Connecting blocks for telephone systems

Claim 1

A connector block comprising: a housing having a rear and sides extending forwardly from the rear to enclose a chamber; a terminal support member pivotally carried at two spaced pivotal locations at upper portions of the sides of the housing forwardly of the rear, the support member being pivotally locatable alternatively in a use position and a position withdrawn from the use position, the support member in the use position depending from its pivotal locations and lying between the housing sides to close the front of the chamber with the support member extending to upper, lower and side boundaries of the housing, and the support member in the withdrawn position extending upwardly from the pivotal locations; the terminal support member having two generally rectangular faces and sides extending between the faces, one of the faces being a front face and the other face a rear face in the use position of the support member and one of the sides facing upwardly and another downwardly in said use position; the side which faces upwardly in the use position, formed with a row of laterally spaced apart conductor wire guide projections which lie at the upper boundary of the housing with the support member in the use position, extend forwardly of the front face and define wire guide spaces which face downwardly across the front face; a cover for the support member, the cover hingedly connected to the support member at two hinge positions of the support member which are disposed at lower corner regions of the front face in the use position; the cover and the support member having cooperable flexible retaining means to retain the cover in a position covering the front face of the support member, said retaining means formed partly at the ends of the upwardly facing side, and also partly at two corner regions of the cover; the support member formed with terminal holding locations extending through the support member from face-to-face with some of the terminal holding locations extending along a lower edge region of the front face between the hinge positions at the lower corner regions and other terminal holding locations extending along an upper edge region of the front face between the upper corner regions of the front face; a latching arrangement for detachably connecting the support member to the housing when the support member is in the use position, the latching arrangement provided partly upon the downwardly facing side of the support member and partly upon the housing; and said corner regions of the cover and upper regions of the housing sides having cooperable locking means to detachably hold said corner regions of the cover and stabilize the support member when the support member is in its withdrawn position with the cover pivotally moved out of its covering position on the support member.