Patent ID: 6220888
Filing Date: 2001-04-24
Classification: H01R

Abstract:
A cable connector device, comprising:(a) an elongated body made of a substantially rigid molded material and having opposite first and second ends, said body defining an interior chamber extending between and open at said first and second ends and receiving an end of a cable therethrough from said first end to said second end of said body, said body encasing the end of the cable and supporting at said second end of said body a contact termination on the end of the cable, said body having an exterior surface formed circumferentially thereon and gripping means on said exterior surface including a plurality of ribs spaced apart circumferentially from one another and extending longitudinally between said first and second ends of said body and protruding outwardly from said exterior surface of said body; and(b) a strain relief structure integrally formed on said first end of said body and made of the same molded material as said body, said strain relief structure surrounding a portion of the cable extending from said first end of said body, said strain relief structure having a framework which distributes any bending forces imposed on the cable portion away from said first end of said body, said framework having an annular shape defining a longitudinal axis and forming a passage extending along said longitudinal axis and aligned with said first end of said body for receiving the portion of the cable through said passage, said framework including a plurality of spaced-apart windows defined therethrough and formed by a plurality of interconnected support elements, said windows having transverse dimensions extending circumferentially about said framework and transverse to said longitudinal axis of said framework and longitudinal dimensions extending along said longitudinal axis of said framework, said windows being disposed in transverse rows spaced at different longitudinal distances from said first end of said body with an inner row of said windows being at a distance closer to said first end of said body than an outer row of said windows, the transverse dimensions of said windows in said inner row thereof being greater than the transverse dimensions of said windows in said outer row thereof while the transverse dimensions of all said windows in said inner and outer rows thereof being substantially smaller than the transverse dimensions of said windows in a center row thereof which is disposed between said inner and outer rows.