Electrical crimp connector for making a connection between an insulated wire and connecting element

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DESCRIPTION

The invention relates to an electric crimp connector between an insulated wire and a connecting element having two limbs and made of flat strips of resilient contact material having a slot at the center of the flat part, the main part of the slot being adjacent a widened insertion opening and surrounded by sharp edges and having a width which is less than the thickness of the metal wire core, so that when the wire is inserted into the slot the wire insulation is cut through and a contact connection is formed between the wire and the connecting element in co-operation with a clamping element associated with the connecting element and used for gripping the insulated wire. According to a feature of the crimp connector the clamping element, which has a vertically downward slot at the centre of its rectangular cross-section, is constructed as an insulator and the connecting element is permanently secured at an angle of approximately 45.degree. on the bearing surface of the clamping element, and the clamping element surrounds or encloses the connecting element and a number of such connecting elements connected in pairs are surrounded by a number of interconnected clamping elements and combined into a structural unit provided with wire-rod guides, and the clamping elements are pluggable. This type of connector is also described in copending U.S. application No. 908,937, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,857.

The invention relates to an improvement of the crimp connector. The invention is based on the problem of simplifying the construction.

According to the present invention there is provided an electric crimp connector between an insulated wire and a connecting element having two limbs and made of flat strips of resilient contact material having a slot at the centre of the flat part, the main part of the slot being adjacent a widened insertion opening and surrounded by sharp edges and having a width which is less than the thickness of the metal wire core, so that when the wire is inserted into the slot the wire insulation is cut through and a contact connection is formed between the wire and the connecting element in co-operation with a clamping element associated with the connecting element and used for gripping the insulated wire. The clamping element, which has a vertically downward slot at the centre of its rectangular cross-section, is constructed as an insulator and the connecting element is permanently secured at an angle of approximately 45.degree. on the bearing surface of the clamping element, and the clamping element surrounds or encloses the connecting element and a number of such connecting elements connected in pairs are surrounded by a number of interconnected clamping elements and combined into a structural unit provided with wire-rod guides, and the clamping elements are pluggable wherein a number of connecting elements connected by a transverse web are pluggable into the insulator, separate external wire-rod guides for the incoming and outgoing cable cores or wires are formed on the insulator, and the insulator terminates at the bottom in a smooth surface.

According to the prior art construction, the connecting elements are mainly secured by a multipin connector in a separate bearing plate, whereas the separate bearing plate is omitted in the present invention.

Advantageous further embodiments of the individual features of the invention are described in the sub-claims.

An embodiment of the invention will be described now by way of example only with particular reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows another embodiment of a terminal strip made up of a number of crimp connectors, in side view on the insulator, which forms the housing;

FIG. 2 shows the terminal strip according to FIG. 1 in plan view at one end;

FIG. 3 is a view of the connecting elements interconnected by a transverse web;

FIG. 3a is a plan view of the connecting elements in FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view of the insulating member of the terminal strip, illustrating how the crimp connector in FIGS. 3 and 3a is plugged into three of the chambers of the insulator in FIGS. 1 and 2, and

FIG. 5 is a cross-section of the simplified crimp connector along line I--I in FIG. 4.

The invention as shown in FIGS. 3 and 3a, provides a number of connecting elements 10", 10'" connected at the bottom by a transverse web 10a '. As shown more particularly in FIGS. 4 and 5, the connecting elements can be plugged from the bottom into the insulator 20a '" which is comprised of a plurality of clamping elements 21. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the insulator 20a'" is formed with separate external wire-rod guides for the incoming and outgoing cable cores or wires (not shown).

Another important feature is that the insulator can terminate in a flat surface at the bottom (FIGS. 1 and 2).

In the special embodiment shown in FIGS. 3, 3a and 4, the connecting elements 10", 10'" are bent, preferably in a U-shape, at the ends of the transverse web 10a'Connecting elements 10", 10'", preferably each include a slot 11 having an upwardly facing opening 12 which is wider than the diameter of an insulated wire to be inserted therein. Slot 11 may also include an elongated central portion 13 having a width less than the thickness of the metal wire core of an insulated wire so that when the wire is inserted into slot 11 the insulation of the wire is cut and an electrical contact is made between the metal wire core and the connecting element 10", 10'" and so that the insulated wire is properly gripped. The slot 11 further includes a lower elongated portion having a width somewhat greater than that of portion 13 and which is adapted to accommodate a wire inserted therein. Typically, slot 11 is disposed at the transverse center of connecting elements 10", 10'" and is vertically disposed therein.

According to another feature, in order to simplify the manner of securing the connecting elements in the insulator, the transverse web 10a' has a central cut-out portion 10b' and a protrusion or recess 10b" which fit by clamping into a slot 20e' in a guide web 20e extending at the bottom and longitudinally in the insulator 20a". These features relate to the manner of securing the double terminal in the bottom part of insulator 20a".

An equally simple retaining means is also provided in the top part of insulator 20a". The means is as follows: each double terminal 10", 10'", 10a' is disposed in a chamber, e.g. 20h, bounded by side walls 20f, 20f' and transverse walls 20g, 20g' in insulator 20a", the side and transverse walls having upwardly extending slots 20c, 20d into which the outer and inner edges 10c, 10d of the connecting elements 10", 10'" can be plugged (FIGS. 4 and 5). An upwardly facing slot 15 for the insertion of an insulated wire is disposed generally at the center of the rectangular cross section of each clamping element 21.

According to another feature, a securing device 20b, 20b' is formed on the end faces of the insulator 20a" at the bottom on each side (FIGS. 1, 2 and 4).

Of course, the securing device is flush at the bottom with the bottom edge of the insulator (FIGS. 1 and 2).

The securing device 20b, 20b' is preferably a screw connection (FIGS. 1, 2 and 4).

In conjunction with the aforementioned features, the bottom of the insulator 20a" can directly be placed on a smooth surface 4' e.g. the bottom of a telecommunications device.

If this condition is not fulfilled, the bottom of the insulator 20a" is covered by a plate 4" having high electrical insulation.

According to a final feature, the wire-rod guides 28b, 28b' are formed on the insulator 20a" on both sides at the bottom edge of its side walls 20f, 20f' (FIGS. 1, 2 and 5).

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