WO1989006767A1

WO1989006767A1 - Platform which can be adjusted in relation to a horizontal plane, especially for the support of a computer

Info

Publication number: WO1989006767A1
Application number: PCT/DK1989/000004
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bent Nielsen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-01-20
Filing date: 1989-01-16
Publication date: 1989-07-27
Anticipated expiration: 1990-07-20
Also published as: DK24588D0; AU2944689A; DK24588A

Abstract

The invention relates to a platform (1) for horizontal positioning of a computer or computer screen placed on a supporting arm. The platform (1) comprises a device (2), the first end (40) of which protrudes from a house (3). The opposite other end received in the house (3) has three arms (27, 28, 29) each connected with a screw (35). The screws are positioned in the house (3) with parallel axes and extend in the same direction as the first end (40). The arms (27-29) are positioned in a plane at right angles to the axis (25) of the device (2), whereby the other arm (28) is at right angles to the plane of the other two arms (27, 29) extending in the opposite direction away from the axis (25). The screws (35) are slidable, but unshiftable in their longitudinal direction, whereby nuts (39) on the screws (35) are rotatable around their axes but unslidable in their axial direction. By turning the nuts (39) the arms can be shifted in order that the direction of the axis (25) can be adjusted in relation to the house (3).

Description

PLATFORM WHICH CAN BE ADJUSTED IN RELATION TO A HORIZONTAL PLANE ESPECIALLY FOR THE SUPPORT OF A COMPUTER

The invention relates to a platform, which is adjustable in relation to a horizontal plane, especially for the support of a computer and/or a computer screen on a supporting arm or a table, comprising arms which interact with axially parallel screws arranged interspaced and at angular distance and prepared to adjust the direction of the axis of a device protruding from the platform by turning action.

Supports or platforms of this description where an appli¬ ance or an object must be adjusted in relation to a ho- rizontal plane are known for various purposes.

US patent no. 918.817, for example, describes a support or a platform used as part of a measuring instrument to measure horizontal and vertical angles. In this case the instrument is held in resilient position to a tripod, the platform being inserted between the top side and the under side of the instrument. The platform is provided with three arms separated from one another at 120°. In the ends of the free arms, screw threads have been provided which receive screw ends facing upwards, said screws having a circular cylinder of small axial length at their lower ends, and said cylinders having a mesh filed surface in order that they may act as a hand or finger grip for rota¬ tion of the screws around their essentially vertical axes. By turning the screws properly it is possible to adjust the axis of the instrument as to position the the instru¬ ment horizontally.

There are other known types of platforms, in which the screws are arranged interspaced at an angle distance of

120°, but in which the three screws or similar height adjustable means, such as two interacting wedges, are arranged in such a manner that the axes of the three screws, as seen from the end, produce corners in an right-angled triangle.

These known constructions are intended for use in connection with comparatively light objects such as theo¬ dolites or levelling instruments.

During recent years, especially within the office world, appliances weighing considerably more than the above men¬ tioned instruments have been in demand. Such appliances, which may be computers and/or computer screens may weigh up to for example 100 kilos. Because of their weight these appliances can be^' difficult to move from one place to another, which is often required if they are not used con¬ stantly and therefore take up desk space for the operator, when he or she is occupied with other tasks.

Consequently, such appliances are placed on swivelling or supporting arms in order that the appliances can con¬ veniently swing into working position and return into an inactive position or perhaps to the working position of a second operator.

Supporting arms of this kind are naturally dimensioned to support the weight of the appliances to be placed on them, but a weighing down of the supporting arms under the influence of the weight of the appliances will never¬ theless occur, and the appliances will assume a skew po- sition in relation to horizontal position, which is a drawback for the user who will prefer that for example the text and/or the drawings on a screen or a computer keyboard is horizontal.

If an appliance placed on a supporting arm 'is to be used by one and the same operator in a certain working position this drawback can, however, be remedied by means of an appropriate blocking-up of the appliance on the supporting arm.

Different operators, however, may have individual wishes as to the gradient of a screen in relation to a vertical plane whereby will be understood the difference of the distance between the operator and the lower and upper edge of the screen.

If, however, the appliance is to be used by different operators alternately, either in a certain working posi¬ tion or in two or more different working positions, a blocking-up of the appliance will be efficient for one o- perator in a certain working position only, and the blocking-up may even render the situation more difficult for other operators in other working positions.

Consequently, an adjustment of the position in relation to a horizontal plane of a heavy appliance of the above description is called for, and this problem cannot be solved through the commonly known constructions.

It is an object of this invention to provide a platform, which is constructed in such a manner that an adjustment of the appliance on a supporting arm in relation to a ho¬ rizontal plane is performed with ease, avoiding the above mentioned drawbacks.

This object will be achieved with a platform of the above description, said platform being characteristic according to the invention in that one end of the protruding device secured in a house has three arms extending in planes es¬ sentially at right angles to the axis of the device, that the first and the third arm are located in a shared plane and interact with at least one of the screws mentioned, and that the axis of the other arm extends essentially at right angles to the mentioned shared plane of the first and the third arm to interact with another screw.

By forming the platform this way it has been made possible to use a protruding device which can be dimen- sioned to withstand the weight of appliances, whether it is 10, 50 or 100 kilos. With the three arms arranged so that two of them are in one and the same plane with the third arm essentially at right angles to same, it is possible by merely moving the ends of two of the three arms in a direction approximately along the axis of the device, while the end of the third arm is secured, to ad¬ just the direction of the axis of the protruding device, whereby the adjustment of an appliance on the platform into a horizontal plane is made possible by appropriate activation of merely two screws. This construction also permits the establishment of a solid house around the pro¬ truding device and its three arms in order that the house can also withstand the weight to which it -will be exposed. Thus a possibility of adjustment has been provided by means of two screws only, which can reduce the costs of production for the platform.

However, the use of two screws will imply that more space is needed in the house in the direction of the axis of the protruding device in order that its axis can be ad¬ justed within a given angular range, which is why it is advantageous to use three screws for the mentioned adjust¬ ment of the protruding device, as the three screws as de¬ scribed in claim 2, are brought to interact with their respective ends of the arms. A first arm can thus be moved in one direction, and another arm in the opposite direction in relation to the axis, and so the -total space required in those directions is less than is the case when using two screws.

By having the axes of the three arms intersect the axis of the device at one and the same point, as described in claim 3, maximum strength in the connection between the arms and the device is achieved with a minimum of space required for the device.

The intended mobility of the ends of the arms as compared to the axial direction of the device is provided by the shape of the mentioned ends, as described in claim 4, which will allow for a change of angles for said arms as compared to bores of the screws, and by placing the screws and nuts as mentioned, an advantageous transfer of the weight on the protruding device to the house has been provided.

By forming the free end of the protruding device as de- scribed in claim 5, it is easy to turn the platform a- round an essentially vertical axis, before the free end is locked firmly in the supporting arm, whereupon the screws and nuts, which interact with the first and the third arm can face their respective sides in relation to the operator, so that all the operator has to do is to ad¬ just the screws and nuts to reach the horizontal position desired of the lines on the screen.

By further orienting the platform as described in claim 6, the gradient of the screen as compared to vertical posi¬ tion can be performed by merely turning the nut, which interact with the screw connected to the other arm. This is particularly important with different operators using the computer and/or its screen alternately in the same working position.

The platform according to the invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawing, in which

fig. 1 illustrates the section I-I^" in fig. 2 of an em¬ bodiment of the platform according to the inven¬ tion, fig. l illustrates the platform according to the inven¬ tion shown in fig. 1, as seen in perspective,

fig. 3 illustrates the section III-III shown in fig. 2,

fig. 4 illustrates a first embodiment of a protruding device, which is part of the platform according to the invention, as seen in perspective,

fig. 5 is a face view of the protruding device shown in fig. 4,

fig. 6 is a lateral view of the protruding device, shown in fig. 4,

fig. 7 is a lateral view of the screw which is a part of the platform,

fig. 8 is a plane view of the mentioned screw,

fig. 9 is a plane view of a nut,

fig. 10 is a lateral view of the nut,

fig. 11 is a lateral view of a preferred second embodi¬ ment of a protruding device,

fig. 12 is a lateral view of the device shown in fig. 11, and

fig. 13 illustrates the section XIII-XIII indicated in fig. 11.

A platform 1 according to the invention comprising a de¬ vice 2 protruding from a house 3. In the house 3 three screws 35 with corresponding nuts 39 have been provided. The house 3 is basically box-shaped with a front 4, a rear 6 and two lateral faces 5, 7 as well as a top side 8 and an under side 9, and none of the six sides 4-9 are ne- cessarily plane or at right angles to one another.

At the center between the two lateral faces 5, 7 and slightly closer to the rear 6 than to the front 4 a bore 10 has been provided, extending through the house from the top side 8 to the under side 9. This bore 10 has on the first part 11 of its extension from the under side 9 a preferably circular section with a diameter allowing for the end 40 of the device 2 protruding from the house 3 to move within a precalculated angular range in relation to the house 3. Although the section is preferably circu¬ lar, it may be of any other cross section as long as it will allow the mentioned angular movement.

The remaining part 12 of the bore 10 is formed with a cross section allowing for movement of the three arms 27, 28, 29 of the protruding device 2 and the three above men¬ tioned screws 35, as it will be explained below.

Axially parallel with the bore 10 are three bleedings 13, 14, 15 to receive their respective screws 35. The first bleeding 13 and the third bleeding 15 are arranged with the same distance from the front 4 of the house 3 as the axis 16 of the bore 10, and the second bleeding 14 is at the center between the two lateral faces 5, 7, the distan- ce a between the axes 17, 18, 19 of the bleedings and the adjacent lateral face 7, the front 4 respectively the other lateral face 5 being the same.

The bleedings 13-15 have a circular section on the first part 20 of their extension from the under side 9, where¬ upon the bleedings 13-15 on the^' remaining part 21 have a rectangular section. The importance of the circular and the rectangular section will be described below.

Crosswise in relation to the bleedings 13-15 are inter¬ sections 22, 23, 24 extending from the lateral faces 5, 7 and the front 4 into the mentioned first part 11 of the bore 10. These intersections are defined by two parallel planes with a distance allowing for the nuts 39 to slide into the intersections, whereby the two planes extend es¬ sentially parallel to the top side 8 of the house 3.

In the first embodiment the protruding device 2 has the shape of a long body with an axis 25. The device 2 is received in the house 3 with one of its ends 26 comprising the three mentioned arms 27, 28, 29 extending in a plane, which is at right angles to the axis 25.

The first arm 27 and the third arm 29 have a joint axis 30, that is, they extend outwards towards their respec¬ tive sides of the axis 25. The other arm 28 is at right angles to the first 27 and the third arm 29.

It will obvious to a person skilled in the art that al¬ though the arms 27-29 have been described as having been placed in one and the same plane at right angles to the axis 25 of the device 2, and with the three arms 27-29 se¬ parated at 90° from one another, they do not necessarily have to be placed exactly this way, because the three arms may well be transposed from one another along the axis 25' and may be separated from each other at angles other than 90°.

The free other end 40 opposite the end 26 is preferably shaped like a shaft with a cylindrical section, said free end 40 extending out of the house 3 as the end 26 with the three arms 27, 28, 29 has been received in the house 3.

The cylindrical section of the free end 40 is preferable. on one hand because it is easy to produce with an -appropriate tolerance, and on the other hand because the cylindrical section allows for the device 2 to turn around its axis 25, when the end 40 has been received in a bore in a supporting arm for a computer or similar appliance so that before the free end 40 is perhaps locked by seizing or in some similar way, which will be familiar to a person skilled in the art, the device 2 and consequently the platform 1 in the supporting arm can be adjusted.

The ends 31, 32, 33 of the three arms 27-29 have been pro¬ vided with round ball belt formed surfaces 34.

In addition, three screws 35 have been fashioned with an exterior thread 36 over part of their length, and then said screws continue with an rectangular section 37 allowing for a slidable movement in the respective bleed¬ ings 13, 14, 15 of the house 3 with the threads extending through the mentioned first part 20 of the bleedings.

Extending through the part of the screws 35, which is formed with a rectangular section 37, are bores 38 with a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the ball belt formed surfaces 34 of the three arms 27-29, to the end that these arms can swing within a precalculated angular range in relation to the screws 35, whereby the axes of the arms 27-29 are essentially at right angles to the longitudinal axes of the screws 35.

Three nuts 39 have been provided with interior threads, which can interact with the exterior thread 36 of the screws 35. The nuts 39 are disk-shaped and arranged with a distance between the parallel sides which will allow them to slide into the intersections 22-24 of the house 3. In addition, the nuts 39 have a cylindrical surface with a radius slightly exceeding the above mentioned distance a so that the nuts 39 will with part of their periphery reach outside of the respective lateral surfaces 5, 7, respectively the front 4. The cylindrical surface of the nuts 39 is mesh filed or knurled in order to provide for better friction between a finger and a nut when turning it.

The platform 1 is assembled for example as follows.

The screws 35 are placed with the arms 27-29 on the pro- truding device 2 with the bores 38 surrounding the ball belt formed surfaces 34, whereupon the device 2 and the screws 35 are inserted into the bore 10 respectively the bleedings 13-15 from the top side 8, while all of the men¬ tioned parts are kept in a position, in which the free end 40 of the device 2, and the thread parts 36 are basi¬ cally directed vertically downwards.

During this insertion, the parts of the screws 35 provided with rectangular sections 37 are turned in such a manner that they will slide into the rectangular section 21 of the bleedings 13-15.

When the insertion has reached the point where the free ends of the screws 35 are exactly at the intersections 22- 24 of the house 3, the three nuts 39 are inserted into the intersections 22-24 so that their interior threads can catch the free ends of the screws 35. Subsequently, by ro¬ tating the nuts 39 with the fingers, said nuts can be screwed onto the thread 36 of the screws 35, whereby the device 2 and the screws 35 are drawn to an appropriate ex¬ tent into the house 3, the nuts 39, as it will be under¬ stood from the preceeding, having been positioned un- slidably in their axial direction.

The platform 1 is used as follows.

The top side 8 of the platform 1 is secured appropriately to the under side of a computer and/or a computer screen, whereby an appropriate supporting plate may be inserted between the mentioned top side 8 and the object. The plat¬ form 1 and the computer and/or screen are placed under- neath with their respective fronts facing the same direction.

In fig. 2 are illustrated bores which can receive screws for the purpose of securing the object placed on the top side 8 of the platform.

The free end 40 of the device 2 is subsequently inserted into a bore made for this purpose on a supporting arm of a computer and/or a computer screen. The supporting arm is then adjusted so that the platform with the computer and/or the screen is in proper position in relation to the user at his or her working place.

The free end 40 of the protruding device 2 is subsequently turned in the bore of the supporting arm so that the top side 4 of the platform and consequently also the operating panel of the computer, respectively the front of the screen, will face the user, whereupon the free end 40 can be locked unrotable in the bore.

By turning one or both of the nuts 39 extending outside the opposite lateral faces 5, 7 of the house 3, it is possible to adjust the position of the platform 1 in order that the computer and/or the screen, as seen from the user, is in horizontal position.

Henceforth, it is possible in this position for different users to adjust the platform in such a manner that the top edge of the front of a screen is closer to or further away from the user than the bottom edge.

If the computer and/or screen is moved to a different working position, for example to a neighbouring desk, the adjustment described must be repeated.

In a preferred embodiment of the protruding device said device is composed of three parts, which are all suitable for production, since they are bodies of revolution as shown in figs. 11-13.

The protruding device 102 is formed with a shaft 140, which is provided with a sleeve 141 in the middle, and at the top a head 142.

The sleeve 141 is intended to abut against the top edge of a bore in a supporting arm for a computer in order that the platform can be supported by the supporting arm, even if the bore is not pressed firmly against the shaft 140.

The head 142 has been provided with a first bore 143 and a second bore 144, the axis of said bores being at right angles to one another and to the longitudinal axis 125.

The first arm 127 and the third arm 129 are formed in one piece 145, which is received in the first bore 143 by a sliding fit, and the part 145 is formed with a V-shaped notch 146, .partly extending into said part.

The other arm 128 has a cylindrical pin 147 on the end opposite the ball belt formed head, whereby the pin can be received in the mentioned second bore 144 by force fit, said pin 147 being wedge shaped 148 and prepared to inter¬ act with the notch 146.

The protruding device 102 is assembled like this: First the part 145 is pushed into the first bore 143 with the notch 146 on level with the second bore 144, whereupon the pin -147 of the other arm 128 is pressed into the second bore 144 in order that the wedge 148 can engage into the notch 146. The part 145 is hereby locked firmly in the head 142, and the protruding device 102 has been assembled and can be mounted in the house 3.

Claims

C L A I M S

1. Platform (1), which is adjustable in relation to a ho¬ rizontal plane, especially for the support of a computer and/or a computer screen on a supporting arm or a table, comprising arms which interact with axially parallel screws arranged interspaced and at angular distance and prepared to adjust the direction of the axis of a device (2) protruding from the platform by turning action, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that one end (26) of the protruding device (2) secured in a house (3) has three arms (27, 28, 29) extending in planes essentially at right angles to the axis (25) of the device (2), that the first (27) and the third arm (29) are located in a shared plane and interact with at least one of the screws (35) mentioned, and that the axis of the second arm (28) extends essentially at right angles to the mentioned shared plane of the first (27) and the third arm (29) to interact with another screw.

2. Platform according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e ¬ r i z e d i n that three screws (35) interacting with their respective ends of the arms (27, 28, 29) are preferably used.

3. Platform according to claims 1-2, c h a r a c t e ¬ r i z e d i n that the axes of the arms (27, 28, 29) preferably intersect the axis (25) of the device (2) at one and the same point.

4. Platform according to claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e ¬ r i z e d i n that the ends of the arms (27, 28, 29) have been provided with round ball belt formed surfaces (34) engaging movably in bores (38) of the screws (35), which are received slidably in their longitudinal direction in the house but unshiftable around their longi¬ tudinal direction, whereby the threads (36) of the screws (35) interact with the nuts (39) which are secured rotable in their axial direction in the house (3).

5. Platform according to claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e - r i z e d i n that the free end (40) of the device (2) protruding from the house (3) is pin formed and adapted to be received firmly locked in a bore in a supporting arm, and that the top side (8) of the house opposite the protruding device (2) has been constructed to support a computer and/or a computer screen in user position of the platform (1), possibly via a bracket.

6. Platform according to claims 1-5, c h a r a c t e ¬ r i z e d i n that the platform (1) in user position has been- adapted to have the other screws (35) with its nut (39) preferably face the operator.