GB1587041A - Electrical components - Google Patents

Description

(54) ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS (71) We, R.I.C. CAPACITORS LI MITED, a British Company, of Budds Lane, Romsey, Hants. S05 OZQ, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to an electrical component housed in an open ended container; the component may be a capacitor or two or more elements within the container such as capacitors and resistors connected in parallel.

From one aspect, the invention provides an electrical component housed in an open ended container with a terminal wire thereof connected to an electrical connector to which a conductor wire external of the container may be connected in which said connector comprises a terminal shroud mounted on a closure member closing the open end of the container, a spring contact member reversely bent at each end housed in said terminal shroud with its ends closely adjacent inside surfaces of said shroud, and an aperture at the end of the shroud adjacent the closure member through which a terminal wire from the component passing through the closure member is inserted and gripped between the lower end of the spring contact member and the terminal shroud and an aperture at the other end of the terminal shroud through which an external wire may be inserted and gripped between the other end of the spring contact member and the terminal shroud.

From another aspect, the invention provides an electrical component housed in an open ended container with a terminal wire thereof connected to an electrical connector to which a conductor wire external of the container may be connected in which said connector comprises a spring contact strip housed in a terminal shroud and having reversely bent ends abutting inside surfaces of the shroud, the terminal shroud having openings therein through which wires may be inserted and gripped by the reversely bent ends of the spring contact strip, the terminal shroud being mounted on a closure member closing the open end of the container and said closure member having holes therethrough through which terminal wires of the component pass for insertion into the shroud.

The contact strip is preferably smoothly curved into an S-shape and is split at each end to provide a double grip contact. It may be enclosed on three sides by a metal strip which fits snugly into a recess of rectangular section in the terminal shroud. A bridge piece extending across the top of this recess and shaped to fit closely the top of the strip may retain the strip in position and provide separate openings through which two external wires may be inserted. Two holes maybe provided in the closure member, which may be in the form of a disc, for the insertion of terminal wires from two elements in the container which are to be connected in parallel such for example as a capacitor and a resistor.

It will be appreciated that the invention reduces the time necessary for assembling the component by avoiding any soldering operation for connecting a terminal wire from the element in the container to external terminals. Soldering or even welding this wire is a slow operation in that it involves locating the wire in the position required holding it steady there either manually or in a jig and then applying either solder or welding electrodes to effect the union. In the improved connector, both internal and external connection wires are dealt with similarly, each being connected to the spring contact member by a so-called "wire-grip" technique.

Other parts of the invention arc emllo- died in the preferred form which will now be described in some detail with reference to the attached drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an isometric view of a connector; Figure 2 is an isometric view of an assembly of an S-shaped contact strip and surrounding strip and Figure 3 is a plan view of a closure disc.

Referring to Figure 1, a terminal shroud 18 is provided with two integral latches 18a adapted to be pushed through slots 21 in a terminal disc 22 for the container of the component element. The shroud 18 is formed with rectangular recesses 17 within each of which is housed an electrical contact strip 15 reversely bent at each end into an S-shape. The tips 15a and 15b of this spring abut against the inner surfaces of opposite walls of the recess 17 or preferably as shown against a metal channel strip A encompassing the spring and itself fitting closely against the inner surfaces of the opposed walls.

A bridge member B extends across the top of the recess 17 and is shaped to bear on the top of the spring and retain it within the recess. Two openings 16 are thus provided in which separate external wires may be inserted to be gripped by the spring, which may be split at 23 to give a double grip contact.

This bridge B may be so shaped that it substantially conforms to and engages the upper surface of the S-spring. This serves to prevent the spring being wrongly assembled in that, if it were reversed, it could not be fully pushed home.

Two pairs of holes 20 are provided in the closure disc on which the shroud is mounted through which terminal wires from a capacitor and a resistor respectively may be passed and gripped by the bottom end of the spring contact member. The wire from the compo nent is of such a length that, when fully pushed home, its bared end is gripped by a lower tip 15a of the springs.

The terminal disc 22 carrying the shroud 18 and contact 15 is then fitted to the open end of the container and attached therein by, for example, an ultrasonic welding operation if the disc and can are of moulded plastics materials or by a spinning operation if the can is a conventional aluminium container. After such assembly an external connection wire may be inserted as required into the upper aperture 6 of the shroud 18 to be engaged and gripped by the upper tip 15b of the S-contact.

It will be seen that the design is adapted to accept two external wires for each contact member, each pair of wires being connected in parallel by the member, an arrangement convenient for certain external wiring sys tems. Two rectangular apertures are provided above each contact member by the bridge member. These serve to locate wire positions and keep the wires each on its appropriate portion of the contact member, which itself is split along a length of its end to provide independent gripping for each wire. This split contact arrangement is also used at the lower end of the S-spring enabling a total of 4 wires from inside the container to be engaged with the contact member. These will generally comprise a pair of wires from a capacitor element engaged one in each of the pair of contacts of the terminal shroud and also a pair of wires from a resistor, each also engaged by each of the contacts so that the resistor is permanently connected in parallel with the capacitor to provide a discharge path.

The S-contact may be made of any suitable spring strip, for example a spring steel, beryllium copper or phosphor bronze of suitable hardness and resilience. To provide an adequately low resistance through the connector between the internal and external connexion wires the spring may be contained on 3 sides by a U-shaped member A made of a low resistivity metal such as brass, the contact tongues abutting against the two parallel sides of the U. Connection between internal and external wires is thus provided both through the spring and through the U-holder. This is particularly desirable if the spring is of a thin stainless spring steel. The U-member may of course be omitted so that the spring grips the wires against the moulded walls of the shroud.

The terminal deck or closure member has four holes suitably located to enable the wires from inside the container to be engaged with the contact member.

To prevent an over-flexing of the spring when, for example, it is depressed to disengage and remove a wire, there may be provided internal projections on the Uholder to prevent further movement of the spring tips when they have been depressed sufficiently far. These could conveniently be formed as integral tongues cut in the metal of the parallel walls and bent inwardly.

The basic operation in assembling a capacitor element and discharge resistor (already provided with connection wires of correct length) in a container are: 1. Insert an S-contact spring into its U-holder (if provided) 2. Insert two springs in their holders (or the springs alone) in the open ends of the terminal shroud.

3. Latch the shroud containing the con tacts to the closure deck of the capacitor.

4. Push the capacitor and resistor wires through the holes in the closure deck, pushing them so far home that they are engaged by the limbs of the S-springs.

5. Assemble the closure deck to the capacitor container.

6. Insert external connection wires as and when required.

It will be understood that the invention is not restricted to the details of the preferred form described by way of example which may be modified without departure from the scope of the accompanying claims.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. An electrical component housed in an open ended container with a terminal wire thereof connected to an electrical connector to which a conductor wire external of the container may be connected in which said connector comprises a terminal shroud mounted on a closure member closing the open end of the container, a spring contact member reversely bent at each end housed in said terminal shroud with its ends closely adjacent inside surfaces of said shroud, and an aperture at the end of the shroud adjacent the closure member through which a terminal wire from the component passing through the closure member is inserted and gripped between the lower end of the spring contact member and the terminal shroud and an aperture at the other end of the terminal shroud through which an external wire may be inserted and gripped between the other end of the spring contact member and the terminal shroud.

2. An electrical component housed in an open ended container with a terminal wire thereof connected to an electrical connector to which a conductor wire external of the container may be connected in which said connector comprises a spring contact strip housed in a terminal shroud and having reversely bent ends abutting inside surfaces of the shroud, the terminal shroud having openings therein through which wires may be inserted and gripped by the reversely bent ends of the spring contact strip, the terminal shroud being mounted on a closure member closing the open end of the container and said closure member having holes therethrough which terminal wires of the component pass for insertion into the shroud.

3. An electrical component as claimed in either of the preceding claims, in which the contact strip is smoothly curved into an S-shape and is split at each end to provide a double grip contact.

4. An electrical component as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the contact strip is enclosed by a metal strip fitting snugly into a recess of rectangular section in the terminal shroud.

5. An electrical component as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which a bridge piece extends across the top of a recess in the shroud housing the contact strip and is shaped to fit closely to the top of the strip and retain the strip in position, this bridge piece defining separate openings through which external wires may be inserted.

6. An electrical component as claimed in claim 2, in which the holes in the closure member are arranged in pairs and wires from two separate elements in the container are inserted into the shroud and gripped by the same contact strip and thereby connected in parallel.

7. An electrical component as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the terminal shroud is attached to the closure member by engagement of latch type feet thereon with corresponding slots in the closure disc.

8. An electrical component substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (8)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. capacitor container. 6. Insert external connection wires as and when required. It will be understood that the invention is not restricted to the details of the preferred form described by way of example which may be modified without departure from the scope of the accompanying claims. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. An electrical component housed in an open ended container with a terminal wire thereof connected to an electrical connector to which a conductor wire external of the container may be connected in which said connector comprises a terminal shroud mounted on a closure member closing the open end of the container, a spring contact member reversely bent at each end housed in said terminal shroud with its ends closely adjacent inside surfaces of said shroud, and an aperture at the end of the shroud adjacent the closure member through which a terminal wire from the component passing through the closure member is inserted and gripped between the lower end of the spring contact member and the terminal shroud and an aperture at the other end of the terminal shroud through which an external wire may be inserted and gripped between the other end of the spring contact member and the terminal shroud.

2. An electrical component housed in an open ended container with a terminal wire thereof connected to an electrical connector to which a conductor wire external of the container may be connected in which said connector comprises a spring contact strip housed in a terminal shroud and having reversely bent ends abutting inside surfaces of the shroud, the terminal shroud having openings therein through which wires may be inserted and gripped by the reversely bent ends of the spring contact strip, the terminal shroud being mounted on a closure member closing the open end of the container and said closure member having holes therethrough which terminal wires of the component pass for insertion into the shroud.

3. An electrical component as claimed in either of the preceding claims, in which the contact strip is smoothly curved into an S-shape and is split at each end to provide a double grip contact.

4. An electrical component as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the contact strip is enclosed by a metal strip fitting snugly into a recess of rectangular section in the terminal shroud.

5. An electrical component as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which a bridge piece extends across the top of a recess in the shroud housing the contact strip and is shaped to fit closely to the top of the strip and retain the strip in position, this bridge piece defining separate openings through which external wires may be inserted.

6. An electrical component as claimed in claim 2, in which the holes in the closure member are arranged in pairs and wires from two separate elements in the container are inserted into the shroud and gripped by the same contact strip and thereby connected in parallel.

7. An electrical component as claimed in any of the preceding claims, in which the terminal shroud is attached to the closure member by engagement of latch type feet thereon with corresponding slots in the closure disc.

8. An electrical component substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.