Electric cable terminal with built-in marking support

Abstract: This Terminal is consisting of a metal part (1) one end (2) of which is to be connected to the binding post of the equipment, whereas the other end,(3) is shaped as a ring with an insulating coating (4). A sleeve (5) inside this insulating coating (4) is forming the extension of the ring shaped metal part (3); this sleeve (5) has on one of its peripheral sections an expansion (6) in which to lodge the marking elements (7) lengthwise to the terminal; the sleeve (5) and its expansion (6) are directly obtained by moulding on the terminal.

Description: Electric cable terminals which permit to connect electric cables or leads to the binding post of various electric control and operating units are generally known. These terminals are essentially consisting of an insulating material and a metal portion, one end of which is shaped according to the connection to be made to the equipment, i.e. it may have the form of a ring, fork, plug, male-female or other shape, whereas the other end has the form of a ring wrapped in the insulating material and apt to receive and secure the conductor end. It is disclosed from EP-A-0 251 054 a terminal which comprises an insulating body provided with a transparent recess for marking elements and a metal plug incorporated in the insulating body. The insulating body and relative recess can be freely rotated in respect to the plug to facilitate the reading of the codes of the marking elements. From CH-A-438.444 it is disclosed a similar terminal which comprises a prominence of the insulating body, on which there are placed the marking elements. This prominence cannot be rotated in respect to the metal plug. There are also known for instance solut ions according to FR-A-1 321 537 and EP-A-0 295 543 in which the terminal is manufactured in separated elements to be assembled and according to DE-A-3 107 083, which presents a marking support inserted by clutch on the insulating material. In this application we refer to the known terminals, commmonly used, which, as above clarified, present only the metal element and the insulating element without marking support. These known terminals are not designed for marking and the cables must therefore be marked, irrespective of the installation mode of the terminal. This means a loss of time during wiring and marking of the electric installations. This invention has the aim to fit each known terminal with a suitable support, apt to receive the marking elements which will identify the terminal and hence the related cable. Thus, the cable code can be directly applied as soon as the terminal is secured to the cable, without further need for marking the cable. According to this invention, the terminal also consists of a sleeve provided with an expansion to lodge marking elements and created at the extension of the ring which is part of the metal portion and inside the insulating material forming coating, while the sleeve and its expansion are obtained by direct injection moulding on the metal portion and the insulating material so as to form one single not detachable assembly. The material forming the ring and the related expansion for the marking elements is preferably transparent so that the marking code is visible from outside. The subject matter of this invention is illustrated in the enclosed drawing, in which: Fig. 1 shows a longitudinal section of a known ring shaped terminal; Fig. 2 shows a side view of the terminal illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows a longitudinal section of the terminal with a support for the marking elements according to this invention, placed on the plane of the coupling ring; Fig 4 shows a side view of the terminal illustrated in Fig.3; Fig. 5 shows a side view of the terminal illustated in fig.3 with an expansion to lodge the marking elements rotated by 90° with respect to the solution in fig. 3 and 4; Fig. 6 shows a front view of the terminal illustrated in fig.5 The figures 7, 8, and 9 show a side view of exemplified terminals according to this invention, respectively with a fork shaped, plug and Faston type end. With reference to fig.1 and 2, the known terminal is consisting of a metal portion 1 having a shaped end 2 according to the type of connection to be made with the equipment, i.e. ring, fork, plug or Faston type. The opposite end 3 of the metal portion is ring shaped and covered by a insulating material 4, usually in non transparent and strong plastic. According to known procedures, the end of the conductor cable from which the insulation has been removed, is threaded in the ring 3 of the metal part 1 where it is blocked by pinching the ring so as to obtain a stable joint between terminal and cable. According to the invention illustrated in Fig. 3 and 4, a sleeve 5 featuring on one peripheral surface an expansion 6, lengthwise to the terminal, in which to house the marking elements, is formed at the external extension of the ring shaped end 3 of the metal portion 1 and partially inside the insulating coating 4. This sleeve 5 and its expansion 6 are obtained by direct injection molding on the known terminal, so as to include all parts and form an irremovable and non-detachable assembly. The expansion 6 of the sleeve should be preferably recess shaped, i.e. as a tube in which to lodge, in known manner, the marking codes consisting of marking elements or tags 7. This means that the recess must be transparent so that the marking elements will be clearly legible and for this reason, the whole sleeve 5 and its expansion 6 are in transparent plastic material. However, this does not exclude that the expansion 6 may be ferrule shaped onto which the marking rings or tags are applied. This solution has, however, the drawback of not providing protection for the marking elements which may become illegible in the course of time, while on the other hand, the expansion needs no longer be in transparent material. In Fig. 3 and 4, the expansion 6 is located on one side of the terminal and on the same plane with its end 2 hooked onto the binding post, but this is only for exemplification since the expansion 6 may be located anywhere with respect to the terminal. For instance, in fig. 5 and 6, the expansion is located above the terminal at a right angle to the position illustrated in fig. 3 and 4. As already explained, the end 2 of the metal part 1 of the terminal may be differently shaped according to the connection to be made and the object matter of this invention may be directly and obviously extended to any and all ring (fig.5), fork (fig.7), plug (fig.8), male-female (fig.9) shaped and other solutions. According to this invention, the terminal has therefore its own marker support so as to facilitate wiring of the connections and to eliminate the need for single cable or wire marking.

Claims: Electric cable terminal consisting of an insulating material (4) and a metal portion (1) one end (2) of which is shaped according to the connection to be made to the equipment, i.e. it may have the form of a ring, fork, plug, male-female or other shape, whereas the other end (3) has the form of a ring wrapped in the insulating material (4) and apt to receive and secure the conductor end, characterized by the fact that the terminal also consists of a sleeve (5) provided with an expansion (6) to lodge marking elements (7) and created at the extension of the ring (3) which is part of the metal portion (1), and inside the insulating material forming coating (4), while the sleeve (5) and its expansion (6) are obtained by direct injection moulding on the metal portion and the insulating material so as to form one single not detachable assembly. Terminal as described in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the expansion (6) has the shape of a tubular recess in which to house the marking elements (7). Terminal as described in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the expansion (6) is ferrule shaped so as to receive the marking elements on its outer surface (7). Terminal as described in claim 2, characterized by the fact that the sleeve (5) and expansion (6) are in transparent plastic material. Terminal as described in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the expansion (6) may be located in any position and direction with respect to the metal portion of the terminal.

Inventors: PIANA IVANA, PIANA SILVANO, PIANA, IVANA, PIANA, SILVANO
Applicants: GRAFOPLAST SPA, GRAFOPLAST S.P.A.
Application year: 1992
Main classification: H01R13
IPC codes: G09F3, H01R13, H01R11