Distributor housing for communication cables

A distributor housing for communication cables in which the connecting unit for the individual wires is permanently integrated into a base component of the housing and the individual wires are first introduced into a positioning means in the contacting process. To form the connection, the pivotable top component of the housing, which has projection aligned with the various contact elements, is pivoted to a closed position to press the individual wires into their contact element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention is directed to a distributor housing for communication cables 
with contact elements for incoming and outgoing cables and conductors. In 
the area in which the connections are established, the housing is divided 
in a longitudinal direction to be accessible when required and the housing 
has fixing or mounting devices for the cables and conductors, which 
devices coact with the contact elements which are integrated into the base 
component of the housing. 
German OS No. 25 20 270 discloses a distributor housing of a type in which 
individual contact elements are mounted in the base of the housing and are 
initially separate, insertable connection terminals. This means that the 
connection terminals are screwed in or assembled in the form of terminal 
strips to which the wires are then connected. However, this is complicated 
in many respects. Appropriate injection molding tools are required, so 
that the connecting units are mounted in the component produced therefrom. 
This preassembled component is now secured in the final distributor 
housing, and the individual wires are connected with tools provided for 
this purpose. Thus, appropriate tools are required to carry out the 
assembly operation. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is to provide a distributor housing in which the 
connections between the individual wires can be established in the 
simplest possible manner without the assistance of special tools and this 
is accomplished both in respect to the assembly of the distributor housing 
itself and also in respect to forming the contact with the individual 
wires. This aim is fulfilled by a distributor housing for communication 
cables with contact elements for incoming and outgoing conductors, wherein 
the area at which the connections are obtained is divided in a 
longitudinal direction and is accessible when required and contact 
elements are integrated in the base component. The improvements are 
contacting elements which are arranged in a top component of the 
distributor housing in accordance with the position of the contact 
elements of the connecting units arranged in the base component so that on 
movement of the components into a closed position, the contacting elements 
coact with the contact elements to make a connection between the contact 
element and the conductor. 
The advantages of the invention may be considered to consist in the fact 
that, on the one hand, no assembly of connecting units and the like need 
be carried out and, on the other hand, the existing design of the 
distributor housing is such that the connection of the individual wires to 
the contact elements after placing the wires in the elements is carried 
out simply by closing the housing. The connecting unit, which is used, can 
consist, for example, of individual contact elements. However, it is 
equally possible to use a connecting unit which consists of a complete 
module and also to combine a plurality of smaller units. The simple method 
of fixing the individual wires permits the allocation to be established in 
a clearly laid out manner without carrying out individual connections. The 
connections are formed after the conclusion of the preparatory stage of 
the actual manual assembly of the wires or conductors in this final 
position by pressing the top component of the distributor housing onto the 
base component. By virtue of using known blade contacts as the contact 
element, the connection to the wires is formed without requiring any 
stripping. These contacts can be constructed so that the measuring adaptor 
can also be connected. This obviates the need for the normally required 
assembly tools which can only actuate individual contacts. 
The great advantage of the exemplary embodiment in accordance with the 
present invention is that all contact elements equipped with wires are 
connected simultaneously, whereas those contact elements which are not 
equipped with wires undergo no change. The non-actuated contact elements 
can readily be connected to wires in the same way at any later point of 
time in which case the already formed connections remain unaffected. 
It is also advantageous that protective caps can be simultaneously arranged 
in the hinged top component of the distributor housing in accordance with 
the invention at the locations corresponding to the connection being 
formed at the contact elements and remain as a protection over the 
corresponding connection during the contacting process. These protective 
caps also remain undisturbed over the connection during later reopening 
process so that the protection is subsequently maintained. The protective 
caps can represent individual elements or can be combined in groups so 
that the entire function group is covered simultaneously. 
In addition to exerting a protective function for the overall arrangement, 
the top component of the distributor housing additionally fulfills the 
function of a contacting tools so that it acts simultaneously on all the 
contacts or connections to be formed. The closing forces are kept low both 
as a result of the optimum closing geometry, which is due to the hinged 
structure, which causes contacts close to the hinges to be made first so 
that all contacts are not necessarily simultaneously made and also be a 
suitable closing sequence. The latter is carried out, for example, in that 
all the incoming wires of the cable are connected in the one operating 
step, whereas perhaps only part of the outgoing conductors are connected 
in the next operating step. The protective function can be expanded by the 
use of the above described protective caps.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
The principles of the present invention are particularly useful when 
incorporated in a distributor housing generally indicated at 1 in FIGS. 1 
and 2. The housing 1 is composed of a top component 2 and a base component 
3 (FIG. 2) which are hinged along one side by a hinge 14. 
As illustrated in FIG. 1, portions are broken away to illustrate an inner 
arrangement of an integrated, permanently mounted connecting unit 15. Here 
it can be seen that wires of an incoming cable 8 extend laterally into the 
distributor housing 1 via a cable support and an inlet seal 10. The 
individual wires are first fixed in the position of contact elements 22 of 
the connecting unit 15 by fixing or mounting means 4 without forming any 
connections. With the connecting unit 15, the individual contact elements 
22 are conducted to the outgoing contact elements 24 at which the outgoing 
conductors 9 are connected. Between the contacts 22 and 24, a bridging 
arrangement 23 is provided and has other terminals, in particular for fuse 
elements, such as current fuses or surge arresters. These contact 
facilities or arrangement 23 either represent spring elements, openings or 
the like. 
The distributor housing 1 has the connecting unit 15 integrated into the 
base component 3. The connecting unit 15 consists of recesses in the base 
component 3 into which the contacts are introduced. An injection molding 
component, which is placed on the contacts in the recesses, safeguards the 
contacts from unintentional contact or falling out. In this exemplary 
embodiment, the base component 3 and the top component 2 as mentioned 
hereinabove, are hinged to one another via an articulation or hinge 14. 
The top component 2 also contains additional features in accordance with 
the present invention which will be explained in detail later in the 
description. However, it can also be seen from FIG. 1 that the connection 
for the so-called drop wires are provided at the output of the distributor 
housing 1. Drop wires either represent individual wires or represent two 
conductors which are connected to one another via a common bridge so that 
they can be considered as a double connector. Both the drop wire variants 
can lead out of the distributor housing. The double conductors are secured 
by fixing devices or means, which are in the form of pins 13, which are 
pressed into the bridge of the drop-wire and in this way serve as a 
support. Sealing in the output direction is effected via appropriate, 
adaptable seals 11, which can either consist of plastically deformable 
filler components or a clamping apertures in the top component. A closing 
pressure means 12 is also shown, which fundamentally consists of a screw 
arrangement which can be simply turned following the closure of the top 
component 2 in order to magnify the necessary closing pressure which is 
increased by this arrangement. To safeguard against unintentional closure, 
a lock 31 (FIG. 2) is provided. As already mentioned, the top component 2 
is designed so that during the closing process as it moves onto the base 
component 3, it establishes the connections between the already positioned 
wires and the integrated contacts. Finally, it can be seen from FIG. 1 
that the mounting of the distributor housing can be obtained by the aid of 
fixing or mounting means 7, which fundamentally consist of longitudinal 
and transverse openings on the two main axes of the housing. In this way, 
it is possible to compensate discrepencies which occur during the 
positioning of the dowels required for the mounting. 
As best illustrated in FIG. 2, the distributor housing is longitudinally 
divided in a dividing plane 27 and when closed is sealed so as to be water 
tight by means of an insertable elastomer seal. The two housing components 
2 and 3 are connected to one another by the hinge 14. The interior of the 
top component 2 is equipped with contacting elements or units 16 which 
face downward towards the connection unit 15 and consist of ribs which 
will engage the wires such as 9 and press them into the contact elements 
when the top component is depressed and thus, form the connections. Thus, 
as already described, the tools required for forming the connection are 
integrated into the housing itself. Also visible in FIG. 2 are the fixing 
means or pins 13 with which the double conductors 9 can be secured into 
the housing. 
A further advantage of this construction consists in that when this closing 
pressure means 12 is used and the normally required pressure force for the 
formation of the connection do not act upon the housing mountings and 
thus, cannot negatively affect the mounting to a base, for example, a 
plaster wall. In the illustrated embodiment, the input-output separation 
facilities are also easily possible, for example, for measuring purposes. 
Also arranged on the base component 3 of the distributor housing 1 are 
mounting means 17 and 18, which can be optionally used in place of the 
described mounting means 7. The grooves 18 are additionally provided into 
which, for example, tension bands can be introduced so that the mounting 
can also be effected by a clamping onto a pole or mast. 
As best illustrated in FIG. 3, the distributor housing 1 has the connecting 
unit 15 integrated in the base component 3. The connecting unit 15 
consists of a row of contact combinations arranged in series which include 
contact elements 22, 23 and 24. The contact elements 22 serve to 
accommodate and form a connection with a wire of the input cable, which is 
supported in the supporting device 21, and the incoming wire are first 
laid only in the fixing or holding means 4. In contrast, the illustrated 
state represents the arrangement in which the connections have already 
been formed had already been achieved by closing the distributor housing 
1. The contact elements 22 now continues in the form of double spring 
contact element 23 through which, on the one hand, the connection with the 
output contact element 24 can be achieved and, on the other hand, for 
example, a fuse element or a surge arrester 19 can be connected as 
required. It is advisable to use cassettes containing, for example, 
2.times.10 fuse elements. The top component 2 is shaped so as to 
accommodate such a cassette. 
A "good earth" or grounding is required for surge arresters. This can be 
obtained via the inlet cable. FIG. 1 also shows a grounding pin 28, which 
extends from the exterior into the interior and provides for external and 
internal grounding. 
FIG. 3 also shows recesses 25 and 26, which are provided in the top 
component 2 and into which corresponding protective caps 29 for the 
contact elements can be inserted. During the closing process and thus, the 
connecting process, these protective caps 29 are placed over the contact 
elements 22 and 24 in a clamping fashion. If necessary, the protective 
caps can contain a corrosion protective agent or compound 30. However, 
when the top component 2 is reopened, the protective caps remain on the 
contact elements so that the protection of the connection is maintained. 
No switchovers are normally carried out for the incoming cable. Here it is 
advisable to use a continuous "grease-filled" protective cap. 
The distributor housing 1 often will remain closed following the 
introduction of the incoming cable until the subscriber lines or 
drop-wires are to be connected or mounted. When these are mounted in the 
distributor housing, depending upon the development stage, one or more 
than one pair of conductors can be installed and connected. If the divided 
protective cap is used, new drop-wires can be introduced, connected and 
protected at any time without effecting the protection of the old 
drop-wires. Re-allocation, re-wiring or re-jumping can be carried out at 
any time. In the output zone, a matching mold component is used, for 
example, as an output seal 20. Finally, one of the pins can also be seen 
which as a fixing or mounting means 13 fixes an outgoing drop-wire in the 
output zone. 
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the base component 3 has the grooves and ribs 
which serve as mounting means 17 and 18 into which tension bands or the 
like can be inserted in order to fix the distributor housing to a mast or 
the like. The mounting means are combined with those in FIG. 2 in such a 
manner that they permit the tensioning band fixing to be carried out on 
either of two axes which extend at right angles to each other. In each 
instance, two bands can be used. IDC (insulation displacement contact) 
technology is of particular significance for contact elements of the 
housing of the present invention. Although in this housing in accordance 
with the invention, no additional tools are required. The distributor 
housing itself consists, for example, of glass fiber reinforced polyester 
in which the contact elements are embedded. If the design is selected to 
be such that the protective caps are correctly positioned in the factory. 
Then, as a safeguard against unintentional closure of the housing and 
thus, covering the contact elements with the corrosion protection, an 
intermediate component is expediently provided between the top component 2 
and the base component 3 which intermediate component is removed during 
the later assembly. 
A further advantage of the distributor housing consists in that the lateral 
housing bridges can be kept very small and thus, provide extremely good 
accessibility during assembly. Thus, the distributor housing of with the 
invention has a particular advantage when the assembly or wiring is 
carried out in several phases because the already connected wires with 
their protection remain uninfluenced by the additional connecting or 
wiring measures. 
It is also possible to modify the capacity of the housing by means of an 
arrangement of the contact element and/or cable inlets and outlets which 
differ from that represented in the figures. 
Although various minor modifications may be suggested by those versed in 
the art, it should be understood that we wish to embody with the scope of 
the patent granted hereon, all such modifications as reasonably and 
properly come within the scope of our contribution to the art.