Socket assembly

Abstract

A socket assembly having a base support at its central portion and leading terminal supports provided at predetermined portions surrounding said base support and formed stepwise, comprises a base support unit including the base support and a leading terminal mount including at least one of the units of which are separable from one another horizontally such that each of said units includes one of said leading terminal supports, said each unit being coupled to each other.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a socket assembly, and more particularly to an improved socket assembly including as its central parts a base support which is provided with openings adapted to receive terminals of an object to be connected comprising a small-sized electric device such as relay or timer, and leading terminal support means provided on each of the opposite sides of the base support and formed stepwise.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Usually, socket assemblies for general use are made in this type. The socket assemblies of this type are made differently in configuration of their base supports and in arrangement of openings in which the socket terminals are provided for receiving terminals of an object to be connected depending on whether terminals of an object to be connected are formed into configuration of a blade or stem. The base support unit of the former has a substantially rectangular surface on which a plurality of openings for the socket terminals are arranged in a plurality of parallel rows. The base support unit of the latter, on the other hand, has a substantially circular surface, on which the openings for socket terminals are usually arranged annularly in equi-spaced relationship. The two kinds of socket assemblies as mentioned above are slightly different from each other in structure but common in that they are integrally moulded of an insulating material. However, both of them have the following drawbacks. That is, the mounting of metal connector fittings in the socket assembly necessarily requires to mount metal connector fittings in the openings for socket terminals and mount different metal connector fittings for the leading terminals due to its integral mould structure. That is, the above-mentioned metal connector fittings have conventionally been mounted in the respective positions inside the socket assembly and then been connected to one another with connecting wires soldered therebetween. With such an arrangement, the mounting of the metal connector fittings on the socket assembly has been very complicated because of the small size of the socket assembly itself and required great skill, resulting in poor working efficiency. Further there often occurred defects on connection resulting from defective soldering at the soldering of the connecting wires, inferiority due to miss wiring, and wrong wiring between the metal connector fittings with the result of reduced reliability of final products. Further, the increased number of the leading terminals caused the difficulty of ensuring a necessary creepage distance between two adjacent metal connector fittings because of the limited space inside the socket assembly for convenience in forming the integrated mould of the socket assembly, thus resulting in the necessity of a disadvantageously large-sized socket assemblies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is proposed for improvement of the above-mentioned points and is intended to provide a small-sized socket assembly which is assembled of a base support unit and a unit or units obtained by horizontal division of a leading terminal support along each step.

These units are moulded separately, and fittingly mounted on each other to make the socket assembly, thereby permitting the use of metal connector fitting formed integrally of the parts for the socket terminal and those for the leading terminals instead of using the conventional fittings in which the part for socket terminals are constructed separately from the parts for the leading terminals. This arrangement permits the metal connector fittings to be incorporated to the socket assembly at predetermined positions thereof without the necessity of additional wiring works, and ensures that the necessary creepage distance is provided between any two adjacent metal connector fittings with ease even in the increased number of the leading terminals.

The present invention will be described in detail in connection with the accompanying drawings by way of an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a stem type socket assembly including eleven leading terminals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a socket assembly according to the present invention and a timer to be mounted on the socket assembly.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the socket shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a right side view of the same.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are disassembled perspective views showing an assembling state of the socket assembly, respectively.

FIG. 6 is a plan view in an assembled state of units B and C.

FIG. 7 is a right side view of the units.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a unit A.

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the unit A.

FIG. 10 is a side view of the unit A.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a unit B.

FIG. 12 is a bottom view of the unit B.

FIG. 13 is a side view of the unit B.

FIG. 14 is a plan view of a unit C.

FIG. 15 is a side view of the unit C.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of metal connector fittings for use in the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In FIG. 1 there is shown a socket assembly S having at a substantially central portion a base support 1 having a substantially circular surface, on both sides of which there are provided leading terminal supports 2 and 3 formed in stepwise manner. A timer T to be coupled therewith is provided with a plurality of stem type connecting terminals P (P.sub.(1), P.sub.(2), . . . , P.sub.(11)) corresponding to the number of poles (eleven in the shown embodiment) which extend from its periphery in concentric relation about a guide stem P.sub.o extending from a substantially central portion of its bottom wall. On the upper surface of the base support 1 there are provided openings 10 for socket terminals to which the terminals P are inserted and which are disposed in concentric relation about a through-hole 12 for guiding the guide stem P.sub.o and adapted to correspondingly receive the terminals P. The present invention is characterized in that the socket assembly S is divided into and formed of a base support unit A and units B and C which are constructed by horizontal division of the leading terminal supports 2 and 3 along the boundary of the steps and are adapted to form the socket assembly stacked of these units. For easy understanding of the present invention, the connecting terminals P are marked with reference numerals 1 to 11 and the corresponding openings for socket terminals are also marked with the same reference numerals.

The socket assembly according to the present invention is adapted to be divided into a base support unit A, a first unit B, and a second unit C which are separately moulded of an insulating material and adapted to be assembled into the socket assembly. The base support unit A provided on the uppermost stage of the socket assembly comprises a substantially rectangular unit mainly including the base support 1 of the substantially circular surface and ear portions 11 (see FIG. 4). At the central portion of the base support 1 there is bored a through-hole 12 for guiding the guide stem P.sub.o of the timer T around which a plurality of openings 10 for socket terminals are disposed circularly to receive the corresponding terminals P of the timer T. At the under portion of the openings 10 there are provided recessed chambers 10.sub.a1 to 10.sub.a11 (FIG. 9) adapted to accommodate plug receiving terminals 41 and 51 (FIG. 16) of metal connector fittings 4 and 5 as described hereinafter. Barriers 13 of substantially sector shape radially extend from the wall portion on one side of each recessed chamber 10.sub.a1 to 10.sub.a11 except for the recessed chambers 10.sub.26 and 10.sub.a111 outwardly of the lower surface of the unit A. Recessed portions 14 of substantially sector shape are formed between every adjacent two of the barriers 13. In the shown embodiment, a barrier 13a surrounding the peripheral side wall of the recessed chamber 10.sub.a6 extends outwardly as the barriers 13 do. The side walls of the recessed chamber 10.sub.a11 are, on the other hand, formed with no barrier but the barriers 13 of the adjacent recessed chambers 10.sub.a1 and 10.sub.a10 serve as barriers for the chamber 10.sub.a11. A longitudinal channel 15 formed between the base support 1 and the ear portion 11 serves as guide means for fittingly mounting the unit A on the unit B, which will be described below. Numeral 16 (FIG. 8) shows a mounting hole through which a pin 6 for mounting the socket is passed.

Metal connector fittings 4 and 5 (FIGS. 4 and 16) are incorporated to the units B and C, respectively. The fittings 4 and 5 are formed with the receiving plug terminals 41 and 51 at one end, with leading terminals 42 and 52 at the other end, and with laterally disposed belly portions 43 and 53 and longitudinally disposed belly portions at the intermediate portion. The unit B, (FIG. 5) which is assembled between the unit A and a unit C described later is provided at its substantially central portion a through-hole 22 corresponding to the through-hole 12. Through-holes 20.sub.a1 to 20.sub.a11 (FIGS. 11 and 12) corresponding to the recessed chambers 10.sub.a1 to 10.sub.a11 are provided around the through-hole 22 in concentric relation thereto. Barriers 23 of substantially sector shape are provided extending radially from the walls on respective sides of the through-holes 20.sub.a1 to 20.sub.a11 except for the through-holes 20.sub.a6 and 20.sub.a11 outwardly of the upper surface of the unit B to a depth of the recessed portions 14 of the unit A. Recessed portions 24 are formed between the respective barriers 23, and recessed chambers 24b are, respectively, defined between the recessed portions 24 adjacent to the through-holes 20.sub.a1, 20.sub.a2, 20.sub.a5, 20.sub.a7, 20.sub.a10 and the leading terminal support 2 provided on both ends of the unit B. The laterally disposed belly portion 43 is fittingly mounted on the recessed chamber 24b upon mounting of the metal connector fittings 4. It is to be noted that a recessed portion 24a fitted into the barrier 13a is formed in the proximity of the through-hole 20.sub.a6 and a barrier 23a to be fitted into the recessed portion 14a extends from the side wall of the through-hole 20.sub.a11 so as to fit each other without interference upon the mounting of the unit A on the unit B. A separator 21 for separating the leading terminals of the terminal support 2 has its longitudinal inner edge portion 21a formed so as to be engageable with the longitudinal channel 14 of the unit A. In the unit B there are further provided a notch 26 corresponding to the mounting hole 16 and a terminal support 2a provided with a blind cover. An inclined lateral channel 25 is provided extending from the intermediate belly of the outer side edge portion in the seperator 21. It is to be noted that at entrance ports at the lower surface of the through-holes 20.sub.a3, 20.sub.a4, 20.sub.a6, 20.sub.a8, 20.sub.a9, 20.sub.a11 there are provided guide notches 27 for permitting the metal connector fittings 5 to be passed through with ease as required.

A description will next be made of the unit C incorporated to the lowermost portion of the socket assembly.

At the central portion of the unit C, that is, at the portion corresponding to the base support 1 there is provided a substantially rectangular support chamber 30 at both sides of which there are formed recessed chambers 31, on which the terminal supports 2 of the unit B are disposed, with leading terminal supports 3 further provided at both the sides thereof (FIGS. 5, 16, 14, 15). On the support chamber 30 there are provided recessed portions 30.sub.a3, 30.sub.a4, 30.sub.a6, 30.sub.a8, 30.sub.a9, 30.sub.a11 for fitting into a portion of the laterally disposed belly portion 53 communicating with the leading terminal 52 of the metal connector fittings 5 which is disposed on the terminal support 3. The tip end portion of the recessed portion 30.sub.a3 is configured to establish an opposing relation to the lower side of the through-hole 20.sub.a3. Similarly, the tip ends of the recessed portions 30.sub.a4, 30.sub.a6, 30.sub.a8, 30.sub.a9 and 30.sub.a11 are configured to establish an opposing relation to the lower sides of the through holes 20.sub.a4, 20.sub.a6, 20.sub.a8, 20.sub.a9 and 20.sub.a11, respectively. A separator 32 for separating the leading terminals of the terminal support 3 is formed with an inclined wall 32a extending inwardly from the corresponding position at the boundary of the recessed chamber 31. The inclined wall 32a is adapted to come into engagement with a lateral channel 25 at the lower surface of the unit B. A separator 33 is provided on front and back sides of the unit C stepwise corresponding to the level of the terminal supports 2 and 3. Studs 36 provided around four corners of the support chamber 30 are formed at its central portion with a mounting hole 36 a through which the fixing pin 6 is passed. Numerals 37 and 38 show mounting pieces for the socket assembly.

A method for assembling the above-mentioned units A, B and C will be described. First, the leading terminal 52 of the metal connector fitting 5 is mounted on the terminal support 3 of the unit C through a pat, a washer and a terminal screw, while the laterally disposed belly portion 53 is fittingly mounted on the recessed portion 30a and the recessed chamber 31. Then the unit B is assembled thereto in such a manner that the plug receiving terminal 51 of the metal connector fittings 5 and the longitudinally disposed belly portion 54 are fitted from the lower surface of the unit B into the through-holes 20.sub.a3, 20.sub.a4, 20.sub.a6, 20.sub.a8, 20.sub.a9, 20.sub.a11 of the unit B, and the metal connector fittings 5 are fittingly mounted between the units B and C so that the notch 26 (FIG. 12) of the unit B may correspondingly receive the stud 36 of the unit C and that the lateral channel 25 of the unit B may correspondingly receive the inclined wall 32a of the unit C. Next the leading terminal 42 of the metal connector fittings 4 is mounted on the terminal support 2 of the unit B through a pat, washer and terminal screw in a manner similar to that described earlier referring to the mounting of the latterally disposed belly portion 43 on the recessed chamber 24b. Further, the unit A is assembled thereto in such a manner that the recessed chambers 10.sub.a1 to 10.sub.a11 of the unit A are disposed to correspondingly receive the plug receiving terminals 41 and 51 of the metal connector fittings 4 and 5, and the longitudinal channel 15 is disposed to correspondingly receive the inner edge 21a of the separator 21 of the unit B. Finally, the units A, B and C are secured together by riveting fixing pins 6 to complete the socket assembly. It is to be noted that the units A, B and C may be secured not only by riveting but also by screws or by applying an adhesive to the surfaces of the units A, B and C.

As mentioned above, the socket assembly according to the present invention comprises the base support unit A and the units B and C which are adapted to the assembled stepwise and having the respective step portions provided with the leading terminal supports 2 and 3, thereby permitting the metal connector fittings 4 and 5 to be mounted in the socket assembly only if they are fittingly mounted on the predetermined positions from the confronting surfaces of the units B and C before completely assembling them into the socket assembly, so that the mounting of the metal connector fittings is very simple as compared with the conventional one. Further, the present invention permits the use of the metal connector fittings 4 and 5 in which the plug receiving and leading terminal portions are formed integrally without the necessity of the soldering operation of the connecting lines as seen conventionally. In these respects, the present invention completely removes the inferior products resulting from poor connection or misswiring taking place at the soldering and the wrong wiring between the metal connector fittings. Further, according to the present invention, the barriers 13 and 23 ensure that the necessary creepage distance is sufficiently kept between every adjacent two of the metal connector fittings 4 and 5, thus permitting the socket assembly to be arranged to receive a great number of poles with minimum space without making the socket assembly large even if a great number of leading terminals are required. The present invention is applicable not only to the socket assembly with the poles of odd number as shown in the embodiment but also to that having the poles of even number. Further, the present invention can be applied to the blade type socket assembly with the same effects as in the stem type socket assembly. It will be a matter of course that the number of the leading terminal support in the socket assembly according to the present invention is not restricted to the two stages or steps.

Claims

We claim:

1. A socket assembly having external lead wire connection terminals arranged in tiers at opposite ends thereof for electrically connecting terminals of an electronic component such as a relay or timer to external lead wires, comprising:

a plurality of electrically conductive connector fittings each having at one end thereof essentially upwardly extending portions and each having at the other end thereof external lead wire connection terminals for attachment to said lead wires, said upwardly extending portions each including means for attachment to said terminals of the electronic component, said plurality of connector fittings being divided into at least first and second portions;

a lower base member of electrically insulating material including first means on an upper surface of said base member removably supporting the first portion of said plurality of connector fittings each in electrically separated positions on said lower base member, said lower base member including at each of opposite end portions thereof a row of spaced seat portions individually supporting the external lead wire connection terminals of the first portion of said connector fittings, whereby the first portion of said connector fittings supported on said first means may be spaced each from the other;

at least one intermediate base member of electrically insulating material mounted on said lower base member, said intermediate base member including spaced apertures aligned with each of said upwardly extending portions of the first portion of said connector fittings so that said upwardly extending portions of the first portion of said connector fittings pass through said apertures and extend upwardly from an upper surface of said upper base member, said intermediate base member including second means on the upper surface thereof removably supporting the second portion of said plurality of connector fittings each in electrically separated portions on said intermediate base member, said intermediate base member further including at each of opposite end portions thereof a row of spaced seat portions for individually supporting the external lead wire connection terminals of the second portion of said connector fittings;

an electrical component support member of electrically insulating material mounted on said at least one intermediate base member and including spaced apertures a portion of which are aligned with each of said apertures in said at least one intermediate base member and a further portion of which are aligned with each of said upwardly extending portions of said second portion of said plurality of connector fittings; and

means for joining the intermediate and lower base members and component support member,

whereby in use said terminals of said electronic component may be inserted into said apertures in said component support member to make contact with said connector fittings and said lead wires may be attached to said external lead wire connection terminals of the first and second portions of said connector fittings.

2. The socket assembly of claim 1, wherein said connector fittings have essentially laterally extending portions including said external lead wire connection terminals for attachment to said lead wires, said laterally extending portions of said first and second portions of said plurality of connector fittings being arranged in first and second tiers, respectively.

3. The socket assembly of claim 1, wherein said first and second means removably supporting the first and second portions of the plurality of connector fittings comprise a plurality of recesses in the upper surfaces of said lower base member and said at least one intermediate base member, respectively, each recess terminating at the periphery of its respective base member in a raised surface formed with said row of spaced seat portions for supporting said external lead wire connection terminals for attachment to the lead wires; and said intermediate base member and said component support member further comprise a plurality of recesses in respective lower surfaces thereof in alignment with said spaced apertures therein for receiving said upwardly extending portions of said connector fittings.

4. The socket assembly of claim 3, wherein said connector fittings have essentially laterally extending portions including said external lead wire connection terminals for attachment to said lead wires, said laterally extending portions of said plurality of connector fittings being arranged in first and second tiers, respectively.

5. The socket assembly of claim 3, wherein said recesses in said upper surface of said intermediate support member include an upwardly extending wall along one side thereof and the corresponding recesses in said lower surface of said component support member include a downwardly extending wall along a side thereof opposing said upwardly extending wall, thereby defining a space between said walls in which said second portion of the plurality of connector fittings is retained.

6. The socket assembly of claim 5, wherein said connector fittings have essentially laterally extending portions including said external lead wire connection terminals for attachment to said lead wires, said laterally extending portions of said plurality of connector fittings being arranged in first and second tiers, respectively.