EP0264209A2 - An electrical connector - Google Patents
An electrical connector Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP0264209A2 EP0264209A2 EP87308733A EP87308733A EP0264209A2 EP 0264209 A2 EP0264209 A2 EP 0264209A2 EP 87308733 A EP87308733 A EP 87308733A EP 87308733 A EP87308733 A EP 87308733A EP 0264209 A2 EP0264209 A2 EP 0264209A2
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- connector
- pair
- slit
- circular
- strip
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
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Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01R—ELECTRICALLY-CONDUCTIVE CONNECTIONS; STRUCTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY-INSULATED ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENTS; COUPLING DEVICES; CURRENT COLLECTORS
- H01R4/00—Electrically-conductive connections between two or more conductive members in direct contact, i.e. touching one another; Means for effecting or maintaining such contact; Electrically-conductive connections having two or more spaced connecting locations for conductors and using contact members penetrating insulation
- H01R4/24—Connections using contact members penetrating or cutting insulation or cable strands
- H01R4/2416—Connections using contact members penetrating or cutting insulation or cable strands the contact members having insulation-cutting edges, e.g. of tuning fork type
- H01R4/242—Connections using contact members penetrating or cutting insulation or cable strands the contact members having insulation-cutting edges, e.g. of tuning fork type the contact members being plates having a single slot
- H01R4/2437—Curved plates
Abstract
Description
- The present invention relates to an electrical connector particularly but not exclusively for use in the telecommunications industry.
- Where it is required to distribute telephone lines from the local telephone exchange cable, be it aerial or underground, separate distribution points are established appropriately located either at the top of telephone poles or on the walls of the building requiring the telephone service.
- These distribution points consist of block terminals containing telephone wire connectors, which from time to time have to be removed for the purposes of testing or rearrangement.
- Up to relatively recent times these connectors have been of the screw connection type, but it is becoming more common these days to employ the use of insulation displacement connectors which do not require the wire insulation to be stripped to effect the connection thus producing a saving in time and cost.
- However the majority of insulation displacement connectors presently on the market are not re-usable and are limited in the size and type of wire with which they can deal.
- It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an insulation displacement electrical connector which is free of the disadvantages of the prior art in particular is re-usable and capable of deployment over a wide range of wire sizes and types.
- According to the invention there is provided an electrical connector comprising a connector body, means on the connector body defining a slit for severing insulation on a wire pair to be connected passed through the slit, and shorting the pair therein, and a slidable member on said body actuable to move a said wire pair through and away from said slit.
- The above device solves the problem of re-usability because the slidable member, in the form of a plunger guided for reciprocable movement in the connector body, is actuable by finger pressure to withdraw the wire pair from the slit thereby to release the wires for testing purposes in contrast to known insulation displacement connectors where this is not possible.
- Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention taken with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
- Figure 1 is a top view of a re-usable connector according to an embodiment of the invention;
- Figure 2 is a side view along the arrow P of Figure 1;
- Figure 3 is a side view along the arrow R of Figure 2;
- Figure 4 is a top view of the wire insulation-severing and electrical pick-up mechanism of the connector of Figure 1;
- Figure 5 is a view looking along the arrow T of Figure 4;
- Figure 6 shows representative side and end views of the actuating plunger of the connector of Figure 1;
- Figure 7 is a view of an alternative embodiment of the main connector part of the re-usable connector depicted in four stages of construction for illustrative purposes only; and
- Figure 8 (a) and 8 (b) show a side view and end view respectively of the main connector part formed from the four stage process depicted in Figure 7, Figure 8 (b) being a view along the arrow A in Figure 8 (a).
- The insulation displacement re-usable connector shown in the drawings comprises a
connector block 1 of square cross section, made of an insulating material, and formed of two identical separable block half-sections - An
axial passageway 4 of circular cross section extends through theblock 1, intercepting axially alignedtransverse entrant passageways passageway 4. - The
transverse passageways sections - The
entrant passageways opposing grooves sections - The block half-
sections screws 10 and associatednuts 11, although other connection means are possible, for example by the provision of cooperating formations on the mating faces which would avoid the need to employ screws and nuts. - A
cylindrical brass collar 12 is located in snug-fit relationship, in theaxial passageway 4. - The
collar 12 is split at 13. A pair of identicalsemi-circular plates 14 are brazed or welded between the opposing edges E defining thesplit 13 of thecollar 12, to form a pair of longitudinal slits S between opposing edges of theplates 14, both slits S extending midway between the edges E and having axes which are at 90° to the axis of thecollar 12. The entrance to the slits S within thecollar 12 are widened out at Sʹ as shown. - The
plates 14 project from the peripheral surface of thecollar 12, to engage theentrant passageway 5 as seen in Figures 1 and 2. - An
aperture 15, see Figure 4, is formed in the peripheral surface of thecollar 12, the axis of theaperture 15 lying on that of theentrant passageway 6, and thus on the axis defined by theplates 14. - A
plunger 16 is positioned for slidable movement in theentrant passageways connector block 1. - The
plunger 16 has two plunger halves, 17 and 18, onehalf 17 of which is of circular cross section and which engages in thecollar 14 to protrude from theentrant aperture 5, theother half 18 being of square cross section to engage theaperture 15 and protrude from theentrant aperture 6. - The
cylindrical half 17 of theplunger 16 has a pair ofcircular bores 19, positioned such that, with the square-sectional plunger half 18 positioned in the square sectionedentrant aperture 6, and unable to rotate thereby, the openings to thebores 19 are moveable in line with the slits S between theplates 14, as theplunger 16 is moved in the direction of the arrow A in Figure 1. - To connect a pair of wires of predetermined wire size, each wire of the pair are inserted in the
bores 19. Theplunger 16 is then depressed in the direction of arrow A to cause the wires to enter both upper and lower slits S between theplates 14. This acts to sever the insulation in the wires to effect a closed circuit in the pair through theplates 14. - Depression of the
plunger 16 in the opposite direction, releases the wires from the slits S for testing purposes. The connector is then re-usable. - The material of the
plates 14 is such that the slits S as by yielding elastically, are able to accommodate various wire sizes in the range 0.5mm to 1.1mm in diameter, without varying the dimension of the slit itself. - A variant of the invention is shown in Figures 7 and 8. This was developed to avoid the two part manufacture of the main connector part of the device comprising the
brass collar 12 andplates 14 of the Figure 1 through 5 embodiment, and lends itself more readily to mass production using rapid stamping and forming techniques. - In this alternative embodiment the main connector part of the device, as shown in Figure 7,
stage 1, is made from an integral piece of flatspring copper strip 20, having a rectangular cut-out 21, in each end of thestrip 21 and on its longitudinal axis. - An
oval hole 22 is provided centrally of thestrip 21. - Each
limb 23 formed by the cut-outs 21 is turned over at its end to form aspaded end portion 24 the plane of which lies at right angles to the plane of its associatedside piece 22, as shown in Figure 7,stage 2. - The
strip 20 is then folded, as shown in Figure 7,stage 3, into aU-shape 25. -
End sections 26 of thelimbs 23 are then turned over, as shown in Figure 7,stage 4, such that theedges 27 of those spadedend portions 24 at either end of thestrip 21 and lying on the same side of the longitudinal axis of thestrip 20, face one another, and under the spring tension of thestrip 21, to form a pair ofnarrow slits 28. Anoval passageway 29 on the same axis as theoval hole 22, see Figure 8, is thus formed between one respective pair of spaded end portions forming one of theslits 28 and the other respective pair forming the other of theslits 28, with the plane of theslits 28 passing through the axis of theoval passageway 29 and theoral hole 22 in the body of thestrip 20. - The main connector part thus formed from the
strip 20 is positioned in the axial passageway of a connector block (not shown) of thetype 1 discussed with reference to Figures 1 to 6, the axial passage being designed to accept the folded strip in tight fit secure relationship. - In this embodiment however, the device is operable by means of a
plunger 30, see Figure 8, of oval cross-section corresponding to theoval holes strip 20. Hence the corresponding axially aligned passageways in the connector block of this alternative embodiment in which theplunger 30 is slidably mounted, namely those corresponding toentrant passageways plunger 30 is thus unable to rotate but is free for axial slidable movement in a coaxial passageway extending through the connection block provided by theoval holes - The
plunger 30 is provided withholes 31 for receiving the wire to be connected lying in alignment with theslits 28. Theplunger 30 may thus be actuated by manual operation to force the wires to be connected through theslits 28, thereby to pierce the wire insulation in theslits 28, and make the electrical connection of the two wires as required through thecopper strip 20 of the main connector part. - Since the copper strip is spring tensioned, the
slits 28 will accommodate electrical wire of varied dimensions, due to their yieldability as with the slits S of the Figure 1 to 5 embodiment. - Although the invention has particular applicability to telephone wire connectors, it is not limited thereto, one of its alternative uses for example, is as a replacement for a screw terminal in electrical plugs and sockets.
Claims (11)
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB868623560A GB8623560D0 (en) | 1986-10-01 | 1986-10-01 | Electrical connector |
GB8623560 | 1986-10-01 |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP0264209A2 true EP0264209A2 (en) | 1988-04-20 |
EP0264209A3 EP0264209A3 (en) | 1988-08-10 |
Family
ID=10605074
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP87308733A Withdrawn EP0264209A3 (en) | 1986-10-01 | 1987-10-01 | An electrical connector |
Country Status (2)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP0264209A3 (en) |
GB (1) | GB8623560D0 (en) |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE1907950A1 (en) * | 1968-02-16 | 1969-09-25 | Northern Electric Co | Stripping contact clamp |
US3611263A (en) * | 1968-06-14 | 1971-10-05 | Krone Kg | Clip connector terminal for insulated conductors |
DE2449042A1 (en) * | 1973-10-29 | 1975-04-30 | Amp Inc | ELECTRIC CONNECTOR |
US4508409A (en) * | 1983-06-28 | 1985-04-02 | Amp Incorporated | Insulation piercing coaxial grip splice device |
-
1986
- 1986-10-01 GB GB868623560A patent/GB8623560D0/en active Pending
-
1987
- 1987-10-01 EP EP87308733A patent/EP0264209A3/en not_active Withdrawn
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE1907950A1 (en) * | 1968-02-16 | 1969-09-25 | Northern Electric Co | Stripping contact clamp |
US3611263A (en) * | 1968-06-14 | 1971-10-05 | Krone Kg | Clip connector terminal for insulated conductors |
DE2449042A1 (en) * | 1973-10-29 | 1975-04-30 | Amp Inc | ELECTRIC CONNECTOR |
US4508409A (en) * | 1983-06-28 | 1985-04-02 | Amp Incorporated | Insulation piercing coaxial grip splice device |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
GB8623560D0 (en) | 1986-11-05 |
EP0264209A3 (en) | 1988-08-10 |
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Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
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PUAI | Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase |
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AK | Designated contracting states |
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PUAL | Search report despatched |
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17P | Request for examination filed |
Effective date: 19890201 |
|
17Q | First examination report despatched |
Effective date: 19911119 |
|
STAA | Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent |
Free format text: STATUS: THE APPLICATION IS DEEMED TO BE WITHDRAWN |
|
18D | Application deemed to be withdrawn |
Effective date: 19920707 |