Earthing clip terminal

Details Earthing clip terminal Earthing clip terminal

2000-03-13

2002-02-12

Sherry, Michael J. (Department: 2836)

Electricity: electrical systems and devices

Discharging or preventing accumulation of electric charge

C361S220000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06347031

ABSTRACT:

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 11-72149 and 11-285659 (1999), the abstracts of disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an earthing clip terminal and an earthing structure including the same which are used for discharging static electricity from home appliances and OA appliances, for example.
2. Description of Related Arts
There has been known an earthing terminal which is secured to a mounting plate by means of a fixing screw through a mounting hole of the mounting plate. This terminal, however, requires the screw which increases costs. Additionally, the assembly work is cumbersome, involving an operation for mounting the terminal using a screwdriver.
An alternative earthing terminal has been proposed which is easily mounted to place in a snap by passing a mushroom-shaped hook thereof through the mounting hole of the mounting plate (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No.7-022471 laid open on Apr. 21, 1995).
This earthing terminal is arranged such that the hook is passed through the mounting hole and then expanded on a back side of the mounting plate for unremovably lock the terminal to the mounting plate.
Once mounted, the earthing terminal is generally left as it is. However, there may be a case where the mounted terminal need be removed and then mounted again. Unfortunately, the earthing terminal of the above official gazette cannot be removed in the first place.
On the other hand, as shown in
FIG. 8A
, an earthing clip terminal
52
has been proposed which permits a snap-on mounting by clamping an end of a mounting plate
51
on both sides thereof (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No.8-6366 laid open on Feb. 21, 1996).
The clip terminal
52
is arranged as follows. The clip terminal
52
is mounted to the end of the mounting plate
51
by inserting the end of the mounting plate
51
between its terminal body
53
and its pressure strip
54
(clip piece) formed by cutting and bending up a portion of the terminal body. In this state, the clip terminal fixes itself to place by clamping the mounting plate
51
between the terminal body
53
and the pressure strip
54
and by locking an locking claw
55
formed at a free end of the pressure strip
54
in a through hole
56
of the mounting plate
51
.
Since the pressure strip
54
has the locking claw
55
, the clip terminal
52
cannot release the engagement between the locking claw
55
and the through hole
56
of the mounting plate
51
unless a gap between the pressure strip
54
and the terminal body
53
is expanded wide by using an edge portion
57
of the mounting plate
51
, as shown in FIG.
8
B. Hence, a great load is applied to a proximal end
58
, or a root portion of the pressure strip
54
, in particular, tending to cause plastic deformation thereof. If the clip terminal
52
is once removed from the mounting plate
51
and then mounted again, the pressure strip
54
and the terminal body
53
fail to present a sufficient clamping force so that a reliable earthing connection may not be accomplished.
Assuming a case where the clip terminal
52
of this type is mounted to the mounting plate
51
without the through hole
56
, the clip terminal is held onto the mounting plate only by a frictional force presented by the locking claw
55
pressing a corresponding surface of the mounting plate
51
. This results in another problem that the clip terminal suffers an insufficient retaining force.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to provide a snap-on type earthing clip terminal which is capable of ensuring the reliable ear-thing connection if a need should arise for re-mounting the terminal.
According to a preferred aspect of the invention for achieving the above object, a snap-on type earthing clip terminal clamping a mounting plate on opposite first and second faces thereof, comprises: a plate-like terminal body to which an electric wire is connected; a locking claw which is formed by cutting and bending up a portion of the terminal body and is locked to the mounting plate; and a primary pressure strip which is formed by cutting and bending up a portion of the terminal body exclusive of an auxiliary cantilever pressure strip with the locking claw and which is cantilevered from the terminal body. The mounting plate is inserted between the primary pressure strip and the terminal body and between the primary pressure strip and the auxiliary pressure strip. The primary pressure strip includes a pressing portion which resiliently presses the first face of the inserted mounting plate thereby bringing the terminal body and the auxiliary pressure strip into close contact with the second face of the mounting plate.
In this aspect, the primary pressure strip and the auxiliary pressure strip are separately disposed on the opposite sides of the mounting plate and hence, a great formation of the primary pressure strip is not needed for releasing the engaged locking claw during the removal of the clip terminal. As a result, the plastic formation of the primary pressure strip is prevented. Thus, even if the terminal is once removed from the mounting plate and mounted thereto again, the reliable earthing connection is ensured.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4306761 (1981-12-01), Ress, Jr.
patent: 4566747 (1986-01-01), Peers
patent: 5601458 (1997-02-01), Oshumi et al.
patent: D434375 (2000-11-01), Kawamoto
patent: UM7-22471 (1995-04-01), None
patent: UM8-6366 (1996-02-01), None

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