Dip molded wire connector
AssigneeThe Patent Store LLC
InventorsL. King, Michael Belgeri, James Keeven
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A connector with a dip-molded housing and a method for forming a twist-on wire connector with a dip-molded housing. To dip-mold a covering or housing on a twist-on wire connector either a mandrel carrying a twist-on wire coil, a mandrel having the a shape of a spiral coil or a twist-on wire connector are dipped into a bath of an in situ solidfiable dip-moldable material such as liquid plastic. The dip-moldable solidified material solidifies to form a dip-molded shell on the wire connector.
Claims45
A method of making a twist-on wire connector with enhanced impact resistance comprising the steps of:
- forming a mandrel having an external surface in the shape of a spiral male thread;
- dipping the mandrel in a vat of dip-moldable material to form a coating on the mandrel;
- removing the mandrel with the coating from the vat;
- allowing the coating to solidify on the mandrel to form a dip-molded shell around the mandrel;
- removing the mandrel from the dip-molded shell to thereby leave a hollow dip-molded shell with a spiral female thread located on an interior surface of the dip-molded shell;
- and
- inserting a twist-on wire coil with a male spiral thread into the spiral female thread in the dip-molded hollow shell to form a twist-on wire connector with the dip-molded shell forming a housing having enhanced impact resistance.
The in-situ method of making a twist-on wire connector with enhanced impact resistance comprising the steps of:
- dipping a mandrel having an elongated shape in a vat of dip-moldable material to form a solidfiable coating over an exterior surface of the mandrel;
- removing the mandrel from the vat;
- allowing the solidifiable coating to solidify and form a dip-molded shell around the mandrel;
- removing the dip-molded shell from the mandrel without rupturing the dip-molded shell;
- and
- inserting a spiral coil into a closed end of the dip-molded shell to thereby form a twist-on wire connector with the dip-molded shell forming a housing with enhanced impact resistance.
The in-situ method of making a twist-on wire connector with enhanced impact resistance comprising the steps of:
- placing a spiral coil on a mandrel;
- dipping the mandrel with the spiral wire coil in a vat of dip-moldable material to form a dip-molded coating over the mandrel and the spiral coil;
- removing the mandrel and the spiral wire coil from the vat of dip-moldable material;
- allowing the dip-molded coating to solidify around the mandrel and the spiral wire coil to thereby form a dip-molded shell around the mandrel and the spiral wire coil;
- removing the mandrel from the dip-molded shell while retaining the spiral wire coil in the dip-molded shell to thereby form a twist-on wire connector with enhanced impact resistance.
The method of claim 21 wherein the mandrel is dipped into a vat of an electrical insulating material.
The method of making an impact resistance twist-on wire connector comprising the steps of:
- securing a twist-on wire connector having a rigid housing to a mandrel;
- dipping the mandrel with the twist-on wire connector having a rigid housing in a vat of dip-moldable material;
- allowing the dip-moldable to solidify and form a dip-molded shell around an external surface of the twist-on wire connector;
- and
- removing the mandrel from the twist-on wire connector to provide an in-situ formed dip-molded shell around the rigid housing of the twist-on wire connector to provide enhanced impact resistance to the twist-on wire connector.
A twist-on wire connector for securing multiple wires therein comprising:
- a rigid shell having an open end;
- a wire engaging thread located in a closed end of the rigid shell;
- a layer of dip-moldable material extending over an external surface of the rigid shell to provide enhanced impact resistance to the twist-on wire connector.
A method of making an impact resistant twist-on wire connector comprising the steps of:
- forming a mandrel having a wire coil engaging section;
- frictionally securing a wire coil to the wire coil engaging section;
- dipping the mandrel in a vat of liquid plastic with the vat of liquid plastic at a higher temperature than the wire coil engaging section;
- allowing the liquid plastic in contact with the wire coil to cool and solidify in a shell around the wire coil and the mandrel;
- removing the mandrel and the wire coil from the vat of liquid plastic;
- allowing the liquid plastic to solidify on the mandrel;
- removing the mandrel from the shell to thereby leave a shell with a wire coil therein;
- and
- curing the shell to bond the wire coil to the shell.
The method of making an impact resistance twist-on wire connector comprising the steps of:
- dipping a twist-on wire connector into a vat of dip-moldable material;
- and
- allowing a layer of dip-moldable material to solidify on an exterior surface of the twist-on wire connector to form a twist-on wire connector having a coating of a dip-moldable material with enhanced impact resistance.
The method of claim 36 including the step of inserting a retaining member into an open end of a twist-on wire connector before dipping the twist-on wire connector in the vat of dip-moldable material;
- and removing the retaining member from the open end of the twist-on wire connector after a coating has solidified on the exterior surface of the twist-on wire connector.
A twist-on wire connector having enhanced impact resistance comprising;
- a rigid housing having an interior surface and an exterior surface;
- a wire engaging member located on an interior surface of the rigid housing;
- and
- a dip-molded shell secured to the exterior surface of the rigid housing with the dip-molded shell softer than the rigid housing to thereby provide a twist-on wire connector with enhanced impact resistance.
A twist-on wire connector having enhanced impact resistance comprising;
- a spiral wire coil having an internal surface with a female spiral thread and an external surface with a male spiral thread;
- and
- a layer of insulating material extending around the external surface of the male spiral thread with the layer of insulating material comprising a soft-to the-touch dip-molded shell to thereby cushion any impact to the twist-on wire connector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.