Electrical connectors – Metallic connector or contact having movable or resilient... – Spring actuated or resilient securing part
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-21
2002-12-03
Ta, Tho D. (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
Metallic connector or contact having movable or resilient...
Spring actuated or resilient securing part
C439S886000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06488550
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a connector contact suitably used in a multi-contact type connector, and a method of manufacturing the same.
Generally, as a connector contact used in a connector and the like, a fork contact, formed by punching a metal contact material by a press or the like and having two contact surfaces formed by plating respective plating target surfaces, is known.
FIG. 5
shows the schematic structure of a conventional fork contact disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-117574 (reference
1
). Referring to
FIG. 5
, a U-shaped fork contact
51
has two contact arms
51
a
and
51
b
parallel to each other, a contact support
51
c
for supporting the two contact arms
51
a
and
51
b,
and an external connecting terminal
51
d projecting from the contact support
51
c.
The fork contact
51
having the above structure is manufactured in the following manner. First, a contact material made of a metal plate is punched to form a first contact forming piece
61
integrally having two contact arm forming portions
61
a
and
61
b
parallel to each other, a contact support
61
c
for supporting the two contact arm forming portions
61
a
and
61
b,
and an external connecting terminal
61
d
projecting from the contact support
61
c,
as shown in FIG.
6
.
The distal end portions of the contact arm forming portions
61
a
and
61
b
of the first contact forming piece
61
are twisted by 90 degrees to form a second contact forming piece having opposing plating target surfaces (contact arm surfaces). The plating target surfaces of the second contact forming piece are plated to form contact surfaces. In this manner, the fork contact
51
shown in
FIG. 5
is fabricated.
In the conventional fork contact
51
described above, since the plating target surfaces are opposed to each other by twisting the second contact forming piece, the external form width (dimensions from the left end of
61
a
to the right end of
61
b
) of the whole of the contact arm forming portions
61
a
and
61
b
must be set to be larger than that of the contact support
61
c.
As the plating target surfaces oppose each other during plating, when they are subjected to plating from the punched surface side (perpendicular to the sheet surface of
51
c
), the plating material undesirably attaches to portions other than the plating target surfaces such as the sheared surfaces.
As a result, the number of contact forming pieces obtained from one contact material decreases, and a large amount of plating material is necessary for plating, leading to an increase in manufacturing cost. As the second contact forming piece is subjected to twisting, it is difficult to keep the parallel degree between the contact surfaces, and the reliability of the machining precision decreases.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-152051 (reference
2
) disclosed a fork contact having L-shaped contact arms with distal end portions bent through 90 degrees. This structure, however, does not solve the problems described above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a connector contact manufactured at a low cost, and a method of manufacturing the same.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector contact which can increase the reliability of the machining precision, and a method of manufacturing the same.
In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a connector contact comprising a pair of contact arms made of strips having a predetermined thickness and opposing end faces, the contact arms having flat contact surfaces, on inner sides of distal end portions thereof, which are formed by crushing the strips toward the end faces thereof, a contact support for supporting the contact arms, and an external connecting terminal projecting from the contact support.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3812452 (1974-05-01), Sturm
patent: 5208978 (1993-05-01), Dixon et al.
patent: 60-117574 (1985-06-01), None
patent: 5-152051 (1993-06-01), None
Kikuchi Kazuya
Nagafuji Toshiaki
McCamey Ann
NEC Corporation
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