WIRE STUFFER CAP/STRAIN RELIEF FOR COMMUNICATION NETWORK OUTLET

Abstract: A strain relief member (18) is disclosed for use in a communication network outlet utilizing a card-edge type connector (12) wherein the connector comprises a housing containing a plurality of insulation displacement contacts (24) exposed at a rear portion of the housing, and the rear portion has a rectangular cross section with a predetermined height. The strain relief member (18) comprises a dielectric housing having a top wall (28), a bottom wall (30) and a rear wall (32) extending therebetween, and a dimension between said top and bottom walls is slightly less than the predetermined height, whereby the strain relief member is secured to the card edge connector by a press fit engagement with the rear portion of the housing. As an optional feature, the strain relief member may have recessed walls (36) for stuffing or terminating insulation wrapped conductors into the insulation displacement contacts.

Description: WIRE STUFFER CAP/STRAIN RELIEF FOR COMMUNICATION NETWORK OUTLET This invention is directed to a device for terminating and/or providing strain relief to plural conductors terminated by a technique known as insulation displacement in a communication network outlet. A new generation of communication network outlet includes a card edge connector having a 110-style wiring block arrangement for terminating individual conductors in a communications network. The 110-style wiring block arrangement includes contacts having split beams, and the conductors are terminated in an insulation displacement process as they are inserted into slots defined between the split beams. Impact tools are known for urging the conductors into the slots. Problems with this arrangement are that the conductors are terminated individually, and as a result of the compactness of the system, the conductors must be severely bent placing considerable strain on the terminated conductors. The present invention overcomes these problems by providing a stuffer cap that can terminate multiple conductors during a single movement while providing strain relief to the terminated conductors. The invention is directed to a strain relief member for use in a communication network outlet utilizing a card-edge type connector wherein the connector comprises a housing having a through cavity containing a plurality of axially arranged terminal contacts, and each contact has a pair of opposed blades defining an insulation displacement slot therebetween for terminating a conductor therein. The contacts are exposed at a rear portion of the housing, and a card-receiving opening communicates with the through cavity from a front of the housing. The rear portion of the housing has a cable. The appropriate insert subassembly is mounted on the mounting frame 10 and connected to the cable. The illustrated embodiment of the dual modular jack insert subassembly 16 is a printed circuit board subassembly that is connected to the cable wiring by a card edge connector 12. This outlet assembly is mounted in a wall box and a faceplate 14, having openings through which the connector on the insert subassembly is accessible, is then attached to the mounting frame 10. These commercially available outlet assemblies may also have two insert subassemblies mounted one above the other so that more than one device can be attached or so that more than one cable, cable branch, or type of cable or physical media can be accommodated. Though not illustrated in Figure 1, the card edge connector 12 may comprise a two-part housing and includes an internal through cavity 20 for receiving the printed circuit board 22 of the insert assembly 16. The connector 12 includes a plurality of terminal contacts 24 as shown in Figures 6-8. The terminal contacts are positioned at least partially within the cavity 20 defined within the housing of the card edge connector 12. Each terminal contact has a resilient contact portion for contacting a conductive trace defined on a printed circuit board 22 which is inserted into the cavity from the front surface of the connector housing. Each terminal contact also includes an insulation displacement contact portion at the rear. The insulation displacement contact portion includes a pair of opposed blade or split beam portions which define a conductor receiving slot therebetween, as known in the art. That is, the respective contact portions are arranged in a horizontal plane in the connector housing, and are accessible for termination from the rear. In this arrangement, as can be seen in Figures 6-8, the insulation wrapped conductors are vertically oriented to FIGURE 8 is a vertical cross-sectional view of an assembled communication network outlet mounted in a wall, where such outlet incorporates a stuffer cap/strain relief member according to this invention. A communications network outlet with which the invention can be used is illustrated in an exploded fashion in Figure 1. The communications network outlet is a modular assembly comprising a mounting frame 10, card edge connectors 12, a faceplate 14, two dual modular jack subassemblies 16, and a single stuffer member/strain relief member 18 which is a feature of this invention. It should be noted, that while two dual modular jack subassemblies 16 have been illustrated, such subassemblies may well be single port modular jacks, or data connectors, as known in the art, or even a combination thereof. With this understanding, the preferred embodiment for the network outlet assembly serves as an interface point at which data communications equipment can be connected to the wiring in a local area network or other network of electrical components in an office, a factory, a laboratory or other facility. For a further discussion and features of network outlet assemblies, reference is made to U.S. Patent No. 4,756,695 which is incorporated herein by reference. These network outlet assemblies provide a convenient way in which the wiring employed in a network can be attached to input and output interface connectors or receptacles or ports to which components such as desktop computers and workstations can be attached. Appropriate modular insert subassemblies are used in these outlet assemblies for interconnection to the physical media or wiring used in a particular installation. For example, a modular jack insert can be used with twisted wires, a coaxial insert with coaxial cable and a fiber optic connector with optical fiber 28,30 toward and in contact with the rear wall 32. The respective ribs 40 are tapered along the ends 44 at the front edge 42 to facilitate press fitting of the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18 onto the card edge connector, as will be explained hereinafter. Finally, as best seen in Figures 2, 4 and 5, only one end 46 is closed, as it is intended in this preferred embodiment that a companion stuffer cap/strain relief member 18 would be used. That is, a pair of such members would be side-by-side with respective open ends 48 adjacent one another, and with the closed ends 46 on the outside as shown in Figure 4. However, it should be apparent that if more than two stuffer cap/strain relief members 18 are used, the internal members would be open on both ends. Conversely, if only a single member were used to handle all conductors, then both ends would be closed. However, it is preferred that no more than two such members be used on a single connector as the closed end 46 provides some additional structural integrity to the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18. To understand the relationship between the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18 and the card-edge connector 12, it is necessary to shift attention to the latter component. The card edge connector 12 may comprise a two-piece housing, where the rear thereof, see Figure 4, is defined by plural slots 50 in communication with the through cavity 20. The slots 50 are defined by essentially parallel walls or partitions 52. That is, adjacent walls define a single contact receiving slot. This array of walls, including the end walls, have a generally rectangular appearance so as to be received within the generally rectangularly shaped stuffer cap/strain relief member 18. To facilitate this engagement, the walls 52 have a height of predetermined dimension, and a vertical distance between opposed surfaces 54 of the ribs 40 in the stuffer cap/strain a respective individual terminal contact 24, then terminated thereto by a technique known in the art as insulation displacement. By the use of this type of connector, with the terminal contacts 24 arrayed along the rear thereof, the conductors may be individually terminated, such as by a hand tool, or plural conductors terminated by the use of the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18, as hereafter explained. Even if individually terminated, such as by an impact tool, the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18 should still be used to function as a strain relief. In any case, for further understanding of the practice of this invention, two common impact tools include those manufactured and sold by AT&T, bearing product number D814, and by Krone, bearing product number 6417-2-055-01. Turning now to the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18, as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, such member comprises a dielectric housing 26 having top and bottom walls 28,30, respectively, and a rear wall 32 integrally joined therebetween. The respective top and bottom walls are provided with a series of aligned conductor receiving slots 34. In the particular embodiment of Figure 2, the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18 is designed to receive four conductors. For a typical eight position connector, two such members would be positioned side-by-side, as illustrated in Figure 4. Thus, it should be apparent that a single or plural stuffer cap/strain relief member 18 may be used with a single connector. In any case, the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18 has plural partition walls 36, one such wall extending internally between each set or pair of conductor receiving slots 34. Each partition wall 36 further includes an intermediate slot 38, the function of which will be apparent hereinafter. Between the respective walls 36, upper and lower ribs 40 extend from the front edge 42 of the respective top and bottom walls CLAIMS 1. A strain relief member (18) for use in a communication network outlet utilizing a card-edge type connector (12) comprising a housing having a through cavity (20) containing a plurality of axially arranged terminal contacts (24) , each said contact having a pair of blades defining an insulation displacement slot therebetween for terminating a conductor therein, said pairs of blades being exposed at a rear portion of said housing, a card-receiving opening communicating with said through cavity from a front of said housing, and the rear portion of said housing having a generally rectangular cross-section with a predetermined height, characterized in that: said strain relief member (18) comprises a dielectric housing having a top wall (28) , a bottom wall (30) and a rear wall (32) extending therebetween, and a dimension between said top and bottom walls is slightly less than said predetermined height, whereby said strain relief member is secured to said card edge connector by a press fit engagement with said rear portion of said housing. 2. The strain relief member of claim 1, wherein said top and bottom walls (28,30) include plural aligned slots (34) , and respective conductors are receivable in opposed pairs of said slots. 3. The strain relief member of claim 2, wherein said housing includes recessed walls (36) extending between said top and bottom walls and aligned with respective said opposed pairs of said slots (34) . 4. The strain relief member of claim 3, wherein each of said recessed walls (36) has a slot (38) to provide clearance for a respective said contact. 5. The strain relief member of claim 1, wherein said rear portion of said connector housing includes relief member 18 is slightly less than said predetermined dimension. By the dimensional differences and the compliant nature of the dielectric material, i.e. plastic, a proper press fit engagement may be achieved. It will be noted further in Figure 4 that alternate walls 52' are axially longer than adjacent walls 52. It will be recalled that it is contemplated by this invention that termination of the conductors may be effected individually by conventional hand tools, or by plural termination by means of the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18. In any case, the walls 52,52' are dimensionally different to ease the manual lacing of the conductors into a pretermination position which is shown in Figure 6. Also, to ensure full seating of the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18 onto the rear of the card-edge connector 12, aligned holes 60 may be provided along the rear wall 32 to receive the ends of walls 52' . For mass or plural conductor termination by the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18, facing edge 62 of the partition wall 36, aligned with the conductor slots 34, functions to push the conductor into the slotted beam contact from the pre-termination position shown in Figure 6. Since the conductor is pushed interiorly of the contact end 64, the intermediate slot 38 is provided to receive the contact end 64, and in fact to finally position itself between the ends of the contact beams. In either case, whether individual or mass conductor termination, the stuffer cap/strain relief member 18 is press fit onto the rear of the card-edge connector and is retained snugly, thereby providing strain relief to the severely bent conductors, as shown in Figures 6-8.

Claims: plural walls (52,52') arranged between adjacent said contacts. 6. The strain relief member of claim 5, wherein said walls (52,52*) have a height which is equal to said predetermined height. 7. The strain relief member of claim 6, wherein said top and bottom walls (28,30) include pairs of opposed ribs (54) which engage respective ones of said connector housing walls (52,52'). 8. The strain relief member of claim 1, wherein said strain relief member (18) includes at least one end wall (46) connected to said top, bottom and rear walls.

Inventors: MILLER MITCHELL EUGENE, PITTS TERRY LEE, MILLER, MITCHELL, EUGENE, PITTS, TERRY, LEE
Applicants: WHITAKER CORP, THE WHITAKER CORPORATION
Application year: 1996
Main classification: H01R4
IPC codes: H01R4, H01R13