FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a wire connection device for electrically connecting an electric product to an external power source, and in particular to a wire connection device that prevents damage when a wire is inserted.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, a wire connection device is used to electrically connect an electric product to an external power source so that the electric product can be temporarily or permanently electrically connected to the external power source through the electrical connection device.

The basic structure of a common wire connection device today is formed with a housing and a conductor. The housing is hollow and has an insertion hole communicated to the inside of the housing; the conductor is positioned inside the housing and is on one side of the insertion hole. In this way, when a wire is inserted into the interior of the housing through the insertion hole, the wire is pressed against the conductor so that the conductor can be deformed and clamped to the wire.

However, when the conductor is deformed by the wire extrusion, the conductor generates an elastic force on the wire, and when the wire penetrates into the inside of the housing through the insertion hole, the wire is easily misaligned in the conductor due to the elastic force and thus cannot be clamped by the conductor; thereby, the wire must be repeatedly inserted into the inside of the housing so that the structure pattern of the conductor will generate the elastic force due to repeated plugging and unplugging, resulting in the conductor becoming elastically fatigued and unable to clamp the conductor to the wire, therefore, the conductor becoming unusable and relatively shortening the service life of the wire connection device.

In particular, in order to extend the service life of the wire connection device, the wire connection device is additionally provided with a lever. The lever is movably assembled in the housing so that the lever can swing against the housing to squeeze on the conductor. In this way, before the wire is inserted into the inside of the housing through the insertion hole, the lever swings against the housing so that the conductor can be deformed by the swinging lever, and the wire can be clamped by the conductor when it is inserted into the housing. However, when the conductor is deformed, the elastic force acts on the lever at the same time so that the lever moves back to an initial position that is not squeezed on the conductor by the elastic force. In order to prevent the lever from moving to the above initial position before the wire is inserted into the housing, a user must keep pushing against the lever to stop the lever from moving so that the lever may keep squeezing on the conductor. Otherwise, once the user releases his or her hand, the conductor will move the lever back to the initial position through the elastic force, resulting in inconvenience when the wire is inserted inside the housing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main purpose of the invention is to communicate the lever and the housing in a way that the lever can move in a straight line relative to the housing while the lever is swinging relative to the housing.

The secondary purpose of the invention is to improve the structural forms of both the conductor and the lever so that when the conductor is squeezed by the lever and deformed, the lever can not move against the housing, and the conductor holds the deformed state so that wires are not squeezed on the conductor when they are threaded into the wire connection device, thereby making the wires to be actually clamped by the conductor, which reduces the chance of damage to the wire connection device.

To achieve the aforementioned purpose, the invention is a wire connection device comprising a housing, a conductor and a plurality of levers. In this embodiment, the housing has a plurality of insertion holes, and an accommodation space that is formed inside the housing for communicating with the insertion holes so that a plurality of wires can penetrate into the accommodation space through the insertion holes. However, the conductor is located inside the accommodation space and has a leaf spring capable of deformation and a conductive member capable of conducting the plurality of conductors to each other. The conductive steel sheet has a carrier portion connected to the conductive member and a wire clamping portion formed by extending from the carrier portion. A push-back block is formed by extending one of the conductive member and the carrier portion. The wire clamping portion may contact the wire against the conductive member. In addition, several levers are movably assembled in the housing. A push-back notch that matches the push-back block and an actuating cam that is accessible to the conductor are formed on the lever inside the housing. The lever swings from an initial position to an actuate position. The position of an actuating cam surface that contacts the surface of the conductor will be changed so that the lever moves relatively with the housing at the same time.

When the lever is positioned in the actuate position, the wire clamping portion is deformed through the squeezing by the lever, and the push-back block is inserted into the push-back notch.

In this embodiment, the actuating cam is provided with an activation surface close to the push-back notch and a fixed surface away from the activation surface in different localized areas. The activation surface and the fixed surface are located on opposite sides of the actuating cam. When both the activation surface and the fixed surface are in contact with the conductor, the lever stays in the activation position. The lever swings from the actuate position to the initial position, the lever is not pressed against the leaf spring so that the activation surface faces the push-back block and the push-back block is positioned outside the push-back notch, and meanwhile the fixed surface is not separated from the conductor.

In addition, the actuating cam further has an initial positioning surface between the activation surface and the fixed surface and has a first push-back surface adjacent to one side of the initial positioning surface. The initial positioning surface contacts the conductor to allow the lever to hold in the initial position. The first push-back surface is close to the push-back notch. In the process of moving the lever to the actuate position, the first push-back surface pushes against the push-back block, causing the push-back block to be deformed. The initial positioning surface has a second push-back surface adjacent to the activation surface on a side distant from the first push-back surface. When the first push-back surface is pushed against the push-back block, the second push-back surface is in contact with the conductor, and the activation surface and the initial positioning surface are separated from the conductor.

In addition, when the push-back block is inserted into the interior of the push-back notch, at least two surfaces of the push-back notch are in contact with the push-back block at the same time. In a preferred embodiment, the push-back notch has a first push-back surface close to the actuating cam and a second push-back surface away from the actuating cam. A push-back end surface is formed between the first push-back surface and the second push-back surface. When the push-back block is located inside the push-back notch, both the first push-back surface and the push-back end surface are in contact with different sides of the push-back block. A separation distance is formed between the first push-back surface and the second push-back surface. The length of the separating distance is greater than the thickness of the push-back block. Further, the second push-back surface is separating from the push-back block when both of the first push-back surface and the push-back end surface are in contact with different sides of the push-back block.

Further, the push-back notch is provided with a push-back opening away from the push-back end face, and the second push-back surface will gradually approach the first push-back surface from the push-back opening toward the push-back end surface so that the second push-back surface is tilted to the first push-back surface, and further the push-back notch gradually tapers off from the snap opening toward the push-back end surface.

The lever comprises a connecting arm that provided with the push-back notch and the actuating cam, and a toggle plate formed on the connecting arm. The connecting arm is provided with a stopper. The stopper is provided with a stopping surface on the side away from the connecting arm. The stopping surface may contact the housing when the lever is moved to the actuate position.

In addition, the stopping surface is positioned on the side of the push-back notch away from the actuating cam so that the push-back notch is located between the stopping surface and the actuating cam. A guiding surface away from the insertion hole and a push-back surface adjacent to the guiding surface are formed in the interior of the housing. The stopper is further provided with the push-back surface adjacent to the stopping surface. The push-back surface is in contact with the guiding surface. The stopping surface is in contact with the push-back surface.

Finally, one side of the wire clamping portion is provided with a plurality of windows for the wires to pass through, while the other side of the wire clamping portion is provided with a plurality of flexible sections that one to one aligned the windows. The flexible section, the window, and the insertion hole are aligned each other to form a first straight line. The push-back block is positioned between two of the flexible sections so that the push-back block and two of the flexible sections are aligned to form a second straight line perpendicular to the first straight line.

This invention is characterized by the fact that the lever is equipped with an actuating cam, which allows the lever to swing to the actuate position relative to the housing, and the actuating cam may also change the position of the area in contact with the conductor so that the lever may be moved in a straight line relative to the housing at the same time. In addition, the conductor has the push-back block and the lever has the push-back notch for the lever to be in the actuate position. The lever not only squeezes into the wire clamping portion, but the push-back block penetrates into the push-back notch, allowing the lever to hold in the actuate position. In this way, when the wire clamping portion of the conductor is deformed by squeezing of the lever, the lever remains in the actuate position so that the leaf spring remains in the deformed state. This allows the wire to be penetrated into the wire connection device without squeezing the leaf spring so that both the leaf spring and the conductive member can be clamped to the wire, which relatively reduces the chance of damage to the wire connection device.

