Connector Cover With Multiple Mounting Means

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to electricity, conductors and insulators, and more specifically to sheaths, coverings, or housings for cable connections, especially to water resistant coverings for telephone cable connectors. The invention further relates to insulators for terminal covers.

2. Description of the Piror Art

Electrical connections are often located in areas where contamination by foreign matter such as dirt or moisture can cause failure. This is especially true in the case of telephone cable connectors used in commercial multi-line telephone installations, where the connector may be located away from a wall or other traditional fastening point elevated above floor level. Thus, normal cleaning activities subject the electrical connections to dirt and water.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,616 discloses a connector cover that resists entry of water and dirt and is capable of sealing with reasonable snugness around cables of a variety of diameters. However, connector covers having improved sealing ability or the ability to seal a greater range of cable diameters remain desirable. The present invention provides a number of improved features over the teachings of the above noted U.S. patent.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,102 discloses a cable connector cover that may be anchored to furniture without defacing the furniture. In this regard also, it remains desirable to mount such covers in more positive and wear resistant manner, but with provision that the cover is capable of being pulled free under strain on the cable. Further, as a matter of practical convenience to the telephone installer, it is desirable to eliminate the need for a variety of special purpose covers and to create a single cover having versatile mounting capability. In this way, the installer may be confident that the same cover can be used whether it is to be mounted on furniture, a wall, or an electrical outlet box.

A remaining problem in the design of cable connector covers is that a substantial variety of telephone hook-ups are now used, and an installer or serviceman may not know until arriving at a job site which type of equipment will be encountered. The older types of cable connectors are readily accommodated by the technology taught in the above-mentioned patents. Newer modular connectors employ a substantially different technology using small jacks and plugs. Where in the older art a large cable might enter a connecter and an equally large or smaller cable might exit the connector for attachment to a telephone or plurality of telephones, the newer art anticipates that the exiting cable be replaced by modular connection jacks, whereby no hard-wired cable will be required to exit the cover. It is therefore desired to accommodate the newest concepts in telephone technology in a single connector cover that is also able to accommodate the older technology.

These and other problems of the art are resolved as described in the following explanation.

A cable connector cover of rectangular design is divided into top and bottom portions with snap-together union means at the division line, which also crosses cable passage openings at approximately diagonally opposite positions in opposite end walls of the cover. Each such opening has an arcuate edge for partially sealing around a cable. A sliding door means is carried immediately inside the cover at each end wall and has a cable contacting member extending normally to the door plate and through the opening, the contacting member having a curved seat complementary to the curved edge of the opening for completing the seal around a cable. The edges of the curved seat are sufficiently flexible that they are deflected inwardly by contact with the curved edge of the opening and may be separated by such curvature from connection to the door plate, whereby the edges may become wrapped around more than 180 degrees of the cable circumference and the contacting member may have its width sufficiently reduced that it is capable of entering the area between the edges of the opening arc for snug sealing against small diameter cables. If no cable is used in an opening, a plug fills the space between the arcuate opening edge and the cable contacting member, and a plate carrying the plug mates with the door plate. Alternatively, the sliding door is replaced with a plug the size of the opening and carried on a plate.

One portion of the cover, such as the bottom portion, is provided with a variety of mounting means. Pockets are formed in the bottom wall at diagonally opposite corners and carry snap-in inserts. Adhesive means such as double-sided tape may be mounted on the inserts for attachment of the cover to an external object, and the strength of the attachment is then regulated by the holding force of the inserts in the pockets so that the cover can be pulled free at a predetermined force. The pockets are sealed from the inside of the cover so that the protective quality of the cover is preserved. The pockets are approximately on an opposite diagonal of the rectangular cover from the cable passage openings.

A pair of screw opening panels are defined in the bottom wall by lines of weakness that preferably permit a hinge area to remain so that the panels are not fully removable from the bottom wall. The panels are located to overlie the screw attachment points of a standard electrical outlet box. A cable connector-half access panel is also defined in the bottom wall by a perimetric line of weakness, permitting the panel to be removed in order to bring a cable connector half into the cover from an outlet box. The access panel is located with respect to the screw opening panels so that it will be over the outlet box when the cover is mounted on the box, and the access panel is further approximately in a diagonal quadrant of the bottom wall adjacent to a cable passage opening.

A side wall of the cover adjacent to the bottom wall carries a jack panel adapted to be removed in order to fit a modular jack into the cover. Lines of weakness perpendicular to the bottom wall define opposite sides of the jack panel, but the lines do not cross the union means at the top of the side wall portion so that the protective quality of the cover is not degraded unless this panel is actually removed. Inside the cover, a flange wall is spaced from the panel for engaging a modular jack, and a further L-shaped rib aids in retaining the jack in the desired position until the cover can be closed to secure the jack.

The inside surface of a pocket may support press-fit screw retaining means such as a series of three spaced apart lugs capable of firmly holding electrical outlet box screws in the gap between them. The gap between the lugs may be filled immediately adjacent to the pocket wall so that the screws lie in a parallel but spaced plane from the pocket wall, creating a storage gap between the screws and pocket wall for receipt of double-sided tape segments being stored for later use on the snap-in inserts.

The main object of the invention is to provide a single cable connector cover capable of mounting a connector under any required conditions, including over an electrical outlet box, on a wall, or on furniture.

Another object is to provide a self-contained cover able to resist entry of water and dirt by snugly sealing around a wide variety of cable sizes and closing cable passage openings when they are not in use.

A further object is to provide a cable connector cover that can employ modular telephone technology.

These and other objects are achieved as more fully described below.

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the cable connector cover lid in partial section.

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the cable connector cover base, showing a cable connector therein.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the cable connector cover base.

FIG. 4 is an isometric sectional view of the back side of the base, showing a fastener and pocket.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the base, showing the connection of a cable from an electrical outlet box.

FIG. 6 is a sectional end view, showing the engagement of a relatively small cable in the sliding door means.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6, showing the engagement of a relatively large cable.

FIG. 8 is an isometric view of a plug.

FIG. 9 is an isometric view of a sliding door closure.

FIG. 10 is an isometric view of a modified plug.

As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the connector cover 20 consists of two mating portions that may be designated the base 22 and lid 24. When the base and lid are united, they form a generally rectangular box-like cover that is especially adapted to contain a connector 26 of the type used to unite multi-line telephone cable. Such a connector has two halves 28 and 30 each joined to a cable 32 or 34. The wire pairs in the two cables are pre-joined to the respective connector halves, permitting many pairs of wires to be joined at the connector by plugging the halves together. A single cable and connector is able to accommodate twenty-five pairs of wires according to the present practice in the telephone industry. The connector cover 20 is desirable both as a means of mounting the connector 26 on a wall, article of furniture, or electrical box, and as a means of protecting the connector and its many wires pair connections from damage, dirt, and moisture. Although the cover 20 is resistant to the entry of foreign matter, it is not intended to be water tight. However, it is intended to withstand such common contact with water as floor washings and spilled liquids.

Lid 24 is formed with smooth surfaces and clean lines for good visual impression and easy dirt removal, since the lid is the cover portion most exposed in the typical installation. The lid therefore has a face 36 in the shape of a rectangle and a perimeter defined by normally extending side walls 38 and 40 along the longer sides of the face and end walls 42 and 44 along the shorter sides of the face. Together, the face, side walls, and end walls define a shallow box having an open side opposite from face 36.

Base 22 includes a face 46 and normal perimetric walls including opposite side walls 48 and 50 and end walls 52, 54 together defining a second shallow box having an open side opposite from face 46. The base and lid may be united by a tongue and groove snap-together union having water resistant characteristics and best described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,616, incorporated by reference herein. The tongue portion of the union may be formed on the edge 56 of the base 22, while the groove may be formed on edge 58 of lid 24.

A plurality of mounting means are provided for attaching the cover 20 to a suitable structure. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, wall 46 of the base includes inward recesses 59 at diagonally opposite corners of wall 46, each recess being closed to the inside of the cover 20 by a back wall 60 and side walls 62. A snap-in fastener 66 is adapted to fit in each recess. The fastener may be formed with an outer wall 68 and four depending side walls 70 each of the same height as the depth of the recess 59. Protruding ribs 72 on the recess side walls 62 and stepped edge 73 on fastener side walls 70 are positioned to snap past each other when the fastener is fully inserted into the recess, which then defines a snug pocket for the fastener. The fastener wall 68 forms a smooth outer surface in combination with face wall 46.

The flush squares 66 in pockets 59 provide a mounting for the cover when adhesive means such as foam plastic double back tape 74 is applied to the squares and the cover is then attached by the second side of tape 74 to the desired surface, which may be a desk, wall, or the like. Because the wall 68 is coplanar with wall 46, tape 74 is readily applied to wall 68 while the square 66 is contained in pocket 59, and the tape protrudes from walls 46 and 68 for permitting application of the cover to the desired surface. It remains possible to separate the cover from the surface by separating the fastener squares 66 from the cover. The separation may be intentional, as when the article of furniture carrying the cover is to be moved, or the separation may be accidental, as when the cables 32 or 34 become overstressed. Regardless of the cause of separation, the cover 20 retains its water resistant qualities even when fasteners 66 are removed, and the cover may be replaced on the same fasteners repeatedly without substantial loss of holding power. The snap-off action of the fasteners offers the further advantage of being specific to the requirements of a connector and cable as described, permitting the connector to be supported adequately while the cover may be disconnected under a greater load or force such as may occur under the force level likely to damage the mounting surface. Pocket 59 also provides a mounting point for a flush mounted magnetic fastener, or the square 66 may be left in place and the smooth rear face of the cover may carry a larger flat flexible magnetic sheet attached to the cover by an adhesive.

Cover 20 is also mountable over wall outlet boxes and other wall conduit systems. As best shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, base 22 has a pair of knock-out screw hole panels 75 defined in wall 46 at positions located for standard outlet box screw connections. Each screw hole panel is defined by a perimetric rib 76 following an elongated path such as an ellipse. Within the boundry defined by the rib, wall 46 is reduced in thickness and is bounded by a U-shaped groove 78 having a discontinuity at one longitudinal end of the ellipse where the surrounded wall portion 80 directly contacts the rib 76, shown at the left hand end of the panel 75 of FIG. 5. The screw hole panels 75 can be opened with the aid of a tool such as a screwdriver. Each wall portion 80 is designed to peel from one longitudinal end of the ellipse to the other, where the discontinuity in groove 78 provides a tear resistant hinge means for retaining the central wall 80 in connection with the base 22.

When the cover is being used over an outlet box, a cable passage knock-out 82 provides a means of bringing the cable and one-half of the connector into the cover from within the outlet box. Knock-out 82 is defined by a perimetric groove 84 on the inside surface of wall 46 and may additionally have a score line 86, FIG. 4, on the outside surface of wall 46. Panel 82 is sufficiently large that connector half 28 can be passed through the opening created by the removal of the panel. The entire panel 82 is located in one quadrant of wall 46 as viewed in FIGS. 3 and 5 so that the cable 32 can be brought through the opening 88 while the connector 26 is fastened inside the cover 20. Together, knock-out panels 75 and 82 permit an alternative usage of the cover 20 as a water protective covering replacing other types of shields that have been used over outlet boxes. In this way, the cover 20 eliminates the need for other types of protective coverings. To some degree, the water protective feature is reduced when the knock-out panels 75 and 82 are opened, but this loss of protection is ameliorated by the mounting location of the cover over an off-the-floor outlet box, whereby the need for water protection is reduced.

The cable connector 26 is contained in cover 20 with cables 32 and 34 exiting the cover through suitable apertures, one of which is opening 88, for example. However, when the cover is not mounted over an outlet box and the maximum degree of water protection is desired, the cables enter and exit the cover through openings 90 defined by housings 92, in turn cooperatively formed by housing portions 94 associated with the base and housing portions 96 associated with the lid. The openings 90 are in diagonally opposite positions of the opposite end walls of the cover so that the cables 32 and 34 can pass through the openings without substantial bending, and the connector 26 is held in the desired position in the cover by flexible hooks 98 attached to the base wall 46.

When the cables are directed through one or more openings 90, the excess space between the cable and the housing is closed by a sliding door 100, the general operation of which is described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,616. Such a door, shown in FIGS. 6, 7, and 9, is carried between the cover end walls and a parallel, inwardly spaced interior wall 102 at each end of the cover, with a part of interior wall 102 being associated with the base and another part being associated with the lid at each end of the cover. The sliding door includes both a closure plate 104 and a cable contact member 106. The closure plate is sized to fit between the cover end wall and interior wall for sliding motion. A series of ribs or teeth 107 is located along an edge of the plate 104 on a recessed portion 108 of the outer face of the plate, and another set of ribs or teeth 110 is formed on the inner face of the lid end walls 42 and 44, as shown in FIG. 1. Teeth 107 and 110 overlap when the sliding door 100 is placed in operative position between the end wall and interior wall of the cover and provide a locking means that prevents unauthorized movement of the door 100. Cable contact member 106 is provided with a curved seat 112 for receiving the cable when the sliding door 100 is moved toward the cable, holding the cable snugly between the seat and the curved top of the housing 92, best shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.

The sealing ability of the cable contact member has been improved so that a snug seal is obtained automatically with cables ranging in size from a four wire telephone cable to a fifty wire telephone cable, those two sizes representing the full range of cable sizes presently applied to a single connector 26. The sliding door of the prior art, taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,229,616, was limited in its sealing ability with small cable by the fact that curved seat 112 has an established arc across the width of the housing 92, and as the cable contact member is moved increasingly closer to the top of the housing 92 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the curved top 114 of the housing effectively narrows the width of the aperture 90 and prevents the contact member 106 from snugly sealing around very small cable. The previously proposed solution was to trim the sides from the contact member 106 and thereby allow this member to move even closer to the top of the housing. In the embodiment of FIGS. 6, 7 and 9, cable contact member 106 is now structured with flexible ears 116 at each side of the arc forming seat 112. The seat is undercut on each lateral side by recessed surfaces 118. When the contact member approaches the curved top 114 of the housing to seal a small cable as shown in FIG. 6, the ears are automatically deflected toward each other with curved top 114 serving as a camming means that guides the deflection according to the closeness of the contact member 106 to the curved top 114. At the intersection of surface 112 and plate 104, the ears may flex, stretch, or tear. Thus, when a small cable such as a four wire cable is sealed in housing 92, the ears 116 are guided by curved top 114 to substantially the opposite side of the cable from the majority of seat 112. With increasingly large cable sizes, the ears deflect less and may not be required to deflect at all, remaining wedged between the cable and the straight housing sides 120 as shown in FIG. 7.

Cable openings 90 can be closed to preserve the protective quality of the cover when no cable is passing through the housing 92, such as when a cable is brought into the cover through opening 88 or when, during construction, only the incoming cable and its connector half are installed. The end plug 122 of FIG. 8 provides a filler that simulates a cable. Plate 124 is engagable in the same gap as closure plate 104, and the plug portion 126 fits between sliding door seat 112 and curved housing end 114, providing a complete closure for the aperture 90 in combination with the sliding door 100. The end plug can be removed and discarded if a cable is to be placed through the associated housing 92.

An alternate end plug 128 shown in FIG. 10 combines the structure of a sliding door 104 and a plug 122 in a single unified structure having a plate 130 and plug 132. Although this structure eliminates the possibility of leaks between the plug 126 and seat 112, it requires that the door 100 be removed from its position in the cover and the door may therefore be unavailable at a later time when needed. Plug 128 is therefore of advantage primarily when the cover is used over an outlet box and will thereafter be unsuited for conversion to cables through both housings 92.

Cover 92 is adaptable to still another means of access whereby national industry standard sized jacks can be installed in the cover to receive mating plugs of modular telephone systems. FIGS. 2 and 3 best show a modular jack reception area 134 formed in wall 50 near end wall 54. Although four such reception areas are shown, other numbers of such areas may be located in wall 50 or other locations in the cover. Each jack reception area includes a knock-out panel 136 defined by parallel laterally spaced grooves 138 extending from tongue 56 to face wall 46, and the edge of wall 46 immediately below panel 136 is recessed at surface 140. The panel may be removed from base 22 by twisting action of a tool such as a plier, which wil snap the tongue 56 above the grooves and tear the side wall 50 along the grooves, finally tearing wall 50 along the bottom of the panel, immediately above the wall 46. A flange wall 142 is located inside the cover and parallel to wall 50, where the flange wall can be engaged by a suitable mating groove of a modular jack. An L-shaped rib 144 may be located on wall 46 along the opposite side of panel 136 from the flange wall. Together, wall 142 and rib 144 are capable of holding the jack in place prior to application of lid 24, which locks the jack in place when it is snapped to the base.

When only the first jack reception area 134 at the left end of FIGS. 2 and 3 is formed in wall 50, the flange wall 142 may be connected to inner end wall 102 adjacent to panel 136, and the groove 138 closest to the flange wall is designed to tear at the inside face of the inner wall 102. The additional reception areas spaced along wall 50 support the flange wall by a connecting wall segment to side wall 50.

A further feature of cover 20 is that it is self-contained with regard to the various available configurations for mounting and carrying cable. The various knock-out panels do not degrade the water protective quality of the cover until actual removal of the panels. Panels 136, for example, are bounded by a substantially undisturbed tongue 56 so that the seal between the base and lid maintains its maximum efficiency until the panel is actually removed. Loose parts such as plugs 122 or 128 can be carried within the cover and, as described above, will be used immediately if at all for most situations, such as for closing an aperture 90 during initial installations of telephone lines. Mounting squares are self-contained in pockets 59.

Cover 20 is adapted to carry tape 74 and outlet box mounting screws 146 in a secure location prior to use. The back wall 60 of pockets 59, or alternately face 46, supports screw mounting lugs 148 spaced apart sufficiently to snugly engage screws 146 and support the screws with their shanks overlapping the back wall of pocket 59. Mounting lugs 148 are in a line parallel to a pocket edge that is opposite from base wall 50 or 48 or from end wall 102 so that the screw heads can extend outside the lug row. Tape 74 is stored between the screw shanks and pocket wall 60, in a gap established by inter-lug filler wall 150, which extends above wall 60 by approximately the height of the thickness of two tape pieces.

At an installation site, the installer has the option of selecting the mounting materials that he requires. Unused materials may be left in the cover for possible future use. The initial choice may be to place one-half of a connector inside the cover and close the opposite aperture 90 with a plug 122. Later it may be determined that the cover is to be installed over an outlet box with screws 146 or on furniture with tape 74 and fastener squares 66. It may also be later determined that the connector half is to be brought into the box through knock-out panel 82 and that the exiting cable is to pass through the previously sealed aperture 90; or alternatively, the exiting cable may be joined to one or more modular jacks to be installed directly in the walls of the cover, and the outlet aperture 90 may then remain plugged. In any situation, the single cable connector cover 20 is easily adapted to the desired configuration. A further option not previously known is to connect a modular jack and plug inside the cover and exit the cable from the plug through aperture 90, which can be closed to preserve the water resistant quality of the cover, despite the very small cable typically associated with a single plug. Thus, modular jacks can be used even without employing the jack reception area 134, due to the ability of flexible ears 116 to wrap around even two wire pair telephone cable.

While the above description has been provided by way of example, the scope of the invention is to be limited only by the following claims.