Arrangement for orderly guidance of cable ends

Comb-like cable guide elements are provided for each row or pair of rows of cable ends disposed at a distance from a plug-in contact plate for the orderly guidance of the cable ends to plug-in contacts of a plug-in contact plate. Free spaces are provided between adjacent cable guide elements for insertion of circuit boards toward contact strips disposed on the plug-in contact plate. To absorb the pull on the cable ends, resilient clamping devices are provided in the region of recesses in the cable guide elements.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention is based on an arrangement for the orderly guidance of cable 
ends to plug-in contacts in a plug-in contact plate, with pull relief 
being provided for the cable ends. 
If a plurality of cable ends are to be brought to a plug-in contact plate, 
it is necessary to guide the cable ends in an orderly manner. 
European Pat. No. 174 050 A2 discloses a method and an apparatus for 
arranging and aligning flexible insulated conductors of an unaligned 
bundle of electrical conductors. The unaligned conductors are there pulled 
from an aligned location to between the flush teeth of two combs. The 
conductors are then pressed in a clamping manner into constrictions 
between the teeth of one comb. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,015 discloses clips for holding cable wires. These 
clips are composed of spring tongues by means of which the cable wires can 
be fixed relative to a base plate. To hold bundles of wires, plugs may be 
pushed through the base plate so as to accommodate the wire bundles 
between them. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,123 discusses a system for arranging cables in an 
orderly manner. Each cable bundle is brought to one of a plurality of 
superposed arrays. Plug-in strips are arranged on these arrays. One cable 
of each bundle leads to a plug-in strip of the associated array. At the 
interior wall of the cable rack frame, a U-shaped clip is provided for 
each cable bundle to surround this cable bundle and fix it to the frame. 
To prevent the individual cable bundles from interfering with one another, 
the U-shaped clips are arranged in steps on the inner wall of the rack 
frame. 
DE-OS 2,228,780 discloses a pull relief arrangement for cables supplied to 
a plug-in strip. There a frame-like cable receiving device is provided in 
the form of a clamping member. The frame is provided with a slot through 
which cables or individual conductors can be brought in an orderly manner 
to the plug-in contacts of one row. Pull relief is realized by clamping in 
the cables or individual conductors. According to DE-OS 2,228,780, instead 
of a frame, a cable receiving device in the form of a rod fixed relative 
to the plug-in strip may also be employed. The free end of this rod is 
provided with a strap which can be formed into a loop. Through this loop, 
the cable ends are brought next to one another to the plug-in contacts. 
The pull on the cable ends is relieved by drawing the loop together, thus 
causing the cable ends to be gripped firmly. 
European Pat. No. 27,696 A1 discloses the orderly guidance of shielded 
cable ends in the direction of a clamping strip. Chambers are provided for 
this purpose which are equipped with slotted cable holders on the cable 
input side. The individual conductors of the cables are inserted into 
these slots and are pull relieved by means of elastic plugs which are 
inserted into the slots above the individual conductors. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the invention to configure an arrangement for the 
orderly guidance of cable ends to plug-in contacts in a plug-in contact 
plate, with pull relief being provided for the cable ends so that it is 
possible to provide orderly cable guidance to the mating sockets disposed 
on a plug-in contact plate, particularly for coaxial cables equipped with 
plug-in connectors. Additionally, the cable guidance should be configured 
in such a way that circuit boards can be inserted without interference 
from cables at least between some adjacent cable rows. Furthermore, it 
should be possible to pull-relieve the coaxial cable ends in such a way 
that the plug-in connectors when plugged into the mating contact plate are 
stressed as little as possible. Moreover, it should be possible to guide 
the circuit boards to be inserted between adjacent cable rows. This is 
accomplished by the features of claim 1. The dependent claims define 
advantageous modifications of the arrangement. 
The arrangement according to the invention has the 
advantage that it can be expanded in a modular manner--if necessary, 
further cable guide elements can be retrofitted--and is easily modified. 
Due to the provision of space between the cable guide elements, circuit 
boards can be additionally inserted at any desired location or can be 
exchanged for new ones. This is necessary, in particular, if modules on 
the front of the plug-in contact plate are exchanged since in that case 
shunt boards, for example of the 225-pole type, must be inserted into the 
contact strips disposed on the rear of the plate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The top view of FIG. 1 shows the guidance of cable ends 1--here coaxial 
cable ends--to a plug-in contact plate 2. The plug-in connections between 
coaxial cable ends 1 and plug-in contact plate 2 is here effected by way 
of BNC connectors 3 on the rear of plug-in contact plate 2. Plug-in 
contact plate 2 is disposed on the frontal face of a framelike module 
carrier of which FIG. 1 shows the two side walls 4 and the lower 
connecting rails 5 of the module carrier frame. Plug-in contact plate 2 is 
fastened to the module carrier frame, for example, at the profiled arms of 
connecting rails 5 or by means of flanges. At a distance of, for example, 
5 inches from plug-in contact plate 2, comb-like cable guide elements 8 
are arranged in vertical juxtaposition in a plane parallel to the plug-in 
contact plate. As can be seen in FIG. 2, cable guide elements 8 form the 
rear plates of the module carrier. They are each composed of L-shaped 
profiled members whose ends are flat (FIGS. 1 and 2) so that they are able 
to rest on the lower rear rail 5 and on the upper rear rail 6 and can be 
screwed to these rails by means of screws 7. Thus, plug-in contact plate 2 
is fixed relative to cable guide elements 8 by way of module carrier frame 
4, 5, 6 which serves as the fastening means. As can be seen particularly 
well in FIG. 2, in their plane parallel to plug-in contact plate 2, cable 
guide elements 8 are provided with frontal recesses 9 which impart a 
comb-like appearance to cable guide elements 8 when viewed from the rear. 
Recesses 9 are slot shaped and are semi-circular at the bottom of the 
slot. The width of the slot and the semi-circular slot bottom are 
dimensioned in such a manner that one coaxial cable can just be brought 
through each slot. One vertical row of coaxial cable ends can be brought 
through each superposed arrangement of slots in one cable guide element 8. 
As further shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, cable guide elements 8 may be arranged 
in parallel next to one another in an individually spaced arrangement or 
in parallel spaced pairs next to one another. This results in a 
matrix-like organization principle. In the arrangement in pairs, the arms 
of the L-shaped profiled members not provided with recesses lie closely 
next to one another and are advisably screwed together. The distance 
between individual cable guide elements 8 or the pairs of juxtaposed cable 
guide elements is dimensioned in such a way that, without interference by 
the cable ends, circuit boards 10, for example in the form of shunt 
boards, can be inserted in the direction toward plug-in contact plate 2 
into the free spaces between every pair of cable guide elements 8 whose 
slots face one another. Shunt boards 10 are provided on their one frontal 
face with a 225-pole contact strip 11 which, after insertion into a 
corresponding contact strip 12, engages in plug-in contact plate 2. In 
order to provide good accessibility and manipulatability, the other 
frontal faces of shunt boards 10 is provided with handles 15 which project 
beyond the plane of the rear plate in the direction toward the operating 
personnel (FIG. 4). Contact strip 12 or a plurality of such contact 
strips, if several shunt boards 10 are provided, are always disposed 
between one or a plurality of perpendicular rows of plug-in contacts 3. To 
avoid errors in operation or damage to the 225-pole plug-in 
connectors--for example due to tilting of the shunt boards--the under and 
upper sides of the shunt boards are guided in groove-like rails 13. These 
rails 13 may be fastened to rails 5 and 6 of the module carrier frame. 
In the region of recesses 9 of cable guide elements 8, resilient clamping 
devices 14 are provided. For each cable to be clamped in, these resilient 
clamping devices are composed of pairs of spring clips made of a flat 
material (FIG. 3). The spring clips are applied by means of screws 15 to 
those arms of the comb-like cable guide elements 8 in the form of L-shaped 
profiled members which are not provided with recesses, i.e. to those arms 
which are oriented perpendicularly to plug-in contact plate 2 (FIGS. 1 and 
4). As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 4, the spring clips are applied 
so as to be flush behind recesses 9. Thus, after being inserted into 
recesses 9 of the cable guide elements, being clamped into the resilient 
clamping devices 14 and insertion of BNC connectors 3 into plug-in contact 
plate 2, the coaxial cable ends pass through the module carrier without 
changing their direction 
The spring clips are provided with sector-shaped bulges 16 approximately in 
the center of each spring clip for gripping around the coaxial cable 
sheath (FIG. 3). For easier insertion of the cables, the free ends of the 
spring clips are bent outwardly to form insertion funnels (FIG. 3). 
One alternative for the configuration of cable guide elements 8 is shown in 
FIG. 5. Now, cable guide elements 8 are no longer provided in the form of 
L-shaped profiled members, but have a plate-like configuration. Moreover, 
in contrast to the embodiment of FIG. 1, they are designed for two rows of 
recesses 9, namely for two adjacent rows whose recesses are provided with 
oppositely oriented opening directions. In this embodiment, connecting 
webs 17 provided between the underside and the upper side of the frame, 
onto which the centers of cable guide elements 8 can be placed, here serve 
as carriers for the resilient clamping device and for the plate-like cable 
guide elements 8. As before, cable guide elements 8 can be screwed 
directly to rails 5 and 6 or to connecting webs 17. 
FIG. 6 is a perspective overall view of the arrangement according to the 
invention. The module carrier frame together with the plug-in contact 
plate is fastened at operating height between two vertically arranged 
carrier plates 18. A viewing opening 19 is visible in the lateral region 
of the frame. Below cable guide elements 8, there is provided a cable 
chute which serves to accommodate and direct away the cable bundles of a 
row of coaxial cables. In FIG. 6, only one row of cable guide elements is 
equipped with coaxial cables. And only one shunt board is inserted whose 
handle 15 projects beyond the plane of cable guide elements 8 which form 
the rear wall of the module carrier.