Abstract
A wire connector for connecting and maintaining a branch wire connected to a main uncut wire during handling of the wire connector and without cutting the main wire by laterally inserting the main uncut wire into a laterally open wire port in a piston sleeve and extending a cut end of a branch wire through an offset wire guide on the exterior of the wire connector and then reversing the branch wire direction to form a slack loop in the branch wire before inserting the end of the branch wire into a further wire port in the piston sleeve.
Claims
1. A wire connector for attaching a branch wire to a continuous uncut wire without severing the uncut wire comprising: an insulation displacement connector having a laterally enterable wire port for insertion of an uncut wire therein; a further wire port for insertion of a branch wire therein; and a tubular wire guide external to a housing of the insulation displacement connector for looping the branch wire therethrough to form a slack loop thereon as the branch wire is extended into the further port in the insulation displacement connector.
2. The wire connector of claim 1 wherein the insulation displacement connector includes a piston carrying a set of wire displacement blades and a sleeve slidably supporting the piston therein for forming an electrical connection between the branch wire and the uncut wire.
3. The wire connector of claim 1 wherein the insulation displacement connector is mounted on a lid of a housing through a living hinge with a sidewall of the housing including a set of flexible wire flaps for laterally insertion of a wire into the sidewall of the housing.
4. The wire connector of claim 1 wherein the tubular wire guide is laterally offset from the insulation displacement connector and the opening in the wire guide is sufficiently larger in diameter of the branch wire so the branch wire can be pushed through the wire guide relying on the axial stiffness of the branch wire.
5. The wire connector of claim 4 wherein the piston has a flat top for engagement with a jaw of a plier and the exterior of the insulation displacement connector has a flat surface for engagement with a further jaw of the plier with the piston axially slideable within a piston sleeve in said wire connector.
6. The wire connector of claim 4 wherein an opening in the tubular wire guide extends in the same direction as an opening in the further wire port.
7. A wire connector for attaching a branch wire to a continuous uncut wire without severing the uncut wire comprising: a housing containing a chamber; a first lip on a one end of the housing with a hook latch in the first lip; a first sidewall on said housing with a set of laterally enterable flexible wire entry ports on the first sidewall and at least one laterally enterable flexible wire entry port on an opposite sidewall of the housing; a lid connected to said housing through a living hinge, said lid having an exterior surface with a tubular wire guide thereon and an interior surface with an insulation displacement wire connector secured thereto, said insulation displacement wire connector including a laterally open wire port for placement of the uncut wire therein and a further wire port for insertion of an end of the branch wire therein, said insulation displacement connector including a slideable mounted piston containing a set of electrically conductive wire displacement blades so that displacement of the slideable piston toward the lid brings the uncut wire in the laterally open wire port into electrical contact with the branch wire in the further wire port through the set of electrically conductive wire displacement blades therein so that the lid with the branch wire and the uncut wire in electrical contact with each other can be secured to the housing through engagement of a lid hook on the lid with the hook latch on the housing to form an enclosure around the insulation displacement connector.
8. The wire connector of claim 7 wherein the insulation displacement connector wire connector on the interior surface and the tubular wire guide are axially offset from each other so that as one brings the slideable mounted piston toward the lid by engaging one side of the piston with one jaw of a plier and the exterior surface of a lid with another jaw of the plier a slack loop in the branch wire minimizes disruption to an electrical connection in the wire connector.
9. The wire connector of claim 7 including a sealant located in said chamber for encapsulating said insulation displacement connector therein.
10. The wire connector of claim 7 including a lid hook on each end of said lid and a hook latch on each end of the housing for securement of said lid to said housing independent of the living hinge.
11. The wire connector of claim 7 wherein the branch wire extends through one of the flexible entry wire ports and the uncut wire extends through a flexible wire entry port on one side of the housing and a further flexible wire entry port on the opposite side of the housing when the lid is brought into engagement with said housing.
12. The wire connector of claim 7 wherein the branch wire extends through the tubular guide and loops backward into the further wire port to form a slack loop to prevent accidental withdrawal of the branch wire during an underground installation of the wire connector.
13. The wire connector of claim 7 wherein an opening in the tubular guide is larger than a diameter of the branch wire so that the branch wire can be axially inserted therethrough by cantileverly holding the branch wire in a user's hand.
14. The wire connector of claim 7 including at least two hook latches in each lip on said housing and at least two hooks on each end of the lid.
15. The wire connector of claim 7 wherein the tubular guide is laterally offset from the further wire port with a slack loop in the branch wire extending between the tubular guide and the further wire port.
16. The method of securing an uncut wire to a branch wire comprising the steps of: inserting the uncut wire into a laterally open wire guide in an insulation displacement connector; inserting an end of the branch wire through a tubular guide on the exterior of the insulation displacement wire before inserting the end of the branch wire into a wire port in the insulation displacement connector to form a slack loop in the branch wire between the tubular guide and the insulation displacement connector; and bringing a set of blades in the insulation displacement connector into engagement with both the uncut wire and the branch wire to form an electrical connection therebetween.
17. The method of claim 16 including the step of inserting the insulation displacement connector into a housing to form an enclosure around the insulation displacement connector with the branch wire and the uncut wire extending through a sidewall of the housing while maintaining the slack loop in the branch wire.
18. The method of claim 16 including the step of bringing the insulation displacement connector into a sealant located in said housing.
19. The method of claim 16 including the step of bringing the set of blades in the insulating displacement connector into engagement with the uncut wire and the branch wire by applying axial pressure to a piston on one end of the insulation displacement connector and to a lid supporting a piston sleeve by compressing the piston and the lid between the jaws of a plier to force the set of blades in the piston into electrical engagement with the branch wire and the uncut wire.
20. The method of claim 16 including the step of latching a lid supporting the insulation displacement connector into engagement with both ends of a housing containing a sealant.
21. The method of claim 16 including the step of encapsulating the insulation displacement connector into a housing by pivoting the insulation displacement connector about a living hinge connecting the insulation displacement connector to the housing and laterally forcing branch wire and the uncut wire into wire connector flaps in the housing while maintaining the slack loop in the branch wire.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective open view of a wire connector with a lid mounted insulation displacement connector for attachment of a branch wire to a main wire without having to cut the main wire;
(2) FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the lid mounted insulation displacement connector of FIG. 1;
(3) FIG. 3 shows the lid mounted insulation displacement connector of FIG. 1 with an uncut main wire and a branch wire threaded through a wire guide on the lid;
(4) FIG. 3A shows an isolated view of a set of flexible flaps on the wire connector housing that allow lateral insertion of a wire therein;
(5) FIG. 4 shows the lid-mounted insulation displacement of connector of FIG. 3 supporting the uncut main wire and the branch wire with the branch wire having a slack looped formed by looping the branch wire into the lid mounted insulation displacement connector;
(6) FIG. 5 shows the lid mounted insulation displacement connector of FIG. 4 in the wire engaging position with the branch wire having a slack looped formed by looping the branch wire into the lid mounted insulation displacement connector;
(7) FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the tubular wire guide on the outside of the lid mounted insulation displacement connector;
(8) FIG. 7 is a top view of the tubular wire guide on the outside of the lid mounted insulation displacement connector;
(9) FIG. 8 is a perspective view of outside of the wire connector in a closed condition.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
(10) FIG. 1 is a perspective open view of a wire connector 10 comprising a lid mounted insulation displacement connector 10a for use in on-the-go attachment of a branch electrical wire to a main electrical wire without having to cut the main wire to form the electrical junction therebetween. The wire connector 10 includes a living hinge 17 connecting a lid 18, which carries the insulation displacement connector 10a, to a housing 10b having a chamber 11a therein for encapsulating the lid mounted insulation displacement connector 10a. Located at one end of housing 10b is a planar lip 12 and on other end is a planar lip 13 with lip 12 including a first slot or lip latch 12a and a second slot or lip latch 12b with the lip latches located in a side-by-side position. On the other end of housing 10b planar lip 13 includes a first slot or lip latch 13a and a second slot or lip latch 13b, which are also located in a side-by-side position. The lid 18, which connects to lip 13 through a living hinge 17, includes an offset tubular wire guide 16 that extends across the outside surface 18a of lid 18. In this example the interior circumferential surfaces of lid 18 can be mated to the lips 12 and 13 on of the housing 10b through pivoting the lid 18 about the living hinge 17. Once pivoted the lid 18 can then be latched to the housing 10b to thereby protect the insulation displacement connector 10a from the environment.
(11) Mounted on the inside 18b of lid 18 is the insulation displaced connector 10a that includes a piston sleeve 20 with a slideable piston 21 therein. In this example the piston 21 has a top surface 21 and sidewalls 21c that slidingly fit within mating internal sidewalls 20b of piston sleeve 20 to allow the piston 21 to slide downward within piston sleeve 20 when axial pressure is applied to piston top surface 21a and to outside surface 18a of lid 18. Once the piston is depressed to form an electrical connection therein a protrusion 21d on piston 21 locks with the edge of slot 20c in piston sleeve 20 to hold the insulation displacement connector 10a in a closed or locked condition to ensure that the blades within the connector remain in contact with the wires therein. FIGS. 1-3 show that one end of lid 18 includes a first latch hook 19a for engagement with lip latch 12a and a second latch hook 19b for engagement with lip latch 12b. The other end of lid 18 includes a third latch hook 20a for engagement with lip latch 13a and a fourth latch hook 20b (see FIG. 8) for engagement with the lip latch 13b. Located on the exterior surface of lid 18 is a tubular wire guide 16 that extends crosswise across the lid 18 and is laterally offset from a wire port 40 in piston sleeve 21.
(12) FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the lid mounted insulation displacement connector 10a of FIG. 1 showing the axially slideable piston 21 that carries a metal insulation displacement blade 25 that can form an electrical connection as the insulation is removed from a wire. As blade 25 is activated by forcing piston 21 downward a first wire enters the slot 25a and a second wire second wire enters the slot 25b. The displacement of the wires into the slots causes the edges of the blade 25 proximate the slot to remove the insulation from the wires and at the same time form an electrical connection between the wires through the electrical conducting blade 25. Examples of such blades can be found in applicants pending application U.S. publication 2016/0218444, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
(13) FIG. 3 shows the lid mounted insulation displacement connector 10a, which is centrally located as well as centrally isolated on an inside surface 18b of lid 18. An uncut main insulation covered electrical wire 30 is shown located in a laterally open wire port 41 that is laterally open at the top to allow insertion of an uncut wire therein but includes a lower lip 41a to laterally retain wire 30 therein until the electrical connection is formed therein.
(14) FIG. 3 also shows a branch insulation covered electrical wire 31 with a cut end 31a with the branch wire 31 extending through an opening 16a in a tubular wire guide 16, which is integrally formed on the exterior of lid 18. As can be seen the uncut main wire 30 has been laterally inserted into lateral wire port 41 and into a position where electrical contact can be made through engagement with blade 25 while the branch wire 31 remains separate from the insulation displacement connector 10a.
(15) FIG. 3 shows a set of flap members 11b, 11c, 11d and 11e, which comprise a set of laterally enterable flexible wire ports, that allow the branch wire and the main wire to extend through the circumferential sidewall 15 of the housing 10b when the lid 18 carrying the insulation displacement connector 10a is folded onto housing 10b. FIG. 3A shows an isolated detail of housing 10b revealing that cantilever flap member 11b includes a set of cantileverly mounted flaps 35, 36, 37 and 38 that form a laterally enterable wire entry port 11b in housing 10b, which allows wires carried by the insulation displacement connector 10a to extend through the sidewall 15 of the housing 10b when the lid 18 is brought into engagement with the housing 10b. The outermost edges of cantilever mounted flaps 35, 36, 37 and 38 form a living hinge with the housing 10b while the inner edges 36a, 37a and 38a indicate separation edges where each of the cantilevered flaps can flex apart or separate as one inserts a wire between the flaps 35, 36, 37 and 38. While only one of the sets of flap members 11b is described herein the flap members 11c, 11d and 11e are identical. The sealing action of the flap members 11b and 11c is illustrated in FIG. 8, which shows wire 30 extending through flat 11b and wire 31 extending through flap 11c. Although not shown the flaps 11d and 11e operate in an identical manner in relation to sealing around the wires extending outward from the opposite side of the insulation displacement connector 10a.
(16) FIG. 4 shows the lid-mounted insulation displacement connector 10a of FIG. 3 with the uncut main wire 30 in lateral wire port 41. In order to generate slack loop 31b the wire branch wire 31 extends through tubular guide 16 and is looped backward 180 degrees until it extends through the wire port 40. The tubular guide 16 allows one to form a slack loop 31b in branch wire 31 that can accommodate accidental wire displacement without disrupting the electrical connection in the wire connector. FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 show piston 21 in the up position, which enables an operator to insert end 31a of branch wire 31 into port 40 and to laterally place main wire 30 in wire port 41. A feature of the invention is that the main wire 30 remains in an uncut condition while the branch wire 31 has been cut with a cut end 31a extended through an opening 16a in tubular guide 16, which is laterally offset from the wire port 40. In addition, in this example the opening 16a in tubular guide 16 is larger than the wire 31 so that an operator can use the inherent stiffness of wire 31 to thread the wire 31 through the tubular guide 16 thus avoiding the need for a wire-pulling device. Even though the tubular wire guide 16 has a larger diameter than the branch wire 31 the tubular wire guide maintains the slack loop 31b in wire 31 even though the size of the slack loop 31b may change in response to burial of the wire connector.
(17) FIG. 5 shows that the piston 21 carrying the insulation displacement blades 25 (FIG. 2) has been forced into the piston sleeve 20 through the application of a force F on the lid outer surface 18a and the piston top surface 21a. A feature of the invention is that the placement of the insulation displacement connector 10a on the lid 18 is such that an axial compression force F can be conviently applied to lid surface 18a and the piston top surface 21a to bring the piston 21 into the piston sleeve 20. Methods of applying force may be through jaws of a plier or the like since the tubular guide 16 is laterally offset from a compression axis of the insulation displacement connector 10a and thus does not interfere with exerting compression forces directly on the insulation displacement connector and the lid supporting the insulation displacement connector 10. In this example the slack loop 31b is located on the outside of the housing so the branch wire 30 extends through the flap members in the housing.
(18) FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the back side of the wire connector 10 showing the tubular wire guide 16 located on the outside of the lid 18 and extending across the lid 18. Note, the wire 31 loops back 180 degrees to form a slack loop 31b before the wire 31 enters the wire port 40 (see FIG. 5) in the lid mounted insulation displacement connector 10a.
(19) FIG. 7 is a top view of the lid mounted insulation displacement connector 10a showing that the uncut wire 30 extends crosswise through the insulation displacement connector 10a and the cut branch wire also extends through insulation displacement connector 10a, however wire 31 forms a slack loop 31b, which provides slack to the wire to resist dislodging the connection between the branch wire and the main wire. That is, the slack loop 31b provides a buffer in the event an external force is applied to the cut wire 31. While the slack loop 31b absorbs wire displacement a further feature of the invention is that once the slack loop 31b in wire 31 is taken up the wire creates frictional resistance to further displacement through the corner engagement of the wire 31 with the edge of the lid 18 and the corner engagement of wire 31 with an edge of the tubular guide 16. This feature further reduces any pulling strain on the connection between the wire 31 and the blades 25 thus further enhancing the resistance of the wire connector to failure due to an electrical connection being disrupted during handling or burial of the wire connector.
(20) In the example shown in FIG. 7 a waterproof sealant 50 is located in the chamber in housing 10b to enable the encapsulation of the insulation displacement wire connector 10a and the wires therein in order to protect the wire connections from the environment.
(21) FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the wire connector 10 showing the latch hooks 20a and 20b in engagement with lip 13 and the latch hooks 19a and 19b in engagement with lip 12 to hold the lid 18 on the housing 10b thereby protecting the contents of the wire connector from a hostile environment while allowing the wires therein to protrude through a sidewall of the housing. A further feature is that the four corner engagement of hooks 19a, 19b, 20a and 20b ensures that the lid 18 and housing 11a remain attached during handling, while the living hinge provides for ease in lining up the latches and the latch hooks when the lid 18 is folded onto the housing 10b.
