Computer housing assembly which can be assembled and disassembled without tools

• US 5,121,296 A
• Filed: 06/10/1991
• Issued: 06/09/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hsu, Kai
• Original Assignee: Hsu, Kai
• Inventors: Hsu, Kai
• Primary Examiner(s): Tolin, Gerald P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Phillips, Michael W.
• Application Number:
  US07/712,437
• Time in Patent Office: 365 Days
• Field of Search: 364/708, 361/380, 361/390, 361/391, 361/392, 361/393, 361/394, 361/395, 361/399
• US Class Current: 361/679.39
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/183 Internal mounting support structures, e.g. for printed circuit boards, internal connecting means for buses G06F13/409
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/184 Mounting of motherboards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/187 Mounting of fixed and removable disk drives

Abstract

A computer housing assembly, comprising a mainframe housing unit which is comprised of a base frame having a top cover attached thereto through plugin connection, a front panel unit attached to said mainframe housing unit through hooked joint which has two sliding covers attached thereto at two opposite ends through sliding joint for dust protection, a disk drive housing unit for holding disk drives by L-shaped fastening rods which can be drawn out of said mainframe housing unit and then pushed back into place, a power supply holder unit comprising a L-shaped supporting board having a stop plate at the top for holding a power supply unit in place, an interface card fastening unit comprising a plurality of fastening plate having each a plate spring for retaining an interface socket each in each interface slot, and a mother board fastening unit comprising an elongated frame having a plurality of stub tubes for fastening a mother board in place by a plurality of fastening elements through finger operation without the use of any tools.

Claims

1. A computer housing assembly, the improvement comprising:

a mainframe housing unit consisting of rectangular base having upstanding, opposed side walls, an upstanding rear wall and a rectangular cover plate having edges adapted to rest on said walls, first releasable fastening means carried by the upper portions of said side and rear walls and the corresponding edge portions of said plate connecting said cover plate to said base;

a front panel forming the upstanding front wall of said unit, second releasable fastening means connecting said panel and said base and side walls, said front panel having a left side recess and lid therefor, a center slot opening for receiving a disk drive and a right opening for receiving a disk drive housing, said panel having opposed channels on the upper and lower surfaces and left and right covers slidably mounted therein for covering the left recess and lid and right opening;

a rectangular disk drive housing slidably received in said unit through the right opening in said front panel, said housing having upper, lower, back and side walls, said side walls having a plurality of aligned mutually spaced holes and retaining clips mounted adjacent thereto, said right opening defining channels at the sides thereof and mutually spaced rails mounted on the sides of said housing and being slidably retained in said channels, a supporting track mounted within said unit and a block mounted on said housing and slidably received in said supporting track, L-shaped fastening rods extending through the holes in the side walls for threadedly engaging a disk drive, the legs of said rods being retained in the clips mounted adjacent the holes;

a power supply holder including a L-shaped support platform mounted within the mainframe housing with a leg of said platform resting on said base and a stop plate mounted on the platform a predetermined distance from a vertical wall of said mainframe housing so that a power supply unit can be supported on said platform between said stop plate and wall;

an interface card fastening housing, the upstanding rear wall of said mainframe unit forming a plurality of vertically directed slots, said interface card housing being mounted within the unit registered on the slots, said housing having a vertical support disposed on each side of each slot, a plurality of unitary clamps mounted above said slots and a plurality of fastening plates mounted on each pair of adjacent supports to retain interface cards in said slots; and

mother board fastening housing having an elongated frame mounted within said unit with a plurality opf mutually spaced vertical tubes extending therethrough, each tube having two eccentric flanges disposed around the bottom end thereof and a plurality of fastening element having an expanded head and an elogated body extending through each tube so that when a mother board is mounted on said housing tubes will extend through holes therin with the head of said fastening elements retaining said booard thereon, each element further having a biased, split cone at the end thereof extending from the bottom of each tube said cone normally having a diameter greater than that of the tube and being disposed between said flanges so that rotation thereof will compress said cone between said flanges so that said element can be withdrawn through said tube.

2. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising at least one disk drive set having mutually spaced threaded holes on the sides thereof in registration with a row of holes in said disk drive housing so that the threaded ends of said L-shaped rods extend through holes in said housing are threadedly received in the holes in said set to retain said set in said housing, the legs of said rods being retained in respective clips.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein movement of said disk drive housing toward or away from the wall of said mainframe unit is controlled by movement of said block in said track and said rails in said channels.

4. The assembly of claim 1 wherein each of said mother board fastening elements is based by a compression spring disposed between the expanded head and the top of each tube.

5. The mainframe housing unit of claim 1 wherein the first fastening means comprises a plurality of mutually spaced, depending hooks disposed along opposite edges of said cover plate and a control plate with a depending flange hingedly mounted on said cover plate and a plurality of holes disposed on the side walls in registration with said hooks and a locating strip on rear wall in registration with said control plate.

6. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said disk drive housing supporting track is mounted on a side wall of said mainframe unit and the eye is mounted on a side wall of said disk drive housing adjacent said track.

7. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said disk drive housing supporting track is mounted on the base of said mainframe unit and the block is mounted on the back wall of said housing.

8. The computer housing of claim 1 wherein said mainframe housing unit, said front panel, said disk drive housing, said power supply holder, and said mother board fastening housing are removably mounted so that the mother board fastening housing can be mounted in said mainframe housing unit through the top thereof with the rectangular cover plate removed with said base frame having integral side and back walls vertically extending upwardly from a flat bottom wall to provide with the front panel the computer housing assembly.