Wire actuated terminal spring clamp assembly
AssigneeRockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
InventorsDavid J. Brockman, David E Koopmeiners
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A spring clamp assembly for an electrical terminal block includes a termination spring, a trigger and a return spring. The trigger is biased by the return spring into an opening of the termination spring to impede a clamping movement of the termination spring. A wire inserted into the terminal block trips the trigger so that it clears the termination spring allowing it clamp the exposed end of the wire against a metal terminal contact. Thus, the wire is clamped in place simply by the simple and necessary action of inserting the wire into the terminal block. The wire is removed and the assembly is reset by manually moving the termination spring to its original position, removing the wire and allowing the return spring to reset the trigger.
Claims17
A spring clamp assembly for securing a wire to a terminal contact, the spring clamp assembly comprising:
- a termination member having an opening and being movable between first and second positions, the first position being such that the opening is located to receive the wire and the second position being such that the wire received in the opening is biased against the contact;
- a trigger engaging the termination member and being movable from an initial position to effect movement of the termination member from the first position to the second position;
- and
- a coil spring return member biasing the trigger toward the initial position.
A spring clamp assembly for securing a wire to a terminal contact, the spring clamp assembly comprising:
- a termination member having an opening and being deflectable between first and second positions, the first position being such that the opening is located to receive the wire and the second position being such that the wire received in the opening is biased against the contact;
- a trigger engaging the termination member in an initial position to interfere with deflection of the termination member from the first position to the second position, the trigger being tripped by contact with the wire to move out of engagement with the termination member and permit deflection of the termination member from the first position to second position;
- and
- a coil spring return member biasing the trigger toward the initial position.
A method of connecting a wire to a terminal contact using a spring clamp assembly, the method comprising:
- inserting a wire into a terminal block having the spring clamp assembly, including:
- a termination member having an opening and being movable between first and second positions, the first position being such that the opening is located to receive the wire and the second position being such that the wire received in the opening is biased against the contact;
- a trigger engaging the termination member and being movable from an initial position to effect movement of the termination member from the first position to the second position;
- and
- a coiled termination spring biasing the trigger toward the initial position;
- tripping the trigger of the spring clamp assembly by contact with the wire causing release of the termination spring of the spring clamp assembly;
- and
- clamping the wire against the terminal contact under force of the termination spring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.