Electrical connectors with versatile contact cavities

Abstract

 This invention relates to an electrical connector which includes an orientable socket contact insertable into a connector body having a cavity for receiving this socket contact. There are means within the cavity of the connector body and complementary means on the orientable socket contact for orienting the orientable socket contact with respect to the connector body when the orientable socket contact is inserted into the con­nector body cavity.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to the field of electrical connectors and more particularly to the field of electrical connectors having pin and socket contacts.

[0002] In typical pin and socket contacts the pin is generally cylindrical in form and mates with a comple­mentary socket contact. Since the pin contact presents a rounded configuration, the orientation of the mating socket contact is not important. However, were the pin contact not round, such as would be the case if it were a blade contact or wirewrap post, then it would be important for the mating socket contact to be orien­table so as to be properly aligned when mating with the non-circular contact.

[0003] Thus it would be desirable to have a way to orient the socket contact so as to present the proper orien­tation when mating with a non-circular pin contact such as a blade contact or wirewrap past.

[0004] These socket contacts are typically held in a connector body by a retention clip.The portion of the connector body where the retention clip is located and the retention area of the socket contact held by the retention clip are typically standardized so that it would be undesirable to change their configuration in any respect. Thus, if one were to change the socket part of the socket contact one would still want to retain the same contact retention area of the socket contact so that only one common contact insertion-­release tool would be needed for a variety of different parts. This is an important logistical consideration in servicing connectors in use.

[0005] Similarly each socket contact has a wire ter­mination area which typically receives a wire and is then crimped so as to retain the wire. It would be desirable to keep the wire termination area of the con­tact constant regardless of the configuration of the socket contact portion so that only one common tool is required to crimp the wire termination area onto the end of a wire. Again, this is an important logistical consideration in servicing the connector.

[0006] Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to have a socket contact and connector body suitably con­figured so that the socket contact is orientable within the connector body but wherein the retention area of the socket contact and the termination area of the socket contact are standardized with other socket con­tacts which do not require orientation within the con­nector body.

[0007] This and other objects of the invention will become apparent after reference to the following description considered in conjunction with the drawings.

[0008] In its broadest aspect this invention relates to an electrical connector comprising an orientable socket contact in a connector body having a cavity for receiving this socket contact. There are means within the cavity of the connector body and complementary means on the orientable socket contact for orienting the orientable socket contact with respect to the con­nector body when the orientable socket contact is inserted into the connector body cavity.

[0009] A particular advantage of the invention is that the connector body cavity is so configured that a non-­orientable socket contact when inserted into the con­nector body cavity is freely rotatable and thus not orientable with respect to the connector body.

Figure l is a crossectional view of a typical con­nector half with a mating connector half.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a typical socket contact and hood.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a socket contact according to the invention.

Figure 4 is an enlarged partial crossectional view of the connector body cavity shown in Figure l with the socket contact according to the invention.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of another socket contact according to the invention.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a still further socket contact according to the invention.

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 4 but with the socket contact according to the invention only par­tially inserted in the connector body cavity.

[0010] Referring to the figures in more detail and more particularly referring to figure l there is shown a connector half l0 with a mating connector half l2. As shown in the figure there is a connector housing l4, usually metallic, surrounding a body or mass l6 of insulating material. Within the insulating material there are cavities l8 each defined by a wall l9 for receiving a socket contact. To those skilled in the art, these are known as rear insertion socket contacts. The socket contact generally indicated by 20 is inserted into the connector body cavity l8 and held there by retention clip tines 22. Prior to insertion of the socket contact into the connector body cavity a wire 24 is inserted into the wire termination area 40 of the socket contact and then crimped so as to hold the wire in place.

[0011] In the mating connector half l2 there is shown a round contact pin generally indicated by 26 similarly held in place by retention clips 28. The mating con­nector half also has a connector housing 30, a body of insulation 32 and a cavity 34 for receiving the contact pins. It can be appreciated that when the respective connector halves are placed face to face the contact pin enters the socket contact. It should be apparent that since these contact pins are round, the orien­tation of the socket contact is unimportant.

[0012] Referring now to figure 2 there is an enlarged perspective view of a typical socket contact generally indicated by 20. The typical socket contact consists of a barrel 36, a retention area 38 and a wire ter­mination area 40. There is also an electrical engage­ment area 42 which, as to be expected, consists of round surfaces 44 so as to accept a generally rounded contact pin. Over the barrel of the socket contact, there may be placed a hood 46 which allows for easy insertion of the socket contact through any rubber grommets which are typically placed around socket con­tacts for sealing. The hood 46 is usually crimped to the barrel 36 of the socket contact at the hood attach­ment zone 47.

[0013] Referring now to figure 3 there is shown a perspective view of a socket contact 50 according to the invention. While the hood is not shown with this socket contact, it should be understood that the socket contact may, and usually will, include one. A hood attachment zone 5l is provided for this purpose. It can be seen that this socket contact also has a barrel area 52, a retention area 54 and a wire termination area 56. It should be understood that the barrel area 52 generally denotes the forward part of the socket contact whether or not there is actually a hood in place. However, the electrical engagement area 58 is different in that now the electrical engagement area consists of flat or slightly convex surfaces 60 for receiving a blade contact. The electrical engagement area could be configured slightly differently (not shown) so as to be able to accept a square contact such as a wirewrap post.

[0014] Also shown in figure 3 is a means generally indi­cated by 62 for orienting the socket contact within the connector body cavity. It should be understood that "orienting" means that the socket contact is in fixed relation to the connector body so that rotation of the socket contact with respect to the connector body is not possible. Generally speaking this orientation means will comprise a non-circular structure which will appear non-circular in crossection and which is also noncircular about a longitudinal axis of the barrel. The particular noncircular structure shown in figure 3 comprises a structure 64 having at least one flat sur­face 66 adjacent to the retention area 54 and having a cross-sectional area smaller than a cross-sectional area of the retention area. It can be appreciated that the retention area and wire termination area are typi­cally cylindrical in appearance. Thus the noncircular structure may appear, as in figure 3, as a cylinder having at least one flat surface ground off the side of the cylinder. As shown in figure 3, there is a second flat surface 68 so as to present what is commonly known as a double D-shape crossection. The noncircular structure may be only relatively short in length as shown in figure 3 or it may extend for some length along the barrel or even along the whole length of the barrel. By way of illustration and not of limitation, the noncircular structure may also be square or rec­tangular to fit the particular situation.

[0015] The operation of the electrical connector can be seen more clearly in figure 4 where the socket contact 50 is shown in the connector body cavity l8. The con­nector body cavity l8 may be described in more detail by the mass of insulating material l6 having at least one wall 70 defining a first cavity 72 and at least a second wall 74 defining a smaller socket contact cavity 76 contiguous with the first cavity. The wall 74 defining the socket contact cavity 76 has at least a portion 78 which is noncircular. The remainder of the socket contact cavity wall will usually be circular in crossection. This portion of the socket contact cavity which is noncircular will be complementary to the non­circular structure 66, 68 of the socket contact. The complementary nature of the noncircular portion of the socket contact cavity and the noncircular structure of the socket contact are necessary so that when the socket contact is inserted into the connector body cavity the socket contact becomes properly oriented with respect to the connector body. Retention clip tines 22 firmly retain the socket contact in position by pressing against the retention area 54. Hood 79 may be provided if desirable.

[0016] As alluded to earlier, the noncircular portion 78 of the socket contact cavity may assume different sha­pes complementary with the noncircular structure 62 of the socket contact. By way of illustration and not of limitation the noncircular portion 78 may be D-shaped when viewed in crossection or it may be rectangular when viewed in crossection. In use the orientable socket contact will be inserted into the connector body cavity. In the broadest aspect of the invention there are means 78 on the second wall 74 defining the socket contact cavity and complementary means 62 on the barrel of the socket contact for orienting the socket contact with respect to the connector body. These means may include the various noncircular structures discussed previously as well as noncircular structures to be discussed in more detail hereafter. Once the socket contact is properly oriented within the connector body it is now properly aligned so as to receive a flat or other noncircular pin contact.

[0017] Now this invention has particular advantages for forming an electrical connector system. This electri­cal connector system may comprise a non-orientable socket contact 20, an orientable socket contact 50 and a connector body l0 having at least one wall l9 defining at least one cavity l8 for receiving a socket contact. There will be means 78 on the cavity wall and complementary means 62 on the orientable socket contact for orienting only the orientable socket contact with respect to the connector body when the orientable socket contact is inserted into the connector body cavity. It is particularly advantageous that the non orientable socket contact when inserted into the con­nector body cavity is freely rotatable and thus not oriented with respect to the connector body. In this electrical connector system the electrical engagement area 42 of the non-orientable socket contact will con­sist of rounded contact surfaces 44 but the electrical engagement area 58 of the orientable socket contact will consist of flat or slightly convex contact sur­faces 60, configured to mate with flat contact sur­faces.

[0018] As shown in figure 5 there is a further embodiment of the socket contact according to the invention. This socket contact 80 also has a noncircular structure for orienting the contact within a connector body but in this case the noncircular structure 82 comprises a key or projection. While not shown, the connector body will have a mating keyway or slot for receiving the key or projection of the socket contact.

[0019] As shown in figure 6 there is another embodiment of the socket contact according to the invention. This socket contact 90 is similar to the socket contacts discussed earlier having a noncircular structure but in this case the noncircular structure 92 comprises a keyway or slot. The keyway or slot is for receiving a key or projection (not shown) on the connector body.

[0020] It should be apparent that the means for orienting the orientable socket contact may be located on the socket contact itself as shown in Figures 3 and 4, or on the hood, as shown in Figures 5 and 6.

[0021] Figure 7 illustrates the connector body cavity l8 with the orientable socket contact 50 partially inserted therein. Although the socket contact orien­tation means 62, comprising a non-circular cross sec­tion, may extend for some length or even along the entire length of barrel 52, it is preferred that said orientation means be confined within annular space l00. Annular space l00 is bounded by the generation of inner surface l02 of retention clip tines 22 about the longi­tudinal axis l04 of the socket contact when the free ends 25 of tines 22 are in contact with barrel 52, and the base/root 23 of tines 22 are in contact with the leading edge 55 of retention area 54. By confining the socket contact orientation means 62 within annular space l00, the tines 22 cannot come into physical con­tact with the orientation means during insertion of the socket contact into the cavity. This is particularly important in order to avoid damage to the tines 22 should an orientable socket contact be rotated while partially inserted in the cavity.

[0022] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art having regard to this disclosure that other modifica­tions of this invention beyond those embodiments speci­fically described here may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, such modifications are considered within the scope of the invention as limited solely by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An orientable socket contact comprising:
a barrel having an electrical engagement area at one end and a retention area and a wire ter­mination area at the other end;
and a noncircular structure located on said barrel which is noncircular about a longitudinal axis of the barrel.

2. The socket contact of Claim l wherein the electri­cal engagement area consists of flat or slightly convex contact surfaces.

3. The socket contact of claim 2 wherein said noncir­cular structure located on said barrel comprises a barrel having a noncircular crossection along substan­tially its whole length.

4. The socket contact of claim 2 wherein said noncir­cular structure comprises a key or projection.

5. The socket contact of claim 2 wherein said noncircular structure comprises a keyway or slot.

6. The socket contact of claim 2 wherein said noncir­cular structure comprises a structure having at least one flat surface adjacent to the retention area and having a crossectional area smaller than a crossec­tional area of the retention area.

7. The socket contact of claim l wherein the retention area is circular in crossection.

8. A connector body comprising:
a mass of insulating material having at least one wall defining a first cavity and at least a second wall defining a smaller socket contact cavity con­tiguous with the first cavity, the wall defining the socket contact cavity having at least a por­tion which is noncircular when viewed in crossec­tion.

9. The connector body of Claim 8 wherein the noncircular portion is D-shaped when viewed in crossec­tion.

l0. The connector body of Claim 8 wherein the noncir­cular portion is rectangular when viewed in crossection.

11. An electrical connector comprising:
an orientable socket contact comprising a barrel having an electrical engagement area at one end and a retention area and a wire termination area at the other end; and
a connector body comprising a mass of insulating material having at least one wall defining a first cavity with a means for retaining a socket contact in position therein and at least a second wall defining a smaller socket contact cavity con­tiguous with the first cavity;
said socket contact inserted into said connector body;
means on the second wall defining the socket con­tact cavity and complementary means on the barrel of said socket contact for orienting said socket contact with respect to said connector body.

12. The electrical connector of Claim ll wherein said second wall means and said barrel means comprise complementary noncircular structures when viewed in crossection.

13. The electrical connector of Claim ll wherein the complementary noncircular structures extend substan­tially along the whole length of the barrel and the second wall.

14. The electrical connector of claim ll wherein the complementary means on said socket contact are confined within an annular envelope adjacent the retention area such that the complementary means do not make physical contact with the socket contact retention means during insertion of the socket contact into the first cavity.

15. The electrical connector of Claim ll wherein the electrical engagement area consists of flat or slightly convex contact surfaces.

16. An electrical connector system comprising:
a non-orientable socket contact;
an orientable socket contact; and
a connector body having at least one wall defining at least one cavity for receiving a socket con­tact;
means on the cavity wall and complementary means on said orientable socket contact for orienting only said orientable socket contact with respect to said connector body when said orientable socket contact is inserted into said connector body cavity, said non-orientable socket contact being freely rotatable with respect to said connector body when said non-orientable socket contact is inserted into said connector body cavity.

17. The electrical connector system of Claim l6 wherein each of said socket contacts comprise an electrical engagement area such that the electrical engagement area of said non-orientable socket contact consists of rounded contact surfaces and the electrical engagement area of said orientable socket contact consists of flat or slightly convex contact surfaces.

Drawing