Electrical connectors – Coupling part including flexing insulation – Insulation distorted by or to effect coupling action
Patent
1987-05-11
1988-08-30
Weidenfeld, Gil
Electrical connectors
Coupling part including flexing insulation
Insulation distorted by or to effect coupling action
439723, 439787, 439851, H01R 1344
Patent
active
047673605
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to electric contact sockets of the type which are open at their two longitudinal ends so as to be capable of receiving two aligned contact plugs respectively inserted through these two ends to in this way electrically connect conductors attached to these two plugs, and which are essentially formed by a metallic sleeve provided with at least one longitudinal slot.
A contact socket of this type is described in French patent 967,631. In this case, the sleeve is constituted by a single metallic tubular part provided with longitudinal slots which extend alternately from one longitudinal end of this part and from the other end and which stop short of the opposite end. An elastic element constituted by a metallic wire is coiled around the sleeve, the annular profile (seen from the end) of the spring thus formed being generally polygonal so as to limit to points located on generatrices the contact of this spring with the outer surface of the tubular part.
A drawback of this known contact socket is that the insertion of one plug through one of the ends of its tubular part causes such deformation of this part at the other of its ends that the insertion of the other plug therein is rendered difficult. Another drawback is that, when the two plugs do not have exactly the same diameter, the contact between each plug and the tubular part can only occur at points spaced apart on a transverse line and not on a notable part of the surface of this plug. Yet another drawback of this socket is that special measures must be taken to electrically insulate the outer surface of the tubular part and the spring surrounding it to avoid any risk of a short circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,318,648 describes an electric contact socket whose sleeve has a longitudinal slot extending throughout the length of the sleeve and a median transverse slot defining semi-sleeves interconnected by a continuous strip of material, the sleeve being inserted with clearance in a housing of insulating material.
This socket requires high manufacturing precision and does not permit the use of plugs whose diameters have a wide tolerance. A fortiori plugs having different nominal diameters cannot be inserted therein.
An object of the invention is to overcome these drawbacks of known sockets.
For this purpose, the electric contact socket of the type defined above is essentially characterised in accordance with the invention in that the or each longitudinal slot of the sleeve extends from one longitudinal end to the other of this sleeve; in that the latter is provided moreover with transverse slots extending the or each longitudinal slot at least approximately midway along the length of the sleeve and so dimensioned that they leave in the material of the sleeve at least one continuous strip extending from one to the other of the longitudinal ends of the sleeve and in that the elastic element encompassing the sleeve is made from a hollow body of insulating elastomer.
Owing to the presence of the transverse slot or slots, the deformations produced at one of the longitudinal ends of the sleeve by the insertion of a plug are practically not transmitted to the other longitudinal end and therefore are not liable to compromise the insertion of another plug in this other end. Further, owing to this independence of the deformations, the socket according to the invention accepts large differences in diameter between the opposed plugs. Moreover, as the elastic element which encompasses the sleeve is in itself insulating, no additional measure for insulating is to be taken to avoid short circuits.
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will be explained hereinafter with the aid of the following additional description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 of these drawings represents separately a socket arranged in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention and shown in a diagrammatic axial section and two plugs intended to cooperate with this socket.
FIGS. 2 and 3 represent the socket of FIG. 1 after the insertion of the
REFERENCES:
patent: 2318648 (1943-05-01), Penfold
patent: 2318651 (1943-05-01), Penfold
patent: 2396725 (1946-03-01), Thomas, Jr.
patent: 3275967 (1966-09-01), Hamm
patent: 3368181 (1968-02-01), Gimpel
patent: 3716821 (1973-02-01), Appleton
patent: 4545638 (1985-10-01), Neidich
Austin Paula A.
Weidenfeld Gil
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