Abstract:
A retainer injection-molded from tough plastics for securing two wire meshed/grilled members together, for enabling the two secured members to be turned relative to each other between the operative position and the collapsed position. The retainer has two transverse through holes arranged in parallel, and two peripheral gaps through which the respective wire rods of the first and second wire meshed/grilled members are respectively set into the transverse through holes.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to retainers and, more particularly, to a retainer adapted to detachably secure two wired/grilled members together. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing showing the shape forming of a C-shaped retainer  1  according to the prior art. This structure of C-shaped retainer  1  is commonly used to secure one wire meshed bottom panel  3  and one grilled side panel  4  of a basket  2 , or two grilled side panels  4  of the basket  2  together. When installed, the C-shaped retainer  1  is scrimped to fixedly secure the two connected members together. This structure of C-shaped retainer  1  is not satisfactory in function because of the following drawbacks. 
     1. When installed, the C-shaped retainer  1  cannot easily be removed from the basket  2 . i.e., the basket  2  is not detachable. 
     2. When using a tool to remove the C-shaped retainer  1  from the basket  2  in order to detach the basket  2 , the C-shaped retainer  1  tends to be damaged. 
     3. When installed in the basket  2 , the C-shaped retainer  1  tends to be forced out of place unless it is soldered to the basket  2 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a retainer, which can conveniently detachably be fastened to two members to be secured together. It is another object of the present invention to provide a retainer, which is practical for use to secure parts of a basket, making the basket detachable when not in use. According to the present invention, the retainer is an oblong block injection-molded from tough plastics, having a first transverse through hole and a second transverse through hole arranged in parallel, a first gap in communication between the first transverse through hole and the space outside the retainer, a first springy arm disposed around the first transverse through hole and suspending above the first gap, a first stop block disposed at one side of the first through hole opposite to the first springy arm, a second gap in communication between the second transverse through hole and the space outside the retainer, a second springy arm disposed around the second transverse through hole at one side of the second gap, and a second stop block disposed at one side of the second gap opposite to the second stop block. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the first gap and the second gap are transversely disposed in parallel in one side of the retainer at different elevations. According to another embodiment of the present invention the first gap and the second gap are disposed in two sides of the retainer and arranged at right angles. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing showing the shape forming of a C-shaped retainer according to the prior art. 
     FIG. 2 is an applied view showing the prior art C-shaped retainer used in a basket. 
     FIG. 3 is an elevational view of a retainer made according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 4 is an exploded view of a basket showing the application of the present invention. 
     FIG. 5 is an assembly view of the basket shown in FIG.  4 . 
     FIG. 5A is a sectional view in an enlarged scale taken along line A—A of FIG.  5 . 
     FIG. 6 shows the basket of FIG. 5 collapsed. 
     FIG. 7 is an elevational view of a retainer made according to the second embodiment of the present invention. 
     FIG. 8 is an elevational view showing the retainer of the second embodiment of the present invention used in a basket 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to FIG. 3, a retainer  10  is a substantially oblong member injection-molded from tough plastics, having a first transverse through hole  11  and a second transverse through hole  15  arranged in parallel, a transverse side gap  12  in communication between the first transverse through hole  11  and the outside space, a smoothly arched springy arm  13  extended in transverse direction in one end thereof around the first transverse through hole  11  and suspending above the transverse side gap  12 , a transverse stop block  14  provided between the first transverse through hole  11  and the second transverse through hole  15 , a longitudinal bottom gap  16  perpendicularly extended from the second transverse through hole  15  to the other end thereof, a longitudinal springy arm  17  extended from one end of the transverse stop block  14  and suspended at one side of the second transverse through hole  15  and the longitudinal bottom gap  16 , and a longitudinal stop block  18  extended from the other end of the transverse stop block  14  and suspended at the other side of the second transverse through hole  15  and the longitudinal bottom gap  16  opposite to the longitudinal springy arm  17 . 
     FIGS.  4 ˜ 7  show an application example of the present invention used to fasten a wire meshed bottom panel  3  and four grilled side panels  4  into a basket  2 . By means of forcing the first transverse through hole  11  and the second transverse through hole  15  into engagement with a wire rod of the wire meshed bottom panel  3  and a wire rod of the grilled side panels  4 , the retainer  10  is fastened to the wire meshed bottom panel  3  and the grilled side panels  4  to hold the wire meshed bottom panel  3  and the grilled side panels  4  at right angles. In the same way, the retainer  10  can be fastened to two grilled side panels  4  to hold the two grilled side panels  4  at right angles. Through the transverse side gap  12  or the bottom gap  16 , a wire rod can be forced into the transverse through hole  11  or  15 . Because the smoothly arched springy arm  13  and the transverse stop block  14  are disposed at two sides of the first transverse through hole  11  and the transverse side gap  12 , the smoothly arched springy arm  13  can be bent slightly outwardly apart from the transverse stop block  14  to widen the transverse side gap  12  for enabling the wire rod to be forced into the first transverse through hole  11 . When the wire rod set into the first transverse through hole  11 , the smoothly arched springy arm  13  immediately returns to its former shape (due to the effect of its spring power) to narrow the transverse side gap  12  and to keep the loaded wire rod firmly in the first transverse through hole  11 . The longitudinal springy arm  17  and the longitudinal stop block  18  are functioning in the same manner as the smoothly arched springy arm  13  and transverse stop block  14 . Further, when the retainer  10  secures two grilled side panels  4 , or one grilled side panel  4  and the wire meshed bottom panel  3  together, the two grilled side panels  4  or the grilled side panel  4  with the wire meshed bottom panel  3  can be turned relative to each other between the operative position (see FIG. 5) and the collapsed position (see FIG.  6 ). 
     FIGS. 7 and 8 show an alternate form of the present invention. According to this embodiment, the retainer  20  has a first transverse through hole  21  and a second transverse through hole  25  arranged in parallel, a first transverse side gap  22  in communication between the first transverse through hole  21  and the outside space, a second transverse side gap  26  in communication between the second transverse through hole  25  and the outside space, a first smoothly arched springy arm  23  extended in transverse direction in one end thereof around the first transverse through hole  21  and suspending above the first transverse side gap  12 , a second smoothly arched springy arm  27  extended in transverse direction in the other end thereof around the second transverse through hole  25  below the second transverse side gap  26 , a first stop block  24  provided between the first transverse through hole  21  and the second transverse through hole  25 , and a second stop block  28  provided between the first transverse through hole  21  and the second transverse through hole  25  and formed integral with the first stop block  24 . Actually, this embodiment is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 with the exception of the extending direction of the transverse side gap  26 , the second smoothly arched springy arm  27 , and the second stop block  28 . 
     A prototype of retainer has been constructed with the features of FIGS. 3 and 8. The retainer functions smoothly to provide all of the features discussed earlier. 
     Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.