Electrical connectors – Contact comprising cutter – Insulation cutter
Patent
1994-05-12
1996-10-22
Pirlot, David L.
Electrical connectors
Contact comprising cutter
Insulation cutter
439403, 439404, H01R 424
Patent
active
055671730
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, in particular one suitable for use in a telecommunications system, particularly at a distribution point in a telephone network.
Such connectors are necessary to connect wires from a distribution cable from a central office to drop wires leading to a subscriber's telephone or other equipment. Connections can be made between the main wires to the central office and the drop wires in a more or less permanent manner by means of a so-called B-wire connector or other crimp or solder connection. This, however, has the disadvantage that rearrangement of the network connections cannot easily be made, and various specialized features cannot easily be provided at the distribution point. Such other features include electrical protection against, for example, mains cross and lightening, and remote disconnect and testing.
Terminal blocks have been designed to overcome these problems, but they have tended to be large, complex and expensive. Also most blocks are for a fixed number of pairs of wires, and this has the disadvantage that a complete terminal block has to be purchased even if only a few pairs are initially to be connected. Also, repair of a partially damaged prior art block is in general impossible.
A selection of prior art designs where these problems are minimized is as follows: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,496,522, 3,708,779, 3,836,944, 49,344,664, 3,971,615, 3,971,616, 4,047,784, 4,435,034, 4,444,447, 4,449,777, 4,580,864, 4,652,070, 4,741,480, 4,764,125, 4,767,354, 4,836,800, 4,954,098, 4,988,311, 4,993,966, UK patents 2047984, 2129628, 2129630, 2176062, 2215532, 2196492, and FR 622058 and CA 1176330. The disclosure of each of these patents is incorporated herein by reference.
In spite of these various designs, problems remain in producing a simple connector that is easy to make and to use and that can provide features such as environmental and/or electrical protection, modular design, suitable wire gauge range, allowing line testing, re-usability, disconnection etc.
We have now designed an electrical connector that can provide these features.
Thus, the invention provides a connector for interconnecting first and second electrical conductors, comprising contact with the first conductor; and making contact with the second conductor; first and second parts are brought together such that the second contact remains thus received on subsequent separation of the first and second parts.
The invention also provides a connector for interconnecting two pairs of conductors, which comprises first and second parts having four independent electrical contacts such that when the first and second parts are brought together an electrical connection is made between each contacts and a respective conductor, the connector having externally-accessible surface at which electrical connection can be made to each of the four contacts.
The invention further provides a connector comprising a first part that has externally-accessible contacts, each of which being individually connectable to a conductor to be connected by the connector, and a second part that can interconnect the contacts, the second part being separable from the first part by translational motion, and subsequently by rotation.
The invention is further illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 shows a modular connector;
FIGS. 2A and 2B show an alternative design of connector;
FIGS. 3A and 3B show internal details of a part of a modular connector before use;
FIGS. 4A and 4B show internal details of a part of a modular connector after use;
FIG. 5 shows insertion of wire connectors into a part of a modular connector;
FIGS. 6 and 7 show preferred designs of insulation displacement connectors for use with the modular connector;
FIG. 8 shows a top part of a modular connector;
FIG. 9 shows use of a top part with the remainder of a modular connector,
FIGS. 10A, 10B and 11 show use of alternative designs of a top part of a modular connector;
FIGS. 12 and 13 show use of modular connectors; and
FIG. 14 shows a telecomm
REFERENCES:
patent: 3611268 (1971-10-01), Webb
patent: 3945705 (1976-03-01), Seim et al.
patent: 4047784 (1977-09-01), Trank
patent: 4193201 (1980-03-01), Van Horn
patent: 4436359 (1984-03-01), Kasper et al.
patent: 4552429 (1985-11-01), van Alst
patent: 4764125 (1988-08-01), Debortoli
patent: 5281163 (1994-01-01), Knox et al.
Burkard Herbert G.
N.V. Raychem S.A.
Pirlot David L.
Zahrt II William D.
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