A circuit board on which semiconductor devices such as ICs, transistors, and electronic components such as resistors, capacitors are mounted has been used, and wires such as a cable and so forth for wiring the electronic components mounted on the circuit board. If the wires such as a cable and so forth are disposed on the circuit board as they are, they are inconvenient to handle and there is a likelihood that they are caught carelessly to come off from the circuit board, and hence a wire retainer for holding a cable on the circuit board is used.
For example, JP 1993-226855A discloses that an engagement claw of a retainer is inserted into an engagement hole to fix the retainer, a protrusion is provided on a bow-shaped spring which is provided on an engagement portion when fixing the retainer to push a wire retainer, thereby preventing the wires from being come off. Further, JP 1997-237983A discloses a cable retainer portion comprising a helical retainer which is helically wound around a cable to retain the cable, and a bar-shaped interval keeping portion which is integrated with the helical retainer portion at right angles therewith at the center thereof. Still further, JP1993-145246A discloses a wire supporter comprising a clamp portion for clamping a wire, a fixed portion to be fixed to flying boat member inside an electric appliance, and a damper portion formed of a curbed member and provided between the clamp portion and the fixed portion. More still further, JP 1992-29399A discloses a cable holder comprising soft elastic rubber adhered onto a circuit board, a metal wire which is bent in U-shape and one base thereof is allowed to penetrate the circuit board to project therefrom and embedded therein while the other tip end of the metal wire is forced to strike against to contact the soft elastic rubber.
As disclosed in the foregoing references, there is conventionally proposed a wire retainer formed of a flexible material to retain a wire or a retainer which is deformed to retain the wire.
However, in the case where the flexible material is used for a retainer, the wire is prone to come off as disclosed in the first reference, and hence it is considered to select a material having less flexibility, which is however make it difficult to insert the wire into the retainer. Further, although it is surely possible to prevent the wire from being come off from the retainer if the retainer is deformed to wind around the wire, it needs a winding operation, causing a problem in respect of working efficiency. Further, according to the conventional wire retainer, since it is necessary to provide holes for the wire retainer on the circuit, the necessity of such holes has to be considered in advance at the stage of designing the circuit board, resulting in restrictions on the design of the circuit board. Still further, it is difficult to add the wire retainer when the wiring is necessitated at the stage where the electronic components were mounted on the circuit board.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds