Electrical contact capable of receiving a mating contact in either of two mutually perpendicular orientations

Abstract

 An electrical contact has a contact portion comprising two opposed pairs of resilient contact arms defining mutually perpendicular first and second male-contact-receiving slots.

Description

[0001] This invention relates to an electrical contact.

[0002] The majority of known electrical contacts have a mating portion adapted to mate with only a single type of mating contact in a single possible orientation.

[0003] However, some pieces of electrical equipment, for example automobile headlamp bulbs, have a plurality of contacts, for example male tabs, arranged in different orientations, for example in mutually perpendicular planes, and thus an electrical connector for mating with such an array of contacts must when using known contacts either use two different forms of contact, or use only one form of contact but in different orientations.

[0004] For reasons of cheapness and ease of manufacture it is preferable to use only a single form of contact, and thus known contacts are normally used in different orientations in such circumstances.

[0005] Such use of known contacts does not present difficulties when the contacts are connected to conductors by conventional soldering or crimping techniques, but when contacts having slotted-plate conductor connecting portions are used, such use presents difficulties since the slots in the conductor connecting portions will not have their axes parallel, and thus connection of conductors to all of the contacts of such a connector in a single stroke is normally not possible or is at best only possible with difficulty.

[0006] According to this. invention an electrical contact is characterised by a contact portion comprising two opposed pairs of resilient contact arms, each arm presenting a first contact surface to the opposed arm of the other pair, and presenting a second contact surface to the other arm of the same pair, the two pairs of opposed first contact surfaces defining a first male-contact-receiving slot, and the two-pairs of opposed second contact surfaces defining a second male-contact-receiving slot which is perpendicular to the first such slot.

[0007] Such a contact portion gives the advantage that a plurality of the contacts of the same form can be mounted in a common housing in the same orientation, this making connection of conductors to the conductor connection portions of the contacts easy when the conductor connection portions are slotted plates, to provide a connector capable of being mated with an array of male tab contacts in which the tabs are arranged in mutually perpendicular planes, such as is found on automobile headlight bulbs.

[0008] Further, if a plurality of the contacts are mounted in a common housing with their first slots in line and without housing portions therebetween, then a substrate such as a printed circuit board can be mated with the contacts.

[0009] An electrical contact according to this invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of the contact;

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the contact at right-angles to the view of Figure 1; and

Figures 3 to 6 diagrammatically illustrate use of the contact with four different sizes of conductor.

[0010] The contact shown in Figures 1 and 2 is stamped and formed from sheet metal, and comprises a conductor connection portion 1 and a contact portion 2.

[0011] The portion 1 comprises two similar plates 3 and 4 arranged in spaced parallel planes, the plates being joined by two bridging strips 5 and 6 extending between the plates 3 and 4 from adjacent edges thereof.

[0012] Each plate 3 or 4 has a slot 7 therein, and since the slots 7 are similar only one thereof will be described in detail with particular reference to Figure 1.

[0013] Each slot 7 has a mouth 8 at the edge of the plate from which the bridging strips 5 and 6 extend, the bridging strips 5 and 6 being on opposite sides of the mouth 8.

[0014] The mouth 8 leads to a first inwardly tapering section 9 having converging straight sides, which in turn leads to a second parallel straight sided section lO. Preferably the sides of the second section 10 are bevelled to provide relatively sharp cutting edges.

[0015] The second section 10 leads into a third inwardly tapering section 11 having convex converging sides leading to a throat 12.

[0016] The throat 12 opens into a short fourth outwardly tapering section 13 the walls of which constitute shoulders facing away from the throat 12.

[0017] The fourth section 13 leads into a fifth inwardly tapering section 14 having convex converging sides, the maximum width of the fifth section 14 being less than that of the third section 11.

[0018] The fifth section 14 terminates in an enlarged circular aperture 15 which serves in known manner to determine the resiliency of two arms of the portion 1 defining the slot 7.

[0019] For use of the contact member described above an insulated conductor having a core formed from a plurality of strands-is urged transversely of its axis into the slot 7 through the mouth 8. The first section 9 guides the conductor into the second section 10, the sharp edges of which cut through the insulation of the conductor, possibly up to the core thereof depending upon the size, that is the diameter, of the conductor.

[0020] The conductor then enters the third section 11 of the slot 7, the walls of which section 11 complete the cutting of the insulation of the conductor if necessary, and also apply a gradually increasing compressive force on to the core of the conductor while guiding the core to the throat 12.

[0021] The core then at least partially passes . through the throat 12 into the fourth and fifth sections 13 and 14 of the slot 7, the walls of the fourth section 13 engaging over some of the strands of the core to retain the core in the slot 7.

[0022] ₁ Figures 3 to 6 diagrammatically illustrates a slot as described above having four different sizes of core therein, the core size increasing from Figure 3 to Figure 6. It can clearly be seen that in each case the core is engaged under the shoulders formed by the sides of the fourth section of the slot, with the strands of the core being compressed between the sides of the third and fifth sections of the slot, thereby to establish an electrical and mechanical connection between the core and the contact member containing the slot.

[0023] As described, the contact shown in Figures 1 and 2 contains two slots as described above, and for termination a conductor would be urged into the two slots simultaneously thereby to establish connection to the conductor at two spaced locations, in known manner.

[0024] The conductor is preferably urged into the slots by means of a tool which is preferably part of a connector assembly comprising an insulating housing in which the contact is mounted, and an insulating cover which serves to urge the conductor into the slots and then remain secured to the housing covering the connection between the contact and the conductor. The cover is preferably formed with a stuffer member which serves to engage the conductor to urge it into the slots as necessary, and which remains in contact with the conductor in the final assembly, serving to retain the conductor at the required position in the slots in the contact. Since conductors of different size must be urged to different depths in the slots, the size of the stuffer member would be set in dependence upon the size of conductor to be terminated.

[0025] As shown in Figure 1, the two slots in the contact are of mutually different width over their second, third and fourth sections 10, 11 and 13, the slot in the rear (in Figure 1) plate being narrower than that in the front plate over these sections. Such a contact is usable with a relatively wide range of conductor sizes since it is ensured that at the ends of the range at least one of the slots will give a satisfactory connection while over most of the range both slots will give a satisfactory connection.

[0026] Considering now the contact portion 2 of the contact shown in Figures 1 and 2, as shown this comprises two opposed pairs 20 and 21 of resilient contact arms 22, each arm 22 presenting a first rounded contact surface 23 to the opposed arm 22 of the other pair, and presenting a second rounded contact surface 24 to the other arm 22 of the same pair.. The two pairs of opposed first contact surfaces 23 define a first slot into which a substrate such as a printed circuit board or a male tab contact can be inserted for connection to the contact, while the two pairs of opposed second contact surfaces 24 define a second such slot into which a similar substrate or male contact can be inserted, the first and second slots thus defined being mutually perpendicular.

[0027] As clearly shown in Figure 2, the free ends of the arms 22 of each pair 20 or 21 are bent to provide a flared mouth 25 for the first slot defined by the first contact surfaces 23.

Claims

1. An electrical contact characterised by a contact portion comprising two opposed pairs (20 and 21) of resilient contact arms (22), each arm (22) presenting a first contact surface (23) to the opposed arm (22) of the other pair, and presenting a second contact surface (24) to the other arm (22) of the same pair, the two pairs of opposed first contact surfaces (23) defining a first male-contact-receiving slot, and the two pairs of opposed second contact surfaces (24) defining a second male-contact-receiving slot which is perpendicular to the first such slot.

2. An electrical contact as claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that the free ends of the contact arms (22) of each pair (20 or 21) are bent to provide a flared mouth (25) for the first slot defined by the first contact surfaces (23).

3. An electrical contact as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, characterised by a conductor connection portion (1) in the form of a slotted plate (3, 4) formed integrally.with the contact portion.

Drawing