Wire connector

Claim 1

As an article of manufacture, a wire connector for securing a connection between electrical wire ends by rotational installation over the wire ends, said wire connector comprising: a helically coiled spring member extending longitudinally from a larger diameter first end toward a smaller diameter second end, said member being generally tapered longitudinally along a central portion thereof between said ends and having a plurality of convolutions; a housing having a wall of relatively rigid insulating material, said housing having a cavity containing said spring member, the cavity having a configuration generally complementary to the external configuration of the spring member with the relative dimensions of the cavity and the spring member providing a clearance space between the housing and the central portion of the spring member, said wall having a predetermined wall thickness along the portion of the length thereof corresponding to the tapered longitudinal central portion of the spring member; said housing including a lip projecting into the cavity adjacent the first end of the spring member and retaining the spring member within the cavity prior to said rotational installation, and an end wall adjacent the second end of the spring member; and coupling means for transmitting installation torque from the housing to the spring member, Upon said rotational installation, and subsequently precluding relative longitudinal movement between the spring member and the housing, said coupling means consisting of: an unthreaded end portion of said cavity, said end portion having a given inside diameter at the outside periphery of at least one convolution adjacent said second end of the spring member, the thickness of the wall at the unthreaded end portion of the cavity and at said end wall being greater than said predetermined wall thickness; and a thread-forming edge along the outside periphery of at least said one convolution adjacent the second end of the spring member, said thread-forming edge having an outside diameter larger than the given inside diameter of the unthreaded end portion of the cavity by an amount great enough to enable, upon rotation of the housing relative to the spring member in the direction of said installation, the formation of a complementary thread of sufficient depth in the thicker housing wall at said unthreaded end portion to establish a threaded engagement between the said one convolution and said housing of a strength great enough to transmit said installation torque and preclude said longitudinal movement; said one convolution having an inside diameter small enough to preclude the passage through the convolution of a wire having sufficient column strength to pierce the end wall.