Connector for flexible conduit

Claim 1

An electrical connector assembly for the liquid-tight connection of the cut-off end of a tubular conduit having a slightly resilient outer wall to an electrical fixture having a hole and which automatically prevents rotation and longitudinal displacement of the conduit during assembly without biting into the conduit with teeth, the assembly comprising an integral onepiece connector body of a plastic resin having a continuous bore, said body having a bottom tubular section adapted to fit a hole in the fixture and having first external screw threads and an upper section having at its lower portion second external screw threads and having an inner tubular ferrule directed away from said bottom section, and an outer tubular extension directed away from said bottom section, said ferrule having its external peripheral surface smooth and at a constant diameter, said ferrule and said extension forming between them an annular groove slightly greater than the thickness of said conduit, said extension having at its upper end a plurality of flexible spacedapart fingers, said fingers having their internal surfaces smooth, continuous and at a constant diameter and externally beveled at the upper ends thereof, said adjoining fingers being spaced apart a distance sufficient to maintain spaced apart relation during assembly and to receive conduit material therebetween displaced by said fingers during assembly, each finger having a solid, circumferentially continuous wall throughout its length and having a substantially constant wall thickness except for said externally beveled upper end; a compression nut having a bore, bottom internal screw threads and an upper section with an internal bore wall, a portion of which extends inwardly, wherein the end of the conduit is positioned in the groove and the compression nut is brought over the fingers and screwed onto the second external threads and the inwardly extending bore wall portion compresses said fingers adjacent their free ends to flex the finger ends radially inwardly into said conduit to grip the conduit and thereby displace resilient conduit material into the space remaining between said fingers adjacent said extension to receive such displaced conduit material and thereby prevent rotation of the conduit while the nut is being screwed onto the connector body and longitudinal displacement of the conduit from the groove, said fingers being of a length to extend axially beyond the upper section of said nut in the assembled position.