This application is a National Phase of PCT/EP2006/009686 filed 6 Oct. 2006, which claims priority to DE 10 2005 048 248.1 filed 7 Oct. 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The invention relates to a terminated connector in particular for antenna equipment. Generally, the invention relates to a connection formed by a first connector and a second connector. The invention further relates to a first connector and a second connector being designed such that a reduction in cost is achieved.
To create a connection the respectively designed first and second connectors are brought into engagement such that they are inserted into each other. For a simplification of the description it will be assumed, that the first connector is a connector which is mounted into a piece of equipment and will generally be referred to as a jack or female connector. This connection is frequently used for antenna equipment. Further, the second connector is designed as a plug connector adapted to be inserted into said female or jack connector. In the field of antennas, the plug connector is frequently called a terminated plug connector inasmuch as it frequently contains an electronic circuit, for instance a resistor, to provide the antenna equipment with the proper level of impedance.
For plug connections in general and also in particular for the connector technique used with antennas, a separate locking nut mounted on the terminated plug connector used; said locking nut is, for instance, rotatably mounted on the terminated plug connector and is screwed onto a part of the female connector. This screw connection is in general, achieved after the terminated plug connector is properly inserted into an insulating body of the female connector with a coding rib being provided on the insulating body of the terminated plug connector such that during the screwing movement of the locking nut onto the female connector the correct position of the female connector and the terminated plug connector is maintained.
So as to provide for a reduction in cost and to simplify such a connection the invention provides that the terminated plug connector comprises a connector housing which is provided at its front end, as seen in the plug direction, a threading. Said threading can be brought into a threading engagement with an opposite threading provided at the female connector. Further, the insulating body of the terminated plug connector is rotatably mounted within the terminated plug connector housing.
In accordance with the present invention it is possible to obtain, in particular due to a threaded locking, a sealed connector. The insulating body of the terminated plug connector is received independently of the position in the housing of the terminated plug connector. The housing of the terminated plug connector is preferable a single piece. The threading is preferably provided in the form of an outer threading formed integrally at the plug connector housing. Due to the freely rotatable positioning of the insulating body in the housing of the terminated plug connector and due to the coding rib at the insulating body, the locking of the housing is possible without using a separate locking nut and thus a single piece terminated plug connector housing is achieved.
In accordance with the invention, the housing of the terminated connector is provided directly with the threading providing a locking means. Further, the insulating body of the terminated connector comprises detent hooks, which come into engagement with a groove in the housing of the terminated connector so that the insulating body of the terminated connector is free to rotate about the axis of the housing of the terminated connector. Thus, the housing of the terminated connector can be of a single piece design without requiring a locking nut. The axial rotatability of the insulating body of the terminated connector in the terminated connector housing combines the function of providing a housing with the locking means.
Further advantages, objects and details of the invention can be gathered from the description of an embodiment as shown in the drawings. The drawings disclosed in:
The second connector is, in this embodiment, designed as a plug connector adapted to cooperate with the female connector. In the following description the second connector will be referred to as terminated plug connector 12. The female connector 11 is shown in
The housing 16 comprises an opening 17 extending there through and being open at both ends. In the opening 17 an annular abutment surface 18 is formed which extends radially. The annular abutment surface 18 is formed due to the fact, that the opening 17 is comprised of different sections, i.e. an opening section 19 having a middle diameter, an opening section 20 with a smaller diameter and an opening section 21 with a larger diameter. Adjacent to the opening section 21 a threading section 22 is formed. In addition to the annular abutment surface 18 an annular abutment surface 23 is formed between the annular section 20 and the annular section 21. The annular abutment surface 23 extends in a radial direction and a sealing ring 30 is in abutment with the annular surface 18.
The female connector 11 comprises within its housing 16 an insulator, i.e., a female connector insulator body 26 which comprises sections extending in an axial direction and having different diameters. From a left section having a larger diameter and being located on the left-hand side in
The Terminated Plug Connector 12
The terminated plug connector 12 comprises in substance a terminated plug connector housing 40 and a terminated plug connector insulating body 41 as is shown in
The terminated plug connector housing 40 is preferably a single piece as is shown in
The terminated plug connector insulating body 41 comprises, as is shown in
Further, two contact prongs 70, 71 are inserted into recesses of the insulating to body 41. The connecting ends of the contact prongs 70, 71 project beyond the frontal surface 73; the ends of the contact prongs 70, 71 which are adapted to cooperate with the female connector 11 project beyond a frontal surface 74 (see
As can be in
For mounting the terminated plug connector 12 to the female connector 11, the terminated plug connector 12 is, as already mentioned, inserted into the annular space formed by the female connector 11. In this process, the coding rib 66 is brought into alignment with a respective opening in the insulating body 26 and is partially inserted. Subsequently, the housing 40 is rotated until a sealing surface 28 formed by the frontal edge of the housing 40 presses with sufficient tightness against the sealing ring 30 due to the screw motion. While rotating the terminating connector housing 40 the insulation body 41 remains in the position selected by the coding rib 66. The insulating body 41 will be further inserted when rotating of the housing 40, inasmuch as the housing 40 can be rotated with respect to the insulating body 41.
Both the housing 16 and the housing 40 consist of metal or a metalized plastic material.
Further, in the shown embodiment the insulating body 41 is freely rotatable by more that 360°.
In the case a bayonet connection is provided at the first and second connector the required angle of rotation could be smaller than 360° according to the size of the rotary angle required by the bayonet connection.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10 2005 048 248 | Oct 2005 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2006/009686 | 10/6/2006 | WO | 00 | 2/12/2010 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2007/042218 | 4/19/2007 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5484298 | Flum et al. | Jan 1996 | A |
7165987 | Kim et al. | Jan 2007 | B2 |
7344414 | Kuo | Mar 2008 | B2 |
20040014363 | Khemakhem et al. | Jan 2004 | A1 |
20100190375 | Rohde | Jul 2010 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20100130046 A1 | May 2010 | US |