This invention relates to an electrical connector for electrical connection to insulation displacement terminals. Insulation displacement terminal arrays are commonly used in distribution frames for the distribution of electrical wiring to access points in terminals within a customer's premises from an incoming telecommunications cable. The distribution frame may be of a construction or frame referred to as "module" in U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,315, granted July 14, 1981 in the name of B.T. Osborne. Distribution frames have mounted therein a plurality of terminal assemblies normally of a construction referred to as "cross-connect connectors" in that each assembly comprises a dielectric terminal carrier with two spaced arrays of insulation displacement terminals carried by the carrier. The terminals of one row are interconnected electrically and in desired fashion with those of the other row through the dielectric carrier. A construction of cross-connect connector may be as referred to as "connector block" in U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,703, granted Oct. 20, 1981 in the name of B. T. Osborne.
It is frequently necessary to electrically connect each of a selected pair of terminals of a terminal array of one cross-connect connector to a respective terminal of a corresponding pair of terminals of an array of an adjacent cross-connect connector. This is typically done by connecting a bridging link in the form of a flexible wire to each of the selected pair of terminals, and bridging each wire to a respective one of the corresponding pair of terminals. This operation requires separate insertion of each end of each wire with an insertion tool and trimming each wire to length.
Because the wire cannot generally be reused, the above steps must be repeated each time such a connection is interrupted for test purposes. Moreover, the size and density of the terminal arrays make slight misalignment of the connecting wires difficult to avoid and detect. Such misalignments result in wrongly made connections.
In Canadian Patent Application No. 536,028, filed Apr. 30, 1987 (U.S. Pat. Application No. 045,354, filed May 4, 1987, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,151) in the name of L.A.J. Beaulieu, a bridging link is described which provides error free electrical connection between terminals of two arrays. In the construction described in this patent application, spaced-apart electrical contact members are held by a dielectric body, the contact members being spaced a distance apart for engagement within insulation displacement terminals selected from two adjacent rows. The contact members are interconnected through the dielectric body to enable electrical contact to be made between the two insulation displacement terminals. In another Canadian Patent Application No. 536,027 filed Apr. 30, 1987 (U.S. Pat. Application Ser. No. 045,337 filed May 4, 1987, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,574) in the name of L.A.J. Beaulieu, an electrical connector is described which may either be a bridging link to extend between terminals of two adjacent arrays of terminals, or the connector may be a patch cord. A patch cord's construction is one having a connector element at each end of an insulated conductor wire, so that the two connectors may be connected to a selected terminal of one array and any particular terminal of another array upon a distribution frame. In this patent application, a latching means is described for use with each of the connectors for holding the connector in position upon a terminal assembly which may be in the form of a cross-connect connector.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds