AU3816799A

AU3816799A - Protective connector for a telecommunications device

Info

Publication number: AU3816799A
Application number: AU38167/99A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Klaus-Dieter Burmeister; Johann Georg Hajok
Original assignee: Quante GmbH
Current assignee: 3M Deutschland GmbH
Priority date: 1998-04-16
Filing date: 1999-04-14
Publication date: 1999-11-08
Anticipated expiration: 2019-04-14
Also published as: EP0990280B1; RU2216080C2; DE19816907A1; EP0990280A1; WO1999054965A1; AU748833B2; DE19816907B4; PL337439A1; ZA997681B; ES2186356T3; PL193625B1; AU748833C

Description

A protective connector for a telecommunications device 5 Technical field The invention concerns a protective connector for a telecommunications device in accordance with the preamble to patent claim 1. 10 For the protection of electronic components and instruments, which are usually connected with strip- or block-shaped terminal devices in telecommunications technology, normally protective connectors are used against too high electric 15 currents and/or overvoltage, which can be plugged in on an open side of the housing of the connector device and which have the necessary components for protection. In this context, the protective connectors are normally designed for the protection of respectively a double core. This means that they 20 tap in pairs the adjacent contacts on the incoming and outgoing side and connect them electrically with the protect ive components. Prior art 25 A protective connector as in the preamble to patent claim 1 is known from EP 0 405 337 A2 and it has a housing, a plurality of tapping contacts, an earth contact and a plurality of wired components. The contacts are designed as strip-shaped sheet 30 elements, in the terminal slot of which respectively one wire of the wired component is clamped. The wired components are disposed above the contacts, so that the known protective connector has a comparatively large height.

2 In the case of the protective connector in accordance with DE 39 09 783 C1, the tapping contacts are designed on a pcb, which is inserted in the mounted state between the contact links of the contacts which are designed as separation 5 contacts of the associated connector strip. The pcb taps the contacts of the incoming and outgoing side and sends the current through wired protective components which are soldered on a pcb. The use of a pcb for tapping the contacts of the connector device is a disadvantage, because a pcb is always 10 subject to the danger that the individual layers will become detached from each other. In addition, there is a substantial production cost for soldering the individual wire components on to the pcb. Lastly they extend to a large extent perpendicularly to the pcb. They are arranged at the top on 15 the pcb and lead to the fact that this known protective connector requires a relatively large housing. In the zone of' the terminal strip above the contacts this requires a substantial amount of space. 20 The protective connector which is known from EP 0 471 167 Al a three-pole surge voltage protector, which is not wired, is connected via a sheet part arranged between them with a pcb. Thereby when using a surge voltage protector which is not wired, the space needed can be reduced. But this known 25 protective connector still has the drawback of the production cost due to the nessecity for a pcb. From DE 38 13 889 C1, a protective connector is known which has protective components which are not wired, in which the 30 electrodes of the protective components are connected with contacts which tap the contacts of the terminal strip. The arrangement which is shown is not suitable for the use of wired components. 0 3 DE 31 13 759 C2 shows a surge voltage protector for separating strips, in which wired surge voltage protectors are connected via so-called terminal pick-ups with tapping contacts. Although in this known arrangement no pcb is used, it requires 5 improvement, because of the necessary interposition of terminal pick-ups, from the economic point of view. Description of the invention 10 The invention is based on the object of creating a protective connector for a telecommunications device, which is simply constructed and can be produced with low costs and by which at the same time reliable protection can be achieved for the respective components and instruments which are downstream 15 from the terminal device which is provided with the protective connector. The solution to this problem is provided by the protective connector which is described in patent claim 1. 20 The contacts of the protective connector which tap the contacts of the terminal device are designed largely as strip shaped sheet elements. They have respectively at least one terminal or contact slot, in which respectively one wire of a 25 wired component is inserted. Thereby the wired component is directly and electrically conductively connected to the contact of the protective connector. In other words, no pcb is necessary for connection between the contacts of the terminal device and the protective components which are in the 30 protective connector. On the contrary, the protective connector has the strip-shaped sheet elements described above, which are thus simply designed, as the tapping contacts, in the terminal slots of which the wires of the protective Q/y components which are used and wired are inserted directly and 35 espectively. Therefore the terminal pick-ups which are known 4 in the prior art or other connecting elements between the tapping contacts and the protective components are dispensible. Thereby the protective connector in accordance with the invention is extremely simply designed in its 5 totality and is composed of few and easily designed individual parts. The arrangement in accordance with the invention has in addition the result that the protective connector can be designed to be extremely small in its dimensions, so that the space which is needed in the state in which the connector is 10 plugged in to the telecommunications device is small. The use of strip-shaped sheet elements as tapping contacts has the important advantage against the pcbs which are conventionally used that the conductive contacts can be 15 massively designed. A massive design of these conductors, i.e. the arrangement of a certain line cross-section, is necessary' for the conduct of the currents which appear. On the pcbs which have been used until now, the contact strips can only be designed to be comparatively thin for technical reasons, so 20 that the conductive cross-section is thereby strictly limited. Due to the use of strip-shaped sheet elements, with which the wires of the wired components are directly and conductively connected, there is an advantageous massive structure of these conductors. 25 In addition, the protective connector in accordance with the invention is not limited to a design, which serves as protection for electronic components and devices which are connected by means of a single predetermined double core to a 30 terminal device. On the contrary, when using the structure described above, a so-called multicore protective connector can be designed, which is equipped with those components which are necessary for the protection of electronic devices or components, which are connected via a plurality of different N double cores with the terminal device which is to be provided 5 with the protective connector. In this case, the protective connector could also be described as a magazine, due to the accommodation of protective components for a plurality of double cores. However, it is preferred that the protective 5 connector in accordance with the invention has two tap contacts and/or two pairs of tap contacts, so that it is designed for the protection of a single double core. In the protective connector in accordance with the invention 10 the strip-shaped tap contacts extend at least in sections in parallel. The wired components are arranged between the parallel tap contacts. By the formation of two planes in the protective connector in accordance with the invention due to the parallel tap contacts, a simple and clear arrangement of 15 the protective components is made possible. In particular, due to the tap contacts two planes are defined, one for tapping the incoming conductors and one for tapping the outgoing conductors. All the protective components are disposed between these two planes. This arrangement is extremely space saving. 20 In particular, in comparison with the conventionally used position ,,on" a pcb, the dimensions of the protective connector and the space needed for its application can be substantially reduced. 25 Advantageous further developments of the protective connector in accordance with the invention are described in the other claims. For equipment with the protective components, for the 30 protective connector in accordance with the invention it is preferred that it has a current protection, preferably in the form of a thermo-resister, and/or an overvoltage protection in the form of a gas diverter and/or an overvoltage fine protection, preferably in the form of a fine protection diode or a solid state diverter. Such an electronic diverter has

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6 advantageously a narrow response tolerance. Due to the components described above and/or to their combination with each other, protection can advantageously be achieved both against too high currents as well as against overvoltages. 5 Although the alignment of the wires of the wired components to the plane of the strip-shaped contacts is discretionary, it is preferable that they are inserted in an alignment which is perpendicular to the plane of the strip-shaped contacts into 10 the respective contact slots. Thereby the result is an unproblematical connection which is easy to produce and is reliably conductive between the wired components and the respective contacts. 15 For the design of the contact slots in the tap contacts, it has been found to be an advantage to design them to be slightly conical. Thereby it is ensured that the zones which limit the contact slot in the tap contacts bend at most at the end of the insertion movement of the wires of the wired 20 components, so that a soft insertion movement is achieved, by which the firm and reliable connection of the wire in the contact slot of the tap contact is ensured by the tapering design of the contact slot. 25 For the contact slots which are formed in the strip-shaped contacts, it has been found to be an advantage to design on both contact legs, which define the respective contact slot, a slot-type recess adjacently. Thereby the contact legs which define the contact slot can evade resiliently, so that the 30 strip-shaped contact as a whole, when a wire is inserted in a contact slot at this point, is not bent. Due to the recesses described above laterally on the contact legs, they can be deflected in the respective recess, without the total form of the strip-shaped contact being influenced. The same purpose is chieved in the alternative embodiment, in which the contact 7 is retracted in the surroundings of the contact legs which define the contact slot with respect to its width. In this case as well the contact legs can rebound. 5 In particular, on the ends of the tap contacts, for the contact slots designed in this zone, it is preferred that they are limited by contact legs which extend in the width direction over the width of the contact which is designed in the adjacent zone of the contact. In this way, with a simple 10 design of the resultant contact, the mobility for the contact legs described above can also be achieved. For fixing the tap contacts in the housing of the protective connector, there advantages when the contacts have a heel 15 which is designed as a double bend, with which they are supported in the housing or in one half of the housing. To fix the strip-shaped tap contacts in the housing, there are advantages when the housing and/or the halves of the housing 20 which form the housing have guide channels for the purpose. For reliably fixing the contacts in the housing, in addition at least one clamping rib can be provided in the respective guide channel. 25 The strip-shaped contacts of the protective connector in accordance with the invention can be especially simply * designed in that at least one contact is at least once bent, whereby in an advantageous manner the different planes of the contacts can be defined, between which the protective 30 components can be arranged. In the case in which the contacts are bent several times, in accordance with the invention all the bending edges of a contact can be aligned parallel to each other. This makes the production of the tap contacts in the protective connector easy. 0 8 Short description of the drawings Below an embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings is explained in more detail. They show: 5 Fig. 1 a side view of an opened protective connector in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2 plan views of the contacts in the protective 10 connector shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a plan view of the protective connector which is shown open in Fig. 1; 15 Fig. 4 a side view of an open protective connector in accordance with the invention in a further embodiment; and Fig. 5 a side view of an open protective connector in 20 accordance with the invention in a further embodiment. Detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention 25 In fig. 1, a housing half 12 of the protective connector 10 in accordance with the invention is to be seen, in which in three planes the tap contacts 14 for the side of the switching, the tap contacts 16 for the line side and an earth spring 18 are accommodated. As is to be seen in the view in fig. 1, the 30 wired protective components as described below are located between the contacts 14, 16 which serve to tap the contacts of the incoming and/or outgoing side of a connector device for telecommunications technology. The protective connector 10 is inserted with the pointed projection 20 into the zone between 3 the two contact rows of a terminal device so that the tap 9 contacts 14, 16 respectively and conductively contact associated and opposite contacts of the terminal device. As is not shown in the view in fig. 1, in accordance with fig. 1 there are before or behind contacts 14, 16 further tapping 5 contacts, so that the respective contacts on one side tap the two adjacent contacts of a terminal device so that by means of protective connector 10, respectively protection for a double core is achieved. 10 In fig. 1, the principle which underlies the invention can be well discerned, which is that the tap contacts 14, 16 are connected directly with the wires of the components in the protective connector 10. The preferred arrangement described below of the individual components in the protective connector 15 in accordance with the invention does not depend on this basic idea and it can be varied in any way, without the essential advantages of the principle in accordance with the invention being lost. 20 In the embodiment which is shown in fig. 1, in accordance with the drawing of fig. 1, from below upwards a current protection in the form of a thermoresistor 22, a gas diverter 24 as well as a fine protection for overvoltages with a steep rising edge in the form of a fine protection diode 26 for a solid state 25 diverter are provided. The thermoresistor 22 is electrically conductively inserted with its wires 28 in a respective contact slot which is not to be seen in fig. 1 of the respective contact 14, 16, so that the current in the assembled state of the protective connector 10 must 30 necessarily pass through the thermoresistor. In this context it is preferred for the protective connector 10 in accordance with the invention that for each associated pair of contacts 14, 16 a thermoresistor 22 should be provided, so that on the terminal strip, the individual contacts opposite each other 35 for the incoming and/or the outgoing cores can be protected 0U 10 against too high currents. In the case in which the current is increased above a predetermined value, due to the increasing temperature in the thermoresistor 22, the electrical resistance thereof is also increased, so that as from a 5 certain point, the flow of current is interrupted and current protection is ensured. The gas diverter 24 which is arranged in the embodiment shown approximately in the middle of the protective connector 10 10 provides the necessary protection against overvoltage. In the case which is shown, there is a three-pole overvoltage diverter, the wires or legs 30 of which are formed laterally and angled and are connected with a contact of the pair of contacts which serve to connect a double core. In the case 15 shown, the two lateral legs 30 of the gas diverter 24 are connected with the contact shown on the left 16 as well as with the contact which is not to be seen in fig. 1, to some extent arranged in front or behind. The respective strip shaped contacts, as will be explained in more detail below 20 have terminal or contact slots in which the legs 30 are inserted. On the appearance of too high a voltage, the gas diverter 24 diverts the electrical power via the middle leg 32 to the earth spring 18, which is connected conductively with an earth rail on the terminal strip or on its carrier system. 25 Thereby the components and devices which are connected to the terminal strips are protected against overvoltages. As follows from fig. 2, which is described below, the earth spring 18 also has a contact slot, to which the middle leg 42 of the gas diverter is directly and electrically conductively connected. 30 Because the gas diverter 24 used as an example, in the event of an overvoltage with a steep rising edge, is only triggered in the case of comparatively high voltages and is connected with earth, in the embodiment of the invention which is shown, 35 \there is in addition fine protection in the form of a fine 11 protection diode 26 or of a solid state diverter. Such a fine protection component has a narrow response tolerance, so that it ensures the necessary protection even in the case of voltage influence with a steep rising edge. In the case which 5 is shown, but which is not to be discerned in the view in fig. 1, such a blocking diode 26 is associated with each of the contacts 14 which are arranged one behind another in accordance with the drawing in fig. 1. The wires 34 of the blocking diode 26 are inserted on the one hand in a contact 10 slot which is designed in contact 14 and on the other hand in a contact slot formed in the earth rail 18. In fig. 1, apart from the especially clear arrangement of the protective components 22, 24, 26, the particularly simple 15 strip-shaped form of the contacts 14, 16, 18 can be seen. In detail, the earth springs 18 which form to some extent the third contact plane of the protective connector 10 are designed to be substantially strip-shaped and not bent. The tap contacts 14, 16 are only provided on the lower edge of the 20 housing half 12 which is shown with a respective heel 36 by two opposite bends. The two bent edges extend respectively parallel with each other, so that the measures which are needed during production can be simply carried out. 25 In fig. 2, the individual contacts of the protective connector 10 shown in fig. 1 are shown respectively in plan view. In accordance with fig. 2, at furthest left the tap contact 14 is shown, which in accordance with the plan view of fig. 2 has a largely strip-shaped form and is provided along its 30 longitudinal extension in the embodiment which is shown with two contact slots 38 and 40. As becomes clear in connection with fig. 1, the lower contact slot 38 in accordance with fig. 2 is used to clamp the wire 28 of the thermoresistor 22. In RAL the contact slot 40 which is formed at the top end of contact 35 1, a wire 34 of the blocking diode 26 is held. On contact 12 slot 38 adjacent to it and in the case which is shown on the other longitudinal edge of contact 14, there are respectively free blanked, slot-type recesses. These free blanked tongues 42 provide contact 14 with increased elasticity, so that the 5 contact legs 44 which define the contact slot 38 can resiliently move away. The recesses 42 can also be formed by the same edge to which the contact slot opens, so that they can be bound in the same way, and in certain applications, compared with the embodiment which is shown, a change of 10 length of the strip-shaped contact as a whole can be avoided. In accordance with fig. 2, above contact slot 38, the contact 14 is designed to be smaller in width, in which at the top end of contact 14, two contact legs 44 extend beyond the small 15 width of contact 14 in this zone, so that when wire 34 is inserted, the fine protection diode 26 can also be slightly deflected. The contact 16 which is shown in fig. 2 on the right next to 20 contact 14 is similarly designed with respect to contact slot 38 for the insertion of the second wire 28 of the thermoresistor 22 as well as to the contact slot 46 for the leg 30 of gas diverter 24. In particular, at the top end of contact 16 the contact slot 46 for the insertion of leg 30 is 25 formed. On the earth spring 18 which is shown in fig. 2 in the middle in the plan view, on the one hand the contact slot 48 is formed for the middle leg 32 of gas diverter 24. The recesses 30 42 of slot type which are provided on the other (lefthand) edge correspond to the recesses which were previously described in connection with contact 14. This also applies to the recesses 42 which are formed in the upper zone of earth spring 18, on which adjacently and respectively a contact leg 4 is formed which defines together with the contact leg 44 13 which is provided at the top end of earth spring 18 a respective contact slot 50 for the left leg 34 of blocking diode 26 in accordance with fig. 1. 5 As can be seen on the basis of fig. 2 in connection with fig. 1, in accordance with the three contact planes which are provided in connector 10, the earth spring 18 in accordance with the drawing in fig. 2 is arranged in front of the contacts 16 and 15. In addition, contact 16 is arranged before 10 contact 14. If one now conceptually moves the two contacts 14, 16 to the right in accordance with the drawing in fig. 2, to the extent that the lefthand edges in accordance with fig. 2 of all the contacts 14, 16, 18 are flush with each other, and if one observes the resultant arrangement from the rigt in 15 accordance with the drawing in fig. 2, the result is the arrangement of the named contacts in relation to each other shown in fig. 1. Then in the final state, as can be seen in fig. 1, in the upper zone the blocking diode 26 extends between the contact slot 50 of earth spring 18 and the contact 20 slot 40 of contact 14. In the upper contact slot 46 of contact 16, the upper leg 30 of the gas diverter 24 is inserted in accordance with fig. 1, and the middle leg 32 of gas diverter 24 is held in the contact slot 48 of earth spring 18. Finally, the thermal resistor 22 is connected with its wires 28 on both 25 sides between the respective contact slots 38 of the two contacts 14, 16. In the righthand part of fig. 2, those contacts 52 and 54 are shown, which tap with their lower zone respectively on the 30 connecting device a terminal contact of the incoming and/or outgoing sides. In accordance with the illustration in fig. 1, the two contacts 54 and 54 are arranged above the contacts 14 and 16 to be seen in fig. 1, in which the contact 52 is on one plane with contact 16, and contact 54 is on one plane with 35 contact 14. In the respective contact slot 38 of the two

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14 contacts 52 and 54, the two wires 28 of another thermoresistor 22 are inserted, so that the flow of current necessarily passes through the thermoresistor, and the components and devices which are connected to the connector strip provided in 5 protective connector 10, are protected against too high currents. A crude protection against overvoltage is provided for the contacts of the connecting strip which are tapped by the two contacts 52, 54 by the connection of contact 52 with the lower leg 30 in accordance with fig. 1 of the gas diverter 10 24, which is inserted in the contact slot 46 which is formed at the top end of contact 52. For fine protection in the event of overvoltage with a steep rising edge, there is a further blocking diode 26, which can also be designed as a solid state diverter, and the wires 34 of which are inserted in the 15 contact slot 40 of contact 54 and in the contact slot 50 of earth spring 18. The plan view of protective connector 10 shown in fig. 3 results with respect to the contacts 14, 16, 18, 52 and 54 20 which are located in protective connector 10 from the displacement described above of the two contacts 14, 16 to the right and of the two contacts 52, 54 to the left. As can be seen in the upper zone of fig. 3, in the final state respectively one blocking diode 26 extends between contact 25 slots 40 of the two contacts 54 and 14 and the contacts slots 50 of earth spring 18. In accordance with fig. 3 at the' bottom, one leg 30 of gas diverter 24 can be seen, which is inserted in the contact slot 46 of contact 16. The middle leg 32 is introduced correspondingly into the contact slot 48 of 30 earth spring 18. The lowest leg 30 in accordance with fig. 3 is inserted in the contact slot 46 of contact 52. Finally, in the bottom zone of the housing 12 which is shown as being open in fig. 3, the two thermoresistors 22 can be seen, the wires of which are respectively inserted in the contact slots 38 of 35 le two contacts 14 and 16 or 52 and 54.

15 It should be stressed once again that the exemplary arrangement described above of the individual protective components 22, 24, 26 in the protective connector 10 in 5 accordance with the invention is immaterial to the principle on which the invention is based. On the contrary, the advantages in accordance with the invention, namely a simple structure, the omission of the conventionally necessary pcb and the clear arrangement of the protective components can be 10 achieved solely in that the wires of the individual protective components are directly and conductively inserted in the zone of the respective terminal slots into the tap contacts 14, 16, 52 and 54. In addition, this advantageous type of a direct electrically conductive connection is present in an 15 advantageous manner for the earth spring 18. In fig. 4 in a view which corresponds to fig. 1, a further embodiment of a protective connector 10 is shown. This embodiment, as the sole protective component, has a gas 20 diverter 24. The upper and the lower legs 30 of gas diverter 24 are respectively inserted in a contact slot of a tap contact 16 or 52, which are arranged to some extent one behind the other in accordance with the drawing in fig. 4. With respect to the design of the respective contact slot, the 25 contacts 16, 52 correspond substantially to the contacts 16, 52 shown in fig. 2. In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, 'only the terminal slots 46 which are formed at the ends of the tap contacts 16, 52 are necessary, because the embodiment shown in fig. 4 has no current protection, and therefore the terminal 30 slot 38 which is provided in accordance with fig. 2 in the course of the strip-shaped contact 16, 52 is not necessary. In the lower part of fig. 4 there is an indication of how the tap contacts 16, 52 extend into the separation zone of the 35 contacts of a connector strip 56 which is marked with 16 interrupted lines. The tap contacts 16, 52 tap the voltage at the contacts of the connector strip 56, so that this voltage is also present at the overvoltage diverter 24. When a certain maximal voltage is exceeded, the gas diverter 24 conducts the 5 electrical energy via its middle leg 32 to earth spring 18, the corresponding terminal slot of which is approximately designed as is shown in fig. 2 for earth spring 18. In the embodiment which is shown, but not necessarily, the lower zone of earth spring 18 is bent and with this zone it is inserted 10 into an earth rail 58 which is indicated in fig. 4. This earth rail 58 in the case which is shown is provided with a plurality of holes or recesses, into which respectively the lower sections of the plurality of protective connectors 10 are inserted and are connected conductively with earth rail 15 58. Alternatively, as was mentioned above, the protective connector 10 in accordance with the invention can be designed for the protection of a plurality of double cores. In the embodiment which is shown in fig. 4, in addition those 20 measures are to be discerned by which a defined arrangement is achieved for the contacts 16, 18 and 52 which are accommodated in the housing half 12 which is shown. In this connection there is a plurality of ribs 60 on the inner surface of the housing half which is shown extending parallel to the plane of 25 the drawing, which are preferably arranged in pairs, so that between two ribs 60, respectively one guide channel is 'defined in which the respective contact 16, 18 or 52 is accepted and defined with respect to its position. In the case of the two tap contacts 16, 52, the housing is finally recessed at the 30 top end 62 of the two contacts so that the top ends of contacts 16, 52 are freely accessible from the exterior. This is used to place respectively a test probe on these points. It should be noted that ribs 60 of course are recessed in a -s, suitable manner at those points at which they intersect the legs 30, 32 of gas diverter 24, so that the legs 30, 32 can be 17 inserted with the necessary depth into the terminal slots of the respective contacts. In fig. 5, a further embodiment of a protective connector 10 5 is shown, which is similar to the embodiment of fig. 4. The important difference from the embodiment of fig. 4 is that it is not the tap contacts 16, 52 which are angled in their course, but earth spring 18. The two tap contacts 16, 52 are designed similarly to the tap contacts shown in fig. 2, but 10 they do not have the terminal slots 38 and they are not angled. Because the earth spring 18 contacts the middle leg 42 of gas diverter 24 at a point which is on the side on which tap contacts 16, 52 are located, in the embodiment of fig. 5 they have to be angled, in order to contact an earth rail 58 15 which is provided for a plurality of the protective connectors 10 which are shown at a suitable point. In the case which is shown earth spring 18 is not widened at its bottom end by bending, as is the case in the embodiment 20 which was previously described, but substantially by the formation of a .slot in the end section and subsequent bending away from each other of the two zones which abut the slot in opposite directions. Thereby an electrically conductive contact under a certain spring tension of earth rail 58 is 25 achieved. Finally, in fig. 5 the fail safe device which is provided in the form of a bracket 64 can be seen, which in the event that there is overvoltage for a longer period ensures a long-term 30 connection between the tap contacts 16, 52 concerned and the earth spring 18 and therefore the diversion of electrical energy via the earth rail 58 to earth. It should be noted that all the features which have only been mentioned in connection with the protective connectors in 18 accordance with figs. 4 and 5 are also applicable to the protective connectors shown in figs. 1 to 3. Lastly, the basic idea of the invention can also be seen in the fact that the contacts are designed in strip form, and that in their 5 terminal slots, the wires of the wired components are directly inserted to be electrically conductive, in which the wires of the wired components extend perpendicularly to the plane of the contacts which are designed as strip-shaped sheet elements. In addition, in accordance with the invention, the 10 features of all the subclaims can be combined in an advantageous manner with the subject of the preamble to claim 1, without combination with the characterizing feature.

Claims

1. A protectice connector (10) for a telecommunications device comprising: 5 - a housing (12), - a plurality of contacts (14, 16, 52, 54) which in the mounted state tap the contacts of the telecommunications device and/or (18) are connected with earth and are designed largely as strip-shaped 10 sheet elements, which have at least one terminal slot (38, 40, 46, 48, 50), in which the contacts (14, 16, 18, 52, 54) are arranged at least in sections parallel with each other, and - at least one wired component (22, 24, 26), which has 15 wires formed on it, in which respectively one wire (28, 30, 32, 34) of the wire component (22, 24, 26) is inserted in the terminal slot (38, 40, 46, 48, 50) so that the wired component is connected to be directly electrically conductive to the contact (14, 20 16, 18, 52, 54), characterized in that all the wired components (22, 24, 26) are arranged between the contacts (14, 16, 52, 54) which tap the contacts of teh telecommunications device. 25

2. A protective connector in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that it has a current protection, preferably in the form of a thermal resistor (22) and/or an overvoltage protection in 30 the form of a gas diverter (24) and/or an overvoltage fine protection, preferably in the form of a fine protection diode (26) or of a solid state diverter.

3. A protective connector in accordance with at least one of the claims above, 20 characterizeid in that the wires (28, 30, 32, 34) are inserted in an alignment perpendicular to the plane of the strip-shaped contacts (14, 16, 18, 52, 54) into the respective terminal slots 5 (38, 40, 46, 48, 50).

4. A protective connector in accordance with at least one of the claims above, characterized in that 10 the terminal slots (38, 40, 46, 48, 50) are designed to taper conically.

5. A protective connector in accordance with at least one of the claims above 15 characterized in that the terminal slots (38, 48, 50) are defined in the zone of the constant width of the strip-shaped contact (14, 16, 18, 52, 54) by two contact legs (44), on which adjacently a slot type recess (42) is formed, or the contact is set 20 back with respect to its width. 5. A protective connector in accordance with at least one of the claims above characterized in that 25 preferably on the ends of the contact (14, 16, 18, 52, 54) a terminal slot (40, 46, 50) is demarcated by contact legs (44) which extend in the width direction beyond the width of the contact which is formed in the adjacent zone of the contact. 30

7. A protective connector in accordance with at least one of the claims above characterized in that LL" 21 on at least one contact (14, 16, 52, 54) a heel (36) is formed by a double bend, by which the contact is supported in the housing or in one half of the housing (12). 5 8. A protective connector in accordance with at least one of the claims above characterized in that the housing (12) has at least one guide channel for the contacts in it (14, 16, 18, 52, 54), by which the 10 contacts in the assembled state are fixed in the housing, in which the guide channel has preferably at least one terminal rib.

9. A protective connector in accordance with at least one of 15 the claims above characterized in that at least one contact (14, 16, 52, 54) is bent at least once, in which in the event of multiple bending, all the bent edges of a contact are parallel with each other. NTZ '17\' Q