Patent ID: 8771004

Claim:
A spring terminal for connecting the bare end of a conductor ( 3 ) with a bus bar, comprising: (a) a housing ( 5 ) formed of insulating material, said housing including a pair of parallel spaced planar vertical side walls ( 51 ), and a vertical end wall ( 52 ) connected orthogonally between corresponding vertical edges of said side walls, said end and side walls cooperating to define a chamber; (b) a vertical bus bar ( 2 ) arranged in said chamber in engagement with said end wall, said housing having at its upper end an opening for receiving the bare end of a vertical conductor that is inserted downwardly into said chamber adjacent said bus bar; and (c) spring means for biasing the conductor bare end toward contiguous electrical engagement with said bus bar, said spring means including a generally U-shaped resilient metal spring ( 4 ) having: (1) a generally vertical body portion ( 41 ); (2) a generally downwardly inclined upper clamping leg portion ( 43 ) connected at a first acute angle ( 40 a ) with the upper end of said spring body portion, said clamping leg portion terminating at its free end in an end extremity ( 431 ); (3) a generally horizontal lower mounting leg portion ( 42 ) connected at a second acute angle ( 40 b ) with the lower end of said spring body portion, said clamping leg portion and said mounting leg portion extending from said spring body portion in the direction of said bus bar; (4) spring mounting means ( 54 ; 421 ) for mounting said spring within said housing chamber in a released condition in which: (a) said mounting leg portion is fixed between said side walls; (b) the spring body portion is free for pivotal displacement relative to said mounting leg portion; (c) the free extremity ( 431 ) of said clamping leg is adjacent said busbar; and (d) the downwardly inclined upper surface of said clamping leg is so arranged that as the conductor is progressively inserted downwardly into said chamber, the conductor extremity engages said spring upper clamping leg and pivots said spring body portion relative to said mounting leg portion away from said bus bar toward a clamping position in which said clamping leg extremity engages the conductor circumferential surface and presses the conductor toward engagement with said bus bar; and (5) locking means for locking said spring body portion in said clamping position.