U.S. patent application number 11/395064 was filed with the patent office on 2007-10-04 for supporting member.
This patent application is currently assigned to Inventec Corporation. Invention is credited to Linger Lin.
Application Number | 20070228248 11/395064 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38557413 |
Filed Date | 2007-10-04 |
United States Patent
Application |
20070228248 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lin; Linger |
October 4, 2007 |
Supporting member
Abstract
A supporting member is proposed, for being coupled to a
placement surface with at least an opening so as to support a
component-to-be-carried on the placement surface. The supporting
member includes a main body; at least a fitting portion formed on
the main body, for being fit into the component-to-be-carried; and
a coupling portion formed at one end of the main body, for being
coupling to the opening of the placement surface via a coupling
member, so as to support the component-to-be-carried on the
placement surface.
Inventors: |
Lin; Linger; (Taipei,
TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
EDWARDS ANGELL PALMER & DODGE LLP
P.O. BOX 55874
BOSTON
MA
02205
US
|
Assignee: |
Inventec Corporation
Taipei
TW
|
Family ID: |
38557413 |
Appl. No.: |
11/395064 |
Filed: |
March 30, 2006 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
248/500 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H05K 7/142 20130101;
G06F 1/184 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
248/500 |
International
Class: |
A47B 97/00 20060101
A47B097/00 |
Claims
1. A supporting member for being coupled to a placement surface
with at least an opening so as to support a component-to-be-carried
on the placement surface, comprising: a main body; at least a
fitting portion formed on the main body, for being fit into the
component-to-be-carried; and a coupling portion formed at one end
of the main body, for being coupling to the opening of the
placement surface via a coupling member, so as to support the
component-to-be-carried on the placement surface.
2. The supporting member of claim 1, wherein the main body is
formed with a plurality of stacked fitting portions positioned in
intervals.
3. The supporting member of claim 2, wherein the stacked fitting
portions have different surface areas, wherein the surface area of
an overlying one of the stacked fitting portions is smaller than
that of an underlying one of the stacked fitting portions.
4. The supporting member of claim 1, wherein the fitting portion is
an annular recess surrounding an outer surface of the main
body.
5. The supporting member of claim 1, wherein the coupling portion
is a screw hole formed at a bottom surface of the main body, and
the coupling member is a bolt.
6. The supporting member of claim 1, wherein the coupling member a
skew-head screw, and the opening of the placement surface is a
pyramid-shaped hole, such that the coupling member after being
coupled to the coupling portion is flush with the placement
surface.
7. The supporting member of claim 1, wherein the
component-to-be-carried is at least one of a board-shaped object, a
motherboard, a frame structure and an expansion circuit board.
8. The supporting member of claim 1, wherein the placement surface
is a surface of a carrier board of a server case.
9. The supporting member of claim 1, wherein a top end of the main
body comprise a smooth round surface.
10. The supporting member of claim 1, wherein an outer surface of
the main body comprises a supporting surface.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to supporting members, and
more particularly, to a supporting member for coupling to a
placement surface to support a component-to-be-carried.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] When placing a motherboard into a server or a personal
computer, the motherboard needs to be secured to a metallic carrier
board of a casing. In order to avoid the electric short circuit,
the motherboard has to be lifted up to avoid being contacted by the
carrier board. For that very reason, a supporting column has become
one of the commonly used lifting devices.
[0003] Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional supporting column 1
formed with a plurality of annular grooves 11 is employed for
coupling to a component with at least an opening (not shown) such
as a motherboard, a frame structure or an expansion circuit card.
The bottom of the supporting column 1 is formed with an annular
groove 12 to couple the carrier board 13 with an open hole 130, so
as to fix the supporting column 1 on the carrier board 13.
[0004] However, the supporting column 1 is fixed to the carrier
board 13 by pressing and deforming the supporting column 1 in order
to fit into the open hole 130, and thus the location of the
supporting column cannot be changed once it is assembled.
Accordingly, with arrangement as such, different models of
motherboards cannot be fitted into a standard casing (made for a
particular model of a motherboard) and the carrier board thereof,
and therefore the casing will need to be redesigned. Moreover, as
pressing or pushing the supporting column 1 into the open hole 130
often requires some specific tools in order to generate sufficient
forces, performing such arrangement will further increase the
complexity and the cost of assembly.
[0005] Therefore, to provide solutions for the foregoing drawbacks
exiting in the prior art has become extremely important in the
industry.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] In light of the above prior-art drawbacks, an objective of
the present invention is to provide a supporting member that can be
fixed to the placement surface.
[0007] Another objective of the present invention is to provide a
supporting member that can be switched to any hole of the placement
surface according to user's demand.
[0008] A further objective of the present invention is to provide a
supporting member that can be fixed to and removed from the
placement surface effortlessly. A further objective of the present
invention is to provide a supporting member that can be fixed to
and removed from the placement surface rapidly.
[0009] In accordance with the above and other objectives, the
present invention proposes a supporting member for being coupled to
a placement surface with at least an opening so as to support a
component-to-be-carried on the placement surface. The supporting
member comprises a main body; at least a fitting portion formed on
the main body, for being fit into the component-to-be-carried; and
a coupling portion formed at one end of the main body, for being
coupling to the opening of the placement surface via a coupling
member, so as to support the component-to-be-carried on the
placement surface.
[0010] The main body may comprise a plurality of stacked fitting
portions positioned in intervals. Preferably, the stacked fitting
portions may have different surface areas, wherein the surface area
of an overlying one of the stacked fitting portions is smaller than
that of an underlying one of the stacked fitting portions. The top
end of the main body may be formed with a smooth round surface to
facilitate the coupling process of the component-to-be-carried and
the main body. The component-to-be-carried may be at least one of a
board-like object, a motherboard, a frame structure and an
expansion circuit board and is set up parallel to the placement
surface. The placement surface may be a carrier board of a server
or a computer device, or any other placement surface that requires
a space formed between the carrier board and a
component-to-be-carried. The fitting portion may be formed with an
annular recess circling around the main body; and the coupling
portion may be a screw hole formed at the bottom of the main body,
wherein a corresponding coupling member may be a screw. The
coupling member may also be a skew-screw, and the corresponding
opening of the placement surface may be a pyramid-shaped hole, so
as to allow the coupling member to be completely fitted into the
placement surface after fastened to the coupling portion.
[0011] As the conventional supporting column is pressed, pushed or
pulled with strong forces applied during assembling or
disassembling, arrangement as such would be inconvenient and the
location of the supporting column would not be able to change.
Unlike the conventional techniques, the present invention employs
the coupling member to secure the supporting member, so that the
supporting member could be re-located according to user's demand.
As a result, the cost of production or the cost of research and
development for the placement surface of the carrier board of the
casing could be reduced.
[0012] Furthermore, the assembly and disassembly processes for the
conventional supporting column are arduous and time-consuming;
however, the assembly and removal process for the supporting member
of the present invention to be fixed on the placement surface could
be achieved rapidly and effortlessly, and therefore the
component-to-be-carried such as a motherboard and their locations
could be changed instantly.
[0013] Accordingly, the supporting member of the present invention
of solves the drawbacks from the prior art, and thereby has a high
industrial value.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional supporting
column;
[0015] FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic views of a supporting member
fabricated according to an exemplary preferred embodiment of the
present invention; and
[0016] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a supporting member of the
present invention secured between a placement surface and a
component-to-be-carried such as a board-like object, according to
an exemplary preferred embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0017] Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, which are schematic views of
an exemplary preferred embodiment of a supporting member of the
present invention. The supporting member 2 of the present invention
comprises a main body 20 with a top end 201 and a bottom end 202,
at least a fitting portion 203 formed between the top and bottom
ends, and a coupling portion 204 formed in the main body 20 and
extended to the bottom end 202.
[0018] Further, referring to FIG. 3, which is a schematic view
illustrating an application employing the supporting member of the
present invention. The fitting portion 203 may be fitted into a
component-to-be-carried 3 such as a board-shaped object, and a
surface of the bottom end 202 may be deposited on a placement
surface 4. The coupling portion 204 may be linked to the opening 40
and coupled to the coupling member 5 correspondingly, so as to
secure the supporting member 2 on the placement surface 4.
[0019] Furthermore, the material of the main body 20 may be
selected from flexible insulating materials. The
component-to-be-carried 3 may be at least one of a motherboard, a
frame structure and an expansion circuit board, and is set up
parallel to the placement surface 4. The top end 201 of the main
body 20 may form a smooth round surface for passing through and
fitting into the component-to-be-carried 3 smoothly and
effortlessly. The placement surface 4 may be a surface of a carrier
board for a server or a computer device, or any other placement
surface that requires a space formed between the carrier board and
a component-to-be-carried. The fitting portion 203 is an annular
recess circling around the main body 20 and fitted to a hole 30 of
the component-to-be-carried 3.
[0020] The coupling member 5 may be a bolt; the opening 40 may be
any hole; and the coupling portion 204 may be a screw hole.
Further, the opening 40 may also be a pyramid-shaped or cone-shape
hole that could match to the head of the bolt, so as to allow the
coupling member 5 to be completely fitted into the placement
surface 4 after fastened to the coupling portion 204.
[0021] It should be noted that practical applications of the
coupling portion 203 and the coupling member 5 should not be
limited to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. For
example, the coupling member 5 could be a plug with a flexible
protrusion or a tendon, and the coupling portion 204 could be a
hole with corresponding cavity and shape for coupling. As the
combination of the components could be implemented in various ways
and forms, and most of them are well known in prior art, it
therefore requires no further description hereinafter. For that
very reason, the present invention only describes the fastening
structures that could produce an excellent coupling effect and be
made or purchased easily.
[0022] Furthermore, the fitting portion 203 of the supporting
member 2 could have one layer, two layers or multiple layers.
Single layer could only lift up one component; and multiple layers
allow additional components to be added thereon, after one of the
layers is fitted to the component-to-be-carried 3. Generally, a
fitting portion with two layers is most commonly used.
[0023] In prior art, a supporting column is pressed, pushed or
pulled with strong forces applied during assembling or
disassembling, however such installation method also damages the
components. Comparing to the prior art, the present invention
employs the coupling member 5 to secure the supporting member 2, so
that the supporting member 2 would not be damage during assembling
or disassembling and thereby prolong the life of the supporting
member 2.
[0024] Moreover, the assembly and disassembly processes for the
conventional supporting column are arduous and time-consuming;
however, the assembly and removal process for the supporting member
2 of the present invention to be fixed on the placement surface 4
could be achieved rapidly and effortlessly, and therefore the
component-to-be-carried such as a motherboard and their locations
could be changed instantly.
[0025] Accordingly, the supporting member the present invention
solves the drawbacks existing in the prior art, and therefore has a
high industrial value.
[0026] The present invention has been described using exemplary
preferred embodiments above, however, it is to be understood that
the scope of the present invention is not limited to the disclosed
embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various
modifications and similar changes. The scope of the claims,
therefore, should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to
encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
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