US1156314A - Connector for ground-terminals. - Google Patents

Description

A. R. RHEINBERGER. CONNECTOR FOR GROUND TERMINALS. APPLiCATlON FILED 1AN.10,1910.

1,156,314. Patented 001. 12, 1915.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @FFEQE.

ALFONSO R. RHEINBERGER, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

CONNECTOR FUR GROUND-TERMINALS.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALFONSO R. RHEIN- BERGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Connectors for Ground-Terminals, of which the following is a specification.

An object of this invention is to provide a terminal rod or its equivalent, having a passage adapted to admit a conductor, with a wedgeor key in said passage serving to hold the conductor in place and in intimate electrical connection with said rod, said wedge or key being so constructed as to prevent its removal from the rod before a con ductor is connected. By making the wedge or key inseparable from the rod it is prevented from being lost and is always ready for use which is an advantage.

The invention consists further in forming the wedging element as a guide to direct the conductor into place when the latter is inserted in the terminal rod.

The invention consists finally in the features, combinations and details of construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification Figure 1 is a perspective view of a detail showing a portion of a ground rod such as is employed in telephone and telegraph service to which my improvement is applied; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the construction set forth in Fig. 1 looking at one end of the connector and Fig. 3 is a side elevation a portion of the ground rod being broken away to expose the connector therein.

In the drawings A represents a detail of a terminal rod such as commonly employed for contact with the ground to produce an electrical connection therewith said rod being adapted to be embedded or driven into the earth as desired. To this rod my improved terminal connector B is applied which consists, as illustrated in Fig. 1, of a pair of half round wedges 2 and 3 tapering in the same general direction and cooperating to form an elongated cone-shaped device passing loosely through a transverse tapering passageway 4 in said rod. The passageway is round although. it may be of any other suitable shape and the wedges 2 and 3 are adapted to be driven into the passageway with the line wire 5 pinched between its members grooves 6 being formed longi- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

7 Application filed January 10, 1910. Serial No. 537,199.

tudinally in said members to receive said line wire. The walls of the grooves 6 are of any suitable shape desired. The inner ends of the members 2 and 8 are bent or flared apart to produce stops 7 which serve to prevent the removal of the terminal connector members from the ground rod and also by its inner faces 8 to act as a guide for introducing the end of the line wire 5 between the members 2 and 3. The wedge is of such length as to permit it to be freely moved in one direction within the passage way .4 so that the sections, of which the wedge is formed may be spread apart sufficiently to receive the line wire between them. After the wire 5 has been inserted between the members 2 and 3 the outer ends of said members are hammered or pressed into the opening 4: and thus wedged in said opening tightly with the line wire 5 clamped securely between them to produce an efficient and effective electrical contact between said wire and ground terminal. Should it be desired at any time to remove the wedge sections from within the passageway through the rod, this may be done by pinch ing the flared ends together without in any way injuring or rendering the members unfit for further use.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof but I desire to have it understood that the construction shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means and applied to uses otherthan those above set forth within the scope of the following claim.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is The combination with a ground rod having a passage therethrough, of a line wire to be secured thereto, an elongated cone-shaped terminal connector extending through said passage and consisting of a pair of cooperating sections adapted to receive and clamp said line wire between them, said connector being provided with an enlarged driving head at one end and gradually tapering therefrom to a point adjacent its other end, each of the sections forming the connector being bent from said point to form elongated oppositely flaring portions for preventing the accidental re moval of saidconnector from said rod and forming guides to facilitate the insertion of said line wire into said connector, the length of said connector between its head and flar- 5 ing portions being greater than the length of said passage within which said connector may be moved to release said line wire.

two subscribing witnesses.

ALFONSO R. RHEINBERGER. Witnesses:

' H. L. FISCHER,

F. G. VBRADBURY.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of Cepies of this patent may be obtained for live cents each. by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C."

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