Patent Publication Number: US-11050171-B2

Title: Terminal block structure

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/502,916 filed on Jul. 3, 2019. The entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Technical Field 
     The invention relates to electric connectors, particularly to an improved terminal block structure. 
     Related Art 
     A terminal block is an electric component used in machines or devices with requirements of connecting electric apparatuses. It can used to connect power cords, control lines or data transmission lines. 
     Usually, a conventional terminal block is composed of a body and an elastic sheet assembled thereto. The body and the elastic sheet are assembled by riveting or engagement. Besides the elastic sheet or a conductive terminal, a metal cap is usually needed to prevent a wire from laterally escaping from the body when the wire is fixed. Thus, material and assembling costs will be increased. This is an issue to be solved. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the invention is to provide an improved terminal block structure, which can fasten a wire by existing components without an additional cap to save manufacturing costs. 
     To accomplish the above object, the invention is to provide an improved terminal block structure, which includes an insulative body, a conductive member, an elastic sheet and a pressing member. The insulative body has a receiving room therein and is formed with a pressing hole and a wire hole, which separately communicate with the receiving room. The conductive member is received in the receiving room and has a seat and a contact portion tilted up from the seat. The elastic sheet is received in the receiving room. An end of the elastic sheet is in contact with the conductive member. The pressing member is disposed in the pressing hole and capable of moving toward the receiving room to push another end of the elastic member. The pressing member has a placement slot. Each of two sides of the placement slot having a blocking wall. The wire is inserted into the wire hole to pass through the placement slot and is pushed by the another end of the elastic member to be in contact with the contact portion. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded view of the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the conductive member, elastic sheet and pressing member of the invention; 
         FIG. 3  is an assembled view of the conductive member, elastic sheet and pressing member of the invention; 
         FIG. 4  is an assembled view of the invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-section view of the invention; 
         FIG. 6  is an enlarged view of part A in  FIG. 5 ; 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic view of operation of the pressing member according to  FIG. 6 ; and 
         FIG. 8  is a schematic view of operation of inserting a wire according to  FIG. 7 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is an exploded view of the invention. The invention provides an improved terminal block structure for being inserted by a wire  5  to make electric connection, which includes an insulative body  1 , a conductive member  2 , an elastic sheet  3  and a pressing member  4 . 
     A size of the insulative body  1  can be varied depending upon the number of the wires  5  to be inserted. Also, both the elastic sheet  3  and the pressing sheet  3  can be increased depending upon the number of the wires  5 . In the embodiment of the invention, the insulative body  1  is a long flat body and allows the wires  5  to be inserted into a longitudinal side thereof. For the sake of conciseness, only one wire is depicted. The insulative body  1  has a receiving room  10  therein. The receiving room  10  is formed in a side of the insulative body  1 . The insulative body  1  is formed with a pressing hole  11  and a wire hole  12 . The wire hole  12  is used to be inserted by the wire  5 . 
     Please refer to  FIGS. 2 and 3 . The conductive member  2  is formed by pressing a metal piece and received in the received room  10 . The conductive member  2  has a seat  20  and a contact portion  21  tilted up from the seat  20 . The contact portion  21  corresponds to the wire hole  12  of the insulative body  1 . In this embodiment, the contact portion  21  is formed by punching a material hole  200  in the seat  20  and bending it upward. The number of the contact portion  21  may correspond to the number of the wire  5  to be multiple. In addition, a side of the receiving room  10  of the insulative body  1  may be formed with a notch  100  for being embedded by an end of the seat  20  to be positioned. 
     The elastic sheet  3  is received in the receiving room  10 . An end of the elastic sheet  3  is in contact with the conductive member  2 . The pressing member  4  is disposed in the pressing hole  11  and capable of moving toward the receiving room  10  to push another end of the elastic member  3 . In this embodiment, the elastic sheet  3  has an elastic portion  30 , a first end  31  extending from an end of the elastic portion  30  and a second end  32  extending from another end of the elastic portion  30 . The first end  31  is fastened into the material hole  200  of the seat  20  and the second end  32  is fastened with the pressing member  4 . 
     Please further refer to  FIG. 2 . The pressing member  4  is provided with a placement slot  40  to which the contact portion  21  is directed as shown in  FIG. 3 . Each of two sides of the placement slot  40  has a blocking wall  41 . In addition, a lower end of the placement slot  40  is formed with an engaging trench  400  for being inserted by the second end  32  of the elastic sheet  3 . The engaging trench  400  may be greater than the placement slot  40  in width. The engaging trench  400  in one of the blocking walls  41  is open to allow the second end  32  of the elastic  3  to be placed in to form an assembled status as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
     By the abovementioned structure, the improved terminal block structure of the invention can be obtained. 
     Accordingly, as shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , before the wire  5  is not inserted yet, the pressing member  4  is pushed upward by the second end  32  of the elastic sheet  3  not to completely enter the receiving room  10 . As shown in  FIG. 7 , before inserting the wire  5 , the pressing member  4  should be pushed toward the receiving room  10  to move the second end  32  of the elastic sheet  3  to make the placement slot  40  enter the receiving room  10 . Next, as shown in  FIG. 8 , the wire  5  can be inserted into the wire hole  12  to pass through the placement slot  40  to be beside the contact portion  21 . After releasing the pressing member  4 , a wire core  50  of the wire  5  can be pressed by the second end  32  of the elastic member  3  by elasticity of the elastic portion  30 . As a result, the wire core  50  can be in contact with the contact portion  21  to make electric connection. 
     Therefore, in the present invention, after inserting the wire  5 , it is restricted in the placement slot  40  by the pressing member  4  so that the wire  5  can be firmly fastened without an additional cap to save manufacturing costs. 
     It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the above embodiment has been described by way of example only and not in any limitative sense, and that various alterations and modifications are possible without departure from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.