Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
The invention relates to a method of producing
multiple contact assemblies and contacts there~or inoluding
contact members and terminal posts attached thereto and,
more speci~ically, contacts produced by slotting the con-
tact members from a band.
Known multiple contact assemblies include contact
members produced by slotting individual contact members
rrom mate~ial in the form of a band. Each contact member
consists of two congruent resilient arms and a web Join-
ing the arms at ~he ends opposite to the contact tips.A~ter the slotting, the arms are bent around tAe line of
symmetry of the contact member, with the line extending
parallel to the direction in which a plug is inserted, so
that the two congruent blade arms ~orm a pair of arms re-
sembling a tuning fork. The tuning fork de~ines the open-
ing Or a slit between the contact tips to allow insertion
of a plug and has a U-shaped cross section when viewed
in the area opposite the slit and in conjunction with the
web. A terminal post provided with a bracket section is
attached to the U-shaped opening. An insulating housing
is provided for the resilient contacts produced in the
above manner, with the bracket section of the terminal
post abutting the recesses in the housing.
However, due to the large number of steps re-
quired for the production of the individual contact blades,
the above process is time-consuming and expensive. In
addition, the waste from the slotting implies great expendi-
tures of material.
The goal of the present invention is to develop
a process of the above-specified type, which makes it
possible to produce multiple contact assemblies rapidly
and at low cost.
The advantage of the present process is that the
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connected contact members are bent simultaneously around
common axes of bending, so that the terminal posts can be
simultaneously applied to the contact members and welded in
a single step, whereby all the contacts can be simultaneously
inserted into the insulating housing. The common produc-
tion of a plurality of contact members reduces the time
required for the bending operations, the mounting o~ the
terminal postsJ and the insertion into the insulating
housing. Templates and gauges can be used to simplify many
process steps and to automate them. The basic idea of the --
invention is to bend the contact members across their
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longitudinal direction rather than bending the contact
members around individual axes after the slotting operations,
with the axes of bending extending parallel to the direc-
- tion of insertion. Very little material is required for
these operations.
It is known in the production of knife-like
- contacts and assemb'ies containing them to produce the
individual knife-like contacts connected via a slotted
strip and to break off the strip after inserting the con-
tacts into an insulating housing, but in that case the
problems originating from the bending of the contact
members and from the attachment of the terminal posts do
not arise. Therefore, a process suitable for producing
assemblies with knife-shaped contacts cannot be employed
for producing multiple contact assemblies having bent con-
tact members and terminal posts attached thereto.
Fur~hermore, a process is known in which the
contacts of a strip are ~ointly bent while the contacts are
~0 in the connected state. However, those assemblies do not
comprise insulating housings. After initially slotting the
; arms at two opposite sides of a sheet metal plate, the
plate is bent around the center line so that congruent
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pairs of arms are formed in alignment. After that, a
plastic strip is molded in the region of the arms and the
individual contacts are electrically separated from each
other by cutting operations. In those contact assemblies,
the terminal posts are formed by the bent or folded sheet
- metal p~ns which remain after the cutting operations.
Terminal posts o~ this type cannot support great loads
and proved to be unsuitable for wire wrapping installations.
Additionally, the molding of the plastic strips is a com-
plicated operation.
Particular advantages of the process of the
instant invention result from the fact that the contact
members are bent in the form of an "h" by folding the con- ~
~; tact members into alignment around a first axis of bending ~-
(180 bend), by bending the contact members bac~ around a
second axis of bending at an angle of about 90, by bending
the contact members around a third axis at an angle of
about 90, and by attaching the terminal posts at the
i aligned portion of the contact members to touch a shoulder
which is formed at an angle of about 90 on the contact
members. Therefore, the terminal posts are relatively
strong, and remain joined with the contact members even
when they are subjected to a high mechanical load ~orce.
Good contact properties are obtained by bending
at least one tab integral with the contact member laterally
around the aligned portions of the contact member a~ter
the contact members have been bent around the first axis
of bending. In this manner, the aligned portions of the
contact member are prevented from separating. The bending
; ~0 forces resulting from spreading apart the arms are there-
fore absorbed by the blade contact proper without the arms
bearing against the inner walls of the insulating housing.
A~ter ~nsert1ng the ~oined blsde contacts into B
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bottom section of the insulating housing, excellent support for
the blade contacts inside the housing is obtaîned by closing the
bottom section with a lid section which snaps into its position
and has chambers for receiving the contact membersO In this ope-
ration, locking shoulders in the form of steps provided on the
- inner walls of the chambers are seated on matching recesses pro-
vided on the contact members.
' The invention is particularly directed toward a method
of producing multiple contact assemblies from a band of material
comprising the steps of: slotting a portion of the band to form
a plurality of contact member blanks, the blanks being connected -by a web; simultaneously bending the blanks around at least one
axis common to the plurality of blanks and parallel to a longitu-
dinal axis of the web to form tuning fork-shaped contact members
having two arms; attaching a respective terminal post to each of ~-
the bent contact members while the members are still connected to
the web to form two-piece contacts; inserting a plurality of two-
piece contacts into an insulating housing; and subsequently seve-
ring the contacts from the web.
The invention is also directed toward a multiple con-
tact asse~mbly comprising an insulating housing and a plurality of
contacts mounted in the housing. Each contact includes an h-
shaped contact member with two resilient arms, a double layer por-
tion aligned with one of the arms and a shoulder portion connec- -
ting the double layer portion to the other of the armsO A termi-
nal post is attached to the double layer portion of the contact
member such that an end of the post engages the shoulder portion
of the contact member. Half the width of the terminal post plus
the thickness of the double layer portion is approximately equal
to half of the width of the contact member, whereby the terminal
post is concentric with the contact memberO
The invention will now be explained with reference to
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a preferred embodiment shown in the drawings. In the drawing:
Figure 1 shows a portion of a slotted band with contact
members which are connected via a strip and have not yet been bent;
; Figure 2 shows several contacts adhering to a slotted
strip;
Figure 3 is a side view of the contacts with the slotted ~-
strip of Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a cross section of a multiple contact assem-
. bly including a contact;
Figure 5 is a front view of a single bent contact mem-
; ber; and :
Figure 6 is a cross section along line 6-6 of Figure 5.
. Figure 1 shows a portion 1 of a band from which several
contact members S (not yet bent) and a slotted strip 15 connecting
the contact members have been formed by slotting operationsO Points ~-
at which a separation is to take place upon breaking the strip
- material have been scored between the slotted strip 15 and the un-
bent contact members S during the slotting operationsO In the em-
bodiment described, the contact members have a spacing of 2.54 mm
(0.1") and the sheet metal has a thickness of 0.25 mm. The ini-
tially unbent contact members S are bent in succession
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around the axes of bending which are denoted by I, II, and
III in Figure 1. In this manner h-shaped contact members
2 are obtained.
In Figures 2 and 3, the h-shaped contact members
2 are shown with terminal posts 3 attached thereto by -
welding, Bent portion 9 which was obtained by ~olding around
- axis I consists o~ two aligned contact sections 9a and 9b.
Contact section 9b has recesses 10 which were obtained along
with the contact members during the slotting operation.
Tabs 11 which are integral with contact section 9a are
bent into recesses 10 so that the tabs embrace contact
section 9b. Bent portion 9 is followed by a shoulder 8
obtained by bending around axis II. Axis III of bending is
' chosen so that contact member 2 has approximately s~uare
; cross section in the plane o~ shoulder 8. Shoulder 8 is
adjacent an end of two arms 4a and 4b which end in the ~orm
o~ cup-shaped contact tips 5a and 5b. The cup-shaped con-
; tact tips ~orm a slit-like opening 7. Contact member 2
is provided with slots 12 which have abutment faces 13 above
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shoulder 8, extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of
the blade contact and disposed on diagonally opposite sides
of arms 4a and 4b and o~ contact tips 5a and 5b. A~ter
bending contact members 2, the terminal post 3 is placed on
each o~ the bent portions 9 so that one end ~ace of the
terminal post abuts shoulder 8. Terminal post 3 is attached
with the aid o~ a welding pin 17 on bent portion 9 by
spot welding. Terminal post 3 consists o~ a material
capable of sustaining mechanical loads and was formed from
- a o.6 mm x o.6 mm wire material. Terminal post 3 has
bevelled end faces 3a and 3b so that the post 3 can be ~ed
into the assembly operations without preliminary alignment
wor!~. About one third o~ a side ~ace o~ terminal post 3
rests on bent portion 9. Tabs 11, which embrace contact
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portions 9a and 9b of bent portion 9 are shaped so that the
ends of the tabs bear against terminal post 3. The posi-
tions of bending axis III, the thickness of terminal post
3, and the thickness of the sheet metal used for the con-
tact member are chosen so that the center line MP of terminal
post 3 coincides with center line MS of the slit-like
opening 7, with arms 4a and 4b being disposed in a s~m-
metric relationship about, and parallel to, the center line.
In the next operation, contact members 2 ~rhich
are still connected by slotted strip 15 are inserted into
an insulating housing 20 along with posts 3 welded to the
contact members. Terminal posts 3 protrude from openings
25 which are formed as a series of openings in bottom sec-
tion 21 of insulating housing 20. Figure 4 is a cross sec-
tion of a blade contact mounted inside insulatin~ housing
20. The bent end of folded portion 9 of contact member 2
is seated on bottom section 21.
After breaking slotted strip 15 along the scored
points at which the breaking is to take place, a lid
portion 22 provided with chambers 24 is inserted into
bottom section 21 of insulating housing 20 by snapping
the lid portion 22 into its position with the aid of de-
tents 23. The cross section of chamber 24 slightly ex-
ceeds the greatest horizontal cross section of contact
members 2 so that arms 4a and 4b do not touch on the
inner walls even when the multiple contact assembly is in
the assembled state. The inner walls of the chambers are
provided with step-like protrusions 26 on two diagonally
opposite sides. Protrusions 26 have locking shoulders 28
- ~0 perpendicular to the direction in which the contact members
are inserted Furthermore, bevelled guiding sections 29
are provided on the step-like protrusions to facilitate the
application and insertion of lid portion 22. Locking
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shoulders 2~ firmly bear against the abutment faces 13 of
slot 12. The thickness of protrusion 26 is slightly smaller
than the width of slot 12 so that the lid portion can be
easily applied. Since protrusions 26 and slots 12 are
provided on diagonally opposite sides, the blade contacts
and the terminal posts can be inserted, even after 1~0
rotation, into the bottom portion 21 of insulating housing
20. This guarantees a simple, reliable assembly of the
multiple contact assembly.
Contact member 2 which was bent to have the shape
of an "h" (see Figures 2 and ~) is a particularly advan- -
tageous embodiment. A contact member bent in this manner
can be used not only in multiple contact assemblies but
also in individual connectors or connectors with circular
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cross section. These contact members can be individually
produced without using the above-described process.
The process described allows the manufacture of
all multiple contact assemblies having terminal posts
attached by welding to the contacts. To this end, a
plurality of contact members is formed simultaneously by
bending around common axes of bending, all terminal posts
of a contact strip are attached in a single operation, and
the contact members are simultaneously mounted in an in-
sulating housing while they are still connected.
From the foregoing, it can be readily realized
that this invention can assume various embodiments. Thus, -
it is to be understood that the invention is not to be
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-; limited to the specific embodiments described herein, but
ie to be llmlted only by the appended claime.
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