Patent Publication Number: US-9407041-B2

Title: Anti-disengaging mechanism of cable connector

Description:
This application claims priority to PCT Application No. PCT/CN2014/074698 filed on Apr. 3, 2014, which claims priority to China Application No. CN201310586883.4 filed Nov. 21, 2013, which are incorporated in their entirety herein by reference. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present application relates to an anti-disengaging mechanism for a cable connection. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     A power plug is a power transfer device that connects electric equipment to a power source. A sudden outage can cause serious loss of life and property when power is supplied to important equipment such as a data center requiring continuous power supply, a medical apparatus or instruments in an operating room, etc. Therefore, there is a need for a safe, reliable, simple and effective power source connection. If a power plug loosens or drops out when shaken or collided by external force, this will lead to poor contact or no contact and result in a power outage. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Here is described an anti-disengaging mechanism for a cable connection that can avoid a plug loosening or dropping out from a power socket or a power cord connector. 
     For example, an anti-disengaging mechanism includes a power connector having a jack opening. The power connector also has a metal electrode and a ring buckle located within the jack opening. A plug has a plug pin. When the plug pin is inserted into the jack opening, the ring buckle surrounds the plug pin. A longitudinal sliding pushrod is set in the power connector so that when the longitudinal sliding pushrod is in a first position, the longitudinal sliding pushrod tilts the ring buckle so as to lock the plug pin in the jack opening. When the longitudinal sliding pushrod is in a second position, the ring buckle releases the plug pin. A toggling mechanism is also set in the power connector. The toggling mechanism is used to drive the longitudinal sliding pushrod to slide between the first position and the second position. A first portion of the ring buckle is within a supporting groove inside the power connector. A second portion of the ring buckle is inserted into a driving groove of the longitudinal sliding pushrod. The longitudinal sliding pushrod is connected to the toggling mechanism. A toggle of the toggling mechanism protrudes from a shell of the power connector. 
     For example, the plug includes housing that covers a front of the power connector when the plug pin is inserted into the jack opening. 
     For example, the longitudinal sliding pushrod includes a chute, the toggling mechanism includes a latitudinal sliding plate and a guide pin under the latitudinal sliding plate is engaged in the chute of longitudinal sliding pushrod. 
     For example, the toggling mechanism includes a latitudinal sliding plate, the latitudinal sliding plate includes a chute, and a guide pin on longitudinal sliding pushrod which is engaged within the chute of the toggling mechanism. 
     For example, the chute is an arc-shaped groove that inclines to a longitudinal direction. 
     There can be beneficial effects of the above-described implementation. For example, the anti-disengaging mechanism adopts a simple ring buckle and applies the friction between the ring buckle and the plug pin to achieve the anti-disengaging goal. This can solve the outage problem for the poor contact or no contact reason when a plug is shaken or collided by external force that might cause a plug to loosen or drop out from a power socket or a power cord connector. 
     The technical solutions in various embodiments are described below in combination with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front elevation view of an implementation of the present invention in the lock condition. 
         FIG. 2  is a top elevation view of an implementation of the present invention in the lock condition. 
         FIG. 3  is a sectional view along the line A-A of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a sectional view along the line B-B of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 5  is a front elevation view of an implementation of the present invention in the release condition. 
         FIG. 6  is a top elevation view of an implementation of the present invention in the release condition. 
         FIG. 7  is a sectional view along the line C-C of  FIG. 5 . 
         FIG. 8  is a sectional view along the line D-D of  FIG. 6 . 
         FIG. 9  is a perspective view of the ring buckle. 
         FIG. 10  is a perspective view of one longitudinal sliding pushrod. 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of one toggling mechanism that matches the longitudinal sliding pushrod of  FIG. 10 . 
         FIG. 12  is a perspective view of another longitudinal sliding pushrod. 
         FIG. 13  is a perspective view of another toggling mechanism that matches the longitudinal sliding pushrod of  FIG. 12 . 
     
    
    
     In these drawings, the reference numerals are as following:  1 —Plug,  10 —Housing of plug,  11 —Plug Pin,  2 —Power connector that is a power socket connector or a power cord connector,  20 —Shell of power socket or power cord connector,  21 —Ring buckle,  22 —Longitudinal sliding pushrod,  23 —Toggling mechanism,  24 —Metal electrode. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 4 ,  FIG. 5 ,  FIG. 6 ,  FIG. 7  and  FIG. 8  show various views of an anti-disengaging mechanism of a cable connector. A power connector  2  has at least two jack openings. For example, power connector  2  is either a power socket connector or a power cord connector. A plug  1  matches with the power connector  2 . Power connector  2  includes metal electrodes  24 , shown in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 8 , that are installed, one in each jack opening of the power connector  2  to contact plug pins  11 , also shown in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 8 . Plug pins  11  are part of plug  1 . 
     A ring buckle  21 , shown in  FIG. 9 , is positioned within a jack opening of the power connector  2  so as to surround a plug pin from plug pins  11  when the plug pin is inserted into the jack opening. 
     A longitudinal sliding pushrod  22 , shown in  FIG. 12  in the power connector  2  is set in a first position to tilt the ring buckle  21  so as to lock the plug pin from plug pins  11  surrounded by ring buckle  21 . Longitudinal sliding pushrod  22  is set in a second position to the ring buckle  21  to release the plug pin from plug pins  11  surrounded by ring buckle  11 . A toggling mechanism  23  within the power connector  2  is used to drive longitudinal sliding pushrod  22  to slide forward to the first position and backward to the second position. 
     A bottom of the ring buckle  21  is stuck into the supporting groove that is inside the power connector  2 , as shown in  FIG. 4 . A top of the ring buckle  21  is inserted into a driving groove  25  (shown in  FIG. 12 ) that is under a front of longitudinal sliding pushrod  22 . A rear of the longitudinal sliding pushrod  22  is connected to the toggling mechanism  23  whose toggle protrudes from a shell  20  of the power connector. 
     A housing  10  of a front end of the plug  1  covers a front of the power connector  2  when plug pins  11  of plug  1  are inserted into the jack openings within power connector  2 . 
     Longitudinal sliding pushrod  22  and the corresponding toggling mechanism  23  are shown in  FIG. 12  and  FIG. 13 . The toggling mechanism  23  comprises a latitudinal sliding plate that is inside the power connector  2 . A chute is under the latitudinal sliding plate. A guide pin is located on the upper side of the rear of longitudinal sliding pushrod  22  that cooperates with the chute of toggling mechanism  23 . 
     In an alternate implementation, a longitudinal sliding pushrod  122  and a corresponding toggling mechanism  123  are shown in  FIG. 10  and  FIG. 11 . There is a chute on the upper side of the rear of longitudinal sliding pushrod  122 . The toggling mechanism  123  comprises a latitudinal sliding plate that is inside the power connector  12 . A guide pin under the latitudinal sliding plate cooperates with the chute of longitudinal sliding pushrod  122 . 
     For example, the chute is an arc-shaped groove that inclines to the longitudinal direction. 
     For the longitudinal sliding pushrod  22  shown in  FIG. 12  and the toggling mechanism  23  shown in  FIG. 13 , for example, the chute of toggling mechanism  23  moves to one end when the toggle is flipped to one side. The longitudinal sliding pushrod  22  slides to the plug  1  for its guide pin driven by the chute, which pushes the ring buckle  21  to tilt. This is the first position illustrated by  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2 ,  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 . With the ring buckle  21  tilted, the top and bottom edges of the hole in the ring buckle  21  are in contact with the plug pin  11 . This creates friction to keep the plug  1  engaged with the power connector  2 . 
     When the chute of toggling mechanism  23  moves to the other end as the toggle is flipped to the other side, the longitudinal sliding pushrod  22  concurrently slides away from the plug  1  for its guide pin driven by the chute. This pulls back the ring buckle  21  into the second position. In the second position, the ring buckle  21  is reset so that the top and bottom edges of the hole in the ring buckle  21  have no contact with the one of the plug pin  11 . This allows the plug  1  to be pulled out from the power connector  2 . 
     The above description of the disclosed embodiment enables the person skilled in the art to practice and use the application. Various modifications to these embodiments may be obvious to the person skilled in the art. The general principle defined therein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, the application is not limited to these embodiments illustrated herein, but conforms to a broadest scope consistent with the principle and novel features disclosed herein.