EP1166400B1 - Electrical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

An electrical connector, comprising a body (11) defining a plug or socket (13), at least one connection wire (21) leading from the plug or socket, and an electrically conductive contact member (31) having a first insulation displacement contact (51) connected to the connection wire and a second insulation displacement contact (53) for onward connection to a further wire.

Description

The invention relates to an electrical connector, particularly a telephone plug or socket.

Telephone plugs and sockets are well known, and there are a variety of techniques used for their manufacture. For example, a telephone socket arrangement may comprise a printed circuit board with both a telephone socket and a terminal block mounted upon the printed circuit board. However, such sockets required a large number of parts and plastic mouldings and are accordingly difficult and expensive to manufacture.

The use of wires rather than a PCB is known in the field of telephone adapters. An example of this approach is described in US 5,697,815. The internal connector wires of such prior art connectors are generally bare wires located in grooves or holes defined by the body of the plug or socket.

However, even where such an approach is used for a plug or socket, there still remains the manufacturing step or connecting the bare wires to a terminal block so that the plug or socket can be connected to a telephone cable or the like or alternative of directly connecting the wire to a cable.

Insulation displacement contacts are known, and represent a means of directly contacting to an insulated wire. The contact is in the form of a metal leaf defining a slit. When an insulated wire is inserted into the slit, the edges of the slit cut through the insulation to connect the underlying wire. Such contacts are generally used for rapid connection of insulated cables and the like.

US-A-5,338,220 discloses an electrical connector for permanently connecting the respective electrical conductors of two flexible electrical cables by means of double-ended insulation displacement contacts.

According to the invention, there is provided an electrical connector of the detachable plug and socket kind, comprising a body defining a plug or socket, the body having a terminal block which defines a hole for accepting at least one electrically conductive contact member,
   at least one connection wire extending into the plug or socket and acting as an electrical contact, the connection wire leading from the plug or socket, and
   the at least one electrically conductive contact member, having a first insulation displacement contact connected to the connection wire and a second insulation displacement contact for onward connection to a further wire.

The hole for each contact member may be in the form of a slot.

For manufacturing convenience, the said at least one connection wire leading from the plug or socket may also extend into the plug or socket and act as the contact member of the plug or socket. The body may further define guide paths for locating the wire in the body between the at least one plug or socket and the contact members.

Where required, the body may also define a hole for accepting other electrical components, such as a capacitor.

In embodiments, the connector is a telephone socket. In other embodiments, the electrical connector may be a telephone plug. Such connectors may be used as telephone adapters. The body may be integrally formed as a plastics moulding. A face plate may be provided as a separate component.

For a better understanding of the invention, a specific embodiment will now be described, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-

Figure 1 shows an exploded view of a telephone socket according to the invention;

Figure 2 shows a perspective view from above of part of the telephone socket of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a detail showing the connection of a wire in the insulation displacement contact in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a section through the telephone socket of Figure 1, and

Figure 5 is a view of part of the section of Figure 4 showing the insulation displacement contact.

Referring to Figures 1 to 5, a body 11 defines a socket 13, grooves 15, slots 17 and a hole 19.

A plurality of terminal wires 21 are located in the grooves 15 which accordingly act as guide means for the wires. The grooves 15 are arranged on the front face 25 of the body 11. A contact end 23 of each wire 21 is bent out of the plane of the front face and extends in the socket 13 to act as the contact in the socket. A plurality of insulation displacement contacts (IDC) 31 are located in the slots 17 defined by the body. A capacitor 33 is located in the hole 19. A face plate 35 extends in a plane in front of and parallel to that of the front face 25 of the body 11. The face plate 35 defines a hole 37 arranged above the socket 13 in the body 11. Snap-fit members 39 are provided on the front face plate.

Both the body 11 and the front face plate 35 are formed as integral mouldings.

A door 41 is provided behind the front face plate 35.

The slots 17 for the insulation displacement contacts are arranged substantially perpendicularly to the front face plate 25. The slots 17 each intersect one of the grooves 15. Accordingly, the socket can be assembled by locating the wires 21 in the grooves 15 and then inserted the IDC contact members into the slots 17. Each IDC contact member has a first end having an insulation displacement contact which grips and contacts the wire 21. It should be noted that the wire 21 does not have any insulation: the term insulation displacement contact is intended to refer to the form of contact, and not to any requirement that it connectors to an insulated wire.

The opposite end of the contact member 31 to the first insulation displacement contact has a second insulation displacement contact 53. This second contact is generally larger than the first contact so that it can contact to larger wires for onward connection from the telephone socket.

The socket is easy to manufacture since no soldering or attachment of parts to a printed circuit board needs to be carried out. -

In use, additional wires can be easily connected to the second insulation displacement contact 53.

As can best be seen in Figure 5, the first insulation displacement contact 51 can have a slightly different form to the second 53. In particular, the contact member may define a mouth 61 adjoining a wide slit 63, a narrow slit 65 and a round hole 67. The narrow slit 65 can be sized to accept and tightly grip the wires 21 of the telephone socket.

The invention is not limited to use as a telephone socket. The body 11 may define a male plug member and the wires 21 arranged along the plug member to form terminals at locations determined by national or other standards. The wires may extend inside the plug member or along the outside of the plug member, for example :in grooves, depending on the form of the plug member required by the local telephone standards.

Furthermore, the invention can also be used to form a telephone adapter.

Claims (10)

1. An electrical connector of the detachable plug and socket kind, comprising a body (11) defining a plug or socket (13), the body (11) having a terminal block which defines a hole (17) for accepting at least one electrically conductive contact member (31),
      at least one connection wire (21) extending into the plug or socket and acting as an electrical contact, the connection wire leading from the plug or socket (13), and
      the at least one electrically conductive contact member (31), having a first insulation displacement contact (51) connected to the connection wire and a second insulation displacement contact (53) for onward connection to a further wire.
2. An electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the hole (17) for each contact member is in the form of a slot.
3. An electrical connector according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the body (11) defines guide paths (15) for locating the at least one connection wire (21) in the body between the at least one plug or socket (13) and the at least one contact member (31).
4. An electrical connector according to any preceding claim, wherein the body (11) defines a hole (19) for accepting other electrical components.
5. An electrical connector according to any preceding claim, wherein the body (11) is integrally formed as a plastics moulding.
6. An electrical connector according to any preceding claim, wherein the said plug or socket (13) is a plug and the at least one connection wire (21) leading from the plug extends along the plug to form at least one contact member of the plug.
7. An electrical connector according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the plug or socket (13) is a telephone socket.
8. An electrical connector according to claim 7, further comprising a face plate (35) on the front face of the body (11).
9. An electrical connector according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the plug or socket (13) is a telephone plug.
10. An electrical connector according to any preceding claim arranged as a telephone adapter.

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