Cable retainer

A cable retainer which is made of plastic including elastic element which can be bent to secure a cable in place. The cable retainer has a retaining element with a curved end wall and a retaining tongue with a free end that is aligned with the retaining element. On both sides of the retaining tongue guide rails are provided, which with an inclined portion of their guide face guides the cable during cable installation and prevents excessive sagging of the retaining tongue in order to secure the cable between the curved end wall and the retaining tongue. The cable retainer either as an independent part or as an integral part of a body serves to fix a cable to a body.

PRIOR ART 
The invention is based on a cable retainer. A cable retainer is already 
known (German Patent Disclosure DE 24 40 201 A1) that is integrated into 
the casing of a cooling fan of an internal combustion engine, but there is 
a risk that the cable retainer will break off when the cable is installed 
or removed, since for reasons of strength a relatively inelastic plastic 
is used for the casing. 
ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION 
The cable retainer according to the invention, has the advantage over the 
prior art of being simple in construction, allowing easy installation and 
removal of the cable with little risk of breakage of the cable retainer. 
To install or remove the cable, the retaining tongue need merely be bent 
slightly, while in the installed state of the cable bending forces no 
longer act on the retaining tongue; only pressure forces act on the end 
face of the free end, so that a secure hold of the cable is assured even 
if vibrational stresses occur. 
Advantageous refinements of and improvement to the cable retainer defined 
by the main claim are possible by means of the provisions recited 
hereinafter. 
It is especially advantageous, for the retaining tongue provided with a 
bottom face oriented toward a body, a top face remote from the body and 
side faces, to provide a guide rail next to each side face of the 
retaining tongue; the guide rail has a guide face with a portion that is 
at least partly inclined relative to the top face and that at least in the 
direction toward the free end of the retaining tongue extends with a less 
spacing from the body than the bottom face of the retaining tongue. During 
installation and removal of the cable, the guide faces of the guide rail 
prevent the retaining tongue from being bent past its limit of elasticity 
and breaking. 
It is also advantageous to make the cable retainer of plastic and to embody 
it as an integral part of the body.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT 
In FIGS. 1-3, a cable retainer 1 is shown which either is embodied as an 
independent component or is an integral part of a body 2, which is formed 
for instance by the casing of a cooling fan for internal combustion 
engines, as shown in DE 24 40 201 A1, which is hereby expressly 
incorporated by reference in this respect. If the cable retainer 1 and the 
body 2 are separate components, then they are joined together in a manner 
not shown, such as by adhesive bonding, soldering, welding, or by screw 
fastening. The cable retainer 1 and the body 2 may be of different 
materials. If the cable retainer 1 is an integral component of the body 2, 
then plastic is used as the material for it. 
The cable retainer 1 has a retaining element 5, which has a rectangular 
cross section, for instance, and which, beginning at the body 2, has a 
vertical flat wall 6 extending away from the body and adjoining the flat 
wall (6) a curved wall 7, which extends circularly for instance and 
describes at least a quarter-circle. In the exemplary embodiment shown, 
the curved wall 7 extends over approximately 120.degree. and ends at a 
free wall end 10, which in the exemplary embodiment shown is inclined 
toward the body 2. An inner wall 11 of the retaining element 5 has a flat 
portion 12 in the region of the flat wall 6, and a curved portion 15 in 
the vicinity of the curved wall 7. 
The cable retainer 1 also has a spring-elastic retaining tongue 16, whose 
free end 17 is aimed with its end face 20 toward the retaining element 5. 
The retaining tongue 16 has a rectangular cross section and extends along 
a longitudinal axis 21 from a fixed tongue end 22 to the free tongue end 
17 with a top face 25 remote from the body 2, a bottom face 26 oriented 
toward the body 2, and two side faces 27 extending crosswise between the 
top face 25 and bottom face 26. Extending next to each side face 27 and 
spaced laterally apart from it is a guide rail 30. The guide rails 30 are 
joined together, remote from the retaining element 5, by a yoke 31. With 
the vertical spacing, in terms of the drawing, from the body 2, the fixed 
tongue end 22 is joined to the yoke 31, so that beginning at the fixed 
tongue end 22, the retaining tongue 16 can be bent in the vertical 
direction between the guide rails 30 with a vertical spacing from the body 
2. Each of the guide rails 30 has an inner wall guide face 30', remote 
from the body 2, which beginning at the yoke 31 has a parallel upper 
portion 35 that is parallel to the top face 25 of the retaining tongue 15, 
and adjoining that a portion 36 which is inclined relative to the top face 
25 of the retaining tongue 16; this portion 36 extends toward the flat 
wall 6 of the retaining element 5 with a lesser spacing from the body 2 
than the bottom face 26 of the retaining tongue 16 does. In the exemplary 
embodiment shown, the guide face 32, adjoining the inclined portion 36, 
changes into a bearing portion 37, which extends parallel to the top face 
25 of the retaining tongue 16 as far as the retaining element 5 and has an 
only slight vertical spacing from the body 2 compared with the parallel 
portion 35. In an embodiment not shown here, the bearing portion 37 may 
also be omitted, so that the inclined portion 36 of each guide rail 30 
extends as far as the body 2. The yoke 31 and the top face 25 of the 
retaining tongue 16 extend vertically upward with a spacing from the body 
2 that is less by a few tenths than do the parallel portions 35 of the 
guide rails 30. The inclined portion 36 of the guide face 32 of each guide 
rail 30 begins approximately in the vicinity of the fixed tongue end 22, 
which is equivalent to approximately one-third to one-half the length of 
the retaining tongue 16 in the direction of the longitudinal axis 21. The 
vertical spacing between the bearing portion 37 of the guide face 32 of 
each guide rail 30, or the body, and the vertically highest point of the 
curved portion 15 of the inner wall 11 of the retaining element 5 is 
approximately equivalent to the diameter of the cable 40. 
In FIG. 2, the cable retainer 1 is shown during cable installation, in 
which the cable 40 is located parallel to the inclined portion 36 of the 
guide rails 30 and thus causes the retaining tongue 16 to sag toward the 
body 2. Upon a further displacement of the cable 40 in the direction of 
the arrow 41, the cable 40 snaps under the also elastically yielding 
curved wall 7 of the retaining element 5 and assumes the position shown in 
FIG. 3, in which the cable is grasped by a large part of the way around by 
the retaining element 5, and the retaining tongue 16, bends back into its 
outset position, the tongue 16 is aimed with its end face 20 approximately 
at the center point of the circular cable cross section. The retaining 
tongue 16 blocks off the removal of the cable 40 from the cable retainer 
1. Only if the retaining tongue 16 is again, intentionally, bent away 
toward the body 2 is it possible to remove the cable 40 from the cable 
retainer 1. In FIG. 3, a tongue extension 42, extending crosswise to the 
top face 25 and bottom face 26, is formed on the free tongue end 17, thus 
making for a larger end face 20 facing the cable 40 in the installed state 
shown in FIG. 3. 
The foregoing relates to preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention, 
it being understood that other variants and embodiments thereof are 
possible within the spirit and scope of the invention, the latter being 
defined by the appended claims.