US2959995A - Wire-connector wrench - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 15, 1960 A. R. LINDEN 2,959,995

wmrs-connac'rog WRENCH Filed July 25, 1957 Ei EQ =4 at? M August Raymond Linczen United StatesyPatent O WIRE-CONNECTOR WRENCH August Raymond Linden, Sycamore, Ill., assignor to Holub Industries, Inc., Sycamore, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed July 25, 1957, Ser. No. 674,233

2 Claims. (Cl. 81-120) This invention relates to a wrench for use by electricians in the application of wire connectors of the screw-on type, like that shown in Smith Patent 2,772,323, for example. 9

These screw-on wire connectors comprise a tapered hollow shell of a plastic or other insulation material in the bore of which is a screw thread or screw-threaded insert adapted to screw over a pigtail splice formed by the ends of two or more stripped wires and positively wedge them together inside the shell for a good electrical connection and also good insulation of the connection. These connectors are usually available in four or more sizes to accommodate the many sizes and combinations of solid and stranded wire, although for all-purpose wiring two sizes are generally recommended. The shells may be knurled or fluted or provided with facets on the outside for good purchase and quicker application by hand. However, it has been found that ones fingers are apt to get sore after a number of such operations, especially if the connectors are turned on securely, as they must be for a good electrical connection. On the other hand, it is not safe to use pliers to tighten these connectors because of the danger of cracking the plastic shells in gripping the same tightly enough for tightening, and a cracked shell could cause a short circuit. It is therefore the principal object of; my invention to provide a thumb-and-fingeror fingers-operable wrench designed for easy application to the shells of these connectors in positive mesh with the outer periphery and wedgingly engaged thereon, affording sufiicient leverage to enable good tightening, without any strain or hurt to the operator and without the slightest danger of damaging the shells of the connectors.

Two tapered sockets of different diameters are conveniently provided in coaxial relationship facing in 01)- posite directions and located on opposite sides of the radially spoked central hub or finger-grip portion of the wrench to fit two different sizes of connectors.

As an added convenience, the three leverage-providing spokes of the hub are also provided with wire-gauge holes of different sizes, the stripped wire to be measured being slipped with a close fit into the hole of the same size and the wire gauge being indicated adjacent the hole.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figs. 1 and 2 are an end view and side view, respectively, of a wrench made in accordance with my invention, the latter indicating in dotted lines how the wrench will fit and can be used interchangeably with two different sizes of wire connectors;

Figs. 3 and 4 are views illustrating, respectively, the preliminary application of a connector to two wires to be connected and the tightening of the connector with the wrench of Figs. 1 and 2, and

Fig. 5 is a side view of the pigtail splice of Fig. 4 with the connector removed.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral 6 designates a screw-on-type wire connector of the kind disclosed in Smith Patent No. 2,772,323, the tapered hollow shell 7 of which is molded of bakelite or phenolic resin with a copper-plated steel coiled spring 8 inserted therein to define the screw threaded bore with which to screw over pigtail splices formed by the stripped ends of two or more wires 9, as indicated at 10 in Fig. 4, for positively wedging the wires together inside the shell for a good electrical connection whilealso furnishing good insulation for the connectors. These connectors are usually available in four or more sizes to accommodate the many sizes and combinations of solid and stranded wire,- although, for all-purpose wiring, two sizes like those indicated at 6 and 6a in Fig. 2 are generally recommended. The shells 7 may be provided with flutes or facets on the outside but are shown as knurled lengthwise of the major portion thereof, as indicated at 11, for good purchase and quicker application by hand. However, 'as pointed out above, ones fingers are apt to get sore after a number of applications of such connectors, especially if they are turned pretty tight, but it is not safe to use pliers to tighten them, because of the danger of cracking the plastic shells when gripping the same tightly enough for tightening the connection, and it is for that reason that the wrench indicated at 12 fills a real need by affording sufiicient leverage to enable good tightening by hand without any strain or hurt to the operator and at the same time without the slightest danger of damaging the shells of the connectors.

The wrench 12 comprises a one-piece die-cast body providing two sockets 13 and 14 in coaxial relationship on opposite sides of a central hub portion 15, the sockets having tapered longitudinally grooved bores of different diameters facing in opposite directions, as indicated at 16 and 17, to fit two different sizes of longitudinally knurled connectors 6 and 6a, as shown in Fig. 2. For other connectors having different dimensions, another wrench 12 having sockets with correspondingly dimensioned bores to fit the same will be provided. The longitudinal grooves in the bores 16 and 17 match and mesh positively with the knurling 11 on the shells 7 and, when either a connector 6 is wedgingly engaged in bore 16, or a connector 6a is wedgingly engaged in bore 17, a good driving connection is provided, thus enabling the connector to be tightened by comfortable manual operation of the wrench. The hub 15 is made in the form generally of a triangle except that the three sides are concave, as indicated at 18 in Fig. l, and the hub has peripheral flanges 19 projecting from opposite sides thereof to provide wide smooth surfaces 18 for better thumb and finger grips, as the wrench is usually held by the thumb and first two fingers, as indicated in dotted lines at T and F1 and F2 in Fig. 1, and in full lines in Fig. 4. Thus, there are three spokes or lever arms 20 defined at the three points of the triangle, all extending radially in equally circumferentially spaced relation with respect to the sockets 13 and 14 to afford good leverage, which, taken with the wide, smooth finger-grip surfaces, concaved to fit the fingers and enable good gripping, without any likelihood of slippage, insures the right amount of tightening of the connectors without any noticeable strain or hurt to the operator. The operator will, of course, use the socket 13 for larger-size connectors 6 and the socket 14 for smaller-size connectors 6a. Thus, if two wrenches of this type are provided, having different sizes of sockets, four different sizes of connectors can be accommodated, and, if each of these wrenches has a different set of three wire-gauge holes of different sizes,

six different sizes of wire can be measured in the manner hereinafter described.

In operation, the connector 6 or 6a is first applied by hand over the stripped ends of two or more wires 9 to bev connected inthe manner indicated in Fig. 3, and given a few turns to thread it onto the wires and start twisting them into the form of a pigtail splice, and then the wrench12 is applied for the final tightening of the connector, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the operator can obtain the right tightness without strain or hurt and without .the slightest danger of damaging the shell of the connector. In other words, the wrench makes the work easier, while insuring tighter and better electrical connections, and city electrical inspectors find their work easier, where these wrenches are used, because there is no likelihood of any wire connector shells being cracked and requiring the inspectors to reject such splices.

As an added convenience, the three leverage-providing spokes or arms 20 of the hub on each wrench are also provided with wire-gauge holes of different sizes, as indicated at 21, 22 and 23 in Fig. 1, the stripped wire to be measured being slipped with a close fit into the hole of the same size and the gauge of the wire being indicated adjacent the hole, as seen at 24.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. A wrench of the character described comprising a hollow, cylindrical socket member having work-engaging bores of ditferent sizes in opposite ends; means intermediate the ends of said socket providing a generally triangular hub portion in rigid concentric relation thereto for thumb-and-finger manipulation thereof, the sides of the triangle being arcuately concave to define nonslip 'thumb-and-finger-grip areas on the sides of said triangular hub, and a peripheral flange on said hub portion, whereby the concave peripheral portions on which the thumband-finger-grip areas are defined are substantially wider than the thickness of said hub portion for more comfortable gripping.

2. A wrench comprising a hollow, cylindrical socket member having axially-aligned tapered bores of diiferent sizes in opposite ends thereof; said socket member having a generally triangular hub portion intermediate its ends in rigid concentric relation thereto for thumb and finger manipulation thereof, the sides of the triangle being arcuately concave to define nonslip thuinb-and-finger-grip areas on the sides of said triangular hub.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 363,331 Hammer May 17, 1887 1,197,614 Duboish Sept. 12, 1916 1,761,510 Wolarsky June 3, 1930 2,053,246 Lurcott Sept. 1, 1936 2,103,944 Gullborg Dec. 28, 1937 2,220,389 Berg Nov. 5, 1940 2,605,665 Grenat Aug. 5, 1952 2,826,388 Janos et al Mar. 11, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 11,613 Great Britain June 2, 1905 97,945 Sweden Jan. 30, 1940 44,336 Holland Oct. 15, 1938 808 Great Britain Jan. 13, 1893 404,910 Great Britain Ian. 25, 1934 599,423 Great Britain -1 Mar. 11, 1948

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