JPH0337553Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Technical Field The present invention relates to a lid opening mechanism for a rice cooker, and more particularly to a mechanism for automatically opening the lid by releasing a locking mechanism.

Prior Art Generally, when opening the lid of a rice cooker,
A mechanism is adopted in which a handle provided on the lid is held in the hand, a lock release button provided at one end of the handle is pressed to release the lock mechanism, and then the lid is rotated and opened. However, with this kind of opening mechanism, if you open the lid immediately after cooking rice,
There were problems such as high-temperature steam suddenly gushing out, and depending on how you gripped the handle, your arm could touch the edge of the hot lid, making you feel hot.

Purpose The purpose of this invention is to enable the lid of a rice cooker to be opened safely and easily.

Composition In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention has a lock mechanism and its release button attached to the rice cooker body that does not spew out steam or become hot, and at the same time, the lid can be attached to the rice cooker body in both forward and reverse directions. A spring that biases the lid in the direction of opening is attached to the hinge pin of the hinge mechanism that is rotatably connected, so that when the lock mechanism is released, the lid is automatically opened by the repulsive force of the spring. , and the problem is caused by the outer cover coming into contact with the cover of the hinge mechanism when the cover is opened, that is, the spring exerts a certain degree of torsional force even when the cover is opened, and the outer cover and the cover of the hinge mechanism Both are made of resin, so when the lid is opened, vibrations occur due to the reaction and spring force when the outer lid comes into contact with the cover of the hinge mechanism, causing the rice cooker to be empty or nearly empty. In order to solve the problem that there is a risk of the rice cooker turning over, the outer lid and hinge mechanism cover may be damaged due to the impact when opening the lid.
A cam having a braking protrusion and a stop position regulating protrusion is fitted onto the hinge pin so that the cam rotates integrally with the hinge pin and, therefore, with the lid. A braking spring having a locking portion that engages with the braking protrusion of the cam is disposed, and when the lid rotates the braking protrusion of the cam by a predetermined angle, the locking portion of the braking spring engages with the braking protrusion of the cam. At the same time, the bearing fitting of the hinge mechanism is provided with a stop position regulating locking part to which the stop position regulating protrusion of the cam is engaged, thereby applying braking to the lid and mitigating the impact when the lid is opened. In order to prevent damage to the members and to solve the problem that the lid returns to the closing direction due to the action of the braking spring after the stop position regulating protrusion of the cam comes into contact with the bearing fitting of the hinge mechanism, A temporary locking mechanism is provided to prevent the lid from rotating in the opposite direction due to reaction and to maintain the lid in a completely open state.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In Figure 1, 1 is the rice cooker body, 2 is the lid, 3 is the hinge mechanism, 4 is the lock release button,
The rice cooker main body 1 includes an outer pot 6 that accommodates an inner pot 5,
It is composed of an exterior body 7 for fixing it, and a lid 2.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the outer cover 9
, a lid ring 10 made of an elastic material fixed coaxially to the outer lid 9, a heat sink 11 attached to the lid ring 10, and an inner lid 12 detachably attached to the outer lid 9. ing. The hinge mechanism 3 basically includes a bearing metal fitting 13 screwed to the shoulder member 8 constituting the exterior body 7, an outer lid metal fitting 14 screwed to the lid ring 10, and the bearing metal fitting 13 and the outer lid metal fitting. 14 and a hinge pin 15 that rotatably connects each other. (See Figure 5).

In order to automatically open the lid 2 when the locking mechanism described later is released according to the present invention, the hinge pin 15 is provided with a mechanism that rotates integrally with the hinge pin 15 in both forward and reverse directions, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 5. A cam 16 is attached thereto, and two coil springs 17 are attached on both sides of the cam 16. The hinge pin 15 has an oval cross-sectional shape in order to integrally rotate the cam 16, and the cam 16 is fitted in the center of the hinge pin 15. Each coil spring 17 has one end locked to the bearing fitting 13 and the other end fitted into a hole provided in the cam 16.
The lid 2 to which the outer lid metal fitting 14 is attached is biased in the direction of opening. The coil spring 17 is attached to the hinge pin 15 via a tube 18 in order to prevent misalignment since the coil spring 17 is made slightly larger in diameter than the hinge pin 15, but the tube 18 is not necessarily required.

The lid 2 has a hook 22 protruding from a portion opposite to the hinge mechanism 3, and the hook 22 is locked to a lock mechanism 23 provided inside the rice cooker main body 1. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, this lock mechanism 23 includes a holding member 24 fixed to the upper end side of the rice cooker main body 1, and a movable locking member 24 rotatably attached to the holding member 24 by a shaft 28. Piece 25 and
The shaft 28 and the locking pin 27 are connected to the pair of arm portions 25a of the movable piece 25.
is installed on. A wire 29 connected to the lock release button 4 is attached to the base 25b of the movable piece 25, and when the lock release button 4 provided on the lower end side of the rice cooker main body 1 is pushed downward in the figure, the movable piece 2
5 clockwise in the figure, the locking pin 27 is released from the hook 22.

When the locking mechanism 23 is unlocked, the lid 2 opens due to the repulsive force of the coil spring 17, but since the repulsive force of the coil spring 17 is strong, the lid 2 hits the cover 30 of the hinge mechanism 3 with force, and when the rice cooker is empty. A braking mechanism 31 is provided on the shoulder member 8 in order to reduce the impact when the lid hits the cover 30, since there is a risk that the cover 30 will be damaged. This braking mechanism 31 has a hinge pin 15
A braking protrusion 16a provided on the cam 16 integrally attached to the cam 16, a braking spring 32, a braking spring fitting 33 for holding the braking spring 32, and the fitting 33.
The braking spring 32 is configured with a braking spring retaining pin 34 attached to a pair of arms 33a, and one end of the braking spring 32 is engaged with the shoulder member 8, and the other end is used as a retaining portion 32a for braking the cam 16. When the cam 16 rotates due to the action of the coil spring 17, the braking protrusion 16a comes into contact with the locking part 32a of the braking spring 32, compressing the braking spring 32, and absorbing the impact. ease. In the illustrated example, one end of the braking spring 32 is used as a locking part, but this is because the braking spring retaining pin 34
Two braking springs 32 may be arranged, and a locking member may be stretched between one ends of the springs 32 and fixed, and this may be used as a locking portion.

Furthermore, if the outer lid and the cover 30 come into direct contact with each other, they may be deformed or the opening angle of the lid may gradually increase. To prevent this, the lid opening mechanism is provided with a stop position regulating mechanism. This stop position regulating mechanism is composed of a cam 16 fixed to a hinge pin 15 that rotates integrally with the lid 2, and a bearing fitting 13 that holds the hinge pin 15. A protrusion 16b for regulating the stop position is formed, and when the lid is opened to a predetermined angle, this protrusion 16b is engaged with the stop position regulating locking part 13a provided at one end of the bearing fitting 13. By appropriately setting the formation position of the protrusion 16b, the opening angle of the lid can be set.

Furthermore, in the present invention, damage to the cover 30 is prevented by providing a braking mechanism and a stop position regulating mechanism.
When it comes into contact with the bearing fitting, the lid 2 rotates in the closing direction due to the reaction and the action of the braking spring 32, and the lid 2
Since the problem arises that the is in a slightly closed state,
To solve this problem, a temporary locking mechanism is provided to maintain the lid 2 in a fully open state. This temporary locking mechanism consists of two protrusions 35 provided on the top curved part of the shoulder member 8 of the rice cooker main body, and an arc-shaped cross section provided on the rear end of the lid ring 10 that faces the protrusions when the lid is opened. When the lid 2 is opened, the claws 36 of the lid ring get over the protrusion 35, and the lid 2 rotates in the closing direction. A temporary lock state is created to prevent this from happening.

When opening the lid 2 of a rice cooker equipped with the automatic lid opening mechanism of the above structure, when the lock release button 4 is pressed in the state shown in FIG. As it rotates clockwise, the locking pin 27 separates from the hook 22 and the lock is released, so the lid 2 rotates in the opening direction due to the repulsive force of the coil spring 17, and when it rotates to a certain angle, the cam 16 fixed to the hinge pin 15 opens. Braking protrusion 16
a comes into contact with the braking spring 32, and further rotates while being braked thereby, and the stop position regulating protrusion 16b of the cam 16, which rotates integrally with the lid 2, comes into contact with the upper end of the bearing fitting 13. At the same time, the claws 36 of the lid ring 10 pass over the convex portion 35 of the shoulder member 8 and are locked, preventing reverse rotation, and the lid is completely opened and stopped, resulting in the state shown in FIG. 4. Lid 2
To close the lid 2, simply push the lid 2 until the hook 22 is locked. At this time, since the lid ring 10 is made of an elastic material, the claws 36 of the lid ring 10 are released from the temporarily locked state and do not prevent rotation in the closing direction.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show another embodiment of the automatic lid opening mechanism for the rice cooker shown in FIGS. It is attached so that it can move forward and backward relative to the bearing fitting 13, and by rotating the adjustment screw 37, the distance between the spring foot holder 36 and the bearing fitting is changed, and the degree of compression of the coil spring 17 is changed to adjust its repulsive force. This is what I did.

Effects As explained above, according to the present invention, just by pressing the lock release button 4, the lid 2 is automatically opened by the repulsive force of the spring 17 arranged in the hinge mechanism, so when the lid is opened, There are no problems such as getting hot from the steam that blows out or getting burned by touching the hot circumferential part of the lid when opening the lid, and since the lid can be braked by opening only at a certain angle, the hinge is closed. There is no strong impact on the mechanism cover, so the rice cooker will not fall over, the lid or hinge mechanism cover will not be deformed or damaged, and when the lid is released, it is more secure than the temporary lock mechanism. Since the lid is locked in the open state, even if the lid comes into contact with the stop position regulating mechanism, the lid will not close due to the reaction or the action of the braking spring, providing excellent effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the rice cooker according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially sectional side view of the rice cooker of Fig. 1 showing an embodiment of the lid opening mechanism, and Fig. 3 is a partially cutaway rear view thereof. Fig. 4 is a partially sectional side view similar to Fig. 2 showing the rice cooker in Fig. 1 with the lid open, Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the lid opening mechanism, and Fig. 6 is a side view of the rice cooker shown in Fig. A side view showing the lock release mechanism of the rice cooker shown in Fig. 7, an exploded perspective view thereof, and Fig. 8.
9 is a sectional side view of the main part showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a partially cutaway rear view thereof. 1... Rice cooker body, 2... Lid, 3... Hinge mechanism, 4... Lock release button, 5... Inner pot,
6...Outer pot, 7...Exterior body, 8...Shoulder member, 9...
...Outer cover, 12...Inner cover, 13...Bearing fitting, 1
4... Outer lid metal fitting, 15... Hinge pin, 16...
Cam, 16a... Braking protrusion, 16b... Stop position regulating protrusion, 17... Coil spring, 22... Hook, 23... Lock mechanism, 24... Holding member,
25...Movable piece, 32...Braking spring, 32a...
...Locking portion, 35...Latching convex portion, 36...Claw.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A hinge pin of a hinge mechanism that rotatably connects the lid to the rice cooker body in both forward and reverse directions is attached with a spring that biases the lid in the direction of opening, and a spring that is attached to the lid and located on the opposite side of the hinge mechanism. In a lid opening mechanism for a rice cooker in which a locking mechanism consisting of a lock pin that locks on a hook and a movable piece that holds the lock pin and is rotatable in both forward and reverse directions is attached to the rice cooker main body, a braking protrusion is provided on the hinge pin. and a cam having a protrusion for regulating the stop position is integrally mounted, a braking spring having a locking part that engages with the braking protrusion of the cam when the lid is released at a predetermined angle, and the stop position A locking part for regulating the stop position that the regulating protrusion abuts is provided on the bearing fitting of the hinge mechanism, and a claw is provided on the lid that engages with a convex part provided on the shoulder of the rice cooker main body when the lid is opened. A rice cooker lid opening mechanism featuring: