Swivel recoiler

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The invention relates to a recoiler having a retractable cable which is adapted to be connected to an item of merchandise to enable a customer to inspect the merchandise while retaining the merchandise in a secure position. More particularly, the invention relates to such a recoiler in which the recoiler mechanism is contained within a housing which is mounted on a swivel enabling it to rotate so that the cable extends at the correct angle at all times from the recoiler to the merchandise connected thereto.

2. Background Information

Numerous types of recoilers have been developed which include a cable that is extendable out of the recoiler and attached to an item of merchandise to enable a potential customer to inspect and handle the merchandise conveniently, yet prevent the merchandise from leaving a display counter. These recoilers have some type of spring mechanism which is contained in the recoiler to exert a biasing force on the cable or be provided with various indexing mechanisms to retain the cable in an extended position without exerting a retraction force on the merchandise. Many of these prior art recoilers have an alarm system associated therewith which will sound an alarm if the merchandise connecting cable is cut or the merchandise removed from the cable.

Although these prior art recoilers work satisfactorily for their intended purpose, one problem is that the customer, when handling the merchandise, occasionally will put an undesirable force on the cable in an angled direction with respect to the recoiler housing possibly damaging the housing. Furthermore, these prior recoilers can restrict the movement of the protected merchandise making it more difficult for the customer to adequately review and manipulate the merchandise prior to purchasing the same. Also, these prior art recoilers, once attached to a supporting structure by some mechanism, have an optimal position in which the cable is pulled out of and retracted into the housing so as to enter at a desired angle and if deviated therefrom puts undesirable unbalanced forces on the recoiler.

Therefore, the need exists for an improved recoiler which is mounted in a secure position on a support structure and connected to an item of merchandise and in which the recoiler is freely rotatably moveable on its supporting base thereby ensuring that the cable will always extend and retract in the desired direction from and back into the internal spool located within the recoiler housing.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the present invention is to provide a recoiler in which the housing contains a spool for storing and paying out a length of cable, the distal end of which is connected by an attachment pad or other device to an item of merchandise, wherein the housing is mounted on a swivel base ensuring that the cable is always pulled from the housing and retracted back into the housing at the most efficient angle to prevent unbalanced forces acting upon the cable spool rotatably mounted within the recoiler housing.

A further aspect of the present invention is to provide a relatively simple and inexpensive recoiler which is mounted on a swivel base, wherein the recoiler is formed of several one-piece members of inexpensive rigid plastic material, which members when assembled together prevent unauthorized access to the interior of the recoiler, and which once placed on a supporting structure will always have the proper orientation for attaching the cable to an item of merchandise.

Still another feature of the present invention is to provide a mounting base which provides the swivel for the recoiler housing with a pressure sensitive adhesive pad enabling the recoiler to be mounted and retained on a support structure with a second attachment pad being located at a distal end of the cable also having a pressure sensitive adhesive pad for ease of attachment to an item of merchandise to be restrained by the spring biased cable.

A further aspect of the present invention is to provide a constant spring bias force on the cable for retracting the cable into the recoiler housing thereby eliminating expensive ratchet and stop mechanisms heretofore used in prior art recoilers to prevent undesirable forces acting on the internal spool, since the cable of the present invention will always extend from the housing in the optimum direction due to the swivel mounting of the recoiler housing on the swivel base.

These features and advantages of the present invention are obtained by the recoiler of the present invention comprising a housing containing a spool, a length of cable stored on the spool, and a spring biasing the spool and cable in a retractable direction; a base having an upstanding post pivotally mounting the housing on the base; and an attachment member for attaching the base on a supporting structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention, illustrated of the best mode in which Applicant contemplates applying the principles, is set forth in the following description and is shown in the drawings and is particularly and distinctly pointed out and set forth in the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the swivel recoiler of the present invention mounted on a supporting structure and connected to an item of merchandise.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the swivel recoiler connected as shown in FIG. 1 with the swivel feature being shown by the alternate dot dashed positions of the merchandise.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the swivel recoiler of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 44, FIG. 2.

Similar numbers refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The recoiler of the present invention is indicated generally at 1, and is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 being connected to an item of merchandise 3. Merchandise 3 is depicted as being a camera. However any item of merchandise and other types of objects can be connected to the recoiler by an attachment pad 5, which is connected to the distal end of a cable 7. Attachment pad 5 can be connected easily to merchandise 3 by a disc-shaped pressure sensitive adhesive pad 9 or other type of attachment device. Recoiler 1 preferably is mounted on a support structure 11 by a second pressure sensitive adhesive pad 13 or other type of mechanism.

The components of recoiler 1 are best shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Recoiler 1 includes a housing indicated generally at 15, which includes a bottom housing member 17 and a top housing member 19, each of which preferably is formed as a one piece member of plastic material enabling them to be mass produced at a relatively low cost. A spool 21 stores a predetermined length of cable 7 which extends outwardly through a cable outlet opening 25 formed by aligned notches 26 and 27 provided in bottom housing member 17 and top housing member 19, respectively. Preferably a cable guide 29 is located in outlet opening 25 to facilitate the movement of the cable in and out of the outlet opening by reducing the sliding friction between the cable and housing.

Bottom housing member 17 is of an annular configuration having a cylindrical side wall 31 and a disk-shaped bottom 33. An annular spindle 35 is formed integrally with bottom 33 and extends upwardly therefrom and has an annular slot 37 formed therein for slidably receiving and retaining a tab 39 provided on one end of a coil spring 41. Spool 21 has a pair of spaced annular flanges 21A and 21B which forms a cable storage chamber 21C therebetween. Spool 21 is formed with an annular central recess 43 and a central opening 45 and has a small slot 49 is formed in an inner edge of flange 21A for receiving a coil spring attachment tab 50 therein. A arcuate slot 51 terminates in an enlarged end opening 52 for receiving cable 7 therethrough and for securing the cable to spool 21 by a ferrule 54 connected to the inner end of the cable.

Top housing member 19 preferably has a dome-shaped top 57 with a central recess 59 and a center hole 61 for receiving a fastener 63 therethrough as discussed below. A cover 65 complementary in shape to the diameter of recess 59, is snap-fitted or permanently secured in the recess after the recoiler has been assembled to provide a pleasing appearance thereto and prevent access to fastener 63. Housing members 17 and 19 are permanently secured together such as with a sonic weld, an adhesive or other type of securement means to provide a secure internal chamber for rotatably mounting spool 21 therein. When in the assembled position as shown in FIG. 4, spool 21 is rotatably mounted on spindle 35 which extends through spool opening 45, with coil spring tab 39 being connected to spindle 35 in slot 37 and outer coil spring tab 50 being connected in slot 49 of spool 21. Cable 7 is connected at its inner end by ferrule 54 to spool 21 with its distal end being connected to attachment pad 5, which may include an end cap 67 on which pressure sensitive adhesive pad 9 is secured.

In accordance with the main feature of the invention, recoiler housing 15 is rotatably mounted on a swivel base indicated generally at 70. Base 70 preferably is a one piece member formed of plastic and has a disc-shaped base 71 with an annular post 73 extending upwardly therefrom having a hollow interior 75 and an annular boss 76 at the base of post 73. Double-sided pressure sensitive pad 13 preferably is attached to the bottom surface 78 of swivel base 71 for securing it to the top of support structure 11 as shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, housing 15 is rotatably mounted on swivel 70 by bottom housing member 17 resting upon the top surface of annular boss 76 with post 73 extending upwardly through hollow interior 36 of spindle 35. Fastener 63 is threadably engaged in bore 75 of post 73 with an enlarged head 68 of fastener 63 trapping housing 15 thereon. Thus, as shown in FIG. 4, housing 15 is freely rotatably mounted on post 73 with very little rotational frictional engagement occurring between a small portion of bottom housing member 17 and the top surface of boss 76. Thus, no matter which direction cable 7 is pulled outwardly from housing 15, the housing will rotate in the desired direction as shown by the two alternate dot dashed positions in FIG. 2. This avoids cable 7 putting an undesirable force on spool 21 and the internal mechanism thereof. As the cable is pulled outwardly, spool 21 rotates with respect to spindle 35 tensioning coil spring 41 so that when the outward pressure on cable 7 indicated by Arrow head A in FIG. 1 is released, coil spring 41 will bias cable 7 in the direction of Arrow head B retracting the attached article of merchandise to a desired storage position.

Thus, recoiler 1 provides an extremely simple recoiler mechanism which includes a swivel whereby the cable is always pulled from the recoiler housing and the internal spool in the desired direction for attachment to an item of merchandise or other object, and in which the spring will automatically bias the cable toward a retracted position onto the spool when the extraction pressure is released therefrom. Housing 15 will always rotate or swivel easily on swivel post 73 to ensure that the correct alignment is maintained between the housing and item of merchandise.

In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, clearness, and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because such terms are used for descriptive purposes and are intended to be broadly construed.

Moreover, the description and illustration of the invention is an example and the invention is not limited to the exact details shown or described.