor, the apparatus has a structure in which one (a) of the rotation members is fixed to the winding shaft, the winding shaft includes a spring, and the spring is connected to a rotation shaft fixed to a central axis of the opposite rotation member (b).

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

• What Is a Patent?
• What Is a Trademark or Servicemark?
• What Is a Copyright?
• Patent Laws