Stab connector

Claim 2

In an electrical connector for connecting a plurality of cables to a bus; a pair of individual contacts to which said cables are attached; a holder provided with a base plate; an upstanding abutment on said base plate having a front face surface coinciding with the front edge surface of said plate, said abutment extending rearwardly from the front edge of said base plate for a distance less than the depth dimension of said base plate, with the sides of said abutment coinciding angularly with the side edges of said base plate; a slot formed in each side of said abutment and adapted to receive said contacts, said slots having axes which converge rearwardly of the front face of said abutment; resilient means carried by said abutment and connected to said contacts, said resilient means being operable to resist the displacement of said contacts away from each other when said contacts are engaged with a bus; and, a casing adapted to receive said holder with said contacts as a unit.

Claim 3

An electrical connector according to claim 1 wherein said abutment and said side edges of said base plate cooperate to form the opening through which said cables extend to the exterior of said casing.

Claim 4

An electrical connector according to claim 1 wherein said casing includes a base, a pair of spaced apart side walls and a rear wall; inwardly extending flanges formed integrally with each of said side walls of said casing, said flanges operating to contain said holder within said casing, said flanges in cooperation with the rear wall of said casing and the rear surface of said abutment defining an opening to permit unrestricted passage of the cables to the interior of said casing; an abutment formed on the interior surface of the rear wall of said casing; said slots being formed in said abutment in a manner that the axes thereof intersect at a point rearwardly of said abutment; and, said contacts are disposed within said slots in a manner to have the inwardly disposed ends thereof engaging on each side of said casing rear wall abutment to effect a spreading of the inner ends of said contacts against the contracting effort of said tension spring and said outer ends of said contacts being displaceably away from each other when in engagement with a bus and said tension spring thereby urging the outer ends of said contacts towards each other into good electrical contact with said bus.

Claim 5

An electrical connector according to claim 1 wherein said abutment is provided with a pair of vertically spaced horizontally extending grooves of each side thereof; said contacts are disposed within said abutment slots in a manner that the inner ends of said contacts extend rearwardly beyond said abutment and the forward end of said contacts project outwardly from the front face of said abutment for engagement with a bus bar; and, said resilient means comprising a tension spring is carried by said abutment and connected to both of said contacts, said tension spring operating to forcefully maintain said contacts in said slots with their axes parallel to the axis of said slots, whereby the bracketing engagement of the forwardly projecting ends of said contacts with a bus bar which tends to force the outwardly extending contact ends away from each other is resisted by said tension spring and said contacts engage said bus with equal pressure.

Claim 6

An electrical connector according to claim 4 wherein said contacts are loosely disposed within said slots and said tension spring also operates to maintain the contacts in operative position within said slots.

Claim 7

An electrical connector according to claim 1 wherein there is provided a resilient member disposed between said holder and said casing and operable to releasably lock said holder in position in said casing.

Claim 8

An electrical connector according to claim 6 wherein the surface of said holder base adjacent to the bottom of said casing is provided with a recess; the surface of the bottom of said casing adjacent to holder base is provided with a recess; and, said resilient member is disposed within said recesses in a manner to effect an interlock between said holder and said casing.

Claim 9

In an electrical connector for a plurality of cables: a holder, a pair of contacts carried by said holder in spaced relationship; means operable to resiliently secure said contacts in operative position in said holder said means being operable to permit said contacts to be displaced away from each other; and, a casing adapted to receive said holder with said contacts as a unit.

Claim 10

In an electrical connector for a plurality of cables: a holder, a pair of contacts carried by said holder in spaced relationship; means operable to resiliently secure said contacts in operative position in said holder said means being operable to permit said contacts to be displaced away from each other; and, a casing adapted to receive said holder with said contacts as a unit.