Electrical connectors – Contact comprising cutter – Insulation cutter
Patent
1998-07-27
2000-07-11
Bradley, Paula
Electrical connectors
Contact comprising cutter
Insulation cutter
439411, 439413, 439781, 439412, H01R 426
Patent
active
060864060
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This application claims the benefit of French Patent Application No. 96/00980 filed on Jan. 29, 1996.
The present invention relates to a branch connector for an underground cable enabling an electrical and mechanical connection to be made between a main or "through" cable of circular section or of so-called "sectoral" non-circular section, and a secondary cable or "branch" cable of circular or of sectoral section.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 9 shows a connection device in widespread use at present in the field of underground networks and it is constituted essentially of metal parts, having a body 5 surmounted by a self-locking cap 6 acting via a presser member 7 to provide a mechanical and electrical joint between the cables to be interconnected, and which operates on the basis of mechanical clamping, e.g. by means of a screw 8, or by crimping. As a result, when such an underground connector is to be put into place, it is necessary firstly to strip both the through cable and the branch cable and then, once the joint has been established, to apply insulation either by means of an insulating cover or by means of flexible insulating sheath.
As a result, that known device for connecting underground cables together suffers from numerous drawbacks. Firstly, the requirement for stripping the cables gives rise to an operation that is lengthy, awkward, and sometimes even dangerous since in the particular field of underground cable networks, it very often happens that the main cable is live and cannot be disconnected without giving rise to severe penalties for users of the electrical network of which it forms a part. The connection device is at a live potential, as are the clamping screws or the crimping tools. Consequently, the person (or jointer) who needs to access the live main cable is also taken to high potential when acting on the cable, thus requiring special protection (e.g. a special trench suit). Thereafter the connection device still needs to be insulated after it has been put into place, which implies a further difficult operation, since that too must be performed on parts that are live. Finally, with that type of prior art connector, it is essential to separate the various conductors of the main cable from one another so as to be able to pass a connector body around each conductor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks by providing a branch connector that does not require the cables that are to be interconnected to be stripped, nor does it require any insulation after assembly. An essential object of the invention is to make a branch connector that can be fitted quickly, that is of high quality, and that is entirely safe for the jointer. Another object is for the branch connector of the invention to guarantee good dielectric behavior and natural positioning of the main cable without it being necessary to take action inside the bundle of conductors that it may contain.
These objects are achieved by a branch connector for an underground cable enabling a main cable to be electrically connected to at least one branch cable, each of the cables being constituted by a metal core surrounded by an insulating sheath, the connector being characterized in that it comprises a lower body and an upper body disposed facing each other and movable towards each other by clamping, each body including a contact element which is made, at least in part, of metal and which is situated in a plane extending transversely relative to an axial direction of the cables and penetrating both through the insulation of the main cable and through the insulation of the branch cable to make contact with the cores of said cables when the upper and lower bodies are moved towards each other by at least one clamping means, and in that it further includes a movable non-conductive separator member situated in the midplane of the connector and designed to enable two branch c
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patent: 4985003 (1991-01-01), Francois et al.
patent: 5015198 (1991-05-01), Delin
patent: 5302144 (1994-04-01), Francois et al.
patent: 5520549 (1996-05-01), Tanaka et al.
Francois Pierre
Sauer Eric
Bradley Paula
Societe Industrielle de Construction d'Apareils et de Materiel
Ta Tho D.
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