Patent Application
20120246919
The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to the field of tools for terminating phone jack connectors to cable ends by compression. More particularly, this invention provides for a single tool for compressing various different types and sizes of phone jacks, and a method of use thereof.
There are many types of audio and visual connectors, hereinafter referred to as “phone jacks,” that are used to connect with a variety of electronics. For example, phone jacks such as TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) connectors, TRRS (tip, ring, ring, sleeve) connectors, and TS (tip, sleeve) connectors are common audio connectors. Likewise, phono connectors such as RCA connectors exist for carrying both audio and visual signals. Furthermore, some of these phone jacks are right-angle connectors, or 135 degree connectors. With these angled connectors, the structure of the phone jack is such that the jack permanently extends at an angle (90 degrees or 135 degrees) from the terminated wire or cable.
Phone jack type connectors are commonly configured to be fastened to a wire or cable (terminated) by axially compressing the portion of the jack that the wire or cable is inserted into. However, due to the various geometries of the different types of connectors, a different tool is required to terminate each different type of phone jack. For example, a tool that is capable of terminating a right-angle phone jack connector will not be capable of accurately and effectively terminating a straight phone jack connector. Accordingly, a single tool that accommodates various different types of phone jacks, and a method of use thereof, would be well received in the art.
According to one aspect, a phone jack compression tool comprises: a main body having a compression chamber that is configured for receiving an angled phone jack connector, the main body including an opening under the compression chamber for accommodating the angled phone jack connector, the main body further including a sliding body; and a handle operably connected to the main body such that movement of the handle with respect to the main body causes the sliding body to move between an uncompressed position and a compressed position.
According to another aspect, a phone jack compression tool comprises a main body having a compression chamber, the compression chamber comprising a first receiving channel configured to receive a male phone jack connector and a second receiving channel configured to receive a female phone jack connector; and a handle hingedly connected to the main body such that movement of the handle with respect to the main body compresses the compression chamber such that a received phone jack connector is compressed.
According to yet another aspect, a phone jack compression tool comprises: a main body having a compression means for compressing each of: a received right angle phone jack connector; a received 135 degree angle phone jack connector; a received straight-line male phone jack connector; and a received straight-line female phone jack connector; wherein the compressing of each connector comprises securing a wire or cable to the connector.
According to still another aspect, a method of compressing a cable connector to fixedly attach a cable to the cable connector comprises: providing a phone jack compression tool, the compression tool including: a main body having a compression chamber that is configured for receiving an angled phone jack connector, the main body having an opening on an under surface for accommodating the angled phone jack connector, the main body further including a sliding body; and a handle operably connected to the main body; moving the handle with respect to the main body; sliding the sliding body from an uncompressed position to a compressed position; and compressing the angled phone jack connector.
The subject matter which is regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
A detailed description of the hereinafter described embodiments of the disclosed apparatus and method are presented herein by way of exemplification and not limitation with reference to the Figures.
Referring firstly to
A lever 18 is connected to the handle 16 at a second hinge 20. The lever 18 may also be referred to as a beam, linkage, bar, connector or the like. Like the first hinge 14, the second hinge 20 may comprise a pin or bolt extending through openings or holes in the handle 16 and the lever 18 and fastened at both ends by knobs nuts, or other heads. The lever 18 may extend from the second hinge 20 to the main body 12 where the lever 18 is connected at slots 22.
Relative the first hinge 14, the handle 16 includes a distal end 24 and the main body 12 includes a distal end 26. Prior to compression, the main body 12 and the handle 16 are configured to remain in a spread-apart position where the distal ends 24, 26 are separated by a distance 28, shown in
When subjected to a compressive force P, the main body 12 and the handle 16 are configured to converge such that the distal ends 24, 26 meet, as shown in
In the embodiment depicted, the operable attachment of the lever 18 and the sliding body 30 is accomplished through two pins 32. The lever 18 includes two flanges 34 at the end that is operably connected to the sliding body, each of the flanges 34 including an opening through which the pins 32 are inserted. Similarly, each of the pins 32 extends through a side 36 of the sliding body 30 into the slots 22 of the main body 12. Each of the pins 32 is slidably locked into the slots 22 such that the compression of the main body 12 and the handle 16 results in a movement of the sliding body 30 along the slots 22. During this compressive motion, this embodiment allows for the lever 18 to rotate relative to the sliding body 30. It should also be understood that the two pins 32 may be replaced by a single pin or bolt extending through each of the openings of the sliding body 30, the lever 18 and the main body 12.
The compression of the phone jack compression tool 10 may be performed in a handheld manner by compressing both the handle 16 and the main body 12. Alternately, the handle 16 may be compressed while the phone jack compression tool 10 is resting on a surface, such as a table (not shown). Furthermore, there are many embodiments that are contemplated to accomplish this compressive motion of the sliding body 30 with respect to the distal end 26 of the main body 12, and the embodiment described is solely for exemplification and is not meant to be limiting.
The main body 12 of the phone jack compression tool 10 includes a compression chamber 38 that is located between the sliding body 30 and the distal end 26 of the main body 12. The compression chamber 38 comprises a left receiving channel 40 and a right receiving channel 42 which are defined between a left side 44 and a right side 46 of the main body 12. In combination, the left receiving channel 40 and the right receiving channel 42 are configured to receive a plurality of compression phone jack type connectors (shown in
In the embodiment shown in the Figures, the left receiving channel 40 comprises a male phone jack acceptor 50 integrated into the left side of the sliding body 30 and a left cradle 52 integrated into the distal end 26 of the main body 12. Furthermore, in this embodiment the male phone jack acceptor 50 comprises a circular opening element 54. The circular opening element 54 may extend or protrude from the sliding body 30 in the direction of the distal end 26 of the main body 12. The opening of the circular opening element 54 may extend through the sliding body 30 in order to accept straight-line phone jack connectors, as described herein below and shown in
Referring now to
Furthermore, the left cradles 52 may be capable of cradling or receiving, holding, or guiding the cable or wire 58 during the assembly of a connector to the wire. It should be understood that although a U-shaped cradle is depicted, other shapes and devices may be within the purview of the present invention. For example, the left cradle 52 may be a fastener, catch, clasp, grip, lock, snap, vice, clamp, hole, guide, opening, aperture, cavity, chamber, cleft, cut, dent, depression, dimple, dip, gap, keyhole, lacuna, notch, orifice, outlet, or passage. Whatever the embodiment, the left cradle 52 is aligned with the male phone jack acceptor 50.
Referring now to
As shown in
Furthermore, the protruding circular opening element 54 may abut or otherwise be in contact with the right angle TRS connector 62 to help retain the connector 62 in the proper position within the compression chamber 38 during compression. In some embodiments, the right angle TRS connector 62 may include a bored portion or other physical feature that interacts with the male phone jack acceptor 50.
Like the right angle TRS connector 62, the left receiving channel 40 may also be configured to receive a 135 degree TRS connector 69 with a jack 70 extending 135 degrees from a terminated wire 72, as shown in
Referring back to
Referring now to
The right cradle 76 may be capable of cradling or receiving, holding, or guiding a cable or wire 80 during the assembly of the female phone jack connector 78 to the wire 80. It should be understood that although a U-shaped cradle is depicted, other shapes and devices may be within the purview of the present invention. For example, the left cradle 52 may be a fastener, catch, clasp, grip, lock, snap, vice, clamp, hole, guide, opening, aperture, cavity, chamber, cleft, cut, dent, depression, dimple, dip, gap, keyhole, lacuna, notch, orifice, outlet, or passage. Whatever the embodiment, the right cradle 76 is aligned with the female phone jack acceptor 74.
Compression of the connectors using the phone jack compression tool 10 may be performed using other means than those exemplified in the Figures. For example, the phone jack compression tool 10 may be compressed using a handle with two bars or beams that are separate from the main body 12 and pivotal about a hinge. The compression of these two beams may cause the compression chamber 38 to compress. Further, compression may be initiated or activated electrically, rather than mechanically. A user may, for example, simply need to press an activation or initiation button to compress a connector using the phone jack compression tool 10.
It should be understood that the components of the phone jack compression tool 10 may be made out of any structurally rigid material, such as steel or other metal, plastic, composites, polymers or the like. Furthermore, the main body 12 and/or handle 16 may be made out of panels that may be assembled to form the phone jack compression tool 10. It should be understood that the phone jack compression tool 10 may be stamped, cut, shaped, bored, turned, milled, finished, machined, forged, cold worked, heat treated or assembled with conventional fasteners such as stamps, welds, adhesive, rivets, pins, screws, nails and the like. If made of plastic, polymer or composite, the phone jack compression tool 10 may be molded and either adhered or glued, welded or mechanically or chemically fastened together. The phone jack compression tool 10 is not limited to any specific material or manufacturing process as long as it is capable of performing the above described compression for a useful life of the phone jack compression tool 10. Moreover, the handle 16 may comprise a material has a high coefficient of friction with the skin, in order to increase grippage during compression. Furthermore, the handle 16 may have an ergonomic design for the ease of handling and comfort during compression by a user.
Furthermore, an embodiment contemplated includes a method of compressing a cable connector to fixedly attach a cable to the cable connector. The method may first include providing a phone jack compression tool, such as any of the described embodiments of the compression tool 10. The compression tool may include a main body, such as the main body 12, having a compression chamber, such as any of the described embodiments of the compression chamber 38. The compression chamber may be configured for receiving an angled phone jack connector, such as any of the described embodiments of the right angle TRS connector 62 or the 135 degree TRS connector 69. The main body may have an opening on an under surface, such as any of the described embodiments of the opening 68, for accommodating the angled phone jack connector. The main body may further include a sliding body, such as any of the described embodiments of the sliding body 30. Finally a handle, such as any of the described embodiments of the handle 16, may be operably connected to the main body. The method may further include moving the handle with respect to the main body. Moreover, the method may include sliding the sliding body from an uncompressed position to a compressed position. The method may thus include compressing the angled phone jack connector.
Elements of the embodiments have been introduced with either the articles “a” or “an.” The articles are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “including” and “having” and their derivatives are intended to be inclusive such that there may be additional elements other than the elements listed. The conjunction “or” when used with a list of at least two terms is intended to mean any term or combination of terms. The terms “first” and “second” are used to distinguish elements and are not used to denote a particular order.
While the invention has been described in detail in connection with only a limited number of embodiments, it should be readily understood that the invention is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. Rather, the invention can be modified to incorporate any number of variations, alterations, substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described, but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, while various embodiments of the invention have been described, it is to be understood that aspects of the invention may include only some of the described embodiments. Accordingly, the invention is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
