Electrical receptacle contact

Details Electrical receptacle contact Electrical receptacle contact

1998-08-31

2001-10-02

Luebke, Renee (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

Metallic connector or contact having movable or resilient...

Spring actuated or resilient securing part

C439S857000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06296533

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to electrical contacts having a spring rate which can be varied without changing the overall dimensional shape of the contact.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Electrical receptacle contacts of the type having opposing resilient contact beams designed for receiving contact pins are well known in the art. Typically, these electrical receptacle contacts may be gold plated or tin plated and therefore require the contact beams to provide various spring rates in order to produce consistent electrical performance. And, although different plating materials are employed which require contact beams of varying stiffness to impart different levels of force on contact pins, frequently, the overall dimensional shape of the contact must remain constant no matter what plating material is employed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,916 discloses a method of making electrical receptacle contacts using various plating materials while providing sufficient spring forces for each respective plated contact and maintaining a constant overall dimensional shape of the receptacle. Thus an electrical receptacle contact of a given length plated with tin will produce the same electrical performance as a gold plated electrical receptacle contact of the same given length. Receptacle contacts such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,916 utilize a common design having two symmetrically opposed contact arms. Rather than vary the length of the contact arm, the width and angles of the arms are adjusted to obtain appropriate spring forces while maintaining a constant overall dimensional shape.
As the width of the contact arm increases however, problems arise in forming the contact. In order to achieve a proper cylindrical structure, a stamped contact blank must undergo reverse bending in an area between each contact arm. As the contact arm width increases to impart the appropriate spring rate to the receptacle, the area between the contact arms decreases, thereby creating a relatively sharp edge between the contact arms during reverse bending rather than a desired rounded “W” shape. The sharp edge produced during reverse bending increases the likelihood of fracture of the receptacle during forming.
This reverse bending technique is necessary because alternative forming methods do not provide a uniform transition between the contact arms and the body of the contact by matching the forming radii of each. A uniform transition provided by reverse bending prevents thinning, flattening and fracturing which would adversely effect spring rate and spring forces.
Accordingly, what are needed are electrical receptacle contacts of constant overall dimensional shape which can provide a variety of spring forces accommodating different plating materials.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an electrical receptacle contact having a conductor receiving section and a receptacle section. The receptacle section has two resilient contact beams which terminate at free ends. The contact beams are disposed asymmetrically opposite one another, thereby forming a terminal receiving cavity. An intermediate section is also provided for joining the receptacle section to the conductor receiving section.
A stamped and formed electrical receptacle contact is provided having a conductor receiving section, a receptacle section defined by two contact beams, and an intermediate section between the conductor receiving section and the receptacle section. The intermediate section is a cylinder with a lengthwise seam, and the contact beams extend outwardly from the intermediate section and are disposed on each side of the seam. The beams are asymmetrically opposed in an orientation closest the seam.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5067916 (1991-11-01), Denlinger et al.
patent: 5106329 (1992-04-01), Maeshima
patent: 5256088 (1993-10-01), Lu et al.
patent: 5307562 (1994-05-01), Denlinger et al.
patent: 5322459 (1994-06-01), Spinnato
patent: 5458513 (1995-10-01), Matsuoka
patent: 5462459 (1995-10-01), Childs
patent: 5599212 (1997-02-01), Sawada
patent: 5749755 (1998-05-01), Genta et al.
patent: 5797774 (1998-08-01), Kaneko
patent: 0 512 207 A1 (1992-11-01), None
patent: WO 95/11531 (1995-04-01), None
European Search Report, Application No. EP 99 30 6901.

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