HOUSING, ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH HOUSING, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS WITH ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20170219990A1
• Filed: 01/25/2017
• Published: 08/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: ISHIDA, Masahiro, MATSUDA, Naoki, SHIMIZU, Keisuke, TAKENAKA, Kohta
• Granted Patent: US 10,444,695 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 21/1633 using doors or covers G03G21/1638 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/0129 horizontal medium transport path at the secondary transfer

Abstract

A housing includes at least one openable cover and at least one adjacent cover. The at least one openable cover swings on a hinge to separate an interior of the housing from an exterior of the housing. The at least one openable cover has a first side edge on a side of the hinge. The at least one adjacent cover is adjacent to the at least one openable cover. The at least one adjacent cover has a second side edge neighboring the first side edge of the at least one openable cover across a gap. One of the at least one openable cover and the at least one adjacent cover includes at least one projection projecting into the gap and another one of the at least one openable cover and the at least one adjacent cover includes a recess that accommodates the at least one projection in the gap.

Claims

1. A housing comprising:

at least one openable cover to swing on a hinge to separate an interior of the housing from an exterior of the housing, the at least one openable cover having a first side edge on a side of the hinge; and

at least one adjacent cover adjacent to the at least one openable cover, the at least one adjacent cover having a second side edge neighboring the first side edge of the at least one openable cover across a gap,

one of the at least one openable cover and the at least one adjacent cover including at least one projection projecting into the gap and another one of the at least one openable cover and the at least one adjacent cover including a recess that accommodates the at least one projection in the gap.

2. The housing according to claim 1, wherein the hinge is located inside the recess.

3. The housing according to claim 1, wherein one of the at least one adjacent cover is an external cover to separate the interior of the housing from the exterior of the housing.

4. The housing according to claim 1, wherein the at least one adjacent cover is covered by the at least one openable cover when the at least one openable cover is closed.

5. The housing according to claim 1, wherein the projection and the recess are positioned on a single virtual plane parallel to a surface of the openable cover.

6. The housing according to claim 1, comprising at least two projections.

7. The housing according to claim 6, wherein the at east two projections have different lengths.

8. The housing according to claim 6, further comprising at least one projection connector to connect the at least two projections to each other.

9. The housing according to claim 8, wherein the gap narrows inwardly to form a tapered portion near an exterior surface of the housing.

10. The housing according to claim 1, further comprising an air passage extended from the interior of the housing to the exterior of the housing,

wherein the at least one openable cover includes a third side edge on a side other than the side of the hinge,

wherein the at least one adjacent cover includes a fourth side edge neighboring the third side edge of the at least one openable cover across another gap,

wherein said another gap constitutes a part of the air passage,

wherein the air passage includes at least two deflecting portions in said another gap to deflect sound generated in the housing.

11. An electronic device, comprising:

a sound source that generates sound during operation of the electronic device; and

the housing according to claim 1 to cover the sound source.

12. An image forming apparatus comprising the electronic device according to claim 11.

13. A housing comprising:

at least one openable cover to swing on a hinge to separate an interior of the housing from an exterior of the housing, the at least one openable cover having a first side edge on a side of the hinge;

at least one adjacent cover adjacent to the at least one openable cover, the at least one adjacent cover having a second side edge neighboring the first side edge of the openable cover across a gap; and

an air passage extending from the interior of the housing to the exterior of the housing through the gap,

wherein the air passage includes at least two deflecting portions in the gap to deflect sound generated inside the housing.

14. A housing comprising:

at least one openable cover to swing on a hinge to separate an interior of the housing from an exterior of the housing, the at least one openable cover having a first side edge on a side of the hinge;

p1 at least one adjacent cover adjacent to the at least one openable cover, the at least one adjacent cover having a second side edge neighboring the first side edge of the openable cover across a gap;

at least one openable cover projection to project from the at least one openable cover to the at least one adjacent cover in the gap; and

an air passage extended from the interior of the housing to the exterior of the housing through the gap,

wherein the at least one openable cover projection constitutes a deflecting section having at least two deflecting portions in the gap,

wherein the at least one openable cover projection separates from the at least one adjacent cover when the at least one openable cover swings from a closed state to an opened state.

15. The housing according to claim 14, wherein each of the at least two openable covers includes the at least one openable cover projection.

16. The housing according to claim 14, wherein the at least one adjacent cover projection projects into the at least one openable cover from the at least one adjacent cover,

wherein a tip side face of the at least one adjacent cover projection is located closer to a base of the at least one openable cover projection than a tip side face of the at least one openable cover projection.

17. The housing according to claim 16, wherein at least two adjacent covers include at least two adjacent cover projections, respectively.

18. A housing comprising:

at least one openable cover to swing on a hinge to separate an interior of the housing from an exterior of the housing, the at least one openable cover including a first side edge on a side of the hinge;

at least one adjacent cover to separate the interior of the housing from the exterior of the housing, the at least one adjacent cover having a second side edge neighboring the first side edge of the openable cover across a gap;

at least one openable cover projection to project from a position further inboard of the housing than the hinge into the at least one adjacent cover to form the gap between a tip side face of the at least one openable cover projection and the adjacent cover; and

at least one opposing projection to project from the at least one adjacent cover in an opposite direction to a direction toward the at least one openable cover projection with a tip side face of the at least one opposing projection located closer to a base of the at least one openable cover projection than a tip of the at least one openable cover projection to form the gap between the tip side face of the at least one opposing projection and the at least one openable cover.

19. The housing according to claim 18, further comprising at least one projection connector,

wherein the housing includes a plurality of covers as the at least one openable cover or the at least one adjacent cover, and

wherein the at least one projection connector connects the plurality of covers.

20. The housing according to claim 18, wherein at least a portion of the at least one adjacent cover is an exterior cover to separate the interior of the housing from the exterior of the housing.