Bell Telephone Laboratories

American Telephone & Telegraph Co., At&t Bell Laboratories

Larry W Dickey

Warren J Rhines

Philip Hughes

Edward Lewis Ramsey, Jr

A solid state protector unit has a single voltage protection device shared by both tip and ring conductors to protect telephone equipment in a central office or other location from surges of voltages in either tip, ring, or both tip and ring conductors. The voltage device has a surge-suppressor sandwiched between two metal plates. Each of these pairs of metal spring clips retain a pair of diodes in contact with and on opposite sides of the two metal plates. When a voltage surge exceeds a predetermined threshold, the surge-suppressor turns on and permits a current to flow through it to a ground, thereby protecting the telephone equipment from voltage surges. Heat generated for a sustained period from the voltage device or from the current device will cause the current device to be grounded permanently.

Telecommunication protector unit with pivotal surge protector

Apparatus inserted in series in a transmission line connecting subscriber equipment with a telephone central office and which apparatus is responsive to test signals from the central office to determine whether a fault is located on the office side or the subscriber side of the apparatus is enclosed in a housing. A plurality of leads from the apparatus project through an opening in the housing and the leads are connected to electrical terminals of a connector block. The housing in one embodiment has two spaced apart ribs which are lodged between tabs of fanning strips, located on both sides of the terminals. One of the ribs has an end with a width larger than the rest of the rib so that end projects inward from the fanning strip and prevents accidental dislodging of the housing from the connector block. In a second embodiment, the housing is supported by at least one tab from one fanning strip. Testing of the terminals is effected by removing the housing without disturbing the connection of the leads to the terminals.

Snap-on network interface unit

A protector unit (30) for protecting tip-and-ring conductors of a telephone loop includes a pair of protector assemblies (40-40') which are supported within a common housing 932). A voltage protection subassembly (42) is connected electrically to a ground subassembly (44) for causing current associated with excessive voltage surges to be conducted to ground. Each protector assembly includes a heat coil subassembly (50) mounted on a dielectric half-base (51), together with a central office pin (57). The heat coil subassembly includes a line pin (61), an eyelet (62), disposed concentrically about the line pin and releasably secured to one end of the line pin in an initial position by a fusible bonding material, and a resistance wire (69), wound about the hub of the eyelet. One end of the wire is welded to the eyelet, and the other end is welded to the central office pin to establish a direct current path between the line pin and the central office pin. The two base halves and the components disposed thereon are held in mated position theretogether by the protector housing. A spring (43) between a cup (93) of the voltage protector subassembly and the housing maintains the voltage protection subassembly in engagement with the eyelet. Also, the spring is effective when current flow exceeds a predetermined level that is sufficient to cause the fusible bonding material to melt to cause the eyelet to be moved to a position where it engages a portion (86) of the grounding subassembly to establish a fault current path to ground potential.

Protector unit for telecommunications circuits

Apparatus (10) is disclosed for mounting a reel (40) having a material (41) wound thereon. The apparatus includes a rigid support member (20) and a first projection (21) extending generally perpendicularly from the support member for holding the reel. Extending outwardly from the support member is a second projection (22) which is spaced apart from the first projection. Fastened to this second projection and coupled about an edge of the reel of the first projection are means (60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65) for providing a braking action to the reel as material is drawn therefrom.

Reel holder having brake action

A multiplane terminal block adapted to provide rearrangeable electrical connections includes a plurality of spaced insulating terminal posts extending outwardly on one side of a rectangular block of insulating material. A conductive element fixedly inserted into each post protrudes through the block and provides a rearrangeable clamp connection to an electrical conductor at the top of the post and a fixed connection to an electrical conductor on the other side of the block. Each terminal post is of a different length than the immediately adjacent terminal posts whereby a relatively long path between conductive elements with close spacing between adjacent posts is provided.

Growing community of inventors

Hackettstown, NJ, United States of America

Larry W Dickey