The present invention relates to a portable data system which comprises at least two separate co-operating units, for instance a PC-computer and a printer, said system being provided in a rigid case which includes a lid and a bottom and wherein when the case is closed the one unit, which is supported by a displaceable carrier plate, is located above the other unit and, when the case is open with the lid substantially vertical, can be displaced towards and partially into the lid, therewith exposing the other unit so that said other unit is brought into a working position. A data system of this general kind is described and illustrated in our co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 203,852 filed June 7 1988.
Such "brief-case size" computer systems have been found a useful instrument in aircraft, hotel rooms, etc.. In our earlier system, the carrier plate is mounted with the aid of two parallel-arm mechanisms located on each side of the computer on the case bottom. It is difficult to make such parallel-arm mechanisms completely rigid in the lateral direction, however, and such mechanisms are also expensive to produce. Consequently an object of the present invention is to provide a simple and rigid arrangement which will enable two system units, e.g. a personal computer and a printer connected thereto, to be transported one on top of the other, and which can be adapted readily to units of mutually different size.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds