CAPTIVE SCREW

A captive screw includes a sleeve and a screwing member. The sleeve includes a body portion and a positioning protrusion. The positioning protrusion protrudes from the body portion, and forms a channel. The screwing member includes a head portion, a neck portion and a threaded portion. The neck portion connects the head portion and the threaded portion. The neck portion passes through the channel. The head portion and the threaded portion are located on the positioning protrusion. The threaded portion includes a wider section and a narrower section. The wider section is connected to the neck portion. The narrower section is connected to the wider section. The diameter of the channel is less than a major diameter of the wider section. The diameter of the channel is greater than or equal to a major diameter of the narrower section and a minor diameter of the wider section.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 (a) on Patent Application No(s). 202321488582.3 filed in China, on Jun. 12, 2023, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a screw, more particularly to a captive screw.

BACKGROUND

Generally, two plates may be assembled via screws. Specifically, after aligning screw holes of the two plates, the users can assemble the two plates via screwing screws into the screw holes. On the contrary, the users can remove the screws from the screw holes to disassemble the two plates from each other.

Since the screws are lightweight and have small volume, the screws may be inadvertently lost easily during the assembly or disassembly of the two plates. Thus, the users may also assemble the two plates via captive screws consisting of sleeves and screws to prevent such issue. In detail, after the sleeves of the captive screws are fixed to one of the plates, the two plates are assembled via the screws partially disposed in the sleeves. When the users disassemble the two plates, the screws may be kept in the sleeve and lost since the screws are partially disposed in the sleeves. However, structures of the conventional captive screws are complicated, such that the steps of assembling the captive screws are also complicated. In addition, the conventional screws may still have a risk of being detached from the sleeve, thereby causing inconvenience for assembling captive screws. Therefore, how to simplify the structure of the captive screw so as to facilitate the assembly of the captive screws while preventing the screwing member of the captive screw from being lost due to the detachment from the sleeve is an important issue to be solved.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a captive screw having simplified structure to facilitate the assembly thereof while preventing the screwing member from being lost due to the detachment from the sleeve.

One embodiment of the disclosure provides a captive screw including a sleeve and a screwing member. The sleeve includes a body portion and at least one positioning protrusion. The body portion has an inner surface. The inner surface surrounds and forms an accommodating space. The at least one positioning protrusion protrudes from the inner surface, and forms a channel. A diameter of the channel is less than a diameter of the accommodating space. The screwing member includes a head portion, a neck portion and a threaded portion. The neck portion connects the head portion and the threaded portion. A diameter of the neck portion is less than a diameter of the head portion and the diameter of the channel. The neck portion passes through the channel. The head portion and the threaded portion are located on two opposite sides of the at least one positioning protrusion, respectively. The threaded portion includes a wider section and a narrower section. The wider section is connected to the neck portion. The narrower section is connected to the wider section. The diameter of the channel is less than a major diameter of the wider section. The diameter of the channel is greater than or equal to a major diameter of the narrower section and a minor diameter of the wider section.

According to the captive screw as described in the above embodiments, the wider section of the screwing member passes through the channel, and the diameter of the channel is less than the major diameter of the wider section. Therefore, the screwing member can be prevented from being detached from the sleeve via an aforementioned size design without installing additional blocking components. Accordingly, a structure of the captive screw can be simplified so as to facilitate assembly of the captive screw while preventing the screwing member from being lost due to the detachment from the sleeve.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In addition, the terms used in the present disclosure, such as technical and scientific terms, have its own meanings and can be comprehended by those skilled in the art, unless the terms are additionally defined in the present disclosure. That is, the terms used in the following paragraphs should be read on the meaning commonly used in the related fields and will not be overly explained, unless the terms have a specific meaning in the present disclosure.

Please refer toFIG.1toFIG.3, whereFIG.1is a perspective view of a captive screw10in accordance with a first embodiment of the disclosure,FIG.2is an exploded view of the captive screw10inFIG.1, andFIG.3is a top view of a body portion111of the captive screw10inFIG.1.

In this embodiment, the captive screw10includes a sleeve11and a screwing member12. Please refer toFIG.1toFIG.4, whereFIG.4is a cross-sectional view of the captive screw10inFIG.1. The sleeve11includes the body portion111, a positioning protrusion112and a mounting portion113. The body portion111has an inner surface1111. The inner surface1111surrounds and forms an accommodating space S. The positioning protrusion112is, for example, annular. The positioning protrusion112protrudes from the inner surface1111, and forms a channel W therein. The channel W is, for example, a screw hole. A diameter R1of the channel W is less than a diameter R2of the accommodating space S. The mounting portion113is connected to a side of the body portion111, and is configured to be mounted on a plate (not shown). The mounting portion113has an inner surface1131, and is, for example, annular. The inner surface1131surrounds and forms an opening O. A diameter R3of the opening O is, for example, equal to the diameter R2of the accommodating space S.

The screwing member12is, for example, a screw, and is configured to be screwed to another plate (not shown). The screwing member12includes a head portion121, a neck portion122and a threaded portion123. The neck portion122connects the head portion121and the threaded portion123. A diameter R4of the neck portion122is less than a diameter R5of the head portion121and the diameter R1of the channel W. The neck portion122passes through the channel W. The head portion121and the threaded portion123are located on two opposite sides of the positioning protrusion112, respectively. The threaded portion123includes a wider section1231and a narrower section1232that are connected to each other. The wider section1231is connected to the neck portion122. The narrower section1232is connected to the wider section1231. The diameter R1of the channel W is less than a major diameter R6of the wider section1231, and is greater than or equal to a major diameter R7of the narrower section1232and a minor diameter R8of the wider section1231. Accordingly, after the wider section1231of the screwing member12passes through the channel W via a screwing method so as to screw the screwing member12into the sleeve11, the screwing member12cannot be detached from the sleeve11. For example, the channel W and the wider section1231of the threaded portion123are conform to M5 specification, and the narrower section1232of the threaded portion123is conform to M4 specification. In addition, the channel may be a screw hole without a threaded.

In this embodiment, the neck portion122and the positioning protrusion112are spaced apart from each other by a first distance G1. The wider section1231and the inner surface1111are spaced apart from each other by a second distance G2. The narrower section1232and the inner surface1131are spaced apart from each other by a third distance G3. The first distance G1, the second distance G2and the third distance G3are, for example, greater than or equal to 0.5 millimeters (mm). For example, the first distance G1is 0.9 mm, the second distance G2is 0.85 mm, and the third distance G3is greater than 0.85 mm. Accordingly, the screwing member12can be maintained in a floating state via the distances G1-G3when it is not screwed on the plate. That is, the screwing member12is movable relative to the sleeve11without being detaching from the sleeve11.

In this embodiment, the captive screw10further includes a restoring member13. The restoring member13is sleeved on the neck portion122of the screwing member12, and two opposite sides of the restoring member13are connected to the head portion121of the screwing member12and the positioning protrusion112of the sleeve11, respectively. Thus, after the screwing between the screwing member12and the plate30is released, the restoring member13can force the head portion121to be moved away from the positioning protrusion112.

In this embodiment, the sleeve11includes one positioning protrusion112, and the positioning protrusion112is annular, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the sleeve may include two or more positioning protrusions, and the positioning protrusions may be arranged in an annular array.

Please refer toFIG.5toFIG.7, whereFIG.5is a cross-sectional view showing that the wider section1231of the screwing member12of the captive screw10does not pass through the positioning protrusion112of the sleeve11of the captive screw10inFIG.1,FIG.6is a cross-sectional view showing that the wider section1231of the screwing member12of the captive screw10passes through the positioning protrusion112of the sleeve11of the captive screw10inFIG.1, andFIG.7is a cross-sectional view showing that the captive screw10inFIG.1is screwed on plates20,30.

In this embodiment, when two plates20and30are needed to be assembled via the captive screw10, the screwing member12is firstly placed into the sleeve11disposed on the plate20along a direction A. Then, the wider section1231of the screwing member12passes through the channel W via a screwing method so as to screw the screwing member12into the sleeve11. Finally, the screwing member12is screwed into the plate30. Accordingly, the two plates20and30can be assembled via the captive screw10.

On the contrary, the two plates20and30can be disassembled merely by releasing the screwing between the screwing member12and the plate30. Since the diameter R1of the channel W is less than the major diameter R6of the wider section1231of the screwing member12, the wider section1231cannot pass through the channel W along a direction opposite to the direction A. Therefore, the screwing member12is kept on instead of being detached from the sleeve11.

In this embodiment, the diameter R3of the opening O is equal to the diameter R2of the accommodating space S, but the disclosure is not limited thereto. Other embodiments are described below for illustrative purposes. It is to be noted that the following embodiments use the reference numerals and a part of the contents of the above embodiments, the same reference numerals are used to denote the same or similar elements, and the description of the same technical contents is omitted. For the description of the omitted part, reference may be made to the above embodiments, and details are not described in the following embodiments. Please refer toFIG.8, which is a cross-sectional view of a captive screw10A in accordance with a second embodiment of the disclosure. In this embodiment, the diameter R3A of the opening OA may be less than the diameter R2of the accommodating space S.

Please refer toFIG.9, which is a cross-sectional view of a captive screw10B in accordance with a third embodiment of the disclosure. The captive screw10B of this embodiment is similar to the captive screw10of the first embodiment, the main difference between them is that the captive screw10B of this embodiment further includes a glue layer14B. The glue layer14B is disposed on the wider section1231of the threaded portion123, and can absorb a vibration generated by the screwing member12screwed to the sleeve11so as to prevent the screwing member12from being detached from the sleeve11due to the vibration generated during screwing.

According to the captive screw as described in the above embodiments, the wider section of the screwing member passes through the channel, and the diameter of the channel is less than the major diameter of the wider section. Therefore, the screwing member can be prevented from being detached from the sleeve via an aforementioned size design without installing additional blocking components. Accordingly, a structure of the captive screw can be simplified so as to facilitate assembly of the captive screw while preventing the screwing member from being lost due to the detachment from the sleeve.