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Low voltage terminal blocks
  Published:2012-04-20 11:37:36   Views:69

The present invention relates in general to low voltage terminal blocks or strips which are adapted to make any desired number and combination of electrical interconnections among a plurality of conductors. The low voltage terminal strip of the invention is of the modular type construction, in that it is built up of a plurality of identical terminal block sections. As will be seen, the terminal strip includes special provisions for withstanding very high voltages which, under certain conditions, might be imposed upon the individual connectors or loads due to the relatively larger amount of insulation between contact elements as well as the ability to be easily wired in the field. This could not be done readily by the prior art which utilized wrapped junctions for connection to pins, this requiring special tools not available in the field. In accordance with the present invention, such connection can be made in the field using routine crimping tools and semi-skilled servicemen.

The low voltage terminal strip of the invention will serve as a flexible and versatile interconnection system. For example, in a junction box for making multiple connections in telephone equipment networks, or among components in data processing systems, or the like, it will provide interconnections for plural sources to plural loads via individual conductors or via groups of plural conductors.

The high voltage terminal strip described herein is composed of a plurality of insulator housing blocks of identical construction which are mounted on a track member and held together thereon in a stack. The housing blocks are each, in essence, a flat plate or main vertical wall with a pair of pyramid shaped sections connected together to form horizontal dividing walls extending outward therefrom at its center and top and bottom walls each having a flaired section to form a pyramid shaped cavity with one face of one of the pyramid shaped sections. A plurality of cavities is formed, one between each pyramid shaped wall section and a top and bottom wall and conductors, to be interconnected, extend into the cavities through the vertical wall wherein they are anchored. Two pairs of metal contact terminals are mounted in one vertical wall, with the other dividing wall separating the pairs of terminals. The terminals are force fitted into small apertures in the vertical wall in which they are mounted. The walls have notches and cooperating tabs fitted into notches of adjacent sections to interlock them into a unitary strip. The conductors are terminated to opposite ends of the terminals in any selected pattern. More than one conductor can be terminated to one end of each terminal if necessary.

It is an object of the invention to provide a low voltage terminal strip assembly serving to make interconnections between plural electrical conductors in any desired pattern, and in a structure which affords protection against high voltage surges on said conductors.