Electrical connector with compression gores
AssigneeCenterpin Technology, Inc.
InventorRip HANKS
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical connector has a body with a bore that terminates in a sloped surface at its inner end. A cap, through which a conductor is threaded, fits into the bore. An axial inner end of the cap is divided into a plurality of spaced-apart gores which, when the cap is forced axially inwardly, will cam against the sloped surface in the bore, displacing the gores toward the axis and gripping and fastening in place the electrical conductor. Preferably the gores have ridges on their internal surfaces and a center pin standing up from the bottom of the bore has grooves mating with some of these ridges.
Claims21
An electrical connector, comprising:
- a connector body having a bore with an axis and an open end, the bore having a sidewall generally parallel to the axis and extending generally axially inwardly from the open end toward an inner end of the bore, a radially inwardly and axially inwardly sloping surface extending from the sidewall to the inner end of the bore;
- and
- a cap having an inner axial end and an outer axial end and having a cavity from the outer to the inner axial ends for accepting a conductor therethrough, an outer surface of the cap including a general outer surface substantially parallel to the axis and adapted to be slidably received into the bore of the connector body;
- the inner axial end of the cap terminating in a plurality of spaced-apart gores, the gores, when the cap is advanced into the bore of the connector body, camming against said sloping surface of the bore so as to radially inwardly collapse toward the axis of the connector body, the gores then grasping an external surface of a conductor threaded through the cap in order to electrically connect the conductor to the connector.
An electrical connector for connecting to a conductor, comprising:
- a connector body having a bore with a general inner diameter, an open end and a bottom, a center pin extending axially outwardly from the bottom into the bore;
- a sloping surface formed in the bore and extending radially and axially inwardly from the general inner diameter toward the bore bottom;
- a collar having a bore for accepting the conductor therethrough, an axial inner end and an axial outer end, a plurality of spaced-apart fingers forming the last said inner end, the collar sized to fit within the general inner diameter of the body bore;
- a cap having an inner axial end and an outer axial end, the cap having an general external diameter which is smaller than the general inner diameter of the bore body,
- the conductor impaled on the center pin, the cap advancing axially inwardly in said body bore so that the cap pushes the collar axially inwardly such that the fingers of the collar cam against said sloping surface of the bore, said fingers then grasping an external surface of the conductor to affix the connector to the conductor.
A kit for connecting to one of a plurality of electrical conductors having different diameters, comprising:
- a connector body having a bore with an axis and an open end having a first internal diameter, the bore having a sidewall extending generally axially inwardly from the open end toward an inner end of the bore, a radially inwardly and axially inwardly sloping surface extending from the sidewall to the inner end of the bore;
- and
- a plurality of caps, each cap having an inner axial end and an outer axial end and having a cavity from the inner to the outer axial ends for accepting a conductor therethrough, an outer surface of each cap including a general outer surface substantially parallel to the axis and having a diameter less than said first internal diameter of the bore of the connector body;
- the inner axial end of the cap terminating in a plurality of spaced-apart gores, the gores, when the cap is advanced into the bore of the connector body, camming against said sloping surface of the bore so as to radially inwardly collapse toward the axis of the connector body, the gores then grasping an external surface of a conductor threaded through the cap in order to electrically connect the conductor to the connector;
- a diameter of any one cap across the cavity thereof being different from a like diameter of any other of the caps, such that one of the caps can be selected by a user to best fit a conductor of a particular diameter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.