Electrical connector and method of making same

Details Electrical connector and method of making same Electrical connector and method of making same

2001-11-01

2002-07-09

Patel, Tulsidas (Department: 2839)

Electrical connectors

With insulation other than conductor sheath

Plural-contact coupling part

C439S606000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06416363

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector and a method of making the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A receptacle connector having a rectangular housing with a receiving cavity for receiving a mating plug connector so that the diagonally extending contact section is brought into spring contact with the terminal of the plug connector is well known.
FIG. 9
shows an example of such a receptacle connector disclosed in Japanese patent application Kokai No.
8-64288.
This connector
50
comprises a shield case
51
, a housing
52
having a receiving cavity
53
into which a mating plug connector (not shown) is inserted from above. A plurality of terminals
54
are provided in the connector
50
such that the contact sections
54
A extend diagonally within the receiving cavity
53
. A holding block
55
is provided in the connector
50
to hold the middle section of the terminals
54
such that the connection sections
54
B project from the housing
52
. As shown in
FIG. 10
, the holding block
55
is made separately from the housing
52
but molded integrally with the terminals
54
, followed by forming the contact sections
54
A by bending. The completed holding block
55
is inserted into the housing
52
.
When the mating plug connector is inserted into the receiving cavity
53
, the contact sections
54
A are brought into spring contact with the terminal of the plug connector.
In the above connector, however, the housing
52
and the holding block
55
are molded separately, the terminals must be formed by bending prior to insertion of the holding block
55
into the housing
52
so that the manufacturing process is complicated, resulting in the increased manufacturing cost. Prior to the assembly, the number of parts is too many to manage easily.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an electrical connector capable of being made by a simple process at a low cost and a method of making the connector.
According to the invention there is provided an electrical connector comprising a housing having a receiving cavity for receiving a mating connector; a plurality of terminals arranged in the housing at predetermined intervals; each of the terminals made by bending a metal strip so as to provide a middle section supported by the housing, a flexible contact section extending diagonally into the receiving cavity, and a connection section projecting from the housing; the middle sections being supported by the housing by integral molding; and the receiving cavity being made sufficiently large to bend the contact sections in the receiving cavity.
According to the invention, the middle sections of the terminals are supported by the housing by the integral molding, and the receiving cavity is sufficiently large to bend an end of each of the terminals into the receiving cavity.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of making the electrical connector, which comprises the steps of providing a plurality of terminals/carrier materials in which the terminals are connected at opposite ends by the carriers; integrally molding the housing and the terminal/carrier materials; cutting off the carrier to provide the individual terminals; and bending an end of each of the individual terminals into the receiving cavity.
According to an embodiment of the invention, the housing is provided with a through-hole at a position corresponding to the middle sections of the terminals such that a holding mold supports the terminals in the through-hole to thereby keep the precise positions of the terminals.
According to another embodiment, each of the terminals is provided with a lateral projection within the through-hole so that the holding mold supports the extended sections including the lateral projection for secured holding.
The terminals are arranged in a plurality of tiers such that the lateral projections are offset in different tires so that it is possible to make an integral molding despite the multiple tier arrangement of the terminals.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4231628 (1980-11-01), Hughes
patent: 4269467 (1981-05-01), Hughes
patent: 5094631 (1992-03-01), Suzuki
patent: 6328609 (2001-12-01), Ezawa et al.

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