Patent Publication Number: US-9847594-B2

Title: Cable connector

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/874,698, filed Sep. 06, 2013. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of Invention 
     The invention relates to a cable connector, and more particularly, a process art of applying a riveting method to a SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) cable connector. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     A prior art skill of a cable connector is disclosed in TIPO (Taiwan Intellectual Property Office) Patent No. I257750 patent (the foreign patent families of the said Taiwan Patent are CN 1655408 A and U.S. Pat. No.6,824,426 B1).  FIG. 1  is an exploded schematic view of a cable connector of a prior art. The cable connector  100  comprises the wires  3  and terminals  2 . The terminals  2  and wires  3  are connected by the welding method, and the welding method is very labor intensive. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The main purposes of the present invention are to provide a cable connector to dispose a riveting zone on each terminal relative to a connecting part of the wires, and to connect each terminal and each wire by the riveting method. 
     One of the main purposes of the present invention is to provide a cable connector which comprises a first body, a plurality of terminals, and a plurality of wires. 
     The first body comprises a plurality of first slots and a plurality of second slots. The terminals comprise a plurality of first terminals and a plurality of second terminals, each of the first terminals and the second terminals having a contacting zone, a fixing zone, and a riveting zone, and the first terminals and the second terminals are respectively in the first slots and the second slots of the first body. Each of the wires comprises a connecting part corresponding to one of the riveting zones of the first terminals and the second terminals and a part of some of the wires are covered by insulating layers. 
     The connecting parts of the wires are connected with the riveting zones of the corresponding terminals. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first body further comprises a locking portion, and the cable connector further comprises a second body, the second body further comprises a locked portion, the second body is fixed on the first body from a back side of the first body, and the second terminals are fixed on the first body with the locking portion of the first body and the locked portion of the second body. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second body comprises a plurality of fixing areas to fix the second terminals. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a space between the second terminals, the fixing areas, and the first body is filled by colloid or the space is plugged by a back cover. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cable connector further comprises a back cover. The back cover comprises a plurality of projections, part of the projections are fixed with the first body to fix the back cover on the first body from a back side of the first body. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the back cover comprises a plurality of fixing areas to fix part of the first terminals. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fixing zones of part of the first terminals are embedded into the first slots of the first body from the back side of the first body. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the contacting zones of part of the first terminals are electrically connected with the riveting zone of part of the first terminals by the method of many to one. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there are a plurality of first intervals between the riveting zones of the second terminals and a plurality of second intervals between the contacting zones of the second terminals. The first intervals are larger than or equal to the second intervals. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second terminals further comprises a plurality of connecting zones between the riveting zones and the contacting zones of the second terminals, a length of the connecting zone of one of the second terminals and a length of the connecting zone of another second terminal adjacent to the one of the second terminals are the same. 
     According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, part of each of the second terminals between the contacting zone and the riveting zone is bending line shaped or curving line shaped. 
     Another of the main purposes of the present invention is to provide a cable connector which comprises a back cover, a first body, a plurality of terminals, and a plurality of wires. 
     The back cover comprises a plurality of projections. The first body comprises a plurality of first slots and a plurality of second slots. The terminals comprise a plurality of first terminals and a plurality of second terminals, each of the first terminals and the second terminals having a contacting zone, a fixing zone, and a riveting zone, and the first terminals and the second terminals are respectively in the first slots and the second slots of the first body. Each of the wires comprises a connecting part corresponding to one of the riveting zones of the first terminals and the second terminals and a part of some of the wires are covered by insulating layers. 
     The connecting parts of the wires are connected with the riveting zones of the corresponding terminals. Part of the projections are fixed with the first body to fix the back cover on the first body from a back side of the first body. 
     According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first body further comprises a locking portion. The cable connector further comprises a second body, and the second body further comprises a locked portion, the second body is fixed on the first body from the back side of the first body, and the second terminals are fixed on the first body with the locking portion of the portion of the first body and the locked portion of the second body. 
     According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second body comprises a plurality of fixing areas to fix the second terminals. 
     According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a space between the second terminals, the fixing area, and the first body is filled by colloid or the space is plugged by a back cover. 
     According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the back cover comprises a plurality of fixing areas to fix part of the first terminals. 
     According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fixing zones of part of the first terminals are embedded into the back side of the first body. 
     According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the contacting zones of part of the first terminals are electrically connected with the riveting zone of part of the first terminals by the method of many to one. 
     According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there are a plurality of first intervals between the riveting zones of the second terminals and a plurality of second intervals between the contacting zones of the second terminals, and the first intervals are larger than or equal to the second intervals. 
     According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second terminals further comprises a plurality of connecting zones between the riveting zones and the contacting zones of the second terminals, a length of the connecting zone of one of the second terminals and a length of the connecting zone of another second terminal adjacent to the one of the second terminals are the same. 
     According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, part of each of the second terminals between the contacting zone and the riveting zone is bending line shaped or curving line shaped. 
     The advantage of the present invention is to solve the problem of riveting caused by small intervals between the terminals and the wires, and simplifying the cable connector assembly process. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded schematic view of a cable connector of a prior art. 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded schematic view of a cable connector of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a detailed structure drawing of the terminals in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a detailed structure drawing of the riveting zones of the terminals of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is a semi-packaged schematic view of a cable connector of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is an exploded schematic view of the terminals of the cable connector of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is an exploded schematic view of the terminals of the cable connector of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is an exploded schematic view of the terminals of the cable connector of a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The following descriptions of all embodiments, with reference to the accompanying drawings, are used to exemplify the present invention. Directional terms mentioned in the present invention, such as “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “back”, “left”, “right”, “inside”, “outside”, “side”, etc., are only used with reference to the orientation of the accompanying drawings. Therefore, the used directional terms are intended to illustrate, but not to limit, the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 2  is an exploded schematic view of a cable connector of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 3  is a detailed structure drawing of the terminals in  FIG. 2 . A cable connector  200  comprises a first body  10 , a second body  15 , a back cover  16 , a plurality of terminals  13 , and a plurality of wires  23 . 
     The first body  10  comprises a plurality of first slots  17 , a plurality of second slots  18 , and a locking portion  26 . The second body  15  comprises a locked portion  27  and a plurality of fixing areas  151 . The back cover  16  comprises a plurality of projections  31  and a plurality of fixing areas  351 . 
     Each of the terminals  13  comprises a plurality of first terminals  11  and a plurality of second terminals  12 . Each of the first terminals  11  and the second terminals  12  having a contacting zone  20 , a fixing zone  21 , and a riveting zone  22 , and the first terminals  11  and the second terminals  12  are respectively in the first slots  17  and the second slots  18  of the first body  10 . 
     The contacting zones  20  of part of the first terminals  11  are electrically connected with the riveting zone  22  of part of the first terminals  11  by the method of many to one. 
     There are a plurality of first intervals  28  between the riveting zones  22  of the second terminals  12  and a plurality of second intervals  29  between the contacting zones  20  of the second terminals  12 , and the first intervals  28  are larger than or equal to the second intervals  29 . 
     Moreover, the second terminals  12  further comprises a plurality of connecting zones  19  between the riveting zones  22  and the contacting zones  20  of the second terminals  12 , a length of the connecting zone  19  of one of the second terminals  12  and a length of the connecting zone  19  of another second terminal  12  adjacent to the one of the second terminals are the same. Consideration of the different lengths of the connecting zones  19  will cause problems during signal transfer, part of each of the second terminals  12  between the contacting zone  20  and the riveting zone  22  (the connecting zone  19 ) is bending line shaped or curving line shaped to make the lengths of the connecting zones  19  be the same, even when the first intervals  28  are larger than or equal to the second intervals  29 . 
     Each of the wires  23  having a connecting part  251  to one of the riveting zones  22  of the corresponding terminals  13  (the first terminals  11  and the second terminals  12 ), and a part of some of the wires  23  are covered by insulating layers  252 . The connecting parts  251  of the wires  23  are connected with the riveting zones  22  of the corresponding terminals  13  (the first terminals  11  and the second terminals  12 ). 
     In the embodiment, the first terminals  11  are fixed in the first body  10  corresponding to the fixing zones  21  of the first slots  17 . Moreover, the first terminals  11  are embedded into the first body  10  from a back side of the first body  10 . Then, part of the projections  31  are connected with the first body  10  to make the back cover  16  to be fixed on the first body  10  from the back side of the first body  10 . 
     The second terminals  12  are embedded into the fixing area  151  of the second body  15  by the connecting zones  19 . The locked portion  27  is fixed together with the locking portion  26 , making the second body  15  to be fixed on the first body  10  from the back side of the first body  10 . The second terminals  12  are fixed on the first body. Finally, a space between the second terminals  12 , the fixing areas  151  of the second body  15 , and the first body  10  is filled by colloid or the space is plugged with the back cover  16 , avoiding problems during signal transfer caused by excess glue in the contacting zones  20  of the terminals  13  left by injection molding. 
       FIG. 4  is a detailed structure drawing of the riveting zones  22  of the terminals of  FIG. 2 . Each of the riveting zones  22  comprises at least one clamping portion  222  and a holding portion  221 , an angle ( 223 ,  224 ) between the clamping portions  222  and holding portion  221  is between 0-90 degrees. 
       FIG. 5  is a semi-packaged schematic view of a cable connector of a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. In drawing, the first terminals  11  are all embedded into the first body  10 , the back cover  16  is also assembled in the first body  10 . Only the second body  15  and the second terminals  12  fixed thereon could be assembled to the first body  10  by the locking portion  26  and locked portion  27  after the wires  23  are assembled. In this manner, it is possible to shorten the assembling time because processing the packaging of the first terminals  11  and the second terminals  12  at the same time can be realized. 
     The difference between the present invention and the prior art is that one side of each of the first terminals  11  and the second terminals  12  is disposed in the riveting zones  22  in the present invention. By adjusting the intervals between the terminals  13  (the first terminals  11  and the second terminals  12 ), the process of assembling the terminals  13  (the first terminals  11  and the second terminals  12 ) and the wires  23  can be done with a riveting machine, rather than by labor intensive welding, as in the prior art. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 ,  FIG. 6  is an exploded schematic view of the terminals of the cable connector of a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, and  FIG. 7  is an exploded schematic view of the terminals of the cable connector of a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. The difference between the second embodiment, the third embodiment, and the first embodiment is that part of the first terminals  11  are not fixed on the first slots  17  of the first body  10  by the fixing zones  21  directly. Rather, part of the first terminals  11  and the back cover  16  are integrally molded firstly, and then assembled with the first body  10  by the back cover  16 . 
       FIG. 8  is an exploded schematic view of the terminals of the cable connector of a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention. The difference between the fourth embodiment and the first embodiment is that all of the first terminals  11  are not fixed on the first slots  17  of the first body  10  by the fixing zones  21  directly. Rather, all of the first terminals  11  and the back cover  16  are integrally molded firstly, and then assembled with the first body  10  by the back cover  16 . 
     Although the present invention has been disclosed as preferred embodiments, the foregoing preferred embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, can make various kinds of modifications and variations to the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the claims of the present invention must be defined.