JPH0916326A - Trackball equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To take a track ball out of a case only by removing a ring for supporting the ball to freely rotate it, and to clean the inside of the case by making the ring freely attachable and detachable to the case. CONSTITUTION: A base part 1 is almost box-shaped as a whole and opens the upper part, a cover 3 having a circular hole 1 is integrally fitted onto this base part 1, and a case 5 is composed of the base part 1 and the cover 3. A ball 13 provided inside the case so as to be freely rotated is interlocked in contact with rotary detection plates 11 and 12. One part of the ball 13 is exposed from the circular hole 2 to the outside and with a screw part 2A of the circular hole 2, a ring screw part 3Aa of a ring 3A is screwed. The ball 13 is provided so as not to get out of the circular hole but to be freely rotated. Since one part of the ball 13 is a little protruded from the ring 3A as well, when the ring 3A is removed from the cover 3 of the case 5, the ball 13 can be easily removed from the case 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a trackball device, and more particularly to a novel improvement for allowing a ball to be taken out of a case simply by removing a ring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a trackball device of this type which has been conventionally used, a structure shown in FIG. 2 can be generally mentioned. That is, the reference numeral 1 in FIG. 2 is a base having an open top and an overall shape that is substantially box-like, and a circular hole formed on the base 1 by the ring 3A released toward the top. A cover 3 having 2 is attached via a screw 4, and the base 1 and the cover 3 form a case 5. A pair of rotation detectors 6 and 7 composed of a rotary variable resistor, an encoder, or the like are arranged in the base 1 in two axial directions, and the rotation detectors 6 and 7 are connected via shafts 8 and 9, respectively. The rotation detection plates 10 and 11 are provided so as to be integrally rotatable, and the rotation detectors 6 and 7, the shafts 8 and 9, and the rotation detection plates 10 and 11 form a biaxial detection unit 12. .

A ball 13 rotatably provided in the case 5 is constructed so as to come into contact with the shafts 8 and 9 and interlock with each other. A part of the ball 13 is part of the circular hole 2
It is configured to be exposed to the outside from the. Therefore,
By rotating the ball 13 from the outside by hand, the rotation detecting plates 10 and 11 are interlocked with each other, and a position signal can be output to a computer or the like via the rotation detectors 6 and 7.

[0004]

Since the conventional trackball device is constructed as described above, there have been the following problems. That is, since the ring for forming the circular hole of the cover that forms a part of the case is provided integrally with the cover, if the ball becomes dirty after mounting once on the panel of the electronic device or the inside of the case When dust is contained in the ball, the screw is removed from the back side of the trackball device, that is, the electronic device, the cover is removed, the ball is taken out, and the ball and the case are cleaned. Therefore, since maintenance and cleaning of the trackball device require a great deal of time and labor, it is impossible to carry out cleaning every time, and dirt easily accumulates. For example, medical equipment that requires high cleanliness. In reality, there was a reality that it was difficult to adopt this kind of trackball. Further, the reliability of the apparatus itself is lowered due to the delay in removing the foreign matter from the ball.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a trackball device in which the ball can be taken out of the case only by removing the ring. To do.

[0006]

A trackball device according to the present invention has a case having a box shape as a whole and a circular hole opened at the top, and a part of the circular hole provided in the case. In a trackball device including a projecting rotatable ball and a biaxial detection unit provided in the case and interlocking with the ball, the trackball device is detachably provided in the circular hole to rotatably support the ball. A ring is provided, and a part of the ball is exposed outward from the ring.

More specifically, the ring is screwed into the circular hole.

[0008]

In the trackball device according to the present invention,
Since a part of the ball is rotatably supported by a ring that is detachably attached to the case, even when the trackball device is attached to an electronic device, etc., only the ring is from the front side, not the back side as in the past. Since the ball can be easily taken out from the case by removing the case from the case, and the inside of the case can be easily cleaned, it can be applied to medical equipment in particular.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a trackball device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In addition,
The same or equivalent parts as those in the conventional example will be described with the same reference numerals. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a base portion having an open top and a box-like shape as a whole, and a cover 3 having a circular hole 2 open toward the top is provided on the base portion 1.
Is integrally attached, and the base 1 and the cover 3 form a case 5.

In the base 1, there is provided a biaxial detector 12 having the same construction as the conventional one described above.
Since the configuration of each component constituting 2 is the same as that of the conventional example, it is omitted here. The balls 13 rotatably provided in the case 5 are provided for the rotation detection plates 1
It is configured to be able to contact 0, 11 and interlock with each other,
A part of the ball 13 is projected and exposed from the circular hole 2 to the outside, and the ring 3A is attached to the screw portion 2A of the circular hole 2.
Since the ring screw portion 3Aa is screwed, the ball 13 is rotatably provided so as not to be separated from the circular hole 2 to the outside. In this case, the ball 1
Part of 3 is slightly projected from the ring 3A and is exposed.
Therefore, when the ring 3A is removed from the cover 3 of the case 5, the balls 13 can be easily removed from the case 5.

Next, the operation will be described. In the trackball device 20 according to the present invention, a part of the ball 13 is exposed to the outside through the opening 3Ab of the ring 3A. Therefore, by manually operating a part of the ball 13, the ball 13 can freely rotate. Then, the movement of the ball 13 is decomposed into two axes by the two-axis detection unit and is input to a computer (not shown) as a two-axis input signal. Further, when the dirt of the ball 13 of the trackball device 20 or the dirt inside the case 5 is removed, the ring 3A is rotated and removed from the case 5, so that the ball 13 can be easily moved from the circular hole 2 to the outside. It can be removed, and cleaning of dirt and the like in the ball 13 and the case 5 can be easily performed. The attachment / detachment of the ball 13 can be freely performed from the front side of the electronic device to which the trackball device 20 is attached, and the work is greatly facilitated as compared with the conventional configuration which is only possible from the back side. Has been done.

[0012]

Since the trackball device according to the present invention is constructed as described above, the following effects can be obtained. That is, since the ball can be easily taken out of the case simply by removing the ring detachably attached to the case, the cleaning of the ball and the inside of the case becomes easier than in the past. Further, since the ball can be taken out from the front side, the inside of the ball and the case can be cleaned from the front side of the electronic device provided with the trackball device, and the trackball device is always kept clean by a simple cleaning operation. In addition, it is possible to use the trackball device for medical equipment and the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a trackball device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional trackball device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 circular hole 3A ring 5 case 13 ball

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A case (5) having a circular hole (2) opened at an upper portion and having a substantially box-like shape as a whole, and a part of the circular hole (2) provided in the case (5). In a trackball device including a projecting rotatable ball and a biaxial detection part (12) provided in the case (5) and interlocking with the ball (13), the trackball device is attached to and detached from the circular hole (2). It has a ring (3A) freely provided to rotatably support the ball (13), and a part of the ball (13) is exposed from the ring (3A) to the outside. Trackball equipment. 2. The trackball device according to claim 1, wherein the ring (3A) is screwed into the circular hole (2).