US1209604A - Connector for electric conductors. - Google Patents

Description

H. F. MAXIM.

CONNECTOR FOR ELECTRIC CONDUCTORS. APPLICATION FILED act. 28. m4.

1,209,604. Patent-ed Dec. 19,1916.

wi Masses UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE nouns r. MAXIM, or nonronx, visors,

CONNIECTOR FOR- ELEGTHIC CONDUCTOR-S.

1,209,604, Specification of Letters Iatcnt. Patented Deg, 19, 1916,

Application filed October 28, 1914. Serial No. 868,047.

To all whom it may concern: of the wire. Preferably the part 8 is pro- Be it known that I, HOSEA F. MAXIM, a

citizen of'the United States, residing at Norfolk, in the county of Norfolk and State of virfgl'una have invented certain new and use 1 fmprovements in Connectors for Electric Conductors, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

The object of the invention is 'to provide a wire connector which can be fastened in. place, as, for example, to a battery cell, and which will have powerfully acting elastic wire gripping elements, which, however, can be opene by the application of pressure to the movable element without any strain bein exertedat such'time upon the fastener.

e invention can be embodied in a num ber of difl'er'ent forms of connectors and in tli accompanying drawing several such forms have been shown for purposes of illustration. It will be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the forms shown and that others within the scope of the appended claims are to be considered as coming within the spirit of the invention.

'Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the top part of a dry but tery cell having attached to it. two connectors embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a modified form of connectar-embodying the invention. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of another modified form of connector embodying the invention. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of another modified form of connector embodying the invention. Fi 5 is a perspective view; ofanother modifie form of connector embodying the ihvention; i

Referrin to the drawings, 1 represents as a wholea ry battery, the said battery having'the zincshell 2 and the central carbon terminal 3, These can be of any form as they of'themselves constitute no part of my present invention. Attached to the zinc shell 2 anjltothe, carbon: terminal 3 are convided with means for holding it in approximate parallelism. with the part 7. In the preferred form, as shown, this means consists of the pivot 9 which is formed at the end of the part 8 and extends into the 'coil 5. and abuts against the lower inner surface thereof.

The wire extending from the other side of the coil. 5 is formed near its end into a book 10 which is positioned so as to project into, or, at least, lie in register with the space in the arm 6 bet ween the parts thereof, 7 and 8. Preferably, though not necessarily, there is also formed a second. hook 11 similar to and in parallelism with the hook 10 and adapted to lie on the outside of one of the parts 7 or 8, as, for instance, the part 7 as shown.

The wire is bent to provide a means for attachin the connector to the device which carries it and preferably this connecting means is formed between the coil 5 and the hook 10. As illustrated by the connector attached to the zinc shell, the attaching means is in the form of a U 12, the legs 13 and 14 of which extend downward from the coil 5 and from the hook 10, respectively. As illustrated, by the connector attached to the carbon terminal of the battery, the U projects horizontally from the coil and the hook instead of downward.

The arm 13 which extends upward from the fastener 12 to provide the hook 10 is extended beyond the hook, and the free end part of the wire is bent, as shown, to provide an abutment 15 adapted either to be engaged by the thumb or finger of the hand or to bear" against a stationary object, as the top or side of a cell wall, at the time when pressure is being exerted downward or, inward on the arm 6. In either case the solder, screw, or the like,.used for securing the fastener 12 in place, is relieved of strain or twisting when the arm 6 is pressed downward or inward to release or connect a conductor.

, In use the connector is attached as shown by means of the connecting 'U 12 'to the zinc? nectors 4-which are similar. A detailed de- I shell or the'carbon terminal of the battery. I

'scription of one of themwill sufiiee.

The connector 4 is formed of a single in- When the conductor wire is to be inserted, 1 5

tegral pieceof wire and it consists of the coil 50:- coils, as at-5, 5 from one sideof which therenexten'dsi the conductor engaging arm 6. The wire forming the arm 6 is doubled ack ulpton itself sons to provide the two bar or pa, s 7 and 8, which are spaced H apart a distanceabout equal to the diameter the arm, 6 is depressed so yes to cause the hook 10, and the book 11 if provided, ,to project above it. Then the wire is inserted through the hooks above the arm and the arm is released. The spring force of the coil 5 throws the arm upward against the conductor and the connector is thus pressed firmly against her 9 contacts with the hooks, electrical contact in this way bein established and maintained. The position 0 the attachin means 12 between the coil 5 and the heel? 10 is highly advantageous as in this way it is positioned closely adjacent to both of the points of stress, namely, the coil 5 when down pressure is'exerted on the arm, and the hoolr 10 when the arm is released and the wire gripped and afterward tensioned. The pivot 9, or eguivalent device, for supporting the part 8 o the arm is important as it holds the part 8 in parallelism with the part I. It will be clear that if the part 8 were left unsupported at its end, the said unsupported end would be forced downward relatively when contact was made with the conductor, thus making the grip updn the pivot 9, because of its engagement with the coil, serves to prevent any downward movement of the part 8 independently of the part 7.

It will be observed that the connector which I have provided not only has the numerous functional advantages which I have referred to, but also has the highly important advantage that it can be easily an cheaply manufactured. It consists of a single piece of metal, namely, a wire, and this wire can be made into the connector by simple bending operations, no others being required. In Fig. 2 I have shown another form of connector which is very similar to that shown 1 in Fig. 1, the principal difference being that the supplemental hook 11 is omitted. As stated, this supplemental hook is desirable under some circumstances but under other circumstances it is not needed and can. be omitted, as shown in Fig. 2.

In Fig. 3 I have shown another connector also .imilar to the connector shown in Fig. 1 and diflerin from the said connector principally in t at it has merely a single loo at 5 instead of a complete coil. The coil is preferable as it gives increased resiliency,

ut, under some circumstances, it can be omitted and'tli'e connector madein the form shown in Fig. 8.

In Fig. 4 I have shown still another connector which is also similar to the connector shown in Fig; "In this case the connector difiers principally from the connector s own in Fig. 1 in t at the pivot or abutment menithe upper surface of the section! instead of with the coil. I prefer the construction shown in Fig. but the constrsction shown in Fig. 4 can' e used, if

In Fig- 5 another connector is shown whicli'isdifirent in a number oi respects from that shown in Fig. 1. Instead of the arm "6 having two parallel parts; there is rovided an arm .6 aving at its end a coil 'yqith several loops 7 and 8". The hook 10 in apopi tioned to project between two of these conductor relatively weak. The;

formed into a coi the wire at one side 0 arranged to hear u loops. At the end of the loo 8 there is provided a transverse element ada ted to pass through the hook 10 andlimit t e u ward movement of the arm 6. It will soon that when the arm 6 is depressed, a conductor wire can be inserted through the, loops 7 and 8* of the coil and throu h the hook 10. Then when the arm 6 is re eased, the conductor will be oau ht by the loops 7* and 8* and forced upwar a amsttho hook.

In Fig. 6 there is shown 5 ill another connector. This connector differs princi ally from that shown in Fig. 2 by the prov sion of the attaching means 12 beyond the hook 10 instead of between the hop and the coil. As stated before, I consider it highly advantageous to place the attachin means between the hook and the coil as t en it is better adapted to carry the stresses, But under some circumstances it is possible to locate the connecting means as shown in Fig. 6 and I consider sucha device as coming within the scope of my invention.

What I claim is 1. A connector for electric conductors consisting of a sin le integral piece of page e coil being doubled back upon itself to form a two part conductor engaging arm and being provided at the end with a pivot extending into and abutting against the coil and the wire at the other side of the coil being bent. to form a conductor engaging hook positioned to project between the parts of the arm' when the latter is depressed against the spring action of the coil.

' 2. A conductor connector formed of a single wire bent upon itself to form one or more approximately closed coils, the wire from one side of the coils bein bent to form a vibratable arm 6 with two are 7 and 8 par allel and close together, the terminal bar 8 engaging with. the coil to maintaimparallelism with "the bar 7 and the wire from the other side of the coils being extended outwardly approximately radiall to form a fastener 12 having two paralle 1e 18', 14, the leg 13 being positioned'to exten between the bars 7 and 8 and turnedoutward to form a hook with an abutment at 15. 1

3. A conductor connector ftirmed bf a single V wire having a fastener 12 'wlth'two or more parallel legs 1 14, the le 13 terminatin in o e or more a proximate y closed coils m which the wire is carried outward to form a vibratable arm 6 with 'two bars 7 and '8 close together and the end of one of. the barsbeing' p83 the coils to aintain parallelism of the b and the leg 4 of the astene'r'being b t to provide both a wire holding loop 0, and an abutment it the end of the wire to take the train when-pressure, is appliedto theii ibrating arm 6.

4. A conductoiconnector formed gt a single piece of-wire h ving both of its-ands free,

6 with two closely adjacent parallel bars 7' and 8, the central part of the wire between the said vibrating arm and the said loop hook being bent to form a fastener next to the hook and to form one or more approximately closed spring coils between the fastoner and the vibrating arm.

In testimony whereof, I afl'ut my signature, in presence of two witn HOSEA F. MAXIM. l/Vitnesses THOMAS PHAsEY, B. C. TATUM.

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