1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the removal of connector pins from electronic electrical housings, and, more particularly, to a pin extraction stabilizer for the removal of connector pins.
2. Description of Related Art
Connector housings often include housings having one or more connector pin cavities extending therethrough wherein a plurality of connector pins extend through the apertures to mate to a corresponding female electronic housing. The electronic connection housings often include connector pin plugs positioned about the periphery of each of the apertures and extending to a point above the apertures. The connector pins generally extend through both the apertures and the plugs. Oftentimes during routine maintenance, the connector pins are required to be removed and/or replaced. There are a number of tools, for example, those described in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,844,013, and 4,414,736, to facilitate removal of connector pins from a connector housing. However, many times during removal, the connector pin plugs, which are often made of a plastic or polymer material, break and/or shatter; thereby, requiring replacement of the entire connector housing. This results in loss of time and money during manufacture and/or maintenance of electronic equipment. A need exists to provide a means of ensuring that the connector pin plugs of the connector housings are not broken or mishandled during maintenance, thereby, resulting in significant reductions of cost, time, and manpower during manufacture and/or maintenance procedures.
A pin extraction stabilizer is disclosed for a connector housing. The connector housing may include a housing having a front surface and a back surface and defining one or more connector pin cavities extending therethrough a plurality of protruding hollow plugs for receiving a plurality of connector pins. The pin extraction stabilizer includes a stabilizer housing having a front surface and a back surface. The stabilizer housing defines one or more access sockets extending from the stabilizer front surface to the stabilizer back surface. Each socket is dimensioned to receive a protruding hollow plug. The stabilizer front surface may mirror the housing front surface in shape and size, but is not always necessary. The access sockets may have varying cross-sectional areas at the front end and the back end of the stabilizer housing, with varying inner diameters. The stabilizer front surface may have a cross-sectional area that is greater than the cross-sectional area of the connector pin cavities defined on the stabilizer back surface, and an inner diameter of each chamber of the plurality of stabilizer chambers may be greater than an outer diameter of each plug of the plurality of connector pin plugs. The stabilizer chambers may take the form of counterbored chambers having an inner counterbore stop surface positioned between the stabilizer front surface and the stabilizer back surface. The inner counterbore stop surface may be positioned at a distance from the stabilizer front surface, such that when the connector pin plugs are received within the stabilizer chambers, the plugs are received substantially completely within the stabilizer chambers. The access sockets defined on the stabilizer front surface may have a cross-sectional area that is greater than the cross-sectional area of the access sockets defined on the stabilizer back surface. When the connector pin plugs are received within the stabilizer chambers, the stabilizer front surface may contact the housing front surface. Each plug of the plurality of connector pin plugs may take the form of a tubular extension extending from the housing connector pin cavities to a point above the housing front surface, and each chamber of the plurality of stabilizer chambers take the form of tubular chambers dimensioned to receive the tubular plugs. Each plug of the plurality of connector pin plugs may be cylindrical and each chamber of the plurality of stabilizer chambers may be cylindrical. An inner diameter of each cylindrical chamber of the plurality of stabilizer chambers may be greater than an outer diameter of each cylindrical plug of the plurality of connector pin plugs.
A method of extracting a pin from an connector housing wherein the connector housing includes a plurality of connector pin plugs extending from a front surface of the housing for receiving a plurality of connector pins includes the steps of: providing a pin extraction stabilizer having a front surface and a back surface; positioning the front surface of a pin extraction stabilizer toward the front surface of the connector housing; encasing each connector pin plug of the plurality of plugs within an aperture of one or more connector pin cavities defined in a front surface of the stabilizer front surface; and extracting a pin of the plurality of connector pins received within the plugs from the back surface of the pin extraction stabilizer.
A pin extraction tool may also be provided. The pin may be extracted via the extraction tool and may be extracted from the back surface of the pin extraction stabilizer through an aperture defined in the stabilizer back surface. When a pin extraction tool is provided, the pin extraction tool may be inserted through the aperture defined in the stabilizer back surface, to extract the pin via the pin extraction tool. Prior to extracting the pin, the pin extraction tool may grasp onto the pin. The method may be repeated to extract a second pin of the plurality of connector pins received within the plugs from the back surface of the pin extraction stabilizer. Encasing each connector pin plug can include substantially completely encasing each plug in an aperture of the plurality apertures defined in the stabilizer front surface.
Another embodiment may include a pin extraction stabilizer for aiding in efficient removal of a connector pin predisposed in a connector housing, wherein the connector housing includes one or more connector pin cavities spanning a top and a bottom end; a protruding hollow plug extending around each of the one or more connector pin cavities at the top end with the connector pin inserted from the bottom end of the connector housing and through one of the one or more connector pin cavities and the corresponding protruding hollow plug to expose a connector pin contact beyond the protruding hollow plug. The pin extraction stabilizer may include a front surface; a back surface opposing the front surface; and a plurality of access sockets each extending between the front and the back surface of the pin extraction stabilizer; wherein, placement of each of the access sockets corresponds to placement of the protruding hollow plugs on the connector housing; and wherein each of the access sockets is adapted to engage the corresponding protruding hollow plug of a plurality of plugs of the connector housing when the pin extraction stabilizer is mated with the top end of the connector housing.
The number of access sockets in the pin extraction stabilizer may equal a number of protruding hollow plugs in the connector housing, for example, the number of access sockets comprises 28 access sockets. Each plug can fit within a corresponding access socket of the pin extraction stabilizer when in operation. The access sockets define a first inner cross-section diameter and a second inner cross-section diameter. The first inner cross-section diameter may be different from the second inner cross-section diameter. The first and/or the second inner cross-section diameter of one of the sockets may be different from the first and/or second inner cross-section diameter of another socket of the plurality of sockets. The pin extraction may be adapted to allow an extraction tool to be inserted into the access socket to push out an existing connector pin from the connector housing. The front surface of the pin extraction stabilizer may contacts the top end of the connector housing during operation. The front surface, the back surface, and the access sockets of the extractions stabilizer may be made of, for example, a plastic material, a phenolic or dially phthalate material, a ceramic material, or a metal, such as aluminum, steel, titanium, magnesium, and derivatives thereof. When the material is a metal, the access sockets may include an insulating liner around the periphery of the access sockets.
Another embodiment may include a method of extracting a connector pin predisposed in a connector housing, the connector housing comprising: a connector pin cavity spanning a top and a bottom end and a protruding hollow plug extending around the connector pin cavity at the top end, and wherein the connector pin is inserted from the bottom end of the connector housing and through at least the connector pin cavity and the protruding hollow plug to expose a connector pin contact beyond the protruding hollow plug. The method includes placing a pin extraction stabilizer on the top end of the connector housing, the pin extraction stabilizer comprising at least an access socket extending between a front and a back surface wherein at least one of the connector pins contact and the protruding hollow plug is housed within the corresponding access socket of the pin extraction stabilizer; positioning a connector pin extraction device in an exposed end of the access socket, wherein the access cavity at least partially houses the connector pin to be extracted; and removing the connector pin from the connector housing by working the connector pin extraction device. The step of removing the connector pin may include pushing the connector pin extraction device towards the connector housing, extracting the connector pin without any damage to the connector housing.
A more complete understanding of the pin extraction stabilizer can be obtained by considering the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures.
For purposes of description hereinafter/orientation terms if used shall relate to the referenced embodiments as it is contained in the accompanying drawing figures or otherwise described in the following detailed description. However, it is to be understood that the embodiments described hereinafter may assume many alternative variations and embodiments and that specific embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawing figures, and described herein, are simply exemplary and should not be considered as limiting.
Referring now to
Referring now to
A pin extraction stabilizer 10, shown in
The access sockets 20 may have multiple cross-sectional areas. For example, as illustrated in
It is also possible for the depth of the access socket 20 between the front surface and the bottom surface to vary from one application to another, and also from one pin extraction stabilizer to another pin extraction stabilizer. The access sockets 20 are dimensioned, such that when the pin extraction stabilizer 10 is placed on top of the connector housing 50, where the front surface 12 of the stabilizer 10 makes contact with the top end 52 of the connector housing 50, each protruding hollow plug 62 is encapsulated by an access socket 20 causing the pin extraction stabilizer 10 to snugly fit on top of the connector housing 50. At least a portion of the access socket 20 is envisioned to have at least the cross-sectional area that will allow the protruding hollow plug 62 to be encapsulated by the access socket 20. Any portion of the access socket 20 that is above the protruding hollow plug 62 (following mating between the pin extraction stabilizer 10 and the connector housing 50) may be of a reduced cross-sectional area, with a limitation that it be sized to allow a pin extraction tool to be inserted through the top surface of the pin extraction stabilizer 10. Each access socket 20 further defines a chamber 30 which is the portion of the access socket 20 between the front surface 12 of stabilizer 10 and the stop surface 25. Every chamber 30 is assumed to be a part of the access socket 20. In other words, when the pin extraction stabilizer 10 is mated with the connector housing 50, each of the protruding hollow plugs 62 is housed within a corresponding chamber 30 of the access socket 20.
As noted above, the access sockets 20 and, therefore, the chambers 30, of pin extraction stabilizer 10 are configured and dimensioned to receive plugs 62 of connector housing 50. As shown in the figures, the plugs 62 may take the form of a tubular plug positioned about the periphery of the cavities 60 of connector housing 50, with the electronic connector pin 70 extending therethrough. Therefore, chambers 30 of pin extraction stabilizer 10 would also take the form of a tubular and/or cylindrical chamber so as to be dimensioned to receive a tubular plug 62 of connector housing 50. Because chamber 30 is dimensioned such that it corresponds to the shape of plug 62 of connector housing 50, the inner walls 32 of chamber 30 supply support to the plugs 62 when pin extraction stabilizer 10 is engaged with connector housing 50. It is contemplated that chamber 30 may be any shape that adequately supports plug 62 of connector housing 50, such as, a frusto-conical shape. As best shown in
Referring to
In accordance with another embodiment of the present technique, and particularly referring to
If pin extraction stabilizer 10 were not provided, the space between adjacent plugs 62 of connector housing 50 makes it likely that an operator, when inserting a tool 80 into plug 62 to remove a pin 70, may provide inadvertent lateral movement of tool 80 causing the plug 62 to break or crack; thereby requiring complete replacement of connector housing 50. The lack of space between the walls 32 of chambers 30 and plugs 62, as explained above, prevents any such breakage from occurring saving extensive time and money.
As noted above, while specific embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and alternatives to those details could be developed in light of the overall teachings of the disclosure. The presently preferred embodiments described herein are meant to be illustrative only and are not limiting as to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth of the appended claims and any and all equivalents thereof.