Patent Grant
11757214
The technical field relates to a terminal block, and more particularly relates to the terminal block with a handle structure.
Terminal block is an electrical connection device formed by an insulation base, an elastic plate, a conductive terminal, and other components and used as a work platform for providing an electrical connection with a plurality of conductive wires. Specifically, the elastic plate and the conductive terminal are installed in the insulation base, and a screwdriver or other tools are used to press the elastic plate and plug external conductive wires into the insulation base to contact the conductive terminal, so as to achieve a wire connection effect.
However, it is inconvenient for users to use the screwdriver or other tools to press the elastic plate inside the terminal block, and thus some terminal blocks have an elastic handle provided for pressing the elastic plate inside the insulation base to assist plugging a cable for an electrical connection. Since the elastic handle is generally made of a plastic material, its structural strength is not too high, and the elastic handle may be damaged easily in a long time of use, thereby leading to high failure rate and maintenance rate of the terminal block. Obviously, the related-art terminal block requires further improvements.
In view of the aforementioned drawbacks, the inventor proposes this disclosure based on his expert knowledge and elaborate researches to overcome the drawbacks of the related art.
It is a primary objective of this disclosure to provide a terminal block with a handle structure, and the handle structure may slide smoothly relative to the elastic plate and provide a labor-saving effect to avoid damages thereto.
To achieve the aforementioned objective, this disclosure discloses a terminal block with a handle structure, and the terminal block includes an insulation base, a conductive terminal, an elastic plate, and a handle structure. The insulation base has an accommodation space, an insertion port and a side opening communicating with the accommodation space, and a limit column and a pivot part formed in the accommodation space of the insulation base. The conductive terminal includes a conductive body and a plurality of lead pins, and the conductive body is positioned in the accommodation space, and the lead pin passes out from the insulation base. The elastic plate includes an abutting arm, a bend section extended from the abutting arm, and a fixed section connected to the bend section. The abutting arm has a curved surface, and the bend section sheathe a limit column, and the abutting arm is suspended on a side of the insertion port. The handle structure includes a handle, a pressing cam and a pivot, and the pivot is combined with the pivot part to make the handle protrude from the insulation base, and the pressing cam abuts against a curved surface of the abutting arm.
Compared with the related art, the handle structure of the terminal block of this disclosure includes a pressing cam, and the abutting arm of the elastic plate has a curved surface. Therefore, when an external force continuously acts and rotates the handle, the pressing cam may slide along the abutting arm and abut against the curved surface. The damping effect produced between the curved surface and the pressing cam may prevent the handle structure from being damaged by instant rebounds, so as to reduce the failure rate and maintenance rate of the terminal block. In addition, the pressing cam of this disclosure presses at a position of abutting arm proximate to the bend section, so that a free end of the abutting arm has a longer moment arm, and a labor-saving effect may be achieved. When the pressing cam is positioned at the curved surface of the elastic plate to define a self-locking state, users may perform wiring/wire-removing actions in a more coordinated, smoother, and better operation feeling manner to improve the practicality of use.
The features of the disclosure believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The disclosure itself, however, may be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of the disclosure, which describes a number of exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
The technical contents of this disclosure will become apparent with the detailed description of embodiments accompanied with the illustration of related drawings as follows. It is intended that the embodiments and drawings disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative rather than restrictive.
With reference to
Please refer to
In this embodiment, the insulation base 10 has a limit column 11, a pivot part 12 and a protruding column 13 formed in the accommodation space 100. In addition, the insulation base 10 has a pair of support walls 14 disposed corresponding to the insertion port 101 and located on the opposite sides of the accommodation space 100. It is noteworthy that the insulation base 10 has a plurality of binding columns 15 formed on a wall of the side opening 102. The binding columns 15 are provided for the positioning purpose when adjacent insulation bases 10 are combined and connected with each other.
The conductive terminal 20 includes a conductive body 21 and a plurality of lead pins 22. The conductive body 21 is positioned in the accommodation space 100, and the ends of the lead pins 22 pass out the insulation base 10 from the passing-through outlets 102. Specifically, the conductive body 21 includes a front conductive plate 211, a rear conductive plate 212 and a side conductive plate 213 connected between the front conductive plate 211 and the rear conductive plate 212.
More specifically, the rear conductive plate 212 is a U-shaped plate. The lead pins 22 are arranged in pairs and installed on opposite sides of the rear conductive plate 212 respectively. In addition, the side conductive plate 213 has an arch 2130, and the side conductive plate 213 is engaged with the protruding column 13 through the arch 2130 to be positioned at the insulation base 10.
In addition, the elastic plate 30 includes an abutting arm 31, a bend section 32 extended from the abutting arm 31 and a fixed section 33 connected to the bend section 32. The abutting arm 31 has a curved surface 311. The bend section 32 is adapted to sheathe the limit column 11 to be positioned at the insulation base 10, such that the abutting arm 31 is suspended on (under) a side of the insertion port 11. It is noteworthy that the fixed section 33 of the elastic plate 30 has a hole 330 provided for positioning the elastic plate 30.
The handle structure 40 includes a handle 41, a pressing cam 42 and a pivot 43. In this embodiment, the handle structure 40 further includes a lever plate 44 and a pressing block 45. Two ends of the lever plate 44 are connected to the handle 41 and the pressing cam 42 respectively. In addition, the pressing cam 42 and the pivot 43 are installed to a bottom edge of the pressing block 45. In some embodiments, the handle structure 40 is integrally formed (or formed in one piece) for those components to be in a connected manner.
In
In addition, the elastic plate 30 is positioned at the insulation base 10 through the bend section 32 sheathing the limit column 11, and the handle structure 40 is pivotally connected to the pivot part 12 through the pivot 43 to be combined with the insulation base 10, and the handle 41 protrudes from the insulation base 10.
With reference to
It is noteworthy that the pressing cam 42 abuts against a position of the abutting arm 31 proximate to the bend section 32, so that a free end of the abutting arm 31 has a longer moment arm, and the elastic restoring force of the abutting arm 31 relative to the pressing cam 42 is smaller.
In addition, the relative distance between the pressing cam 42 and the pivot 43 is smaller than the relative distance between the handle 41 and the pivot 43, so that the rotational moment of the pressing cam 42 acted on the abutting arm 31 is small, thereby reducing the force acting on the handle 41 to achieve a labor-saving effect.
In
It is noteworthy that when the pressing cam 42 is positioned at the curved surface 311, an end of the abutting arm 31 may leave the rear conductive plate 212 to facilitate inserting a cable 2 into the insulation base 10 from the insertion port 101, keeping the cable 2 to remain abutting against a side of the rear conductive plate 212 to be conductively connected with the conductive body 21. Therefore, the cable 2 is electrically connected with the conductive terminal 20.
It is noteworthy that the abutting arm 31 has an arc transition section 312 formed on a side of the curved surface 311 and facing the bend section 32. When the pressing cam 42 slides along the abutting arm 31 and passes through the arc transition section 312, the force receiving point of the pressing cam 42 acting on the abutting arm 3 passes through a self-locking transition line defined by the handle 41 and the elastic plate 30. At the same time, the handle structure 40 under the effect of the principle of eccentric lever may stop at and abut against the curved surface 311. A self-locking angle A is defined between the curved surface 311, the arc transition section 312 and the pivot 43.
In addition, a damping effect is produced between the curved surface 311 and the pressing cam 42, so that the handle structure 40 may be prevented from rebounding instantly and being damaged easily, so as to facilitate users to perform wiring/wire-removing actions, and provide a more coordinated, smooth, and better operating feeling of the operation.
In
With reference to
It is noteworthy that the terminal block 1 with a handle structure of this disclosure may further include a cover plate 50 covering a side of the insulation base 10 to prevent internal components from being exposed to the outside.
While this 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 this disclosure set forth in the claims.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6851967 | Miyoshi | Feb 2005 | B2 |
| 9680237 | Aporius | Jun 2017 | B2 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20230246351 A1 | Aug 2023 | US |
