Patent Application
20050251991
The present invention relates in general to wire termination tools of the type employed in the telephone industry for stuffing or seating and cutting the free end of each of a plurality of wires inserted into resilient telephone wire terminal receptacles, such as but not limited to AT&T/Lucent Technologies, RJ-45/M-series type jacks. The invention is particularly directed to a new and improved pistol-grip type multi-wire stuffing and cutting tool, containing a replaceable, and linearly translatable blade head carrier, which is configured to precisely received and align a multi-wire termination jack with a multi-wire stuffing and cutting head, as the jack and cutting head are translated into wire-stuffing and cutting engagement with one another.
The telephone industry currently offers its craftspersons a variety of wire termination tools for cutting and stuffing or seating individual telephone wires in telephone wire receptacles or jacks. Where the receptacle/jack is a relatively robust structure, such as a terminal block mounted to a telephone office mainframe, an impact tool used to seat and cut one wire at the time may be employed. Where the wire termination is not affixed to a relatively stable structure, as in the case of a relatively compact, reduced capacity telephone jack, such as the above-referenced RJ-45/M-series type jack, a description of which may be found in the U.S. patent to Sahlburg et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,003 (hereinafter referred to as the '003 patent), for example, installing and cutting the wires by means of a multi-blade compression tool (such as an Anixter Part No. 139587), requires careful independent handling of a plurality of parts, in order to properly align the blades of the tool with the wire seating slots of the jack.
For example, if the cutting-head is not precisely aligned with the jack, a small amount of play between the tool may result. As a consequence, rather than cut a respective wire with the intended guillotine type of shearing/cutting action desired, the tool blade either deflects along the exterior of the wire's insulation jacket, or only slightly cuts into the jacket—bending the wire around the edge and then down along the side of the receptacle. The problem is exacerbated if the craftsperson fails to properly maintain alignment between the tool's cutting head and the jack as it is engaged by the jaws of the tool. If the wire-cutting head is tilted rather than being normal to the jack, for example, the blade may dig into the jack or may extend so far over an edge thereof, that the blade does nothing more than bend, rather than cut, the wire. Any wires that remain uncut must then be severed individually by the craftsperson by means of a separate wire cutter.
In accordance with the invention described in the U.S. patent to Fallandy, U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,603 (hereinafter referred to as the '603 patent), such cutting head/jack misalignment problems are addressed by a pistol-grip type of multi-wire seating and termination tool that is operative, as the user squeezes the tool's trigger, to translate a multi-blade cutting head carrier into linear alignment with the jack, so as to bring the blades of the cutting head into engagement with the wire insertion slots of the jack, and thereby cause the cutting head to reliably seat and cut the wires.
The present invention is directed to an improvement to the multi-wire stuffing and cutting tool generally of the type disclosed in the above-referenced '603 patent. In particular, the present invention is directed to a pistol-grip configured, multi-wire stuffing and cutting tool architecture that contains a linearly translatable blade head carrier, which is removably insertable into an associated support housing therefor. The blade head carrier contains a multi-blade wire-seating and cutting head and is configured to slidably retain therein a multi-terminal jack, in which respective wires of multi-wire cable have been inserted, such that the jack is maintained in precision alignment with the blade head, as the carrier is linearly translated within a support housing therefor.
Translation of the blade head carrier is effected by the user squeezing a trigger, which pushes and linearly translates the blade head carrier toward and against the jack, which is held in a fixed position by a backstop of the support housing, so as to bring the wire-seating and cutting blades of the translated blade head into precise wire-stuffing and cutting engagement with wires that have placed in the slots of the jack. The removability of the blade head carrier with respect to the support housing readily lends the invention to custom seating and cutting wires for different types of jacks. When operating on a different type of jack, the user simply removes upper portion of the support housing and then lifts the blade head carrier from the lower portion of the support housing and replaces it with a blade head carrier that contains a blade head that conforms with the different type of jack.
More particularly, the multi-blade cutting head is formed within a blade head retention cavity of a blade head carrier and includes a pair of wire-cutting blades and a set of wire-stuffing blades. Each blade of the blade head is rigidly retained in position in the blade head cavity by being molded into the plastic material of which the blade head carrier is formed. The wire-cutting blades are made of a durable cutting material such as hardened steel and the like, and are orthogonal to and abut opposite ends of a set of spaced apart wire-stuffing blades. Opposite sides of the wire-cutting blades are tapered to respective wire-severing knife edges.
The blade head carrier contains a pair of spaced apart, generally step-shaped sidewalls, that are connected to one another by a centrally located top wall, a generally U-shaped forward floor, a U-shaped rearward bottom wall and a back wall. The blade head retention cavity is formed at a generally central portion of the blade head carrier and is bounded by the carrier's sidewalls, top wall and back wall. Respective interior portions of the carrier's sidewalls are shaped to intimately conform with and guide the multi-wire termination jack into engagement with the blade head. This region of the blade head carrier further includes sidewall projections which cooperate with top wall projections to guide the jack into precision crimping engagement with the blade head.
Adjacent to the blade head retention cavity is a jack translation trough or recess which extends to a forward end of the blade carrier. The jack translation trough is sized to accommodate and provide for linear translation relative thereto of a multi-wire termination jack. Forwardmost ends of the sidewalls of the blade head carrier contain projections that receive compression springs which serve to bias the blade head carrier toward the rear/handle end of the tool, and thereby allow for the insertion of a multi-wire termination jack into the jack translation trough for the neutral position of the tool's trigger. In addition, biasing the blade head carrier toward the handle end of the tool serves to bias an associated trigger mechanism into an open position away from the tool's handle. Respective rearward regions of the carrier sidewalls have generally circular grooves and reinforcement tabs that are adapted to be engaged by the carrier translation dowel of a link member that is driven forward by the operation of the tool's trigger mechanism, as will be described.
The blade head carrier in slidably and removably retained within the bottom portion of a support housing. The support housing includes sidewalls which extend from a front wall of the housing to a rear end thereof. A jack backstop adjoins the sidewalls, and extends from the front wall to an opening between the sidewalls. The jack backstop is adapted to be engaged by the back side of and prevent translation of a multi-terminal jack, that has been placed in the jack translation trough of the blade head carrier, as the blade head carrier in which the jack has been installed is translated within the jack translation trough of the blade head carrier.
The lower support housing has a lower floor which adjoins the interior surfaces of the sidewalls. Adjacent to and vertically displaced from the lower floor is an upper floor, which adjoins rearward sidewall portions of the respective sidewalls. These floor portions are adapted to receive and provide lateral translation or sliding support for bottom surface portions of the generally step-shaped sidewalls of the blade head carrier. The rearward sidewall portions of the lower support housing have respective increased width dowel-guide portions which extend between partial circularly curved end portions at the rear end of the housing, and partial circularly curved end portions adjacent to a relatively forward end of the upper floor.
The upper portion of the support housing has a generally H-shaped configuration, comprising a pair of sidewalls, which generally conform with rearward sidewall portions of the bottom portion of the support housing. Interconnecting and contiguous with the top surfaces of the of sidewalls is an upper wall portion. Extending from and beneath upper wall portion is a generally cylindrical pedestal which is used to affix the upper portion of the support housing to the bottom portion of the support housing by way of the bore in the upper floor of the upper portion of the support housing.
Lower portions of the rearward sidewall portions of the upper support housing have respective increased width dowel-guide channels, which extend from partial circularly curved end portions at a forward end of the upper support housing to the rear end of the support housing. The dowel-guide portions of the upper support housing are located so that they overlie and cooperate with respective dowel-guide portions of the rearward sidewall portions of the lower support housing, to provide pair of dowel-guide channels on opposite sides of the support housing. In addition, the lengths of the dowel guide portions of the upper support housing are less than the lengths of the dowel-guide portions of the lower support housing, respectively, so as to leave a pair of gaps between the two support housings that provide for the entry of a pair of dowels associated with the operation of the trigger mechanism of the tool.
One of these dowels is retained by a link member that includes a pair of cylindrically configured and parallel end portions that are connected by body portion therebetween. One cylindrical end portion has a bore into which a dowel is press fit, while the other cylindrical end portion has a bore which is adapted to receive a pin that is sized to pass through a pair of associated coaxial bores in the tool's trigger mechanism, so as to pivotally interconnect the trigger with the link member. The dowel rides on the dowel-guide channels of the lower support housing and engages circular tab portions and grooves at the rear end of a blade head carrier that has been installed in the lower support housing.
When the trigger mechanism is operated to rotate the link member, the dowel pin will be urged against the rear surface of the blade head carrier, so that the blade head carrier will be laterally translated toward the front end of the support housing. Then, with a multi-terminal jack having been placed in the generally U-shaped jack translation trough at the forward end of the blade head carrier, the jack backstop will prevent translation of the jack proper, as the blade head carrier is pushed forward by the link member. This will allow the blade head to engage the jack, so as to stuff and cut the wires that have been placed in the slots of the jack's lead frame carrier.
The trigger comprises a generally longitudinal body a recess in an upper forward portion thereof, which contains a slot that is sized to accommodate a projection which extends from an upper portion of a generally longitudinal handle. The handle includes a trigger pivot bore that is sized to fit within the trigger's recess so that it may be coaxially aligned with a pair of pivot bores at the upper portion of the trigger on opposite sides of the recess. When aligned, the bores are adapted to receive a trigger pivot dowel, by way of which the trigger rotates relative to the handle. The upper portion of the trigger further includes additional bores which are adapted to be aligned with the bore in the cylindrical end portion of the link member. This allows a pin to pass through bores, thereby pivotally interconnecting the trigger with the link member.
To assemble the support housing with the trigger-handle mechanism, so that the tool is ready for used, the trigger assembly is first positioned adjacent to the support housing such that the dowel of the link member is adjacent to the gaps between the upper and lower portions of the support housing that lead to the dowel guide channels. Next, the link member dowel is inserted through these gaps so that it will ride in the support housing's dowel-guide channels. The trigger is then positioned so that its associated dowel is located immediately adjacent to the gaps of the support housing. The trigger dowel is then inserted into the dowel-guide channels so as to be captured against the partial circularly curved end portions at the rear end of the lower portion of the support housing by the rearward directed bias force imparted by the compression springs. With both dowels captured within the dowel-guide channels, squeezing the trigger will rotate the trigger toward the handle around the axis of trigger pivot dowel. This rotation, in turn, rotates the upper portion of the trigger and thereby its bores and the link member pivot pin therethrough in a forward direction toward the front end of the support housing. As a consequence, the dowel is caused to ride along handle projection and pushed forward along dowel-guide channels.
Since the link member dowel engages the rear end grooves in the blade head carrier, squeezing the trigger will result in a forward translation of the blade head carrier into crimping engagement with the jack that has been inserted into the jack translation trough at the forward end of the blade head carrier. Namely, squeezing the trigger causes the blade head to engage the jack, so as to stuff and cut the wires that have been placed in the slots of the jack's lead frame carrier, as intended.
Once the wires have been seated and cut, release of the trigger will allow compression springs to return the blade head carrier rearwardly along the support housing to its original position, so that the jack may be removed from the tool.
As pointed out briefly above, the multi-wire stuffing and cutting tool architecture of the present invention contains a translatable blade head carrier, which is configured to slidably retain therein a multi-terminal jack. For purposes of providing an illustrative application example, the invention will be described with respect to its ability to precisely seat and cut the wires of the above-referenced RJ-45/M-series type jack. It should be observed, however, that the invention is not limited to use with this or any particular type of multi-wire jack. The RJ-45/M-series type jack has been selected because of its widespread use, so that it is readily familiar to those skilled in the art.
The manner in which the respective wires of a multi-wire communication cable are inserted into the slots of the jack 10 is illustrated in the partial diagrammatic partial plan view of
The blade head, shown generally at 30 in the perspective view of
Each of the wire-stuffing blades 60, which may be made of a material such as beryllium copper and the like, has a spaced apart pair of wire-stuffing tines 61, 62 and 63, 64 on opposite sides of a generally centrally located slot 65. Tines 61 and 62 are separated by a slot 66 therebetween, while tines 63 and 64 are separated by a slot 67 therebetween. The slots 66 and 67 are sized to accommodate the slots 14 of the lead frame carrier 12 of a respective jack, described above. This provides clearance for the tines to push against and stuff portions of a respective insulated conductor on opposite sides of a slot of the jack's lead frame carrier, thereby seating that wire. The separation between the knife edges 41 and 51 of respective cutting blades 40 and 50 is such as to sever wires that have been seated or ‘stuffed’ into associated slots in the jack by the wire-stuffing blades just beyond opposite sides of the jack's lead frame.
The blade head carrier is diagrammatically illustrated in the perspective view of
As shown in
At a generally central portion 77 of the blade head carrier 70, adjacent to the blade head cavity 80 and the blade head 30 affixed therein, respective interior portions 78 and 79 of the sidewalls 71 and 72 are shaped to intimately conform with and intimately guide the multi-wire termination jack into engagement with the blade head. This region of the blade head carrier further includes sidewall projections 85 and 86, which cooperate with top wall projections 87 and 88 to guide the jack into precision crimping engagement with the blade head. This shaping of the interior portions of the sidewalls so as to intimately conform with the multi-wire termination jack serves to customize the blade head carrier for a specific type of jack, and is intended to prevent the craftsperson from using the blade head carrier with any jack other than the jack for which the blade head carrier is designed.
Respective rearward regions 91 and 92 of the carrier sidewalls 71 and 72 are beveled and have generally circular grooves 93 and 94; Adjacent to the respective grooves 93 and 94 are generally circular tab portions 95 and 96 which, along with the grooves 93 and 94, are adapted to be engaged by the carrier translation dowel of a link member (not shown in
Attention is next directed to
Adjacent to opening 106 is a lower floor 107, which adjoins the interior surfaces of sidewalls 101 and 102. Adjacent to and vertically displaced from the lower floor 107 is an upper floor 108, which adjoins rearward sidewall portions 111 and 112 of respective sidewalls 101 and 102. These floor portions are adapted to receive and provide lateral translation or sliding support for bottom surface portions of the generally step-shaped sidewalls 71 and 72 of the blade head. The rearward sidewall portions 111 and 112 have respective increased width dowel-guide portions 113 and 114, which extend between partial circularly curved end portions 115 and 116 at the rear end 104 of the housing, and partial circularly curved end portions 117 and 118 adjacent to a relatively forward end 109 of the upper floor 108. A bore 110 is formed in the upper floor 108 and is adapted to receive a suitable fitting, such as a screw and the like, for affixing the upper portion of the support housing (to be described with reference to
The upper portion of the support housing is shown in
Lower portions of the rearward sidewall portions 111 and 112 of the upper support housing have respective increased width dowel-guide portions 131 and 132, which extend from partial circularly curved end portions 133 and 134 at a forward end of the upper support housing to the rear end of the support housing. As shown in the assembly view of
As shown in the partial assembly views of
As further illustrated in the partial assembly view of
Attention is now directed to
The manner in which the trigger mechanism is inserted into the support housing is diagrammatically illustrated in
Next, the diagrammatic side view of
Since dowel 151 engages grooves 93 and 94 in the blade head carrier 70, squeezing the trigger 170 results in a forward translation of the blade head carrier 70 into crimping engagement with the jack 10 that has been inserted into the jack translation trough 90 at the forward end of the blade head carrier. Namely, squeezing the trigger 170 causes the blade head 30 to engage the jack, so as to stuff and cut the wires that have been placed in the slots 14 of the jack's lead frame carrier 12, as intended.
Once the wires have been seated and cut, release of the trigger 170 will allow compression springs 83 and 84 to return the blade head carrier 70 rearwardly along the support housing 100 to its original position, so that the jack may be removed from the tool. This rearward translation of the blade head carrier 70, in turn, causes a rearward translation of the link member dowel 151 within the dowel-guide channels 141 and 142 of the support housing, so as to rotate the trigger away from the handle.
As will be appreciated from the foregoing description, the present invention provides an improvement to the multi-wire stuffing and cutting tool of the type disclosed in the above-referenced '603 patent, by virtue of the invention's linearly translatable carrier, that contains a multi-blade cutting head, and is configured to slidably retain therein a multi-terminal jack, in which respective wires of a multi-wire cable have been inserted. Because the jack is continuously maintained in precision alignment with the cutting head, linear translation of the carrier within the support housing will bring the cutting blades of the translated blade head into precise wire-stuffing and cutting engagement with wires that have placed in the slots of the jack.
Now although the first embodiment of the invention shown in
In particular, the perspective views of
Pursuant to a second alternative embodiment of the invention, diagrammatically illustrated in the front perspective view of
In accordance with a third alternative embodiment of the invention, diagrammatically illustrated in the front perspective view of
While we have shown and described several embodiments in accordance with the present invention, it is to be understood that the same is not limited thereto but is susceptible to numerous changes and modifications as known to a person skilled in the art, and we therefore do not wish to be limited to the details shown and described herein, but intend to cover all such changes and modifications as are obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
