Lock nut cooperable with electrical terminal block

Claim 1

Terminal means for electrical conductors having eyelet connectors on their end portions and by which the eyelet connectors can be fixed in good electrical and mechanical connection with one another, said terminal means comprising: A. a terminal body member of insulating material having a base wall; B. a screw member fixed to said base wall and having a threaded shaft projecting upwardly therefrom; C. said terminal body member having other wall portions projecting upwardly from said base wall to near the top of said shaft, said other wall portions surrounding the shaft all around the same and in close proximity thereto and joining one another at corners in which can be received portions of conductor wires that have their eyelet connectors around the shaft and adjacent to the base wall; and D. means for maintaining good electrical connection between the screw shaft and eyelet connectors around it while securely but removably holding the eyelet connectors in place adjacent to the base wall, for confining in said corners the conductor wires that are connected to said eyelet connectors, and for electrically insulating the screw shaft and the eyelet connectors while leaving said shaft accessible to a test prod, said means comprising 1. a substantially tubular member of rigid but deformable insulating material, substantially longer than the screw shaft, said tubular member having a substantially cylindrical external surface of a diameter to be closely receivable between said other wall portions and having a bore extending through the entire length thereof, said bore 1. being of noncircular cross section in an upper end portion thereof to receive a correspondingly noncircular driving tool by which the tubular member can be rotated, and 2. having, intermediate its ends, a transverse dimension somewhat smaller than that of the screw shaft to provide inner surface portions on the tubular member that are deformably engageable with the crests of the threads on the screw shaft to inhibit rotation of the tubular member relative thereto; and 2. a coaxial substantially tubular metal insert anchored in the lower end portion of said bore and having an internal thread cooperable with the thread on the screw shaft.