1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power source socket; in particular, it relates to a thin socket of reduced size.
2. Description of Related Art
Refer initially to
The length t3 of a common conductive terminal 133 usually ranges from 1.5˜2 centimeters (cm), so that the thickness t1 of the case 111 of the socket 11 needs to be greater than or equal to t3, for example 2 cm or more; accordingly, the case 111 may be of significant size which occupies indoor space, adversely affects landscape aesthetics and causes an issue of reduced user portability as well.
The issue to which the present invention is addressed lies in that, since the prior art socket is generally characterized in excessive thickness thus undesirably occupying significant space, the present invention provides a thin socket featuring a movable part of extensibility thereby enabling enhanced user portability or convenient accommodation.
The thin socket according to the embodiments of the present invention offers an extensible movable part which can ascend upon insertion of the conductive terminals into the holes so as to protect the conductive terminals; while the conductive terminals are pulled off from the holes, the movable part is lowered and embedded into the case of the thin socket thereby achieving the design requirement on thin case.
In order to further appreciate the characteristics and technical contents of the present invention, references are made to the details descriptions of the present invention as well as appended drawings therein; but, however, all such inventive details descriptions and appended drawings are merely illustrative rather than being intended to limit the claimed scope thereof in any aspect.
The specification of the present invention discloses a thin socket applicable to an extension line socket, a hole expansion socket or a charger socket and the like, comprising an extensible movable part installed on one side of the case opposite to the holes, and using the conductive terminals and a ground terminal of the plug to reach and press against the movable part to ascend thereby accommodating the conductive terminals and the ground terminal within the movable part and case.
Refer now to
The first case 210 has at least one set of holes, with each set of holes comprising multiple holes (not shown) for insertion of the plug 23, and the second case 211 has an opening 2110 which is located at a position on the second case 211 corresponding to the position of the multiple holes on the first case 210; i.e., such holes and the opening 2110 are installed on the same axis. Herein the first case 210 and the second case 211 may be two independent cases and assembled together through locks, clips, adhesions or any other suitable means, while the present invention is not limited thereto. In practice, the first case 210 and the second case 211 may be further respectively an upper surface and a lower surface of a single piece case. Therefore, the spirit of the present invention in terms of the first case 210 and the second case 211 exists in forming a hollow space there between by mutually contacting the first case 210 with the second case 211, and those skilled ones in the art can of course arbitrarily modify or alter the fabrication or assembly approach for the first case 210 and the second case 211 without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The power source input interface 213 can be a plurality of conductive pins or a wire plug for inserting into a wall socket (not shown) in order to receive a power source; in the present embodiment, the power source input interface 213 is exemplarily illustrated as a plurality of conductive pins, and the insulating terminal base 217 includes multiple recesses 2171 used to accommodate the power source input interface 213.
The thin socket 21 shown in
Refer next to
In practice, the length t′3 of the ground terminal 235 is usually greater than the length t3 of the plurality of conductive terminals 233. Upon insertion of the plug 23 into the holes on the first case 210, the movable part 215 can be reached and pressed by the ground terminal 235 in the plug 23 to protrude out of the second case 211. In practice, the sum of the thickness t4 of the protrusive movable part 215 and the total thickness t2 of the first case 210 and the second case 211, i.e., (t2+t4), is roughly greater than or equal to the length t′3 of the ground terminal 235. Besides, when the length t′3 of the ground terminal 235 is substantially the same as the length t3 of the plurality of conductive terminals 233, the movable part 215 can, of course, be reached and pressed by the plurality of conductive terminals 233.
In one embodiment, the first case 210 of the thin socket 21 includes multiple sets of holes and the second case 211 of the thin socket 21 also includes the same number of multiple openings 2110 and multiple movable parts 215, 216 as such multiple sets of holes on the first case 210, with corresponding number and positions thereof, as shown in
In the following descriptions the ways that embodiments of the present invention apply to cause the movable part to ascend and descend in the opening will be further discussed.
Refer to
The first case 310 and the second case 311 in the thin socket 31 are opposite to each other, with the first accommodating space 10 formed between the first case 310 and the second case 311. The first case 310 includes a plurality of holes 312, and the second case 311 includes an opening 3110 whose position on the second case 311 corresponds to the position of the plurality of holes 312 on the first case 310. The plurality of metal clamping parts 314 are received within the first accommodating space 10 and adjacent to the plurality of holes 312 for clamping the multiple conductive terminals 333 of the plug 33, and the plurality of metal clamping parts 314 are respectively coupled to the power source input interface (not shown) such that the power source input interface is electrically connected to such multiple conductive terminals 333. In practice, the plurality of metal clamping parts 314 can be fixed onto the first case 310 by means of adhesion or welding.
The movable part 315 includes a second accommodating space 20 for receiving the plurality of metal clamping parts 314 and can optionally protrude out of the opening 3110 or otherwise be embedded into the first accommodating space 10. A blocking portion 3151 can be configured on the exterior periphery of the movable part 315; in practice, such a blocking portion 3151 may be located on the exterior periphery of the bottom side in the movable part 315 and the outer diameter of the blocking portion 3151 is greater than the size of the opening 3110 such that the blocking portion 3151 moves along with the movable part 315, located within the first accommodating space 10 and blocked on the second case 311 or the first case 310 around the opening 3110.
In an embodiment, the elastic component 319 is installed between the blocking portion 3151 and the second case 311, and can be used to support the blocking portion 3151 so as to press against the interior side of the first case 310. As shown in
On the other hand, as shown in
As the movable part 315 moves toward the outside of the opening 3110 along the insertion direction of the conductive terminals 333, the elastic component 319 is compressed by the blocking portion 3151 and the second case 311; while the conductive terminals 333 are unplugged from the holes 312, the elastic component 319 accordingly provides a compressed restoring force to make the movable part 315 return to the inside of the first accommodating space 10. In practice, the friction force allowing the metal clamping parts 314 to hold the conductive terminals 333 in fixation is greater than the compressed restoring force provided by the elastic component 319 thereby preventing the conductive terminals 333 from falling off during insertion in the holes 312.
In the present embodiment, the use of the elastic component 319 can be suitably omitted; that is, the movable part 315 can be pushed by the conductive terminals 333 to ascend, and, as the conductive terminals 333 being pulled out of the holes 312, it is possible to manually press down the movable part 315 thus restoring it to the inside of the first accommodating space 10.
Refer now to
As shown in
On the other hand, as shown in
As the movable part 415 moves toward the outside of the opening 4110 along the insertion direction of the conductive terminals 433, the elastic component 419 is pulled by the blocking portion 4151 and the second case 410; while the conductive terminals 433 are unplugged from the holes 412, the elastic component 419 accordingly provides a tensile restoring force to make the movable part 415 return to the inside of the first accommodating space 10. In practice, the friction force allowing the metal clamping parts 414 to hold the conductive terminals 333 in fixation is greater than the tensile restoring force provided by the elastic component 419 thereby preventing the conductive terminals 433 from falling off during insertion in the holes 412.
As such, when the conductive terminals 433 are not plugged in the holes 412, the movable part 415 can be embedded within the first case 410 and the second case 411 thus allowing the thickness of the thin socket 41 to be smaller than a general socket for convenient accommodation.
Refer next to
As shown in
As shown in
Upon that the movable part 515 moves toward the outside of the opening 5110 along the insertion direction of the conductive terminals 533, the bumps 516, 517 pass through the opening 5110 and protrude out of it, thus restricting the blocking portion 5151 on the second case 511. The difference between the first embodiment and the third embodiment lies in that, the movable part 515 in the thin socket 51 is not subject to the elastic force (either compressed restoring force or tensile restoring force) enabling restoration into the first accommodating space 10; rather, when the conductive terminals 533 are pulled off from the holes 512, the user can manually press down the movable part 515 to return it into the first accommodating space 10.
Refer subsequently to
The exterior periphery on the bottom side of the sleeve 616 is configured with a blocking portion 6161, the interior periphery of the sleeve 616 includes an inner flange 6163, and the inside of the sleeve 616 provides a third accommodating space 30. Meanwhile, the periphery on the bottom side of the cover 618 is configured with an outer flange 6181, and the inside of the cover 618 offers a fourth accommodating space 40.
The sleeve 616 is allowed to be movably embedded into the first accommodating space 10 or else protrudes out of the opening 6110, and the blocking portion 6161 can be located within the first accommodating space 10 along with the motion of the sleeve 616 and blocked on the second case 611 or the first case 610. The cover 618 is allowed to be movably accommodated within the third accommodating space 30 or protrude from the sleeve 616, with the outer flange 6181 moving along with the cover 618, located inside the third accommodating space 30 and blocked on the inner flange 6163 or the first case 610.
In the present embodiment, the interior side of the sleeve 616 may be also configured with a positioning portion 6165 which can be a bump or a positioning hole, and in case that the cover 618 is accommodated within the third accommodating space 30, the positioning portion 6165 can be used to temporarily clip the outer flange 6181 such that the cover 618 becomes fixedly embedded into the sleeve 616.
In the present embodiment, the thin socket 61 can further comprise at least one elastic component (not shown), wherein a first elastic component can be installed between the blocking portion 6161 and the second case 611, and a second elastic component can be installed between the outer flange 6181 and the inner flange 6163. Similarly, the first elastic component can be also installed between the blocking portion 6161 and the first case 610, and the second case can be installed between the outer flange 6181 and the first case 610, in which the operations of such first elastic component, second elastic component and movable part 615 can be referred to the first embodiment.
In practice, the number of the sleeve 616 is not limited; that is, the movable part 615 may ascend/descend out of the opening 6110 in a multi-sectioned fashion, and the use of the elastic components can be performed in conjunction with the number of the sleeve 616, while those skilled ones in the art can devise suitable approaches for specific applications based on modifications of the aforementioned examples.
Refer now to
The holes 712 in the first case 710 are particularly applicable to a plug 73 which includes an insulating layer 735 and is installed on the bottom side of the conductive terminals 733; accordingly, the metal clamping parts 714 are installed on the movable part 715 and the position of the metal clamping parts 714 on the movable part 715 corresponds to the position of the holes 712 in the first case 710.
In practice, the interior side of the movable part 715 is installed with an accommodating portion 7153, in which the metal clamping parts 714 are attached into the accommodating portion 7153 by means of welding or adhesion and electrically connected to the power source input interface via a conductive line 720.
As shown in
On the other hand, as shown in
In practice, the thin socket 71 can further comprise the elastic component or bumps set forth in the first to third embodiments, and can also apply the multi-sectioned movable part as described in the fourth embodiment.
Refer now to
Take
Referring to
Moreover, the rotatable plug 84 can further have an auxiliary handle 846, and the auxiliary handle 846 is configured to be pulled by user for extracting the rotatable plug 84 from an outlet. For example, the auxiliary handle 846 is formed in C-shaped, both ends of the auxiliary handle 846 are rotatably connected to the rotatable plug 84, and the auxiliary handle 846 is folded around the peripheral of the rotatable plug 84 when the auxiliary handle 846 is yet to be operated by user. In practice, the auxiliary handle 846 can be folded into a recess on the front surface of the rotatable plug 84 (as depicted in
Referring to
To be noted, for those skilled in the art can realize that the present invention does not limit the auxiliary handle to be a C-shaped handle, the auxiliary handle can be modified in accordance with designer's need. For example, the auxiliary handle can have a button and a spring (not shown in figures), one end of the spring is connected to the bottom of an auxiliary recess on the front surface of the rotatable plug 84, the button is connected to the other end of the spring. In practice, the spring is compressed and hold inside the auxiliary recess when the auxiliary handle is yet to be operated by user, and the rotatable plug 84 and the button connected to the spring form a coplanar front surface. When user is going to pull those conductive terminals 842 and the ground terminal 844 out of the outlet on a wall, it is convenient that user can push the body portion 80 toward the wall (in order to have enough space for pop out the button connected to the spring), and release the compressed spring to elevate the button. Thus, user can extract the rotatable plug 84 from an outlet by pulling the exposed button.
In accordance with the embodiments of the present invention, the thin socket as illustrated hereinbefore, through the ascending/descending movable part, can provide many advantageous features such as convenient accommodation, handy portability, protection for conductive terminals inserted into the holes thereby conforming to regulations on safe use of electric power, to name a few.
The aforementioned descriptions illustrate merely the embodiments of the present invention rather than limiting the claimed scope of the present invention thereto.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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100112345 A | Apr 2011 | TW | national |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20120258632 A1 | Oct 2012 | US |