Patent Publication Number: US-11660736-B1

Title: Stapler

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a stapler. 
     Description of the Prior Art 
     In many fields, there is often a need to arrange cables according to different environments or operational needs, wherein the cables may be electrical cables or non-electrical cables. Specifically, the requirement of arranging conductive cables in order to build a circuit is more common. 
     The cable is usually fixed on a mounting base (such as wood or cement base). Since the cable is very long and flexible, it is not easy to make it straight and positioned. Therefore, a stapler with staples (such as U-shaped staples) is commonly used to fix the cable. However, if the position of the cable is not stably maintained before the cable is fixed by the staples, the cable can be easily displaced, which is not conducive to operation of stapling, and the cable can be damaged by the staples easily. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,931 discloses a cable-holding structure suitable for cables of various sizes, wherein it is adapted to fix cables of different sizes through swinging an adjustment member provided on the main body of the stapler to select one of notches of different sizes. However, there is a need of a large space for the swinging of the adjustment member, resulting in a larger size of the stapler and an unstable and easily-damaged structure. 
     The present invention is, therefore, arisen to obviate or at least mitigate the above-mentioned disadvantages. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The main object of the present invention is to provide a stapler which can effectively hold a cable for stapling. 
     To achieve the above and other objects, a stapler is provided, including: a main body, including a front end portion, the front end portion including a staple outlet and a plate member, the plate member including a concave adjacent to the staple outlet; a holder, switchably disposed on the main body, including a plurality of notches with different sizes and a plurality of first positioning portions; and a positioning member, disposed on the main body, releasably positioned with one of the plurality of first positioning portions so that one of the plurality of notches corresponds to the concave in a front to rear direction, for receiving a portion of a cable. 
     The present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations only, the preferred embodiment(s) in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a stereogram of a preferable embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  2    is a breakdown drawing of a preferable embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  3    is a partial breakdown drawing of a preferable embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  4    is a partial cross-sectional view of a preferable embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIGS.  5 - 9    are drawings showing operation of a preferable embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIGS.  10  and  11    are drawings showing different applications according to a preferable embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to  FIGS.  1  to  11    for a preferable embodiment of the present invention. A stapler  1  of the present invention includes a main body  10 , a holder  20  and a positioning member  30 . 
     The main body  10  includes a front end portion  11 , the front end portion  11  includes a staple outlet  12  and a plate member  13 , and the plate member  13  includes a concave  14  adjacent to the staple outlet  12 . The holder  20  is switchably disposed on the main body  10 , and the holder  20  includes a plurality of notches  21  with different sizes and a plurality of first positioning portions  22 . The positioning member  30  is disposed on the main body  10 , and the positioning member  30  is releasably positioned with one of the plurality of first positioning portions  22  so that one of the plurality of notches  21  corresponds to the concave  14  in a front to rear direction, for receiving a portion of a cable. Whereby, after a required one of the plurality of notches  21  is chosen by switching the holder  20 , the holder  20  is stably positioned so that the cable can be stably held for stapling. 
     The main body  10  further includes a striker  15  configured to strike a staple  100 . The holder  20  is disposed on the front end portion  11 , and the plate member  13  includes a guiding slot  131 . The striker  15  is slidably received within the guiding slot  131 , which stabilizes the strike to the staple  100 . In this embodiment, the holder  20  is rotatably disposed on the front end portion  11 , and each of the plurality of notches  21  corresponds to one of the plurality of first positioning portions  22  on a radial direction of the holder  20 . 
     Specifically, each of the plurality of notches  21  includes two straight sides  211  opposite to each other, two shoulders  212  and a concave portion  213 . The two shoulders  212  are laterally connected to the two straight sides  211 , respectively. The concave portion  213  is connected to an end of each of the two shoulders  212 . An extension of the two shoulders  212  divides the notch  21  into a rectangular region  214  and a segment region  215  ( FIG.  4   ). The rectangular region  214  is configured to be applied to a cable  200  which is rectangular or flat ( FIG.  10   ), and the segment region  215  is configured to be applied to a cable  300  which is circular ( FIG.  11   ). 
     The positioning member  30  includes at least one second positioning portion  31 , one of the first positioning portion  22  and the second positioning portion  31  includes a recess, and the other of the first positioning portion  22  and the second positioning portion  31  includes a protrusion releasably positioned within the recess releasably. In this embodiment, the first positioning portion  22  includes the recess, and the second positioning portion  31  includes the protrusion. The recess and the protrusion are simple in structure and stably positionable with each other. 
     The holder  20  further includes a plurality of size indicative portions  23 , and each of the plurality of size indicative portions  23  corresponds to one of the plurality of notches  21  radially, for indicating the size of the notch  21  which is selected. The positioning member  30  further includes a positioning slot  32 , and each of the plurality of size indicative portions  23  is releasably engaged within the positioning slot  32 . Through rotating the holder  20  to make one of the plurality of size indicative portions  23  engaged within the positioning slot  32 , the notch  21  which is required can be selected quickly. 
     The positioning member  30  is movably disposed on the front end portion  11 . Specifically, the plate member  13  further includes a groove  132 , the positioning member  30  further includes a projection  33 , a base  34  and a shaft  35 , and the projection  33  and the shaft  35  extend from the base  34  and are lateral to each other. The projection  33  is slidably received within the groove  132  so that the projection  33  can operate smoothly, stably and precisely. 
     The stapler  1  further includes an elastic member  40 , and the elastic member  40  is disposed between the front end portion  11  and the positioning member  30 . Specifically, the elastic member  40  is a coil spring and disposed around the shaft  35 , and the at least one second positioning portion  31 , the shaft  35  and the coil spring are arranged in line so that the elastic member  40  can stably and effectively urge the positioning member  30  to provide good positioning and recovering effects. Preferably, an end of each of the plurality of size indicative portions  23  is outwardly tapered and includes two bevels  231 , and each of the two bevels  231  urges the positioning member  30  and moves into the positioning slot  32  when the holder  20  is switched. Specifically, when the positioning member  30  is moved or the holder  20  is rotated, the bevel  231  of one of the plurality of size indicative portions  23  urges the positioning member  30  to move so that the second positioning portion  31  disengages from the positioning slot  32 ; when the holder  20  is kept rotating, the bevel  231  of another one of the plurality of size indicative portions  23  urges the positioning member  30  to move so that the another one of the plurality of size indicative portions  23  engages into the positioning slot  32  automatically ( FIGS.  5 - 9   ), thus being easy and quick to operate. 
     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.