US1005506A - Terminal connector or coupling for electric conduits. - Google Patents

Description

W. S. BROWN.

TERMINAL CONNECTOR 0B. COUPLING FOE ELECTRIC CONDUITS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16, 1910.

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,WILLIAM S. BROWN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

TERMINAL CONNECTOR OR COUPLING FOR ELECTRIC CONDUITS.

. provement in Terminal Connectors or Couplings for Electric Conduits, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to terminal connectors or couplings for use with electric conduits and conductors, which may be either flexible metallic, or flexible non-metallic, or sheathed, or armored or of other type, the. terminal connector being designed to join such conduit or conductor to any suitable outlet, junction, panel, or service box. It is evident that this class of goods must be primarily cheap to manufacture. But beyond this the requirements of the service are exacting and must be fully met and satisfied. Briefly enumerated the service requirements are as follows: Capability of rigid connection with any ordinary outlet or junction box having thick or thin, curved or plane walls. Capability of rigid connection with any ordinary conduit or conductor,

either unarmored or sheathed with a rigid or,

flexible metallic covering. Quick and easy attachability'and detachability in the fore going connections. A connection which does not injure either conductor or box in its gripping action. A connection which is particularly strong a ainst strains and forces longitudinally o the conductor. A connection which provides a shoulder for the sheath or armor covering when the latter has been stripped back in the usual manner to bare a ortion of the insulated conductor where 1t enters the outlet box. A connection which presents only rounded .portions to contact with the insulation of the conductor where the latter enters the outlet box.

It is among the main purposes of my invent-ion to satisfy these several objects or requirements and to do so in an especially cheap efficient and practicable manner.

-W1th these objects in view my invention consists in the features of construction and combination as hereinafter .set forth and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1, is a perspective view of a cable connector embodying the principles of my invention Fig. 2, is a vertical sectional view of the same, and Fig. 3,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 16, 1910. Serial No. 561,642.

Patented Oct. 10, 1911.

is an end view looking from the top in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, 1 denotes a hollow rigid metallic body preferably made of cast iron or other metal. 2 denotes a clamp of flexible metal, preferably sheet iron or steel in the form of a strap not quite completely encircling a central circular area the size ofthe sheathed conductor to be grasped. This strap has terminal ears 3 at its ends, perforated to receive a bolt 4 by which they are drawn together and the strap bound or clamped upon the conductor. These features as thus above broadly described have been employed in various forms in prior devices of this class. The present invention lies more particularly in the features and aspects hereinafter described.

I make the hollow rigid metallic body 1 wlth a flange or circumferential rib 5 having a flat interior face 7 and a rounding outside contour 8.

9 designates the usual nut on the usual.

threaded portion of tlfbody 1. On one side of the body 1, and extending therefrom in a-directlon parallel to the longitudinal axis,-

I provide an integral prong or horn 10.

This horn has an interior surface concentric with the bore of the body 1 but with a slightly greater radius of curvature, thereby providing for a shoulder 11 at the entrance to the bore of the body 1. The horn 10 has a thickness as small as is consistent with strength, and this thickness may be comparatively slight as its curved form. gives it considerable rigidity. The transverse section of the horn will be crescent shaped. Its angular extent should be as small as is consistent with strength, and should in all cases be much less than half a circumference to give good results. To this horn the strap 2 is riveted or otherwise fixed at the middle of its back, or in other words, centrally between its two extremities. It is not essential that the strap should pass around theoutside of the horn in its attachment, but this is my practical construction. The strap is formed to have its interior surface follow. the outline of the bore as closely as possible, or more accurately stated, follow a cylindric'al outline slightly larger than but concentric with the bore of the body 1 in order to provide for the annular shoulder 11. The exposed portion of the strap 2 may be punched inward at 13 to form an internal protuberance, or may be otherwise roughened or corrugated to provide a firm grip on the conductor or conduit to be grasped.

I regard it as an important feature of the construction that the strap has a straight lower edge which bends into and remains in a flator plane form in normal use thereby fitting against the flat interior face 7 previously described. When the bolt or fastening device 4; has been tightened the conductor is or may be made to be almost wholly inclosed. The endof the sheath or armor of the conductor abuts against the shoulder 11, and the insulated portion projects through the bore of the body 1 and into the outlet or junction box past the rounded corners 14.

What I claim is,

A terminal connector for electric conduits comprising a hollow rigid metallic body of cast formation having a flanged or circumferential rib 5 and a fiat interior face 7, said body having projecting from said flat face an integral horn of crescent shaped transverse section, the interior surface of said horn being concentric with the bore of said body but with a larger radius of curvature, and a strap 2 secured to the middle of the back of the horn centrally between its two extremities, and having one edge fitting against said fiat face 7 on each side, whereby said strap is free to be expanded through a considerable range of enlargement.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in' the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 13th dayof May 1910.

WVM. S. BROWN. Witnesses:

G. M. AYVAD, GRAcn DI GAUGH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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