US3470525A

US3470525A - Electrical connecting element

Info

Publication number: US3470525A
Application number: US687546A
Authority: US
Inventors: Lembit Jaaksoo; Werner Stange
Original assignee: ASEA AB
Current assignee: ABB Norden Holding AB
Priority date: 1967-11-29
Filing date: 1967-12-04
Publication date: 1969-09-30
Anticipated expiration: 1986-09-30
Also published as: CH470090A; GB1183248A; DE1615661B2; DE1615661A1

Description

Sept. 30,1969 I I L. JAAKSOO ETAL 5 ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENT Filed Dec. 4. 1967 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Fig. la Fig/b Fig. fc

Sept. 30, 1969 1.. JAAKSOO ET 3,470,525

ELECTRICAL CONNECTING ELEMENT Filed Dec. 4. 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTUR. LEMBIT J'RAKSOO WERNER STANG-E.

United States Patent Ot'fice 3,470,525 Patented Sept. 30, 1969 US. Cl. 339-217 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An electrical connecting element for receiving a contact element with an annular flange thereon is composed of two legs and an intermediate part constituting a connection for the legs. The legs or tongues are of resilient, electrically conducting material. Approximately in the center of each tongue there is a notch to receive the flange on the contact element. The tongues are convexly bent towards each other and are wider than the connection element so that a releasing element can be inserted which will push the tongues apart to permit the flange to be withdrawn from the notches.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates to an electrical connecting element.

The prior art In order to fix a male or female contact in a base of insulating material it has been proposed to insert m a cylindrical cavity in the base a cylindrical casing with a number of resilient tongues to cooperate with an annular flange on the contact. The tongues are so arranged that they are pressed aside when the contact with its flange is inserted in the casing. When the flange has passed the tongues, these snap shut behind the flange and lock the contact to the base. When releasing the contact from the base, a cylindrical tool is placed around the contact and is pressed against the flange, whereby the resilient tongues are pressed aside and lose their grip on the flange so that the contact and tool can be drawn out.

The shape of the casing with its resilient tongues makes it necessary to use a cylindrical tool which has to be placed around the contact and the cable attached to the contact.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a connecting element, arranged in a contact base, in order to removably hold a contact element insertable in the contact base, in which locking and releasing of the contact element is carried out in a simpler way with the help of a much simpler tool than in the known construction. The connecting element according to the invention consists of two rectangular tongues pointing in the same direction and connected to each other at one end, said tongues being of resilient and electrically conducting material and between which it is possible to insert the mentioned contact element. Most characteristic of the connecting element is that at least one of the tongues is provided with a notch which is arranged in such way that a flange on the contact element engages in the notch when the contact element is inserted in its working position in the contact base.

BRIEF DESCIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawing shows an embodiment of the connecting element in two perpendicular directions. FIG. 2 shows the appearance of the sheet from which the connecting element is manufactured. FIG- URES 3 and 4 show in two sections perpendicular to each other a contact base with inserted connecting elements and with mounted contact elements. FIG. 5, finally, shows the apperance of the tool used when removing and possibly also when inserting the contact element.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The connecting element consists of two

tongues

1 and 2, connected to each other at one end. The connection is made by means of an intermediate piece 3, as most clearly seen in FIG. 2. The connecting element is manufactured of a resilient and electrically conducting material, preferably some suitable bronze, and is bent from a sheet as shown in FIG. 2. The sheet is bent along the broken lines 4. The

tongues

1 and 2 can be straight or curved, as shown in the figures. At approximately the middle at least one of the tongues, suitably both, are provided with a notch 5 so dimensioned that an annular flange on that connecting element which is to be connected can engage the notch and hold the connecting element. A hole 6 is made in the intermediate piece 3 for each pair of tongues, the diameter of the hole being somewhat greater than that of the inserted connecting element.

FIG. 3 shows how the connecting element is placed in a contact base 7 of insulating material, carrying and enclosing the connecting element. The connecting element is arranged in a cavity 8 in the contact base. The contact element 10, attached to a cable 9, is provided with an annular flange 11 and is inserted from the right between the

tongues

1 and 2 until the flange 11 falls into the notches 5. The left end of the contact element has then passed through the hole 6 in the intermediate piece 3. Thus, the hole provides a guide for the left end of the contact element and by cooperation between flange 11 and the hole in the resilient tongues, the contact element 10 is locked in the contact base. In order to release the contact element a tool is used according to FIG. 5. This is made of insulating material in the form of a plane strip 15, both ends of which are shaped as

tongues

16 and 17 of different widths, making it possible to use the tool for different sizes of contacts. For voltage measuring of the different contact elements in the base, a tool of an electrically conducting material can be used, connected to a measuring instrument.

When a contact element with cable is to be released from the base, the tool is placed near the cable and per pendicular to the plane of the

tongues

1 and 2. Thus, in FIG. 3 the tool is imagined to be placed in the plane of the paper. After this the tool is inserted between

tongues

1 and 2 in the connecting element, whereby the tongues are pressed apart so that the flange 11 loses its engagement with the holes 5, and the cable with the holes 5, and the cable with the contact element can be taken out.

Due to the fact that the connecting element is manufactured of a flat sheet it is possible in a simple manner to connect two adjacent pairs of tongues. By punching of the material shown in FIG. 2, the two apertures 12 are produced, ending a short distance from the lines 4 along which the sheet is bent. In this way the two pairs of cooperating

contact tongues

1 and 2 will be connected to each other by the intermediate piece 3, and a direct connection is obtained betwen the

cables

9 and 13 in FIG. 4. Should switching-over between two cables not be desired, the double connecting element shown in FIG. 4 is substituted by two elements separated from each other of the type shown in FIG. 1b.

A suitable field of application for the invention is in contact bases for relays with many connecting contacts. The relay is provided with male contacts to cooperate 3 with the female contacts and 14 shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. FIG. 3 is a vertical section through a part of such a contact base and FIG. 4 is a horizontal section through the

upper contact row

10, 14 along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3 and can, for example, show the supply of feeding current to a single relay in a relay chain. From a relay not shown, the feeding current flows through the cable 9 and its contact 10 which is in connection with the connecting element. From there the feeding current flows through the lower part of the connection element, shown in FIG. 4, through the contact 14 out in the cable 13 to the next relay in the chain. On the left side in FIGURES 3 and 4 a relay can be connected by means of a male contact in one of the

contact elements

10 or 14. The current is returned by means of a pair of

contacts

10 and 14, arranged in a lower contact plane. The last mentioned contact is not shown, but it is situated under the contact element 14.

In the arrangement shown, any of the relays can be removed without breaking the feeding circuit for the other relays.

The above should be regarded only as an example of how the connecting element produced of a flat metal sheet can very simply solve two fundamentally important problems, namely to operate as a locking arrangement for contact elements attached to cables and to act as a connecting part between two adjacent contact elements.

We claim:

1. Connecting element arranged in a contact base in order to removably hold a contact element in a cavity in the base and to achieve galvanic connection with a contact element held in position in the connecting element, said connecting element being U-shaped and comprising an intermediate piece and at least two tongues projecting from said intermediate piece in the same direction, said tongues being of a resilient and electrically conducting material between which tongues contact elements are insertable and having at least one notch approximately in the middle of the length of each of the tongues to cooperate with an annular flange arranged on the insertable contact element, said intermediate piece having a hole therein opposite each pair of tongues through which the contact element can extend when inserted into the connecting element.

2. Connecting element according to claim 1 in which the tongues are bent to a convex shape, the convex sides facing each other.

3. Connecting element according to claim 2, in which the width of the tongues and of the hole are sufficiently greater than the diameter of the contact element and its flange that a release means can be inserted through the hole in the connecting element adjacent and parallel with the contact element and in contact with the surfaces of the tongues facing each other, whereby the tongues are pressed apart so much that the flange (11) is released from the notches (5) in the tongues (1, 2).

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,994,882 3/ 1935 Cadieux 339--220 2,402,578 6/1946 Rollow 339198 2,922,135 1/1960 Hoberg et al 339258 3,315,219 4/1967 Brinser et a1 339-205 X RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 339258