Patent Grant
6922887
This invention is directed to a device for attaching the ends of two or more wires of an electrical circuit together using a twist-on type wire connector. These connectors are available in a variety of sizes and shapes including truncated conical types with an outer ribbed surface, wing connectors and what are called finned connectors. The connectors can be fastened to the ends of the wires by a workman tightening the connector over the wires by hand. This was the original method of tightening the connector over the wires. Later, wrenches were provided to enable the worker to apply more force to make better connections. In recent years, as cordless electric tools have become more prevalent in the marketplace, the workers frequently use such tools to tighten the wire connector on to the ends of the wires.
This invention is directed to a device for attaching a wire connector to the ends of one or more wires which device can be connected to the chuck of a battery operated power tool or to a manually operated wrench. In contrast to previous power operated wire connector drivers and hand activated wrenches, the device of this invention can be used to twist on a wide variety of wire connectors of different sizes and styles, including the conventional ribbed, somewhat conical shaped connectors, wire connectors having wings located on their skirts and wire connectors having wings extending from the frusto-conical portions of their bodies which are conventionally referred to as “finned” connectors.
An object of this invention is a wire connector device such as a driver or a wrench having a connector receiving socket defined by an imperforate annular wall which strengthens the body of the driver.
Another object of this invention is a wire connector driver or wrench which can accommodate an in-line wing style connector.
Still another object of this invention is a wire connector driver or wrench which can pre-capture wing and finned connectors and hold them in an inverted position prior to installation on the wires.
Yet another object of this invention is a wire connector driver which can accommodate a multitude of different styles and/or sizes of wire connectors.
Other objects of the invention will be found in the following specification, claims and drawings.
The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the following drawings, wherein:
The device of this invention may be embodied in a wire connection driver, which is driven by a power tool or in a wrench, which is hand powered.
Conventionally, the body 13 is molded over the steel drive shaft 15 and to securely anchor the drive shaft to the cylindrical plastic body, a circumferential groove 33 is formed in the drive shaft near the end of the drive shaft embedded in the cylindrical body 13, thus forming an anchoring head 35. At the opposite end of the drive shaft 15, another circumferential groove 37 is formed remote from the end of the shaft to form a hex head 39 which seats in the chuck of a cordless power tool.
The four bores 25, 27, 29 and 31 vary in cross section from the outer bore 25 which is the largest to the inner bore 27 which is the smallest. The outer bore 25 is formed with ribs 45 and grooves 47 formed in the outwardly flaring portion 19 of the cylindrical body 13 with the grooves defined by arcuate outer walls 49 which extend in a generally axial direction of the cylindrical driver body 13. The outer walls 49 terminate inwardly at curved shoulders 51 which blend into the outer walls 49 of the grooves. In this example, the outer bore 25 has ten ribs 45 and ten grooves 47, but this number may vary depending on the nature of the wire connectors to be driven. These grooves 47 are axially aligned with the body 13 and have sufficient diameter to receive the wings extending from skirts of wire connectors.
Located axially inwardly of the outer bore 25 is the outwardly located intermediate bore 29. This bore has ribs 55 and grooves 57 aligned with the ribs 45 and grooves 47 respectively of the outer bore 25. The grooves 57 are defined by outer walls 59 which have shorter axial lengths than the outer walls 49 of the outer bore 25. The grooves also have curved shoulders 61 whose curvature is less pronounced than the curved shoulders 51 and grooves 47 of the outer bore 25. The diameter of the outwardly located intermediate bore 29 is not as large as that of the outer bore 25.
The inwardly located intermediate bore 31 is located axially inwardly of the bore 29. It is defined by ribs 65 and grooves 67 which align with the ribs 55 and grooves 57 of the outward intermediate bore 29. The grooves 67 have outer walls 69 that are almost straight in an axial direction and are longer than the outer walls 59 of the outward intermediate bore 29. A slightly curved shoulder 71 is located at the axially inwardly end of each wall 69 with the shoulders not blending into the straight wall 69. The diameter of the inwardly located intermediate bore 31 is smaller than that of its outwardly located bore 29. As can be best viewed in the end view shown in
The inner bore 25 is formed with ribs 75 and grooves 77. The outer wall 79 of each groove 77 has a curved portion 81 and an axially straight portion 83 located axially inwardly of the curved portion. As can best be seen in
A finned wire connector 91 is shown in
When the wire connector is inserted into the socket 21 of the driver 11, the fins 101 closely fit within the grooves 67 of the inwardly located intermediate bore 31 with the axial ends of the fins 101 resting on the slightly curved shoulders 71 located near the axial bottom of the bore 31.
In a second embodiment of the invention depicted in
The socket 121 incorporated in the hand operated wrench 111 is similar in construction to the socket 21 previously described. Portions of the socket 121 that are identical to portions of socket 21 previously described are identified by the same numbers in
To prevent wing style connectors from falling out of the socket 121 prior to receiving wires to be connected, especially when the wrench is held with the socket 121 opening downwardly, a pre-capture element is formed in the outer bore 25 of the socket. The pre-capture element includes a pair of ribs, 127 each located on an oppositely facing wall 49 of each of the grooves 47. The ribs project towards each other a sufficient distance to engage a wing of a wing style connectors inserted in the socket.
To hold finned connectors in the socket 121 when the open end of the socket is facing downwardly prior to fastening of the wires to each other and to the connector, a pre-capture element is also formed in the inner bore 27 of the socket. This pre-capture element includes a single rib 131 located on the outer wall 79 of each groove 77. Each rib projects inwardly a sufficient distance to engage a fin 101 of a finned wire connectors inserted in the socket.
This is continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/137,993, filed May 2, 2002, now abandoned.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
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| 3378906 | Dorsey | Apr 1968 | A |
| 3787948 | Runge | Jan 1974 | A |
| 4357845 | Cornia | Nov 1982 | A |
| 4823650 | Tuttle | Apr 1989 | A |
| 4860618 | Givot | Aug 1989 | A |
| 4945791 | Herschler et al. | Aug 1990 | A |
| 5697268 | Makovsky et al. | Dec 1997 | A |
| 5784935 | Korinek | Jul 1998 | A |
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| 5887631 | Eaton | Mar 1999 | A |
| 5974916 | Lassiter | Nov 1999 | A |
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| 6206432 | Kamiyama | Mar 2001 | B1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10137993 | May 2002 | US |
| Child | 10463714 | US |
