GB2166302A - Connector for mounting in hole in an appliance body - Google Patents

Abstract

A connector includes a body 1 in two portions. One portion includes a semicircular fluting 2, a frontal plate 5 with an orifice 6, a half-clamp 3 and abutting means in the form of resilient arms 20 with protuberances 8 separated from the frontal plate 5 by gaps 9, for use in fastening a cable to the body 1 and securing the body 1 by a press fit in a window in a housing of an appliance. The other body portion including a pair of parallel slots 23 receiving respective planar terminals 24 for use in connecting the respective wires of the cable to internal circuitry of the appliance. Each terminal has a screw-threaded aperture 25 for receiving a screw 26 for mounting the terminal in the body. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Cable connector-fastener As stated in the title of this Specification, this invention refers to a cable connector-fastener, which has been specially designed to be applied to the mains cable of home appliances and the like.

As is known, in different types of home appliances, irrespective of their functional circuitry, a mains cable is needed to which this circuitry is connected, said cable, of suitable length, emerging from the housing of the appliance, and finished in the respective plug for connecting it to the mains of the dwelling where the home appliance is installed.

To do so, and in accordance with the most commonly used solution, a circular orifice is made in the appliance housing, whose diameter is equal to the cross-section of the cable to be installed, a cross-wall being adapted to the said orifice through which the cable has close-fitting access.

This solution creates assembly problems, especially in modern automatic production chains, generally used by manufacturers of home appliances.

Indeed, the operator has to fit the said cross-walls into the orifice of the housing, which is a relatively slow operation, then he has to pass the respective end of the cable through, an operation which is also difficult, since the cross-wall and the cable have to fit very closely; next, he has to make a knot on the actual cable, or use a cable fastener (without connections), which acts as a stop to prevent the cable being removed, in the event of traction being exerted on it from outside, and finally he has to connect the wires of the said cable to the circuitry of the home appliance, which also entails a laborious operation, since to meet standards in force on the subject, strips have to be used in which the operator has to loosen several screws, inserting the ends of the respective cables, duly peeled, into the strip, and finally tighten these screws, making sure that they have secured the cables correctly to ensure that electricity continues to flow perfectly through the circuit. Obviously, this operation is doubled when there are two circuits in the home appliance which have to be connected in parallel to the terminals of the input cable.

Compared with conventional techniques, the connector-fastener which the invention proposes cuts assembly time to an extraordinary extent, as this is almost instantaneous, apart from being able to perform assembly in parallel operations, outside the chain.

To do so, this connector-fastener is constituted basically by a body in which two sectors are defined, one for housing or fastening the cable and another in which the connection terminals are established, which we shall speak of further on, the first sector having an expansion in its free end, forming a plate or vacuum cup for adapting it to the housing of the home appliance, making it watertight, this plate being provided with a hole with a membrane for the cable to have access to the body.

More specifically, in oposite areas of this first sector of the body, near the terminal plate, two protuberances are made, which act as hooks for fixing the assembly, so that a window will previously be made operatively in the housing of the home appliance, to allow the body of the appliance to pass through, fixing the connector automatically in the final insertion stage, by simply pressing, with respect to the central orifice of the plate and in the first sector of the body, a semi-circular fluting is defined for housing and fixing the cable, on which half-clamp is coupled, provided in one of its ends with a hook and in the other with an orifice for the respective blocking screw to pass, so that by tightening the said screw, this half-clamp holds the cable in place, against the first sector of the body, specifically with the aid of small cross-wails existing in these elements, thereby achieving the optimum degree of axial fitting for the cable, as stipulated by PRF standards in force.

In the second sector of the body, two parallel slots are made, in which respective connection terminals are coupled which hold the respective wires or phases of the mains cable, these terminals being fixed in the housing slots with the aid of screws which have access to the side of the body.

These terminals will preferably be double, being designed to hold complementary terminals, connected to the circuitry of the home appliance.

In accordance with the aforementioned layout, the mains cable with its respective plug, duly attached at its opposite end to the connector-fastener which the invention proposes, will constitute an assembly unit which obviously proves extraordinarily simple, since the connector merely has to be inserted in the window made previously in the sheet of the home appliance housing, and to press the frontal plate to achieve final interlocking, the connection terminals being ready to receive the respective planar terminals, which are also quick-fitting, almost instantaneously, whereby the assembly of the mains cable and its accessories on the home appliance as a whole is a surprisingly short and simple operation.

To complete the description being made, and in order to assist a better understanding of the features of the invention, a single sheet of drawings, is attached to this Specification, as an integral part thereof, in which, with an illustrative and unrestricted nature, and in its sole Figure, a perspective view has been shown of a cable connector-fastener made in accordance with the object of this invention, which appears in parts; in this Figure the box terminals have also been illustrated, with protectors corresponding to the inner circuitry of the home appliance, designed to be coupled to the terminals, integral with the connector itself.

In the light of this Figure, it can be seen how the cable connector-fastener which the invention proposes is constituted by a main body or part, marked generally with number 1, preferably made of plastic, in which a semicircular fluted sector 2 is defined, for housing the cable, said fixing being performed with the aid of a semi-clamp 3 which closes the inlet of the slot 2, which is joined to the base part.

Apart from this cable-securing sector, the body 1 has a second sector 4, for the electrical connection of the wires of the said cable, with the inner circuitry of the home appliance, while oposite this sector 4, the original sector 2 expands into a rectangular plate 5 which constitutes the visible front of the assembly, after being coupled to the housing of the home appliance, and which in the centre includes the respective orifice 6 for the cable to pass through, which is coaxial with the semicylindrical slot 2.

More specifically, in the sector 2 of the main body, apart from the said slot corresponding to reference number 2, two lateral expansions 7 are defined, provided with protuberances 8 in their edges, of saw-tooth profile, through which the assembly is attached to a correctly sized window, previously made in the housing of the home appliance, so that between these protuberances 8 and the inner side of the frontal plate 5, two slots 9 are formed, whose width virtually coincides with the thickness of the sheet of the aforementioned housing.

To complete the structure disclosed, in one of the lateral expansions 7 there is a rectangular orifice 10 for interlocking a bent arm 11, placed in one of the ends of the semi-clamp 3, while in the other expansion there is a threaded orifice 13, which, after being assembled in the semi-clamp 3, lies opposite the other hole 14 of the latter, to fix both elements, with the air of the respective screw 15.

To strengthen the securing of this clamp on the cable, it has been forseen that in the bottom of the slot 2 there is a transversal rib 16, while in the halfclamp there are a further two ribs 17 which, after assembly, are placed out of line with respect to the rib 16, ribs which are interlocked on the plastic casing of the cable, forming a fluting for it, being more than sufficient to ensure its axial fastening.

The fact should also be stressed that from the edges of the slot 2, two flanges 18 emerge, designed to be housed in windows 19 of the halfclamp 3, which determine the correct relative positioning between both elements and prevent pinching the conductor casing.

In order to ensure the essential deformability of the protuberances 8 in attaching the device to the housing of the home appliance, it has been foreseen that these protuberances be placed in frontal projections 20 of the lateral expansions 7 which, although they are in contact with the rear side of the frontal plate 5, are independent of the latter, so that these projections 20 constitute arms strained elastically sideways, while to adequately stiffen the frontal plate 5 to the body 1, brackets 21 have been established between its front side and the sector near the said body.

Regarding the second sector 4 of the body 1 and irrespective of the hollows 22 which reduce the amount of material used in obtaining it, in this sector 4, two parallel slots 23 are defined, for coupling the respective planar terminals 24, each of which has a cylindrical threaded neck 25, for the insertion of the respective tightening screw, which runs through the orifices 27 made operatively in the sector 4 of the body, as can be seen in detail in the Figure, the said planar terminals 24 obvously connecting the respective wires or phases of the mains cable.

In these conditions, the connector-fastener is capable of being coupled quickly to the housing of the home appliance, by merely inserting it in the window in the said housing and pressing it in its correct position until the edges of the window fit into the slots 9, while to make the connnection, it suffices to plug in the box terminals 28, corresponding to the circuitry of the home appliance, to the planar terminals 24 incorporated in the device.

Although in the example of practical embodiment illustrated in the Figure, the planar terminals 24 are double, i.e., each of them has two prongs 24' to connect to the respective box terminals, it is obvious that the connector can include single terminals or multiple terminals, with more than two prongs, according to the practical needs of each case, i.e., with the number of circuits existing in the home appliance, which must be connected in parallel to the mains cable.

It is not considered necessary to make this description any more lengthy for an expert on the subject to understand the scope of the invention and the advantages derived therefrom.

The materials, shape, size and layout of the eie- ments will be liable to variation, provided this does not mean altering the essential nature of the features of the invention.

The terms in which this Specification has been disclosed must always be taken in their broadest and unrestricted sense.

After disclosing the object of this invention, it is declared that what constitutes its essential nature is specified in the following

Claims (9)

1. A cable connector-fastener, for fastening a cable to a housing of an appliance and for connecting the cable to internal circuitry of the appliance, comprising a main body defining two portions, one for use in fastening the cable to the housing and the other for use in connecting the cable to the internal circuitry, the first portion including a frontal plate and abutting means for securing the cable connector-fastener in a window in the housing of the appliance.

2. A cable connector-fastener acording to claim 1, in which there is an orifice in the frontal plate for access of the cable, the first portion of the main body is provided with a semicircular fluting for housing the cable, and there are respective lateral expansions on opposite sides of the fluting to which a half clamp is assembled, which clamp has a bent arm at one of its ends which fits into an opening made in one of the lateral expansions, while at the opposite end of the clamp there is a hole which after assembly lies opposite a further hole provided in the other lateral expansion, the clamp being closable over the fluting by tightening a single screw in the holes, thereby tightening and holding the cable in place, with the aid of crosswalls or ribs provided on the fluting and the clamp.

3. A cable connector-fastener according to claim 2, in which two flanges are provided at the edges of the fluting, which flanges fit into corresponding recesses or windows in the clamp, in order to obtain the correct relative position of these two parts, thereby facilitating the insertion of the tightening screw.

4. A cable connector-fastener according to any preceding claim, in which the abutting means of the first portion of the main body are provided in the form of resilient arms extending towards the frontal plate, there being external protuberances of saw-tooth profile on the arms which are separated by gaps from the frontal plate and act as hooks, for the attachment of the cable connector-fastener to the housing by exerting simple pressure.

5. A cable connector-fastener according to claims 2 and 4, in which the arms are formed on the lateral expansions.

6. A cable connector-fastener according to any preceding claim, in which the second portion of the main body is provided with two parallel slots, into which fit respective connecting planar terminals to which the wires or phases making up the cabe are to be connected, the terminals being provided with threaded holes attached to the main body with the aid of screws extending through the main body and each of the terminals being provided with one, two or more connecting prongs, depending on whether the cable to be connected to the cable connector-fastener must feed one, two or more of the internal circuits established within the appliance.

7. A cable connector-fastener according to any preceding claim, in which the main body is formed of a plastics material.

8. A cable connector-fastener substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the acompanying drawing.

9. A cable connector-fastener according to any preceding claim, in which a cable is fastened by the first portion of the cable connector-fastener to a housing of an appliance, and the cable is connected by the second portion of the cable connector-fastener to internal circuitry of the appliance.