Patent Publication Number: US-2010122834-A1

Title: Wire organization structure

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an organization structure and particularly to a wire organization structure to collect and hold a wire in an orderly manner and adjust the wire at a desired length. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Rapid advance of technology has spawned a wide variety of electronic products in people&#39;s life, such as home appliances, stereos, televisions, computers and the like. They mostly require wires to transmit electric power or signals, such as telephone lines, power cords, cable TV wires and network lines and the like. While the wires and cables provide many benefits to people, they also create annoying problems such as inconvenient storing, space constraint, tangling and unsightly. 
     To remedy the aforesaid problems, many different types of wire collection and organization techniques have been proposed. References can be found in R.O.C. patent Nos. M291167, M327356, M328810 and M330003, China patent No. CN2935685, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,446,898 and 7,364,109. M291167, M327356 and M330003 disclose a protection shield for electronic devices that has a reel fastened to a back panel. The protection shield and the back panel are spaced from each other to form a wire collection room. The wire (such as an earphone wire) of an electronic device can be wound on the reel and held in the wire collection room. But in the event that the wire is lengthy winding of the wire could take a long time. When in use, unwinding in the opposite direction is needed. 
     M328810 also discloses a protection shield for holding an electronic device. It has a device holding pouch to hold the electronic device and a wire holding pouch located at one side of the device holding pouch. The wire holding pouch has an opening to receive the wire. When in use, the wire has to be arranged in advance in a suitable size to be loaded through the opening into the wire holding pouch. It does not provide wire organization function, hence the wire is easily entangled. 
     The techniques mentioned above require human labor to do wire collection. CN2935685, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,446,898 and 7,364, 109 provide an automatic wire collector. They have a shell, a reel and an elastic element. The reel aims to wind a wire and is held in the shell. When the wire is drawn out, the reel is rotated against the shell. The elastic element provides elasticity to drive the reel to rotate in the opposite direction to wind and collect the wire. But the elastic element tends to have elastic fatigue after used for a period of time, and winding of the wire becomes not possible. Hence it has a limited life span. Moreover, the automatic wire collector has a complicated structure. In the event that any element is damaged, the shell has to be disassembled to remove the reel and elastic element to do repairs. And winding of the wire on the reel and loading of the elements into the shell have to be performed anew. Hence repairs and maintenance are difficult. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary object of the present invention is to solve the aforesaid disadvantages and provide a reel that is simply structured to facilitate user operation. 
     To achieve the foregoing object, the invention provides a wire organization structure that has two wire holding ducts each is hollow inside to form a wire running space. The wire running space has two ends formed respectively a wire inlet and a wire outlet. A wire to be held has two ends threading through by entering the wire inlet and leaving the wire outlet. The two ends form respectively a moving displacement against each wire holding duct. The moving displacement at one end of the wire can be extended from the wire inlet towards the wire outlet to form a first use condition, while another displacement at the other end of the wire is directed from the wire outlet towards the wire inlet and retained and held at the wire outlet to form a second use condition. By having the two ends of the wire threaded through the wire holding ducts and formed displacements therewith, the length and use condition of the wire can be adjusted to facilitate user operation. 
     Compared with the conventional techniques, the invention provides many benefits such as orderly wire organization and faster wire collection. 
     The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view of the invention for loading a wire. 
         FIGS. 3A and 3B  are schematic views of a first embodiment of the invention in use conditions. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view of the first embodiment of the invention in a wire collecting condition. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view of the first embodiment of the invention in another wire collecting condition. 
         FIGS. 6A and 6B  are schematic views of a second embodiment of the invention in use conditions. 
         FIGS. 7A and 7B  are schematic views of a third embodiment of the invention in use conditions. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the present invention provides a wire organization structure  10  which includes a base board  11 , two wire holding ducts  13  located at one side of the base board  11  and a wire clipping portion  12  at the other side of the base board  11  opposite to the two wire holding ducts  13 . The two wire holding ducts  13  are spaced from each other to form a winding trough  134  between them on the base board  11 . Each of the wire holding ducts  13  is hollow inside to form a wire running space  130  which has two ends formed respectively a wire inlet  131  and a wire outlet  132 . At least one wire holding duct  13  has a wire loading slot  133  communicating with the wire running space  130  to facilitate loading a wire  20  into the wire running space  130 . The wire  20  has two ends threading through respectively the wire inlet  131  and wire outlet  132  to form a moving displacement against each wire holding duct  13 . 
     When in use, referring to  FIGS. 3A and 3B  for an embodiment in which the wire  20  is an earphone wire with two ends  21  running through the two wire holding ducts  13  and connecting respectively to a signal terminal  22  and a speaker  23 . The wire outlets  132  of the two wire holding ducts  13  are at the same side so that the two ends  21  leave the two wire holding ducts  13  from the same side. The internal diameter of the wire holding ducts  13  is same as the wire inlet  131  and wire outlet  132 . When one or two of the ends  21  are moved from the wire inlet  131  towards the wire outlet  132 , the wire  20  is extended outside to form a first use condition (as shown in  FIG. 3A ). On the other hand, one or two of the ends  21  can also be moved from the wire outlet  132  towards the wire inlet  131 , then the two ends  21  are retained at a storing position at the wire outlet  132  to form a second use condition (as shown in  FIG. 3B ). As the two ends  21  run through the entire wire holding ducts  13 , at the retained and storing position at the wire outlet  132  the wire  20  between the two ends  21  are bent and shrunk at least one half of the length at one side where the wire inlet  131  is located. In the event that the wire  20  is still too long in the second use condition after bent in one half of length, referring to  FIG. 4 , it can be held in the wire clipping portion  12  of the base board  11 ; or wound on the winding trough  134  between the two wire holding ducts  13  to prevent tangling with other articles and being damaged during storing. 
     While the embodiment previously discussed has the wire outlets  132  at the same side of the wire holding ducts  13  to allow the two ends  21  to leave the wire organization structure  10  from the same side,  FIGS. 6A and 6B  illustrate a second embodiment in which the wire outlets  132  are formed at opposite sides of the two wire holding ducts  13 . Hence the two ends  21  for the signal terminal  22  and the speaker  23  are exited from two different sides. Moreover, in this embodiment only one wire loading slot  133  is formed on one wire holding duct  13 . The wire  20  is threaded through the other wire holding duct  13  in advance during fabrication. Moreover, the wire outlet  132  is formed at a diameter smaller than the wire inlet  131 , and the internal diameter of each wire holding duct  13  shrinks gradually from the wire inlet  131  to the wire outlet  132 . Use of this embodiment is substantially same as the one previously discussed. By pulling the signal terminal  22  and speaker  23  from the wire inlet  131  towards the wire outlet  132 , the wire  20  is extended to form the first use condition (referring to  FIG. 6A ). By pulling the signal terminal  22  and speaker  23  in the opposite direction from the wire outlet  132  towards the wire inlet  131 , the wire  20  is held in the second use condition. The smaller wire outlets  132  can clip and retain the signal terminal  22  and speaker  23  to prevent them form loosening off. The extra length of the wire  20  in the second use condition can be clipped in the wire clipping portion  12  or wound on the winding trough  134 . 
     While the previously embodiments have the two wire holding ducts  13  mounted onto the base board  11 ,  FIGS. 7A and 7B  show a third embodiment which has a hinge  14  to bridge the two wire holding ducts  13 . Thus the two wire holding ducts  13  can be pivotally turned relative to each other to change the use conditions. When the wire  20  threaded through the wire holding ducts  13  is in a use condition, the two wire holding ducts  13  are turned about the hinge  14  on a straight line with the wire inlets  131  opposing each other (referring to  FIG. 7A ). To store the wire  20 , the two wire holding ducts  13  are turned about the hinge  14  in a juxtaposed manner (referring to  FIG. 7B ). Then the wire  20  can be pulled and collected through the wire inlets  13   1 . 
     As a conclusion, the wire organization structure  10  of the invention has the two ends  21  of the wire  20  threading through the two wire holding ducts  13  to generate two moving displacements against the wire holding ducts  13 . The whole structure is simpler and requires fewer elements than the conventional techniques. Repairs and maintenance also are easier. The length of the wire  20  during use can be adjusted according to requirements. By pulling the two ends  21  of the wire  20  can be bent at one half of length and retained at the wire outlets  132 . Thus there is no need to wind the entire length of the wire on the reel as the conventional techniques do. Operation is simpler, and wire collection and organization can be done faster. It provides a significant improvement over the conventional techniques. 
     While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been set forth for the purpose of disclosure, modifications of the disclosed embodiments of the invention as well as other embodiments thereof may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all embodiments which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention.