The present invention relates to the structure of a casing of a miniature portable apparatus and a clip attachable thereto and, more particularly, to a structure which allows a clip to be firmly affixed to the casing of a radio pager while promoting easy attachment and detachment of the clip.
A wide variety of miniature portable apparatuses are extensively use today and include radio pagers and audio apparatus. A radio pager, for example, may be provided with a clip to be put in the user's chest pocket or on the user's waist belt. The clip is attached to the casing of such a radio pager. Specifically, the casing is usually made of plastic and provided with an elongate groove on the top thereof and an elongate lug on the bottom, while an elastic bate plate is made of metal and provided with an engaging portion engageable with the groove in a upper end portion thereof and a slot engageable with the lug in a generally J-shaped lower end portion. The clip has a clip body which is rotatably supported by the base plate. To attach the clip to the casing, the engaging portion of the base plate is put in the groove of the casing, and then the base plate is rotated about the groove. As a result, the slot of the base plate mates with the lug of the casing due to the resiliency of the base plate. To remove the clip from the casing, the lower end portion of the base plate is urged away from the casing by, for example, a tool to release the slot from the lug.
However, the problem with the conventional clip structure is that the edge of the lower end of base plate moves in contact with the casing in the event when the clip is attached to or detached from the casing, scratching or even breaking the casing. Another problem is that the resiliency of the base plate used to attach and detach the clip from the casing is apt to differ from one base plate to another for production reasons. Therefore, some base plate come off the casing rather easy, while other are difficult to remove from the casing. In addition, since the edge of the base plate is forcibly urged away from the casing by a tool, it is likely that the casing is scratched or the base plate is deformed.