Patent ID: 8212147

Claim:
A finger friendly twist-on wire connector comprising: a spiral coil; an open-end rigid shell secured to the spiral coil with the rigid shell having an outer surface with a circumferential band and a closed end; a plurality of channels extending in a lengthwise direction along said circumferential band; and a resilient finger cushion material molded to the outer surface of the closed end of the rigid shell with the resilient finger cushion material including a plurality of circumferentially spaced elongated ribs resiliently deformable in response to radially and tangential finger forces thereon as rotational finger forces are transmitted to the rigid shell through the resilient finger cushion material to thereby inhibit finger fatigue and finger injury; and a plurality of riblets of resilient finger cushion material extending in a lengthwise direction along said circumferential band with said riblets located in said plurality of channels and interspersed with said elongated ribs to provide a circumferential cushioned gripping region on the twist-on wire connector.