U.S. patent number 3,789,140 [Application Number 05/268,235] was granted by the patent office on 1974-01-29 for tiltable display screen assembly.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Teletype Corporation. Invention is credited to Edwin D. McQueen, Thomas L. Spicer.
United States Patent |
3,789,140 |
McQueen , et al. |
January 29, 1974 |
TILTABLE DISPLAY SCREEN ASSEMBLY
Abstract
A chassis is secured to the cabinet of television apparatus for
manually tilting the primary image screen of the tube about a
horizontal first axis disposed slightly behind the screen. Manual
torque is applied by a hand wheel exposed through the cabinet and
chassis and rockable about a second axis parallel to and behind the
first axis. For torque transfer, a pinion rockable about the second
axis with said hand wheel is enmeshed with a concave gear rack
which is concentric with said first axis and has a radius of
curvature larger than said pinion.
Inventors: |
McQueen; Edwin D. (Barrington,
IL), Spicer; Thomas L. (Chicago, IL) |
Assignee: |
Teletype Corporation (Skokie,
IL)
|
Family
ID: |
23022063 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/268,235 |
Filed: |
July 3, 1972 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
348/827;
348/E5.132; 248/685; 353/74; 348/836; 248/923; 353/79 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N
5/655 (20130101); Y10S 248/923 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04N
5/655 (20060101); H04n 005/655 () |
Field of
Search: |
;178/7.81,7.91 ;179/2TV
;350/9 ;353/74,79 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Britton; Howard W.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Appel; Sherman P. Landis; John
L.
Claims
We claim:
1. In a mechanism for tilting a primary image display screen
disposed within a cabinet and about a first axis disposed at or
near said screen, the improvement comprised of:
means for manually generating torque;
means for imposing said torque on said screen and rocking said
screen about said first axis, said imposing means including a gear
assembly with a part concentric to said first axis.
2. A combination according to claim 1 wherein said part comprises a
concave gear rack secured to said screen and disposed rearwardly of
said screen, and said gear assembly also includes a pinion having a
radius of curvature smaller than the radius of curvature of said
gear rack, said pinion being meshed with said rack and connected to
said generating means concentrically with a second axis parallel to
said first axis.
3. A combination according to claim 2 wherein said torque
generating means includes a hand wheel connected to said
pinion.
4. A combination according to claim 1 and having a second axis
parallel to said first axis, said torque generating means and the
torque generated thereby disposed about said second axis.
5. A combination according to claim 4 further characterized by a
chassis mounted in said cabinet, and wherein said torque generating
means includes a member disposed coaxially with said second axis
and mounted from said chassis for transferring torque to said
part.
6. A combination according to claim 5 wherein said part comprises a
gear segment, and said gear assembly also includes a pinion
disposed about said member and meshed with said gear segment for
movement thereof and said generating means simultaneously and in
the same angular direction.
7. A combination according to claim 6 wherein said cabinet has a
slot, and said generating means comprises a hand wheel mounted
within said cabinet about said second axis in a plane perpendicular
to said first axis and exposed to the exterior through said
slot.
8. A combination according to claim 7 wherein said hand wheel and
said pinion are secured together.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a display screen such as a
television receiver. Particularly, the invention relates to means
for adjusting the angularity or pitch of a viewing screen in a
cabinet.
Use of cathode ray tubes in connection with business machines for
production of displays on their display screens in response to
operator-controlled keyboards heretofore has become commonplace.
Time loss resulting from error correction in production of printed
machine output has been minimized from such use. However, variation
in operator height, or in ambient conditions of tube use can result
in glare from the image screen, thereby reducing operator
efficiency. To prevent or overcome glare, a display screen could be
tilted.
Heretofore, it has been known to tilt display screens, particularly
video tubes, through the agency of a plurality of mechanisms. One
of these comprises a rockable platform on which a video tube is
mounted within a cabinet. Another mechanism includes a yoke-shaped
bracket which is driven linearly in response to manual rotation of
a knob, the bracket being coupled to a video tube relatively remote
from its display screen. Yet another mechanism comprises a driven
worm meshed with a gear secured to a shaft which is carried on a
hanger fast with the neck of a video tube, the neck being in a
position remote from the display screen of the tube.
Each of said heretofore known mechanisms, while efficient for
changing tube angularity or pitch, omits the feature or
characteristic considered desireable in a business machine, of tube
movement in an angular direction which is the same as the angular
direction of movement of a manual adjusting member during tube
adjustment. This wanting feature would enable rapid tube adjustment
as it is adapted to generate tactile and muscle sensations which
are readily correlateable with tube movement and therefore would
require minimum training or thought for operation. Accordingly, an
operator, even when unfamiliar with a tilting mechanism, could
efficiently manage the same, at once, if such feature were
present.
It is the principal object of the present invention to adjust the
pitch or the angularity of a viewing screen of, for example, a
television tube within a cabinet, particularly by providing the
aforesaid feature or characteristic, absent from heretofore known
screen adjusting mechanisms.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing, and other objects of the invention which will become
apparent from the ensuing description, are attained in a mechanism
for tilting a primary image or display screen mounted within a
cabinet about a horizontal first axis disposed at or near the
screen. The agency therefor comprises first means for manually
generating torque about a second axis parallel to the first axis
and disposed rearwardly of the screen. Second means are adapted for
imposing the torque on the tube for rocking the screen about the
first axis, the second means including a gear assembly with a part
concentric to the first axis. As a result, adjusting angular
movement of the display screen is in the same angular direction as
the direction of movement of the manual member through which the
torque is generated.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the ensuing detailed description, reference is had to the
accompanying drawings on which:
FIG. 1 is a view partially in vertical section and partially in
side elevation of a tube and tilting mechanism embodying one form
of the invention herein, a part of a chassis being broken out for
the purpose of illustration;
FIG. 2 is a view in a horizontal plane according to the line 2--2
of FIG. 1, parts being broken out for reducing drawing area;
FIG. 3 is a detailed view of a portion of the invention according
to the line 3--3 of FIG. 2; and
FIG. 4 is a detailed view according to the line 4--4 of FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Referring now more particularly to FIG. 1, a visual display
apparatus generally designated 10 herein comprises a television
tube 12 with a primary or image display screen 14 disposed at the
forward end portion of the tube. The tube may be of conventional
construction with a customary yoke 16 mounted on its rear end
portion and a metal collar or ring 18 rigidly secured to the
forward end portion of said tube.
A cabinet 20 within which the tube is disposed may be of plastic
fabrication. In the exemplary embodiment, the cabinet comprises a
rear casing section 22 and a forward casing section 24, said casing
sections being frictionally retained together into a unitary
structure upon assembly. Primary image screen 14 is shown offset
rearwardly from the forward opening 26 of casing section 24, the
latter providing a forwardly projecting apron or overhang about the
forward end of the tube.
A chassis 28, which may be a metal fabrication, is shown as a
U-shaped channel mounted within casing section 22. The chassis has
a pair of laterally opposed vertical or side walls 30 and 32 (FIG.
2). A base or connecting web 34 (FIG. 1) which may be integrally
fashioned with said side walls is rigidly connected by any suitable
means to the floor 36 of casing section 22 for immobilizing the
chassis relative to and within cabinet 20.
Tube 12 is suspended from chassis 28 by the shoulders 37 and 39
(FIG. 2) of a pair of opposed horizontally aligned shoulder screws
38 and 40. The shoulders are coaxial and extend through opposed
side walls 30 and 32. Coaxially extending opposed inner end
portions 42 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 1) of said shoulder
screws are threadedly anchored in a pair of opposed mounting ears
or plates 44 and 46. The latter are parallel and rigidly secured in
horizontal alignment to opposite sides of the metal ring 18.
Thereby, a first or horizontal axis 47, defined by shoulders 37 and
39, is generated adjacent, though disposed slightly behind and
transversely of, primary image screen 14 about which the angularity
or pitch of the tube can be adjusted. To that end, the screws have
a fit within walls 30 and 32 such that the tube may be maintained
frictionally at any selected angular aspect. However, the force of
engagement is of a magnitude which can be overcome manually in a
manner ensuingly to unfold and for enabling rocking of the tube
about said axis. Herein, sufficient clearance is provided between
the base web 34 of chassis 28 and tube 12 to enable the tube to be
angularly rocked vertically about axis 47 within a range of
20.degree., as shown in FIG. 1.
A hand or thumb wheel 48, which is rockable in the directions shown
by double headed arrow 49, is rotationally mounted inside chassis
28. A lower segment 50 of the thumb wheel, adapted to be engaged
manually for turning the wheel, projects through said chassis and
downwardly out of said cabinet through a pair of coextensive slots
52 and 54 in the bottoms of said chassis and cabinet, respectively.
The thumb wheel is journalled concentrically about the shoulder 56
(FIG. 4) of a shoulder screw 57; and it thereby comprises means for
manually generating torque angularly about a second horizontal axis
(defined by shoulder 56) spaced rearwardly from and parallel to
axis 47.
Means for imposing the manually generated torque on tube 12 for
rocking screen 14 about axis 47 includes a pinion 58. The latter is
a part of a gear assembly concentric with shoulder 56 and rigidly
secured to an inside face 60 of thumb wheel 48. Accordingly, the
pinion and thumb wheel are adapted to move together about the
shoulder 56.
The thumb wheel and said pinion are mounted for rotation about an
axis fixed relative to the chassis in consequence of the following:
A medial portion 61 of screw 57 is threadedly anchored in wall 32
from which shoulder 56 projects horizontally inwardly. A felt
washer 62 is disposed about shoulder 56, the washer being
frictionally sandwiched inside chassis 28 between the thumb wheel
and side wall 32. A flat washer 64 is disposed against the wheel
distal face of pinion 58, and a spring washer 66 is compressed by
engagement between the flat washer and the head 68 of screw 57 for
maintaining a frictional force on the thumb wheel.
A lock nut 70 is mounted on the threaded screw extension 72 from
portion 61 outside of the chassis wall 32. A split ring 74, which
is disposed about said threaded screw extension, is sandwiched
between a flat washer 76 and the lock nut 70 for securing the thumb
wheel assembly.
Also included in the torque imposing means is a gear rack or
segment 78. The latter comprises another part of the gear assembly
and is concentric with and preferably disposed rearwardly from axis
47. This is achieved by generating gear rack 78 as a concavity or
with a concave contour whose radius of curvature is centered on
axis 47. The gear rack, in the exemplary embodiment, is fashioned
on or carried by a bracket 80 which is disposed in a substantially
vertical plane. An extension 82 of said bracket is secured to ear
46 by fastening means, such as screws or the like 84. Extension 82
may have a right-angle flange 86 (FIG. 3) engaged along its entire
flat forward face with the rear margin 88 of metal ring 18. Flange
86 facilitates assembly of the bracket 80 and tube 12.
In accordance with the present invention, pinion 58 is operably
meshed with gear rack 78. The ratio of the radii of curvature of
the pinion and said rack determines the mechanical advantage of the
tube rocking mechanism herein described. In the illustrated
embodiment, the radius of the pinion is about a tenth of the radius
of the gear rack; and for each position of the pinion
longitudinally of said rack, tube 12 and accordingly screen 14 has
a corresponding angular aspect about axis 47. However, the range of
tube adjustment is governed by the angular length of the arc
defined by said gear rack.
Accordingly, in the exemplary embodiment, because the longitudinal
axis 90 of the tube is disposed in a horizontal plane when the
condition of the gear assembly is as shown in FIG. 1, upward
movement of segment 78 is limited to 5.degree., further movement
being blocked by engagement of pinion 58 and the inside edge 92 of
bracket 80. At that time, axis 90 will be disposed in the position
designated by the reference character 90H. On the other hand,
downward movement of gear rack from its horizontal condition is
limited to 15.degree., further movement being blocked by the
engagement of the inside wall 94 of bracket 80 and the pinion. At
that time, axis 90 will be disposed in the position shown by the
reference character 90D.
In consequence of the present invention, particularly by reason of
the concave gear rack 78 and its concentric association with axis
47, as the thumb wheel 48 moves clockwise, tube 12 and accordingly
screen 14 will move clockwise. Correlatively, as said wheel is
moved counterclockwise, the tube and accordingly the screen will
also move counterclockwise. This feature enhances the ease with
which intentional adjustment of the tube in any angular direction
of its tilting can be effected, as there is direct correlation
between the direction in which the thumb wheel is moved and the
direction of response of the screen to such wheel movement.
Moreover, the combination of the high ratio between the rack and
pinion with the friction of felt washer 62 provide an effective
agency for preventing unintentional movement of tube 12 by force
applied directly thereto.
As many modifications in the described construction could be
conceived, and as many widely different embodiments could be made
without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims, it is
intended that all matter contained in the accompanying
specification shall be considered as illustrative only and not in a
limiting sense.
* * * * *