US Patent 7115001 Wire actuated terminal spring clamp assembly

A spring clamp assembly for an electrical terminal block includes a termination spring, a trigger and a return spring. The trigger is biased by the return spring into an opening of the termination spring to impede a clamping movement of the termination spring. A wire inserted into the terminal block trips the trigger so that it clears the termination spring allowing it clamp the exposed end of the wire against a metal terminal contact. Thus, the wire is clamped in place simply by the simple and necessary action of inserting the wire into the terminal block. The wire is removed and the assembly is reset by manually moving the termination spring to its original position, removing the wire and allowing the return spring to reset the trigger.