BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cable-equipped connector according to one embodiment of the present invention;
FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C are top, front, and side views, respectively, of a mounting block of the cable-equipped connector;
FIG. 3 illustrates rotatability of the mounting block of the cable-equipped connector;
FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D are perspective, top, front, and side views, respectively, of a state in which the mounting block of the cable-equipped connector is rotated and put in a horizontal state;
FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C are top, front, and side views, respectively, of a connector fixedly mounted on a panel side of a device to which the cable-equipped connector is attached;
FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C are partial front views of various dispositions of female screw portions for lock screws in a case in which the connector is fixedly mounted on the device panel;
FIGS. 7A, 7B and 7C are top, side, and front views, respectively, of a conventional cable-equipped connector;
FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C are top, front and side views of a connector fixedly mounted on a panel side of a device to which the conventional cable-equipped connector shown in FIGS. 7A-7C is connected; and
FIGS. 9A and 9B are top and side views, respectively, of the conventional cable-equipped connector in use.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A detailed description will now be given of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings. A cable-equipped connector 1, as shown in FIG. 1, comprises a connector body 23c having a male connector portion 23b, a cable 24 connected to a rear of the connector body 23c, an insulating synthetic resin housing 2 that covers a connecting portion of the cable 24, a mounting block 3 disposed so as to be rotatable with respect to the housing 2, and lock screws 36 that rotatably engage through-holes 3a, 3b formed in both ends of the mounting block.
The housing 2, as shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, comprises a cylindrical shaft 2a formed in a center of the housing 2 in a long direction of the housing 2, a sword guard-shaped flange 2b formed forward of the shaft 2a to a diameter larger than a diameter of the shaft 2a, and a cap 2c formed rearward of the shaft 2a to a diameter larger than the diameter of the shaft 2a. The mounting block 3 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 2a. The cable-equipped connector 1 is assembled by rotatably mounting the mounting block 3 on the shaft 2a in advance and then inserting the cap 2c, through which the cable 24 is already passed, into a rear end of the shaft 2a.
It should be noted that side surfaces of the mounting block 3 in which the through-holes 3a, 3b are not formed, that is, the two side surfaces perpendicular to a hypothetical straight line between the through-holes 3a, 3b, have been cut off so that in cross-section the mounting block 3 is in the shape of a drum so as to form flat surfaces 3d, 3e, with a width between the cut-off flat surfaces 3d, 3e made as small as possible. Similarly, with respect to the flange 2b of the housing 2 as well, both side surfaces of the flange 2b in a horizontal direction side of the connector body 23c are cut off vertically to form flat surfaces, so as to prevent the flange 2b from protruding beyond the mounting block 3.
When a latitudinal direction of the connector body 23c of the cable-equipped connector 1 is horizontal as shown in FIG. 3, by rotating the mounting block 3 on the shaft 2a of the housing 2 in a circumferential direction, the through-holes 3a, 3b can be positioned longitudinally along a hypothetical orbital path 3c traced by centers of the through-holes 3a, 3b, and moreover, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 3, the through-holes 3a, 3b can be positioned latitudinally as well (see FIGS. 4A-4D), and further, can be positioned diagonally at any angle.
At the same time, as shown in FIGS. 5A-5C, a connector 4 fixedly mounted on the panel side of the device engaging the cable-equipped connector 1 is only the connecting portion, and as in the conventional example there is no need to install screw nuts. This is because, as shown in FIGS. 6A-6C, female screw portions 5a, 5b for the lock screws 36 can be formed on a device panel 5 around a connector 4 through-hole 5c at a predetermined distance from the center thereof, so as to be disposed horizontally (FIG. 6A), longitudinally (FIG. 6B), at positions rotated 60 degrees counter-clockwise from the horizontal (FIG. 6C), or at any arbitrary angle.
Thus, as described above, the cable-equipped connector 1 having the rotatable mounting block 3 is the same as the conventional example when connected to the connector 4 shown in FIG. 6A, but when the female screw portions 5a, 5b are formed longitudinally as shown in FIG. 6B, the male connector portion 23b of the cable-equipped connector 1 is aligned with and engaged with the female connector 4a of the connector 4, and the through-holes 3a, 3b and the lock screws 36 are rotated and moved to the longitudinal direction as shown in FIG. 2A-2C and engaged with the female screw portions and connected so as to prevent separation. At this time, on the panel 5 side there is space on either side of the connector 4, and thus other connectors or the like can be disposed in close, dense formation.
As many seemingly widely different embodiments and variations of the present invention are possible without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments thereof and described herein except as defined in the appended claims.
Patent Application
20080093105
