The present disclosure relates to a shuttered keystone jack assembly, and in particular to a shuttered keystone jack assembly capable of avoiding contaminants of entering the socket and preventing components from being worn out.
Wired and wireless communication are ordinary to people in daily lives. As communicating techniques evolve to the 5th generation, i.e., 5G, demands for Wi-Fi 6 projects that support faster communicating speed are more common than before, and more cabling connections are required to span from equipment to terminal devices. Refer to
However, when plugs are connected to the sockets 12a, resulted electromagnetic interferences (EMI) tend to affect adjacent pairs of plug and socket, and transmission quality of electric signal may deteriorate. To solve this problem, as shown in
A solution to overcome being polluted by the contaminants is to dispose shutters on receiving openings of sockets 12a′. According to US granted patent with publication number U.S. Pat. No. 9,496,644B2, Bragg provides a communication outlet for use with a communication plug. The outlet includes a shutter door biased by at least one biasing member toward a closed position in which the shutter door substantially obstructs the opening. The biasing member slides rearward and forward along the inside of the housing as the shutter door opens and closes, and the shutter door can thus prevent contaminants and/or objects other than the plug from being received inside the outlet.
However, when applying Bragg's communication outlet to a panel with sockets that have EMI immunity abilities, new issues are present. Since housings of sockets are made of metals or alloys to provide an electromagnetic shielding effect, relative sliding between housing and biasing members such as metal coil springs may wear out the components and thus reduces service lives of the outlets. Moreover, because pivoting and sliding simultaneously during operating of the shutter door, the biasing member is easily lost inside the housing when detached from the shutter door accidentally. Besides, a tightening loading from the biasing member and a pivoting loading from the face plate exert on different positions of the shutter door, which burdens the shutter door more severely.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a shuttered keystone jack assembly that is capable of avoiding contaminants of entering the socket and preventing components from being worn out.
To achieve at least the above objective, the present disclosure provides a shuttered keystone jack assembly including a jack housing, a frame, a shutter and an elastic member. The frame is disposed on the jack housing and defines a receiving opening. The shutter is pivotally connected to the frame and selectively covers the receiving opening. The elastic member includes a first end portion and a second end portion, wherein the first end portion and the second end portion respectively abut against the frame and the shutter.
Preferably, the jack housing further has a second inner wall connected to the first inner wall and a second engaged portion disposed on the second inner wall. The frame further includes a second engaging portion substantially perpendicularly connected to a second side of the opening part and spaced apart from the first engaging portion, and the second engaging portion extends into the jack housing and is engaged with the second engaged portion.
Preferably, the opening part further includes a housing abutting portion disposed on the first side. As the frame is mounted to the jack housing, the housing abutting portion abuts against the jack housing, and the first engaging portion and the second engaging portion are pivoted about the housing abutting portion to respectively be engaged with the first engaged portion and the second engaged portion.
Preferably, the frame further includes an abutted portion disposed on the supporting part and forming a step difference with the supporting part, and the first end portion abuts against the abutted portion and is restricted by the step difference.
Preferably, the shutter includes a pin and a skirt portion. The pin is pivoted to the frame. The skirt portion is disposed apart from the pin. When the receiving opening is covered by the shutter, the skirt portion is pressed against and blocked by the opening part.
Preferably, the frame further includes a threshold portion disposed on the opening part and outside the jack housing. The shutter further includes an elastic portion disposed on the skirt portion, and the elastic portion is elastically deformed to cross over the threshold portion toward the jack housing as the shutter is mounted on the frame.
Preferably, the shutter further includes a holding portion disposed on the skirt portion. The shutter is pivoted between a closed position in which the receiving opening is covered by the shutter, and an open position in which the holding portion is engaged with the supporting part.
Preferably, the frame further includes a guiding portion connected between the opening part and the supporting part. The shutter includes a main body and a positioning portion disposed on a lateral side of the main body, and the positioning portion moves along the guiding portion as the shutter pivots with respect to the frame.
Preferably, the shutter is configured to pivot with respect to the frame about a pivot axis and includes a pin extending along the pivot axis, and the elastic member is sleeved on the pin.
Preferably, the frame has a pivoting hole and a pivoting protrusion extending along the pivot axis. The shutter further includes a main body connected with the pin. A recess is formed on an opposite side of the main body relative to the pin, and the pivoting protrusion and the pin are respectively accommodated in the recess and the pivoting hole.
Preferably, the frame further includes a guiding portion on which the pivoting hole is formed. An inlet is formed on a side of the guiding portion away from the jack housing and communicated with the pivoting hole.
Preferably, a cross-section of the pin is bounded by a superior arc and a chord terminating the superior arc. The inlet is sized to a height of the cross-section, and the height is less than a diameter of the pin.
Preferably, the shutter further includes a main body connected with the pin. A positioning groove is concaved relative to the main body and adjacent to the pin, and the second end portion is disposed in the positioning groove.
Preferably, the shutter further includes a blocking portion extending from the main body and adjacent to the pin. The elastic member further includes a connecting portion connected between the first end portion and the second end portion, and the connecting portion is blocked by the blocking portion so as to pre-press the elastic member as the shutter covers the receiving opening.
Preferably, the keystone jack assembly is adapted to receive a plug, and the shutter includes a front engaging portion facing opposite to the jack housing and selectively engaged with the plug.
Preferably, the frame and the shutter are made of chromatic plastics.
Preferably, the jack housing is manufactured by die-casting and made of a magnesium-zinc alloy.
To facilitate understanding of the object, characteristics and effects of this present disclosure, embodiments together with the attached drawings for the detailed description of the present disclosure are provided.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Besides, to further enhance the engagement between the jack housing 100 and the frame 200, the frame 200 further includes two second engaging portions 270a and 270b substantially perpendicularly connected to a left second side 214 and a right second side 214 of the opening part 210 in
On the other hand, since the shutter 300 is set to be mounted on the frame 200, the frame 200 preferably further includes a first guiding portion 250a and a second guiding portion 250b respectively connected between the left second side 214 of the opening part 210 and the supporting part 220, and between the right second side 214 of the opening part 210 and the supporting part 220. Moreover, a pivoting protrusion 218 is disposed on the first guiding portion 250a, and a pivoting hole 216 is formed on the second guiding portion 250b. Preferably, an inlet 252 is formed on a side of the second guiding portion 250b away from the jack housing 100 and communicated with the pivoting hole 216 for engagement with the shutter 300.
Referring to
On the other hand, the pin 320 is pivoted to the frame 200 after installation. Specifically, the shutter 300 is configured to pivot with respect to the frame 200 about a pivot axis A between a closed position in which the receiving opening O is covered by the shutter 300 and an open position in which the receiving opening O is present for receiving the plug. Besides, a recess 330 is formed on an opposite side of the main body 310 relative to the pin 320. After the shutter 300 is mounted to the frame 200, the pivoting protrusion 218 will be accommodated in the recess 330, the pin 320 will be accommodated in the pivoting hole 216, and the pivoting hole 216, the pivoting protrusion 218, the pin 320 and the recess 330 are all extending along the pivot axis A.
Preferably, the shutter 300 further includes a holding portion 314 disposed on the skirt portion 312 and a blocking portion 315 extending from the main body 310 and adjacent to the pin 320. Specifically, the holding portion 314 is disposed on a back side of the skirt portion 312 to be engaged with the supporting part 220 when the shutter 300 is pivoted to the open position. The blocking portion 315 is configured to block and restrict the elastic member 400 when the elastic member 400 is mounted to the shutter 300.
It is worth mentioning that the frame 200 and the shutter 300 can be made of chromatic plastics. Thereby, even if the jack housing 100 were made of magnesium-zinc alloy for the EMI immune ability and thus losing apparent visual variations, the frame 200 and the shutter 300 can have distinguishable colors for users or technicians to rapidly recognize each shuttered keystone jack assembly 1 and its corresponding plug.
Referring to
Referring to
Then, the user can start to mounted the shutter 300 with the elastic member 400 to the frame 200. As shown in
Then, as shown in
On the other hand, the frame 200 preferably further includes an abutted portion 222 disposed on the supporting part 220 and forming a step difference with the supporting part 220. After the elastic portion 313 cross over the threshold portion 240, the receiving opening O is covered by the shutter 300, and the first end portion 410 extruding out of the shutter 300 will abut against the abutted portion 222. Therefore, the first end portion 410 is restricted by the step difference between the supporting part 220 and the abutted portion 222, and the elastic member 400 is pre-pressed as the shutter 300 covers the receiving opening O. This configuration makes the skirt portion 312 always pressed against and blocked by the opening part 210, and an automatic closing mode of the shutter 300 is achieved to prevent contaminants from entering the receiving opening O.
Moreover, since the elastic member 400 is sleeved on the pin 320 that the pivot axis A passes through, and the first end portion 410 and the second end portion 420 respectively abut against the abutted portion 222 and the positioning groove 340, the motion of the shutter 300 as the plug inserts can be simplified to a pure pivoting that will reduce loadings exerted on the shutter 300. Besides, because there is not relative sliding between the jack housing 100 and the elastic member 400, the service life of the shuttered keystone jack assembly 1 can be increased, and a risk of the elastic member 400 falling inside the jack housing 100 can be eliminated.
Referring to
It is worth mentioning that the holding portion 314 will be pivoted to engage with the supporting part 220 when the shutter 300 is rotated to the open position. Therefore, when the plug is inserted into the inner cavity, even if the user accidentally pulls the cable connected to the plug 2, since the holding portion 314 is engaged with the supporting part 220, and the supporting part 220 is engaged with the first engaged portion 112 through the first engaging portion 260, the frame 200 and the shutter 300 are steadily kept attached to the jack housing 100 and will not be pulled out. The only way to remove the plug 2 from the shutter 300 is to press a plug latch 21 disposed on the plug 2 to disable the engagement between the plug latch 21 and the front engaging portion 311. This restriction ensures the connecting robustness and prevents the shuttered keystone jack assembly 1 from being damaged.
While the present disclosure has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure set forth in the claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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5580280 | Minich | Dec 1996 | A |
6869297 | Caveney | Mar 2005 | B2 |
7744388 | Lee | Jun 2010 | B2 |
8491200 | He | Jul 2013 | B2 |
9496644 | Bragg | Nov 2016 | B2 |
20230198190 | Liu | Jun 2023 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20230198190 A1 | Jun 2023 | US |