US2740098A - Shielded waterproof electrical connectors - Google Patents

Description

SHIELDED WATERPROOF ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS Filed May '7, 1952 FIG. LZ?

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United States Patent SHIELDED WATERPROOF ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS John J. Phillips, Irvington, N. J., assigner to TiteeX, line., Newark, N. J., a corporation of Massachusetts Application May 7, 1952, Serial No. 236,462

7 Claims. (Cl. 339-94) This invention relates to multiple pin and socket electrical connectors, and more particularly to a fluid-tight construction in which the conductors are sealed by compressed non-metallic elements, but the assembly is covered by detachable metal parts that maintain adequate radio shielding.

It is an object of this invention to provide an electrical connector in which the same fastening means clamps nonmetallic sealing elements together under a controlled pressure at the same time that it clamps metal faces of an outside casing together rmly enough for good radio shielding. In the preferred construction, the non-metallic sealing elements come into contact ahead of the metal parts and have spring means that yield to permit continued movement of the metal faces toward one another while maintaining the pressure of the sealing elements.

Another object is to provide an electrical connector with a plurality of conductors and separate seals around each of the conductors held under pressure by the fastening ele ments that hold the radio shielding of the assembly.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views,

Figure l is a sectional view of an electrical connector embodying this invention,

Figures 2 and 3 are sectional views taken on the lines 2-2 and 3-3 respectively, of Figure l, and

Figure 4 is a sectional view at the plane 4 4 of Figure l, with the pin wire in the process of being inserted during initial assembly of the connector.

The connector comprises two cooperating sections, including a socket section 11 and a pin section 12. The socket section has a metal shell 13 with a concave, annular end face 15 which abuts against a complementary convex end face of a metal shell 16 of the pin section 12.

There is a nut 17 with threads 18 that screw over co1'- responding threads on the outside of the metal shell 13. This nut has a polygonal ange 19 for receiving a wrench. The nut 17 is rotatably connected to the metal shell 16 by a ring 21 which ts into annular channels in the confronting faces of the nut 17 and the metal shell 16.

The nature of the ring 21 will be better understood by reference to Figure 4. The channel in the nut 17 is indicated by the reference character 23. The comple` mentary channel in the metal shell 16 is indicated by the reference character 24. There is a sloping opening 26 through the top of the channel 23 for the insertion of the ring 21. This ring, which is originally a straight Wire, is pushed lengthwise through the opening 26, and the wire takes the circular shape of the chamber which is formed by the confronting channels 23 and 24. The wire is of a predetermined length to lill the circumferential extent of the channels, and it ts loosely enough to leave the nut 17 free to rotate with'respect to the shell 16,

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although conlining the nut against axial movement onltlr shell.

Referring again to Figure l, it will be apparent that screwing the nut 17 on the threads ISdraWS the face 15 of the shell 13 into rin contact with the complementary face of the metal shell 16 so that the shells 13 and 1 6 provide effective radio shielding around the parts enclosed within them. Each of the shells 13 and 16 has a polygonal flange 27 for receiving a wrench.

The shell 16 encloses a core 28 which has a cylindrical section 29 of reduced diameter, slidably fitting in a bore of the shell 16. The core 28 also has a larger diameter section 30 which slidably fits within a cylindrical counterbore 32 of the shell 16. In order to prevent the core 2S from turning in the shell 16, and to always ensure that it will be inserted into the shell at the same phase angle, there is a longitudinal fin 34 on the inside of the counterbore 32. This longitudinal n tits into a keyway in the core 28 and selves the function of a key.

An O-ring 36 is conlined in a recess in the insidewall of the shell 16, and this O-ring acts as a seal between the metal shell 16 and the core 28 so that fluid, such as gas or liquid, cannot pass between the shell and core and thereby enter the interior of the connector where the con ductor elements are located.

The core 28 has as many parallel bores 38 as there are circuits to be included in the connector. Each of the bores 3S receives a pin 39 of an electrical element 41. At one end of the pin 39, the electric element 41 has a head portion 42 of larger diameter than the pin 39. The head portion lits slidably in a counterbore 40 at one end of the bore 38, and abuts against the shoulder at the end of the counterbore. There is a recess in the outer end of the head portion 42 for receiving an electrical com ductor comprising a wire 43. The Wire is soldered or otherwise secured to the head portion 42.

There is insulation around the wire 43 and this insula, tion extends to approximately the end face of the head porti-on 42. In order to seal the wire securely, a tapered sleeve 44 surrounds the wire, and this tapered sleeve 44 fits into a correspondingly tapered end of the counter@ bore 40.

The tapered sleeve 44 has a shoulder 48 and a reduced diameter stern 49 beyond the shoulder. There are similar tapered sleeves surrounding the wires leading to all of the pins 39 of the connector. In the construction illus-` trated, there are two such pins, but the number of pins depends upon the number of circuits which the con* nector is designed to provide. One of the advantages of the invention is that it is particularly well suited for connectors having large numbers of wires and it provides a separate effective seal for each of the wires.

This seal is provided by having a clamping plate 51 with openings through which the stems 49 of the sleeves 44 extend. The clamping plate bears against the shoulder 4S at the base of each of the stems 49 and forces the tapered sleeves 44- itiward against the tapered faces of the couuterbores 40. The core 28 and each of the tapered sleeves 44 is preferably made of plastic dielectric material which is slightly compressible, such as rubber, certain resins, and many of the synthetic plastic materials. The length of the tapered sleeves 44, to their shoulders 48,- is slightly longer than the corresponding taper of the counteibores 40 so that when the tapered sleeves 44 are uncompressed, their shoulders 48 are slightly beyond the end face of the core 23.

When the clamping plate 51 is pushed inward, it distorts the tapered sleeves 44 sutliciently to clamp them intoiim contact with both the countcrbore 40 and the outside surface of the insulation on the wire 43; and with the clamping plate 5l still spaced by some clearan'cefroin' the end face of the core 28.

The cable which contains the wires 43 is surrounded by shielding S3 having an end fitting 54. This end fitting 54 has` a convex, annular end face which abuts against a complementary concave, annular face 55 at the outer end of the metal shell 16. There is a liange 57 extending from the-fitting 54. A clamping nut oil has an inwardly extending ange which engages behind the ange 57 of the shielding fitting 54. Threads of the clamping nut 6i) screw over corresponding threads 63 on the outer end portion of the metal shell 16. When the clamping nut 60 is tightened, it pulls the shielding htting 5.4i into rm contact with the end face 5S of the metal shell 16 and provides a tight and highly satisfactory connection in the radio shielding.

The clamping plate Si is pushed against the shoulders 48 of the tapered sleeves by a helical spring 65. One end of this spring 65 is in contact with the clamping plate 5S, and the other end bears against a shoulder in the tting 54. The spring 65 transmits a strong pressure from the fitting S4 to the clamping plate 51, and permits the same clamping nut 6i) to provide the pressure of the tting S4 against the shell face 55, and of the clamping plate 51 against the shoulders 4S of the tapered sleeves d4. This construction is simple and docs not require accurate manufacturing tolerances in order to obtain a predetermined clamping pressure from the clamping plate 51 when the litting 54 is clamped tightly against the endface 55 of the shell 16.

The construction of the socket section lll ol the connector is generally similar to that ofthe pin section already described. The socket section has a core 63 corresponding to the core 2S of the pin section but with a reduceddiameter, cylindrical section 69 which is longer than the corresponding section 29 of the pin section. The reason for this difference in construction is to permit the core 68 to surround the sockets into which the pins 39 extend when the connector is assembled. The core 28 extends beyond the end of its surrounding metal shell 1.3 and into the end of the metal shell 16 of the pin section. ln order to ensure that the same pins will always engage in the Same sockets, there is a keyvay 'Il in the extending end `of the core 68, and an inwardly projecting ridge '72 of the inside wall of the metal shell i6 serves as a key in the keyway 71.

Electrical elements '75, of the socket section of the connector, correspond to the electric elements 41 of the pin section except that the ends of the electrical elements 75 are formed hollow with resilient walls so as to form sockets 76 into which the pins 39 are inserted to provide electric contact for each of the circuits through the connector.

The inner end. face of the core 63, which confronts the inner end face of the core 22%, has sealing means comprising an annular bead 7S. The core 63, and preferably both of the cores 68 and 2S, are made of plastic dielectric material which is slightly comprcssible so that when the confronting end faces of the cores are pressed rmly together, the annular bead 7S is distorted slightly, as necessary, to provide an effective seal against iluid, such as gas or water. Thus any tluid which passes between the face 1S and the complementary face of the outer shells, or which passes the O-rings 36, is prevented from reaching the electric conductors by the Seal which is provided by the annular head 78 bearing against the face of the other core.

Both ot the cores 2tland 63 preferably have a limited axial movement in the metal shells i3 and 16 which contain them, and each of the cores 2S and 68 is moved axially toward the other core oy the pressure of the springs 65 to maintain a predetermined pressure of the annular bead 7S against the face of the other core,

This annular bead 73 can be located on the core 2S, instead of the connection illustrated, and beads of different cross section can be used instead of the substantially semi-circular one illustrated. It is not essential that the sealing means 7S be of one piece construction with one of the cores, but having it so is advantageous in that it eliminates the possibility of the connector being assembled without the sealing means between the cores. The connector can be made with only one of the cores axially movable and this is suiicient for maintaining the seal between them.

The preferred construction of the invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modications can be made without departing from the invention as delined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A pin and socket electrical connector comprising two sections, each of which has a metal shell and a core within the metal shell, the metal shells having complementary end faces that clamp together to provide eicient radio shielding around the cores, threads on one of the shells, a flange projecting from the other shell, a clamping nut that bears against the flange and screws over the threads to hold the complementary end faces of the shells tightly clamped against one another for good electrical contact, shielding fittings at opposite ends of the metal shells for connecting the shielding of conductor cables to the metal shells, the'core withon one of the metal shells being slidable with respect to the shell toward and from the core in the other shell, sealing means between the cores, and a spring between the slidable core and the end fitting of the shell in which the core slides, said spring being compressed when the tting is attached to the shell so as to maintain a resulting pressure on the slidable core and on the sealing means between the cores substantially independent of the pressure between the end faces of the shells.

2. An electrical connector including a core that holds a plurality of electrical elements to which separate Wires are connected a different, sealing sleeve of resilient material surrounding each of the wires at the region where the wire enters the core on its way to its connection with one of the electrical elements, a fitting at one end of the connector for joining a shielding of the conductor cable with the metal shell, and common pressure 4transmitting means between the shielding fitting and all of the sealing sleeves exerting pressure simultaneously against all the sealing sleeves to maintain them tightly sealed around their respective conductors.

3. An electrical connector of the pin-and-socket type, comprising a pin section and a socket section, each of said sections including a metal sleeve and a core within the metal sleeve, at least one of the cores being slidable axially in its metal sleeve, sealing means between confronting faces of the cores, electrical elements comprising pins extending from the face of one core and sockets recessed below the end face of the other core, counter,- bores through which wires extend to the electrical elements, a dierent sealing sleeve surrounding cach of the wires in the connector bores, a clamping plate that bears against faces of the respective wire sealing sleeves and that exerts pressure through the sleeves to the core and against the sealing means between the cores, a fitting for connecting radio shielding of an electric cable with the shell of the connector, spring means compressed between the fitting and the clamping plate so as to maintain a predetermined simultaneous pressure against all of the sealing sleeves and against the seal between the cores within the connector.

4. The electrical connector described in claim 3 and in which the cores in both sections of the electrical connector are axially slidable and there are spring means on both ends of the connector urging the sealing sleeves into firm contact with the wires which they surround and also urging the cores toward one another.

5. An electrical connector comprising a pin section and a socket section, each section having a metal shell Ythat confronts a complimentary end face of the other shellf` means connecting the metal shells together with their confronting faces pressed together in rm contact with one another to provide radio shielding for the circuits of conductors within the shells, cores of electrical insulating ma terial within the shells, the core located Within the metal shell of at least one of the sections being slidable axially with respect to the metal shell toward a confronting face of the core of the other section, sealing means between the slidable core and said confronting face of the other section, the sealing means having a contact face of re# duced area to increase the pressure thereon, and a compressed element within one of the shells urging the slidable core toward said other section and against the sealing means with a pressure substantially independent of the pressure between the end faces of the shells.

6. An electrical connector comprising a pin section and a socket section, each section having a metal shell with an end face that confronts a complementary end face of the other shell, means connecting the metal Shells to one another with their confronting faces pressed together in firm contact with one another to provide radio shielding for the circuits of conductors within the shells, cores of electric insulating material within the shells including a core within the pin section having an end face from which pins project and a core Within the socket section having recesses within which sockets are located and having an end face through which the sockets open, at least one of the cores being slidable axially in the metal shell toward and from a confronting face of the core in the other shell,

sealing means between the slidable core and the confronting face of the other core, the sealing means having a contact face of reduced area radially outward from the areas of the end faces from which the pins project and through which the sockets open, and a spring located within one of the shells and compressed between that shell and the slidable core for urging the slidable core toward the confronting face of the other core with a pressure determined f References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS y Parker Oct. 27, 1925 1,559,361 1,940,666 Diamond Dec. 26, 1933 2,047,126 Hastings July 7, 1936 2,066,770 Doane Ian. 5, 1937 2,383,926 White Aug. 28, 1945 2,396,872 Miller et al. Mar. 19, 1946 2,419,018 Gudie Apr. l5, 1947 2,513,080 Burtt June 27, 1950 2,521,056 Frei et al. Sept. 5, 1950 2,540,012 Salati Jan. 30, 1951 2,605,315 Hargett July 29, 1952 2,655,638 Allen Oct. 13, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 589,623 Germany Dec. 11, 1933

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