Abstract:
A wire connector for connecting a printed circuit pad or line on a flat surface with an outlet wire. In one embodiment, the connector includes a connection member having a conductive member having a first end portion and a second end portion, and an insulting cover formed around the conductive member such that the first end portion and the second end portion of the conductive member are exposed outside the insulating cover, and a boot having a bottom portion, a top portion and a bowl-like body formed therebetween, where the bottom portion has a flat bottom surface, the top portion defines an opening, and the bowl-like body has a height defined the bottom portion and the top portion. As assembled, the insulting cover of the connection member is received and accommodated tightly by the opening of the boot such that the first and second end portions of the conductive member are respectively located outside and inside the boot.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention generally relates to a wire connector, and particularly to a conductive wire connector for connecting a printed conductive surface area and/or line with a conductive wire. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   All existing wire connectors and connection methods are limited to connect/bind two conductive wires. Among the most popular wire connectors, there are cap-shaped wire connectors, ceramic wire connectors, or simply insulating electrical tapes. However, no connecting device suitable for connecting one conducting area/line printed/formed on a flat surface with a regular conductive wire is available. An example of the conducting area/line is the outlet pads of an automobile&#39;s rear window defogger which disconnect to the outlet wire suppose to connect it to a power supply on an automobile. 
   Welding the wire to the isolated conducting surface can be done, however, it takes more tedious tools, time, and may cause damage to the surrounding area, e.g., a glass may not resist the heat involved in welding. Although under certain circumstance, conducting glue may be used between the wire and the conducting surface, however in certain cases, the contact area may be too small so that the biding may not be strong enough and long lasting, and also the glue between the two metals may introduce additional resistance, i.e., current drop which may cause local heating or conductivity reduction of the printed circuit. 
   Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   In one aspect, the present invention relates to a wire connector for connecting a printed circuit pad or line on a flat surface with an outlet wire. In one embodiment, the connector includes a connection member having a conductive member having a first end portion and a second end portion, and an insulting cover formed around the conductive member such that the first end portion and the second end portion of the conductive member are exposed outside the insulating cover, and a boot having a bottom portion, a top portion and a bowl-like body formed therebetween, where the bottom portion has a flat bottom surface, the top portion defines an opening, and the bowl-like body has a height defined the bottom portion and the top portion. As assembled, the insulting cover of the connection member is received and accommodated tightly by the opening of the boot such that the first and second end portions of the conductive member are respectively located outside and inside the boot, and the connection member has a portion inside the boot that is longer than the height of the bowl-like body. 
   In one embodiment, the boot further comprises a flange extending radially from the bottom surface of the boot. 
   In another embodiment, the boot also comprises one or more mounting holes formed on the edge of the bottom portion of the boot. 
   In yet another embodiment, the boot further comprises a layer of glue formed on the bottom surface of the boot, and a thin film detachably attached onto the layer of glue for protection. 
   The boot is made of an elastic and insulating material. 
   The first end portion of the conductive member is adapted for connecting to the outlet wire, and the second end portion of the conductive member is adapted for connecting to the printed circuit pad or line. The conductive member comprises a single conductive wire or a bundle of conductive wires. 
   In one embodiment, the first end portion of the conductive member comprises a zigzag blade formed of a conductive material. 
   In another embodiment, the first end portion of the conductive member comprises a column formed of a conductive material. 
   In yet another embodiment, the first end portion of the conductive member comprises a spring with a contact tip formed of a conductive material. In one embodiment, the connector further includes a pair of hooks, where one of the pair of hooks is mounted on the top portion inside the boot and the other of the pair of hooks is mounted on the back side of the contact tip of the spring. In another embodiment, the connector also includes a bolt/screw made fully of partly by insulating material, and a bolt/screw hole defined in the top portion of the boot for receiving the bolt/screw, where the bolt/screw is adapted for applying a force on the contact tip of the spring so as to push the contact tip to tightly connect to the printed circuit pad or line. 
   These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the following drawings, although variations and modifications therein may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  shows a wire connector for connecting a conductive wire with a conducting area on a flat surface according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  shows a wire connector with a wider bottom of the boot according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 3  shows a wire connector with screw mounting holes on its sides separately for fastening the wire connector onto a flat surface according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 4  shows a wire connector with a thin-film cover for its bottom self adhesive surface according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention. The cover is removable easily before use. 
       FIGS. 5(   a ) and  5 ( b ) show the usage of a connector for connecting a conductive pad of a printed circuit to a conductive wire, as a quick fix of a broken connection, according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIGS. 6(   a )- 6 ( e ) show wire connectors according to different embodiments of the present invention, with various contact parts using a zigzag metal blade, multi wires, cylinder with flat and larger tip area, single wire with different interior design, and spring with flat and larger tip area. 
       FIG. 7  shows a wire connector according to one embodiment of the present invention, with a pair of hooks inside the boot, one on top and one on the back of the flat tip of the connect part and with longer arms, a spring contact part in this case. 
       FIG. 8  shows a wire connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, with an insulating bolt/screw hole with interior threads which allows a bolt/screw to drive through it to push the flat tip of the contact part against the area to be connected. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention is more particularly described in the following examples that are intended as illustrative only since numerous modifications and variations therein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Various embodiments of the invention are now described in detail. Referring to the drawings, like numbers indicate like components throughout the views. As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural reference unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Note that titles or subtitles may be used in the examples for convenience of a reader, which in no way should limit the scope of the invention. 
   The description will be made as to the embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in  FIGS. 1-8 . In accordance with the purposes of this invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, this invention, in one aspect, relates to an electrical connecting device for connecting a conductive wire to a flat conductive surface area on, normally, but not limited to, an insulating surface. 
   The wire connector in one embodiment is designed for quickly connecting a conductive wire with a conducting area on a flat surface. The key features include (1) quick, reliable, and easy usage, (2) using strong and insulating glue for holding it with the flat surface, and mainly using but not limited to the elastic force of the cover (when it is stretched) to guarantee the contact between its contact part and the area of interest on the surface, and (3) no use of special conducting glue or welding which are harder to use and may cause side effects for many applications. 
   The wire connector according to the embodiments of the invention typically includes, 1) as an electrical connector mainly for connecting a printed conducting area or line, therefore thin in conductor cross section, e.g., circuit board area/line on flat and normally insulating surface such as a circuit board or glass, 2) an outlet of a regular single wire or bundle of wires with insulator cover for further wire-to-wire connection using conventional wire connecting mechanism, 3) an elastic and insulating boot made by an elastic and insulating material such as rubber, with flat and ring shape bottom which may be self-adhesive or can be glued with strong, insulating, and fast drying glue (and can also be mounted with screws/bolts) to any flat surface, 4) making use of the elastic and insulating nature of the boot material, often making it slightly stretched in its normal working condition to cause a pulling force/tension to force the contact between the contact part in the boot and the area to be connected on the surface, and it does not conflict with welding and gluing the contact part in it to the area to be connected, 4) the contact part sits inside and in the middle of the boot, connected to the outlet wire on one end and to be connected (by elastic force of the boot) to the area of interest e.g., printed circuit pad on the surface, having various shapes such as natural wire, cylindrical, zigzag metal blade, or spring with flat tip etc., and in general is stretchable and compressable in certain range, and can be a bit longer in normal condition than the relaxed height of the boot. 
   In using an embodiment of the invention for example, user can push the connector towards the surface centered by the area to be connected on the surface when the bottom of the boot has glue, making the contact part right against the area to be connected on the surface, hold the connector for a short period of time to let the strong, insulating, and fast drying glue on the bottom of the boot to dry and taking effect, then release the boot/connect. Since the contact part inside the boot is longer than the boot height, the elastic boot is stretched, and as a result constantly has a force pushing the contact part against the area to be connected. The last step is to connect the outlet wire with a wire connected to the outside, e.g., a power supply using conventional wire connector or even electrical insulating tape. 
   In various embodiments, typically spring or spring-like contact part such as zigzag metal blade is used. 
   In one embodiment, a pair of hooks, one inside the boot mounted on top, and one on the back of the flat tip of the contact part with longer arm, can work together. They can hold with each other. A user can push/compress the spring on the contact part so that the hook on the back of the flat tip of the contact part can more up to reach the hook on top. User can first mount the connector boot on the surface with the area of interest centered, wait the glue on the boot bottom to dry without a need to hold the boot, then slightly twist/rotate the elastic boot to release the hooking inside, and then the spring on the contact part will take effect to push the contact part against the area to be connected (area of interest). 
   In another embodiment, an additional bolt/screw form the connect top to the contact area to apply force to the contact part, it also extend boot&#39;s height and cause a tension pushing the contact part against the area to be connected. 
   Referring to  FIG. 1 , one embodiment of the wire connector  10  is shown according to the present invention. The connector  10  has an outlet conducting wire  11  for further connecting the connector  10  with a wire using conventional wire-to-wire connection mechanism, a boot  13  made of an elastic, insulating and yet water proof material with a flat bottom surface  14  adhesive with strong, insulating, and fast drying glue on it for binding it to the flat surface on which a conductive area is located in the center, and a contact part  15  with a contact end  16  made of a conducting material and can be in various shapes. 
   The outlet wire  11  is corresponding to one of the regular wires, with an insulating cover  12  around the outlet wire  11 . The outlet wire  11  can be a single wire or a bundle of wires. The outlet wire  11  is used to connect the wire connector  10 , when mounted, to a wire outside, using one of conventional wire-to-wire mechanisms, such as a cap-shaped twister. 
   The boot  13  is made of an elastic material such as rubber, and is also water proof though water proofing is not the main feature or need of the art. The boot  13  has a flat, smooth, and ring-shape bottom, which can, but not necessarily, be self-adhesive, and can work with strong, insulating, fast-drying, and long lasting glue on it. In order to make it easy to use, according to some embodiments of the present invention, the glue should be fast-drying glue. In one embodiment, the user needs to hold the boot  13  for a while to allow the glue to dry and take effect. However, in certain embodiments of the invention associated with more advanced designs using hooks inside the boot or bolt/screw going through the boot against the contact part, it does not require the glue to dry fast, since the user can glue/mount the connect on an interested surface, wait till the glue to dry and take effect, then set it up to a proper working condition. 
   The inside contact part  15  is slightly longer than the height of the boot  13 , so that when the connector  10  is glued onto a flat surface, it is stretched slightly and yielding a pulling force that pushes the contact part  15  connected against the conduct area on the flat surface. In this embodiment, the contact part  15  has certain thickness and hardness so that it will not be too small and soft to cause the elastic boot  13  un-stretched/released, i.e., lost pulling tension form the boot  13 , thereby losing the contact between the contact part  16  and the conducting area of interest. 
     FIG. 2  shows a connector  20  according to another embodiment of the present invention. Similar to the connector  10  shown in  FIG. 1 , the connector  20  has an outlet conducting wire  21  adapted for connecting the connector  20  with a wire using conventional wire-to-wire connection mechanism, a bowl-like boot  23  having a flat bottom surface  24 , and a contact part with a contact end  26 . Additionally, the bottom portion of the boot  23  has a flange  28  extending radially from the flat bottom surface  24  of the boot  23  so as to form more contact surface thereon. 
   Referring to  FIG. 3 , a connector  30  is shown according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. Similar to the connector  10  shown in  FIG. 1 , the connector  30  has an outlet conducting wire adapted for connecting the connector  30  with a wire using conventional wire-to-wire connection mechanism, a bowl-like boot having a flat bottom surface, and a contact part with a contact end. Further, the connector  30  also has one or more mounting holes  31  formed on the edge of the bottom portion of the boot for being mounted with skews or bolts on an area to be connected. The inner surface of the mounting holes  31  can be threaded or flatted. 
   Referring to  FIG. 4 , a connector  40  is shown according to one embodiment of the present invention. Similar to the connector  10  shown in  FIG. 1 , the connector  40  has an outlet conducting wire adapted for connecting the connector  40  with a wire using conventional wire-to-wire connection mechanism, a boot having a flat bottom surface, and a contact part with a contact end. Furthermore, the bottom surface of the boot is formed to be self-adhesive, i.e., the bottom surface of the boot contains a layer of one or multiple types of glues that are normally strong, insulating, long-lasting, and fast drying. The glue layer is covered by a thin film cover  41  for protecting the self-adhesive surface. 
   Without intent to limit the scope of the invention, an exemplary example for explaining the usage of the connector of the present invention is given below. Additionally, the exemplary example is corresponding to the embodiment of the connector shown in  FIG. 1 , however, the principle and features of the usage disclosed below are also available to all other embodiments of the invention. 
   As shown in  FIG. 5(   a ), a connective pad  52  connected to a conductive circuit  51  is broken off from its outlet connector  53 . Instead of welding or gluing the outlet connector  53  with the pad  52  together, which may not be possible or favorable for various or whatever reasons, one can quickly apply an embodiment of the invented connector  54  to connect the circuit  51  to the outlet wire  55 , and then to complete the connection a conventional wire-to-wire connector  56  or even electrical insulating tape, as shown in  FIG. 5(   b ). This is corresponding to the situation of broken connection of defogger on an automobile rear window, for example. 
   Referring to  FIGS. 6(   a )- 6 ( e ), different embodiments of the connector  60  are shown according to the invention. Similar to the connector  10  shown in  FIG. 1 , the connector  60  has an outlet conducting wire adapted for connecting the connector  60  with a wire using conventional wire-to-wire connection mechanism, an elastic boot having a flat bottom surface, and a contact part with a contact end formed inside the boot. The contact part is longer than the boot height.  FIG. 6(   a ) shows an embodiment of the connector  60  with a zigzag shape blade  61  as the contact part, which can be slightly compressed by force and recovered upon releasing the force, i.e., functioning similarly to a spring.  FIG. 6(   b ) shows an embodiment of the connector  60  with multiple thin wires in a bundle as in the contact part, and for the outlet wire as well.  FIG. 6(   c ) shows an embodiment of the connector  60  with a cylindrical contact part with a flat tip which can improve the contact area between the contact part and the contact area (area of interest) on the flat surface.  FIG. 6(   d ) shows an embodiment of the connector  60  with slightly different contact part  65  in connection to the inside of the boot.  FIG. 6(   e ) shows an embodiment of the connector  60  with a spring contact part and a flat tip on the spring providing larger contact area between the contact part and the contact area (area to be connected) on the flat surface. The spring can be made with a conductive metal or any elastic material and in that case, since the best elastic materials for spring may not be the best conductors, a separate wire may be needed to go through the boot, from the connector outlet wire to the contact part inside the boot. 
   For the connector according to the embodiments of the invention described above, a user needs to hold the connector for certain amount of time to allow the glue on the bottom surface of the boot to dry out and functioning. However, for the connector according to the embodiments of the invention disclosed below, there is no need to hold the connector during the connection. 
     FIG. 7  shows a connector  70  according to one embodiment of the present invention. The connector  70  has a spring contact part  71  and a flat tip  72  connected to the spring contact part  71 , which is similar to the connector, as shown in  FIG. 6(   e ). The connector  70  has a pair of hooks  73  and  74 , which is made by a insulating material such as plastic. The hook  74  is attached to the backside of the contact tip  72  and is longer than the other hook  73 . At mounting time, a user can set the connector  70  up by pushing the spring part or any spring-like part such as zigzag metal blade, i.e., to compress the spring and make the pair of hooks  73  and  74  to hook/shake hand to each other. When the hooks  73  and  74  are set, the end of the contact tip  72  has the same length or short than the boot height, so that, at mounting time, the boot is not stretched and there is no pulling force formed it to apply on the contact part against the contact area (area to be connected) on the surface. As a result, the user does not need to hold the connect  70 . When the glue, which shall always be strong, insulating, and easy-to-dry if possible, is dried up and fully functioning after certain amount of time, the user only needs to push the boot slightly and then twist/rotate it slightly to release the hooks from each other, then spring of the contact part now is uncompressed, and because the contact part is originally longer than the boot height, will take effect to push the flat time against the area to be connected and that makes the two in constant contact, and then intern, the outlet wire of the connector can be connected to the wire leading outside using conventional wire-to-wire connecting mechanism, e.g., a cap-shaped twister or simply electrical insulating tape. 
   Referring to  FIG. 8 , a connector  80  is shown according to another embodiment of the invention. The connector  80  has a bolt/skew  83  which is made of insulating material. The bolt/skew  83  can be skewed through a hole with matching threads (female part) on the top of the connector  80 , and the bolt/skew  83  can go through the hole directly against the flat tip  82  of the contact part connected to a spring or spring-like contact part  81 , such as zigzag metal blade. In this embodiment, the length of the original height of the contact part  81  is the same or less than the boot height, so the contact part does not stretch the elastic boot at mounting time. When the glue on the bottom of the boot is dried up and is functioning, then user can drive in the bolt/screw, which in tern pushes the contact flat tip against the area for connecting/binding. 
   In sum, the present invention, among other things, discloses a connecting device for quickly and tightly connecting/binding a conductive wire with a contact area on a flat surface. The connecting device includes an outlet wire, an elastic and insulating boot with a flat bottom, and a flexible contact part in various shapes such as original wire(s), zigzag metal blade, or spring with a flat tip. The connecting device may also include one or more mounting screws, tightening bolt/screws, or a pair of hooks inside the boot. 
   The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the invention has been presented only for the purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. 
   The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and their practical application so as to activate others skilled in the art to utilize the invention and various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the foregoing description and the exemplary embodiments described therein.