Relay socket

Details Relay socket Relay socket

1999-01-22

2001-02-20

Donovan, Lincoln (Department: 2832)

Electricity: magnetically operated switches, magnets, and electr

Electromagnetically actuated switches

With housing or support means

C335S078000, C439S810000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06191672

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a plug socket for relays and more particularly to a plug socket for relays having flat plugs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Plug sockets which receive at least one relay having flat plugs are known in the art. A typical plug socket comprises a base member of plastic in which contact chambers proceeding in the plug-in direction are formed. Plug in slots open toward the upper side of the base member proceeding therefrom for the acceptance of the flat plugs, and the contact chambers open toward the underside of the base member for receiving spring tongue pairs projecting fork-shaped upwardly into the region of the plug-in slots for the insertion of contact jacks, whereby the contact chambers respectively comprise retro-salient patch channels for the acceptance and locking of catch tongues at opposite side regions, said catch tongues being branched off from the correspondingly opposite outsides of the contact jacks.
Plug sockets are employed, for example, in automotive electronics. Standard dimensions have developed out particularly for use in automotive electronics. For example, flat plugs have standard widths of 6.3 mm, 4.8 mm and 2.8 mm. Corresponding to the standard plug dimensions, standard dimensions have also developed for the contact chambers in the plug sockets and for the contact jacks within the contact chambers. Contact jacks of a type standard are in plug-type connectors usually employed.
A contact jack employing two-sided latching via catch tongues is shown, in general terms in DE 88 11 020 U1. Due to the two-sided latching of the contact jack, the contact chambers including the catch channels require substantially more space in the transverse direction relative to the plug plane than would be required by the plug thickness and the spring tongues. This has an effect on the spacing of neighboring plug slots.
Standard dimensions have likewise developed for the outside contours and for the terminal configuration of relays in automobiles. Automobile relays normally have four or five connection plugs, namely two terminals for the coil and two terminals for a make contact or break contact or, three terminals for the change-over contact. In standard relays, there is adequate space for five standard terminals in the corresponding plug sockets, whereby standard dimensions have also developed for the contact chambers. However, more and more space problems arise for installation given the constantly increasing number of relays that are utilized in automobiles. Since, the high break capacities that a standard relay handles are not required for many applications, miniaturized relay types have been developed that cover approximately half the area of a standard relay, so that installation space is saved by employing them. This, however, should occur such that the two miniature relays can be accommodated on the space of a standard relay, so that the overall grid of the relay terminal units can be retained. For two relays having only one make contact or break contact, the corresponding contact chambers can be accommodated without further ado in a plug socket having standard dimensions. For relays with change-over contact, by contrast, difficulties arise in accommodating three contact chambers having standard dimensions with corresponding standard plug jacks on the available space, since these plug jacks latched at both sides require a relatively greater width, as mentioned above.
It has in fact already been disclosed thereto to employ plug jacks having only single-sided latching, as shown, for example, in said EP 0 007 709 B1. Such an embodiment would manage with less the width of the contact chambers but does not offer the desired security of a two-sided latching. An additional, secondary securing in a plug connector housing is also shown in this document.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a plug socket of the species initially cited for the acceptance of at least one relay, but preferably two or more relays, whereby standard plug jacks with two-sided latching can be arranged in space-saving fashion next to one another in standard contact chambers.
This goal is inventively achieved in that the plug slots for two or more flat plugs arranged next to one another with their principle planes parallel are arranged with the same width corresponding to the plug width and aligned with one another; wherein the contact chambers for the acceptance of contact jacks are fashioned with less of a width than that of the plug slots and are displaced in alternation toward opposite ends of the slot width and wherein the catch shells respectively engaging oppositely into a common partition from neighboring contact chambers are displaced in the direction of the slot width relative to one another without overlap.
In the invention, the catch channels of the contact chambers lying next to one another are arranged offset relative to one another or nested, so that the partition need not comprise twice the depth of a catch channel and, additionally, the required insulation thickness. Pather, these catch channels engage into the partition passed one another at different location. The partition between two respective contact chambers can thus assure the required insulation and mechanical strength even with less thickness. This is enabled by the employment of narrower contact jacks in comparison to the broader flat plugs of the relay, as a result whereof the plug jacks can themselves be arranged respectively offset compared to the flat plugs.
The standardized plug cross-sections with the corresponding width is [sic] not required for many uses having a lower switched current. The narrower plug jacks in the base suffice for these uses. The broader flat plugs are thus inserted into narrower sockets that, however, do not lie centrally relative to them but offset in alternation toward the lateral edges.
In order to achieve a secondary locking of the plug jacks, which is required in many plug sockets for automobile relays, it is provided in a known way in a preferred embodiment that a secondary latching slide is arranged in the housing respectively under the contact chamber arrangement for a relay, said secondary latching slide comprising a continuous plug-in shaft under each and every contact chamber and being displaceable perpendicular to the plug-in axis between a mounting position and a final position such that each plug-in shaft aligns with the pertaining contact chamber in the mounting position in order to enable insertion of a contact jack, and in that a locking edge of the slide covers its part of the contact chamber cross-section in the final position in order to lock an inserted contact jack.
The base member for every locking slide preferably forms a locking chamber, whereby those sidewalls of the base member lying opposite one another, on the one hand, and opposite the slide on the other hand comprise inter-engaging catch elements for pre-latching the slide in the mounting position and for locking in the final position.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5295870 (1994-03-01), Rei et al.
patent: 5454733 (1995-10-01), Watanabe et al.
patent: 5749739 (1998-05-01), Saka et al.
patent: 5873753 (1999-02-01), Norris, Jr. et al.
patent: 387 121 (1965-04-01), None
patent: 25 55 138 (1977-06-01), None
patent: 28 43 095 (1979-04-01), None
patent: 88 11 020 (1988-12-01), None
patent: 42 07 091 (1993-06-01), None
patent: 42 27 182 (1993-12-01), None
patent: 0 007 709 (1981-09-01), None
patent: 2 218 272 (1989-11-01), None

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