Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
_ 20 1 9446
TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONNECTOR HOUSING
This invention relates to telecommunications
connector housings.
In the telecommunications field, service is
provided to a building by conductors of an incoming cable
which are connected to conductors of another cable provided
within the building. Such connections are made within a
wall mounted housing referred to herein as a uconnector
housing~. Connector housings are of many designs to suit
lo particular requirements of various teleco-mml]n;cations
installation companies who have various methods of
directing incoming cable into a building and of making
suitable connections. The design situation with regard to
connector housings is further complicated in that incoming
telecommunications cables now include both optical fibers
and copper conductors in a single incoming cable. Designs
of connector housings thus have provision for connecting
both for optical fibers and copper conductors. In cases
where there is no present requirement for optical signal
transmission, provision is alternatively made for storing
end portions of the incoming optical fibers within a
connector housing for future use. For this purpose, an
incoming cable, which may basically be an optical fiber
cable, includes insulated copper conductors which are
initially used for telecommunications service until the
need arises for use of the optical fibers. In one manner
of allowing for this change, the incoming optical fibers
are initially stored within a compartment in a lid of the
connector housing with the incoming copper conductors
extending to connectors in another and main compartment of
the housing. ~hen it is required to use the optical fibers
instead of the copper conductors, the latter are
disconnected and cut short as they enter the housing, and
the stored optical fiber end portions are removed from the
3 5 id compartment to replace the copper conductors in the main
compartment and optical connections are made. This
procedure calls for major changes of connector parts with~q
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20 1 9446
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the housing while the copper conductors are thereafter
permanently wasted although they still remain along the
full length of incoming cable. Conventional connector
housings are therefore of extremely restricted use.
Alternatively, if it is required after initial
installation to supply both optical signals and electrical
power, e.g. for operating monitoring meters for such
services as gas, water and electricity, a single incoming
cable may be used, but the connector housing needs to be
lo different in construction from that required to connect
copper conductors while storing optical fibers for future
use. Hence, there is now a need for a connector housing of
a single construction which may be used alternatively for
optical or electrical transmission requirements, or
alternatively for optical transmission and electrical power
requirements. Ideally, after installation, connector
fittings within such an installation should be easily
changeable in position or replaced to suit the requirements
of different telecommtln;cation installation companies or
also to enable the housing to be adapted for different
transmission or power connection requirements.
The present invention provides a
telecommunications connector housing and conductor handling
fittings (such as conductor connectors or optical fiber
storage fittings) for the housing which will enable the
above problems to be m;n;m; zed or even avoided.
Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention
provides a connector housing and a plurality of conductor
handling fittings for the housing wherein the connector
30 housing has a mounting wall for the fittings, the mounting
wall being formed with a plurality of bores which are
located in two series of rows normal to each other, and
each of the fittings is provided with a plurality of pegs
which are located to enable the fitting to be detachably
mounted upon the wall in a plurality of different positions
by frictional engagement of the pegs within chosen bores in
the two series of rows.
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According to a further aspect of the invention
there is provided a connector housing and a plurality of
conductor handling fittings for the housing wherein the
connector housing has a mounting wall for the fittings, the
mounting wall being formed with a plurality of bores and
each fitting having a plurality of pegs for frictional
engagement within the bores, the bores and the pegs being
disposed distances apart to enable each fitting to be
disposed in a plurality of different positions and angles
o of orientation upon the wall.
With a housing in the inventive structure, two or
more fittings may be disposed alternatively in different
relative positions upon the wall, these positions being
changeable as required; alternatively, certain fittings may
be replaced by other fittings which also incorporate
appropriately positioned pegs.
With the above structure according to the
invention, in one arrangement in use, a terminal block for
copper telecommunications conductors is provided as one of
the fittings while lightning protectors for the conductors
are mounted upon another fitting, i.e. lightning protector
holder. A further fitting is provided as an optical fiber
storage member. When it is later desired to provide
connections for the optical fibers for optical transmission
into the building, terminal connections may be made either
upon the fiber storage member if this is designed for this
purpose, or another fitting may be added for optical fiber
connections. The fitting for the optical fiber connections
may alternatively be used as a replacement fitting for the
terminal block and the lightning protective holder for the
copper telecommunications conductors. Instead, however,
use of the copper conductors may be changed so that they
are provided as power conductors for providing power to
various use monitoring meters. Alternatively, the same
connector housing may be initially installed while
providing both optical fiber telecommunications services
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20 1 9446
and electrical power services by having appropriate designs
of fittings initially located upon the mounting wall.
In a preferred structure it is preferred that the
bores on the mounting wall are disposed in two series of
rows normal to each other with the bores located equal
distances apart in each row. With this arrangement each
fitting may be changed not only in position but also in
direction of orientation.
It is also preferable that the mounting wall is a
rear wall of the housing and the cores are blind bores
having inner ends spaced from an outer surface of the rear
wall.
One embodiment of the invention will now be
described, by way of example, with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:-
Figure 1 is a front elevational view of aconnector housing of the embodiment with a front cover
removed;
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view through part of
the connector housing of Figure 1 taken along line II-II in
Figure 1 and to a larger scale;
Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 of the
connector housing forming part of a connector housing and
conductor handling fitting assembly;
Figure 4 is a plan view of one of the conductor
handling fittings used in the assembly of Figure 3 and to a
larger scale;
Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view through the
fitting of Figure 4 taken along line V-V in Figure 4;
Figure 6 is a plan view of another fitting used in
the assembly of Figure 3 and also to a larger scale;
Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view through the
fitting of Figure 6 taken along line VII-VII in Figure 6;
Figure 8 is a plan view of yet a further fitting
35 used in the assembly of Figure 3 and to a larger scale than
Figure 3;
Figure 9 is a side elevational view of the fitting
of Figure 8 taken in the direction of arrow IX in Figure 8;
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20 1 9446
Figure 10 is a view similar to Figure 3 of an
assembly of the connector housing and fittings according to
a different arrangement from that shown in Figure 3.
As shown in Figure 1, a connector housing 10 for
connecting incoming telecommunications cable with a cable
provided inside the building comprises a base wall 12 for
mounting the housing upon a wall of the building.
Extending outwardly from the wall so as to define a chamber
with the wall and a front cover (not shown) are four side
lo walls 14, 16, 18 and 20. A lower side wall 20 is provided
with an inlet port 22 for the incoming cable and an outlet
port 24 for the building inside cable. Further cable ports
26 are provided in spaced positions upon the side wall 18
for use to suit particular installation requirements of
telecommunications installation companies or for particular
types of entry and exit cables. The base wall 12 is formed
with a substantially circular panel 28 and two
substantially rectilinear panels 30, the panels being
attached to the base 12 by weakened peripheral regions so
as to enable panel removal as required for passage of
conductors into and out of the housing. Such panels are
normally referred to as Uknock-out~ panels in the industry.
For use with the housing 10, there are provided a
plurality of conductor handling fittings. In Figure 3,
three of these fittings are shown installed within the
housing 10 to provide a total assembly of a connector
housing and fittings to provide particular functions with
appropriate conductors of incoming and outgoing cables
connected and stored within the housing.
More precisely, one of the fittings 32 is a
storage spool for optical fibers. Another fitting 34 is a
terminal block for connecting individually insulated
telecommunications conductors 36 of an inside cable 38 with
similar conductors 40 of an incoming cable 42 which extends
into the inlet port 22. setween the terminal block 34 and
the incoming cable 42 is disposed a fitting in the form of
a lightning protector holder 44 which carries lightning
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~0 1 ~446
protectors 46 disposed in the incoming line to the cable
42.
The fittings 32, 34 and 44 are basically of
conventional construction except a feature which allows for
s their attachment to the housing 10. For purposes of
connecting each of the fittings 32, 34 and 44 to the
housing, the fitting and the rear wall 12 of the housing
have, between them, mechanically interconnectable mounting
means which enables the fitting to be placed upon the
o mounting wall in any of a plurality of different positions.
In the case of the connector housing, the interconnectable
mounting means comprises a plurality of bores 48 which are
arranged in substantially equal spaced-apart positions,
except where interrupted by the panels 28 and 30, in
spaced-apart horizontal and vertical rows. As shown
particularly by Figure 2, these bores 48 extend into bosses
50 projecting rearwardly from the base wall 12 so as to
open forwardly into the connector chamber defined by the
wall 12 and the side walls 14, 16, 18 and 20. As shown by
a rear view of the storage spool 32 in Figure 4 and also in
Figure 5, the spool 32, which is a plastics molding, is
integrally formed with four pegs 52 extending outwardly
from its rear surface. These pegs 52 have such a diameter
as to be frictionally engageable within any of the holes 48
of the housing 10. In addition, the pegs are spaced apart
distances such that the spool 32 may be located anywhere in
a vertical position upon the rear wall 12, e.g. such as
shown in Figure 3, or alternatively in any horizontal
position, e.g. as shown in Figure 10.
The terminal block 34, as shown in Figure 6, has
terminal screw holes 54 for acceptance of terminal screws
56 (see Figure 3) in a conventional manner. As shown by
Figure 7, a rear face 58 of the terminal block 34 is formed
with four pegs 52 of similar size to those of the storage
spool 32. The pegs 52 on the terminal block 34 are also
spaced to enable the block to be disposed in any position
within the housing according to a first angle of
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201 9446
orientation as shown in Figure 3 or according to another
angle of orientation normal to the first angle of
orientation as shown in Figure 10.
Similarly, the housing 44, which is shown in
Figures 8 and 9, has three spaced-apart pegs 52 extending
from the rear face for purposes of locating the holder in
any desired location in either of two positions of
orientation at right-angles to each other.
- Other fittings (not shown) and which provide
different conductor handling functions may also be used
within the connector housing dependent upon requirements.
Each of such fittings will also be provided with pegs 52 to
enable the fitting to be located in any desired position
within the housing.
The arrangement of fittings and the design of
fittings to be used within the housing is, of course,
dependent upon requirements. However, the housing and
fitting structures allow for a particular
telecommunications installation company to decide the
positioning of the fittings. In one method of forming an
assembly of connector housing and fittings as shown in
Figure 3, and using the fittings which have been described,
the storage spool 32 is disposed vertically above the two
ports 22 and 24 for storing any desired number of lengths
of optical fiber 60. Terminal block 34 is disposed towards
the top right-hand side of the housing in one position of
orientation and the holder 44 towards the lower side wall
20. These fittings are appropriate for the use of
electrical conductors as a telecommunications supply media
with the optical fibers stored for future use.
Alternatively, the same housing and the same fittings may
be disposed in different positions from that shown in
Figure 3, e.g. as shown in Figure 10. With this
arrangement the same uses for the electrical conductors and
the optical fibers may result.
with the arrangement of fittings as shown in
either of Figures 3 or 10, it is quite a simple matter,
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should it be required to change the telecommunications
signal supply from copper conductors to optical fibers for
the optical fibers 60 to be connected, for instance, by
connectors 62, with optical fibers 64 of a cable which
extends into the building. In this case, the copper
conductors may be completely disconnected from any service
as is conventional with such a changeover. Alternatively,
the copper conductors 40 may be used instead to conductor
power to any suitable low powered device within the
o building such as monitoring meters for monitoring usage of
services such as gas, water or electricity. For this
purpose it may be necessary to exchange the terminal block
34 and the fitting 44 for other fittings (not described) to
be mounted in the housing 10 and which are more suitable
for connecting the electrical conductors 40 to their
associated units within the building.
As the above embodiment shows, with the
interconnectable mounting means provided between the
connector housing and the fittings any design and type of
fitting having the appropriate mounting means may be
assembled into the housing. Hence, the housing together
with a multiplicity of conductor handling fittings may be
used for a multitude of different electrical purposes while
thus avoiding the use of connector housings of different
construction.
