U.S. patent number 3,904,265 [Application Number 05/446,988] was granted by the patent office on 1975-09-09 for electrical connector shield having an internal cable clamp.
This patent grant is currently assigned to AMP Incorporated. Invention is credited to Robert David Hollyday, Paul Francis Schofield.
United States Patent |
3,904,265 |
Hollyday , et al. |
September 9, 1975 |
Electrical connector shield having an internal cable clamp
Abstract
The present invention relates to a electrical connector shield
wherein one end retains an electrical connector and the other end
contains an opening defined by arcuate portions and a curved inner
wall against which electrical leads emanating from the connector
are simultaneously clamped and deflected away from the shield at an
angle.
Inventors: |
Hollyday; Robert David
(Hershey, PA), Schofield; Paul Francis (Harrisburg, PA) |
Assignee: |
AMP Incorporated (Harrisburg,
PA)
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Family
ID: |
26922544 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/446,988 |
Filed: |
February 28, 1974 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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228654 |
Feb 23, 1972 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
439/469;
439/687 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01R
13/516 (20130101); H01R 13/595 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01R
13/516 (20060101); H01R 13/595 (20060101); H01R
13/58 (20060101); H01R 013/58 () |
Field of
Search: |
;339/13M,105,107,92,98,208,272UC |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Lake; Roy
Assistant Examiner: Jones; DeWalden W.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Osborne, Esq.; Allan B.
Parent Case Text
This is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 228,654, filed Feb.
23, 1972 abandoned.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. An electrical connector shield adapted to contain an electrical
connector having a plurality of electrical leads attached to the
back thereof, which comprises:
a. an insulating housing consisting of two hinged halves,
having,
a front portion adapted to receive an electrical connector having a
plurality of electrical leads attached to the back thereof; a rear
portion having a channel thru which said electrical leads may pass,
said channel defined by a generally straight wall on one side and
on the opposite side a wall consisting of a straight section and a
curved section, the curved section being positioned adjacent an
outside wall of the housing, and
a slot in said rear portion and opening into said channel from the
generally straight wall;
b. a movable clamp deflector slidably mounted in said slot, said
deflector having a beveled side which when facing inwardly toward
the front portions force electrical leads which may pass thru the
channel to leave the shield in a direction generally parallel to
the curved section and when the beveled side faces outwardly,
electrical leads which may pass thru the channel would be forced to
leave the shield in a direction generally parallel to the
longitudinal axis of the shield; and
c. means for advancing or withdrawing said clamp deflector into or
out of said channel.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electrical connectors, containing many terminal contacts which are
terminated to as many electrical conductors or leads are housed in
some form of shield. The multitude of leads emanating from the
connector require some means whereby such leads can be collected
into a coherent stream for ease in handling after they have left
the shield and also to provide strain relief and to protect the
terminations.
Prior art devices insofar as known, universally employ a strain
relief assembly in the nature of a clamp or collar such as taught
by U.S. Pat. No. 3,056,942. Generally attached to the outside of
the shield, the clamp supports the multitude of leads as they exit
from the opening, thereby transferring lead strain to the shield.
Further, such clamp can be utilized to direct the leads away from
the shield at different angles as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.
3,483,309.
Outside mounted clamps can result in elongating the total housing
package, particularly where space is critical. Further, such clamps
are bulky and offer projections on which leads coming from other
nearby housings can be entangled.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a shield for an
electrical connector from which a plurality of electrical leads
emanate. The shield consists of two halves forming, in cooperation
with each other, a portion at one end for receiving the electrical
connector, an opening at another end through which the leads pass,
a curved inner wall facing the opening, a slot transverse to and
opening into the opening opposite the curved wall and a
clamp-deflector slidably mounted in the slot operable to force the
leads against the inner wall and also operable to deflect the leads
away from the shield as they exit from the opening.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the components of
the instant invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of one component shown in FIG. 1; and
FIGS. 3 and 4 are plan views of a part of the components shown in
FIG. 1 illustrating the operation of the instant invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
In FIG. 1, an assembly plug unit, designated at 10a, is seen on the
left. On the right, receptacle unit 10b, which consists of two
subassemblies, is shown in exploded fashion. One subassembly is the
electrical connector 12a and the other subassembly is connector
shield 14.
Connector 12a includes a flange 15 consisting of a front plate 16a
and a rear plate 18, the two being joined by tabs 20 on plate 16a
being crimped over plate 18. Holes 22, positioned in flanges 15,
are provided so that unit 10a on the left may be bolted to unit 10b
on the right if such is desired.
Plate 16a contains a forward projecting, trapezoidal shaped shroud
24a which houses a dielectric connector block 26a. Block 26a houses
a plurality of terminal contacts 28a, such being of the female
type. Terminal contacts 28a are in turn terminated to electrical
leads 30 which are seen extending away from connector 12a.
Connector 12b is similar to connector 12a except that shroud 24b on
plate 16b is sized so as to receive shroud 24a therein, and
electrical block 26b houses a plurality of contacts 28b of the male
type adapted to electrically mate with contacts 28a.
Turning now to shield 14 and directing attention to FIG. 2 as well
as to FIG. 1, it is seen that shield 14 consists of two halves,
designated herein as right half 34a and left half 34b, integrally
joined by hinge 36. Completing the subassembly is clamp deflector
38.
Turning first to right half 34a, a base portion 40 is enclosed on
opposite sides by upstanding wall portions 42 and 44 which are
integrally joined therewith. The front of base portion 40 narrows
to define a projecting shelf 46 which is raised to define an
inwardly facing shoulder 48. A groove 50 is positioned immediately
behind shoulder 48 to provide a seating space for flange 15 on
connectors 12a and 12b. As seen on the left of FIG. 1, shoulder 48
retains connector 12b from forward movement.
A wall 52 is positioned on base 40 on the end opposite shelf 46 and
is integral therewith and with wall portions 42 and 44. An
electrical lead channel 54 separates wall 52 into left side 52a and
right side 52b. Left side 52a contains a slot 56, an outer arcuate
portion 58, and an inner arcuate portion 60, the latter bridging
the two sides 52a and 52b. A post 61 is positioned at each end of
inner arcuate portion 60. A radiused groove 62 is also positioned
on left side 52a, one end 64 opening into slot 56 and its other end
66 opening on the outside of shield 14 in recessed area 68. The end
66 is enlarged to receive the head of self-tapping screw 70 while
end 64 is sized to receive the shank of the screw.
Right side 52b is characterized by having its inner wall 72 curve
to the right rearwardly. This structure results in an enlarged end
of channel 54.
Apertures 74 are provided in left and right sides 52a and 52b to
receive self-tapping screws 76.
Left half 34b is with two differences, the mirror image of right
half 34a. The first difference is that there are two holes 78 which
are in aligned locations with apertures 74 on right half 34a. Each
hole contains a recess or counterbore (78a on the assembled unit on
the left) adapted to receive the head of a screw 76.
The second difference is a recess 61a positioned in aligned
location with and adapted to receive posts 61 on right half
34a.
Clamp deflector 38 has a beveled side 80 and three straight sides
82, 84 and 86. Edge 88, which connects side 82 and beveled side 80,
and edge 90 which is between side 86 and beveled side 80 are both
rounded.
OPERATION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate one of the important and novel features of
the present invention. Both Figures show half 34a of shield 14 with
half 34b omitted for reasons of clarity. Electrical connector 12a
with electrical leads 30 attached thereto is shown in place with
shelf 46 indicated in FIG. 3 by dashed lines.
In FIG. 3 it was desired to have electrical leads 30 leave shield
14 at an angle thereto. This was achieved by simply placing
clamp-deflector 38 in slot 56 so that beveled side 80 faced
inwardly and then pressing it against leads 30 via screw 70. This
directs the leads along curved inner wall 72. At the same time
clamp-deflector 38 clamps leads 30 against the inner wall so as to
relieve any strain on leads 30.
FIG. 4 illustrates the situation where leads 30 leave shield 14
directly to the rear thereof. This was achieved by simply placing
clamp-deflector 38 in slot 56 so that beveled side 80 faces
outwardly and edge 90 presses leads 30 against inner wall 72 via
screw 70. As noted above, leads 30 are being simultaneously clamped
to shield 14.
Note in FIGS. 3 and 4 that the edges of clampdeflector 38, being
round, do not cut into leads 30 as such press thereon.
Housing 14 and clamp-deflector 38 are molded from a thermo-plastic
dielectric material. In addition to the obvious cost-benefits
resulting from using such materials and such means of manufacture,
this device allows much greater ease of assembly, the versatility
of two choices of cable exit direction, and the need for no other
insulation materials as are required in prior art devices employing
metallic shield and cable clamps.
It is intended that the particular embodiment of the invention
shown and described herein is merely illustrative and the spirit
and scope of the invention is limited only by the appended
claim.
* * * * *