US915046A - Wire-connector. - Google Patents

Description

A. SCHMIDT.

WIRE CONNECTOR.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY 20, 1907.

91 5 ,046. Patented Mar. 9, 1909.

I an e- H" WITNESSES A TTORNE Y5 of Kentucky,

this character that may be ANDREW SCHMIDT, OF PADUOAH, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD K. BONDS OF PADUOAH, KENTUCKY.

WIRE-CONNECTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 9, 1909.

Application filed July 20, 1907. Serial No. 384,775.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that 1, ANDREW Somsnnr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Paducah, in the county of McCracken and State have invented a new and useful ire-Connector, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in devices for connecting wires, such as those used in telephone and telegraph, trolley systems, wire fencing, and in various other places wherein it is desirable to join wires quickly and eifectually, and it has for its object to provide an improved device of made to sell cheaply, and which, in practice, is capable of joining the abutting ends of wires without the necessity of bending them sharply and thus weakening them, although it obtains a firm grip on the wires when the latter are under tension.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved device of this character that engages the wire ends in such a way that a it forms a good electrical contact, so that the device is useful as a mechanical connector, and as an electrical connector as well.

To these and other ends, the invention comprises the various novel features of construction and combination and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter more fully described and pointed out particularly in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of a section of a wire fence showing its strands united by connectors constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view of a connector and the abutting wire ends, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the connector.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are indicated throughout by similar characters of reference.

As previously stated, the connector is capable of use generally in coupling wires that are employed for various purposes, the device being capable of providing an eiiicient electrical, as well as a mechanical, connection between the wire ends, and it will be understood that the connector is shown employed for the purpose of joinin the strands of a wire fence merely to show one application of the invention.

The connector shown in the presentembodiment of the invention comprises generally a coupling piece 1 which may be composed of a casting or a stamping of a suitable metal which is preferably flat in cross section in order that it may be firmly gripped by the hand and thus held from rotation while the the other wire without causing short bends in either wire. The opposite ends of the coupling are perforated by the wire receiving apertures, and they extend at angles other than right angles relatively to the longitudinal edges of the coupling in order to provide a pair of surfaces 5 and 6 which lie in planes arranged at obtuse angles relatively to the length of the wires, and these surfaces each form an obtuse angle relatively to one of the longitudinal edges of the coupling, and an acute angle relatively to the other longitudinal edge thereof.

In applying the coupling, the wire ends to be connected are introduced into the opposite ends of the respective wire receiving apertures preferably at those corners of the coupling at which the acute angles are formed between the ends and the longitudinal edges of the coupling. The ends of the respective wires are then bent laterally in a direction toward the adjacent wire and coiled one or more times around the same, said coiled ends bearing against the inclined surfaces at the ends of the coupling, thus insuring an obtuse bend in the wire. The connection thus formed prevents bending of the wire at such angles as would materially reduce its tensile strength, and is generally preferable, as the tension on the wires will cause their ends to slip slightly relatively to coupling and thereby cause a binding action between the convolutions of the wire ends and the cooperating wires, and also a similar action between the wire ends at the points where the angular .ends of the coupling form obtuse angles with the walls of the apertures, the binding action being thereby distributed in such proportion that the wire is not unduly strained at one point. However, injusing end of each 0 some kinds of wire, a positive locking joint could be obtained by reversing the mode of applying the wires to the cou ling, that is to say, by inserting the wire en s into the wire receiving apertures at the obtuse corners of the coupling, and then bending the protruding wire ends arallel to the respective surfaces at the en 5 of the coupling, acute angles will be formed in the wire ends which will positively prevent relative longitudinal movement between. the wires and the coupling, the ends of the wires being coiled, as previously described.

lmportance is attached to the fact that the ends of the connector are beveled as shown because they permit a straighter pull upon each wire than does an ordinary connector of rectangular outline. Moreover, when the connector is used with stifl' or highly tempered wire said wire will not become broken because of the fact that it is not necessary to bend it at a right angle to make the necessary connection. This is particularly true of fencing wire.

A wire connector constructed in accordance with my present invention is capable of being readily a plied, and serves to effectually secure the wire ends without the necessity of bending the wire to such an extent as would impair its tensile strength, and it may be manufactured cheaply and presents a neat appearance. Moreover, it is especially eflicient when employed for the purpose of joining the strands of fencing, for

the reason that each connection so made will stretch uniformly, and, consequently, all the strands of the fence will be under equal tension. 1

What is claimed is A wire connector comprising a flat metal block of rhomboid outline having two longitudinal openings therethrough parallel to the base of said rhomboid block through which openings the Wires to be connected are passed in opposite directions so that their ends project from the ends of the block nearest the obtuse angles thereof, the inclined ends of said block forming a bearing surface for the obtusely bent ends of said wire when they are turned up and coiled around the strands of the opposite wires.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto afliXed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ANDREN SCHMIDT.

Witnesses:

ADDISON Y. CLAY, Jos. R. GRoGAN.

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