Abstract:
A connector for connecting a plurality of light strings mainly includes a female socket and a male socket with a plurality of terminal receivers and conductive pieces respectively. The terminal receivers and the conductive pieces are connected with the light-string conducting wires or the control lines of the light strings. Thereby when the male/female sockets are joined together, the light string can be extended or a working module controller for the light string can control more light-strings. The female socket includes a waterproof stopper inside to stabilize the conducting wires going through the female socket and also to provide a waterproof function. A joint nut is set outside of the male socket to reciprocally join with the female socket, so that the male/female sockets will not separate from each other arbitrarily.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The invention relates in general to a connector for connecting a plurality of light strings, and more particularly to a connection device of an application to extend a length by combining the plurality of light strings.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0004]     Conventional Christmas light strings play an important role nowadays thanks to the help of commercial activities. The light strings are also very popular for decoration on street trees or for special occasions, such as recreation, restaurants, costume and accessories stores, tourism, shopping malls and gift shops. Thereby a demand to extend the light strings is increasing, so as to create a variety of beautiful light effects. However, the more light strings are connected together, the higher demand for a connecting device to provide a secure joint with safe, stable electricity supply.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a connector for connecting a plurality of light strings or control lines. The connector can achieve a secure joint effect and a safe, stable electricity supply for the connected light strings or the control lines.  
         [0006]     To achieve the above-mentioned objective, a principle technique is applied by providing a connector mainly including a female socket, a male socket, and a joint nut.  
         [0007]     The female socket forms a cannular shape having a plurality of terminal receivers on an internal wall for receiving a plurality of electric terminals respectively. An aperture is formed on a bottom for a plurality of paired light-string conducting wires or control lines to go through.  
         [0008]     The male socket forms a cylindrical shape with an end forming a cylindrical plug part. An outside diameter of the plug part matches an inside diameter of the female socket to plug in. A plurality of axial holes are formed for a plurality of paired light-string conducting wires or control lines to go through. A conductive piece is set at an aperture periphery of an end of the plug part corresponding to each of the holes. An end of the conductive piece bends to a surface of the plug part, while the other end is connected to the conducting wires or the control lines inside the male socket. The conductive pieces correspond to the electric terminals on the internal wall of the female socket.  
         [0009]     The joint nut is set outside the male socket and is connectable with the female socket. Thereby the joint nut can restrict the male socket located between the joint nut and the female socket, so that the male/female sockets will not separate unintentionally. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  shows an exploded perspective view of an example of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  shows a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  shows a top view of a female socket of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  shows a vertical cross-section diagram of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  shows a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  shows a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  shows a first operational view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  shows a second operational view of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 9  shows an exploded perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 10  shows an exploded perspective view of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
         [0020]      FIG. 11  shows an exploded perspective view of a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]     With reference to  FIG. 1 , a connector in accordance with the present invention comprises a female socket  10 , a male socket  20  and a joint nut  30 . The male socket  20  can plug in the female socket  10 . The joint nut  30  is to restrict the female/male sockets  10 / 20  to joint tightly. Referring to  FIG. 2 , the male socket  20  and the female socket  10  are connected with a plurality of light-string conducting wires or control lines  200  and  100  respectively. The two sets of conducting wires  200  and  100  can be connected to each other via the male/female sockets  20 / 10 . Thereby extending a length of the light-string conducting wires or control lines is achieved. An embodiment of the connector will be described in detail as follows.  
         [0022]     Still referring to  FIG. 1 , the female socket  10  forms a cannular shape with a chamber  11  inside. Multiple symmetrical arranged terminal receivers  12  are formed on an internal wall of the chamber  11  for receiving multiple electric terminals  13  respectively. The electric terminals  13  are connected with the conducting wires  100  respectively. In this example of the preferred embodiment, the female socket  10  has three sets of the paired conducting wires  100 . The male socket  20  is also has three sets of the paired conducting wires  200 .  
         [0023]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , an aperture  14  is formed at a bottom of the female socket  10  for the conducting wires  100  to extend therethrough. A plurality of trenches  140  are formed on an aperture periphery. The trenches  140  correspond to the terminal receivers  12 . Ends of the conducting wires  100 , which are respectively connected to the electric terminals  13 , are correspondingly located inside the trenches  140 .  
         [0024]     Furthermore, in order to mate the female socket  10  with the joint nut  30 , a top of the female socket  10  forms a flange  16 . Two slots  160  are formed at two opposed locations of the flange  16 . Each slot  160  has one end wider than the other end of the slot  160 .  
         [0025]     The female socket  10  further includes a waterproof stopper  17  inside a bottom of the chamber  11 . The waterproof stopper  17  can be put inside the female socket  10  from a top or from a bottom. The waterproof stopper  17  forms a shaft shape with a profile forming a plurality of internal channels  170 . The internal channels  170  correspond to the trenches  140  on the periphery of the aperture  14  of the female socket  10 . Thereby each of the conducting wires  100  is confined within the periphery of the aperture  14  and the waterproof stopper  17 .  
         [0026]     Furthermore, referring to  FIG. 1 , the male socket  20  forms a cylindrical shape. An outside diameter of one end of the male socket  20  is larger than an inside diameter of the chamber  11  of the female socket  10 , and the other end forms a cylindrical shaped plug part  21 . An outside diameter of the plug part  21  is nominally smaller than the inside diameter of the chamber  11  of the female socket  10 , so as to snugly mate with the female socket  10 . A plurality of axial sector holes  23  are formed in the male socket  20  for the plurality of conducting wires  200  to extend therethrough. A conductive piece  22  is set at an aperture periphery of an end of the plug part  21 , and corresponds to each of the holes  23 . An end of the conductive piece  22  bends to an external wall of the plug part  21 , while the other end is connected to the conducting wires  200  inside the male socket  20 . The conductive pieces  22  correspond to the electric terminals  13  on the internal wall of the chamber  11  of the female socket  10 . A collar  24  mounts on a top of the plug part  21  of the male socket  20 . The collar  24  can hold the conductive pieces  22  to an end of the plug part  21 , so as to stabilize the conductive pieces  22  as shown in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0027]     Still referring to  FIG. 4 , when the male socket  20  plugs into the chamber  11  of the female socket  10 , the conductive pieces  22  inside the plug part  21  of the male socket  20  can electrically connect to the electric terminals  13  inside the chamber  11  of the female socket  10 . Thereby a pair of the light-string conducting wires or control lines  100  and  200  can be electrically connected. The male/female sockets  20 / 10  include several sets of the paired conducting wires  200 / 100  accordingly. In order to manage the wires easily and avoid mis-connection, the plug part  21  of the male socket  20  and the inner wall of the chamber  11  of the female socket  10  form a tangent plane respectively. Thereby an angle of the male socket  20  plugging into the female socket  10  can be confined to avoid mis-connection error.  
         [0028]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the joint nut  30  is set outside the male socket  20  and mounts the female socket  10 . The joint nut  30  forms a hole  31  for the conducting wires  200  to extend therethrough. A bore diameter of the hole  31  is smaller than the outside diameter of the male socket  20 , so as to limit the male socket  20  to locate inside the joint nut  30 . In this preferred embodiment, the joint nut  30  includes two tenons  32  extending downward respectively at two opposite joint nut peripheries. Each tenon joint  32  corresponds to the respective slot  160 . Each tenon joint  32  is dimensioned so as to be insertable into the wider end of the slot  160  as shown in  FIG. 5 . By rotating the joint nut  30  to an appropriate angle as shown in  FIG. 6 , the tenon joint  32  moves to the narrower end of the slot  160  as shown in  FIG. 6 . Thereby the tenon joint  32  is confined in the narrower end of the slot  160 , so as to combine the joint nut  30  with the female socket  10 . Then the male socket  20  is further confined between the joint nut  30  and female socket  10  as shown in  FIG. 4 . In this way, the male socket  20  and the female socket  10  will not separate unintentionally.  
         [0029]     The embodiment structure and connections between each of the components of the present invention are clearly stated from to the above description. Furthermore, an application method of the present invention is described as follows.  
         [0030]     Referring to  FIG. 7 , three sets of light strings  41 ,  42  and  43  are connected by the male sockets  20  and the female sockets  10  of the present invention. A first end of the first set of the light strings  41  is formed as a connector plug  40  to receive electricity directly or indirectly from a supply.  
         [0031]     Since the male sockets  20  and the female sockets  10  include three sets of the paired conductive pieces  22  and the electric terminals  13  according to the present invention, each of the three sets of the light strings  41 ,  42  and  43  includes three sets of positive and negative circuits respectively. Thereby various changes of the light strings can be practically applied. Variety can be achieved by adding or reducing the quantity of the connected light strings such as two sets, four sets, five sets or even more.  
         [0032]     Although the previous embodiment example in  FIG. 7  includes the male sockets  20  and the female sockets  10  forming a plurality of electrical connectors, not all of the connectors need be used simultaneously. Referring to  FIG. 8 , the male/female sockets  20 / 10  are also used to form a single connector for each set of male/female sockets  20 / 10 .  
         [0033]     In addition, the preferred embodiment of the present invention not only can transmit electric power, but also can transmit a control signal to expand the quantity of the light strings that are controlled by a controller. By replacing the connector plug with the controller, the control signal can be sent to every light string via the male/female sockets  20 / 10 .  
         [0034]     Referring to  FIG. 9 , a second preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. A basic structure is similar to the first preferred embodiment, yet structures of the holes  23  are different. The second preferred embodiment includes the male socket  20  forming a hollow shape with a plurality of holes  23  in the bottom, however the male socket  20  of the second preferred embodiment does not have any partition. Moreover, a stopper  24  can be set inside the male socket  20  as shown in  FIG. 9 . The structure of the stopper  24  of the second embodiment is similar to the waterproof stopper  17  of the first embodiment; that is the stopper  24  also forms a plurality of trenches  240  on a column body of the stopper  24 . When the stopper  24  is plugged inside the male socket  20 , the conducting wires  200  are confined within the trenches  240  of the stopper  24  and the internal wall of the male socket  20 .  
         [0035]     Referring to  FIG. 10 , a third preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. The basic structure is similar to the first preferred embodiment, yet connection manners of the joint nut  50  and the female socket  10  are different. The third preferred embodiment includes the joint nut  50  having two opposite nut peripheries extending outward to form a ‘T’-shaped buckle  51  respectively. Further, the two opposite locations on the top of the female socket  10  form open catches  18  respectively. When the joint nut  50  and the female socket  10  are mated, the buckles  51  on the joint nut  50  can be bent downward to make the wider end of each buckle  51  engage with a lower edge of the respective open catch  18 . Thereby the third preferred embodiment of the present invention provides another connection manner for the joint nut  50  and the female socket  10 .  
         [0036]     In addition, the positions of the joint nut  50  and the female socket  10  of the third preferred embodiment of the present invention can be exchanged or any other similar buckle catches can replace the structure.  
         [0037]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention has a basic structure similar to the first preferred embodiment, yet the connection manners of the joint nut  50  and the female socket  10  are different. The joint nut  60  forms an internal screw (not shown in the diagram), and the top of the female socket  10  forms an external screw  19 . Thereby the joint nut  60  can be screwingly connected to the female socket  10 .  
         [0038]     While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.