Supports – Pipe or cable – Brackets
Reexamination Certificate
2003-03-20
2004-06-15
Ramirez, Ramon O (Department: 3632)
Supports
Pipe or cable
Brackets
C024S0160PB, C248S074300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06749157
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mount component such as a cable clamp which is used to mount an electronic component, a cable, or the like on a board of an electronic device or the like and, more particularly, to a snap structure for attaching a mount component on a board.
When assembling an electronic device, electronic components must be attached to an assembly board such as a panel, chassis, board, or the like (which will be referred to as a board hereinafter), and a coiring component such as a cable must be extended on the board. A mount component is used for this purpose. For example, when a cable is to be extended along the surface of a board, a cable clamp which holds a cable and attaches it to a chassis is used. Generally, a snap structure is employed as a structure for attaching a cable clamp to a chassis.
FIG. 17
shows an example of the snap structure. A cable clamp
1
D is constituted by a clamp portion
60
for holding a plurality of cables C in the form of a bundle, and a snap portion
30
A formed integrally with the clamp portion
60
and to be fitted in a through hole
3
formed in a board
2
. The cable clamp
1
D is monolithically formed by resin molding or the like. In the clamp portion
60
, a cover piece
62
is coupled at its one end to an upward U-shaped base
61
with a hinge, and its other end is locked by a locking portion
63
. The cables C can be inserted or removed by opening or closing the cover piece
62
. The snap portion
30
A has a pair of snap pieces
52
extending like arrowheads on the two sides of a post
31
which projects downward. When the snap portion
30
A is inserted in a through hole
3
from the upper surface of the board
2
, the pair of snap pieces
52
are elastically reduced in diameter so they are inserted in the through hole
3
. After passing through the through hole
3
, the snap pieces
52
are elastically restored and enlarged in diameter, so that steps
521
formed at the distal ends of the snap pieces
52
engage with the inner edge of the through hole
3
. A pair of leg pieces
34
which form an inverted V shape and oppose the snap pieces
52
abut against the upper surface of the board
2
, so that engagement of the steps
521
and through hole
3
is held. This prevents the cable clamp
1
D attached to the board
2
from disengaging from the through hole
3
.
In recent years, regarding home electrical appliances, OA devices, automobiles, and electronic devices as a whole, the sale of environment-friendly products is obliged as a solution to the environmental issues. Along with this demand, for example, a printed board or wiring lines built in an electronic device must be able to be disassembled from the chassis, panel, or the like of the electronic device. Particularly, to facilitate the disassembling operation, the printed board or wiring lines must be disassembled easily without using any tools. For this reason, in assembly of an electronic device, a mount component of this type must be able to be attached to a through hole of a board easily. In disassembly of the electronic device, the mount component must be able to be removed easily from the through hole manually. A snap portion
30
B shown in
FIG. 18A
as an example of such a snap structure is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-278329 and is applied to a cable tie (to be described later). Arrowhead-shaped snap pieces
52
are formed on the two sides of the distal end of a straight plate-like post
51
. The snap pieces
52
and connecting pieces
53
connected to the distal ends of the snap pieces
52
form steps
521
. The connecting pieces
53
respectively integrally have disengaging pieces
55
that are directed outwardly and can be held with fingers. Leg pieces
54
project in the two sides from the disengaging pieces
55
. In this snap structure, to disassemble from a through hole
3
the snap portion
30
B fitted in the through hole
3
, the disengaging pieces
55
are held with fingers from the two sides and are deformed inwardly, as indicated by alternate long and two short dashed lines in FIG.
18
A. Interlocked with this, the snap pieces
52
reduced in diameter. The snap structure facilitates this reduction in diameter, and the snap pieces
52
can be easily disengaged from the through hole
3
. This is effective as a solution to the environmental issues.
With this snap structure, if the disengaging pieces
55
and leg pieces
54
are designed to have a large elastic force, when the snap portion
30
B is to be disengaged from the through hole
3
, the force of the fingers to be applied to the disengaging pieces
55
can be reduced. However, the inward force increases due to the elastic force of the disengaging pieces
55
and leg pieces
54
. Accordingly, the snap pieces
52
are biased in the diameter reducing direction, and the fitting force with respect to the through hole
3
decreases undesirably. If the disengaging pieces
55
and leg pieces
54
are designed to have a small elastic force, the support force of the leg pieces
54
decreases, and the post
51
can be inclined easily by an external force or the like. When the inclination of the post
51
becomes large as in
FIG. 18B
, one snap piece
52
deforms toward the post
51
, and the other snap piece
52
moves into the open edge of the through hole
3
and disengages from the through hole
3
. Then, the snap portion
30
B undesirably drops from the through hole
3
. As a result, the fitting force of the snap pieces is decreased by the diameter reduction of the snap pieces, making it difficult to obtain a stable, highly-reliable snap structure. This problem occurs not only in a cable clamp but also applies to all mount components that have similar snap structures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a snap structure which allows a mount component to be attached to or removed from a board easily while preventing the mount component from undesirably disengaging from the board.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a snap structure comprising a post, arrowhead-shaped snap pieces formed at a distal end of the post and elastically deformable in a radial direction, leg pieces arranged to oppose the snap pieces, and disengaging pieces which are connected each to one end of corresponding one of the snap pieces that are enlarged in diameter and which are capable of reducing in diameter the snap pieces manually, the snap pieces serving to deform elastically in the radial direction, upon insertion in a through hole formed in a chassis, to be fitted in the through hole, so as to clamp the chassis together with the leg pieces, wherein the post comprises a stopper portion for prohibiting the post from being inclined in the through hole at not less than a predetermined angle.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4669688 (1987-06-01), Itoh et al.
patent: 4944475 (1990-07-01), Ono et al.
patent: 5131613 (1992-07-01), Kamiya et al.
patent: 5601261 (1997-02-01), Koike
patent: 2001278329 (2001-10-01), None
Michael & Best & Friedrich LLP
Ramirez Ramon O
Takeuchi Industrial Co., Ltd.
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