US2542669A

US2542669A - Adjustable terminal supporting interconnector

Info

Publication number: US2542669A
Application number: US46603A
Authority: US
Inventors: Howard R Harrison
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1948-08-28
Filing date: 1948-08-28
Publication date: 1951-02-20
Anticipated expiration: 1968-02-20

Description

Feb. 20, 1951 H. R. HARRISON 2,542,669

' ADJUSTABLE TERMINAL SUPPORTING INTERCONNECTOR Filed Aug. 28, 1948 lnve n'torz Howard RHarr ison, b His Abborney.

Patented Feb. 20, 1951 ADJUSTABLE TERMINAL SUPPORTING INTERCONNECTQR Howard R. Harrison, General Electric New York Havertown, Pa., assignor to Company, a corporation of Application August 28, 1948, Serial No. 46,603

1 Claim. 1

The invention relates to electrical connectors, particularly adjustable connectors suitable for use in high voltage power systems as a support for interconnecting bus terminals with misaligned terminals of switches or the like or in another similar service.

One object is. to provide an improved form of adjustable posture terminal interconnector that is capable of more universal applicationin interconnecting various sized bus terminals with the terminals of switches or the like that are spaced from the bus terminals at varying elevat ons.

Another object is to provide an adjustable posture terminalinterconnector that also is' capable of mechanically supporting one of'the interconnected terminals in variably spaced misalignment with the other, thus eliminating the necessity for an insulating support for the supported terminal.

Another object is to provide limited relative movement between the fixed supporting terminal and the supported terminal while maintaining an efiective supporting connection therebetween so as to eliminate difiiculties due to expansion and contraction of the bus under different temperature conditions.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a side view of the improved adjustable posture terminal interconnector applied to interconnect a bus terminal with a relatively fixed grounding switch terminal; Fig. 2 is a top view on an enlarged scale of the improved adjustable posture terminal interconnector shown in Fig. 1 with some of the parts broken away more clearly to reveal the structural details; and Fig. 3 is a side view of the adjustable posture terminal interconnector shown in Fig. 2 indicating by the dotted lines the relatively wide range of adjustment thereof.

As shown in Fig. 1, the improved adjustable posture terminal interconnector indicated generally by the reference character HJ is applied to interconnect the terminal pad I I that is clamped to the end of the bus |2 with the misaligned but relatively fixed terminal pad l3 of the bus grounding switch 4. which may be of any suitable construction. As shown in the enlarged top view of Fig. 2, the interconnector I is provided with a pair of channel-shaped terminal contact members I8 and IQ for attachment respectively to the switch terminal pad l3 and the bus terminal pad I I by means of suitable holding bolts 20. The contact member I8 is provided with a, pair of provided witha pair of integral spaced-apart arms 25 so that one end of the H-shap'ed interconnecting link 26 may be adjustably secured to each of the arms 25 by means of the clamping bolts 2']. The link 26 is made in the form of an H so as to be provided with a pair of spacedapart side arms 28 interconnected by the transverse web 29 that serves to space the side arms 28 apart sufliciently to nest the arms 2| of the terminal contact member l8 therebetween at one end of the link and to nest the arms 25 of the other terminal contact member I9 therebetween at the other end of the link. In order to firmly anchor the side arms 28 of the link 26 to the nested arms 250i the terminal contact member I9, the toothed spacer washers 3| are interposed therebetween so as to firmly grip the adjacent sides of the nested arms when the bolts 21 are tightened to fix the posture of link 26 and contact member I9. I

The opposite end of the link 26 is connected with the nested arms 2| for both rotary and rectilinear sliding movement by means of the pin 33 that extends snugly through holes formed in the ends of the arms 28 and is held in position by the snap rings 34 that fit into suitable grooves formed in the ends of the pin 33. The pin 33 extends through a slot 35 formed in each of the legs 2| of the terminal contact member 8. Thus when the link 26 is firmly secured to the terminal contact member |9 by tightening the bolts 21 to fix the posture thereof, the pin 33 serves to support the end of the bus I 2 to which the terminal pad II is attached with the pin 33 sliding in slot 35 as the bus |2 expands or contracts under varying temperature conditions.

As indicated in Fig. 3, considerable variation in the elevation of the bus l2 with respect to the switch terminal pad |3 can be accommodated with the improved adjustable posture terminal supporting interconnector of the present invention without damaging the flexible current conductor 3 22 due to the fact that the link 26 always maintains the conductor 22 slackened as indicated in the drawing and hence prevents undue strains being exerted thereon. Thus the link 26 can be rotated about the pin 33 as an axis into the position indicated by the dash lines and the terminal contact member l9 correspondingly readjusted so as to align with the bus terminal H in case the bus should be at a lower level than the switch terminal l3. If further variation in height is encountered. both the bus terminal pad H and the bus terminal contact member [9 may be inverted from their positions in which they are shown in Fig. 3 so as thereby to accommodate further variation in the elevation of bus I2 below the switch terminal pad 13. This can be accomplished simply by removing the clamping bolts 21 and reassembling the contact terminal pad IS in its inverted position. For intermediate heights of the bus l2 relative to the switch terminal pad l3, theend of the bus I2 is shortened to the proper length and the terminal pad ll clamped thereto by the U bolts 36 so as to mount the terminal interconnector ID with the pin 33 substantially centrally located in the slots 35.

Thus it will be seen that the improvements of the present invention enable not only good elec trical connection to be established between the interconnected terminals at different levels but also enables the adjustable posture connector to support one of the misaligned terminals in spaced relation with the other while at the same time providing for the necessary relative movement therebetween due to expansion and contraction.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

An electrical terminal interconnector comprising a pair of terminal contact members, each provided with means for removably clamping the member to a terminal, and each having a pair of arms extending therefrom, a flexible current conductor extending between the members and having the ends thereof formed to be removably clamped with the corresponding member to the corresponding terminal, a link having parallel side arms spaced for nesting the arms of the terminal members between the opposite ends thereof, means for fixedly clamping one end of each of the link arms to a corresponding one of the terminal arms, and means including a slot and a pin sliding therein for connecting the other ends of each of the link arms for both rotary and rectilinear sliding movement with respect to the spaced-apart arms of the other terminal contact member.

HOWARD R. HARRISON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS