US3345605A

US3345605A - Electrical connector cluster assembly

Info

Publication number: US3345605A
Application number: US481255A
Authority: US
Inventors: Looke Arvo
Original assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp
Current assignee: CBS Corp
Priority date: 1965-08-20
Filing date: 1965-08-20
Publication date: 1967-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 1984-10-03

Description

Oct. 3, 1967 A. LOOKE ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR CLUSTER ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 20. 1965 INVENTOR ATTORN WITNESSES $2MM J Arvo Looke United States Patent 3,345,605 ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR CLUSTER ASSEMBLY Arvo Looke, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Aug. 20, 1965, Ser. No. 481,255 Claims. (Cl. 339-192) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus especially adapted for connecting a hermetic compressor motor to the hermetic shell mounted terminal of the type having three closely spaced pins with flat tabs thereon, the cluster assembly including a block with cavities therein in an orientation in which the contact sockets are relatively flat and disposed at equilateral angles with each other to align with the tabs on the pins, with the cavities including a trough for the'contact wires and ferrules to extend directly to the edge of the block and emerge in a pin wheel array, with the thoughts passing no closer to an adjacent terminal than the spacing between the pin-tabs themselves.

This invention relates to an electrical connector of the character in which the terminal ends of the group of electrical conductors are held in assembled relation for making aganged electrical connection with a series of correspondingly arrayed pin terminals.

While the connector cluster according'to the invention may be used with various electrical devices, one immediate application is for connecting a refrigerant compressor motor to the terminal pins projecting through a hermetically sealed shell. Accordingly, such an arrange ment will .be used as an example for descriptive purposes.

An electrical connector cluster assembly for such use should be relatively small and of low profile, relatively inexpensive, easily handled and oriented within the limited space between the shell and other interior components of the shell, and arranged to prevent electrical shorts between the separate terminals.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is the provision of an electrical connector cluster assembly which poss'esses these features as well as others to be later noted herein. a

An appreciation of the nature of the invention may be aided by explainingin somewhat more detail the environment in which an assembly according to the invention is found particularly useful. Small hermetic compressors of a size used in domestic refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, and such products are mass produced'for incorporation in millions of such appliances each year. A number. of manufacturers of small hermetic compressors use a standard hermetic terminal which carries three pin Conductors .in sealed and insulated relation through the shell of the. hermetic compressor. Since these hermetic therminals are mass produced by one or two suppliers for the most part, the unit cost is relatively low. One such standard hermetic terminal is made by the Fusite Corporation and has three internally-projecting pins arranged as if they were at the corners of a substantially equilateral triangle and with the axes of adjacent pins being less than a half inch from each other. One typical way of connecting the leads of the compressor motor to the pins has been to push each connector individually onto its respective pin. Making the individual connections is quite time consuming and also increases the chance that two or three of the connectors may be connected to the wrong pins. While cluster assemblies for making ganged connections are well known, the. structural arrangement the description of the cavity which is shaped to receive 3,345,605 Patented Oct. 3, 1967 according to this invention provides a number of advantageous features with respect to the relatively small hermetic terminal of a standard nature With which it is used.

In accordance with the invention, a mounting block is provided with a number of connector cavities for holding the connectors in a proper array to fit the hermetic pins. The connectors are formed to be accommodated by the cavities, with these cavities being arranged so that each conductor emerges from the edge of the mounting block at a location closely adjacent the connector. Preferably, the outline shape of the mounting block is generally triangular, and the space to accommodate each of the connector ferrules generally cuts across a corner of the triangular shape so that the conductors emerge from the edge of the block along a line forming an acute angle with one adjacent side of the block. This facili tates wrapping the conductors around the edge of the block in closely hugging relation to a location where they are fastened together into a group. This arrangement lends itself to the cluster assembly having a natural orientation which can be used to insure correct connec tions.

The invention will be described in more detail in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating two embodiments thereof by way of example, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the rear (i.e., cover) side of a cluster assembly according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the rear side of the mounting block with the cover removed and the connectors omitted;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view corresponding to one taken along the line III-III of FIG. 2 but with a connector installed in its cavity;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary isometric view of one corner of the mounting block, with a connector for the cavity in that corner shown in exploded relation to the block;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of a portion of the inside face of a hermetic compressor shell provided with a hermetic terminal having inwardly projecting terminal pins to which the cluster assembly, shown below the hermetic terminal and in unconnected relation, is to be connected; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary isometric view of a portion of a mounting block provided with a modified cavity configuration, and with a connector also having a modified configuration so as to mate with the cavity of the block shown in exploded relation.

The cluster assembly is shown in FIG. 1 in its assembled form with three

electrical conductors

10, 12 and 14 emerging from three underlying cavities 15 at peripherally-spaced locations about the edge of the generally triangular insulating block 16. The

lead wires

10 and 12 are wrapped around the peripheral edge from their point of emergence to form a three wire group with the other conductor 14 adjacent the location of the lead wire 14. The three conductors are fastened together by any suitable means such as the cord 17 at this emergence location of the wire 14, and the group then extends to be connected to the compressor motor (not shown).

I The cover 18 for the rear face of the block 16 is generally hexagonally shaped and fits with three of the side edges 20 of the cover flush with the three corresponding edges of the block, and the other three edges 22 of the cover seating within the raised abutments 24 at the cor ners of the block. The cover is conveniently fastened to the block with a rivet or screw 26. Referring now to FIGS. 2-4, a cavity generally designated 15 is provided adjacent each corner of the block to receive a connector 30 secured to the end of a motor lead wire. The parts of the connector will be first identified (FIG. 4) to facilitate of emergence the connector. The connector includes a conventionally shaped socket portion 32 adapted for a slip-on connection to a hermetic terminal pin, a ferrule portion 34 which is crimped onto the bare lead wire and adjacent insulating material of the conductor, and an intermediate web portion 36. The terminal shown in FIG. 4 has an initial shape before formation according to the invention of a flag terminal in which the axes of the ferrule and socket are perpendicular and intersecting. However, this form is changed by bending the web along a line parallel to the ferrule axis and adjacent the socket so that an acute angle is formed between the closed planar face of the socket and the web. This shape will hereinafter be referred to a the saddle (also 36) since the connector seats in saddle fashion upon a ridge in the block cavity as will be noW described.

Each cavity (FIGS. 2-4) which receives a connector includes a socket-receiving opening 38 extending between the rear face 40 and the front face 42 of the block, a ferrule receiving trough-shaped recess 44 open at one end 45 to the edge of the block, and a wall 46 having its edge 48 recessed below the rear face of the block. The trough 44 and the edge 48 generally cut across a corner of the triangular-shaped block in this described embodiment of the cluster assembly, but only one end of the trough is open to the edge of the block.

The manner in which the terminal seats in the cavity is perhaps best visualized from FIGS. 3 and 4. The socket 32 fits in the opening 38, the ferrule 34 lies in the trough 44 with its connected wire extending out of the open end 45 at the edge of the block, and the saddle 36 seats on the edge 48. The opening, trough, and recessed edge are designed to allow a degree of freedom of movement of the connector in the cavity so that the connector is essentially self-aligning with the pins on which it is pushed to make the connection.

The orientation of the cavities in the embodiment thus far described is such that the lead wires emerge from the edges of the block in what may aptly be termed pinwheel fashion. As such, the lead wires emerge at acute angles relative to adjacent edges of the block so that the flexible leads may be wrapped easily about the edge without departing very far from the edge. As shown in FIG. 1, the

wires

10 and 12 are wrapped about the edge and are collected to form a group with wire 14 near the place where it emerges from the edge of the block. Here the three wires are tied together by a piece of string or the like. The leads typically used with a cluster assembly for the exemplary application are of the character that when the three leads are tied together, the cluster assembly and wire portions closely adjacent the cluster assembly are conveniently handled as a more or less integral unit. Also, as will be explained in connection with FIG. 5, with the three leads tied together closely to the edge of the block, the block has a natural position which facilitates the correct connection of the cluster assembly to the hermetic terminal.

The hermetic terminal 50 in FIG. 5 has three equilaterally spaced posts, each of which comprises a pin 52 and a tab 54 welded thereon, with the terminal base sealed to the wall 56 of the compressor. With the motor ends (not shown) connected to the motor, and with the length of the leads being restricted to a length which only permits the cluster assembly to reach the hermetic terminal, the cluster assembly cannot be incorrectly connected. Specifically, rotation of the cluster assembly of FIG. 5 from its illustrated position is resisted by the conductors being too short to easily accommodate a 120 rotation of the cluster assembly in either direction and still reach the terminal. Of course, by having the conductors tied together, this also can serve as in indication of proper orientation. That is, the assembler need simply remember that the wires are to be on the bottom, for example.

While the presently preferred embodiment for commercial purposes is as shown in FIGS. 1-5, an alternative embodiment having a structure as shown in FIG. 6 may sometimes be desirable. In this case, the connector generally designated 60, and the cavity generally designated 62, are arranged so that while the socket 64 has the same orientation in the cluster, the ferrule 66 extends radially outwardly from the socket. In this arrangement, the trough 68 has been turned from its FIGS. 1-5 disposition, and the connector is correspondingly formed to fit it. In other respects the construction of the components is similar to the first described embodiment in that the terminal includes a saddle 72, and the opening and trough of the cavity are sufficiently large to permit selfalignment when the cluster assembly is pushed onto the terminal posts. In the FIG. 6 embodiment, the leads are also wrapped around the edge of the block to form a common group at the point of emergence of one of the wires.

Partly by way of summary, it will be appreciated from the foregoing description that a cluster assembly according to the invention provides an arrangement in which the contact sockets may be closely spaced together to mate with a standard hermetic terminal having closely spaced posts, but in which the lead wires connected to the contact sockets are not required to pass in close proximity to any of the other contact sockets or other metallic parts of the terminal. At the same time, the mounting block and terminals are so disposed that the thickness of the cluster assembly is held to a small value so that the cluster assembly may be manipulated within the relatively limited space within the compressor shell. Further, terminals may be used which are conveniently available as standard terminals and need only be bent to provide a shape conforming to the particularly shaped cavitie in the mounting block.

I claim as my invention:

1. A cluster assembly for making a gang connection to a plural post terminal of the type including equilaterally spaced pins carrying equi-angullarly oriented tabs thereon tangent to the radially outer side of each of the pins, said cluster assembly comprising:

a mounting block having opposite front and rear faces;

a number of individual electrical connector terminals carried by said block in a predetermined orientation, each terminal including a relatively flat contact socket to fit on said pin-tabs, a wire-gripping ferrule, and an intermediate web;

said block including means defining a cavity to accommodate each of said terminals, said cavities being spaced radially outwardly from the central portion of said block;

each of said cavities including a radially-inner, socketreceiving-opening extending between said opposite faces to accommodate said socket with the socket major dimension extending tangent to the circle passing through said pin-tabs, and an adjacent, radially-outer trough to accommodate said ferrule, said trough extending relatively directly to the edge of said block to provide an opening for the emergence of the wire gripped by said ferrule in the immediate vicinity of said cavity, said trough extending to said block edges in a path in which it does not pass more closely to any adjacent terminal cavity within the peripheral limits of said block than the spacing between adjacent terminals, said intermediate web being bent to form an acute angle between said ferrule and contact socket so that said ferrule occupies a level in said trough within the length of said contact socket.

2. A cluster assembly for making a gang connection to a plural post terminal of the type including equilaterally spaced pins carrying equi-angularly oriented tabs thereon tangent to the radially outer side of each of the pins, said cluster assembly comprising:

a mounting block having opposite front and rear faces;

a number of individual electrical connector terminals carried by said block in a predetermined orientation,

each terminal including a relatively flat contact socket to fit on said pin-tabs, a wire-gripping ferrule, and an intermediate web;

each of said cavities including a radially-inner, socketreceiving-opening extending between said opposite faces to accommodate said socket with the socket major dimension extending tangent to the circle passing through said pin-tabs, and an adjacent, radially-outer trough to accommodate said ferrule, said trough extending relatively directly to the edge of said block and being open thereat to accommodate the emergence of the wire gripped by said ferrule, said trough extending to said block edges in a path in which it does not pass more closely to any adjacent terminal cavity Within the peripheral limits of said block than the space between adjacent terminals, said intermediate web being bent to form an acute angle between said ferrule and contact socket so that said ferrule occupies a level in said trough within the length of said contact socket, all of said troughs being disposed relative to each other so that said wires emerge from said edge of said block in a pin-wheel array.

3. The cluster assembly of claim 2 wherein:

said block has a generally triangular outline shape,

and said troughs extend in a direction generally cutting the corners of said triangular shape.

4. A cluster assembly according to claim 2 wherein:

said wires are wrapped around the edge of said block in closely hugging relation thereto to form a group at the location of emergence of one of said wires; and

means are provided to fasten said group together at said emergence location of said one wire.

5. A cluster assembly according to claim 2 wherein:

each of said cavities includes a wall between said socket opening and said trough, the edge of said wall adjacent said rear face of said block being recessed; said socket and said Web are bent toward each other to form a saddle adapted to seat upon said wall.

6. A cluster assembly according to claim 5 wherein:

each said socket opening and said trough are oversized relative to said socket and said ferrule to provide a loose fit so that said terminal is substantially self-aligning upon connection to a mating part.

7. A cluster assembly for making a gang connection to a plural post terminal of the type including equilaterally spaced pins carrying equi-angularly oriented tabs thereon tangent to the radially outer side of each of the pins, said cluster assembly comprising:

a mounting block having opposite front and rear faces;

a number of individual electrical connector terminals carried by said block, each terminal including a relatively flat contact socket to fit on said pin-tabs, a Wire-gripping ferrule, and an intermediate Web, said terminal being shaped to provide a saddle in said Web between said socket and said ferrule;

a cavity for each terminal in said block, each said cavity comprising an opening extending through said block from said rear to said front face to accommodate a socket with the socket major dimension extending tangent to a circle passing through said pintabs, a trough open to said rear face and having one end thereof open to the edge of said block to accommodate said ferrule, and a Wall between said opening and said trough to receive said saddle-formed Web;

said troughs extending to said block edges in a path in which they do not pass more closely to any adjacent terminal cavity Within the peripheral limits of said block than the spacing between adjacent terminal cavities, said troughs being located and disposed relative to the center of said block that the wires gripped by said ferrules extend relatively directly to and emerge through said block edge in a pin-wl1eel array; and

a cover for said rear face of said block to hold said terminals in said cavities.

8. A cluster assembly according to claim 7 wherein:

said block is generally triangular in outline;

said cavities are disposed with said troughs cutting the corners of said block.

9. A cluster assembly according to claim 8 wherein:

two of said wires are wrapped around said edge of said block to join the third wire and form a collected group at the location of emergence of said third mm.

10. A cluster assembly according to claim 9 wherein:

said cavities are equidistantly spaced from the center of said block.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,360,917 lO/1944 Wade 339-192 X 2,556,956 6/1951 Benton et a1. 339193 2,563,775 7/1951 Del Camp 339-193 3,227,910 l/l966 Pittman 339193 X MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

W. DONALD MILLER, Examiner.

I, R MOSES, Assistant Examiner,

Claims

1. A CLUSTER ASSEMBLY FOR MAKING A GANG CONNECTION TO A PLUAL POST TERMINAL OF THE TYPE INCLUDING EQUILATERALLY SPACED PINS CARRYING EQUI-ANGULARLY ORIENTED TABS THEREON TANGENT TO THE RADIALLY OUTER SIDE OF EACH OF THE PINS, SAID CLUSTER ASSEMBLY COMPRISING: A MOUNTING BLOCK HAVING OPPOSITE FRONT AND REAR FACES; A NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR TERMINALS CARRIED BY SAID BLOCK IN A PREDETERMINED ORIENTATION, EACH TERMINAL INCLUDING A RELATIVELY FLAT CONTACT SOCKET TO FIT ON SAID PIN-TABS, A WIRE-GRIPING FERRULE, AND AN INTERMEDIATE WEB; SAID BLOCK INCLUDING MEANS DEFINING A CAVITY TO ACCOMMODATE EACH OF SAID TERMINALS, SAID CAVITIES BEING SPACED RADIALLY OUTWARDLY FROM THE CENTRAL PORTION OF SAID BLOCK; EACH OF SAID CAVITIES INCLUDING A RADIALLY-INNER, SOCKETRECEIVING-OPENING EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID OPPOSITE FACES TO ACCOMMODATE SAID SOCKET WITH THE SOCKET MAJOR DIMENSION EXTENDING TANGENT TO THE CIRCLE PASSING THROUGH SAID PIN-TABS, AND AN ADJACENT, RADIALLY-OUTER TROUGH TO ACCOMMODATE SAID FERRULE, SAID TROUGH EXTENDING RELATIVELY TO THE EDGE OF SAID BLOCK TO PROVIDE AN OPENING FOR THE EMERGENCE OF THE WIRE GRIPPED BY SAID FERRULE IN THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF SAID CAVITY, SAID TROUGH EXTENDING TO SAID BLOCK EDGES IN A PATH IN WHICH IS DOES NOT PASS MORE CLOSELY TO ANY ADJACENT TERMINAL CAVITY WITHIN THE PERIPHERAL LIMITS OF SAID BLOCK THAN THE SPACING BETWEEN ADJACENT TERMINALS, SAID INTERMEDIATE WEB BEING BENT TO FORM AN ACUTE ANGLE BETWEEN SAID FERRULE AND CONTACT SOCKET SO THAT SAID FERRULE OCCUPIES A LEVEL IN SAID TROUGH WITHIN THE LENGTH OF SAID CONTACT SOCKET.