Electrical connector with terminal retaining means

Details Electrical connector with terminal retaining means Electrical connector with terminal retaining means

2000-07-27

2001-08-28

Sircus, Brian (Department: 2839)

Electrical connectors

Coupling part including flexing insulation

Hinged or flexed detent on insulation engaging to secure...

C439S748000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06280250

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with terminal retaining means for reliably and quickly positioning terminals therein.
2. Description of Prior Art
A variety of mating connectors employ pairs of interengaging terminals for connecting conductive wires to other circuit elements through the mated connectors. The terminal pairs may be pin and socket terminals. Conventionally, terminals are assembled in an array of passageways of a dielectric housing of the connector. Each terminal is inserted into a corresponding passageway along a longitudinal axis of the passageway and retaining means integrally formed on the terminal securely retain the terminal therein.
Properly retaining the terminals in position within the passageways of such housings is problematic. Instability of the terminals results in terminal movement within the housing, particularly in transverse or angular directions with respective to the longitudinal axes of the passageway. Transverse or angular movement of a terminal causes terminal-to-terminal misalignment between complementary connectors, which may damage one or both of the mating terminals thereby resulting in partial or incomplete electrical connection. It is readily understood that pin and receptacle terminals must be properly positioned, stabilized and centered in order to accurately mate with corresponding receptacle and pin terminals. Such positioning is becoming more critical with the increasing miniaturization of electrical connectors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,969 (hereinafter referred to as the '969 patent) discloses an electrical connector adapted for connecting a conductor of an electrical wire to a terminal of a mating connector. The '969 patent discloses a pair of elongate slots defined in a wall by a cavity of a dielectric housing. The terminal is provided with a free end portion which can be tightly received within the slots. By this arrangement, the terminal inserted into the cavity is prevented from transverse or angular movement. However, the structure of both the cavity and terminal is complicated.
In addition, when the engaging area of a mating pair of terminals increases, the force between the increases correspondingly. Therefore, larger terminals having larger contacting areas experience larger forces during mating. Thus, reduction of these forces during mating between larger terminals is desired.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An objective of this invention is to provide an electrical connector with terminal retaining means for reliably and quickly positioning terminals therein.
Another objective of this invention is to provide an electrical connector terminal which provides a mating force in a controlled range when engaging with a corresponding mating terminal.
To achieve these object, an electrical connector for connecting conductors of a conductive wire to a terminal of a complementary connector comprises a dielectric housing having an array of terminal passageways defined therein and a terminal inserted in each passageway. The housing has front and rear faces, and the passageways are defined between said front and rear faces and have front and rear openings. A dam is formed in each terminal passageway. A wedge rearwardly extends from the dam thereby defining a retaining gap in the passageway. Terminals are assembled in the terminal passageways and include a base. The base has a pair of first resilient arms extending upward from a front portion of the base and adapted for engaging with a pin terminal of the complementary connector, a pair of second resilient arms extending upward from a middle portion of the base for clamping the conductor of the wire, a pair of third resilient arms extending upward from a rear portion of the base for clamping the insulation of the wire, and a tongue projecting forward from a front edge of the front portion of the base and being securely retained within the gap. The housing further forms a plurality of cantilevered flaps extending forward from the rear face toward the front face, and a retaining space is defined at a front of each flap for retaining an anchoring foot of the terminal. In a second embodiment, a cutout divides the mating portion into two sections for reducing the normal force between the receptacle terminal and the mating terminal.
These and additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention taken in conjunction with the appended drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3083345 (1963-03-01), Scheller
patent: 3550067 (1970-12-01), Hansen
patent: 3711819 (1973-01-01), Matthews
patent: 4214361 (1980-07-01), Coldren et al.
patent: 5161990 (1992-11-01), Ling et al.
patent: 5489223 (1996-02-01), Faje et al.
patent: 5984736 (1999-11-01), Sakurai et al.
patent: 5993268 (1999-11-01), Yamaguchi
patent: 6120333 (2000-09-01), Ko

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