Electrical contact

Details Electrical contact Electrical contact

2000-04-21

2001-03-20

Luebke, Renee (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

Metallic connector or contact having movable or resilient...

Spring actuated or resilient securing part

Reexamination Certificate

active

06203385

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical contact capable of absorbing vibrations during the electrical connection of this contact to a mating contact.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 11-119391, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an electric connector, mounted in an automobile, is vibrated by an external force, fine sliding movements are liable to develop between an electrical contact in the electric connector and a mating contact electrically connected to this electrical contact. When such fine sliding movements develop, those surfaces (i.e., contact points) of the electrical contact and the mating contact, held in contact with each other, are worn. This results in a disadvantage that an electrical resistance at these contact surfaces increases.
Therefore, in order to reduce wear (i.e., friction) of the contact surfaces by absorbing fine sliding movements, an electrical contact
80
, shown in
FIG. 10
, is disclosed by Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 10-189102.
The electrical contact
80
includes an electrical contact portion
81
for receiving a mating contact (not shown) therein, and an electrical connection portion
82
for clamping a wire (not shown).
The electrical contact portion
81
has a square tubular shape, and includes an upper contact piece
84
, supported by one side wall
87
in underlying relation to a top wall
83
, and a resilient contact piece
86
which is connected to a rear end of the upper contact piece
86
through a resilient curved plate
85
, and extends into the interior of electrical contact portion
81
. The upper contact piece
84
is supported by the one side wall, and therefore can absorb upward and downward vibrations and right and left (that is, in directions perpendicular to the sheet of the drawing) vibrations at the time of insertion of the mating contact. However, the resilient contact piece
86
could not sufficiently absorbed vibrations in a direction (direction P) of insertion of the mating contact and in its opposite direction (direction Q).
Therefore, the present inventors of the present application have earlier proposed an electrical contact
90
as shown in
FIG. 11
, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/456,834 filed on Dec. 7, 1999.
The electrical contact
90
includes a vibration-absorbing plate
93
of a curved shape, extending from a rear end of a top wall
92
of an electrical contact portion
91
, and a bifurcated-resilient contact piece
94
which is formed integrally with the vibration-absorbing plate
93
, and extends into the interior of the electrical contact portion
91
. The vibration-absorbing plate
93
absorbs the vibration of the resilient contact piece
94
at the time of insertion of a mating contact, and therefore wear (i.e., friction) of the mating contact and the resilient contact piece due to fine sliding movement therebetween is reduced.
In the electrical contact
90
, the vibration-absorbing plate
93
may be excessively displaced in a direction (i.e., direction P) of insertion of the mating contact and in its opposite direction (i.e., direction Q).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the present inventors have further considered also concerning such a possibility that the vibration-absorbing plate
93
and the resilient contact piece
94
might be deformed due to the excessive displacement of the vibration-absorbing plate
93
in the worst case. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electrical contact in which a vibration-absorbing plate and a resilient contact piece are prevented from being excessively displaced in a direction of insertion of a mating contact and in its opposite direction.
To achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrical contact which comprises an electrical contact portion, into which a mating contact is insertable, having a square tubular shape, the electrical contact portion including a bottom wall, a pair of opposite side walls extending upright from the bottom wall, a top wall extending from one of the opposite side walls and disposed in opposed relation to the bottom wall, and a reinforcing wall formed integrally with the other one of the opposite side walls and partially covering the top wall, a vibration-absorbing plate extended from a portion of the top wall remote from a mating contact inserting-side, the vibration-absorbing plate having a curved shape and a resilient force set to a value smaller than a force of insertion of the mating contact into an interior of the electrical contact portion, so that the vibration-absorbing plate can follow the mating contact during the insertion of the mating contact, a bifurcated-resilient contact piece electrically connectable to the mating contact, the bifurcated-resilient contact piece being extended from the vibration-absorbing plate into the interior of the electrical contact portion, and a stopper wall extending downwardly from a portion of the reinforcing wall, remote from the mating contact inserting-side, toward the bottom wall so as to prevent excessive displacement of the vibration-absorbing plate.
Accordingly, since the resilient force of the vibration-absorbing plate is set to a value smaller than the force of insertion of the mating contact into the interior of the electrical contact portion, the vibration-absorbing plate is resiliently deformed in accordance with the movement of the mating contact during the insertion thereof. At this time, the vibration-absorbing plate and the bifurcated-resilient contact piece move together with the mating contact in the direction of movement of the mating contact. The vibration-absorbing plate, thus following the mating contact, abuts against the stopper wall, and therefore the bifurcated-resilient contact piece will not be excessively displaced in the direction of insertion of the mating contact.
Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that the bifurcated-resilient contact piece includes a pair of first and second resilient contact pieces, and a pair of openings are formed respectively through at least two of the walls of the electrical contact portion opposed respectively to distal end portions of the pair of first and second resilient contact pieces, and the resilient force of the vibration-absorbing plate is set to a value smaller than a force of withdrawal of the mating contact from the electrical contact portion after connection with the mating contact, so that the distal end portions of the pair of first and second resilient contact pieces can abut respectively against edges of the pair of openings when following the mating contact during the withdrawal of the mating contact.
In accordance with the second aspect of the present invention, during the withdrawal of the mating contact, the bifurcated-resilient contact piece and the vibration-absorbing plate move in accordance with the movement of the mating contact. The distal end portions of the bifurcated-resilient contact piece abut respectively against the edges of the openings, and therefore the bifurcated-resilient contact piece will not be excessively displaced in the direction of disengagement of the mating contact.
Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that the bifurcated-resilient contact piece further includes an interconnecting plate interconnecting the first resilient contact piece to the second resilient contact piece, and the first resilient contact piece extends from the vibration-absorbing plate, and the second resilient contact piece opposes to the first resilient contact piece.
Further, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, it is preferable that the electrical-contact further comprises contact point portions respectively formed on the pair of first and second resilient contact pieces to define distal end portions of the pair of first and second resilien

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