U.S. patent number 3,860,318 [Application Number 05/347,956] was granted by the patent office on 1975-01-14 for pre-loaded electrical connector.
This patent grant is currently assigned to AMP Incorporated. Invention is credited to Robert Philmore Reavis, Jr., Lincoln Edwin Roberts, John Robert Shoemaker.
United States Patent |
3,860,318 |
Reavis, Jr. , et
al. |
January 14, 1975 |
PRE-LOADED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR
Abstract
Pre-loaded multi-contact electrical connector has contact
terminals therein which have tubular conductor receiving portions.
The conductor receiving portion has an axially extending open seam
which defines a slot for the reception of the conductor. Upon
movement of the conductor laterally of its axis and into the slot,
the edges of the slot engage, and establish electrical contact
with, the conductor.
Inventors: |
Reavis, Jr.; Robert Philmore
(Statesville, NC), Roberts; Lincoln Edwin (Winston-Salem,
NC), Shoemaker; John Robert (Walkertown, NC) |
Assignee: |
AMP Incorporated (Harrisburg,
PA)
|
Family
ID: |
23366020 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/347,956 |
Filed: |
April 4, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
439/406 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01R
4/2441 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H01R
4/24 (20060101); H01r 009/08 () |
Field of
Search: |
;339/95R,97R,97P,98,99R |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,065,967 |
|
Jan 1954 |
|
FR |
|
1,006,621 |
|
Oct 1965 |
|
GB |
|
Primary Examiner: McGlynn; Joseph H.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Raring; Frederick W. Seitchik; Jay
L. Keating; W. J.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A pre-loaded multi-contact electrical connector comprising:
an insulating housing having a mating side and a rearward side,
said housing having a plurality of contact-receiving cavities
extending therethrough from said rearward side, said cavities
having openings which open onto one side which is between said
mating side and said rearward side,
an electrical contact terminal in each of said cavities, each of
said terminals having a contact portion which is proximate to said
mating side and a conductor receiving portion which is proximate to
said rearward side, said conductor receiving portion being tubular
and having an axially extending open seam, said seam constituting a
conductor-receiving slot which extends in said conductor receiving
portion inwardly from said rearward side towards said mating side,
said slot being on the side of said tubular section which is
adjacent to said opening whereby,
upon movement of a conductor laterally of its axis into said slot,
the edges of said slot will engage said conductor to form an
electrical connection therewith, and said conductor, after being
connected to said terminal, will extend laterally of said housing
from said opening.
2. A pre-loaded connector as set forth in claim 1 and a cover
member removably mounted on said rearward side of said housing,
said cover member extending over said one side of said housing and
partially covering said openings.
3. A pre-loaded connector as set forth in claim 2, each of said
conductor-receiving tubular portions of each of said contact
terminals being partially transversely severed intermediate the
ends thereof and partially therethrough from said open seams.
4. A pre-loaded connector as set forth in claim 2, and conductors
in said slots in said conductor receiving portions of at least some
of said terminals.
5. A stamped and formed electrical terminal device having two
conductors electrically and mechanically connected thereto, said
terminal device comprising:
a conductor-receiving portion and a contact portion,
said conductor receiving portion comprising a formed tubular member
having a web and sidewalls, said sidewalls having opposed edges
extending axially in a straight line along said tubular member,
said edges defining a conductor receiving slot, said conductor
receiving portion being partially severed transversely of the axis
thereof from said edges partially along said sidewalls towards said
web whereby said conductor-receiving portions is in two sections,
each of said sections comprising a spring system,
said conductors having portions extending transversely of the axis
of said tubular member and being in said slot, one of said
conductors being in one of said sections and the other conductor
being in the other section,
said contact portion extending from said conductor-receiving
portion and having means for forming an electrical connection to a
further conductor,
said device being of a conductive metal having spring properties
whereby, said edges are resiliently urged against said conductors
and said conductors are mechanically and electrically connected to
said terminal device, each of said conductors being under the
influence of a spring system in its respective section.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to electrical connections of the type in
which a wire or other conductor is moved laterally of its axis into
a slot in a terminal member so that the edges of the slot engage,
and establish electrical contact with, the conductor. The invention
is herein disclosed in an embodiment comprising a preloaded
multi-contact electrical connector, however, the invention can be
used under other circumstances where conductors are connected to
terminal members which are contained in a housing.
It is common practice to electrically and mechanically connect a
conductor to a terminal member by providing a narrow slot in the
terminal member and moving the conductor laterally of its axis into
the slot so that the edges of the slot engage, and establish
electrical contact with, the conductor. These wire-in-slot terminal
devices can be manufactured by simply punching a narrow slot in a
plate-like portion of the terminal as shown, for example, in the
U.S. Pat. to Levin U.S. Pat. No. 3,012,219 or by punching an
elongated enclosed slot in a thin plate-like member and then
folding the plate-like member about a fold line which extends
transversely of the slot. This latter manufacturing technique
provides two slots for the conductor and has certain advantages as
described in the U.S. Patent to Patton U.S. Pat. No. 3,617,983. The
U.S. patents to Zeanis U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,058 and Pasternak U.S.
Pat. No. 3,027,536 show further conductor-in-slot type devices of
the general type under consideration here.
We have found that a high quality conductor-in-slot plate
electrical connection can be achieved by forming a flat blank into
a tubular shape having an seam open which functions as the
conductor-receiving slot of the terminal. Several advantages are
achieved in accordance with our invention including ease of
manufacture, an improved ability in the terminal to accomodate
conductors of different sizes, and a conductor-terminal connection
having improved mechanical and electrical characteristics.
The herein disclosed embodiment of the invention is in the form of
a multi-contact electrical connector of the type used for
connecting individual conductors to the conductors on a printed
circuit board. The conductors can be connected to the terminals in
the connector by the use of a conductor trimming and inserting
apparatus as shown in application Ser. No. 347,965, filed of even
date herewith. The connector shown herein has especial utility in
the manufacture of electrical harnesses as disclosed in application
Ser. No. 347,957.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved
conductor-in-slot type electrical connecting device. A still
further object is to provide a conductor-in-slot terminal device
which is capable of receiving and forming electrical connections
with, conductors of varying sizes. A further object is to provide a
conductor-in-slot type terminal device which is capable of
receiving a plurality of wires or other conductors. A further
object is to provide an improved pre-loaded multicontact electrical
connector.
These and other objects of the invention are achieved in a
preferred embodiments thereof which are briefly described in the
foregoing abstract, which are described in detail below, and which
are shown in the accompanying drawing in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an electrical connector in
accordance with the invention having individual wires connected to
the contact terminals in the connector.
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the connector of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the housing of the connector
taken along the lines 3--3 of FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the lines 4--4 of FIG.
1.
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view, with parts broken away, of the
connector of FIG. 1.
FIG. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the housing
illustrating the manner in which a single coarse wire is
accomodated in the terminal.
FIg. 7 is a sectional side view of one form of apparatus for
trimming individual conductors and inserting the trimmed conductors
into the slots of the terminals in the connector, this view showing
the apparatus with the parts in their open positions.
FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale of the apparatus
of FIG. 7 shown in the positions of the parts at the conclusion of
a wire trimming and inserting operation.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a connector 2 in accordance with the
invention serves to connect individual wires 6 to the conductors 8
on a printed circuit board 4. The connector comprises a housing 10
of suitable insulating material, such as molded plastic, having a
mating or forward side 12 and a rearward side 14. A plurality of
side-by-side contact receiving cavities 16 extend through the
housing from the rearward side to the mating side and a contact
terminal 18 is mounted in each of each of these cavities.
The terminals are of stamped and formed sheet metal and each
terminal has at its forward end a flat tongue 20 which is reversely
bent at 22 to provide a rearwardly extending contact portion 24 for
engagement with the conductors 8 on the printed circuit board 4.
The contact portion in the disclosed embodiment is bifurcated at
its free end so that it has two separate points of contact with the
conductor 8. A lance or tang 26 is struck from the tongue 20 for
the purpose of retaining the terminal in the cavity as will be
described below. The rearward end 28 of each terminal 28,
constitutes the conductor receiving portion of the terminal and is
generally tubular having a web 30, which is co-planar with the
tongue 20, and sidewalls 32, which are formed inwardly and towards
each other at their free outer ends. The resulting seam is left
open and functions as a conductor receiving slot 34 for the
conductors 6.
The tubular conductor receiving portion is divided intermediate its
ends by transverse shear lines 36 which extend from the slot 34
diagonally and forwardly down the sidewalls 32 to punched holes 35.
As will be explained below, this feature of the preferred
embodiment divides the conductor receiving portion 28 of the
terminal into two semi-independent spring systems for the
accomodation of two or more wires or the accomodation of one
relatively coarse wire.
The underside of the conductor receiving portion is cut away at the
righthand end thereof as viewed in FIG. 4 so that the upper
portions of the sidewalls extend rearwardly, cantilever fashion,
beyond the rearward end of the web 30 as shown at 38. This feature
is advantageous for the conductor insertion operation as is
described in the above-identified application Ser. No. 347,965. It
will be noted that the edges of the projecting sidewall portions 38
diverge as shown at 40 (FIG. 5) at the rearward end of the
conductor receiving portion. These divergent edges function to
guide the wires into the slots 34 while they are being
inserted.
Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the cavities 16 in the housing 10
are separated from each other on the mating side 12 of the housing
by T-shaped barriers 42. These barriers extend from the floor of
the housing partially to the upper wall 43 so that a trough-like
recess 58 is provided on the mating side of the housing which is
adapted to receive an edge portion of the printed circuit board 4.
Each cavity has a floor 44 and a recess 46 is provided in the floor
which extends inwardly from the mating side 12. This recess defines
a shoulder 48 which is directed towards the mating side 12 of the
housing for cooperation with the tang or lance 26 of an inserted
terminal. An additional groove 50 extends inwardly in the floor 44
from the rearward side 14 and has an inclined inner end 49. It will
be apparent that an individual terminal is mounted in the housing
by merely moving it axially into a cavity. The tang 26 will be
flexed into the plane of the tongue by the inclined surface 49 but
will spring into the recess 46, when the terminal is fully
inserted, and lodge against the shoulder 48 to prevent removal of
the terminal.
The intermediate portion 51 of the cavity is constricted as shown
in FIG. 4 so that the terminals cannot move completely through the
cavity and the righthand portion of each cavity which extends to
the rearward side 12 of the housing is enlarged to accomodate the
tubular conductor receiving portion of the terminal. Openings 54
are provided on the upper side 52 of the housing and have arcuate
inner ends 56 as shown in FIG. 5. Finally, the walls between
adjacent cavities extend rearwardly as shown at 53 so that the
projecting rearward ends 38 of adjacent terminals are separated
from each other.
A removable back cover 60 is provided on the rearward side 14 of
the housing comprises a backwall or web 62 having forwardly
extending flanges 64, 65. Integral latching arms 68 extend
forwardly from the ends of the cover and have outwardly displaced
free end sections 70 which have slots 72 therein. This back cover
can be assembled to the housing by simply locating it in alignment
with the rearward side 14 and moving the cover towards the rearward
side until the arms move over bosses 74 on the oppositely facing
ends 78 of the housing. The edges of the flanges 64, 65 are
preferably rounded as shown at 66 to provide curved surface over
which the conductor 6 can be dressed. It will be apparent from FIG.
1 that the flange 64 extends partially over the side 52 of the
housing and partially covers the openings 54. The wires are thus
confined between the flange 64 and the inner ends 56 of the
openings 54.
As previously mentioned, the conductor receiving portion 28 of the
terminal is capable of accomodating and forming electrical
connections with at least two wires. As shown in FIG. 5, where two
wires are to be connected to an individual terminal it is desirable
to locate one of the wires forwardly of the shear 36 of the tubular
portion and the other wire rearwardly of this tubular portion. When
the wires are so located, they will each be in one of the spring
systems which are provided on each side of the shear 36. This
arrangement avoids a concentration of extremely high stresses in a
localized zone which would result if two wires are located adjacent
to each other in a single slot of a terminal member having only one
spring system. As also noted above, the wire receiving portion of
the terminal is capable of accomodating a relatively wide range of
wire sizes. When a relatively coarse gauge wire is inserted into
the slot, it is advantageous to locate this coarse wire at the
intersection of the shear 36 and the conductor receiving slot 34 as
shown in FIG. 6. If a wire is so located, four zones of electrical
contact are established and the two semi-independent spring systems
are both active in establishing the contact.
The wires 6 can be inserted into the conductor receiving slots 34
of each of the terminals in the connector by means of an apparatus
80 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 which is fully disclosed and claimed in
application Ser. No. 347,965. This apparatus comprises a base
member 82 which is secured to a work surface 83 and which has an
inserting tool 95 removably secured thereto. A recess 84 is
provided in the upper end of the base 82 and a connector 2 is
clamped in this recess with the conductor receiving portions of the
terminals upper most by means of a clamping screw 90 which is
threaded through a clamping plate 88. A plurality of wire locating
vanes or barriers 92 are provided on the upper end of the base 82
and similar barriers 94 are provided on the upper end of the
clamping plate 88. These barriers are mounted such that a wire
positioned between adjacent barriers will be in alignment with the
conductor receiving slot 34 of a terminal as shown in FIG. 7.
The tool 95 which is removably secured to the base 82 has a frame
96 in which a slide member 98 is guided for movement towards and
away from the connector 2. An inserting punch means 100 is mounted
in a recess 101 in the lower end of slide 98 and comprises a
plurality of relatively thin spaced-apart plates, one plate being
in alignment with each terminal in a connector. Each plate is
centrally notched as shown at 101 so that it can move past the
upper end of the terminal as shown in FIG. 8.
Slide 98 has a cam follower 102 on its upper end which is in
engagement with a cam 104 mounted on a shaft 105 in the upper end
of frame 96. A handle 106 extends from cam 104 and when this handle
is swung counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 7, the slide 98 will be
driven downwardly from the position of FIG. 7 to the position of
FIG. 8.
In use, after a connector has been clamped in the recess 84 and
wires have been located between each pair of adjacent barriers 92,
94 on the upper ends of the frame member 82 clamping plate 88, the
handle is swung counterclockwise, the slide 95 descends, and the
wire 6 is pushed downwardly. As the wire moves past the edge 108 of
a cutting die 110 mounted in the base 82, the edge 112 of the slide
cooperates with the edge 108 to sever the wire as shown prior to
its movement into the slot 34 of the terminal. Further details of
this apparatus and a preferred method of manufacturing harnesses
with this apparatus and connectors in accordance with the instant
invention are described in application Ser. No. 347,965.
It will be apparent from FIGS. 7 and 8 that as the wire moved
downwardly, it is captured and guided by the edges 40 of the
terminal towards the slot and, the wire is partially inserted into
the slot prior to its being trimmed by the edges 108, 112. The wire
is thus fully controlled during the trimming and inserting
operation and there is little possibility of the wire being
improperly inserted or trimmed.
A salient advantage of a terminal in accordance with the invention
is that conductor receiving portions can be formed by a relatively
simple, but precisely controllable, die forming operation and it is
not necessary to punch a precisely dimensioned slot as is common in
prior art devices. As also noted above, a terminal having a tubular
conductor receiving portion as described herein is capable of
accepting a relatively wide range of wire sizes by virtue of the
transverse shears which give rise to two semi-independent spring
systems. A terminal having these two spring systems is also
advantageous where two wires must be connected to the terminal in
that a separate spring system is provided for each of the wires.
Finally, it has been found that a very good mechanical connection
between the wire and the terminal is achieved particularly, if the
wire is pulled in a direction normal to the axis of the tubular
portion of the terminal. The back cover of the connector has the
effect of orienting the end portions of the wires normal to the
axis of the terminal so that any tensile force or pull applied to
the wires is transmitted to the mechanical connection in the
preferred normal direction.
A connector assembly in accordance with the invention has all of
the advantages of a pre-loaded electrical connector as described in
application Ser. No. 147,578 and in addition, is particularly
advantageous for harness manufacturing methods as disclosed and
claimed in application Ser. No. 347,957. It will be apparent that
the principles of the invention can also be used for connecting
wires to electrical devices other than multi-contact connectors
such as switches and relays. It will also be apparent that the
principles of the invention can be practiced to connect conductors
other than round wires to terminals; for example, to connect the
conductors of a flat conductor cable to terminals as disclosed in
application Ser. No. 310,056.
Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art and
various apparently different modifications and embodiments may be
made without departing from the scope of the invention. The matter
set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is
offered by way of illustration only.
* * * * *