Abstract:
A detachable external hard drive enclosure has a hard drive box for receiving a hard drive, a bridge device and an engagement mechanism. The hard drive box has a front opening. The bridge device has a hard drive port for engaging the hard drive. The engagement mechanism is formed on the hard drive box and the bridge device. When the bridge device is connected to or disconnected from the front opening of the hard drive box with the engagement mechanism, the hard drive port can engage or disengage from the hard drive. Accordingly, the bridge device can engage and disengage from the hard drive box to conveniently replace various hard drives.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention is related to an external hard drive enclosure, and more particularly to a detachable external hard drive enclosure having a bridge device capable of engaging and being compatible with hard drive boxes having different sizes. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    With reference to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , a conventional external hard drive enclosure has a case  40 , a rectangular bracket  43  and a bridge device  50 . The case  40  is rectangular and hollow and has a front opening  41  and two screw holes  42 . The front opening  41  is formed through a front side of the case  40 . The two screw holes  42  are formed through two other opposite sides of the case  40 . 
         [0005]    The rectangular bracket  43  is received in the case  40  and has a side corresponding to the front opening  41  of the case  40  and fixed with a hard drive  60 . 
         [0006]    The bridge device  50  has a control panel  51  and a circuit board  53 . The control panel  51  and the circuit board  53  are securely mounted on the side of the rectangular bracket  43  corresponding to the front opening  41  of the case  40 . The circuit board  53  has a hard drive port  511 , a computer port  512  and a power input port  513 . The computer port  512  and the power input port  513  are formed and exposed from a side of the control panel  51  facing outside. The hard drive port  511  is formed on the side of the rectangular bracket  43  corresponding to the front opening  41  of the case  40 . 
         [0007]    With reference to  FIG. 10 , a hard drive  60  is mounted in the rectangular bracket  43 , plugged in the hard drive port  511  and fixed on the rectangular bracket  43 . The rectangular bracket  43  along with the circuit board  53  of the bridge device  50  are inserted in the front opening  41  of the case  40  so that the control panel  51  is covered on the front opening  41  of the case  40 . Two screws  54  screw the rectangular bracket  43  respectively through the two screw holes  42  of the case  40  so that the rectangular bracket  43  and the bridge device  50  are fastened with the case  40 . If intending to remove and replace the hard drive  60 , the two screws  54  must be unscrewed first. After the bridge device  50  and the rectangular bracket  43  are pulled out from the front opening  41  of the case  40 , the hard drive  60  is unplugged from the hard drive port  511 . A different hard drive  60  can be mounted again by repeating the foregoing assembling procedures. 
         [0008]    Although the conventional external hard drive enclosure serves to externally connect with a computer, it is inconvenient to replace the hard drive in the conventional external hard drive enclosure. Besides, the case and the rectangular bracket may not be compatible with a hard drive to be replaced with having a different size. For example, an external hard drive enclosure for 3.5″ hard drive is not compatible with a 2.5″ hard drive, and vice versa. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    A first objective of the present invention is to provide a detachable external hard drive enclosure having a bridge device capable of engaging and being compatible with hard drive boxes having different sizes. 
         [0010]    To achieve the foregoing objective, the detachable external hard drive enclosure has hard drive box, a bridge device, and an engagement mechanism. 
         [0011]    The hard drive box has a front opening formed through a side of the hard drive box and is adapted to receive a hard drive in the hard drive box. 
         [0012]    The bridge device has a housing, a control circuit board, a hard drive port, at least one computer port, a power input port and an engagement mechanism. 
         [0013]    The housing has a first side and a second side facing to the front opening and being opposite to the first side. The control circuit board is mounted inside the housing. The hard drive port is mounted inside the housing and protrudes beyond the second side of the housing, and is electrically connected with the control circuit board. The at least one computer port is mounted inside the housing and protrudes beyond the first side of the housing, and is electrically connected with the control circuit board. The power input port is mounted inside the housing and protrudes beyond the first side of the housing, and is electrically connected with the control circuit board. 
         [0014]    The engagement mechanism is mounted on the side of the hard drive box having the front opening and the second side of the bridge device for the bridge device to engage the hard drive box. 
         [0015]    The bridge device is detachable from the hard drive box and engages the hard drive box with the engagement mechanism instead of being securely connected with the hard drive box by means of screws. The hard drive port of the bridge device faces the front opening of the hard drive box, and can be electrically connected with the hard drive in the hard drive box. Accordingly, the detachable external hard drive enclosure of the present invention is convenient and easy to replace a hard drive in the hard drive box. 
         [0016]    A second objective of the present invention is to provide a bridge device for an external hard drive box capable of being detachable from a hard drive box through an engagement mechanism. 
         [0017]    To achieve the foregoing objective, the external hard drive box has a front opening and the bridge device has a housing, a control circuit board, a hard drive port, a computer port, a power input port and an engagement mechanism. 
         [0018]    The housing is adapted to connect with the front opening of the external hard drive box and engage the detachable external hard drive enclosure, and has a first side, a second side and three through holes. The second side faces to the front opening and is opposite to the first side. Two of the through slots are formed through the first side and one of the through holes is formed through the second side of the housing. 
         [0019]    The control circuit board is mounted inside the housing. 
         [0020]    The hard drive port is mounted inside the housing, is electrically connected with the control circuit board, protrudes beyond the housing through the through slot on the second side, and is adapted to connect with an electrical connector of an external hard drive. 
         [0021]    The at least one computer port is mounted inside the housing, is electrically connected with the control circuit board, protrudes beyond the housing through one of the through slots on the first side, and is adapted to connect with an external computer. 
         [0022]    The power input port is mounted inside the housing, is electrically connected with the control circuit board, protrudes beyond the housing through the other of the through slots on the first side, and is adapted to connect with an external power source to supply an operating power to the control circuit. 
         [0023]    The engagement mechanism is mounted on the second side of the housing and is adapted to connect with the hard drive box. 
         [0024]    Given the engagement mechanism mounted on the side of the bridge device beyond which the computer port protrudes, the bridge device can directly engage the hard drive box and the computer port is connected to the hard drive without involving with unscrewing and screwing the bridge device and the hard drive box, thereby facilitating the replacement of the hard drive. Besides, as long as the hard drive therein has an interface compatible with the computer port of the bridge device, the bridge device can engage the hard drive box regardless of what size of the hard drive box is and address a more flexibility to interface with various hard drive boxes. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0025]      FIG. 1  is a partially exploded perspective view of a detachable external hard drive enclosure in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0026]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the detachable external hard drive enclosure in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0027]      FIG. 3A  is an exploded perspective view of the detachable external hard drive enclosure in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0028]      FIG. 3B  is another exploded perspective view of the detachable external hard drive enclosure in  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0029]      FIG. 4  is a top view of the detachable external hard drive enclosure in  FIG. 2  excluding a top half case of a hard drive box and a top half case of a bridge device; 
           [0030]      FIG. 5A  is a partially enlarged top view of the detachable external hard drive enclosure in  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0031]      FIG. 5B  is a partially enlarged and exploded top view of the detachable external hard drive enclosure in  FIG. 4 ; 
           [0032]      FIG. 6  is a partially exploded view of the detachable external hard drive enclosure in  FIG. 4  in collaboration with a hard drive; 
           [0033]      FIG. 7A  is a schematic top view of a small bridge device connected with a large hard drive case in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0034]      FIG. 7B  is a schematic top view of a large bridge device connected with a small hard drive case in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0035]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a conventional external hard drive enclosure; 
           [0036]      FIG. 9  is a top view of the conventional external hard drive enclosure in  FIG. 8 ; and 
           [0037]      FIG. 10  is an exploded top view of the conventional external hard drive enclosure in  FIG. 8 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0038]    With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a detachable external hard drive enclosure in accordance with the present invention has a hard drive box  10 , a bridge device  20  and an engagement mechanism  30 . The engagement mechanism  30  serves to connect and engage the bridge device  20  and the hard drive case  10 . 
         [0039]    With reference to  FIGS. 3A and 3B , the hard drive box  10  has a rectangular body  11  and a U-shaped slidable bracket  15 . 
         [0040]    The rectangular body  11  is hollow, has a front opening  110 , and is foamed by two half cases  12 . The front opening  110  is formed through a side of the hard drive box  10 . The two half cases  12  are correspondingly connected with each other. Each of the two half cases  12  has two opposite long sidewalls  13  and a short sidewall  14 . The short sidewall  14  faces the front opening  110 . Each of the two long sidewalls  13  has an outer wall  131 , a slanted guide plate  132  and an inner wall  133 . The outer wall  131  has a semicircular groove  135  and a long channel  134 . The semicircular groove  135  and the long channel  134  are formed through the outer wall  131  and are adjacent to the front opening  110  and the short sidewall  13  respectively. The slanted guide plate  132  is formed on each of the two half cases  12  to correspond to the corresponding long channel  134  and tilt down in a direction from the short sidewall  13  to the front opening  110  and from inside out. The inner wall  133  is parallel with the outer wall  131  and corresponds to a portion of the outer wall  131  without the long channel  134 . 
         [0041]    The U-shaped slidable bracket  15  is received in the rectangular body  11  and has two parallel walls  151 , a transverse wall  152  and two T-shaped tabs  154 . The two parallel walls  151  respectively abut the two long sidewalls  13  of each of the two half cases  12  and are slidable along the corresponding long sidewalls  13  in the rectangular body  11 . The transverse wall  152  is parallel with the short sidewalls  14  of the rectangular body  11 . Each of the two T-shaped tabs  154  is formed on and protrudes outwardly from an outside surface of the corresponding parallel wall  151  and has a horizontal portion  154   a  and a vertical portion  154   b . The horizontal portion  154   a  is formed on and protrudes outwardly from the corresponding parallel wall  151 , and is rested on and slidable along the slanted guide plate  132  of the corresponding long sidewall  13 . The vertical portion  154   b  is perpendicularly formed on the horizontal portion  154   a  and is mounted within the long channel  134  of the corresponding outer wall  134 . To steadily fix the hard drive  60 , the U-shaped slidable bracket  15  further has two support boards  153  respectively mounted on a top edge and a bottom edge of the transverse wall  152  and respectively extending from the top edge and the bottom edge to the front opening  110 . 
         [0042]    The bridge device  20  has a housing  21 , a control circuit board  22 , a hard drive port  23 , at least one computer port  24  and a power input port  25 . 
         [0043]    The housing  21  has a first side  211   b , a second side  211   a , three through slots  212   a ,  212   b ,  212   b ′. The second side  211   a  faces the front opening  110  of the rectangular body  11  and is opposite to the first side  211   b . One of the through slots  212   a  is formed through the second side  211   a , and two other through slots  212   b ,  212   b ′ are formed through the first side  211   b  of the housing  21 . In the present embodiment, the housing  21  has two half cases correspondingly connected with each other. 
         [0044]    The control circuit board  22  is mounted inside the housing  21 . The hard drive port  23  is mounted inside the housing  21 , is electrically connected with the control circuit board  22 , protrudes beyond the housing  21  through the through slot  212   a  on the second side  211   a , and is adapted to connect with an electrical connector  601  of the hard drive  60 . 
         [0045]    The at least one computer port  24  is mounted inside the housing  21 , is electrically connected with the control circuit board  22 , protrudes beyond the housing  21  through the through hole  212   b  on the first side  211   b  of the housing  21 , and is adapted to connect with an external computer. 
         [0046]    The power input port  24  is mounted inside the housing  21  and is electrically connected with the control circuit board  22 , protrudes beyond the housing  21  through the through slot  212   b ′ on the first side  211   b  of the housing  21 , and is adapted to connect with an external power source to supply an operating power of the control circuit board  22 . 
         [0047]    The engagement mechanism  30  in the present embodiment has two engagement slots  31  and two resilient buttons  32 . The two engagement slots  31  are respectively formed through two opposite locations of the second side  211   a  of the housing  21  of the bridge device  20 . Each of the two resilient buttons  32  is received between the outer walls  131  and the inner walls  133  of the corresponding long sidewalls  13  of the two half cases of the rectangular body  11  of the hard drive box  10  and corresponds to the semicircular grooves  135  of the corresponding outer walls  131 . Each of the resilient button  32  has a circular button  321 , two positioning arms  322 , a fastener  323  and a resilient arc piece  324 . The circular button  321  is received in and protrudes beyond the corresponding semicircular grooves  135  of the two half cases  12  of the hard drive box  10 . The two positioning arms  322  are oppositely formed on the circular button  321  and protrude outwardly to be sandwiched by the outer wall  133  and the inner wall  131  of the corresponding long sidewall  13 . The fastener  323  is formed on and protrudes outwardly from the positioning arm  322  adjacent to the front opening  110 , protrudes beyond the front opening  110 , and corresponds to the corresponding engagement slot  31 . The resilient arc piece  324  takes a form of arch band, has two ends respectively formed on the two positioning arms  322  and abuts against the corresponding inner walls  133  of the two half cases  12 . 
         [0048]    With reference to  FIG. 4 , as the two fastener  323  of the two resilient button  32  protrude beyond the front opening  110  of the hard drive box  10  and respectively correspond to the two engagement slots  31  on the housing  21  of the bridge device  20 , if the bridge device  20  is intended to engage the hard drive box  10 , the two resilient buttons  32  protruding beyond the hard drive box  10  are inserted into the corresponding engagement slots  31 . After the two fasteners  323  are inserted into the corresponding engagement slots  31 , the corresponding resilient buttons  32  are released and the resilient arc pieces thereof provide a restoring elastic force to make the two fasteners  323  further engage in an inside wall of the housing  21  of the bridge device  20 . By now, the bridge device  20  covers the front opening  110  of the hard drive box  10  and engages the hard drive box  10 . 
         [0049]    Similarly, with reference to  FIGS. 5A and 5B , if the bridge device  20  is intended to disengage from the hard drive box  10 , the two resilient arc pieces  324  are pressed inwardly against the corresponding inner walls  133 . The reaction force compresses both ends of each of the two resilient arc pieces  324  to push the two positioning arms  322  outwardly. As a result, after aligning with the corresponding engagement slots  31 , the two fasteners  323  can be removed from the housing  21  of the bridge device  20 . 
         [0050]    With reference to  FIG. 4 , when the hard drive is intended to be mounted, the hard drive  60  with the electrical connector  601  protruding beyond the front opening  110  of the hard drive box  10  is inserted into the front opening  110  and is pushed all the way rearwardly until the transverse wall  152  of the U-shaped slidable bracket  15  contacts with the short sidewall  14 . Meanwhile, the vertical portion  154   b  of the T-shaped tab  154  is moved rearwardly within the corresponding long channel  134 , and the hard drive  60  is completely received in the hard drive box  10 . Since the electrical connector  601  of the hard drive  60  protrudes beyond the front opening  110 , whenever the bridge device  20  engages the hard drive box  10  with the engagement mechanism  30 , the exposed hard drive port  23  facing the front opening  110  also engages and electrically connects with the electrical connector  601  of the hard drive  60 . 
         [0051]    With reference to  FIG. 6 , when the hard drive  60  is intended to be removed, the bridge device  20  first disengages from the hard drive box  10  by simultaneously pressing the two resilient buttons  32  and moving them forwardly. The vertical portion  154   b  of each of the two T-shaped tabs  154  is moved toward the front opening  110 , and the horizontal portion  154   a  integrally formed on the vertical portion of  154   b  of the corresponding T-shaped tab  154  of the U-shaped slidable bracket  15  drags the transverse wall  152  to push the hard drive  60  out of the front opening  110 . As the vertical portion  154   b  of the T-shaped tab  154  is guided by the corresponding slanted guide plate  132  to slide forwardly and the slanted guide plate  132  orients in an inside-out direction, the corresponding parallel wall  151  integrally formed with the T-shaped tab  154  is also guided to orient in an inside-out direction. Accordingly, a gap existing between each of the two parallel walls  151  and the hard drive  60  facilitates the removal of the hard drive  60  from the hard drive box  10 . 
         [0052]    Instead of being securely connected with the bracket inside the hard drive box, the bridge device  20  of the detachable external hard drive enclosure in accordance with the present invention can directly engage the hard drive box without requiring to screw the bridge device and the hard drive box, thereby facilitating users to more conveniently mount and dismount a hard drive. Besides, the bridge device of the present invention pertains to a standalone product having the flexibility to adapt to hard drive boxes having different sizes. With reference to  FIG. 7A , a 2.5″ bridge device  20   a  engages a 3.5″ hard drive box  10   a . With reference to  FIG. 7B , a 3.5″ bridge device  20   b  engages a 2.5 hard drive box  10   b . Therefore, the bridge device  20   a ,  20   b  of the present invention is not limited by the compatibility concern with the size of hard drive box and is more convenient in use than the conventional external hard drive enclosure. 
         [0053]    Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.