EP0265321B1 - Slotted connecting arrangement for an electrical cable, and connecting tool therefor - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a connection arrangement with stripping and wire retaining slot for one or more electric wires and a tool intended to ensure the connection of the wires in such arrangements.

Such connection arrangements are usually used to connect wires to one another in junction block type members or to connect wires to electrical equipment.

Document US-A-3 810 281 describes a slot connection arrangement for an electric wire in which at least one conductive connection piece is immobilized in an insulating housing provided with at least one opening extending opposite a slot stripping and retaining the core of wire, which provides the electrical connection and which is formed along a wall of the connection piece; the opening allows the insertion of a wire to be connected transversely above a stripped mouth of the slot as well as the subsequent immobilization of the wire by its insulating sheath. The housing is provided with at least one insertion orifice for a rigid and mobile blade for inserting an external tool which is intended to slide along the slot during the insertion of a wire; it is also provided with a tool positioning device, by insertion opening; this device is formed for a projection in the center of which is formed the insertion opening considered and on which is hooked one end of the tool comprising said insertion blade.

Conventionally, each stripping and wire retaining slot is provided, at one of its ends, with a flared mouth intended to facilitate the longitudinal insertion into the slot of a wire to be connected arranged transversely and simultaneously ensuring a cut. transverse insulation sheathing this wire. The core of the wire, locally stripped by the slit mouth, comes into contact with the edges of this slit which immobilize it by their pressure and which simultaneously provide electrical continuity between the wire and the conductive part; the insulating sheath of the wire is simultaneously wedged between the edges of a sheath wedging opening which extends facing the stripping and holding slot in an insulating housing where the conductive part is generally housed.

The connection of a wire to such an arrangement requires the application of a driving force on the wire which most often involves the use of a reduction tool, which is most often desired simple, by example a lever.

This type of tool, which makes it possible to develop sufficient power, on the other hand has the disadvantage of being imprecise and possibly damaging for the connection arrangement when it is used by users whose strength, skill or the application vary significantly.

Therefore, we seek to create connection arrangements and tools to obtain good regularity of quality of connections, with a reasonable cost.

To this end, the present invention provides a slotted connection arrangement for an electrical wire in which at least one conductive connection piece is immobilized in an insulating housing provided with at least one opening extending opposite a stripping slot and wire core retaining, which provides the electrical connection and which is formed along a wall of said connection piece, said opening allowing the insertion of a wire to be connected transversely above a stripped mouth of the slot as well as the subsequent immobilization of the wire by its insulating sheath. The housing is provided with at least one insertion orifice for a rigid and mobile blade for inserting an external tool which is intended to slide along the slot during the insertion of a wire; it is also provided with a tool positioning device; by introduction opening; this device is constituted by a projection in the center of which is formed the insertion opening considered and on which is hooked one end of the tool comprising said insertion blade.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the introduction orifice is internally provided with hooking flanges for elements. fixing mobile carried by the tool end which are able to penetrate the insertion opening before the insertion blade to hang on the edges by immobilizing the tool relative to the insulating housing, during the actuation of this insertion blade.

The invention also provides a connection tool provided with a rigid wire insertion blade which is movable in a guide duct between a position for which this blade is retracted inside the duct in the tool and a position for which it protrudes from one of its ends out of the tool, as well as means for placing the tool on an insulating housing of a connection arrangement, in the operating position above a blade insertion orifice inserting said housing.

According to a characteristic of the invention, the connection tool comprises an outlet end of the insertion blade arranged to be embedded externally by translation on a housing projection in the center of which is a blade insertion orifice, said end being centrally provided with two flexible blades secured in the conduit on either side of the insertion blade which slides between them, these two flexible blades projecting identically out of the duct outside the tool, each by a bead-shaped end, so that said beads, elastically brought towards one another by the blades which comprise them in a position allowing their introduction into a orifice, are spaced from each other by the projection of the insertion blade out of the tool and are consequently able to be wedged under hooking flanges formed internally in the orifice. introduction considered, immobilizing the tool in the operating position on the housing as long as the insertion blade is not retracted.

The invention, its characteristics and its advantages are explained in the following description in conjunction with the figures listed below.

Figure 1 shows a connection arrangement according to the invention seen from the side.

Figure 2 shows a section on II-II of the arrangement shown in Figure 1 which has been associated with a connection tool tip according to the invention and a wire to be connected.

Figure 3 shows a top view of the connection arrangement according to the invention.

Figure 4 is a sectional assembly showing a positioning of a connection tool blade according to the invention in a conductive connection piece of an arrangement according to the invention.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic section of an example of a manual connection tool according to the invention, of which a half-shell is removed.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show two orthogonal median sections of a portion of the connection tool according to the invention, a half-shell being removed in FIG. 6.

Figures 8 to 11 show four arrangements showing the operation of the tool successively before connection for the first two and at the end of connection of a wire for the last two, a half-shell being removed in FIGS. 8 and 10.

The slot connection arrangement according to the invention is intended to be integrated into electrical equipment 1 of the organ or appliance type to ensure the electrical connection of one or more wires 2 to this equipment.

In the example taken into account here, the electrical equipment is a terminal block of which only one half has been shown in FIG. 2, the other half being symmetrical along a median plane of trace XXʹ considered to be perpendicular to the plane of the drawing.

Each half of the terminal block is provided with a slot connection arrangement according to the invention; each connection arrangement comprises a conductive connection piece 3 capable of receiving at least one and possibly several wires in parallel.

In the embodiment presented, the conductive part 3 of a connection arrangement is capable of being electrically connected to another conductive part of the block, by means of a contactor member capable of coming to be pressed against an appropriate stud 4 of the conductive part 3, the other part and the contactor member not being shown here.

Of course the conductive part 3 is also capable of being directly connected by its base to an analogous part mounted symmetrically with respect to it as is conventional in many terminal blocks. The common bar uniting the parts by their base then no longer has stud 4.

The part 3 is immobilized in a housing 50 provided for this purpose in an insulating box 5 which contains at least partially and here totally the electrical equipment 1. This insulating box 5 is for example constituted by assembling two complementary half-shells, which are for example made integral by ultrasonic welding after introduction of the internal members which they must contain, such as the conductive parts 3 and the contactor member.

In the embodiment proposed in FIG. 1, the two half-shells have a joint plane which corresponds to the median longitudinal plane of trace Y-Yʹ.

Each conductive part 3 has a stripping and retaining slot 30 for the cores 20 of the wires 2 to be connected - FIG. 1 - this slot being here rectilinear and opening by a stripping mouth 34 at one of its ends.

In the nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the slot 30 is formed along a wall of a profiled part of the part 3, the latter being obtained, from a flat blank, by a stamping causing its cutting, its folding and possibly localized thinning.

The profiled part of the part 3 has for example a hollow polygonal cross section which here corresponds to a U whose free ends have been obliquely and also folded towards one another, as seen in FIG. 4.

The profiled part thus obtained comprises two end folds 31 corresponding to the obliquely folded free ends mentioned above; these two folds border the slot 30 which they delimit and they are here externally thinned towards this slot.

The two parallel walls 32, which each carry a fold 31, participate in the immobilization of the part 3 in its housing 50 together with the bottom wall 33 to which they are perpendicularly oriented.

The stripped mouth 34 of the conductive part 3 is obtained by symmetrical oblique cutting of the pleats 31 at one of their two ends, this oblique cutting makes it possible to obtain a flared mouth. In a preferred embodiment, the subsequent folding of the folds 31, with respect to the walls 32 which carry them, creates an upper edge sufficient to start the sheath 21 of the wires 2 pushed into this mouth.

The folds 31, the parallel walls 32 and the bottom wall 33 delimit a cavity which is made open to the outside of the housing 5 by an orifice 51, said to introduce the tool blade, formed in this housing 5 near the stripping mouth 34, orthogonally to the latter and here at the top on the block shown in FIG. 2.

Port 51 opens here in the central zone of a device for positioning a tool constituted by a projection 52 formed at the upper part of the housing 5 in FIG. 2.

This projection 52 here has a rectangular shape and has at its center the orifice 51, which is itself rectangular in shape -figure 3 -.

The orifice 51 is arranged so as to release an access for a blade 60 of a connection tool 6 - FIG. 2 - in the housing 5, that is here in the slot 30 and on either side of the folds 31, c that is to say inside and outside of the profiled part.

At least two of the sides of the orifice 51 of rectangular shape, here the longitudinal edges, are furnished with flanges 53 which delimit the width of the orifice at the top of the projection 52 and which are intended to allow the attachment of the tool. connection 6. The latter is provided for this purpose with swollen ends 61 carried by flexible blades 62 and constituting mobile elements for fixing the tool to the housing.

The housing 5 is also provided with an opening which extends opposite the slot 30 to allow the successive insertion of the wires 2 transversely above the stripped mouth 34 and the jamming of the sheaths 21 of these wires. one above the other simultaneously with the wedging of their cores 20 in the slot 30.

The opening here has a cylindrical hole 54 through which it is possible to axially reinforce a wire above the stripping mouth 34 and in abutment at the bottom of the housing 50, beyond the stripping mouth 34 of the conductive part 3.

The cylindrical hole 54 communicates with a rectilinear opening 55 which opens at its lower part in FIG. 1 and which extends in line with the slot 30 when the conductive part 3 is in place.

The rectilinear light 55 is intended to ensure the retention of the sheaths 21 of the connected wires 2, it therefore has a width slightly less than the diameter of the smallest of the sheaths provided and includes bosses 80 produced under the cylindrical hole 54 in the rectilinear light for prevent the ascent of a wire, blocked by its sheath in the rectilinear opening, towards this cylindrical hole 54.

In the proposed embodiment, a second hole 56 is provided in the housing 5 at the other end of the rectilinear opening 55 relative to the hole 54, it opens under its slot 30 of the conductive part 3 to allow the withdrawal of a wire previously connected by wedging its core 20 in this slot 30.

In another embodiment, not shown here, the rectilinear opening 55 closes flush with the base of the connection piece and does not have a second hole.

Two auxiliary lights 57 laterally border the rectilinear light 55 so as to allow the deformation of the zones of the housing 5 which ensure the jamming of the sheaths, without for this reason the external dimensions of the housing being modified when the sheaths are immobilized there.

The connection tool 6 comprises, as we have seen, a rigid blade 60 for wire insertion sketched in FIGS. 2 and 4 and specified in FIGS. 6 to 8. This insertion blade 60 is intended to come insert itself through the hole 51 for introducing the tool into the housing 50 which contains the conductive part 3, along the slot 30 of this conductive part.

This insertion blade 60 is intended to come to press on each wire 2 to be connected so as to transversely reinforce the core 20 of this wire in the slot 30 and its sheath 21 in the rectilinear lumen 55 where they get stuck.

In a preferred embodiment the insertion blade 60 is capable of passing between the edges 31 of the slot 30 and on either side of these edges; it is then in the form of a flat, elongated blade symmetrically provided with longitudinal grooves 63 reducing its thickness to a value less than the distance between edges 31 of slot 30 of connection piece, which allows it to slide longitudinally between these edges 31 then each housed in a groove.

In the embodiment shown, the insertion blade 60 has two pairs of grooves 63 arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the blade, the latter being assumed to be perpendicular to the plane of the sheet carrying FIG. 4. A such an arrangement is particularly advantageous for the user insofar as it avoids modifying the orientation of the connection tool to connect wires to conductive parts mounted back to back in the same housing, as conventionally happens in terminal blocks, in particular in the one whose half is shown in Figure 2.

A simplified solution, not shown, uses a blade having only one pair of grooves 63. This blade corresponds practically to a half of blade 60 of FIG. 4 cut longitudinally along a transverse median plane, it has for example a symmetry by relative to a transverse plane passing through the bottom of the grooves 63.

The insertion blade 60 of the connection tool 6 presented in FIG. 5 slides in a guide duct 64 which also contains a pusher 65, for example cylindrical, carrying the insertion blade 60 at one end and receiving at the other end the thrust of an actuating trigger 66 articulated on a grip grip 67 of the tool.

The part of the connection tool where the guide duct is formed is for example composed of two symmetrical half-shells joined together 6A, 6B - FIG. 7 -.

A coil spring 68 belts here a part of the pusher 65 and / or of the insertion blade 60, it tends to bring the latter at the bottom of the duct 64, in a retracted position, when the trigger 66 is released, after complete pulling , a classic ratchet system not shown forcing the user to continue any traction started.

The bringing together of the trigger 66 towards the stock 67 causes the insertion blade 60 to come out of the conduit 64 and out of the tool 6. Incidentally the trigger and the stock each comprise a cutting portion 69, close to their articulation common 80 to allow the cutting of a wire, such as a pair of scissors, during connection operations.

Two fixing pieces 70 are arranged on either side of the insertion blade 60 and two flexible blades 62 on either side of this insertion blade; they fix the flexible blades on the body
of the tool 6 beyond the conduit 64 on the part and of a guide 71 where the insertion blade 60 slides.

The insertion blade 60 is set back relative to the flexible blades when the trigger 66 is released, it slides between them by separating them when this trigger is pressed.

In the proposed embodiment, the flexible blades 62 have their bases ending parallel to the insertion blade 60, they are inclined towards one another beyond the guide 71 and outside the tool 6 so as to join their free end; the two free adjoining ends are externally rolled to each form a bead 61, facilitating the introduction and extraction of the tool in and out of the orifice 51, due to its rounded shape.

The beads 61 move outward when the insertion blade 60 projects from the tool 6 and return to each other when the trigger is released and that as a result the insertion blade 69 is retracted inside the tool 6.

To obtain good regularity of the connections, the connection tool 6 is positioned in a precise manner relative to the orifice 51 of a connection arrangement of a housing 5 by coming to be embedded in translation by one end, called blade outlet, on the projection 52 in the central area of which is formed the introduction hole 51 concerned.

For this purpose, the half-shells 6A and 6B unite to form a tubular end piece in two parts, the latter join and determine a range allowing the tool 6 to be positioned on the projecting element 52 by an area support plane 72 - FIGS. 6 to 8 - and to be centered with respect to this projecting element which it comes to grip laterally by means of two lateral centering elements constituted here by extensions 73, as shown in FIG. 8.

The flat support area 72 formed at the end of the half-shells 6A, 6B is completed by the corresponding ends of the two fixing pieces 70.

In the proposed embodiment, the extensions 73 terminate at the same level as the beads 61 which they partially protect, the flexible blades 62 projecting at the center of the blade outlet end.

The width of the orifice 51 of a connection arrangement on a housing 5 corresponds practically to the sum of the thicknesses of the flexible blades 62 and of the insertion blade 60 so that a sufficient transverse positioning of the tool 6 is obtained, when the beads 61 are under the flanges 53, the flexible blades 62 and the insertion blade 60 then passing through the orifice.

To make a connection of a wire 2 in a conductive part 3 of a connection arrangement housed in a housing 5, an open end of the wire 2 is introduced through the hole 54 until it comes into abutment at the bottom of the housing 50 above and beyond the edges 31 of the slot 30 of the conductive part 3 -figure 8 -.

The tool 6 is positioned, trigger released and consequently the insertion blade 60 retracted, on the projection 52 which it covers, the tubular end piece coming in translation to be fitted on this projection. To this end, the lateral centering elements 73 are positioned on either side of this projection - FIG. 8 - and the beads 61 of the flexible blades 62 penetrate through the orifice 51 below the level of the flanges 53, when the reach plane 72 of the connection tool 6 comes to bear on the top of the projection 52 -figure 9 -.

The exertion of pressure on the trigger 66 of the connection tool 6 towards the butt 67 causes a translation of the pusher 65 and the insertion blade 60 at the same time as a compression of the spring 68. The blade d insertion 60 then spreads the flexible blades 62, the beads 61 of which get stuck under the edges 53 of the housing by securing the tool 6 to the housing 5.

The insertion blade 60 comes to bear on the sheath 20 of the wire to be connected and first drives it into the stripped mouth of the connection piece where this sheath is notched, then simultaneously in the slot 30 and in the lumen 55 where respectively the core 20 and the sheath 21 of the wire are stuck -figures 10 and 11 -
The release of the trigger of the tool 6 causes the insertion blade 60 to be retracted into the tool by the spring 68 and the approximation of the beads 61 which return elastically towards each other while separating the tool 6 of housing 5.

A connection of a second wire can then be carried out identically, this second wire resiliently repelling the first deeper in the slot 30 and in the lumen 55.

It is also possible to extract the first wire 2 connected thanks to the insertion blade 60 pushing this first wire out of the conductive part 3 at the hole 56 which allows its extraction.

The action on the trigger 66 must then be prolonged to obtain this result and it is preferable to provide a system for example with notches, associated with the trigger, in a manner known per se and not described here, to differentiate the connection stroke from this trigger compared to the longer disconnect.

When the rectilinear lumen 55 closes flush with the base of the connection piece 3 in the absence of a hole 56 at the bottom of the lumen, provision is made to use an extraction tool 81 penetrating through the orifice 51, in the absence of tool 6, to bring out a wire 2 previously connected.

The extraction tool 81, shown housed in the handle 67 of tool 6 in FIG. 5, is here composed of a handle carrying a thin rigid rod bent at a right angle at the end.

The extraction tool 81 makes it possible, after having been extracted from the handle 67, to lift a wire 2 immobilized in the stripping and holding slot of the connection piece 3, by entering this piece through the orifice 51 and by hanging under the wire 2 by its bent end. This wire 2 is thus wound up towards the cylindrical hole 54 through which it is then possible to extract it.

It can be envisaged to actuate the tool blade by means other than the trigger system, for example using a fluid pressure system which does not necessarily require the presence of a stock.

Claims (6)

1. A connection arrangement having a slot for electrical wires (2), in particular for use in an electrical junction block, wherein at least one conducting connection part (3) is secured in an insulating housing (5) provided with at least one opening extending in front of a slot (30) for stripping and retaining the core of the wire which slot ensures the electrical connection and which is implemented along a wall of the connecting part, said opening allowing for the insertion of a wire to be connected transversely above an insulation-stripping mouth (34) of the slot and also for the subsequent immobilization of the wire by means of its insulation sheath (21), the housing being provided with at least one insertion orifice (51) for an insertion blade (60) of an external tool (6), which is rigid, movable and intended to slide along the slot while a wire is being inserted, and also being provided with a device for positioning the tool at each insertion orifice, this device being constituted by a projection (52) in the center of which is realized the respective insertion orifice (51), and to which an end of the tool comprising said insertion blade (60) is coupled, characterized in that the insertion orifice is provided inside with latching rims (53) for movable fixing elements (61, 62) carried by the end of the tool and suitable for penetrating into the insertion orifice prior to the insertion blade in order to latch onto the rims and thereby immobilize the tool relative to the insulating housing when the insertion blade is being actuated.
2. A connection arrangement having a slot according to claim 1, characterized in that the projection (52) centered around an insertion orifice (51) has a rectangular shape like the orifice which is laterally surrounded along two of its parallel sides by symmetrical latching rims (53).
3. A connection tool for connecting at least one electrical wire to a connection arrangement according to at least one of the preceding claims, fitted with a rigid wire-insertion blade (60), which is movable in a guide duct (64) between a position in which said blade is retracted inside the duct in the tool (6), and a position in which it projects by one of its end out of the tool, as well as means for placing the tool on an insulating housing (5) of a connection arrangement in an operating position above a blade (60) inlet orifice (51) of said housing, with the tool (6) comprising to this effect an exit end (72, 73) for the insertion blade, which is arranged to become engaged to a projection (52) of the housing having a blade insertion orifice (51) located in the middle of the projection, characterized in that said exit end is fitted centrally with two flexible blades (62) which are fixed inside the duct (64) on either side of the insertion blade (60) which slides therebetween, said two flexible blades projecting identically from the tool outside the duct, with each of them representing an end in the form of a thickening (61), in such a manner that said thickenings, while being resiliently pushed towards each other by the resilient blades (62), of which they form part, to assume a position, which allows their introduction into an orificce, are spaced apart from each other by the projection of the insertion blade (60) and are therefore able to engage beneath the latching rims (53) which are implemented internally in the respective insertion orifice (51), thereby immobilizing the tool in its operating position on the housing (5) as long as the insertion blade is not retracted.
4. A connection tool according to claim 3, characterized in that the exit end of the insertion blade (60) of the tool is fitted with positioning means in the form of a plane bearing zone (72) for the tool at the end of the positioning projection of said tool, as well as with fixed lateral centering elements (73) which ensure the precise lateral positioning of the tool on the projection and relative to the insertion orifice (51), in order to enable accurate penetration of the insertion blade into said orifice during the connection operation.
5. A connection tool according to claim 4, characterized in that the positioning means form a tubular end piece (72, 73) suited to become coupled by translation to a projection of the housing in order to accurately fix the tool relative to the insertion orifice surrounded by said projection.
6. A connection tool according to claim 3, characterized in that the insertion blade (60) is a plane blade fitted with symmetrical grooves (63) which reduce its thickness to a value smaller than the distance between the lips (71) of the wire stripping and holding slot (30) of a connection part (3), in order to slide between said lips while pressing on either side of the slot against a wire (2) to be connected.

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