Patent Grant
7448922
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire connector with easy entry and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly, to a wire connector with easy entry that employs an insulating tube and a soldering sleeve as a joining device for joining a plurality of wires.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional method of joining conducting wires, an insulating adhesive tape is used to wind around conducting cores of the conducting wires that are exposed to an outside of insulating claddings of the conducting wires, such that the conducting cores are connected with each other to achieve electrical conduction therebetween. However, due to the use of the adhesive tape, the conducting wires may be easily affected by the environment to cause problems such as an electric leakage or being affected with damp. In attempts to address these problems, U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,925 proposed a wire connecting device 1, as shown in
In attempt to solve one or more problems described above, the present invention provides a wire connector with easy entry and a manufacturing method thereof. The wire connector with easy entry includes an insulating tube and a soldering sleeve, and is suitable for interconnecting multiple wires that each includes a conducting core and an insulating cladding enclosing the conducting core. The insulating tube has a characteristic of shrinking when being heated to a temperature higher than a first temperature and has a melting point at a second temperature. The soldering sleeve is disposed in the insulating tube and has a melting point at a third temperature that is between the first temperature and the second temperature. The soldering sleeve has an outer surface that is corrugated, and comprises a pair of smoothly radially expanded portions at two ends of the soldering sleeve. When a heat source is properly applied to an outer periphery of the insulating tube that corresponds to the soldering sleeve to heat the insulating tube to a temperature above the first temperature but below the third temperature, causing the heated insulating tube to shrink to lodge into corrugation gaps of the outer surface and affix to end surfaces outside end points of the radially expanded portions, an inner periphery of the insulating tube forms a smoothly converging configuration oriented toward each end point of the radially expanded portion, thereby achieving the wire connector with easy entry such that the insulating tube and the soldering sleeve are tightly connected and the conducting core is allowed to be readily inserted from the two ends of the soldering sleeve.
Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention provides a wire connector with easy entry which can be manufactured with a simplified method and in which the insulating tube and the soldering sleeve can be tightly connected and the conducting core can be readily inserted by forming a pair of smoothly radially expanded portions at two ends of the soldering sleeve.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a simplified method for manufacturing a wire connector with easy entry. In the wire connector with easy entry so manufactured, the insulating tube and the soldering sleeve can be tightly connected and the conducting core can be readily inserted.
In still another aspect, the present invention provides a soldering sleeve of a wire connector with easy entry that allows the conducting core to be readily inserted into the soldering sleeve by including a pair of smoothly radially expanded portions at two ends of the soldering sleeve.
The present invention discloses a wire connector with easy entry and a manufacturing method of the wire connector. The method of manufacturing the wire connector has been known to those of ordinary skill in the art and is therefore not described in detail in the following description. Also, it is to be understood that the drawings referred to in the following description are merely schematic views showing features of the present invention and are not made, also unnecessary to be made, according to practical dimensions.
The soldering sleeve 23 is received in the insulating tube 22. The material of the soldering sleeve 23 may be made of tin, lead, nickel, gold, silver, bismuth or alloy of these metals. The soldering sleeve 23 has an outer surface 231 that is corrugated, and an inner surface 234 that may also be corrugated. The soldering sleeve 23 includes a pair of smoothly radially expanded portions 232 formed at two ends of the soldering sleeve 23 for guiding the conducting core 211 to insert into the soldering sleeve 23, thereby facilitating the insertion of the conducting core 211. The soldering sleeve 23 has a melting point at a third temperature that is between the first temperature and the second temperature. When a heat source is properly applied to an outer periphery 221 of the insulating tube 22 that corresponds to the soldering sleeve 23, the heated insulating tube 22 shrinks, due to its own material characteristic, to lodge into corrugation gaps of the outer surface 231 of the soldering sleeve 23 and affix to end surfaces outside end points 2321 of the radially expanded portions 232, such that an inner periphery 222 of the insulating tube 22 forms a smoothly converging configuration oriented toward each end point 2321 of the radially expanded portion 232. With this smoothly converging configuration, the wire connector with easy entry 2 is achieved such that the insulating tube 22 and the soldering sleeve 23 are tightly connected and the conducting core 211 is allowed to be readily inserted from the two ends of the soldering sleeve 23.
In the above-described embodiment, the corrugated surface of the soldering sleeve 23 may be either a wavy surface or a serrated surface. The waves of the wavy surface may have a same or different height. The gaps between the waves may have a same or different width. Preferably, the waves of the wavy surface have a same height and the gaps between the waves have a same width. The serrations of the serrated surface may have a same or different height. The gaps between the serrations may have a same or different width. Preferably, the serrations of the serrated surface have a same height and the gaps between the serrations have a same width.
As shown in
In the embodiment described above, the insulating tube 22 and the soldering sleeve 23 have the same characteristics as those described in the first preferred embodiment.
As shown in
As shown in
The soldering sleeve 33 is received in the insulating tube 32. The material of the soldering sleeve 33 may be made of tin, lead, nickel, gold, silver, bismuth or alloy of these metals. The soldering sleeve 33 has an outer surface 331 that is corrugated, and an inner surface 334 that may also be corrugated. In this embodiment, the soldering sleeve 33 has a melting point at a third temperature that is between the first temperature and the second temperature. When a heat source is properly applied to an outer periphery 321 of the insulating tube 32 that corresponds to the soldering sleeve 33, causing the heated insulating tube 32 to shrink, due to its own material characteristic, to lodge into corrugation gaps of the outer surface 331 of the soldering sleeve 33 and affix to end surfaces outside a pair of end points 324 of the soldering sleeve 33, an inner periphery 322 of the insulating tube 32 forms a smoothly converging configuration 323 oriented toward each end point 324. With this smoothly converging configuration, the wire connector with easy entry 3 is achieved such that the insulating tube 32 and the soldering sleeve 33 are tightly connected, and the conducting core 311 is allowed to be readily inserted from two ends of the soldering sleeve 33 so as to prevent the conducting core 311 from being accidentally blocked by the end points 324 of the soldering sleeve 33 when the conducting core 311 is inserted into the soldering sleeve 33.
In the above-described embodiment, the corrugated surface of the soldering sleeve 33 may be either a wavy surface or a serrated surface. The waves of the wavy surface may have a same or different height. The gaps between the waves may have a same or different width. Preferably, the waves of the wavy surface have a same height and the gaps between the waves have a same width. The serrations of the serrated surface may have a same or different height. The gaps between the serrations may have a same or different width. Preferably, the serrations of the serrated surface have a same height and the gaps between the serrations have a same width.
As shown in
In the embodiment described above, the insulating tube 32 and the soldering sleeve 33 have the same characteristics as those described in the second preferred embodiment.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 96 1 41087 | Oct 2007 | CN | national |
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