U.S. patent number RE42,022 [Application Number 12/370,105] was granted by the patent office on 2011-01-04 for insulated jumper in particular for terminal blocks of switchboards.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Morsettitalia S.p.A.. Invention is credited to Giordano Pizzi.
United States Patent |
RE42,022 |
Pizzi |
January 4, 2011 |
Insulated jumper in particular for terminal blocks of
switchboards
Abstract
Electrical connection jumper, in particular for terminal blocks
of switchboards, comprising a conducting body extending in the
longitudinal direction and a plurality of connector elements for
electrical connection, which extend in the transverse direction
from said conducting body, and an insulating body, integral with
said conducting body, said insulating body comprising a
longitudinally extending gripping part and pairs of lugs which
extend therefrom in a substantially transverse direction and are
able to contain partially said conducting body.
Inventors: |
Pizzi; Giordano (Milan,
IT) |
Assignee: |
Morsettitalia S.p.A. (Milan,
IT)
|
Family
ID: |
38325538 |
Appl.
No.: |
12/370,105 |
Filed: |
February 12, 2009 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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Reissue of: |
11774220 |
Jul 6, 2007 |
07413486 |
Aug 19, 2008 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Jul 7, 2006 [IT] |
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MI2006A1322 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
439/787;
439/796 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01R
31/085 (20130101); H02B 1/205 (20130101); H01R
9/2675 (20130101); H01H 71/082 (20130101); H01R
9/2458 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01R
11/09 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;439/787,796,797,798,716,723,439,521,714,710 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
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2529024 |
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FR |
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2637740 |
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Other References
European Search Report from EP08075059, dated, Aug. 24, 2009. cited
by other.
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Primary Examiner: Hyeon; Hae Moon
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and
Popeo, P.C. Mirabito, Esq.; A. Jason
Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. An electrical connection jumper for terminal blocks of
switchboards, comprising a conducting body extending in a
longitudinal direction and a plurality of connector elements for
electrical connection, which extend in a transverse direction from
said conducting body, and an insulating body, integral with said
conducting body, wherein said insulating body comprises a
longitudinally extending gripping part and pairs of lugs which
extend there from in a substantially transverse direction and
partially contain said conducting body, wherein the pairs of lugs
are spaced from each other in the transverse direction so as to
form a respective seat for the conducting body.
2. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein said gripping part of
the insulating body is continuous.
3. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein said lugs are arranged
symmetrically opposite each other in the transverse direction.
4. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein a depth in the vertical
direction of said seat formed by the lugs is such as not to
penetrate into the gripping part of the insulating body extending
longitudinally.
5. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein the conducting body
includes at least one neck and at least one connection element
extending from each neck.
6. The jumper according to claim 5, wherein said lugs have at least
one pin extending in a transverse direction and engaging a seat
which is open in the transverse direction in the neck of the
conducting body.
7. The jumper according to claim 6, wherein said connection element
comprises one or more flat pins which extend in the transverse
direction from said neck for connection to a switchboard
terminal.
8. The jumper according to claim 6, wherein said connection element
comprises screw means which extend in the transverse direction from
said neck for connection to a switchboard terminal.
9. The jumper according to claim 6, wherein the lugs are partially
overmoulded onto the neck of the conducting body.
10. The jumper according to claim 6, wherein the neck is formed as
a strip of suitable length in the longitudinal direction.
11. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein the insulating body is
overmoulded onto the conducting body.
12. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein said gripping part of
the insulating body has at least one annular undercut that defines
a cutting zone of the gripping part that is predisposed for
transverse cutting.
13. The jumper according to claim 12, wherein said cutting zone is
situated between two pairs of lugs adjacent in the longitudinal
direction.
14. The jumper according to claim 12, wherein a vertical cutting
plane of the conducting body is aligned in the longitudinal
direction with respect to the cutting zone of the gripping
part.
15. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein said pairs of lugs
symmetrically arranged opposite each other in the transverse
direction are spaced from each other in the longitudinal direction
at a constant interval.
16. The jumper according to claim 1, wherein the opposite ends of
the insulating body project in the longitudinal direction with
respect to the conducting body.
Description
BACKGROUND
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an insulated jumper in particular
for terminal blocks of switchboards and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the technical sector relating to terminal blocks for
switchboards that there exists the need to connect together two
terminals arranged alongside each other on the board in order to
form the required electric circuit.
Jumpers made of conductive material and designed for this purpose
are also known; said jumpers are formed by a conductive metal strip
extending in a substantially longitudinal direction having,
extending from it in a direction perpendicular to the above
direction, flat pins formed in the manner of two resilient jaws
able to form the part for engagement in the seat of the terminal
block.
These known jumpers, although fulfilling their purpose, since they
can be easily cut in the transverse direction in order to determine
correct measurement in the longitudinal direction, have the
drawback, however, that they cannot be electrically insulated with
respect to the exterior, in particular at the time of use by a
user; this results in a high risk of contact with the user
him/herself and/or with foreign bodies and therefore injury both
for the former, who may suffer an electric shock, and damage for
the system which is short-circuited.
In order to solve the problem of insulation, jumpers are also known
where the conductive strip is embedded in an insulating body; in
this case also, however, there is the risk of drawbacks arising
from the fact that cutting to size of the jumper is difficult owing
to the double and different superimposed material, which requires
complicated cutting operations using different tools respectively
adapted to the type and thickness of material to be cut, making
cutting practically impossible.
SUMMARY
The technical problem which is posed, therefore, is to provide
electrical connection jumpers, in particular for terminals of
switchboards, which are able to be cut to size and ensure perfect
insulation of the visible conducting parts so as to prevent them
from coming into contact with the user and/or with foreign bodies,
causing short-circuits of the system.
In connection with this problem it is also required that this
jumper should have small dimensions, be easy and inexpensive to
produce and assemble and be able to be adapted easily at any user
location using cutting means which are easy and inexpensive to
provide.
These results are obtained according to the present invention by an
electrical connection jumper, in particular for terminal blocks of
switchboards and the like, comprising a conducting body extending
in the longitudinal direction, a plurality of connector elements
extending in the transverse direction from said conducting body,
and an insulating body, integral with said conducting body, said
insulating body comprising a longitudinally extending gripping part
and pairs of oppositely arranged lugs which extend therefrom and
are able to contain partially said connector elements.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
Further details may be obtained from the following description of a
non-limiting example of embodiment of the subject of the present
invention provided with reference to the accompanying drawings in
which:
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a jumper according to the
present invention, in its entirety;
FIG. 2 shows a side view of the jumper according to FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 shows a schematic cross-section along the plane indicated by
III-III in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 shows a schematic cross-section along the plane indicated by
IV-IV in FIG. 2; and
FIG. 5 shows a schematic cross-section along the plane indicated by
V-V in FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and assuming solely for the sake of
convenience of the description and without a restrictive meaning, a
set of three reference axes with a longitudinal direction X-X,
transverse direction Y-Y and vertical direction Z-Z, respectively,
the jumper for terminal blocks of switchboards according to the
present invention comprises essentially: a conducting body 10
extending in the longitudinal direction X-X in the form of a thin
strip 11 which has suitable dimensions for the electric load
envisaged, and a plurality of connector elements 12 which extend in
the transverse direction Y-Y from said strip 11 and are formed by a
neck 12a which is extended by one or more (two in the example of
the figure) flat pins 13 for connection to the terminal (not
shown).
The conducting body 10 is integrally joined to an insulating body
20 comprising a substantially continuous, longitudinally extending
gripping part 21 which, in the example shown in the figure, has a
circular cross-section with, extending from it, pairs of lugs 22
symmetrically arranged opposite each in the transverse direction
Y-Y and aligned with each other in the longitudinal direction at a
constant interval.
The lugs 22 of each pair are suitably spaced from each other in the
transverse direction Y-Y so as to form a respective seat 22a in the
vertical direction, such as not to penetrate into the gripping part
21 of the longitudinally extending insulating body 20.
As shown in FIG. 3, said lugs 22 have pins 22b extending in the
transverse direction Y-Y and suitable for engagement with a
corresponding seat 14 open in the transverse direction in the neck
12a of the conducting part 10.
In this way the connection between conducting body 10 and
insulating body 20 ensures that the gripping part 21 of the said
insulating body is free of electrical conduction.
Advantageously this connection is obtained by overmoulding the
insulator onto the conducting body.
It can also be seen how, at the opposite ends, the insulating body
always projects in the longitudinal direction X-X beyond the
conducting body, thus ensuring insulation of the jumper with
respect to the user.
This configuration provides numerous advantages compared to the
prior art since, when the jumper is cut to size, it will be
possible to cut separately the insulating material and the
conducting strip, thus ensuring the ease of cutting using
conventional tools.
In addition to this, cutting may be performed both in a position T1
predisposed for cutting (FIG. 4) by means of an annular undercut 25
of the gripping part and in a position T2 which is not predisposed
for cutting (FIG. 5), while keeping, however, the gripping part
totally insulated.
Said predisposed cutting zone T1 or non-predisposed cutting zone T2
is situated between two pairs of lugs 22 which are adjacent in the
longitudinal direction, and the vertical cutting plane of the
conducting part is inset in the longitudinal direction with respect
to the cutting plane of the insulating body; correspondingly
cutting of the conducting body 10 produces zones 15 where the
conductor is inset in the longitudinal direction with respect to
the cutting zone T1/T2 of the gripping part 21; in this way, since
it is possible to obtain a free conducting edge which is set back
from the insulating body, the risks of contact with the conducting
part are reduced considerably.
Although illustrated and described in relation to a strip extending
longitudinally as appropriate and to be cut, subsequently, to size,
it is envisaged also that the jumper may be designed in modular
form with a single connection body, with two or more bodies, or
with a non-uniform succession of cutting zones determined by the
alternating arrangement of jumpers with one, two or three, etc.
connections.
Although not shown, it is envisaged moreover that the electrical
connection part 13 may be formed with a screw element and/or clamp
element as required and/or appropriate.
It can therefore be seen how with the electrical connection jumper
for switchboard terminal blocks according to the present invention
it is possible to achieve easily the production and/or cutting to
size of the jumper and at the same time insulation of the gripping
part which no longer contains the conducting part.
* * * * *