Cable retractor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9475673-B2
Application number	US-201514619484-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 11, 2015
Priority date	Jan 7, 2011
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

A mechanism for storing a length of cord that includes a first and second pair of pulleys mounted at opposite ends of a frame. An intermediate section of a cord is stored in the frame and has one end of the stored section fixed to the frame, with the other end extending from the frame. The stored cord section is at least partially wound over the pair of pulleys, and one pair of pulleys is slidably mounted for motion toward the other pair of pulleys. A damper is coupled to one of the second pair of pulleys, which engages the pulley to rotate about an axis to dampen the rotary motion of one of the second pair of pulleys in such a manner that the intermediate storage section is in tension during retraction and withdrawal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A retractor ( 1400 ), comprising:
a first frame ( 1410 ) extending from first to second end portions ( 1412 , 1414 ), the first frame includes first and second laterally spaced tracks ( 1450 , 1455 ) that extend from the first to the second end portions;
a second frame ( 1460 ) is configured to be fixedly coupled to the second end portion of the first frame;
a slidable pulley system ( 1435 ) being disposed in the first and second laterally spaced tracks for sliding motion between the first and second frame end portions, the pulley system comprises:
a first pair of pulleys ( 1440 a , 1440 b ) rotatable on a first axis (A 8 ) and being disposed in the first and second laterally spaced tracks for sliding motion between the first and second frame ends;
a guiding flange ( 1445 ) coupled in-between the first pair of pulleys; and
a slidable block ( 1446 ) coupled to the guiding flange and being disposed in the first and second tracks; and
at least one spring spool ( 1452 ) coupled to the first frame end and the slidable block;

a stationary pulley system ( 1453 ) having a second pair of pulleys ( 1454 a , 1454 b ) and a gear ( 178 ), wherein one of the second pair of pulleys is rotatable on a second axis (A 9 ), and wherein the second pair of pulleys is journalled at the second frame end of the first frame;
a latch mechanism ( 1457 ) is configured to couple about the second end portion of the first frame, the latch mechanism being configured to engage or disengage with the guiding flange to prevent the slidable pulley system from sliding towards the stationary pulley system; and
a cord ( 1120 ) having an intermediate storage section ( 1122 ), wherein one end of the storage section ( 1122 ) is fixed to one of the first or second frame ends and the other end of the storage section is a free end ( 1126 ) extending from the first frame through the second frame and beyond the second end portion, the cord storage section being at least partially wound over the first and second pair of pulleys.

2. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein when the cord is in a stored state, upon a tensile force ( 300 ) acting on the free end of the cable, the slidable pulley system urges toward the latch mechanism thereby extending the length of the cable beyond the second end portion of the second frame.

3. The retractor of claim 2 , wherein the slidable pulley system engages the latch mechanism to lock the cord in the extended position.

4. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein when the cord is in an extended state, upon a temporary tensile force ( 300 ) acting on the free end of the cable, the slidable pulley system disengages the latch mechanism and slides toward the at least one spring spool ( 1452 ), in which the cord is fully withdrawn into the cable retractor.

5. The retractor of claim 1 , further comprising a damper ( 175 ) coupled to one of the second pair of pulleys, which engages one of the second pair of pulleys to rotate about the second axis to damp the rotary motion of one of the second pair of pulleys in such a manner that the intermediate storage section is in tension during retraction and withdrawal, wherein upon a tensile force ( 300 ) acting on the free end of the cable, the first pair of pulleys with the slidable block urges toward the second pair of pulleys thereby extending the length of the cable beyond the second end portion of the second frame.

6. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein the cable is at least one of a USB, Ethernet, 15-PIN VGA, HDMI, DVI, CAT-5, CAT-5E, CAT-6, optical fiber, audio cable, and display port cable.

7. The retractor of claim 6 , further comprising a transceiver ( 40 ) coupled to the rotary encoder to transmit data including the length of the free end of the cord extending from the second portion of the second frame.

8. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein the laterally spaced tracks or slidable block are coated with a low friction material.

9. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein the at least one spring spool exerts a near continuous retraction force to pull the block along with the slidable first pair of pulleys away from the second pair of pulleys.

10. The retractor of claim 1 , further comprising a rotary encoder ( 118 ) coupled to at least one of the first pair of pulleys for detecting the revolution of at least one of the first pair of pulleys to determine the length of the free end of the cord extending from the second portion of the second frame.

11. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein the second frame includes a clamp ( 1145 ) to couple the cable retractor to a flip top control center ( 15 ).

12. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein the second frame includes a cap ( 1147 ) to guide the cable through and beyond the second end portion.

13. The retractor of claim 1 , further comprising a dampening system coupled to one of the second pair of pulleys, the dampening system comprising:
(a) a clamping plate ( 1113 ) coupled to one of the second pair of pulleys,
(b) the damper configured to engage the gear of one of the second pair of pulleys to dampen the rotary motion of one of the second pair of pulleys, which in turn, dampens the cord as the cord is being retracted by a retraction force of the at least one spring spool, and
(c) a standby pulley ( 172 ) configured to guide the cord between the first housing member and the second housing member.

14. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein the latch mechanism is at least one of a touch latch, lever latch, push latch and roller catch latch.

15. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein one pulley of the second pair of pulleys has a larger diameter than the other pulley of the second pair of pulleys.

16. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein one pulley of the first pair of pulleys is the same diameter as the other pulley of the first pair of pulleys.

17. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein the first frame is fixedly coupled about ninety degrees to the second frame.

18. The retractor of claim 1 , wherein the first frame is fixedly coupled about forty-five degrees to the second frame.

19. The cord retractor of claim 1 , further comprising a cable speed system ( 200 ) coupled to one of a plurality of slots ( 212 ) formed on the second frame end and configured to provide a substantially consistent retraction speed of the cord.

Assignees

• Crestron Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Feldstein George
• Campagna Michael
• Arose Dana

Classifications

• B65H75/368 Primary

  with pulleys · CPC title

• B65H75/4421

  acting directly on the material · CPC title

• B65H2701/34

  electric cords or electric power cables · CPC title

• B65H75/4439

  acting directly on the material · CPC title