Abstract:
A terminal block for distributing telecommunication signals, the block including a base, an outer housing, internal contacts, actuators and threaded bolts, the actuators engaging and disengaging feed wires with and from the contacts. The interior space occupied by the contacts, bolts and actuators is divided into front and back chambers and protective dielectric gel is injected but cured only in the front chambers. During movement of the actuators less dielectric material is extruded out of the block and thus electrical integrity of the block is enhanced.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to terminal blocks, such as those used to connect a multiconductor telecommunications cable to drop wires feeding a local telephone distribution, and more particularly to such terminal blocks having dielectric material used to insulate the interior electrical contacts and mechanisms from adverse ambient conditions such as dirt and grime. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     In a application owned by the assignee of the present application Ser. No. 08/948,973 entitled Terminal Block, filed Oct. 10, 1997, and now U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,240 the structure of a terminal block is described in great detail. The description in that application is incorporated herein by reference. 
     As disclosed in the above-identified application, a cavity formed between an upper housing and a base where electrically conductive contacts and actuator mechanisms are located, is filled with a viscous dielectric material. The dielectric material, in the form of a gel, cures at the site to protect the mechanisms and the contacts from ambient or environmental conditions. For example, the terminal block may be located in an outdoor cabinet exposed to climatic conditions. Encasing or potting the conductive contacts and mechanisms in a dielectric material insulates these items from inclement weather, moisture, dirt and other undesirable elements which might interfere with the electrical connection between the contacts and the distribution feed wires. 
     In operation of the terminal block, the actuator mechanism is moved upwardly and downwardly when feed wires are engaged with or disengaged from the electrical contacts. However, during movement of the actuators, some of the gel is displaced through openings in the terminal block. When this happens, tools being used by the technician to operate the actuators may stick to the dielectric material and may cause some of the gel to be pulled away from the terminal block thereby degrading the protection offered by the material. Also, the material, if a gel, responds like a rubber band to movement. It biases whatever was moved back to its original position even though this may be undesirable. Further, the dielectric material is expensive, both in product and labor if it must be replaced. Also, dielectric material extruded out of the terminal block may pick up grime from the outer surface of the block. If the material is then pulled back into the block as usually happens, the adhering grime may also be pulled into the block and may interfere with the electrical functioning of the contacts. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The difficulties encountered with existing systems have been overcome by the present invention. What is described here is a terminal block adapted to connect to an electrical cable comprising a base, an electrically conductive contact mounted to the base, an actuator slidably mounted to the contact and movable from a lowered position wherein an electrical conductor may be retained in physical engagement with the conductive contact to a raised position wherein the electrical conductor, such as a feed wire, may be engaged with or disengaged from the electrically conductive contact, the actuator having a front wall, a rearwardly extending support wall connected to the front wall, a threaded portion connected to the rearwardly extending support wall, and an intermediate partition wall connected to the support wall, the intermediate partition wall having front and rear surfaces, a threaded bolt engaging the threaded portion of the actuator for moving the actuator between the lowered and the raised positions, an outer housing for engaging the base and for partially covering the electrically conductive contact, the actuator and the threaded bolt, the outer housing having a top wall, a back wall connected to the top wall, a front wall connected to the top wall and lateral interior chamber forming walls extending between the front and the back walls, the lateral interior walls cooperating with the partition wall of the actuator for forming first and second chambers between the base and the outer housing, the first chamber having disposed therein the front wall, the rearwardly extending support wall and the front surface of the intermediate partition wall of the actuator and the conductive contact, and the second chamber having disposed therein the threaded portion of the actuator and the threaded bolt, and a dielectric material positioned in the first chamber and cured therein when said actuator is in the lowered position for forming an environmental barrier about the electrically conductive contact. 
     The invention also includes a method for limiting the amount of dielectric material used in the terminal block comprising the steps of inverting the outer housing so that the top wall is lowermost and the interior is exposed, injecting the dielectric material into the interior, inserting the actuator, bolt and contact into the interior, rotating the outer housing about 90 degrees so that the front wall is lowermost, and curing the dielectric material in the interior. 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a terminal block which uses less dielectric material and therefore saves money and yet enhances protection of the internal mechanisms and the conductive contacts of the terminal block. Another object of the present invention is to provide a terminal block having a dielectric material where exposure of the dielectric material outside the terminal block is reduced. A further aspect of the present invention is to provide a terminal block having a dielectric material where the effect of the dielectric material on the operation of the internal mechanisms of the terminal block is minimized. Another aim of the present invention is to provide a dielectric containing terminal block which reduces the contact of the dielectric material with tools used to operate the mechanism in the terminal block when engaging or disengaging electrical feed wires. Yet another advantage of the present invention is to provide a method for limiting the amount of dielectric material used in a terminal block, the method being inexpensive, effective and reliable. 
     A more complete understanding of the present invention and other objects, aspects, aims and advantages thereof will be gained from a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiment read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings provided herein. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a terminal block of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the terminal block of FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a exploded front perspective view of the terminal block of FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrating the internal actuators, threaded bolts and electrically conductive contacts. 
     FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the terminal block of FIGS. 1-3. 
     FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of the terminal block of FIGS. 1-3. 
     FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial front elevational view of the terminal block taken along line  6 — 6  of FIG. 4 showing the actuator in a raised position. 
     FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of the actuator of FIG. 6 in a lowered position. 
     FIG. 8 is an enlarged, partially broken away, bottom plan view of an outer housing of the terminal block shown in FIGS. 1-3. 
     FIG. 9 is a bottom plan view of the actuator shown in FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 10 is a bottom sectional plan view taken along line  10 — 10  of FIG.  5 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     While the present invention is open to various modifications and alternative constructions, the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings will be described herein in detail. It is understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalent structures and methods and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, there is illustrated a terminal block  20  having an outer housing  22 , a base  23  and an electrical cable  24 . The cable contains a plurality of electrical conductors which will engage various electrically conductive contacts mounted within the terminal block. A plurality of electrically conductive contacts such as the contacts  25  and  26  are mounted to the base  23  through appropriate openings in the base. The outer housing  22  includes a top wall  27 , a front wall  28  and a back wall  30 . The top wall has a series of contact test ports such as the test port  32 . The top wall also includes a series of recessed openings, such as the opening  40 , for receiving threaded bolts such as the bolt  41 . The front wall  28  includes a series of wire openings, such as the wire opening  42 , for receiving electrical conductors, such as feed wires, designed to engage the electrically conductive contacts mounted to the base. 
     The outer housing  22  also includes two pairs of snap openings, such as the front openings  44  and  46 , which will engage corresponding snap tabs  48  and  50  of the base  23 . The rear wall  30  also includes a pair of snap openings  54  and  56  which engage snap tabs  58  and  60  of the base. The mechanism within the terminal block includes the contacts, a plurality of actuators, and a plurality of threaded bolts. The bolt  41  has a head portion  72  and a threaded stem portion  74 . Each bolt engages and operates an actuator, such as the actuator  76 . The actuator  76  includes a front wall  78 , a top wall  80 , two posts, such as the post  82 , a rearwardly extending support wall  84 , an intermediate partition wall  86  and a threaded portion connected to the support wall in the form of a threaded sleeve  88 . 
     Each electrically conductive contact has a head portion  90 , two upper looped arms  92 ,  93  separated by a slot  94  and two lower looped arms  95 ,  96  separated by a slot  97 . Each electrically conductive contact also includes a set of legs  98 ,  99  which are received within an opening  100  in the base  23  so as to allow the conductive contacts to be mounted to the base and extend beneath it to connect to the conductors within the cable. The actuators are formed to slide vertically along the conductive contacts when the threaded bolts are rotated. The threaded bolt  41  engages the threaded portion  88  of the actuator  76  while each post is received by the two pairs of curved arms of a contact. The front wall  78  of the actuator includes a number of openings such as the opening  110 , and these are aligned to expose the slots  94 ,  97  of the electrically conductive contacts. The actuator allows feed wires to be engaged with conductive contacts and to be properly located in relation to the conductive contacts as will be explained below. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 4,  5 ,  6  and  7 , the operation of the actuator will be described. In FIG. 6 the actuator  76  is shown in its raised positions relative to the fixed position of the electrically conductive contacts such as the conductive contacts  25 ,  26 . As mentioned a pair of legs  98 ,  99  of the contact are mounted in the base  23 . The opening  110  of the front wall  78  of the actuator allows an electrical conductor or feed wire  111  to be inserted from outside the terminal blocks through the opening  42  in the outer housing and into the mouth portion of the looped arms  95  and  96 . When such a wire is arranged, the actuator is brought downwardly to the lowered position shown in FIG. 7 where a top edge  120  of the opening  110  will engage the feed wire  111  and force it into the slot  97  of the conductive contact. This has the dual benefit of forcing a wire into the slot and positioning the wire correctly so as to maintain the conductive contact within a predetermined stress range. When it is desired to disengage the wire  111  from the conductive contact slot  97 , the actuator  76  is moved upwardly so that a bottom edge  122  of the opening  110  engages the wire  111  and forces it upwardly in the slot to the mouth region of the contact thereby allowing the wire to be disengaged and removed. It should be understood that an insulative dielectric material such as Sealrite Self-Restoring Gel LT produced by CasChem, Inc., of Bayonne, N.J. will cover the actuator and the conductive contacts so as to protect the mechanism from ambient dirt, moisture and grime. However, it will not interfere with the engagement or disengagement of the wire from the contract. 
     Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, the interior of the outer housing is illustrated in more detail. As mentioned the outer housing  22  includes the top wall  27 , the front wall  28  and the back wall  30 . The test port  32  is provided in the top wall and the opening  40  is provided for the threaded bolt. Positioned laterally between the front wall  28  and the back wall  30  are two interior chamber forming walls  140  and  142  which divide the terminal block into compartments or cavities, each compartment including two conductive contacts, a slidable actuator and a threaded bolt. Each interior wall includes two guide arms, such as the guide arms  144  and  146 , so that a guide channel, such as the channel  148 , is formed. On the inside of the front wall  28  is a guide rail  150 . 
     The actuator  76 , FIG. 9 includes the front wall  78 , the top wall  80 , the post  82 , the support wall  84  and the threaded portion  88 . In addition, the actuator includes a second post  83 , the intermediate partition wall  86  extending to the right and another intermediate partition wall  87  extending to the left. It may now be appreciated that the partition walls  86  and  87  are designed to ride within guide channels such as the channel  148 , FIG. 8. A slot  152  in the front wall of the actuator is designed to engage the guide rail  150  of the outer housing. 
     When the actuator  76  is enclosed by the outer housing  22  as shown in FIG. 10, the compartment containing the pair of contacts, the actuator and the threaded bolt is divided into a first or front chamber  160  and a second or back chamber  162 . In the terminal block described at the beginning of this application, dielectric material is placed within the entire compartment or cavity which is comprised of the front chamber  160  and the back chamber  162 . What is proposed here is that only the front chamber receives the dielectric material  164 . The front chamber contains the actuator front wall  78 , the actuator support wall  84 , the actuator posts  82 ,  83  and an inner surface  156  of the partition walls  86 ,  87 . In addition, the two electrically conductive contacts  25  and  26  are also in the first chamber. The remainder of the actuator, primarily the threaded portions  88  and the threaded bolt  41  are situated in the back chamber  162 . It has been found that the back chamber does not need dielectric material so that approximately one-third of the dielectric material is saved because from a volume standpoint the front chamber  160  occupies about two-thirds of the compartment whereas the back chamber  162  occupies about one-third. 
     A number of advantages are achieved in addition to the use of less dielectric material. By eliminating or greatly reducing the dielectric material around the threaded bolt there is no drag created by the dielectric material upon rotation of the bolt, nor is there a rubber band-like biasing force which might reverse rotate the bolt so as to move the actuator to its lowered position once a technician releases the tool he/she is using. Also with a smaller amount of dielectric material being used in the terminal block, there will be less material to be extruded out of the terminal block when the actuator is moved from its lowered position to its raised position since there is physically less dielectric material in the block to begin with. Yet another advantage is that when upward movement of the actuator does take place, there is room for the dielectric material to extrude around the partition walls  86 ,  87  either above them or below them so that the dielectric material stays within the confines of the terminal block. 
     The method of loading a dielectric material gel into the terminal block includes the steps of placing the outer housing in an inverted position as shown in FIG. 8, and injecting the gel which initially is in a syrupy or viscous liquid state. After injection of the gel, the base containing the internal mechanisms including the actuators and the threaded bolts as well as the conductive contacts are inserted into the outer housing and then the entire terminal block is rotated 90 degrees so as to rest on the front wall of the outer housing. This allows the viscous gel to flow into the front chamber and then cure. After approximately 30 to 60 minutes, the terminal block may be handled and moved and after approximately 24 hours, the gel is fully cured. 
     In operation, the actuators in the terminal block are usually in their lowered positions. When it is desired to connect a feed wire to one of the electrically conductive contacts, the technician uses a torqueing tool such as a wrench to rotate the threaded bolt in a counterclockwise direction causing the actuator to move to its raised positions. The feed wires may then be inserted through the openings in the front wall of the outer housing and the front wall of the actuator so as to position the feed wire above a slot of one of the contacts. The threaded bolt is then rotated in a clockwise direction causing the actuator to return to its lowered position and thereby move the feed wire into proper engagement with the slot of the conductive contact. To remove an electrical conductor, the process is reversed. It is at this time when the actuator is in a raised position that gel may be extruded from the block. During movement of the actuator from its lowered position to its raised position, cured gel will be pushed around but because there is less volume of gel than previously used, less of the material will be extruded through the openings of the upper housing. Also, some of the gel will be pushed into the back chamber and thus will not leave the confines of the terminal block at all. Since the gel has already cured, it is resilient and stretchable. Hence, after insertion or engagement of the feed wire, which occurs by moving the actuator from its raised position to its lowered position, gel extruded out of the front chamber will be pulled back into the position it originally had. 
     By not extruding the dielectric material outside of the terminal block or by keeping such extrusions to a minimum, dirt and other undesirable debris that may be adhering to the outer surface of the terminal block will not be pulled back into the terminal block when the actuator is returned to its lowered position. This improves the likelihood that electrical integrity of the connections between the feed wires and the conductive contacts is maintained. 
     The specification describes in detail an embodiment of the present invention. Other modifications and variations will, under the doctrine of equivalents, come within the scope of the appended claims. For example, changing the shape and size of the actuator and/or the conductive contacts are considered equivalent structures. Also, changing the shape and opening sizes of the outer housing or of the actuator are also considered to be equivalent structures. Further, the number of contacts and actuators may be increased or decreased from the ten and five, respectively illustrated in the drawing. For example, it is quite common to have twenty contacts and ten actuators in commercial versions of the terminal blocks. Still other alternatives will also be equivalent as will many new technologies. There is no desire or intention here to limit in any way the application of the doctrine of equivalents.