Patent Grant
8171629
The present invention relates generally to communications systems and, more particularly, to connectors for coaxial cables.
Coaxial cables are a specific type of electrical cable that may be used to carry information signals such as television signals or data signals. Coaxial cables are widely used in cable television networks and to provide broadband Internet connectivity.
Coaxial connectors are a known type of connector that may be used to connect two coaxial cables 10 or to connect a coaxial cable 10 to a device (e.g., a television, a cable modem, etc.) having a coaxial cable interface. Coaxial “F” connectors are one specific type of coaxial connector that is used to terminate a coaxial cable with a male coaxial connector.
Standards promulgated by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (“SCTE”) and, more specifically, ANSI/SCTE 99 2004, specify an axial tension pull-off or retention force that a coaxial “F” connector must impart on the coaxial cable onto which it is installed. Specification of this minimum retention force ensures that the connector will resist pulling forces that may be applied to the cable during normal use such that the cable will not readily separate from the coaxial “F” connector. Other ANSI/SCTE standards specify moisture migration parameters, electrical parameters, other mechanical parameters and environmental requirements. Relevant standards documents include the ANSI/SCTE 123 2006, 99 2004, 60, 2004 and 98 2004 standards.
A number of different types of coaxial “F” connector designs are known in the art, including, but not limited to, crimped on connectors, swaged on connectors and connectors which secure the cable into the connector with compression style cable retention elements. With the crimped connector designs, typically a hexagonal-shaped tool is used to crimp a sleeve of the connector onto the coaxial cable that is to be terminated into the connector. With the swaged connector designs, the sleeve of the connector is swaged circumferentially inward so as to reduce it's inside diameter in order to exert the required retention force on the coaxial cable.
Several different coaxial “F” connector designs are currently known in the art that have compression style cable retention elements.
Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, coaxial connectors are provided that include a connector body and an inner contact post that is at least partly within the connector body. These connectors further include a compression element (e.g., a compression sleeve) that is configured to impart a generally circumferential compressive force to secure one or more elements of a coaxial cable (e.g., the insulating jacket and/or electrical shielding elements) between the connector body and the inner contact post when the compression element is activated (i.e., moved into its seated position). At least one of the compression element or the connector body includes a first disengagement mechanism that is configured to assist moving the compression element from the activated position to an unseated position in which at least some of the circumferential compressive force is eliminated.
In some embodiments, the first disengagement mechanism may be a first cammed surface on the connector body and a second mating cammed surface on the compression element. In other embodiments, the first disengagement mechanism may be a first surface on the connector body that is arranged in an inclined mating relationship with a second surface on the compression element. In still other embodiments, the first disengagement mechanism may be a first set of threads on a surface of the connector body and a second, mating set of threads on the compression element. In such embodiments, the first and second sets of threads may be arranged relative to each other and be formed of a composition such that the compression element may be forcibly driven axially into the connector body into the seated position without permanently deforming either the first or second sets of threads. The coaxial connector may also include a second disengagement mechanism that is configured to operate independent of the first disengagement mechanism. The second disengagement mechanism may be any of the above listed first disengagement mechanisms or some other mechanism. For example, in one specific embodiment, the first disengagement mechanism may be a first surface on the connector body that is arranged in an inclined mating relationship with a second surface on the compression element and the second disengagement mechanism may be a first set of threads on a surface of the connector body and a second, mating set of threads on the compression element.
In some embodiments, at least one of the compression element or the connector body may include at least one raised projection and the other of the compression element or the connector body may include at least one mating recess that is configured to receive a respective one of the raised projection(s). For example, the compression element may include an annular ridge and the connector body may include a mating annular groove. In such embodiments, the annular ridge may be configured to forcibly engage the annular groove when the compression element and connector body are fully seated together with a retention force that opposes axially reversing forces sufficient to meet SCTE requirements. The annular ridge may alternatively or additionally be configured to forcibly engage the annular groove when the compression element and connector body are fully seated together sufficiently to block water ingress.
In some embodiments, a bottom portion of the connector body may include an open area that is configured to receive excess end portions of electrical shielding wires of a coaxial cable that is attached to the coaxial connector when the compression element is in the seated position. The compression sleeve may be pre-mounted on the connector body in an extended, unseated position in which the connector is ready to receive a prepared end of a coaxial cable, and the compression sleeve may be configured to be moved into a seated position by axially inserting the compression element into or over the connector body, thereby securing the end of the coaxial cable to the connector.
Pursuant to further embodiments of the present invention, methods of reusing a coaxial connector that is installed on a first coaxial cable on a second coaxial cable are provided. Pursuant to these methods, a compression element of the coaxial connector is unseated from a seated position in which the compression element and connector body of the coaxial cable together impart a compressive force on the first coaxial cable. Thereafter, the first coaxial cable is removed from the coaxial connector. The second coaxial cable is then inserted within the connector body. Finally, the compression element is moved into the seated position so that the compression element and connector body together impart a compressive force on the second coaxial cable.
In these methods, the compression element may be unseated from the seated position by, for example, popping an annular ridge that is provided on one of the compression element or connector body from an annular groove that is provided on the other of the compression element or connector body. Unseating the compression element may involve rotating the compression element relative to the connector body in order to activate a disengagement mechanism that provides a mechanical advantage for unseating the compression element from the seated position.
Pursuant to further embodiments of the present invention, methods of reusing a coaxial connector that is installed on a first coaxial cable on a second coaxial cable are provided. Pursuant to these methods, a compression sleeve of the coaxial connector is unseated from a seated position in which the compression sleeve and a connector body of the coaxial connector together secure one or more elements of the first coaxial cable within the coaxial connector. Then, the first coaxial cable may be removed from the coaxial connector. Next, the second coaxial cable may be inserted within the connector body. Then, a compression tool may be used to forcibly insert the compression sleeve into the seated position so that the compression sleeve and connector body together secure one or more elements of the second coaxial cable within the coaxial connector.
In some embodiments, the compression tool may rotate the compression sleeve less than one full rotation when forcibly inserting the compression sleeve into the seated position. In other embodiments, the compression tool may be configured to impart a force on the compression sleeve that has a primary component in a direction that is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the connector body.
In some embodiments, unseating the compression sleeve of the coaxial connector from the seated position may involve rotating the compression sleeve relative to the connector body in order to activate a disengagement mechanism that provides a mechanical advantage for unseating the compression sleeve from the seated position. In some embodiments, the disengagement mechanism may comprise a first cammed surface on the connector body and a second mating cammed surface on the compression element. The first cammed surface may extend more than 180 degrees around a surface of the connector body, and in some embodiments, may extend a full 360 degrees around the surface of the connector body. In other embodiments, the disengagement mechanism may comprise a first surface on the connector body that is arranged in an inclined mating relationship with a second surface on the compression element.
At least one of the compression sleeve and the connector body may include at least one raised projection and the other of the compression sleeve and the connector body may include at least one mating recess that is configured to receive a respective one of the raised projection(s). In some embodiments, the at least one raised projection may be an annular ridge and the at least one mating recess may be an annular groove. The disengagement mechanism may be used to pop the annular ridge from the annular groove. The annular ridge may be configured to forcibly engage the annular groove when the compression sleeve and connector body are fully seated together with a retention force that opposes axially reversing forces sufficient to meet SCTE requirements and/or that is sufficient to block water ingress.
In some embodiments, the compression sleeve is not a threaded compression sleeve. An external surface of the compression sleeve may include at least two flattened surfaces that are configured to receive a wrench. An external surface of the connector body may likewise include at least two flattened surfaces that are configured to receive a wrench. An external surface of the compression sleeve may include a first wall that extends in a direction that is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the connector body, and an external surface of the connector body may include a second wall that extends in a direction that is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the connector body. In such embodiments, the first wall may directly abut the second wall when the compression sleeve is in its seated position. A length of the connector body in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the connector body may vary when measured at different points along a periphery of the connector body.
The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
In the drawings, the size of lines and elements may be exaggerated for clarity. It will also be understood that when an element is referred to as being “coupled” to another element, it can be coupled directly to the other element, or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly coupled” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Likewise, it will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “attached” to another element, it can be directly connected or attached to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or “directly attached” to another element, there are no intervening elements present. The terms “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “front”, “rear” and the like are used herein for the purpose of explanation only.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the description of the invention and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, coaxial “F” connectors with compression style back fittings are provided which include disengagement mechanisms that impart a reversible compressive, sealing and seizing force on a coaxial cable. As such, the coaxial “F” connectors according to embodiments of the present invention can be removed from a coaxial cable and thereafter reused. These connectors may use one or more of a variety of different disengagement mechanisms such as, for example, opposing cammed surfaces, opposing surfaces having an inclined mating relationship, surfaces having mating sets of threads, etc. The above-described prior art connectors impart an irreversible compressive force on the coaxial cable and, as such, these connectors could only be applied and used once. The reusable coaxial “F” connectors according to embodiments of the present invention may be implemented with respect to, for example, all three types of prior art compression style back fitting coaxial “F” connectors described in the background section above. While the connectors according to embodiments of the present invention may be reused a reasonable number of times, with some embodiments, incremental wear may occur that may eventually render the connector unusable after a certain number of uses.
As shown in
In order to terminate the connector 100 onto the end of a coaxial cable 10, the cable 10 is first prepared as shown in
As noted above, the connectors according to embodiments of the present invention may be removed from a cable 10 and then subsequently used on another cable 10. With respect to the connector 100 of
In connector 100, the compression sleeve 130 inserts axially (and rotationally) into the inside diameter of the tubular connector body 110. However, it will be appreciated that, in other embodiments of the present invention, the compression sleeve 130 may be inserted axially (and rotationally) over the outside diameter of the connector body 110 so as to (1) directly impart a circumferential force on the inner contact post 150 or to (2) indirectly impart a circumferential force on the inner contact post 150 by imparting a compressive force on the connector body 110. Thus, it will be appreciated that all of the conventional compression-style back-fitting connector designs discussed above with respect to
The coaxial cable 10 is generally prepared before a coaxial “F” connector is attached thereto.
The prepared cable 10 is then inserted into the connector 100. The exposed length of the central conductor 12 core is sufficient such that it will extend all the way through the connector and extend into the internally threaded nut portion of the connector as the male contact protrusion of the connector. As discussed above, the length of the compression sleeve 130 may be less than the length of the connector body 110. As a result, even when the compression sleeve 130 is fully inserted within the connector body 110, a gap will exist between the bottom 134 of the compression sleeve and the bottom 114 of the connector body 110. The flared or folded back portions of the electrical shielding wires 20 are forced into the well that is defined by this gap when the compression sleeve 130 is compressively forced into the connector body 110. The bottom 134 of the compressive sleeve 130 may exert an additional retention force on the electrical shielding wires 20 that fill this gap. This retention force may be increased even further by including additional serrations, teeth, lips or the like (not shown in the figures) on the bottom end 154 of the inner contact post 150 that are similar to the serrations provided on the top end 152 of the inner contact post 150. In addition, the flared/folded back portion of the electrical shielding wires 20 contacts the metal connector body 150, thereby advantageously grounding the electrical shielding wires 20.
As is also shown in
The connector 200 may be attached to a cable 10 as follows. First, the cable 10 is prepared as discussed above with respect to the cable preparation methods that may be employed with the connector 100. Then, the prepared cable 10 is axially inserted into the compression sleeve 230. The core 18 of the cable 10 is axially inserted within the inner diameter of the inner contact post 250, and the electrical shielding wires/tape 20/22 and the cable jacket 24 are inserted over the outside diameter of the inner contact post 250. During this insertion process, the connector 200 may be in the assembly state shown in
The compression sleeve 230 may be removed from the connector body 210 in order to remove the connector 200 from the cable 210 so that the connector 200 may be reused on another cable 10. This may be accomplished by reversibly rotating the compression sleeve 230. The male threads 236 of the compression sleeve turn within the female threads on the inside diameter of the connector body 210. The interlocked threads provide a mechanical advantage that, with a reasonably small amount of rotational force, is sufficient to disengage the prior compressive retention and sealing forces by “popping” the annular ridge 238 out of the annular groove 218 so that the compression sleeve may be backed out of the connector body to be in the unseated position of
While not shown in the drawings, one or both of the male threads 236 or the female threads on the inside surface of the connector body 210 may have one or more axial slots therein. Each slot may “cut through” some or all of the threads in a longitudinal direction. In an exemplary embodiment, four such slots are provided in the male threads of the compression sleeve, where adjacent slots are separated by approximately ninety degrees. These axial slots allow the threads to elastically deform radially when the compression sleeve 230 is driven into its seated position in the connector body 210, and thus may facilitate preventing excess wear or damage to the threads during the insertion process. Specifically, the slots allow the threads to elastically deform in such a way that the male threads may advance the female threads during the insertion process without excess permanent deformation of either set of threads.
Additionally, the top end 312 of the connector body 310 and/or the bottom portion of the nut adjacent the top end 332 of the compression sleeve 330 may be designed to have an inclined mating relationship with the other of the connector body 310 or compression sleeve 330 (see reference numerals 320 and 342 in
As shown in
As shown in
As with the compression sleeve 430 of connector 400, the compression sleeve 630 may include a cammed surface 642 (see
Connectors according to embodiments of the present invention may also include alignment features that will facilitate aligning the compression sleeve and the connector body when the connector is reused. Typically, the compression sleeve and connector body will be pre-aligned at the time of manufacture so that they have the proper relationship with respect to each other for achieving the mechanical advantage that is provided, for example, by the cammed or inclined surfaces discussed above with respect to various embodiments of the present invention. However, after the reusable connectors of the present invention have been used one or more times and then removed from a coaxial cable, the compression sleeve and the connector body may no longer be properly aligned for achieving this mechanical advantage when the connector is to be reused by axially recompressing the compression sleeve back into the connector body. Pursuant to embodiments of the present invention, various alignment features may be provided that may facilitate re-aligning the compression sleeve and the connector body when the connector is to be reused on another coaxial cable.
In some embodiments of the present invention, the alignment feature may comprise one or more arrows, hash marks, alignment marks/scores or other visible features that are, for example, printed on or molded or cut into either or both of the compression sleeve and the connector body. For example, alignment arrows could be provided on both the connector body and the compression sleeve that indicate the proper relative orientations of those components when the compression sleeve is rotated into its seated position on the connector body.
It will also be appreciated that while alignment arrows or other visible indicia are one type of alignment feature that can be used in embodiments of the present invention, a wide variety of other alignment features may also be used. For example, in other embodiments of the present invention, the alignment feature could be one or more detents or other raised surfaces that are provided on, for example, the compression sleeve or the connector body that prevented relative rotation of those two components beyond a certain point. In other embodiments, one of the connector body or the compression sleeve could include a groove or recess while the other of the connector body or compression sleeve could include a detent or other raised protrusion that fits within the groove/recess when the two components are in proper alignment. Thus, an installer could rotate the compression sleeve and the connector body relative to each other until he or she hears and/or feels when the protrusion mates within the recess, indicating that proper alignment has been achieved. The mating raised surfaces/recesses may be designed to only apply a small retention force.
It will be appreciated that the connector bodies described herein may be any housing or body piece that receives an end of a coaxial cable that is to be attached to the connector. It will likewise be appreciated that the compression sleeves described herein may be implemented as any sleeve that is configured to be received within or over top of a connector body in order to impart a generally circumferential compressive force on an end of a coaxial cable that is received within the compression sleeve. The inner contact posts described herein may be any post or other structure within the connector that receives the coaxial cable either within and/or on the post.
While in embodiments of the present invention, the annular ridges 238, 338, 438, 538 are provided on the compression sleeve and the annular grooves 218, 318, 418, 518 are provided within the inside diameter of the connector body, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments the annular ridge may be provided on the inside body of the connector body and the annular groove may be provided on the compression sleeve. It will likewise be appreciated that retention mechanisms other than mating annular ridges and grooves may be used. For example, raised projections may be provided on one of the compression sleeve or the inside diameter of the connector body that mate with recesses on the other of the compression sleeve or the inside diameter of the connector body. It will be appreciated that many other retention mechanisms may be used.
As shown in
As is apparent from the drawings, the connector 700 of
The connector 700 may be installed on a first coaxial cable and thereafter removed from the first coaxial cable for use on a second coaxial cable as follows.
Referring to
Next, an operator may align the compression sleeve 730 so that a first longitudinal wall 744 that connects the two ends of the cammed surface 742 is generally aligned with a second longitudinal wall 722 that connects the two ends of the cammed surface 720 of the connector body 710. The first and second longitudinal walls 744, 722 need not be perfectly aligned, as the cammed surfaces 720, 742 may act to rotate the compression sleeve as it is inserted into the connector body 710 so that the first longitudinal wall 744 directly contacts the second longitudinal wall 722 when the compression sleeve 730 is fully seated within the connector body 710. Then, the operator may use a compression tool (not shown) to move the compression sleeve 730 from its unseated position (the position of
Once inserted into the connector body 710, the compression sleeve 730 circumferentially surrounds an upper portion 752 of the inner contact post 750. The exposed length of the central conductor of the first coaxial cable is sufficient such that it will extend all the way through the connector body 710 to extend into the internally threaded nut 770 of the connector 700 so as to act as the male contact protrusion of the connector 700 once the end of the cable and the compression sleeve 730 are fully seated within the connector body 710.
As best seen in
At a later time, it may be desirable to remove the connector 700 from the first coaxial cable so that the connector 700 may be reused on a second coaxial cable. This removal step may be accomplished by rotating the compression sleeve 730 relative to the connector body 710 in order to disengage the compression sleeve 730 from the jacket of the first coaxial cable. The actions of the cammed surfaces 720, 742 on each other may be used to obtain a mechanical advantage that may facilitate disengaging the compressive retention and sealing forces that bind the connector 700 onto the end of the first coaxial cable, specifically including the retention force provided by the seating of the second annular ridge 738 of compression sleeve 730 within the annular groove 726 in the connector body 710 when the compression sleeve 730 is in its fully seated position of
As can be seen best in
The coaxial connector 700 includes a number of features that may be different from conventional coaxial connectors. For example, the coaxial connector 700 includes a compression sleeve 730 and connector body 710 that have mating cammed surfaces 742, 720 that together act as a disengagement mechanism that provides a mechanical advantage for unseating the compression sleeve 730 from its seated position. In the depicted embodiment, these cammed surfaces 720, 742 each extend a full 360 degrees around the periphery of the connector body 710 and compression sleeve 730, respectively. However, in other embodiments, it will be appreciated that the cammed surfaces 720, 742 may extend less than the full way around the periphery.
For example, in some embodiments (not depicted), each cammed surface 720, 742 may be replaced with cammed surfaces that extend more than 180 degrees but less than 270 degrees around the periphery. In other embodiments (not depicted), each cammed surface 720, 742 may be replaced with cammed surfaces that extend more than 270 degrees but less than 360 degrees around the periphery. In still other embodiments (not depicted), the first and second cammed surfaces 720, 742 may be replaced with first and second surfaces that are in an inclined mating relationship with each other similar to, for example, the inclined mating surfaces of the connector body 310 and compression sleeve 330 of the coaxial connector 300 discussed above with respect to
As discussed above, the coaxial connector 700 may further include an annular ridge that is provided on one of the compression sleeve 730 or the connector body 710 (e.g., annular ridge 736) and an annular groove that is provided on the other of the compression sleeve 730 or the connector body 710 (e.g., annular groove 726). The annular ridge 736 may be designed to be seated within the annular groove 726 when the compression sleeve 730 is in its seated position within the connector body 710. The disengagement mechanism (e.g., the cammed surfaces 720, 742) provides a mechanical advantage that pops the annular ridge 736 out of its corresponding annular groove 726 in which the annular ridge 736 resides when the compression sleeve is in its seated position within the connector body 710. The annular ridge 736 and annular groove 726 may be designed so that the neither the annular ridge 736 nor the annular groove 726 will be permanently deformed when the annular ridge 736 is popped out of the annular groove 726, thereby allowing for the coaxial connector 700 to be reused.
In some embodiments, the annular ridge 736 may be configured to forcibly engage the annular groove 726 when the compression sleeve 730 and connector body 710 are fully seated together with a retention force that opposes axially reversing forces sufficient to meet SCTE requirements. In some embodiments, the annular ridge 736 may be configured to forcibly engage the annular groove 726 when the compression sleeve 730 and connector body 710 are fully seated together sufficiently to block water ingress.
While the embodiment depicted in
The coaxial connector 700 also differs from typical conventional coaxial connectors in that an external surface of the compression sleeve 730 includes at least two flattened surfaces that are configured to receive a wrench. These surfaces allow an operator to readily use a wrench when unseating the compression sleeve 730 from the connector body 710. An external surface of the connector body 710 may likewise include at least two flattened surfaces that are configured to receive a wrench, thereby allowing the operator to grasp both the compression sleeve 730 with a first wrench and the connector body 710 with a second wrench when unseating the compression sleeve 730 from the connector body 710.
Additionally, as described above, an external surface of the compression sleeve 730 includes a first longitudinal wall 744 that extends in a direction that is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the connector body 710, and an external surface of the connector body 710 includes a second longitudinal wall 722 that likewise extends in a direction that is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the connector body 710. These first and second longitudinal walls 744, 722 may be configured so that the first longitudinal wall 744 directly abuts the second longitudinal wall 722 when the compression sleeve 730 is in its seated position. The length of the connector body 710 in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the connector body 710 (i.e., the axis defined by the major axis of a portion of a coaxial cable that is received within the connector body 710) varies when measured at different points along a periphery of the connector body 710. It should also be noted that in the depicted embodiment, the compression sleeve 730 is not a threaded compression sleeve 730.
As discussed above, a compression tool (not shown in the figures) may be used to forcibly insert the compression sleeve 730 into its seated position so that the compression sleeve 730 and connector body 710 together secure one or more elements of a coaxial cable within the coaxial connector 700. The compression tool may be designed to impart a force on the compression sleeve 730 that has a primary component in a direction that is generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the connector body 710. This differs from prior art compression sleeves that had threaded connections with a connector body in that (1) such prior art connectors did not use a compression tool to move the compression sleeve into a seated position but instead used a wrench to thread the compression sleeve onto or into the connector body and (2) the primary component of the force imparted by such a wrench would be generally perpendicular (as opposed to parallel) to a longitudinal axis of the connector body. In fact, in some embodiments, the compression sleeve will not rotate at all when the compression tool is used to forcibly insert the compression sleeve into the connector body. In other embodiment, the compression sleeve may rotate to some extent when the compression tool is used to forcibly insert the compression sleeve into the connector body, but will rotate less than one full rotation during this insertion process.
Embodiments of the present invention have been discussed above with respect to reusing a coaxial connector that is installed on a first coaxial cable on a second coaxial cable. It will be appreciated that the reusable coaxial connectors according to embodiments of the present invention may likewise be reused on the same coaxial cable. For example, an operator may damage the end of a coaxial cable when installing a reusable coaxial connector according to embodiments of the present invention thereon. When this occur, the operator may remove the reusable coaxial connector from the end of the coaxial cable, cut off the damaged end, and then reinstall the reusable coaxial connector on the new end of the coaxial cable. Thus, it will be appreciated that the connectors according to embodiments of the present invention may be reused on a second, different cable or can be reused on a different segment of the same coaxial cable on which they were previously installed (or even on the same segment).
It will be appreciated that many modifications may be made to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention described above without departing from the scope of the present invention. By way of example, while the above-described connectors include separate connector bodies and inner contact posts, it will be appreciated that in other embodiments the connector body and inner contact post of a coaxial connector can be implemented together as a one-piece unit that performs the above-described functions of the connector body and inner contact post. Thus, the present invention encompasses both one and multi-piece designs. It will likewise be appreciated that other components of the coaxial connectors described above may be combined into a single piece (e.g., the internally threaded nut and the connector body could be combined) and/or that some of the components may be implemented as multi-part components (e.g., the connector body may comprise multiple parts).
In some of the embodiments of the present invention that use a cam surface to provide a mechanical advantage for unseating the compression sleeve from the connector body, the cam surface may comprise a multi-profile cam surface. In particular, a first profile of the multi-cam surface may provide a high level of mechanical advantage over a small length of axial movement, while a second profile of the multi-cam surface may provide a lower level of mechanical advantage over a greater length of axial movement. The first profile may facilitate “popping” the above described annular ridge (or other retention mechanism) from the annular groove. The second profile may then assist in overcoming additional retention forces within the connector as the compression sleeve is moved from the fully seated position to a fully unseated position relative to the connector body. Likewise, in some of the embodiments of the present invention that use connector bodies and compression sleeves that mate in an inclined relationship to provide a mechanical advantage for unseating the compression sleeve from the connector body, the inclined relationship may be a multi-profile relationship that in a manner similar to the cam surface embodiments described above provide both a high level of mechanical advantage over a first, small length of axial movement and a lower level of mechanical advantage over a second, greater axial length of movement.
In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed typical embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the following claims.
The present application claims priority as a continuation-in-part application to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/327,355, filed Dec. 3, 2008 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,740,502, which in turn claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/016,078, filed Dec. 21, 2007. The entire contents of each of the above applications is incorporated by reference herein as if set forth in its entirety.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| Parent | 12327355 | Dec 2008 | US |
| Child | 12731207 | US |
