Patent Publication Number: US-2004048512-A1

Title: Quick coupler for cylindrical battery terminal

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention generally relates to a connector for battery terminal, and in particular to a quick coupler for connecting cylindrical battery terminal of a battery set.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art  
       [0004] Batteries are widely used in vehicle, ship, electric motor, uninterrupted power system, portable electronic equipment and so on. The terminal of the known Pb-acid battery is either in a L-shaped or cylindrical form. The cylindrical battery terminal is mostly used in a battery with larger electric power capacity, while the L-shaped terminal is used in a battery with smaller electric power capacity.  
       [0005]FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a prior art battery  1  mounted with two conventional cylindrical terminals thereon. The cylindrical terminals include a positive terminal  2  and a negative terminal  3  upward extended from the battery  1 .  
       [0006] In the manufacture of the battery, lead oxide is mixed with sulfuric acid to form into paste, which can be smoothly coated on the battery grid. After curing, the battery grid is fitted into battery case with two protruded ends. After the assembly of the electric plate and the battery case, it is followed by an important procedure known as “formation”. During formation, the two protruded ends are connected respectively to two wires, and electrified. Under controlled conditions of appropriate electric current, electric voltage, time, specific gravity of acid, paste coated on the plate is transferred by electrical chemistry into the positive and negative terminals.  
       [0007] In prior art, for connection of battery terminals to wires, a metal ring is put around the cylindrical terminal of the battery and then fastened by means of a fixing screw. In another connection approach, alligator clips  4  are used to clip on the cylindrical terminal, so as to connecting a wire  5  to the terminal of the battery, as shown in FIG. 1. In practice, connection of terminals of the battery is always needed for purposes like charging, discharging or measurement of electricity.  
       [0008] However, in the application of conventional metal ring for wire connection, it wastes a lot of time and effort in fastening the screw, which does not meet production requirement. The use of alligator clips is not ideal too. It is because the sharp teeth and strong clipping power of alligator clip always cause damage to metal surface of battery terminal. Hence, some batteries will become defect. Moreover, when electricity is connected, electric flow is mainly via the sharp tooth tips of alligator clip, where conductivity is poor. Although alligator clip is more convenient and improved as compared to conventional screw, it is not effective enough for saving of time and effort in the viewpoint of manufacturers. During formation of battery, since a batch of batteries will be connected, it wastes a lot of effort. In addition, alligator clip is not safe and workers may carelessly touch the conductive part of clip and be shocked during operation.  
       [0009] Thus, it is desired to have a quick coupler for cylindrical battery terminal for overcoming the problems discussed above.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0010] Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a quick coupler for cylindrical battery terminal. The connection between the electric wire and the battery terminal can be simplified and accomplished in short time by mounting the quick coupler onto the battery terminal.  
       [0011] Another object of the present invention is to provide a good conductive coupler for cylindrical battery terminal. When mounted to the battery terminal, by means of the ring shape contact surface, the coupler can tightly contact the metal part of battery terminal, providing excellent conductivity between battery terminal and wire.  
       [0012] Another object of the present invention is to provide a smooth coupler for cylindrical battery terminal, which can avoid damage to battery terminal. Since there is no sharp teeth on the coupler, it will not cause damage to the surface of battery terminal.  
       [0013] A further object of the present invention is to provide an electric safe coupler for cylindrical battery terminal. The coupler is easily to be mounted on battery terminal and greatly reduces the chance of careless touching of conductive part by workers. Unlike the alligator clip, the ring shape coupler processes no teeth, and hence will not generate electric arc. Safety and coupler life-span is greatly enhanced 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0014] The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description of preferred embodiments thereof, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:  
     [0015]FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a pair of clips may clip on the cylindrical terminals of a battery in accordance the prior art;  
     [0016]FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a pair of quick couplers constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention may be mounted on the cylindrical battery terminals of a battery;  
     [0017]FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view of the quick coupler of the present invention;  
     [0018]FIG. 4 shows that the quick coupler of the present invention includes a metal disk and a plurality of elastic metal strips;  
     [0019]FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the quick coupler of the present invention taken along line  5 - 5  of FIG. 3;  
     [0020]FIG. 6 shows that the interior surface wall of the elastic metal strip of the present invention is formed with a plurality of transverse ribs; and  
     [0021]FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing that the elastic metal strip of the present invention is further formed with a bent section between the metal disk and the terminal contact section. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0022] With reference to FIG. 2, it is a perspective view showing that a pair of quick couplers  6  constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention is mounted on the cylindrical battery terminals  2 ,  3  respectively formed on a battery  1 . For explanation, the same reference numbers used in the previous drawing will be used to refer to the same or like parts. Each of the quick couplers  6  is connected with an electric wire  5 .  
     [0023]FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view showing that the quick coupler  6  of the present invention includes an insulated mask  61  having a top plate  611  and downward cylindrical wall integrally formed from the top plate  611 . With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the insulated mask  61  forms an internal cavity and is tapered with a broad open bottom end adapted to mount onto a cylindrical battery terminal of the battery. The top plate  611  is provided with a central through hole  62 . Moreover, the quick coupler  6  includes a metal disk  71  and a plurality of elastic metal strips  7  mounted in the internal cavity of the insulted mask  61 . As shown in FIG. 4, the elastic metal strips  7  are extended from a periphery of the metal disk  71 . Each of the elastic metal strips  7  is formed with a terminal contact section  7   b  and an inclined section  7   a  integrally extended from the terminal contact section  7   b.    
     [0024] With reference to FIG. 5, preferably, the terminal contact section  7   b  is extended downward from the metal disk  71 , and is adjacent to the interior surface of the cylindrical wall of the insulated mask  61 . The inclined section  7   a  is slightly extended outward from the terminal contact section  7   b  and is engaged with an inward edge  63  formed on the bottom edge of the cylindrical wall of the insulated mask  61 . By this way, the elastic metal strip  7  is firmly mounted within the insulated mask  61 .  
     [0025] As shown in FIG. 5, the metal disk  71  is fixed with an upward wire connection portion  72  protrusive to the central through hole  62  of the insulated mask  61  by means of a fastening element  73 . The wire connection portion  72  of the metal disk  71  is connected with a tip end  51  of the electric wire  5 . Besides, the wire connection portion  72  is preferably covered with an insulated sleeve  64  for electric insulation. The wire connection portion  72  is conductive and connects the power from the electric wire  5  to the metal disk  71 .  
     [0026] The quick coupler  6  can be tightly connected to a cylindrical terminal of a battery by mounting the insulated mask  61  on the cylindrical terminal. At this time, each elastic metal strip  7  contacts the conductive surface of the cylindrical terminal of the battery, and the top end of the cylindrical terminal of the battery tightly touches the bottom surface of the metal disk  71 , resulting a good electrical contact.  
     [0027] With reference to FIG. 6, it is a partially enlarged perspective view showing the elastic metal strip  7  of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the interior surface of the elastic metal strip  7  at its terminal contact section  7   b  is preferably formed with a plurality of transverse ribs  8 . When the quick coupler  6  mounts onto the cylindrical terminal of the battery, the elastic metal strip  7  may further tightly contact the exterior surface of the cylindrical terminal of the battery by means of the transverse ribs  8  with better electrical contact therebetween.  
     [0028]FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view further showing that the elastic metal strip  7  is formed with a bent section  7   c  between the metal disk  71  and the terminal contact section  7   b.    
     [0029] Although the present invention has been described with respect to the preferred embodiments, it is contemplated that a variety of modifications, variations and substitutions may be done without departing from the scope of the present invention that is intended to be defined by the appended claims.