Electrical contact

Details Electrical contact Electrical contact

1999-05-11

2001-02-06

Bradley, Paula (Department: 2833)

Electrical connectors

With insulation other than conductor sheath

Metallic connector or contact secured to insulation

C439S746000, C439S871000, C439S752500

Reexamination Certificate

active

06183312

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electrical contact that has a contact section that mates with a mating contact, and an electrical wire connection section. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electrical contact provided with a flexible latching member that is latchable to a connector housing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A conventional electrical contact shown in
FIGS. 6A
,
6
B and disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 145492/77 has a contact section
110
that mates with a mating contact (not shown); a wire crimp section that includes a wire barrel
131
and an insulation barrel
132
and is connected with an electrical wire (not shown) by crimping thereto; and a latching section
120
disposed between the contact section
110
and the wire crimp section
130
, and that is latched to a connector housing (not shown). The electrical contact
100
is formed by stamping and forming a metal sheet.
Among these sections, the contact section
110
is formed substantially in the shape of a box that has a base member
111
, a pair of side walls
112
, that are raised from both sides of the base member
111
, and top plates
113
, that are bent inward from the side walls
112
so that a tab or post-mating contact can be accommodated therein. A plurality of spring contact members
114
,
115
engage the mating contact and are disposed so that the spring contact members extend rearward and approach each other from the front ends of the base member
111
and top plates
113
(i.e., the left end in FIG.
6
B).
The latching section
120
has a flexible member
121
that is cut and raised from base member
111
so that flexible latch member
121
rises upward as shown in
FIG. 6B
) toward the rear from the base member
111
, and a pair of side wall portions
122
extending rearward from the respective side walls
112
of the contact section
110
, and whose upper ends are located beyond the free end of the latch member
121
. The side wall portions
122
prevent the electrical wire from becoming entangled with the latch member
121
during crimping, and also act to prevent reverse insertion of the electrical contact
100
when the electrical contact
100
is inserted and held in the connector housing.
However, in this conventional electrical contact
100
, since the side wall portions
122
of the latching section
120
are respectively constructed from a single metal sheet, side wall portions
122
are structurally weak in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the page in FIG.
6
B). As a result, the side wall portions
122
may bend inward or outward during wire crimping or during contact insertion, so that the protective function of the side wall portions
122
with respect to the latch member
121
can be deleteriously affected, as well as the function of side wall portions
122
in terms of preventing reverse insertion of the electrical contact
100
.
Furthermore, in such a conventional electrical contact
100
, there is nothing that engages the latch member
121
in cases where the latch member
121
flexes downward to an excessive degree. Accordingly, in the case of excessive downward flexing of the latch member
121
, overstress cannot be prevented, and deformation of the latch member
121
may occur.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, a feature of the present invention is to provide, in a simple form, an electrical contact in which a latch member protective section protecting a flexible latch member and preventing reverse insertion of the electrical contact into a connector housing, is structurally strengthened, and the contact is equipped with an anti-overstress member that prevents overstress of the flexible latch member.
An electrical contact of the present invention comprises a contact section having a spring contact member, a latching section having a flexible latch member, and a latch member protective section, wherein the latch member protective section includes an outside wall portion extending upward from a side wall of the latch member protective section, an inside wall portion extending downward from an upper end of the outside wall portion, and an anti-overstress member extending from an inner end of the inside wall portion toward the other side wall of the latch member protective section so that the anti-overstress member can be engaged by the flexible latch member.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3656093 (1972-04-01), Kinkaid
patent: 3976348 (1976-08-01), Simmons
patent: 4030804 (1977-06-01), Enomoto
patent: 4781628 (1988-11-01), Detter et al.
patent: 5266056 (1993-11-01), Baderschneider et al.
patent: 5695368 (1997-12-01), Joly et al.
patent: 41 31 470 (1993-04-01), None
patent: 0 547 396 A2 (1992-11-01), None
patent: 1 543 587 (1975-12-01), None

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