Metal working – Method of mechanical manufacture – Electrical device making
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-30
2002-09-03
Vo, Peter (Department: 3729)
Metal working
Method of mechanical manufacture
Electrical device making
C029S882000, C029S884000, C029S03300H, C439S084000, C439S751000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06442834
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing substrate-use terminals for relatively small electric current, which are used in electrical connection of various equipment mounted in an automobile or the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing substrate-use terminals in which substrate-use terminals each have at one end a connector-side terminal portion for connection to a connector and at the other end a substrate-side terminal portion for connection to a substrate. The substrate-use terminals are manufactured by using a continuous rectangular wire as a base material.
2. Related Art
As a conventional method of manufacturing substrate-use terminals, a method is known in which substrate-use terminals are manufactured by using a continuous rectangular wire as a base material by subjecting the continuous rectangular wire to required shaping and by cutting off the rectangular wire into units for forming the substrate-use terminals after the shaping.
As shown in
FIGS. 4 and 5
, in a substrate-use terminal
30
, a connector-side terminal portion
31
, which is connected to a connector housing
40
(see FIG.
6
), and a substrate-side terminal portion
32
, which is connected to an unillustrated substrate (PCB), are formed at its one end and at its other end, respectively, by shaping before cutting off. It should be noted that FIG.
4
(
a
) is a side elevational view; FIG.
4
(
b
) is a plan view; FIG.
4
(
c
) is a cross-sectional view taken in the direction of arrow A; FIG.
5
(
a
) is a side elevational view; and FIG.
5
(
b
) is a plan view.
At the time of the shaping of the substrate-use terminal, it is generally necessary to set the thickness t
3
of the tip of the connector-side terminal portion
31
to 0.3 mm or less so as not to cause a spring portion
42
of a female terminal
41
to undergo deformation (i.e., not to be subjected to an overstressing impingement) during the insertion of the connector-side terminal portion
31
into the connector housing
40
, shown in FIG.
6
. The overstressing impingement causes plastic deformation of the spring portion
42
as a stress exceeding an allowable limit is applied thereto when the tip of the connector-side terminal portion
31
of the substrate-use terminal
30
on the male terminal side, when inserted, strikes against the spring portion
42
of the female terminal
41
of the connector housing
40
.
Meanwhile, in the case where the substrate-use terminals
30
are manufactured by using a continuous rectangular wire
33
as a base material, the machined sectional area in the shaping (tip crushing) of the connector-side terminal portion
31
and the substrate-side terminal portion
32
generally needs to be set to 35% or less of the sectional area of the base material. If this machined sectional area is set to more than 35% of the sectional area of the base material, there is a possibility that the rectangular wire
33
undergoes fracture in the manufacturing process, and if it fractures, it becomes impossible to feed the rectangular wire
33
.
However, with the above-described conventional method of manufacturing the substrate-use terminals
30
, end portions of the respective units of the rectangular wire
33
, which respectively serve as the single-unit substrate-use terminals
30
after being cut off, i.e., the tip portions of the connector-side terminal portion
31
and the substrate-side terminal portion
32
of the substrate-use terminals
30
, are connected in chain form before being cut off.
Accordingly, the respective tip portions are subjected to shaping in the identical process. For this reason, the connector-side terminal portion
31
and the substrate-side terminal portion
32
of the substrate-use terminal
30
can be machined only into the same tip shape. Namely, as shown in
FIG. 5
, the thickness t
3
of the tip of the connector-side terminal portion
31
of the substrate-use terminal
30
cannot be set to 0.5 mm or less, and the thickness t
4
of the tip of the substrate-side terminal portion
32
also becomes the same thickness (t
4
=t
3
). With respect to the width w
3
of the tip of the connector-side terminal portion
31
, the width w
4
of the tip of the substrate-side terminal portion
32
also becomes the same width (w
4
=w
3
).
Further, there has been a problem in that it is impossible to implement the process of manufacturing the substrate-use terminals
30
whereby the machined sectional area of the rectangular wire
33
, i.e., the base material, is set to 35% or less of the sectional area of the base material in the step of shaping the connector-side terminal portion
31
and the substrate-side terminal portion
32
.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing substrate-use terminals which makes it possible to set the thickness of the tip of the connector-side terminal portion of the substrate-use terminal to 0.3 mm or less, and to set the machined sectional area of the rectangular wire, i.e., the base material, to 35% or less of the sectional area of the base material during the shaping of the connector-side terminal portion and the substrate-side terminal portion.
The above problems pertaining to the present invention can be overcome by a method of manufacturing substrate-use terminals in which substrate-use terminals each having at one end thereof a connector-side terminal portion for connection to a connector and at another end thereof a substrate-side terminal portion for connection to a substrate are manufactured as a continuous rectangular wire is subjected to shaping and cutting off after the shaping, provided in that
a loss portion which is not used as a portion of the substrate-use terminal after being cut off is provided between units of the rectangular wire which are used as the substrate-use terminals by being cut off, when the rectangular wire is subjected to the shaping.
In addition, in the above-described method of manufacturing substrate-use terminals, respective tip portions of the connector-side terminal portion and the substrate-side terminal portion which are connected to both ends of the loss portion may preferably be respectively machined into desired different tip shapes.
In the method of manufacturing substrate-use terminals in the above-described arrangement, the loss portion which is not used as a portion of the substrate-use terminal after being cut off is provided between units of the rectangular wire which are used as the substrate-use terminals by being cut off, when the rectangular wire is subjected to the shaping, and the respective tip portions of the connector-side terminal portion and the substrate-side terminal portion which are connected to both ends of the loss portion are respectively machined into desired different tip shapes.
Accordingly, since the loss portion is provided, the respective tip portions of the connector-side terminal portion and the substrate-side terminal portion can be subjected to cutting prior to the tip crushing of the substrate-use terminal in the manufacturing process, and the respective tip portions can be machined into desired different tip shapes. Accordingly, the thickness of the tip portion of the connector-side terminal portion can be set to 0.3 mm or less, and the machined sectional area of the rectangular wire, i.e., the base material, can be controlled to 35% or less of the sectional area of the base material. Thus, it is possible to reliably prevent a situation in which spring portions of mating female terminals become deformed, or the rectangular wire becomes fractured during the manufacturing process.
In addition, the above problems pertaining to the present invention can be overcome by a method of manufacturing substrate-use terminals in which substrate-use terminals each having at one end thereof a connector-side terminal portion for connection to a connector and at another end thereof a substrate-side terminal portion for connection to a substrate are ma
Trinh Minh
Vo Peter
Yazaki -Corporation
LandOfFree
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