Stamped and formed electrical contact

Details Stamped and formed electrical contact Stamped and formed electrical contact

1997-04-07

1999-03-09

Paumen, Gary

Electrical connectors

Metallic connector or contact having movable or resilient...

Spring actuated or resilient securing part

29882, H01R 1300

Patent

active

058792058

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical terminals and, in particular, to electrical terminals having a contact portion formed from a single blank of material.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
It is known in the industry to form electrical contacts from a single blank of material. When these contacts include a enclosed box portion, there is at least one seam that must be joined together to maintain the structural integrity of the box. One way of accomplishing this is to laser weld a number of places along the box. A problem with this is that laser welding is relatively slow in relation to the stamping and forming processes being applied to the manufacture of the contact. Another problem is that the laser welding equipment involves a large capital expense. Therefore, it has been discovered that it is possible to join the seam together by way of interlocking mechanical features formed therealong. These features may take on the form of a dove-tail type joint or the rounded meandering similar to the keys on pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
In order to join the complementary mechanical features together along the seam, it is necessary to support the walls which incorporate these mechanical features from the inside of the box portion. This is typically accomplished by inserting a support member into either of the open ends about which the box shell has been formed. A problem with this exists where the simultaneous stamping and forming processes result in contact structure that blocks the ends of the box or the structure is not sufficiently large that a robust pin may be inserted therein. Therefore, what is necessary is to provide support to the underside of the seams corresponding to the mechanical interlocking portions without needing access through the open ends of the box portion.
Another problem that occurs in stamping and forming a single blank of material to form a contact portion of an electrical terminal is that it is necessary in some designs to have certain features overlie another feature. This is typically accomplished by the design layout of the blank of material. However, in some cases it is impossible to form the desired feature in such a way that it overlaps the other component. What is needed is a way to overlie one component with another feature of a one piece contact.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide access to the underside of the interlocking portion of the seam of a contact box portion formed about axis 1, so that the seam may be supported during formation of the box to assure that the contact box walls are interlocked.
This object is accomplished by providing an access port in a wall of the contact box portion which enables a support member to be disposed beneath the interlocking portion of the seam of the box.
It is another object to provide a feature that overlies another component of the contact.
This object is accomplished by providing a slit along the contact that enables the material on one side of the slit to be offset relative to the material on the other side of the slit, thereby enabling a feature attached to the offset side of the slit to be moved over another part of the contact.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of an electrical contact according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a top view of the electrical contact of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a cut-away top view taken along line 3--3 of the electrical contact of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the assembly of the box of the terminal of FIG. 1 taken at line 4--4 of FIG. 3.


DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference first to FIG. 1, an electrical contact according to the present invention is shown generally at 2. The contact 2 includes a conductor engaging portion 4 advantageously shown to be crimpable upon a wire lead. The conductor engaging portion 4 may take on other forms as desired. The conductor engaging portion 4 is interconnected, by an intermediate portion 6, to the contact portion 8 that

REFERENCES:
patent: 4466689 (1984-08-01), Davis et al.
patent: 4752254 (1988-06-01), Inoue et al.
patent: 4790777 (1988-12-01), Iimori et al.
patent: 4952178 (1990-08-01), Beer
patent: 4979915 (1990-12-01), Pitts
patent: 5281175 (1994-01-01), Chupak et al.

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