Abstract
The present invention discloses an electronic device for retracting, releasing, and storing cables or cable-like structures for equipment, devices, apparatus, machines, or similar structures. The device provides an effective way to release, retract, and store cables and cable-like structures. By retracting the cable into the device and routing it around an inner cylindrical structure using motors, the device can efficiently control the length of cables as required. The motor(s) can release the cable to any desired size, so organizing and making it the desired and appropriate length is very convenient. Supporting structure, gears, and bearings assure cable and cable-like structure to retract and release. The line-linked switch or remote switch provides convenience when using the device.
Claims
1. An electronic device used to release, retract, and store a cable or a cable-like structure comprising: a top cover; a bottom cover; a sandwiched housing; a rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device; a rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means; at least one floating flange-bearing structure; a plurality of sensors via colored-light indicators to identify the device's normal working and abnormal working state; a manual switch or/and a wireless remote controller with forward, backward, and stop functions; a cable or cable-like structure; and a label; wherein the top cover having: a plurality of penetrative holes; a plurality of sensor indicators; and at least two cut-away parts of the cover wall; wherein the bottom cover comprising: a plurality of penetrative holes; wherein the sandwiched housing comprising: at least one vertical directing groove on the inner wall; a movable ring; a circular stepped protrusion on the inner wall of the lower portion; a plurality of threaded holes on both the top end and the bottom end; wherein the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device having: at least one battery or d/c or a/c powered motor with a through shaft; a plurality of gears; a plurality of bearings; at least one fixed friction pad; at least one top supporting structure and one bottom supporting part make the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device suspending and stable working; wherein the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means comprising: a vertically movable threaded regulator having a plurality of rotatably directing bars and threaded inner wall; a hollow tubular structure with helix groove to house the cable or cable-like structure; a support part; wherein the floating flange-bearing structure consists of: a shallow circular groove on the bottom of the flange in the rotatably releasing, retracting and storing means; a movable ring; and a stepped circular groove on the bottom of the sandwiched housing.
2. The device recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality gears in the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device including: one of the at least one of the plurality gears is the first gear, wherein the first gear is a bevel gear fastened with the top shaft of the motor; one of the at least one of the plurality gears is the second gear, wherein the second gear is a bevel gear and meshes with the first bevel gear; one of the at least one of the plurality gears is the third gear, wherein the third gear is a spur gear connected with the second gear; wherein the second bevel gear and the third spur gear jointly form one, having one penetrative hole and sharing one shaft
3. The device recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of bearings including: one of the at least one of the plurality bearings is the first bearing; one of the at least one of the plurality bearings is the second bearing; and one of the at least one of the plurality bearings is the third bearing; wherein the first bearing and the second bearing are linked with a shaft to bear the second gear and the third gear; wherein the third bearing links with the tube-like structure to support the flange in the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means and further support the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device.
4. The device recited in claim 1, wherein the fixed friction pad and the spur gear constitute the first primary functional means for releasing and retracting the cable or cable-like structure.
5. The device recited in claim 1, wherein the hex nut inserts the hexagonal groove and constitutes the second primary functional means to turn the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means for releasing or retracting the cable or cable-like structure.
6. The device recited in claim 1, wherein the supporting structures used to hold the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device comprising: a crossbeam with a plurality of holes; a plurality of threaded supporting shafts, at least one first top flange with a plurality of penetrative holes and at least one second bottom flange with a plurality of penetrative holes; a supporting part of the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means; a plurality of screw nuts and screws.
7. An electronic device used to release, retract and store a cable or a cable-like structure comprising: a top cover; a bottom cover; a sandwiched housing; a rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device; a rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means; at least one floating flange-bearing structure; a manual switch or/and a wireless remote controller with forward, backward, and stop functions; a plurality of sensors via colored-light indicators to identify the device's normal working and abnormal working state; a cable or cable-like structure; and a label; wherein the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device having: at least one first d/c or a/c powered motor with a shaft, at least one second d/c or a/c powered motor with a shaft; at least one spur gear fastens with the shaft of the first motor; at least one fixed friction pad; wherein the fixed friction pad and the spur gear constitutes the functional structure to pull out or pull back the cable or cable-like structure; at least one hex nut fastens with the shaft of the second motor; wherein the hexagonal nut matches with the hexagonal groove on the flange of the support apart to constitute a rotating structure to turn the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means in two directions for releasing or retracting the cable or cable-like structure; at least one bearing; a supporting structure used to hold the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device; wherein the supporting structure comprising: a crossbeam with a plurality of holes, a plurality of threaded supporting shafts, at least one first top flange with a plurality of penetrative holes and at least one second bottom flange with a plurality of penetrative holes, a supporting part in the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means, a plurality of screw nuts and screws. wherein the manual switch or/and the wireless remote controller enable the first and second motor to release or retract the cable or cable-like structure simultaneously and in the same direction at the same speed.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[0011] FIG. 1 is a top front view of an electronic device for releasing, retracting, and storing a cable or a cable-like structure and front view of the switch.
[0012] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the electronic device for releasing, retracting, and storing a cable or a cable-like structure and shows the main composition of the device.
[0013] FIG. 3 is the exploded view of the top cover.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a bottom-up view of the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device.
[0015] FIG. 5 is the exploded view to detail the top structures 300A of the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device.
[0016] FIG. 6 is the top front view of the bottom structures 300B of the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device.
[0017] FIG. 7 is the exploded view to detail the bottom structures 300B of the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device.
[0018] FIG. 8 is the top front view to show the structure of the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device with two motors; and FIG. 8A is a section view to demonstrate the partial design of the beam.
[0019] FIG. 9 is the exploded view to detail the compositions of the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device with two motors.
[0020] FIG. 10 to FIG. 13 are the front view, top front view, and exploded view to detail various structures of the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means.
[0021] FIG. 14 is a front view of the housing, and FIG. 15 is a cut-away view to detail the housing structure.
[0022] FIG. 16 is an exploded view of the bottom cover.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
[0023] FIG. 1 is a top front view of a well-assembled electronic device for releasing, retracting, and storing a cable or a cable-like structure 100 and top view of the switch 150. The device 100 consists of the top cover 200, the housing 500 and the bottom cover 600. The cable 101 is on both top cover and bottom cover, indicating that the top cover and the bottom cover having channel to allow cable to come out or retract from top cover. The switch 150 is used to control the device to release or retract the cable or cable-like structure. The switch can be a wire 102 linked with the electronic device for releasing, retracting, and storing a cable or a cable-like structure 100 or a wire-less remote to control the device 100. Each of the device 100 labels with barcode or/and Arabe number 506. The screws 201 show that the top cover is fixed with the housing. The different colored-light indicators 205 of sensors are used to identify the device's normal working or abnormal operating state.
[0024] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the electronic device 100 for releasing, retracting, and storing a cable or a cable-like structure. The exploded view shows the main composition of the device, including the top cover 200, the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device 300, the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400, the housing 500, and the bottom cover 600.
[0025] FIG. 3 is an exploded view to detail the structure of the top cover 200. The top surface has three penetration holes on the top, in which two of the penetrative holes 202 are used to house the screws 201. The penetrative hole 203 is used to house cable 101. The cat-away parts 204 on the top cover side wall are used to place the beam 301 on the housing 500. The various colored lights 205 indicate the device's working condition and related problems, e.g., the green light shows a regular working statute, the red light represents the device stopped working, and the yellow light indicates that cable 101 has knotted wires.
[0026] FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 detail and demonstrate the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device structure with one motor via upfront view and exploded view. FIG. 4 is a bottom-up view of the well-assembled rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device with only one motor. The top part 300A has a crossbeam 301 with a plurality of penetrative holes used to hold the connector 303 which fixes the ped 308, supporting shafts 338, the screws 201, and to hold the whole lower part 300B as shown in FIG. 5. The lower part 300B is an one motor of the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device. The motor 333 with a through shaft 332 jointly connects with the first gear bevel gear 323. The first bevel gear 323 connects jointly with the second bevel gear 324 results in the direction of rotation of the gears is thus changed by 90 degrees as showed in FIG. 6. The bevel gears 324 (see FIG. 6 and FIG. 7) and spur gear 325 are supported by the shaft 321 through the pair of bearings 322 fixed to crossbeam 301 via the hang clamp 327. The supporting bars 338 with the threaded top end 329, the bottom end 341, and the middle part 340 jointly fasten with the crossbeam 301, the first flange 330, and the second flange 335, resulting the motor 333 is solfiedly fixed and suspenting inside of the rod 421 in the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400. The hex nuts 343 fixed with bottom end of the through shaft 332 and further connected with the flange 431 in the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400 detailed in FIG. 13.
[0027] FIG. 5 is a exploded view of the top part 300A of the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device 300. The crossbeam 301 with various-sized penetrative holes is a crucial structure to hold and keep the whole rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device 300 suspended inside the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400. The penetrative holes 302 are used to house screws 201 that fasten with the threaded holes on the top of the housing 500; as a result, the crossbeam will not move in any way. The stepped holes 306 are used to house screw nuts 305 that jointly screw with threaded top end 339 of supporting bar 338. The penetrative hole, 310, is the place to place the tube-like connector 303, from which the cable 101 or cable-like structure passes through when released from the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400 or retracted after being used. The penetrative holes 304 on the tube-like connector 303 are used to fasten the tube-like connector 303 with the threaded holes 311 on the crossbeam 301. The penetrative holes 307 on the tube-like connector match these threaded holes 309 on the friction pad 308. The friction pad 308 and the spur gear 325 constitute the functional structure to release or retract cable 101 or a cable-like structure. To meet various diameter-sized cable or cable-like structures that can be used by the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device 300, the friction pad 308 has different thicknesses used for adjusting the space between the spur gear 325 and the friction pad 308 accordingly. For example, 308A is used for thick cable 101 or cable-like structure, while the 308B is used for thin cable 101 or cable-like structure.
[0028] FIG. 6 is a front view of the lower part 300B of the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device 300. The motor 333 has a through shaft 332 used to fix the bevel gear 323 via the penetratrative hole 326 on the top end and fasten with the hex nuts 343 on the bottom end. The shaft 321 is fixed with bevel gear 324 and spur gear 325, and further fastens with bearings 322 on both ends. The hang clamp 327 fixate the bearings 322, the shaft 321, the bevel gear 324, and spur gear 325 onto the grossbeam 301 by screws 328. The first flanges 330 and the second flange 336 with threaded holes to house the threaded supporting bars 338. The bottom end of these threaded supporting bars 338 are fixed with the screw nuts. The threaded top end 339 of these supporting bars are passed through the penetrative stepped holes 306 on the crossbeam 301 and screwed with screw nuts 305. All these fixations result in the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device 300 being well fixed each other and perfectly suspended inside the hollow rod 421 of the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400. Most importantly, such fixation accurately makes the bevel gears 323 and 324 match together, further establishing the functional structure of the spur gear 325 and friction pad 308A or 308B in releasing or retracting the cable 101 or cable-like structure. It should be emphasized that one motor 333 simultaneously has two functions in releasing and retracting cable 101; one is directly pull out the cable or retract cable via spur gear 325 and friction pad 308A or 308B, and the second one is the hex nut 343 mate with the hexagonal groove on the flange 431 to turn the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400 in the same direction to release or retract the cable 101.
[0029] To better understand the detail structure of each part in the lower part 300B, FIG. 7 provides a exploded view of the 300B in the rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device 300. The shaft 321 is inserted into the bevel gear 324 and the spur gear 325 via the penetrative hole 320. The bearings 322 hold both ends of the shaft 321. The hung clumps 327 grasp the two bearing 322 and are fixed onto the crossbeam 301 by the screws 328. The motor 333 has shallow grooves 334 used to house the supporting bars 338. The top end of the through shaft 332 of motor 333 fixes with bevel gear 323 through the central penetrative hole, and the bottom end of the through shaft 332 jointly fastens with the hex nut 343. The central hole 329 on the first flange 330 and the central hole 339 on the second flange 335 allow the top end shaft 332 and the bottom end 332 to pass through. All threaded holes 331 on the first flange 330 and the second flange 335 are used to house threaded supporting bars 338. Each of the threaded supporting bars 338 has a threaded top end 339 used to screw with the screw nut 305, a threaded middle part 340 used to screw with the threaded hole 331 on the first flange 330, and a threaded bottom end 341 used to fasten with the screw nuts 342. As a result, motor 333 is firmly and securely fixed and suspended in the hollow rod 421 of the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400.
[0030] FIG. 8 demonstrates another rotatably releasing and retracting cable or cable-like structure electronic device 300C with two motors, 350 and 360. The top front view shows that the first motor 350 propels the gear 355 via the shaft 354. The gear 355 and the friction pad 308 constitute the sole functional structure in releasing and retracting cable 101. The second motor 360 is an independent functional structure in turning the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400 in two directions to release or retract the cable 101 through the shaft 361 and hex nut 362. Accordingly, the first motor, 350, and the second motor, 360, must operate in the same manner at the same speed in the same direction. Both motors, 350 and 360, are clamped together by the threaded supporting bars 353 via first flange 352 and the second flange 356 and finally fastened with the crossbeam 301 to become an independent rotatably releasing and retracting cable or cable-like structure electronic device 300C. Because shaft 354 is located in the middle of the motor and gear 355 is fastened with shaft 354, the gear 355 positions must be adjusted above the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400. To raise the position of the gear 355 above the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400, thickening both ends of the crossbeam 301 is an easy way, as shown in FIG. 8A.
[0031] FIG. 9 is an exploded view to detail each part in the rotatably releasing and retracting cable or cable-like structure electronic device 300C. The crossbeam 301 with various-sized penetrative holes is crucial to keep the entire rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device 300 suspended inside the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400. The penetrative holes 302 are used to house screws 201 that fasten with the threaded holes on the top of the housing 500; as a result, the crossbeam will not move in any way during the device operation. The stepped holes 306 are used to house screw nuts 305 that jointly screw with threaded top end 339 of supporting bar 338. The penetrative hole, 310, is the place to place the tube-like connector 303, from which the cable 101 or cable-like structure passes through when released from the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400 or retracted after being used. The penetrative holes 304 on the tube-like connector 303 are used to fasten the tube-like connector 303 with the threaded holes 311 on the top crossbeam 301. The penetrative holes 307 on the tube-like connector match these threaded holes 309 on the friction pad 308. The friction pad 308 and the spur gear 355 constitute the functional structure to release or retract cable 101 or a cable-like structure. The shaft 354 of the first motor 350 is fixed with spur gear 355. The shaft 361 of the second motor 360 is screwed with hex nut 362. Both first motor 350 and second motor 360 have four shallow grooves 357 on the side wall to house the supporting bars 353. The first flange 352 has four threaded penetrative holes to house the threaded top end 339 of the supporting bar. The second flange 356 has four threaded penetrative holes 337 to house the threaded bottom end 341 of the supporting bar 353 and a central penetrative hole 359 to allow the shaft 361 to pass through. The first flange 352 and the second flange 356 firmly clamp the first motor 350 and the second motor 360 together through the supporting bars 353.
[0032] FIG. 10 is a bottom-up and front view of the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400. The rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400 consists of the vertically movable regulator 410, the hollow tubular structure 420, and the supporting part 430. There is a shallow groove 441 on the bottom side of flange 431, which is a crucial structure to constitute the floating flange-bearing structure with the ring 501 and the stepped circular groove 504 in the housing 500 to bear the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400.
[0033] FIG. 11 is a top front view of the vertically movable regulator 410 of the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400. The directing bar 411 is used to regulate cable 101 releasing from hollow tubular structure 420 or retracting back to the hollow structure 420 after use. The regulating directing bar 412 forcibly controls the cable 101 or cable-like structure, retracting and releasing from or back into the hollow structure 420 orderly and tidily without any overlapping confusion or kinks and tangles. Two protruding structures 413 are used to keep the regulator 410 moving only vertically along the vertical grooves when releasing or retracting the cable 100 or cable-like structure since these two protruding structures 413 are housed in the vertical grooves 503 on the inner wall of housing 500. The threaded inner wall 414 of the regulator 410 screws with the helix groove 421 of the hollow tubular structure 420.
[0034] FIG. 12 is a front view of the hollow tubular structure 420. The helix groove 421 has two functions: the first is to house the cable 101 or cable-like structure, and the second is to screw with the regulator 410 via the threaded inner wall 414. Two threaded holes 422 on the bottom of the hollow tubular structure 420 are used to fasten with the supporting part 430 jointly. The notch 423 allows the cable or cable-like structure to pass and further to enter the tubular structure 438 via the hole 432 on the flange The hollow space of the tubular structure 420 is the most crucial place to accommodate the rotatably releasing and retracting cable or cable-like structure electronic device 300 or 300C.
[0035] FIG. 13 is an exploded view to detail each part in the supporting part 430. The flange 431 is the central part with a hexagonal groove 434 in the center to accommodate the hex nut 343 or 362 linking with the rotatably releasing and retracting cable or cable-like structure electronic device 300 or 300C. Such connection, the hexagonal groove 434 and hex nut 343 or 362, results in the motor in 300 or 300C can directly propel or drive the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400 pivots in two directions to release or retract cable. The threaded holes 433 align with the threaded holes 422 and the holes on the supporting fixture 439 of the bearing 435, allowing the screws 437 to fasten the flange 431 with hollow tubular structure 420 and the bearing 435 together. The penetrative hole 432 is a pathway for cable 101 to pass through. The tubular structure 438 fastens with bearing 435 fixed with the flange 431 to form a crucial supporting structure. The bear 435, fastened with the tubular structure and fixed with the flange 431, allows the floating flange-bearing structure to have minimum friction. It makes the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400 easy to turn for cable or cable-like structure releasing or retracting when driven by motor 333 or 360. The tubular structure 438 is adjustable to regulate the spacing between the rotatably releasing, retracting and storing means 400 and the ring 501. The supporting part 430 is also the essential fulcrum to support the suspended rotatably releasing and retracting electronic device 300 or 300C to be stable and more functional via the connection of the hexagonal groove 434 and the hex nut 343 or 362 in releasing and retracting cable 101 or cable-like structure.
[0036] FIG. 14 is a front view of the housing 500. The ring 501 paces on the stepped circular groove 504 in the housing 500 used to bear the rotatably releasing, retracting, and storing means 400. On the other hand, the shallow groove 441 on the bottom of flange 431, the ring 501, and the stepped circular groove 504 together form a crucial floating flange-bearing structure. The threaded holes 502 are used to fasten the top cover 202 via the penetrative holes 202, the crossbeam 301 via the penetrative holes 302 by the screws 201. The vertical grooves 503 on the inner wall of housing 500 house two protruding structures 413 of regulator 410 that makes the regulator 410 can only move up or down along the vertical groove 503. Each of the device 100 has a barcode and Arabe numbers label 506 used to identify each of the devices.
[0037] FIG. 15 is a section view of the housing 500 to better understand the detail structure of related parts. The threaded holes 502 on the top end of the housing 500 uses to firmly fasten the top cover 200 and the crossbeam 301 via the screws 201. The ring 501 is placed into stepped circular groove 504 located on the bottom of the inner housing 500. The vertical groove 503 is used to house the protruding structures 413 of the regulator 410. The threaded holes 505 are used to fasten the bottom cover 600 through the penetrative holes 602 by the screws 603. The threaded holes 505 are used to fasten the bottom cover 600 by the screws 603.
[0038] FIG. 16 is a top front view of the bottom cover 600. The short tubular structure 601 uses to hold the tubular structure 438 of the supporting part 430. Two penetrative holes 602 allow the screws 603 to pass through and further fasten with the threaded holes 505 of the housing 500.
[0039] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presently disclosed embodiments are, therefore, considered in all respects to be illustrative and not restricted. The scope of the invention described by the preceding includes all changes within the meaning, range, and equivalence thereof and is intended to be embraced therein.
