JPH07176338A - Receptacle type contact - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a receptacle contact to facilitate assembly in manufacturing and to effect a stable electrical contact with a mating tab contact. CONSTITUTION: A receptacle contact 11 comprises a main contact body 21 having a contact arm 25 and a wire terminating portion 15, and a box-type reinforcing member 13 into which the main contact body 21 is inserted with its interfitting end in the lead. The reinforcing member 13, which corresponds to the main contact arm 25, includes a reinforcing spring arm 45 of predetermined dimensions and a locking lance 77 that is retained by the main contact body 21. In addition, the reinforcing member 13 is equipped with a contact lance 65 adjacent to the interfitting end, and a funnel-like portion 61 that is to be fixed in a contact receiving chamber of a housing and also is to work as a guide to lead a mating tab contact into the interfitting end.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to a receptacle type contact having a reinforcing contact arm which assists or reinforces (backs up) the main contact arm.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Receptacle-type contacts (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as contacts) including a main contact arm and a reinforcing contact arm are disclosed in German Patent No.
No. 48978. The contact comprises a box-shaped contact body and an external reinforcing body having a reinforcing spring and attached to the contact body. In order to attach the reinforcing body to the contact body, it is common to bend a predetermined portion of the reinforcing body into the concave portion and the end portion. It is also known to arrange the reinforcing body on the contact body and then fold the locking lance protruding from the external reinforcing spring around the side wall of the contact body.

[0003]

However, in the conventional method of attaching the external reinforcing spring to the contact, the operation of bending and locking a specific portion of the external reinforcing spring is relatively complicated, and a complicated tool or machine is required. It has the disadvantage of requiring it. In addition, in this type of conventional electrical contact,
A lance for holding or fixing such a contact in the contact receiving cavity of the housing is formed at a substantially central portion in the longitudinal direction of the contact body or the outer reinforcing spring member. In this way, in the contact having the lance in the central portion, the fitting end and the wire connecting end pivot about the lance portion. This pivoting action creates an undesired load on the connection between the receptacle contact and the mating tab contact. Furthermore, when the pivotal movement is large, the elastic arm of the contact and the tab contact inserted between the arms are mutually shifted in the width direction of the elastic arm of the contact, and the area of the overlapping (contacting) area between the elastic arms becomes small. There is a problem in that it is not enough to allow the planned current to flow through both contacts. To avoid this problem, manufacturing problems such as strict dimensional accuracy of each part of the contact and a housing using the contact occur.

Therefore, the present invention is intended to solve the problems of the conventional receptacle type contact described above. That is, it is to provide a receptacle-type contact in which locking of an external reinforcing spring member and a main contact is simple and pivotal movement of the contact can be suppressed.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the receptacle type contact of the present invention, a reinforcing spring in which a reinforcing arm is formed substantially outside a contact body having a main contact arm. The member is inserted and crowned from the mating end of the contact body. An elastic tongue that is partially cut and bent and bent inward is automatically engaged with the engaging shoulder of the contact body to fix the reinforcing spring member at a predetermined position of the contact body. Characterize.

According to the receptacle type contact of the present invention, the connector body and the reinforcing spring member are formed in the same manner as described above, and the reinforcing spring member has the lance formed near the fitting end. The lance secures the receptacle-type contact near the mating end of the connector housing.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the receptacle type connector of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a receptacle type contact 1 of the present invention having an external reinforcing spring 13.
1 shows a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of FIG. In the figure, the reinforcing spring 1
The part hidden by 3 is indicated by a broken line.

The contact 11 includes a wire termination (connection) portion 15 having a well-known conductor crimp connection area 17 and an insulating crimp area 19. The conductor crimp region 17 is crimped to the exposed conductor of the wire and the insulating crimp region 19 is crimped onto the residual insulating jacket of the wire. The contact 11 is
Including a contact body 21 following the wire termination portion 15,
In the illustrated embodiment, it has a substantially rectangular closed box shape. The pair of contact spring arms 25 are integrally formed with one of the two opposing side walls 27, 29 of the contact body 21.

Although the contact 11 shown in the figure is a single flat spring contact, it may be a double flat spring contact, and the two contact arms are respectively two side walls 27 and 29 of the contact body 21, respectively. Stick out from.
The two contact spring arms 25 extend in a converging manner towards the other side until they touch each other on the line of the contact 31. On one side of the contact wire 31 on the mating side, the free end of the contact spring arm 25 widens to form an insertion funnel 33. This funnel 33 facilitates the insertion of flat contacts. This flat contact is sometimes called a tab contact.

Since the contact 11 is formed by punching and bending from a single metal plate, the box-shaped contact body 21 of the contact 11 has a contact seam 35 extending in its longitudinal direction. In the embodiment shown in FIG.
Is located on the upper wall of the contact body 21 in FIG. Less than,
This is called the top 37.

The external reinforcing spring 13 is an external reinforcing spring body 3.
9 is included. The external reinforcing spring 13 extends from the wire terminating side of the contact body 21 beyond the end of the insertion funnel portion 33 of the contact spring arm 25 in the figure. The outer reinforcing spring body 37 comprises a closed box-shaped portion 41. It is seated on and surrounds the contact body 21. 1
The external reinforcing spring arm 45 is an external reinforcing spring body 39.
The side walls 43 facing each other are cut and raised. The two outer reinforcing spring arms 45 extending from the box-shaped portion 41 converge (approach each other) at the first angle. Starting from the fold line 47 near the free end 49, the two outer reinforcing spring arms 45 converge at a larger angle.

An external reinforcing spring body 3 shown at the top in FIG.
A space lug 53 is cut and raised from the top portion 51 of 9 and the free end is bent inward of the outer reinforcing spring body 39 at right angles to the top portion 51. As apparent from FIGS. 3 and 4, the external reinforcing spring arm 45 is provided in the longitudinal direction of the bent portion of the space lug 53.
Is wider than the contact spring arm 25, and the width of the external reinforcing spring arm 45 projects beyond the longitudinal edge of the contact spring arm 25 as an extension 55 on both sides.
The depth of the part of the space lug 53 projecting between the outer spring arms 45 is chosen so that it does not extend downwards until the space lug 53 reaches the contact spring arm 25.

As is apparent from FIG. 3, the space lug 53
Extends not only from the top of the outer reinforcement spring body 39, but also from the bottom 57 between the lower projection extensions 55 of the two outer reinforcement spring arms 45. The space lugs 53 are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the extension of the outer reinforcement spring 13 so that they are in the area of the fold line 47 between the outer reinforcement spring arms 45.

As is apparent from FIGS. 2 and 3, the free end of the outer reinforcing spring arm 45 has the contact spring arm 25.
The contact line 31 is arranged at substantially the same level as the contact line 31 and is held by the space lug 53 away from the contact spring arm 25. When a tab contact (not shown) is inserted between the opposing contact spring arms 25, the two contact spring arms 25 expand. This is initially repelled only by the spring force of the two contact spring arms 25. If the tab contact is further inserted between the contact spring arms 25, the contact spring arms 25 will finally abut the free end of the outer reinforcing spring arm 45. Upon further insertion, not only the contact spring arm 25 but also the external reinforcing spring arm 45 will expand. At the final stage of this insertion, the contact spring arm 25 and the external reinforcing spring arm 4
A total spring force of 5 counteracts the expansion described above. Starting from this point, a contact force corresponding to the sum of these two spring forces is created between the receptacle contact 11 and the tab contact.

The width of the space lug 53 is 2 at the contact wire 31 in the direction in which the external reinforcing spring arm 45 expands.
The gap between the contact spring arms 25 is chosen to be slightly smaller than the contact tab thickness. The effect of having this size is that only a relatively low spring force of the contact spring arm 25 is effective in the maximum part of the insertion operation, and the sum of the spring forces of the contact spring arm 25 and the external reinforcing spring arm 45 is the final stage of the insertion operation. It is to be effective only.

From the fitting end of the side wall 43 of the external reinforcing spring body 39, the projecting portion 59 is bent toward the fitting end side of the external reinforcing spring body 39, and the free end is bent toward the mating side, whereby a funnel shape is formed in the axial direction. The part 61 is formed. The axial funnel 61 allows the tab contact to be inserted into the insertion funnel 33 of the contact spring arm 25.

A locking lance or a contact lance 65 is formed integrally with the cut and raised portion of the external reinforcing spring arm 45 so as to project from the fitting end side of the cut and raised opening 63. The locking lance 65 projects outward obliquely and its free end faces the wire terminating portion 15. These lances cooperate with locking shoulders 67 formed at corresponding locations in the associated contact chamber 69 of the connector housing 71 of insulating material, as shown in FIG. Rocking lance 6
5 is preferably short, preferably in the range of about 10 to 20% of the total length of the contact spring arm 25.

The locking lance for locking the electrical contact in the contact housing of the connector housing is the area of the contact body 21, ie the wire termination portion 15.
Is generally provided in the vicinity of the contact, and thus in the vicinity of the center of the contact in the longitudinal direction as a whole. Alternatively, it was the longitudinal end of the contact on the wire termination side. Electrical wires extending from the wire terminations of the contacts of the connector are often subjected to lateral forces during handling. This force causes a pivoting movement of the contact transverse to its axial direction, the axis of rotation of this pivoting movement being in the region of the locking lance. When the locking lance is conventionally located at the longitudinal center or at the wire termination end of the contact, such lateral force acts on the terminated wire lead and causes the mating contact to contact the longitudinal end of the wire lead. Large pivotal movements occur. This large pivoting motion creates an undesired mechanical load on the connection between the receptacle contact and the tab contact.

To solve this problem, according to the present invention,
The locking lance 65 is arranged on the fitting end side of the external reinforcing spring body 39. Since the rotation axis of the pivotal movement resulting from the application of the lateral force to the crimp-connected wire is thereby located on the external reinforcing spring body 39, that is, the mating end side of the contact 11, the contact spring arm 2
The contact between 5 and the tab inserted in between is substantially unaffected by this pivoting movement. Therefore, the mechanical load described above can be largely avoided. Furthermore, it is possible to increase the tolerance play between the contact spring arms 25 and the tabs inserted between them.

Further, since the contact portion between the contact spring arm 25 and the tab inserted between the contact spring arm 25 and the tab must be designed so that a specific amount of electric current required for a specific application is passed, the contact spring arm 25 and the tab contact each other. In order to be able to carry this current between positions, it must overlap with a minimum width under all motion conditions. When the locking lance is arranged as in the present invention, only a slight pivoting movement occurs when a lateral force is applied to the terminated wire,
The risk of the contact-establishing overlap between the contact spring arm 25 and the tab changing due to the pivotal movement due to the force acting on the wire termination 15 is low. This allows for greater tolerance play between the contact spring arm 25 and the tab as compared to the large pivotal movement that can occur if the locking lance is located in the center of the contact or at the wire termination.

As is apparent from FIGS. 1 to 3, the longitudinal ends 7 of the top 51 and bottom 57 of the outer reinforcing spring body 39.
3 is provided with an outward convex portion 75 on the fitting end side. The convex portion 75 terminates in the contact 11 or another contact of the same connector housing when the outer contour and the distance between adjacent locking lances 65 project the locking lance 65 onto the top 51 or bottom 57, respectively. Be smaller than the thinnest wire thickness. This can prevent the problem of the wire getting caught in the locking lance 65. This is a serious problem for contacts with conventional locking lances. That is, the conventional locking lance is not only sufficiently longer than the locking lance 65 of the present invention, but also has no wire entanglement preventing projection such as the convex portion 75. Such wire entanglement frequently occurs during the handling of contacts and has been a source of concern during the manufacture and handling of cable harnesses. In particular, this problem was remarkable during the wire terminating work for the harness and the contact by the automatic manufacturing machine.

The protrusion 75 also has another function. The protrusion 75 functions as an accurate guide (guide portion) when inserting or mounting the contact 11 with the external reinforcing spring 13 in the contact accommodating chamber 69. The reason is that the protrusion 75 is manufactured in a stamping process of the contact 11, and thus the dimensions are accurately determined. External reinforcement spring 13
The contact 11 provided with
It can be accurately positioned inside. By this protrusion 75,
Contact 1 with external reinforcing spring 13 is contact 1
It is supported in one contact area. When the rolling force acts on the contact 11 provided with the external reinforcing spring 13 due to the lateral force of the terminated wire or the like, the contact region remains stationary. Other parts of the contact 11, in particular the wire termination 15, can fall. Therefore, there is a space 91 in the contact accommodating chamber 69 so that it can move freely except for the portion cooperating with the protrusion 75. This makes it possible to use the contact 11 provided with the external reinforcing spring 13.

The external reinforcing spring 13 is configured to be capped (snap-on) on the contact 11.
For this purpose a locking lance or elastic tongue 7
7, 79 are provided on the top 57 and the bottom 57, respectively, and a locking stop 81 is provided on the top 5 of the outer reinforcing spring body 39.
1 is provided. The locking lances 77 and 79 and the locking stop 81 are punched from the top 51 and the bottom 57, respectively, and are bent into the outer reinforcing spring body 39. The locking stop 81 extends vertically into the outer stiffening spring body 39, but has locking lances 77 and 79.
Extends obliquely into the outer reinforcing spring body 39, and the free ends of the locking lances 77, 79 are directed toward the mating end side of the outer reinforcing spring body 39.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the locking lances 77, 79 are cut and raised from the top portion 51 and the bottom portion 57, respectively, and bent into the box portion 41 of the outer reinforcing spring body 39. 2 to 5 show modifications of the locking lances 77 and 79. In this embodiment, the locking lance 7
7, 79 are formed on the top portion 51 and the bottom portion 57, respectively, and are sheared so as to be pushed into the box-shaped portion 41. The locking stop 81 can be similarly formed.

Another possibility of forming the locking projection is to press the corresponding part of the external reinforcing spring inward by non-shearing, ie to deform it under pressure to form the recess. The elasticity required by the locking projections 77, 79 is obtained in the present case by the elasticity of a part of the external reinforcing spring surrounding each locking projection. When the external reinforcing spring body 39 is mounted on the contact 11, the locking stop 81 is positioned with respect to the lateral edge of the contact body 21 on the fitting end side. This lateral edge is formed by the longitudinal end 23 on the mating side.
The free ends of the locking lances 77 and 79 are arranged with respect to the wire terminating side lateral edge 82, and the lateral edges are formed by notches on the wire terminating side of the top portion 37 and the bottom portion 83 of the contact body 21, respectively.

The wire terminating lateral edges 82, which cooperate with the free ends of the locking lances 77, 79, are also in contact body 21, respectively.
Is formed by the wire-terminating side ends of the top portion 37 and the bottom portion 83. The angle formed by the locking lances 77, 79 and the top portion 51 and the bottom portion 57 of the external reinforcing spring body 39 is such that the free ends of the locking lances 77, 79 are lateral edges 82 on the wire terminating side when stress is not applied to the locking lances 77, 79. Are chosen to be flush with.

For attachment to the contact 11, an external reinforcing spring is slid onto the contact 11 from the free end of the contact spring arm 25 on the fitting side. During this operation, the locking lances 77 abut the fitting-side longitudinal ends 23 of the contact body 21, and these lances elastically slide on the top portion 37 and the bottom portion 83 of the contact body 21, the free end of which is the wire termination. When crossing the side lateral edge 82, the locking lances 77, 79
Can return to a stress-free state. This causes the locking stop 81 to cooperate with the mating side longitudinal end 23 of the top 37 of the contact body 21 to prevent further sliding of the external reinforcing spring 13 towards the wire termination 15. In addition, the external reinforcing spring 13 extends toward the mating end of the contact 11.
The locking lances 77 and 79 also slide in the opposite direction.
And the lateral edge 82. The external reinforcing spring 13 is mounted in this position of the contact body 21 and locked there.

The operation of pushing the locking lance provided on the external reinforcing spring into the associated locking recess of the contact or bending the locking lance of the external reinforcing spring at the web portion of the contact is performed by the contact and external reinforcing of the present invention. In springs it is no longer necessary. All operations for locking with respect to the contact 11 and the external reinforcing spring 13 are carried out when the contact 11 and the external reinforcing spring 13 are also separate bodies. Preferably, it is carried out on a flat punch blank before bending these into the shape of the contact 11 and the external reinforcing spring 13, respectively.

The external reinforcing spring 13 is made by bending a punched metal plate portion into a box shape. The abutting joint 87 formed during this bending is closed by welding. Laser spot welding is preferably used for this purpose. Two welded portions (spots) 89 are shown in FIGS. 2 and 4.

According to the invention, the external reinforcing spring body 39
The shape allows the contact spring arm 25 to be surrounded over its entire length and at the same time reliably protect the contact spring arm 25 from damage.

By rounding the corners and edges at the base of the funnel-shaped portion 61 in the axial direction, the contact 11 provided with the external reinforcing spring 13 can be easily inserted into the contact accommodating chamber 69 of the connector housing 71. To do.

Since the wire termination side of the external reinforcing spring body 39 projects beyond the contact body 21 from the four longitudinal sides, it is formed on or in the connector housing 71.
The external locking spring body 3 has a secondary locking means which is closedly engaged with the rear end or the shoulder of the contact or the external reinforcing spring.
It is possible to engage the wire terminating ends of the four long sides of 9 in any manner.

In another embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the inner contact portions 21 are respectively upper and lower tab portions 181,1.
82, each tab having a corresponding locking lance 7
It projects in the same direction as 7,79. It can be seen that the tabs 181,182 form stop edges 183,184 and engage the free ends of the tabs 77 and 79. Tabs 181, 18
2 is formed near the inner surfaces 185 and 186. This allows the locking lances 77, 79 to engage the tabs 181, 1 when the outer reinforcing spring 18 is mounted on the inner contact spring.
Fit in the opening formed by 82 to engage the engagement edges 183, 184 as best shown in FIG. Tab 18
1 and 182 are tabs 77 and 79 with internal contact body 21
It prevents it from getting inside and allows the reinforcing spring to move longitudinally with respect to the internal contact.

The preferred embodiment of the receptacle contact of the present invention has been described above in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. Understand that it is possible.

[0035]

As can be understood from the above description, the receptacle-type connector of the present invention has various remarkable effects. Since it is fixed to the outside of the contact main body having the main contact arm only by searching and capping a substantially box-shaped reinforcing member from the fitting end side, the assembly and manufacturing are extremely simple.
Since the reinforcing member can be completely closed by welding or the like, it is possible to effectively protect the internal main contact arm from external force. Further, since it is possible to accurately control the distance dimension between the reinforcing arm of the reinforcing member and the main contact arm, it is possible to reduce the insertion force of the mating tab contact at the initial stage of insertion. Furthermore, a funnel-shaped portion is formed at the fitting end of the reinforcing member to serve as a guide for the mating tab to facilitate the fitting operation.

Further, according to the receptacle type contact of the present invention, since the locking lance is formed on the outer surface near the fitting end of the substantially box-shaped external reinforcing member, the center portion of the contact or the wire terminating portion like the conventional contact lance is formed. The mating surface of the contact is more stable due to the pivotal movement that occurs when an external force is applied to the wire, as compared with the one formed in FIG.
Therefore, there is no contact when mating with the mating contact,
The fitting operation is simple, and the contact surfaces of the fitted receptacle and tab contacts are stable, so that a large current can be stably supplied. Therefore, the receptacle type contact of the present invention is suitable for a connector for a large current capacity connector such as a power supply circuit.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a receptacle-type contact according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the receptacle type contact of FIG. 1 viewed from the bottom side.

3 is a side view of the reinforcing spring of FIG. 1. FIG.

4 is a longitudinal side view of the receptacle-type contact of FIG.

5 is a top view of the receptacle-type contact of FIG. 1. FIG.

6 is a longitudinal sectional view of an internal spring contact, that is, a contact body, which is a constituent element of the receptacle-type contact of FIG.

7 is a side view of an assembled receptacle-type contact including the contact body of FIG.

8 is a cross-sectional view of a connector in which the receptacle-type contact of FIG. 1 is housed in an insulating housing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Receptacle Type Contact 21 Contact Main Body 25 Main Contact Arm 15 Wire Termination 13 Reinforcement Member 45 Reinforcement Spring Arm 65 Contact Lance 77,79 Elastic Tongue 61 Funnel Shape 71 Housing

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A receptacle-type contact including a contact main body having at least one pair of main contact arms, and a substantially box-shaped reinforcing member capped on the outside of the contact main body and having a reinforcing arm of the main contact arm. The reinforcing member is inserted from the fitting end side of the contact body, and an elastic tongue formed by cutting and raising inward is engaged with an engaging shoulder of the contact body to be fixed. Mold contact. 2. A receptacle-type contact including a contact body having at least one pair of main contact arms, and a substantially box-shaped reinforcing member having a reinforcing arm for the contact arm that is crowned outside the contact body. The receptacle-type contact, wherein the reinforcing member is inserted and fixed from the fitting end side of the contact body, and has a contact lance extending outward from the vicinity of the fitting end.