Patent Publication Number: US-2012024671-A1

Title: Transferring mechanism of contact test

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention generally relates to a transferring mechanism, and more particularly to a transferring mechanism of contact test for conductive terminals. 
     2. Description of Prior Art 
     With constant developments of electronic technology, connectors (adaptors) are widely used inside all kinds of electronic products, such as cellular phones, computers, MP3 players or their gadgets or peripherals for transferring signals or powers. A connector generally comprises a main body and a conductive terminal part. Nowadays, the conductive terminals are generally fabricated by direct stamping with a mold. In the stamping procedure, the internal stress of the original material for fabricating the terminals is easily released and leads the terminals to be bent broadwise. Such phenomenon is so called fan shaped band of terminals. To avoid the fan shaped band of terminals happening to the conductive terminals and the assembly and quality of the connector is consequently affected during the fabrication of the connector. There is a need to proceed a contact test for the conductive terminals before assembly of the connectors. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , in the contact test for conductive terminals according to prior art, a back-forth cylinder type transferring mechanism is generally utilized for transferring the raw material band of terminals  40 . The back-forth cylinder type transferring mechanism in  FIG. 1  comprises a base  10 , a guide (not shown), a cylinder (not shown), a rotating shaft  12 , a hook  14  and a pressing block  16 . The guide is set up on the base  10 . The cylinder is installed on the base  10 . One end of the rotating shaft  12  is hinge jointed with the cylinder with a swing arm. The other end of the rotating shaft  12  is equipped with the hook  14 . The lower side of the hook  14  has a tilt arm  141  like tool nose. The size of the tilt arm  141  should match with the holes  41  of the raw material band of terminals  40 . The pressing block  16  is also installed on the base  10 . The cylinder can drive the rotating shaft  12  to and fro to allow the hook  14  swing back and forth so to hook or unhook the raw material band of terminals  40 . 
     Before the back-forth cylinder type transferring mechanism is activated, the hook  14  unhooks the raw material band of terminals  40  and the cylinder is at the leftmost pre-transfer position. 
     As the back-forth cylinder type transferring mechanism is activated, the cylinder drives the rotating shaft  12  rotated clockwise and the hook  14  is also driven clockwise to a level position. As the hook  14  is at the level position, the tilt arm  141  becomes to lock a hole  41  of the raw material band of terminals  40 . Then, the cylinder moves to the right to transfer the raw material band of terminals  40  toward the right of the base  10 . As the cylinder stops at the rightmost position, the tilt arm  141  of the hook  14  still locks the hole  41  of the raw material band of terminals  40  and the pressing block  16  remains pressing the raw material band of terminals  40 . 
     Thereafter, the cylinder drives the rotating shaft  12  rotated counterclockwise and the tilt arm  141  of the hook  14  is driven and swings back to unlock the hole of the raw material band of terminals  40 . And then, the cylinder drives the hook  14  back to the leftmost pre-transfer position. At this movement, the raw material band of terminals  40  stays still. 
     By repeating the foregoing procedures, a transfer of a raw material band of terminals  40  is completed. 
     However, the foregoing back-forth cylinder type transferring mechanism can easily causes an arching of the raw material band of terminals  40  because the cylinder moves left and right, back and forth constantly. The back-forth cylinder type transferring mechanism affects the accuracy of the contact test unavoidably and the structure of the back-forth cylinder type transferring mechanism is complex and transfer speed is too slow. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     For solving the drawbacks of prior art, a transferring mechanism of contact test with high speed transfer and simple structure which can effectively prevent an arching of the raw material band of terminals is provided. 
     The transferring mechanism of contact test of the present invention applied to transfer a raw material band of terminals for a contact test of fan-shaped band of terminals. The raw material band of terminals has holes arranged along the terminals correspondingly. The transferring mechanism of contact test comprises a long main body with two ends, a driving shaft, a driving gear connected with the driving shaft, a driven shaft, a driven gear connected with the driven shaft and a transmission element. The driving shaft and the driving gear are positioned at one end of the main body. The driven shaft and the driven gear are positioned at the other end of the main body. The transmission element connects to the driving shaft to rotate the driving shaft and the driving gear. The driving shaft rotates the driven shaft and the driven gear by a belt. The driving gear and the driven gear are ratchets. The thorn teeth of the driving gear and the driven gear match with the holes of the raw material band of terminals. 
     As aforementioned, the driving gear and the driven gear are ratchets and thorn teeth thereof match with the holes of the raw material band of terminals. With the aforesaid matching and the property of the ratchets during the transfer, the transfer speed can be high; the transfer location can be exact; and the transfer structure is simple. Moreover, an arching of the raw material band of terminals can be effectively prevented and therefore the accuracy of the contact test can be guaranteed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  depicts a structure diagram of a back-forth cylinder type transferring mechanism with a raw material band of terminals according to prior art. 
         FIG. 2  shows a structure diagram of an embodiment of a transferring mechanism of contact test with a raw material band of terminals according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  shows an enlarged diagram of a portion V shown in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  shows a structure diagram of a transferring mechanism of contact test shown in  FIG. 2  of the present invention, which is applied in a terminal contact tester. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3 . The transferring mechanism of contact test  200  according to the present invention is applied to transfer a raw material band of terminals  40  for a contact test of fan-shaped band of terminals. The raw material band of terminals  40  has holes  41  arranged along the terminals in a row. 
     The transferring mechanism of contact test  200  comprises a main body  21 , a driving shaft  22 , a driving gear  23  connected with the driving shaft  22 , a driven shaft  24 , a driven gear  25  connected with the driven shaft  24 , a transmission element  26 , a belt  27 , two guiding apparatuses  28 , a charge port  29  for charging the raw material band of terminals  40  and a discharge port  30  for discharging the raw material band of terminals  40 . The main body  21  is long shaped and with two ends. The driving shaft  22  and the driving gear  23  are positioned at one end of the main body  21 . The driven shaft  24  and the driven gear  25  are positioned at the other end of the main body  21 . In this embodiment, the transmission element  26  is a motor and connects to the driving shaft  22  to rotate the driving shaft  22  and the driving gear  23 . By the belt  27 , the driving shaft  22  rotates the driven shaft  24  and the driven gear  25 . The driving gear  23  and the driven gear  25  are both ratchets. The thorn teeth of the driving gear  23  and the driven gear  25  match with the holes  41  of the raw material band of terminals  40  (As shown in  FIG. 3 ). The charge port  29  for charging the raw material band of terminals  40  is close to the driven gear  25 . The discharge port  30  for discharging the raw material band of terminals  40  is close to the driving gear  23 . The two guiding apparatuses  28  are located between the charging port  29  and the driven gear  25  and between the discharge port  30  and the driving gear  23  respectively. The two guiding apparatuses  28  are fixedly installed on the main body  21 . 
     Specifically, the guiding apparatus  28  comprises a pulley dock  281 , a first idler pulley  282 , a second idler pulley  283  and a third idler pulley  284 . The pulley dock  281  is installed on the main body  21 . The first idler pulley  282 , the second idler pulley  283  and the third idler pulley  284  are installed on the pulley dock  281 . The first idler pulley  282  and the second idler pulley  283  are arranged at one side of the raw material band of terminals  40 . The third idler pulley  284  is arranged at the other side of the raw material band of terminals  40  and aligned to the first idler pulley  282 . There is a gap, which is adjustable formed between the first idler pulley  282  and the third idler pulley  284 . Meanwhile, the position (height) of the second idler pulley  283  relative to the main body  21  is also adjustable for transferring the raw material band of terminals  40  with different thicknesses. As the transferring mechanism of contact test  200  transfers the raw material band of terminals  40 , the first idler pulley  282  and the third idler pulley  284  guide the transfer way of the raw material band of terminals  40 . The second idler pulley  283  presses the raw material band of terminals  40  to prevent occurrence of an arching of the raw material band of terminals  40 , which might happen during the transfer and affect the accuracy of the contact test. 
     The main body  21  further comprises adjusting slots  211 , located under the driving gear  23  and the driven gear  25  respectively. The adjusting slots  211  can be utilized to adjust heights of the driving gear  23  and the driven gear  25  installed on the main body  21  for properly transferring the raw material band of terminals  40  with different thicknesses. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 4 , which shows a structure diagram of a transferring mechanism of contact test  200  of the present invention, applied in a terminal contact tester  500 . The terminal contact tester  500  comprises a supporting stand  51 , a test platform  52 , a test device  53 , a test zone  54  and a transferring mechanism of contact test  200  of the present invention. The supporting stand  51  stands through the test platform  52 . The test device  53  is set up on the test platform  52  and aside the supporting stand  51 . 
     Specifically, the transferring mechanism of contact test  200  is fixedly installed on the test platform  52 . The test device  53  is set up between the driving gear  23  and the driven gear  25 . There is the test zone  54  located on the main body  21  to be in accordance with the test device  53 . The charge port  29  for charging the raw material band of terminals  40  and the discharge port  30  for discharging the raw material band of terminals  40  are located at the two sides of the test platform  52 . 
     As the terminal contact tester  500  is employed for the contact test of the raw material band of terminals  40 , first, the raw material band of terminals  40  is manually delivered through the charge port  29 , the gap between the first idler pulley  282  and the third idler pulley  284 , the second idler pulley  283  and the driven gear  25  in sequence. Then, the terminal contact tester  500  can be activated. The transmission element  26  drives and rotates the driving shaft  22  and the driving gear  23 . The driving shaft  22  drives and rotates the driven shaft  24  and the driven gear  25  by the belt  27 . Accordingly, the driven gear  25  is synchronously driven and rotated with the driving gear  23 . As the driven gear  25  is rotated, hooking the raw material band of terminals  40  is proceeded (The thorn teeth of the driven gear  25  lock the holes  41  of the raw material band of terminals  40 ). Then, the driven gear  25  transfers the hooked raw material band of terminals  40  toward the test zone  54  for the contact test constantly. After the contact tests of the raw material band of terminals  40  are done, the raw material band of terminals  40  is discharged through the discharge port  30  and then conveyed to the next fabrication line. During the aforesaid contact test process, the property of the intermittent movement of the ratchets is fully utilized for transferring the raw material band of terminals  40  because the driving gear  23  and the driven gear  25  are both ratchets. Therefore, the contact test process of the test device  53  can be coordinated and completed smoothly by the aforesaid intermittent movement and transfer. 
     As aforementioned, the driving gear  23  and the driven gear  25  of the transferring mechanism of contact test  200  are both ratchets. The thorn teeth of the driving gear  23  and the driven gear  25  match with the holes  41  of the raw material band of terminals  40 . During the aforesaid transfer of the raw material band of terminals  40 , the property of the ratchets is fully utilized for the aforesaid transfer, accordingly, the transfer speed of the transferring mechanism of contact test  200  is high; the transfer location of the transferring mechanism of contact test  200  can be exact; and the transfer structure of the transferring mechanism of contact test  200  is simple. Meanwhile, the arching of the raw material band of terminals can be effectively prevented and therefore the accuracy of the contact test can be guaranteed. 
     As is understood by a person skilled in the art, the foregoing preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrative rather than limiting of the present invention. It is intended that they cover various modifications and similar arrangements be included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, the scope of which should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structure.