Miniature BNC connector

Abstract

A miniature BNC connector assembly having reduced dimensions includes a plug-side connector configured for engagement with a jack-side connector to form an electrical connection. The plug-side connector includes a plug-side connector body and a bayonet sleeve rotatably connected to the connector body. The bayonet sleeve has an outer diameter not greater than approximately half an inch.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 436,351, filed May 13, 2003 now U.S. Pat No. 6,921,283 (that published as U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 2004-0038584-A1 on Feb. 26, 2004), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.[0002]U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 436,351 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 938,857 filed Aug. 27, 2001 (that issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,841 on May 13, 2002), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.[0003]U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 436,351 is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 038,581, filed Jan. 8, 2002 (that published as U.S. Pub. Pat. application No. 2003-0129870-A1 on Jul. 10, 2003, now abandoned), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0004]1. Field of the Invention[0005]The present invention relates generally to the field of electrical connectors. In particular,...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0018]The connector assembly of the present invention is smaller and more compact than previous connector assemblies, particularly full-size BNC mating connector pairs. The connector assembly of the present invention achieves an improvement of approximately 30 percent more interconnects per given area than full-size BNC mating connector pairs, while including all of the attributes of the standard full-size BNC connector, including the same reliability, materials, mechanical stability, 75 ohm impedance and return loss attributes. Further, the connector assembly of the present invention maintains the same tooling and installation processes and can be field-terminated using the same industry-standard cable strip tools, contact crimp tools, crimp sleeve crimp tools and termination practices as the full-size BNC connectors.

Problems solved by technology

Increased market demand for telephone lines (for voice, fax and data traffic) has caused additional crowding in telephone company central offices.

However, the mechanical footprint of the standard BNC connector hinders further increases in connection densities.

Connectors, such as the SMB connector, with smaller footprints might be used, but they lack certain advantages (e.g., the bayonet locking feature and field crimpability) of BNC connectors, which have become an industry standard.

Another problem that occurs when multiple mating connector pairs are positioned in close proximity is that it is often not possible for a user to look at the mating connector pairs from a viewpoint that allows visual inspection of the relative positioning between the lug and the J-shaped slot to confirm full engagement.

Consequently, it is often difficult to manually determine whether a jack-side connector is fully engaged with a corresponding plug-side connector.

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