US 4,379,609 AGranted

Modular cord coupler jack having a disconnection encumbrance

AssigneeWestern Electric Company, Inc.

InventorEdwin C. Hardesty

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Abstract

A telephone cord includes a length of cordage having each end terminated with a modular plug with the plug at one end disposed within a specially designed, easily identifiable cavity of a unipartite housing of a coupler jack of this invention. The coupler jack also includes a conventional plug-receiving cavity and a plurality of wire-like contact elements having retroflexed end portions which are positioned in the cavities to engage terminals of inserted plugs. The plug that is disposed within the specially designed cavity is held in such a manner that its disconnection from the coupler jack is encumbered to prevent withdrawal without the use of a mechanical expedient. Forces must be applied to a tab of the plug in a particular manner to cause the tab to assume an essentially linear rather than a conventional arched configuration which occurs when the free end of the tab is depressed. Also, the specially designed cavity is substantially deeper than the conventional cavity so that the inserted plug does not extend to the external surface to which the cavity opens. This prevents digital depression of the locking tab at its free end and the arching of the tab which in a conventional cavity permits withdrawal of the plug.

Claims36

Dependent claims

A modular cord having connectorized ends, said cord comprising:

a length of cordage which comprises a plurality of individually insulated conductors which are enclosed in a jacket of plastic material;
a modular plug which terminates each end of said length of cordage, said plug comprising a body, a plurality of terminals mounted in said body and a resilient tab having one end connected to said body, a free end, and a pair of oppositely extending locking shoulders spaced from said free end, said tab in a normal orientation extending obliquely outwardly from said plug body;
and
a coupler jack which is connected to one of said modular plugs which terminate said length of cordage, said coupler jack comprising:
a housing which includes two modular plug-receiving cavities each communicating with an associated external surface of said housing, a plurality of passageways that extend between and communicate with said cavities, and means formed within each of said cavities for cooperating with said oppositely extending shoulders of the tab of a plug that is received in each of said cavities for locking the plug within the housing when the plug tab is in said normal orientation, said one plug which terminates an end of said length of cordage being disposed in one of said cavities with at least said one of said cavities extending sufficiently inwardly from its associated external surface to cause the free end of the tab of a plug received in said one cavity to be within said one cavity and spaced from its associated external surface a distance which is sufficient to prevent facile unlocking and withdrawal of said one plug from said housing;
and
a plurality of wire-like contact elements each having a linear portion which is positioned in one of said passageways and retroflexed end portions which are positioned in said cavities and which are adapted to be engaged by terminals of modular plugs that are inserted into said plug-receiving cavities.

4 more elements

A coupler jack for connectorizing an end of a cord that is terminated with a modular plug having a resilient tab which includes one end connected to a body of the plug, a free end and a pair of oppositely extending shoulders spaced from the free end, and which in a normal orientation extends obliquely from the body, said coupler jack comprising:

a housing which includes two modular plug-receiving cavities each communicating with an associated external surface of said housing, a plurality of passageways that extend between and communicate with said cavities, and means formed within each of said cavities for cooperating with the oppositely extending shoulders of the tab of a plug that is received in each of said cavities for locking the plug within the housing when the tab is in its normal orientation with at least one of said cavities exending sufficiently inwardly from its associated external surface to cause a free end portion of the tab of a plug received in said one cavity to be within said one cavity and spaced from its associated external surface a distance which is sufficient to prevent facile unlocking of said tab and withdrawal of the plug from said one cavity;
and
a plurality of wire-like contact elements each having a linear portion which is positioned in one of said passageways and retroflexed end portions which are positioned in said cavities and which are adapted to be engaged by terminals of modular plugs which are inserted into said plug-receiving cavities.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 06/241,951Filed 9 Mar 1981
Granted: 12 Apr 1983
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

H01R 13/639
Means for facilitating engagement or disengagement of coupling parts or for holding them in engagement: additional means for holding or locking…
H01R 24/62
Contacts spaced along planar side wall transverse to longitudinal axis of engagement: sliding engagements with one side only, e.g. modular jack…
H01R 13/28
Contact members: contacts for sliding cooperation with identically-shaped contact, e.g. for hermaphroditic coupling devices
H01R 31/02
Coupling parts supported only by co-operation with counterpart: intermediate parts for distributing energy to two or more circuits in parallel,…