Hinge unit

Abstract

A hinge unit can suitably be used for a portable electronic apparatus such as a portable telephone set comprising a main body and a swing member to be secured to the main body by means of hinges such that the swing member may be folded on the main body for the convenience of storage when not in use and opened from the main body by a desired angle and held to the open position for use. The hinge unit has a simple configuration and hence is compact and lightweight and manufactured at low cost. With each hinge of the hinge unit, a cam shaft 14 is pushed into a spring 13 rigidly secured to the main body 1 along an edge thereof such that the cam shaft 14 becomes axially unreleaseable along axial direction X1. The cam shaft 14 has a protruding section 14g to be fitted into one of the knuckle-shaped end 11b of the swing member 11. As the cam shaft 14 is pushed along axial direction X2, the resilient tips 13a, 13a of the spring 13 ride over the tapered section 14d of the cam shaft 14 and, once the pressure for pushing the cam shaft 14 is released, the protruding section 14 is moved back to the normal position by the resilient force of the resilient tips 13a, 13a, where the cam shaft 14 is turned with the bearing section 11c of the knuckle-shaped end 11b. The resilient tips 13a, 13a pinch the tip-holding areas 14f, 14f of the cam section 14a to hold the swing member 11 in the open position so that the hinge unit does not require the use of two spring members as in the case of comparable known hinge unit.