IL35449A - An electrical connector having adjustable keying means - Google Patents

Description

adjustable means TUB 33587 provision of keying an electrical and its receptacle is employed in electrical connectors for a variety of purposes such for to ensure proper terminal orientation mating between In certain electrical connectors may be employed which differ only with regard to their keying In such cases it has conventionally been necessary to maintain a stock of a plurality of different one for different keying location In accordance with the present invention is provided an electrical connector having adjustable keying comprising in a cooperatively engageable plug and receptacle each including a tubular shell and containing pins and sockets respectivel mate when the plug and receptacle are engaged in proper keyed said receptacle including a plurality of keyways provided at spaced locations in the inner surface of the receptacle and a plurality of plugs in at least a predetermined plurality of the keyways provided said receptacle so as to provide for selective plugging said including a rotatable band mounted on the outer surface of the plug said band having a key provided therein so that rotation of said band permits said key to be circumfereatially positionable to a location corresponding that of any desired one of said predetermined plurality of keyways of said receptacle and so as to be able to key said band also including inwardly biased resilient locating lug provided thereon at a location spaced from said said plug also including spaced slots in the outer surface of the plug shell adjacent said band so as to be eooperable with said resilient locating lug provided on said band to said to be insertacle in any selected one of said slots in order to lock said rotatable band and thus said key at a circumferential position corresponding to any desired one of said of said The specific nature of the invention well as other advantages and uses thereof will become apparent the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction w the accompanying in Figure 1 is a perspective view of a connector receptacle having the capability of selectively providing or eliminating a a one or more of a plurality of different keyway Figure 2 is a f view taken through a keyway location along the line of Figure and Figure is a perspective view of a plug for mating with the receptacle of Figure 1 and having an adjustable key whose location be selected to correspond to a desired keyway location of the numerals designate like elements throughout the figures of the to facilitate understanding of the embodiment of the to be elements of the connector receptacle in FIGURES I and 2 be designated by numbers less than elements of the connector plug illustrated in FIGURE 3 will be designated by numbers greater than cooperating elements on the connector and receptacle be nated with numerals whose difference exactly With reference to FIGURES and an electrical connector comprised of a receptacle and a plug constructed and arranged for engagement with one The receptacle In FIGURE Includes a tubular within which a plurality of electrically insulated pins 14 are suitably provided for engagement with respectively located Insulated receiving sockets vided within a tubular of the plug In FIGURE 3 when the and receptacle are the and the sockets are conventional and may readily be provided their respective receptacle and plug along with appropriate means to permit electrical connection to associated electrical no further description thereof be given The tubular shell of the connector receptacle trated In FIGURE Is provided with a mounting flange having mounting holes so as to permit the receptacle to be appropriately mounted on a utilization such as an electronic The surface of the shell has a circular groove 20 in which an gasket 22 Is disposed for the forward outer surface of the plug shell so as to provide in a tional stubs 24 are on the forward outer surface of the receptacle for cooperation with slots a bayonet coupling ring on the plug shell so as to provide a conventional of locking engagement for the plug and receptacle The forward inner surface of the receptacle shell 12 In FIGURE is provided with four circumferentially spaced fixed keyways each of which receives an aligned pair of respectively located fixed keys provided on the outer surface of the plug shell 112 in FIGURE 3 when the plug 110 and receptacle are Slotted spring are provided in the annular space between each pair of keys 128 of the 10 so as to be biased against the surface of the receptacle shell when the plug and receptacle are thereby providing electrical shielding and conductivity The description so far has been concerned with the conventional and well known structural portions of the receptacle and the lug of the connector illustrated in FIGURES and With cription of conventional structure as the novel features of the invention whereby an adjustable keying capability is provided will now be descr i to FIGURE it will be seen that the lower of the forward inner surface of the receptacle shell 12 is provided with five spaced keyways 30 which are In addition to the conventional keyways The number of these keyways 30 which are provided is determined by the number of different keying locations an appropriately located keyway 30 being provided for each desired keying It be understood from FIGURE that a keyway 30 be removed by the insertion of a keyway plug 32 and reinstated by removal of the each 32 has the general form of a channel with a downwardly biased spring clip 33 being provided near one end upon insertion of the plug snaps Into a retaining groove 34 provided in the receptacle shell near the end of the keyways as shown FIGURE each keyway 30 and plug 32 Is preferably of dovetail shape to In the insertion and retention of the plug 32 in a keyway any desired of plugged and unplugged keyways 30 could be it is preferred that all but a selected one of the keyways 30 be p I ugged To remove a 32 from a keyway 30 in FIGURE a tool such as a screwdriver the channel opening 35 of the 32 the 33 rises out of the retaining groove by releasing the plug 32 so as to permit it to be pulled out of the keyway using an appropriate tool for this It next be described how the connector plug In FIGURE 3 is provided with an key 130 which may be moved to a position corresponding to any selected one of the keyways 30 in FIGURE The adjustable key 130 has a generally inverted shape and pends from a band disposed a groove 138 in the plug shell The band 137 is of appropriate diameter and resiliency so as to mally be retained in the groove while being rotatable with spect to the when the adjustable key Is such as by Inserting a screwdriver Into the of the key The band 137 the adjustable key 130 also a locating lug 139 cooperating with slots 141 provided In the plug shell adjacent the band 137 so as to permit the lug to be positioned in any desired one of the slots It will be stood that the slots are positioned with respect to the and adjustable keys 128 and 130 so for each position of the lug the adjustable key 130 is aligned with a respective one of the pluggable keyways 30 of the receptacle 10 of FIGURE in the preferred operation of the device mentioned earlier in which a user plugs but a selected one of the pluggable keyways the user correspondingly sets the locating lug the particular slot 1 1 which cause the adjustable key 130 the 110 FIGURE 3 to be aligned with the selected unplugged keyway 30 in FIGURE when the two are mated Although the present invention has been described with respect to a particular preferred embodiment it to be understood that the invention is subject to a wide variety of and variations in operation use without departing from the scope of the invention as in the appended c a ims 6 insufficientOCRQuality

Claims (1)

1. CLAIMS electrical connector having adjustable keying comprising in combinations a cooperatively engageable plug and receptacle each including a tubular shell and conaining pins and sockets respectively the plug and receptacle are engaged in proper keyed said receptacle including a plurality of provided at spaced circumferential locations in the inner surface of the receptacle and a plurality of keying plugs insertable in at least a predetermined plurality of the provided in said receptacle so as to provide for selective plugging said plug including a band on the outer surface of the plug said band having a key provided therein so that rotation of said band permits said key to be positionable to a location corresponding to that of any desired one of said predetermined plurality of of said receptacle and so as to be able to key therewith when the plug and receptacle are said band also including an inwardly biased resilient locating lug provided thereon at a location iaferentially spaced from said said plug also including circumferentially spaced slots the outer surface of the shell adjacent said band so as to be cooperable with said resilient locating provided on said band to permit said lug 7 to be in any selected one of said slots in order to lock rotatable band and thus said key at a circumferential position corresponding to any desired one of said keyways of said The invention in accordance with wherein said plug also includes a plurality of fixed keys provided for mating with predeterrained ones said keyways said plug and receptacle are invention in accordance w th Claim wherein said plug and said receptacle also include cooperating locking means for providing locking thereof in an engaged the Applicants PARTNERS insufficientOCRQuality