Telephone connector block having electrical clip interconnecting means

An improved telephone connector block in which the electrically conductive interconnections which have been previously accomplished by wire wrapping of terminals or connector pins are made by means of metallic clips, thereby facilitating the internal wiring of the block, and whereby the ends of conductors forming circuits are connected to a test field. The clips are formed of metallic stampings and include a first portion into which a conductor is resiliently wedged, at a second portion of generally circular configuration which engages a connector pin.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The manufacture and use of telephone connector blocks in the telephony art 
has reached a state of very high development. These devices are employed 
in large numbers in a central telephone office to interconnect subscriber 
lines to switching equipment located in the office, and are usually 
mounted upon supporting frame elements in vertical orientation for ready 
accessibility to service personnel. Such blocks normally include pin 
terminals for interconnecting individual subscriber lines. The pins are 
interconnected internally of the block to pins connected to the switching 
equipment, and to contacts in an adjacent test field, so that individual 
circuits or groups thereof may be tested for the presence of electrical 
potential. 
The traditional manner of interconnecting pins has been by wire wrapping of 
a conductor thereabout, which insures firm retention and practically 
negligible electrical resistance. In recent years, powered wire wrapping 
tools have been employed to simplify an essentially manual operation. 
However, because the typical block interconnects hundreds of circuits, the 
number of wire wrapping operations is large, and the labor expended in 
completing the internal wiring of an individual block is correspondingly 
tedious. It is not uncommon for an individual worker to expend several 
hours internally wiring a single connector block. It should be noted that 
the wiring operation involves not only the wire wrapping steps, but the 
cutting and stripping of short lengths of insulated conductors which 
interconnect pins to test field terminals as well. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Briefly stated, the invention contemplates the provision of an improved 
telephone connector block construction in which a substantial number of 
the usual cutting, stripping and wrapping operations have been eliminated, 
with a corresponding reduction in the amount of labor which must be 
expended during the internal wiring thereof. This end is accomplished by 
the provision of an improved contact clip, a first portion of which clamps 
and electrically connects with a bared end of a conductor, and a second 
portion of which is adapted to surround and resiliently clamp a coupling 
pin. The said first portion engages a first recess in a slotted stud, said 
stud having a second recess for the accommodation of an insulated 
conductor at right angles to said first recess. Contact is made with the 
conductor without the necessity of stripping the insulation therefrom, and 
the clip itself serves as a replacement for a short length of conductor 
interconnecting the pin and the insulated conductor. As the first portion 
is engaged upon the conductor, it cuts the insulation thereof to establish 
electrical communication, but does not otherwise sever the conductor, so 
that it may further extend to a remote location, as for example an 
adjacent test field, where a similar interconnection may be made. As all 
portions of the clip are engaged simultaneously by moving the same in a 
common direction, it is possible, using jigging structures, to make a 
large number of such interconnections simultaneously in a semi-automatic 
fashion.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSED EMBODIMENT 
With reference to the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 schematically 
illustrates a portion of a prior art connector block, generally indicated 
by reference character 10. The block includes a side wall 11 having an 
opening 12 penetrated by a cable 13 communicating with subscriber 
circuits, and an opening 14 communicating with a cable 15 interconnected 
with internal switching means (not shown) as is well known in the art. The 
side wall 11 communicates with a main wall 16 penetrated by a plurality of 
connecting pins 17 and 18 which are engaged by an interconnecting plug 19, 
interconnection of which establishes communication between an individual 
subscriber line and the internal switching means. The cable 13 is 
interconnected by a wrap 20 around the pin 17, and the cable 15 is 
interconnected by a similar wrap 21. A test field contact 22 interconnects 
through conductor 23 with the pin 17. It will be understood that each 
circuit requires two similar structures, only one of which is illustrated. 
It will be observed that the structure illustrated in FIG. 1 requires 
three wire wrapping operations exclusive of the test field contact wire 
wrap. This is schematically illustrated in FIG. 2. 
Referring to FIG. 3, there is schematically illustrated a replacement 
structure embodying the invention, in which an outside conductor 28 is 
clipped to a pin 29 and to a test contact 30 by means of a structure 
described hereinbelow to accomplish an equivalent result, and eliminate 
all three wire wrap operations. A similar clipping operation (not shown) 
replaces the wire wrap 21 in FIG. 1. Further, with the elimination of the 
wire wrapping operations, the clips permit the same conductor to be 
extended to the test field, without the necessity of cutting and attaching 
a separate conductor interconnecting the pin 17 to the test field contact 
22, as in the prior art. 
With the foregoing aspect in view, reference may now be had to FIG. 4, 
wherein a connector block 40 embodying the invention is illustrated. The 
block includes a side wall 41 having conductor inlet openings 42, and a 
plurality of circuit terminal areas generally indicated by reference 
characters 43, 44, 45, 46 and 47. It will be understood that the typical 
circuit connector block often includes many hundreds of such areas, all of 
which are substantially similar. Each circuit terminal area includes the 
usual four pins 48, 49, 50 and 51, usually referred to in the art as "tip 
in", "tip out", "ring in" and "ring out". A grounding prong opening 52 
accommodates the grounding prong of a connecting plug (not shown). 
Supported on the inner surface 54 of the main wall 53 are a plurality of 
cylindrically shaped studs or projections, 55, each bounded by an outer 
cylindrical surface 56 and having a first longitudinal slot 57 and a 
second longitudinal slot 58, the plane of which is at right angles to the 
slot 57. Both slots are accessible from an outer end surface 59. 
Referring to the left hand portion of FIG. 4, a test field area 60 includes 
a plurality of test pins 61 adjacent a second plurality of projections 62 
for accommodating pluralities of conductors 63 which communicate with 
terminals 48-51 on the wall 53. 
Referring to FIGS. 7 to 9, inclusive, a plurality of metallic conductor 
clips 70, formed from flat stampings, are used to interconnect conductors 
supported by the projections 55 and 62 to adjacent pins 48-51, and test 
pins 61. Each clip includes a generally U-shaped conductor-engaging member 
72 and first and second pin engaging members 73 and 74, respectively. 
The conductor engaging member 72 includes a first elongated portion 76 
bounded by an outer edge 77, an inner edge 78 and end edges 79 and 80. A 
second elongated portion 81 is bounded by an inner edge 82, and outer edge 
83, an end edge 84 and the above-mentioned edge 80. An elongated slot 85 
is open at its outer end, and terminates in a curved end edge 86. 
The first pin engaging member 73 is of circular configuration, and is 
bounded by an outer edge 88, an inner edge 89 and an end edge 90. It 
defines an opening of diameter adapted to loosely fit over a pin. The 
second pin engaging member 74 is coaxially aligned therewith, and is 
bounded by an outer edge 93, an inner edge 94 and an end edge 95. The 
opening 96 is 0.005 inches smaller than the opening 91 in the first pin 
engaging member, so that when the clip is installed, the first member may 
serve as an aligning guide for the second which forms a light force fit. 
FIG. 6 shows the installation of the clips for the interconnection of a 
terminal pin with a flexible conductor. A conductor 97 in the form of an 
insulated wire is positioned in a first slot 57, and the clip is placed in 
straddling condition thereover by engaging the second slot 58. As the 
width of the slot in the clip is substantially equal to the diameter of 
the conductive wire, with installation, it cuts the insulative cover 101 
and establishes electrical communication. With this engagement, the 
conductor engaging members 72 and 74 firmly engage the adjacent pin, and 
maintain the clips in position as shown. 
It will be apparent that each clip is installed in a substantially similar 
manner, permitting, where desired, the positioning of a plurality of clips 
in a fixture which is lowered under pressure to simultaneously install a 
large number of clips at one time, it being necessary only to position the 
conductors in proper location prior to positioning the clips. Thus, the 
internal wiring of the connector block may be manually completed employing 
only a small fraction of the time required with conventional wiring wrap 
operations. 
We wish it to be understood that we do not consider the invention limited 
to the precise details of structure shown and set forth in this 
specification, for obvious modifications will occur to those skilled in 
the art to which the invention pertains.