Termination tool for modular telephone connector

A termination tool for terminating a plurality of wires to a modular connector, of the type consisting of a housing adapted to mate with a standard connector and contacts having insulation displacement portions disposed outwardly of the housing and further including a fixture for positioning the wires with respect to the insulation displacement portions. The tool includes a pair of ribs projecting from a first planar contacting section and a second upwardly angled lever section. The tool further includes a vertically oriented blade extending from the generally rectangular front end to untwist twisted wire pairs.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
The present invention relates to a simple tool for terminating a plurality 
of communication wires to a modular connector, and more particularly to a 
tool adapted to engage with a modular connector of the type consisting of 
a housing adapted to mate with a standard connector and contacts having 
insulation displacement portions disposed outwardly of the housing and 
further including a fixture for positioning the wires with respect to the 
insulation displacement portions such that pressing the positioning 
fixture down terminates the wires to the connector. 
BACKGROUND ART 
Many different designs of field installable modular connectors have been 
proposed. The desirable characteristics of field installable connectors 
include minimal size, ease of assembly, and reliable termination of the 
connector to telephone wires. Modular connectors typically include a 
plurality of interlocking parts, including a housing that defines a 
standard connector jack, a contact carrier that carries and positions a 
plurality of insulation displacement contacts for termination to a 
plurality of individual wires in a wire positioning fixture that positions 
individual wires for termination within each respective insulation 
displacement contact. The wire positioning fixture is typically secured to 
the housing/wire carrier by peripheral latching structural features that 
cooperate with structural features formed on the housing/contact carrier. 
One example of this type of connector is the central latch modular 
telephone connector described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,310 to Stroede, et 
al, and assigned to a common assignee, which is incorporated herein by 
reference. The modular telephone connector of Stroede, et al. '310 
consists of a housing adapted to mate with a standard telephone connector 
and contacts having insulation displacement portions disposed outwardly of 
the housing and further including a fixture for positioning the wires with 
respect to the insulation displacement portions. In order to terminate the 
wires by securing the wire positioning fixture to the housing/contact 
carrier, it is necessary to apply pressure to the top of the wire 
positioning fixture. Currently this is accomplished by means such as a 
pair of pliers. This is disadvantageous as it requires the user to carry 
around a bulky tool. 
Additionally, many of the communication wires that are to be terminated to 
a modular connector of this type have the wires situated in twisted wire 
pairs with the cable for cable performance reasons. Therefore, it is 
necessary when terminating certain communication cables to a modular 
connector to separate or untwist the twisted wire pairs. 
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a simple 
termination tool for use in terminating a plurality of wires to a modular 
connector. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a simple handheld 
tool which can be used to untangle twisted wires of a communication cable. 
In general, a termination tool for terminating a plurality of wires to a 
modular connector, of the type having a housing adapted to mate with a 
standard connector and contacts having insulation displacement portions 
disposed outwardly of the housing and further including a positioning 
fixture for positioning the wires with respect to the insulation 
displacement portions, includes a tool body having a first contacting 
section and an integrally formed upwardly angled lever section and 
engagement means disposed at a front end of the contacting section for 
engaging the tool body in a recess formed in a rear wall of the housing so 
as to position the contacting section above the positioning fixture. 
These and other objects, together with the advantages thereof over existing 
prior art forms, which will become apparent from the following 
specification or accomplished by means hereinafter described.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
A termination tool embodying the concept of the present invention is 
designated generally by reference 10 in the accompanying drawings. As 
shown in FIGS. 1-3, termination tool 10 includes a first planar contacting 
section 12, a second upwardly angled lever section 14, that has a back 
pressing section 16 that curves into a horizontally oriented portion. The 
planar section 12 includes a contacting surface 22 formed on the underside 
and the front end has a pair of engagement projections 18 extending from 
the front end. 
FIG. 5 shows an example of a modular connector having a recess 34 formed in 
rear wall of housing 28, such that upon engagement of tool 10 with recess 
34, the contacting section 12 will be on top of a positioning fixture 30 
so that upon forcing the fixture 30 into latching engagement with carrier 
32, it will terminate the wires (not shown) to the IDC contacts of contact 
carrier 32. 
As can be seen in FIGS. 6 and 7, as the tool 10 is engaged with housing 28, 
engagement projections 18 are inserted into the rear recess 34 and the 
contacting surface 22 of the first planar contacting section 12 is in 
contact with the positioning fixture 30 and upon pressing the back end 16 
of the tool 10 in a downward direction, the levering of tool 10 results in 
the wire positioning fixture 30 terminating the individual wires onto the 
insulation displacement portions of the contact/carrier 32. 
As can be seen in FIG. 4, the preferred embodiment of tool 10 has a 
hollowed underside. This allows for less material to be used in forming 
the tool. A pair of contacting ridges 24 are formed on the underside of 
front planar section 12 to contact and depress the positioning fixture 30 
during termination of the wires. 
As can be seen in FIG. 2, in the preferred embodiment the front top part of 
planar section 12 includes a recess which provides clearance for 
connectors in which a latch also engages with recess 34. 
As can be seen in FIGS. 7-9, the front end of the tool body is a 
horizontally oriented generally rectangular body that includes a single 
blade member 20 disposed between the engagement projections 18. Blade 20 
is a narrowly formed vertically oriented projection which can be inserted 
between twisted wires 36 and pulled through the wires to untwist the wire 
pairs so that they can be terminated to the modular connector 28. 
The tops of engagement projections 18 provide cover supports for covering 
the blade 20 when the tool is used to untwist wire pairs. That is, once 
blade 20 has been inserted between a pair of twisted wires 36, a cover 
such as a thumb or palm of the user or other object is placed over the 
blade 20 to abut against the engagement projections 18 so that the twisted 
wires 36 will remain engaged with the slots between blade 20 and 
projections 18 as the tool 10 is pulled along separating and untwisting 
the twisted wires 36. Projections 18 also act as protection for the narrow 
blade which is very small, since it is also intended to be used on small 
size wires such as 22-24 gauge. 
While the particular preferred embodiments of the present invention have 
been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art 
that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the 
teachings of our invention. The matter set forth in the foregoing 
description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration 
only and not as a limitation. The actual scope of the invention is 
intended to be defined in the following claims when viewed in their proper 
perspective based on the prior art.