This application claims the priority of German application 198 11 667.5, filed Mar. 18, 1998, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a connector in which the end sections of the wires of a cable to be connected are held in the guides of clips made of insulating material at an angle to the plugging direction and are contacted by insulation-piercing connecting devices located in the individual chambers of a carrier body which is displaceable relative to the clips in the plugging direction.
A connector of this type is known from European Patent Document No. EP 0 554 810 A2. Connectors of this kind have the advantage that the insulation-piercing connecting device of the contact elements is extremely simple in design and a connection is produced by squeezing two parts of an insulating body together. Connectors of this known type however are not automatically suitable for making 2-, 4-, or 8 -pole connectors for analog and digital data transmission which can be used in a shielded design even at frequencies up to 600 MHz and over 600 MHz.
It is also known to provide shielded connectors according to IEC Design Specification 603-7. However it has been found that these connectors are not sufficient for frequencies above 200 MHz since the insertion damping, return loss, and near cross talk damping do not maintain the required values.
Therefore a goal of the present invention is to design a connector of the species recited at the outset, in which the connection can be made as a shielded connection in a very simple fashion without having to strip the cable ends of their insulation.
To achieve this goal, in a connector of the species recited at the outset, provision is made for connecting a shielded cable such that the clips are mounted on a contact element comprised of electrically conducting material with the element being insertable into a housing that is shielded and serves as a supporting body and contacting its walls, such that the shielding of the cable can be attached to the contact element, such that the insulation-piercing connecting devices are located in insulating bodies accommodated in the shielded chambers of the housing that are formed by separating ribs inside the housing, and such that the housing is connected with the contact element in a contacting fashion by a screw that extends in the plugging direction.
With this design it is possible in relatively simple fashion, after stripping the braided shield of the cable to be connected, to introduce the free wire ends into their corresponding clips where they are held at an angle to the plugging direction, and then to associate these clips with the conducting contact element or to use the screw to pull the clip into the bushing housing after it has been connected with the cable shielding, with the contact to the shielded housing being made via the contact element and the screw and with the contact to the wires being made by the screwing process.
In an improvement on the invention, this group can be accessible from the open connecting side of the housing so that there is no difficulty in assembly.
In an improvement on the invention, the contact element can be designed as a cross with a central thread to which the shielding of the cable is attached in a manner known of itself by a crimping ring. Finally, a protective cap can be pushed over this crimping ring and the plug housing.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.