Patent Publication Number: US-2005115027-A1

Title: Shell structure with ring clip

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a shell structure, and more particularly, to a shell structure having a ring clip which can be produced in an automatic manner.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The ring clip is widely used in a variety of circumstances. For example, binding a box with objects stored therein, securing a car seat belt, hanging a carrying device. With the assistance of the ring clip, the utilization of objects or devices becomes much easier and is simplified.  
      Currently, the application of the ring clip to an electronic device is common in the electronic industry. Also because of the rapid progress of fabrication within the electronic industry, contemporary electronic devices have much smaller sizes than ever. The trend of electronic devices becoming smaller originates from the consumer demand for convenient carrying and use of electronic devices. Examples of these electronic devices are: an electronic translator, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, an electronic game machine, and a portable drive. Among these electronic devices, especially the portable drive and the mobile phone have a small volume for convenient operation and utilization by consumers under any circumstances.  
      To simplify the storing and carrying of such a small electronic device by consumers, it is common for contemporary manufacturers to incorporate an electronic device with a ring clip. With a necklace installed, the electronic device may be hung from the neck of consumers or wrapped about their hands for convenient operation at any time.  
      As the ring clip has been widely applied to many different areas, there are a lot of structures and related improvements of a ring clip, which are disclosed and known to the public. For example, an improved ring clip structure of a snap hook is used, that ring clip structure consists essentially of a retainer ring, two retainer pins, a hook body with a protruding head, and a snap-on cap. To assemble the snap hook, the protruding head of the hook body is pressed into the snap-on cap, and the retainer pins are inserted into the axle holes of both the retainer ring and the snap-on cap to pivotally secure the snap-on cap to the retainer ring. The hook body of the snap hook is thereby able to rotate around its center as well as to rotate about the retainer pins.  
      The hook body of the aforementioned snap hook is able to rotate relatively to the retainer ring that can be secured to an object. The snap hook has a specific effect. However, the snap hook is constituted by a plurality of members. The snap hook has a fixed volume and therefore is not suitable to be applied to smaller sized electronic devices. The conventional art common to manufacturers, as shown in  FIG. 1 , at the shell body  600  of the small electronic device bores a retainer hole  610 , further the ring clip has to be pressed manually  500  into the retainer hole  610 . The ring clip  500  has a cylinder neck that enables the ring clip  500  to rotate freely, relative to the shell body  600  of the electronic device.  
      The hook portion of the ring clip  500  has two symmetrical portions that allow the hook portion to deform during an installation. A worker can apply force to the ring clip  500  against the retainer hole  610  to squeeze the ring clip  500  into the retainer hole  610 . The hook portion of the ring clip can then expand and hook the inner wall of the shell body  600 . Utilizing labor to install the ring clip  500  is a workable method, but it has drawbacks. First, the manual installation of the ring clip  500  would result in fractures adjacent to the retainer hole  610 . Second, because different workers apply different forces to install the ring clip  500  to the shell body  600 , the product quality is hard to control.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention provides a shell structure with a ring clip, which can be produced by insert molding. The preformed ring clip is first disposed inside a mold. The raw material of the shell body is then injected into the mold. The production of the shell body and the installation of the ring clip into the shell body are finished in the same time.  
      The ring clip comprises of a head portion and an adjoining neck portion. The head portion is exposed outside the shell body. The neck portion extends through a retainer hole of the shell body, with a retainer portion formed at the end thereof. The retaining portion hooks the inner wall of the shell body. Particularly, the neck portion has a cone shape with a predetermined slope. After ejection, the cone shape of the ring clip enables the neck portion of the ring clip to be further disengaged from the shell body. The ring clip is then in a condition of loose assembly, and is able to rotate freely relative to the shell body.  
      In other words, the reason that conventional manufacturing cannot produce a shell body with a ring clip is: conventional manufacturing uses insert molding in a manner that connects the ring clip to the shell body. Likewise, the ring clip is not able to rotate freely relative to the shell body.  
      The ring clip in the present invention has a neck portion. After ejection, slightly pressing the ring clip to push the cone neck into the shell body will disengage the neck portion of the ring clip from the retainer hole of the shell body. The ring clip is then in a condition of loose assembly, and is able to rotate freely relative to the shell body.  
      These and other objectives of the present invention will become obvious to those skilled in the art after reading the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.  
      It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      These as well as other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings:  
       FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view of a shell body with a conventional ring clip installed.  
       FIG. 2  is partial cross-sectional view of a mold, illustrating the production of the shell body of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3A  is a partial cross-sectional view of a shell body with a ring clip of the first embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3B  is a partial cross-sectional view of a shell body with a ring clip of the second embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is partial perspective view of an electronic device, illustrating the usage of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or similar portions.  
      A first embodiment of a shell body with a ring clip in accordance with the present invention is shown in  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3A . Ordinarily speaking, the shell body  20  is produced by injecting raw material into a mold, and further retrieved after forming. First, a preformed ring clip  10  is placed into a mold that is constituted essentially by a first plate  100 , a second plate  200 , and a mother plate. Second, the raw material of the shell body  20  is then injected into the cavity  300 . Third, after forming, an ejection process can retrieve the shell body  20  with the ring clip  10  from the mold. The production of the shell body  20  and the installation of the ring clip  10  into the shell body  20  are thereby finished in the same time.  
      The ring clip  10  includes a head portion  11  and a neck portion  12 . The shell body  20  has a retainer hole  21  corresponding to the neck portion  12  of the ring clip  10 . The head portion  11  has a through slot  15 , and a skirt  16  at the bottom thereof. The head portion  11  is gradually enlarged so that the diameter of the skirt  16  adjacent to the shell body  20  is larger than the diameter of the retainer hole  21 . The skirt  16  prevents the head portion  11  from falling into the shell body  20 , and ensures that the head portion  11  is exposed outside the shell body  20 . Particularly, the neck portion  12  of the ring clip  10  forms a conical body  13  with a predetermined slope. The conical body  13  is gradually shrunk from the interior of the shell body  20  to the exterior of the shell body  20 . The height of the conical body  13  is longer than the depth of the retainer hole  21  of the shell body  20 . By means of the conical body  13  of the neck portion  12 , the ring clip  10  can be disengaged from the shell body  20  after the shell body  20  has been taken out by demolding. Slight pressure applied to the head portion  11  pushes the neck portion  12  slightly into the shell body  20 , and releases the neck portion  12  from a tight engagement with the retainer hole  21  of the shell body  20 . The neck portion  12  is thereby in a condition of loose assembly. The ring clip  10  is then able to rotate freely relative to the shell body  20 . In addition, the ring clip  10  has a retainer portion  14  extending from the bottom of the neck portion  12 . The retainer portion  14  hooks the inner wall of the shell body  20  in order to prevent the ring clip  10  from detaching from the shell body  20 .  
      Further, the ring clip  10  may have another shape, as shown in  FIG. 3B . In this embodiment, the conical body  13  of the neck portion  12  is gradually shrunk from the exterior of the shell body  20  to the interior of the shell body  20 . The neck portion  12  is also in a condition of loose assembly. The ring clip  10  is able to rotate freely relative to the shell body  20 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 4 , a necklace  30  is inserted through the through slot  15  of the ring clip  10 . With the necklace  30  installed, an electronic device using the present invention may be hung from the neck of consumers or wrapped about their hands for convenient operation by consumers at any time.  
      By utilizing the present invention, the production of the shell body and the installation of the ring clip into the shell body are finished in the same time. The production of the shell body and the installation of the ring clip into the shell body can be accomplished by automatic machines. The shell structure with a ring clip in accordance with the present invention thereby has higher production efficiency, a better product quality, and a lower production cost.  
      While an illustrative and presently preferred embodiment of the invention has been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations except insofar as limited by the prior art.