Improvements in Connectors for Electrical Cables or Wires.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Dec., 1898
I
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Connectors for Electrical Cables or Wires.
We, HERBERT WOODVILLE MILLER, of 18, Kensington Court Place, WILLIAM
TURVEY, of 4, Aubrey Walk, Campden Hill, and GEORGE CAMBRIDGE WESTON, of
16, Bark Place Bayswater, London, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:
Our invention has for its object a cheap and efficient appliance for connecting
or jointing cables or wires. Which shall be capable of being easily adjusted or
fitted to suit various sized wires or cables. And so avoid the necessity of having
to carry a different sized connector for every variation in size of either of the
wires.
To carry out our invention, we form from sheet metal a socket or tube, having
tongues projecting from each side of one end of the socket or tube. These tongues
must be sufficiently flexible to enable them to be easily bent round the cable or
wire to which connection is to be made.
In such cases where it may be necessary to use a smaller wire than that which
the socket fits, suitable short lengths of tube may be employed to fill the gap
between the wire & the socket, and the top may be serrated or notched in such
a manner that it may be closed up to fit the wire. In some cases a combination
of both arrangements may be advisable.
Under these conditions one size of connector may be made available for various
sized wires & combinations of sizes of wires.
After the connector is fixed in position, the joint is finished in the usual way,
by soldering, insulating, etc.
T
1
1
1000
H. W. MILLER,
WILLIAM TURVEY,
GEO. C. WESTON.
HERBERT WOODVILLE MILLER, of 18, Kensington Court Place, WILLIAM TURVEY,
of 4, Aubrey Walk, Campden Hill, & GEORGE CAMBRIDGE WESTON, of 18, Bark
Place, Bayswater, London, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Our invention has for its object a cheap and efficient appliance for connecting

page_text: or jointing wires or cables. And to avoid the necessity of having to carry a
different sized connector for every variation in size of either of the wires.
To carry out our invention we form from sheet metal a socket or tube having
tongues projecting from each side of one end of the socket or tube. These tongues
must be sufficiently flexible to enable them to be easily bent round the cable or
wire to which connection is to be made.
In such cases where it may be necessary to use a smaller wire than that which
the socket fits, suitable short lengths of tube may be employed to fill the gap
between the wire and the socket, and the top may be serrated or notched in such
a manner that it may be closed up to fit the wire. In some cases a combination
of both arrangements may be advisable.
Under these conditions one size of connector may be made available for various
sizes of wires.
After the connector is fixed in position the joint is finished in the usual way,
by soldering, insulating, etc.
Fig. A shows a section, side view, and plan, of one of our connectors arranged
to take a comparatively large branch wire say, 61/15 in the socket. The connector
is stamped out of sheet metal & bent into the shape shown forming a socket 1
with tongues 2 & 211 projecting on either side, a hole 3 is arranged in one side
of the socket to enable the solder used to flow into the joint more freely. Fig, B
is a plan, & section, of a small tubular piece which may be used to fill up the
space in the socket where necessary, as in such cases where the branch wire is
smaller than the hole of the socket, but too large for the next size smaller
connector: a split & a hole is arranged in this piece to facilitate the flow of the
solder. Fig. C is a plan, & side view, of a connector with a smaller sized socket
arranged to take a comparatively small say, 19/18 branch wire in the socket,
the tongues 4 & 4" being left the same length as in the larger size. Fig. D
illustrates a modification which may be used in such cases where it is necessary
to avoid as far as possible an abrupt step between the end of the connector & the
cable, as, where a smaller branch wire is used than the socket is adapted to, in
this case the gap between the wire & socket may be filled up by a tube as Fig. B,
which reaches to the serrated portion of the socket which after the branch wire
& tube have been placed in position, is pressed on to the branch wire, so that the
serrated portion closes together & forms a tapered end to the socket, in this way
avoiding the sharp ridge that would otherwise be left. Fig. E is a section of a
joint made with one of our connectors & shows the manner of placing the branch
wire 5 into connection with the main cable 6 the relative parts being fixed in
this position & the joint soldered. Fig. F is a side view, & section, of a smaller
branch wire & connector & illustrates the application of our connector to cables
of equal size, the branch wire 7 is placed in the socket & the tongues 9 & 911 are
closed round the cable the ends meeting as at 10, each tongue encircling nearly
half the circumference of the cable, the joint is then soldered & the end 10 cut
off with a pair of pliers, or other suitable fool, or the tongues may be bent slightly
sideways so as to pass each other, one to the left & one to the right; & each
tongue bent as far as it will go round the cable & the joint then soldered.
From this it will be seen that the advantages of these connectors are: they
are amply strong enough for the purpose & are easily fitted without the necessity
for filing or hammering into position on to the cable, that on account of the
arrangement of the tongues with a given size of socket a large variation in size
of cable may be dealt with easily, there is no superfluous metal, & all the metal
is a good conductor of heat the joint can be made with a minimum rise of tem-
perature thus decreasing the liability to damage the insulation, & the joint can be
finished off more neatly, they are cheaper to make, & have ample electrical
conductivity, & have an economical advantage over the solid patterns, inasmuch
as only a few sizes will cover all the usual variations met with in practice, instead
of having to stock & distribute a different size for each different combination of
branch wire & cable.

page_text: Having now particularly described & ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion & in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
(1). The improved connector consisting of a socket for receiving the branch
wire, with flexible tongues which may be easily bent round the other wire or
cable, so arranged that one size of connector will fit various sized wires or cables
substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
(2). The improved connector as shown in Fig. D having a serrated or notched
edge which can be closed in upon the wire for the purpose set forth & described.
Dated this Eighth day of Sentember 1800
H. W. MILLER,
WILLIAM TURVEY,
GEORGE C. WESTON.